Easter

I hope you're having a wonderful Easter. Last night the Easter bunny left us a surprise. My kids were pretty surprised! They keep walking back to check if it's still there.

Egg-cellent Center( freebie)

Have you been to Walmart lately? I found the coolest egg set ever. On each egg are two letters. One on each side of the egg and they're different letters. I can tell I'm a teacher because I get excited when I find eggs with letters on them.

 This little bunny replaces any letter in the alphabet.

                                                                           like this

 I decided next week for one of my centers I'm going to have my kids make words with the eggs. I quick whipped up this sheet to go with it. If you would like to download it click on the image below. My students can do Easter activities after Easter right? Plus next week if there are any left they might be 50% off and what teacher doesn't love a deal. Oh and they include jelly beans in each one. Pretty sad that I was more excited for the letters.

Last week I posted my two truths and a lie. I had such nice responses. Thank you! So here are my truths and a lie.
* I did have a baby at 25 weeks.My son was born at 1lb 14 oz. It was the scariest thing I have ever been through. We lived in the NICU for 3 1/2 months. I have never felt closer to God in my life. He was there for me during one of the most difficult times in my life. I can say now that my little guy will be starting kindergarten in the spring and he is doing so well. You would never believe he was a preemie.
* I did step on a sewing needle in High school and I did have to have it surgically removed. My darn mom is so crafty and she left one on the floor . My foot hit it just right for it to insert in my foot. Such a bizarre situation but It did happen.
* Lastly I have never had the chicken pox so I didn't have to be hospitalized with them.

I'm going to link up again in Latotya, this time it's the Noun game: 

Favorite Persons: Hands down my own kids of course. My husband too :) I can't limit it to one. 

 My little one is so excited for Easter she is counting down the days.

Favorite Place: Hawaii, My husband and I went there and just LOVED it. It was so relaxing and the best weather ever. 

Favorite Thing: Probably jewelry. I'm a fanatic for different types. You will never see me without an accessory. 

Favorite Animal: A dog even though I don't have one. My in-laws HATE animals and they will not eat or visit people that have them So I decided if I ever wanted them to come around I better not have one. Even though I would love to have a dog. 

Go link up if you haven't yet.

Shared Reading.....UGH!!

Alright I need some tips. We have to do Shared reading every day for 1/2 hour in our classroom. I got observed today doing it and I found out I've been doing it all year WRONG!! My literacy coach said it is thinking out loud. You never ask the kids any questions or have them find words that rhyme or a certain skill. She said it is basically reading a book to the class but telling them exactly what you're thinking as you're  reading. She demonstrated this for my class. My class tried to participate but she told them no, it's my turn to tell you what I'm thinking. I have searched the Internet for shared reading ideas and all of the ones I have came across are nothing like she told me shared reading is. Does anyone have any tips? Or knows of any great shared reading lessons on TPT. I would like to find some that are thinking out loud strategies.

Two Truths and a Lie Linky party

I'm linking up with Flying into First Grade for her fun linky, two truths and a lie.

So here are mine:
1. I had chicken pox so bad I had to be hospitalized.
2. I stepped on a needle and had to have it surgically removed.
3. When I was almost 6 months pregnant I had a baby that survived.

In the comments leave which one you think is a lie. I'm excited to see what you think. Go link up too, if you haven't already!

Centers Oh My!!

Do you ever have one of those moments where you say to yourself why didn't I think of that? Well here is my moment. I ran across these amazing little guys off of Amazon. Oh my can I just say? I'm ordering them right now. Do you have students even after you have explained centers a million jazillion times still ask. What are we supposed to do at center 1? Well problem SOLVED!! These are little speakers that you record the instructions on. Then when the students are at their center. They push the little button and it tells them what to do. WOW!!! Seriously this is going to make my life so-much-easier! They're on sale right now on Amazon. So go check them out.

It's My Lucky Day

I'm linking up with Cindy at Granny Goes to school. She came up with a great idea to giveaway some awesome St. Patrick's Day freebies. Who can pass that up?? Seriously? There are some amazing bloggers, giving away freebies. So be sure to follow the complete circle. Cindy is giving away a 20.00 Target gift card. You can enter for each blog you follow.   

I'm giving away my Lucky Leprechaun Shape Swindler activity to you for FREE!! I made this product specifically for this linky party, I hope you enjoy it. Just click on the picture and it will take you to my store.

 Go check out Nicole from Rowdy in Room 300 for your next freebie!

I know I will, I'm excited to get some freebies for St. Patrick's Day. 

Brain Breaks

I don't know about you, but my kids have the WIGGLES like crazy! I love using brain breaks throughout the day to get the WIGGLES out. I found the Just Dance Kids Gummy Bear song and my students fell in love. Everyday they ask me if we can do the gummy bear dance. So I decided I needed to find some more Just Dance videos for them to do. I love that they're only a couple of minutes so they don't take a lot of time to do but they also help them to do their work better. Here are a couple of my favorites:

 Do you use brain breaks in your classroom? If you do what are some of your favorites?

Valentine's Day

Was today as C-R-A-Z-Y for you as it was for me? I had students who are never bad, crawling on the floor and doing all sorts of things I have never seen before. I think we all had too much SUGAR!!

Are you wondering what to do with all those left over Valentine's Day cards? Every year I make a big heart and put all the Valentine Cards on it. To show my appreciation for all my cuties! It always makes their day to see their Valentines hung up. I like to hang the heart on my door. So they see it first thing when they walk into the room.  It think it's a fun way to display it instead of just throwing them away. :(

For our February display, we made these cute bees. They go perfectly with our bee classroom. 

 This is a little late, but if you're looking for a cute idea for next year. Here is one. Have you ever read this book?  I love this book and we read it every year. My kids love it. We usually find someone in the school to surprise with some Valentines love.  One of my teammates beat me to the punch she did our principal. I love to do it to our librarian or the literacy coach. Someone that doesn't always get all the treats from the students but is just as special. 

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Editable Valentine's Day Card

Are you scurring to come up with something to give your students for Valentine's Day? Or if you're like me you're looking for something for your child to take that is different than the usual Valentine's Day Cards at Target. Well If you're still looking here's an idea.

 I hope my students like these.

  Click on the first picture above to grab yourself one too.

 I also made one if you're not a teacher and want to have your child use them as their Valentine's day card.

 My kids are so excited for Valentine's day. My daughter keeps calling her classmates, mates. She wanted to buy all of the kids in her preschool a stuffed animal. Well on a teachers salary I just can't afford that. So the Sprite idea will have to do. This is the card I'm giving all my family members this year. I love that I know how to create cards now. It saves me a lot of mulah.

 Thank goodness for Powerpoint!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I've joined Teresa's linky party over at Fun in K/1, DoodleBugs Five for Friday, and Mrs. Lilypad's Little's Valentine Linky Party! Go check them out and link up!



Displaying Students Best Work

We think it is very important to display our student's work. This is such an easy way of doing it. Everyday I choose 5-6 student's best work. I then place it on this bulletin board. They're so excited when their paper makes it to Best In The Hive. Everyday we announce who's paper made it on Best In The Hive. They love being recognized.

After we recognize the student's work they choose a bead from the jars. They put a regular bead on until they get five, then they get to put on a star bead. They love being able to put on a star bead plus it helps them learn to count by 5's :0).

 We have each child's name on a heart and their strip of beads. We hook them under the white board.

 We use Velcro and paper clips to attach the string of beads. This makes it easy for them to take it off and put it on again. At the end of the year. They take home their string of beads and turn it into a necklace. Some of our students get their whole string full by the end of the year. They LOVE getting beads. It's a huge incentive to do their very best on their papers. All I have to say to get best work in my classroom is: I think this paper might be the one that I display on Best In The Hive. Then they all try to do their very best on it.

How do you display student's work?

How do you know you're a teacher?

I found this and just had to share.... I do so many of these things. The # 1 answer is totally me.

 

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’RE A TEACHER? By Jeff Foxworthy

1.) You get a secret thrill out of laminating things.
2.) You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.
3.) You walk into a store and hear the words, “It’s Ms./Mr. ____________ and know you have been spotted.
4.) You have 25 people who accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.
5.) You ...can eat a multi-course meal in under 25 minutes.
6.) You’ve trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day, lunch and planning period.
7.) You start saving other people’s trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.
8.) You want to slap the next person who says, “Must be nice to work 7 to 3 and have summers off”.
9.) You believe chocolate is a food group.
10.) You can tell if it’s a full moon without ever looking outside.
11.) You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, “Boy, the kids are sure mellow today.”
12.) You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.
13.) You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.
14.) You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.
15.) You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children.
16.) You can’t pass the school supply aisle without getting at least 5 items!
17.) You ask your friends to use their words and explain if the left hand turn he made was a “good choice” or “bad choice.”
18.) You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.
19.) You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer.
20.) You understand, instantaneously, why a child behaves in a certain way after meeting his/her parents.

 

Which number are you?

Have you got one of these??

I received a pencil sharpener from Classroom friendly supplies. This pencil sharpener is

 A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! I can't say enough good things about it. We call it the green mean machine because it makes every pencil SHARP!! It's my all time favorite pencil sharpener. I have used electric pencil sharpeners in the past and by now the pencils are dull. Plus they're LOUD!! This pencil sharpener is quiet and I have never had a pencil sharpener sharpen pencils this well. In fact the kids want their pencils to look like this all the time. 

I received by pencil sharpener back in August and my pencils still look this good. We use the pencil sharpener everyday. It still sharpens the pencils this well. It's worth your money. I know when this one runs out I will for sure be purchasing a new one again. I can't say enough good things about this sharpener. The sharpener comes in red, blue, and green. It is 24.99 no shipping! Seriously I have spent more on my 3 electric sharpeners in one year. Go check out these sharpeners! Plus they would make an excellent gift for a colleague or your child's teacher. I would love to receive one as a gift.