A Day in the Life...

 

 

I'm linking up with Jessica at First Grade Nest with A Day in the Life of a Teacher. I'm back to school and my life is crazy hectic! I didn't even get pictures taken during the afternoon at school because it was so busy. Here is a little peek at my world. Be sure to check out what all of the other teachers are up to!!

 

 

 

 

Coffee is my MUST in the morning! Today it was paired with oatmeal, and my sleeping hubby. hehe :) Pilot life is crazy too-so I don't mind that he sleeps a little later than me; he's always ready to go when our daughter wakes up and this makes my morning MUCH easier when he is home!

 



Time for school. First thing we do after we all go to the cafeteria for breakfast is calendar. Check out my chevron decor set here!

Next is center time. I do my own spin on Daily 5. But for now, we're still getting used to working quietly in centers. Today we used our computers, worked on Read to Self, made our names in play dough, and worked on matching some rhyming pictures!

 

Like I said earlier; things are still a little bit crazy in kindergarten! I was trying so hard to take pictures of everything, but I pretty much missed the afternoon! Our afternoons include specials, math stations, and recess.. But after all of that, I'm ready to get home to see my sweet family.. Every day I sit in this traffic, but I have the best welcoming committee ever when I finally get home! :)

 

 

 

 

 

Another plus on the days I have my hubby at home- he cooks! Tonight was quesadillas, which was a first for Amelia.. but she LOVED it!

 

 

 

After dinner we hung out in Amelia's room for a bit to look at all of the books she hadn't looked at already today! This little girl is OBSESSED with books, and of course I love it! She and her daddy had already read just about every book in our basement and her books on the first floor.. The ones in her bedroom were catching her attention!

 

To finish off this day, we decided to hit up Brusters. We asked Amelia if she wanted to get ice cream, and she said "yeh" and walked towards the door. So we can blame her for this one! ;)

I hope all of you are enjoying getting back in the swing of things!!! Be sure to check out First Grade Nest to see what the other teachers are up to!!









We're Rocking in Our Kindergarten Shoes!

We have had almost 2 full weeks of kindergarten.. and woah what a start! I have 25 kiddos who are all very different, as they all always are, right? It has definitely been an adventure so far in my room! Although sometimes it has been a little bit crazy, we are definitely making some progress and I really have some sweet kiddos who I'm already loving to pieces :)  How is your year going? How many kiddos do you have, and what grade do you teach?? Leave me a comment and let me know!

This year we decided to do some Pete the Cat activities and my kiddos LOVE him! There have been a few times where it has been crazy, but if I pull out a Pete the Cat book they are ALL ready to listen!! Last year I downloaded the author reading "I Love my White Shoes", "Rocking in my School Shoes" and "Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons." My class LOVES them! The author, Eric Litwin, does a fantastic job and sings Pete's songs. You can find them on the Harper Collins' website and it is definitely worth it!

We also used Rocking in my School Shoes and did a little tour around our school as Pete visits new places in the school. Our whole kindergarten made a "Back to School" bulletin board. We had our kiddos cut out a basic shoe and write their names on them. They also made a basic shape Pete the Cat! We found this idea on Pinterest here!

Here is the final product!!

If you are doing any Pete the Cat activities, please leave me a link so I can check them out!

Who's That Blogger Linky

Welcome Everyone!!

         Are you ready to have some fun??
        
                                              ....Play a game?
           
                                                              .....Win  prizes and cash?

I have teamed up with 65 AMAZING blogger buddies to put together the ultimate Back to School Linky/Giveaway!!!

Each one of my blogger buddies submitted a cute childhood photo & generously donated something special from their online TpT shops for this occasion!! We have included a fun game for you to play for a chance to win over $300.00 in prizes and a BONUS  CASH-PRIZE raffle you can enter at the end of this post!! 

CHA-CHING!!

The game is easy to play....

 Your job will be to try and match each blogger with their childhood photo!!! With over 60 childhood photos and bloggers to match up, this might get tricky!! As I mentioned above, each blogger has generously donated one awesome prize from their TpT store. Successfully match a blogger and childhood photo, and you win the prize offered from that blogger!!! The more you matches you make, the more prizes you win!!! 

Check out some of the prizes you could win!!!

but Wait....

That's not all....

ONE lucky follower will win a $125 Amazon Gift Card!! Scroll to the bottom & follow the directions in the Rafflecopter for a chance to win $$$

The link below will open a form that will allow you to submit your answers for the match up. 

Use the blogger links and numbered images to help you along the way!! Each childhood photo has been assigned a specific number. 

Once you open the form, use the drop-down menu beneath each blog button and select a number that corresponds to a childhood photo. 

The form results will be collected throughout the week. At the end of the week, each submission will be "graded" and you will receive a prize for each blogger and photo you successfully matched up!!

The game closes on Friday, August 23rd at midnight (Arizona Mountain Time). Answers will be announced on Saturday, August 24th. Winners will be notified through email throughout the week. 

Use the blog links below the photos to search for clues!!

Click HERE to Play the Matching Game!!

AWE!!! PuFfy HeArT SWEETNESS!!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Click HERE to Play the Matching Game!!

Follow the directions in the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a $125 Amazon gift card!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much for participating!!! Good Luck!!!

If you would like to post about this linky/giveaway, grab the special image below to display in your post and link up below!!! Make sure to use the link to the actual post,,,

An InLinkz Link-up

 

Five for Friday (on Saturday)

Sorry I'm posting this a  day late... but I'm linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching to tell my five things for this week!

1. Our caring administration
We started back to school on Thursday of this week with a PD day and then Opening Day on Friday... Although it was filled with lots of information and meetings, our school really tries to make it fun- which is so nice, because it can be hard to think about summer being over, right?! So our school is having a "Duck Dynasty" theme this year... Although I've never seen the show, or am I a big fan of all of the camo that is all over, I do LOVE that everyone gets into it and we really look like a team! When we walked into our library on Thursday, it was decked out in all of the "Duck Dynasty" and camo that our curriculum specialist could find! She even made this adorable cupcakes for us to enjoy after lunch.. Sweet, right???



 

2. Calendar Stuff

I'm excited that my room is ready to go for my kinders next week! I also am excited to utilize some of the things I have created this summer, including my chevron calendar set, and my "all about a number" set...  You can check them out by clicking on the pictures!!

 

 

3. Learning Target Cards

 

I am excited to add these to my now chevron themed classroom and I hope they help me to stay on track with using my learning targets.. Check them out!!

 



 

4. Student of the Week set

 

I also am excited to use my student of the week set! I used to include this in my classroom, and my kids really loved it!!! I'm excited to start letting one of my kiddos share a little about themself and feel like the start that each of them really is! I plan to include info about myself for the first week of school!

 

5. My family

 

It is difficult to think about going back to work and not spending all day with my sweet girl... luckily for the first few days my pilot husband has been home, so that makes the transition a little bit easier before we head back to the babysitter's.... On my first day back, I got this picture... Daddy's first ponytail... :) I love my girl, and love that my husband loves me and tries to humor me with little things that make me happy- like attempting to fix Amelia's hair.. He did a pretty good job, right???

 

 

Be sure to check out what other teachers are up to!

 



 



My picks for the E-Magazine

I hope you were able to check out the E-Magazine!! The items that I listed as "Must Haves" to start the year include my Dr. Jean CD's! I have about 6 and absolutely LOVE them all! My kinders always want to sing this silly songs... Whether it's a fun, just need to get out of our seats and move "Tooty Ta" or it's calendar time and we're singing "Macarena Months" we LOVE our Dr. Jean!!

My next pick was my classroom carpet... This is not mine, but it's similar. It has the alphabet along the  outside. From the first day of school, I assign my kinders a letter and that is their spot whenever we go to the carpet. I have seen some carpets that have the alphabet squares all over it, and that would be nice as far as them having a bigger square to sit on, but I really like that we sit in a circle on the carpet.

 

My final pick was my dry erase boards. I use them for SO many things! I start out by just using them to assess who can make letters or write their name. I use them for informal assessments through out the year. To help avoid them looking at their neighbor's board, I teach them to write their answer and "hide" it.. They then turn the board around and hold the answer towards their chest (without rubbing off the answer) :)

 

These can be found at Really Good Stuff

 

 

I hope this helps you to start your year off to a smooth start! Be sure to check out the other amazing teacher bloggers in the E-Magazing!!

 

 



 

 

 

Back to School E-Magazine

I am SO excited to share this with all of you! I was lucky enough to be part of this amazing E-Magazine created by two teacher bloggers. This is their second year for the magazine. In the magazine you can see the top teacher back to school must haves by several amazing teacher bloggers!! Be sure to click on the pictures to open the links for the products, as well as the blogger names or pictures to follow their blogs! I am SO lucky to have been part of this, and have learned so much from all of the other teacher bloggers who are in the magazine. I hope you will check it out!!

Giveaway Extraveganza!

I hope you will check out Elementary Matters blog anniversary and back to school extraveganza give away!! You can win my Student of the Week Pack as well as many other amazing products!! :)

August Currently

August is here! In 1 week I will be finished with our PD day and be getting ready for our Opening Day... Our kindergarteners start the 13th... eek! Can't wait to meet them- but also sad summer is o-v-e-r. :(
Oh well!!!

I'm linking up with Oh Boy 4th Grade to share what I'm up to! Check it out to find what other teachers are doing as well!!