Birthday freebie!

My sweet little pumpkin had a birthday this week! :)

And of course he had a birthday party - a swimming party! We had fun... until the rain hit! Well, at least they got to swim for an hour and eat cake and open presents, and then the rain hit..... A success none the less and he loved his special day! Yay for little ones! They bring such joy to their mommy! :)

But I digress.... I made a label for his party favor - a easy, cheap party favor that anyone can do! In May I saw lots of "I had a ball in ...." tags and got the idea for his party favor:

The balls came from Target's Dollar Spot and I made the labels and attached them to the front of the packaging. Easy party favor - gotta love that!

If you like it, you can go to my TpT store and download the label for yourself! And while you are there, you are welcome to follow me!

Learning Resources Giveaway!

If you haven't visited Learning Resources lately, you need to! They have the most amazing products! Several blogs are giving away their HearAll Assessment Recorder. Did you read about it? Isn't it amazing! I could so see my class using it during Daily 5 time, to help with Reading Fluency, or to check to make sure all my students were correctly working in their centers! So many uses! If you would like to try to win one, head to these blogs: (just click on the pictures). And make sure you follow Learning Resources on Facebook to hear about all their great products! (And follow my Facebook page to hear about more great giveaways!)

Writing in my Kindergarten Classroom

This morning I read Mrs. Wills Kindergarten blog. She is doing a book study on the book In Pictures and In Words by Katie Wood Ray. Writing is one of my weakest areas, so I really need this book. I ordered it and can't wait for it to come in! I know once it comes in I will have a lot of catch up work to do!

Mrs. Wills discussed Chapters 1 - 6 this week and will be discussing Chapter 7 next week. You can download the schedule at Mrs. Wills Blog {click here}.

I try to build Stamina by giving my students time to write everyday. We begin the year with blank journals and in January we move to lined paper.  I also start the year with small golf pencils (or a regular pencil that I have cut in half - so it is the right size for their little hands).

I let the children the first few weeks decide what they want to draw. I ask them if they want to label their pictures or if they want me to. If they want to label, I work with them to write the word in their picture. (For example, if they draw a princess, I help them write the word princess). Eventually, I give them a sentence to copy off of the board. Later on, we work on finishing a sentence they copy off of the board and lastly they write their own sentences and develop their own stories.

I can't wait to get my book and read what I am doing right and what I need to fix.  I really want my Kinders to be successful writers!

To help my writers I like to use lists of words to help them with their writing. While blog stalking, I found the cutest little writing offices from Krazee 4 Kindergarten. You have to check them out! They are so cute! They fit perfectly in a school box! My Kinders would love that!

What do you do for Writing? Have you read In Pictures and In Words by Katie Wood Ray yet? Let's get our copy and read it all together! :)

Can't wait until next week to hear more of what Mrs. Wills has to say! :)

Book Organization and Giveaways - Updated

Fern Smith of Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas was a guest on Mrs. Stanford's Class today and gave some great ideas about organizing your classroom books.

I am addicted to Scholastic Book Clubs and have way too many books (if you saw all my books, you would think I was in need of an intervention), so I want to get those books organized in my new classroom this fall so my sweet Kinders can use them next year. I need some easy organization ideas. I can easily file away my favorites like Fern suggests, but that leaves me with way more books than I will ever need.

What is the best way to organize the rest for my class to use? I have seen so many posts about this in the past, but loved my organization at the time, so never gave it much thought. Now that I am moving into a much, much, much smaller classroom, I seriously need some ideas.

Did you post some ideas in the past you are willing to share with me? I am willing to buy some cute baskets (I know Lakeshore always has a sale in August. Does Really Good Stuff put theirs on sale? Do the Dollar store baskets hold up to wear and tear?)  I have seen some cute ideas about labeling, but what about space saving ideas?  Please share!

And if you have any other organization ideas for super small spaces, send them my way! I am ready to start fresh and organize! (I guess 10 years in one spot really was too long anyway, right?)

Now to a fun topic - Giveaways!

I love giveaways, don't you? Even if I don't win, the thrill of just trying is so exciting! Then I get all excited for those that do win! I feel like a kid in a candy store sometimes!

Here are a few I found and had to share! If I missed yours, leave me a note and I can always update this post! :) (click on the pictures to head to the giveaway)

Fun in First

Reading Toward the Stars!

Falling into First

The Corner on Character

T.G.I.F.

Primary Graffiti is giving away $25 Gift Certificate to Clever School Teacher Click Here for this giveaway

First Grade Blue Skies

Blogiversary Giveaway

Eberhart's Explorers

Leanne Baur's Creative Classroom

Two Crazy Texas Teachers

500 Follower Giveaway

Hurry! Some of these giveaways expire soon!

and follow me on Facebook - I try to post giveaways on FB as I find them!

Comment Code

I love comments, don't you? When you leave a comment, do you leave a link to your cute blog? Do you know how to put that cute link under your name?

If you need help, I would be happy to help you!

Just leave me your blog info and your email, and I will email you that code you need to link your blog on any comment you leave on someones blog.

And if you already know how to leave your link to your cute blog, why don't you do that so other people can click on it and visit you! :)

Hope you had an **Awesome** Monday! Here is to a **Terrific** Tuesday!

Summer is here!

Sorry I have been MIA! I took a much needed vacation and boy, it sure is hard to come back after having so much fun! (Do you ever feel that way? I keep looking at the clock and thinking... yesterday at this time I was.... anyway... sorry for the lapse!)

Can't believe Summer has rolled in! Time to catch up with my kids and time to read, read, read!

Do you use Daily 5? I would love to try it - so I bought the book and I am ready to dive in! Who is with me?

The sweet Tammy of Live, Love, Laugh Everyday in Kindergarten is having a book study on Daily 5 - Head to her blog and check it out!

The wonderful Mrs. Wills of Mrs. Wills Kindergarten is doing a book study on In Pictures and In Words - It starts June 22nd - so go grab your book and get ready!

And have you gotten in on all the giveaways lately????

 The wonderful Mrs. Miner has a HUGE giveaway

The sweet Jennifer of Herding Kats in Kindergarten is also having a Big giveaway

and I am in Love with Jennifer's Smelly Marker idea!

You HAVE to visit First Grade Blue Skies soon and check out her giveaway!

She is so super creative!

Lori from Teaching with Love & Laughter is giving away some amazing prizes! Visit her blog!

Well, I am off to some more Summer adventures with my wonderful kiddos!

Have you loved on your babies today??? :)