I met Deanna and Shari...& Look What I've been Crafting

I finally got to meet Deanna!  We've been in contact with each other for over 2 years and I finally got to meet her in person and hang out with her!  She's SO fun!!  Her sessions were amazing!  I learned so much from her!  

And, Shari Sloane was fun to meet as well.  I've been visiting her website for years and it was great to get to hang out with her and get to know her!  

If you do not have her cd's...you must go get them now!  They are wonderful!  

Jamie Mayas came along for all the fun too!!

Okay, so I pinned these babies a while back and I finally got around to making them.  All of the supplies to make these came from Michaels Craft Store.  These were super easy.  All you need is various widths of ribbon, wooden needlework hoops, and hot glue.  Begin with your widest ribbon and glue to inside of hoop.  Keep layering the ribbon until you get it the way you want it making each layer a little shorter.  Use three pieces of ribbon for hanging.  Now, you have a ribbon lantern!

I also found this textured foam at Michael's.  I used the die-cut machine at school to cut the letters.  These will be used during small group instruction for students to trace the letter with their fingers.

Now, how fun is that?

Last, I found the cutest Washi tape at Michael's and this frame so I knew I had to make a 

My First Day of Kindergarten frame.  I will be adding these letters to the frame asap!  

Then, it will be ready for my cuties to use on their first day of school!  

Shoo!  Bless you if you read this far!  If you did, you now know that you can comment below to have a chance to win my newest unit Tip Top Shapes!  Tell me which one was your favorite of my 3 crafty projects.  Don't forget your e-mail addy!  

I'll choose a winner tomorrow night...8/7/13!

Birthday Celebration!!!

My sister and I just celebrated our 31st birthday yesterday!  We are celebrating for the next 31 hours TPT style!  Both of us have put 10 of our favorite products on sale plus 1 to grow on...so 11 items from each store are on sale.  For the next 31 hours you can grab them for 31% percent off!  What a fun way to celebrate!  It's a surprise which products are on sale so you'll have to go check it out for yourself!

Click HERE to go to my store and HERE to go to my sister's store.  

For you kinder readers, Amy is second grade but has some great reading posters and such!  

Adorbs Boards!!

I don't know about y'all but teachers in my district start school in 4 weeks!  Oh my word, I can't believe how fast this summer is passing by...I don't like it one bit; however, I'm always excited to get my class role of kinder-newbies and get things going in my classroom.  With that said, I've been working in my classroom this week getting things ready for our NEAEC Conference which is next Wednesday!  And, Deanna Jump and Shari Sloane are presenting....eeek!  So excited!  :)  

Classroom teachers aren't the only ones who have been getting our school ready.  Check out what our wonderfully talented secretary, Ms. Monica, did to the main entry bulletin board at our school!!  #isthisnotthecutestthingyou'veeverseen

This is where class lists will be posted.  Each teacher has their own feather!  Oh my word!  I 'bout died when I saw it! 

And, check out the school treasure map of where teacher's classrooms are located!  Each teacher has their picture in a treasure box and the treasure box is where their classroom is located on each hall.  

I LOVE!  Yes, we have 26 Kindergarten classrooms all in the same building!  It is wonderful!

Check back to see what my classroom looks like this year!  

Surprise

You *might* want to go LIKE my FACEBOOK page...

Muffin Tin Learning Games

I am so excited about my newest little packs Muffin Tin Learning Games {Letters & Sounds} & {Colors, Shapes, & Patterns}.  My girls at home have already been using them and I must say they LOVE them.  Daughter 2 wants to do them all the time, and Daughter 1 is begging me to get my "harder" packs done so she can play too!  :)  I've already got a long list of Muffin Tin games to make.  This is going to be an on-going center in my classroom this year.  We already do counting and sorting with muffin tins, but I wanted to have something deeper for it because the kiddos love it and it's hands-on which I LOVE!!  I do not have any recording sheets with these packets because I want it to be simply hands-on & FUN!  Ahhh!  Here are a few pics of my girls using them.  

Daughter 2 using the Letter Matching game.  

Daughter 1 using the beginning sounds game...

Here, she is using manipulatives from Lakeshore Learning's Sound Tubs.  These games are perfect for the mini manipulatives!  

I love these games because the muffin tins allow students to carry them easily from place to place without losing the pieces.  Also, if you like, students can leave their game as they finish allowing you to check it later in the day.  

Another great thing, is these are perfect for Intervention or small groups.  Once you introduce the game, the concept stays the same so it can become an independent station almost right away.  

Like I said before, I have a list of games to make so stay tuned.  Also, I will be showing how to store these games in a super cute way coming soon!  

What do you think?  

Blog Lovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Okay, I'm doin' it!  Follow me on Bloglovin...pretty please.  :)  I cannot seem to keep up with this techy world...but I'm tryin!  

Go read KinderCraze blog post about Bloglovin.  She also has some links to tutorials on the what and how's of Bloglovin' in this post.  

Heaven knows I don't have time to put all that in this post!  

Cats, Buttons, & Colors Unit STILL on SALE!!!

I didn't realize that friends who follow by e-mail get e-mails a day late!  So...I've extended the sale on this unit until sometime tomorrow.  :) 

Click the picture below to check it out!  

Throwback Thursday

It's Throwback Thursday and I'm participating in Cara's Linky Party from TheFirstGradeParade.  I figured I would just start with something I do at the beginning of school...Colors with Brown Bear.  It's one of my favorite units of the year (I say that a lot)!  :)  Post is below.

............................................................................................................

Originally Posted September 2, 2011

Oh my goodness y'all...this week was so much fun!  (and a little exhausting!)  My kinder kiddos are really starting to get in to our routine and finally settling in...

In the midst of continuing rules and procedures, we hit centers hard this week learning how to play our "roll and dot" games, "spinner games", and how to use bingo dotters.

I think our favorite game was the "Brown Bear Bowling" center...You can find this game in my Brown Bear Unit at TpT

Notice the mat...this made it easy for my kids to set up the pins once they knock them down...Hint...make the circles large enough so that if one pin falls over it won't knock them ALL over or else they will get "6" or "10" every time depending on how many pins you use.

Spin & Graph Brown Bear Colors

We practiced our sight words using this reader...I used this to teach my students how to use the word wall to find color words....they did so good!  Of course, we read it too!

My student teacher read Elmer for Rainbow Day today and they made a big patchwork Elmer...we used this activity to name the shape and color.

This was our first pocket chart center

We celebrated Rainbow Day by Reading the poem Rainbow Hair and then we made our own "Rainbow Hair" to wear!!  They LOVED it!

 Close-up of the Rainbow Hair...

We used Interactive Writing to fill in the color words on the Rainbow Hair poem

 We practiced pre-writing strokes using Rainbow Writing

 Our last few Brown Bear projects for our texture book...

Torn paper rainbows...this is one of my favorite projects to do at the beginning of each year.  

These go home in their K portfolios in May!

Every year on black day we read Miss Nelson is Missing by James Marshall...if you have never read it...It's a Must!  We made a Miss Viola Swamp.

 Then, we compared Miss Nelson's naughty class to Mrs. Lee's kind class...

Winner!

Congratulations Elizabeth #149 (eah73@hotmail.com)! Go to my STORE and pick out ANY 2 items you want!

I will be e-mailing you soon!  

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Attention CHEVRON Addicts & Flash Giveaway!

It has been FOREVER since my last blog post, but wow, May is crazy and with school getting out I've just been totally unmotivated.  That's okay isn't it?  We spent our first week out on vacation at Splash Resort in FL!  I had tons of fun with my babies and family!  

Yesterday after church we had to make a stop by Lowe's to pick up a few more things for our bathroom reno...and, guess what I found!  These adorable Chevron  baskets!  I've got to find somewhere to use these babies!  If you are doing Chevron in your classroom or if you need some cuteness for your home go grab them before they're gone.  They're a little pricey but they are fabric, NOT plastic.  :)

Finally, today is Maurice Sendak's (author of one of the best children's literature books ever Where the Wild Things Are) 85th birthday...so to celebrate I'll give away ANY ITEM from my TPT shop to one lucky winner.  Enter the rafflecopter below!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway