Birthday and Flash Giveaway

Today is my birthday and to honor it, I have decided to have a flash giveaway and a sale!

I recently opened my TpT store and I have a back to school book for you!

Do you want to win? Just fill out the Rafflecopter below!

The giveaway ends at midnight (just like my birthday)!

And just in case you don't win, I have put my book on sale for 50% off until noon August 1st!

Good luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New School Year - New Calendar!

Each morning I begin our morning routine on the floor. We begin the day with good news and morning message. We move on, in the beginning of the year, to our classroom rules. I love these from Little Miss Kindergarten:

from Little Miss Kindergarten

Once we have some classroom discussion out of the way, we move on to calendar.

This year I would love to start a daily calendar journal. Maggie from Maggie's Kinder Corner Blog has a cute one:

from Maggie's Kinder Corner

She has a cute sample you can check out here 

Jeannie from Kindergarten Lifestyle has a great binder set:

from Kindergarten Lifestyle

I always start calendar time be singing Dr. Jean's Days of the Week song and Macarena Months song (I love Dr. Jean and have all her Cd's! You can check out her blog here and her website here and you can buy her music here - these songs are on her Dr. Jean and Friends CD).

I try to get my class moving in the morning as much as I can so they are ready to sit and listen! (but you know 5 year old children can't sit very long - so we NEVER sit for very long - that's why I have a lot of music and dancing in my classroom! I have some other favorite musicians that I will blog about another day - they are wonderful to get kids moving and grooving!)

After we sing our songs, we change out the numbers in our pocket chart and change out our today, tomorrow and yesterday cards.  I LOVE my pocket chart!

Now, what do you fill those pockets with? 

I love to use patterns on my calendar cards to help my little Kinders learn patterns, shapes, colors. 

I purchased some a while back from a teacher supply store, but I am thinking about updating my classroom this school year.  So, of course, I headed to Teachers Pay Teachers for some great ideas!

Look what I found:

from Tammy of Live, Laugh, Love Everyday in Kindergarten

from Lidia of Kinder Alphabet

from Erin of Creating and Teaching

Have you found some cute Calendar Packs?  These are just a few of the thousands I found when I searched Calendar in Teachers Pay Teachers.

Are you ready to update your calendar?  I am still deciding (I have told you before that I am very indecisive! I sooo need to work on that!), I will let you know what I pick! :)

Blog Design Update!

If you happen to stop by and my blog is a mess, please forgive me! I am getting a little update! Yay!!! :)

I have had so many wonderful comments about my cute blog and I have to say a BIG Thank you!!!!

I love my blog! I love the little kids at the top! I love it all!!!

But I needed to add a link to my Facebook page and my {brand new} TpT store! :)  (I only have a few products, I am still in the creating stages, so be patient with me please!)

If you love my look, you can visit Kelly at Kelly's Avenue Designs or get to know her at Kelly's Avenue The Blog. 

She is really patient and will work with you to help you create the design you love! She has done lots of blogs and you can read the rave reviews by some other wonderful bloggers.

Just need an update? She does that too! 

I just love what she is done and if you visit her, I think you will too! :)

Kohl's Coupon!

I have been purchasing some wonderful goodies for my classroom and have shopped on-line a bunch!!! (The UPS man now drops my packages at the backdoor and waves through the window at me!)

Well, in case you missed my previous post about Back to School Specials, I wanted to make sure you got the good coupon from Kohl's! (click on Kohl's to go to their store).

Their representative contacted me on July 24th and wanted me to share this news with you:

"I noticed that you offer your readers great savings advice. Therefore, I also wanted to share an exclusive 10% off code for kohls.com. You can use the code BLOGIT10 through August 23 and stack your savings with one other department specific code as well. Feel free to use this code and share it with your readers!"

So share the news and have fun Back to School shopping!

Faith

Wow! As of this weekend, I have been blogging for a whole year! How time flies!!! :)

When I began blogging, I didn't think I would make it 6 months! I figured my life would get in the way of this love of mine! It's relaxing to me to blog and I love reading other blogs to inspire my teaching!

I guess I needed to have more faith in myself!  One little word... Faith. Such an important word, yet sometimes it loses its meaning.

I try to have faith in others, so why is it so hard to have faith in myself?  Am I the only one that is so critical of herself? I am sure I am not, although I feel that way sometimes.

Do you have faith? In others? In yourself? In God?

Last school year was a very hard year. Every day I went to school with a smile and a prayer and by the end of the day I was wore down and exhausted beyond belief. Where did my faith go?

Then I came to the realization that I needed to pray in the mornings, not just for myself, but for my students. I would enter my classroom and pray for each child, one by one. The days I did, my day was happier and I felt better about my day. My students were calmer and, I felt, listened better on those days. Faith.

Of course, most days I rushed into my room and quickly did last minute tasks to get ready for the day before the students arrived. But on the days I prayed for them, I had a better day.

Even though we can't talk about God in the public school system, I feel it is important for teachers to have their faith and pray for their classroom. Last year it really did make a world of difference for me!

I hope I have inspired you to have faith.

In a few weeks a wonderful author, Angela Watson, is going to do a guest post on my blog about her wonderful book, "Awakened: Change Your Mindset to Transform Your Teaching" and her newest book, "The Awakened Devotional Study Guide for Christian Educators". 

You can find more information about her Awakened books here: http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/books/awakened and the devotional here: http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/books/awakened-devotional.

I don't want you to miss this post!

And remember, keep following me! I have some goodies coming my way soon that I want to share! :)

Back to School Shopping Special!

Have you been to your local stores lately? Wow! They are already stocked with glue, scissors, paper, binders and crayons. Oh! I love a new box of crayons! My Kinders always get sooo excited about a new box of crayons!

Sometimes it is hard for me to get out and shop, so I turn to my trustee computer to help me out! I recently shopped at Kohl's on-line and found some amazing items for my classroom - {see this post}. 

Kohl's has contacted me and is offering a 10% discount code exclusive to my readers!   Just {click here} and then when you shop, enter the promo code BLOGIT10 on the payment page.  You can stack savings with one other department specific code. The code is good through August 23rd!  


But when I need some adorable classroom items that I can only get at a teacher store, I need to turn to another trusted store.

Check out the NEW Carson-Dellosa website! www.carsondellosa.com
I love their new website! It is so easy to use and I love their products!

I purchased their Deluxe Bulletin Board Storage Pocket Chart and love it! It holds my charts so nicely! I was thinking I need one for every month! (I guess my wish list is growing!)

Carson-Dellosa asked hundreds of teachers and parents how they wanted to shop online. Based on their feedback, the new and improved website now features:

·   $5.95 flat rate shipping on all online orders!

·   A powerful new search function that makes it easy to browse more than 4,200 items by keyword, grade, age, subject, learning need, product type and brand

·   Faster checkout

·   Wish Lists to create and organize the stuff you want the most!
·   Social sharing so you can quickly share product information on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Google+

If you can't get to the teacher supply store, you may want to check them out! It makes one stop shopping so simple!

Bulletin Boards!

If you have decided your theme for this year, have you decided what your bulletin board will look like? I thought I would share two from my previous years to give you some ideas:

Back to School - Garden Theme Bulletin Board



Back to School - Safari Theme Bulletin Board



I hope these inspire you!

I am linking up with Fifth Grade Dugout: Back to School Bulletin Board Linky Party. Go visit her and see her cute bulletin board!

This year I will be in a portable building and so I won't get to do a bulletin board. Although some friends of mine were telling me I should be excited, this was one of my favorite things to do each year. I am really very sad! At least I have my pictures! :)


Before I forget.....

Fabulous in First
Click {here} to check out her giveaway!

Mrs. Plant's PressClick {here} to check out her giveaway! 

Simply Kinder Click {here} to check out her giveaway! 

Fun for First

Click {here} to check out her giveaway!  

Sweet Times in FirstClick {here} to check out her Giveaway!  

Sprinkles to KindergartenClick {here} to check out her giveaway!   Wishing you Luck!!! :)

And keep following me... I have some more goodies to share in the coming weeks! :)

Winner!

And the winner is.....

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Congrats Renee! I will be emailing you, so be checking your email!  And if you didn't win, you can still visit Skippyjon Jones Stuff by clicking {here} and visit his book website by clicking {here}.  Don't you love him?!!! :)

Thank you to Skippyjon Jones representatives for helping with this giveaway! :)

Keep following me and my blog, because I have something else you won't want to miss coming up real soon!!! :)

Skippyjon Jones

Who loves Skippyjon Jones????   I do! I do! I do!!

Kohl's Cares has a bunch of Skippyjon Jones goodies this month and with Kohl's being an hour a way, I ordered my goodies on-line! I love Kohl's!  (and if I spent $75, I got free shipping - woo hoo!! What a deal for me! - So I, of course, had to order more than just Skippyjon Jones!)

Then I noticed Kohl's had some other really cute stuff on clearance, so I ordered:

I plan to make Skippyjon Jones, his books and the backpack as a take home reader unit and let the kids write about their night with him. I just need to add a spiral and a cute pen! I think my Kinders will love it!

I have a sweet surprise for you, my awesome followers.....

The sweet people at Skippyjon Jones Stuff are letting me give one of you sweet followers this:

The Grande Official El Skippito Costume Set

It includes a Skippyjon Jones Backpack pull, hand screened cape, a felt mask, and some super cute plush ears! It is a $34.00 value! If you can't wait to win it - you can go {here}. (The ears fit both kids and adults!)

I am getting me one to wear for Halloween!  I know, that is over 3 months away - but it is never too soon to plan! You could be the cutest person in your school on Halloween! {Don't wait until the last minute, this is a one of their most popular items!}

They also have the cutest tees (for children and adults)  I guess I am going shopping! And I noticed that if you order something from their site, you can get some free "earmarks" - click {here} to check it out!

Do you want to win it {I know I want to win it!} - Then just fill out the Rafflecopter link below!

Make sure you leave me your email address so I can let the sweet representative of Skippyjon Jones Stuff contact you to mail you the Set!
Good Luck! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Classroom Themes

Do you have a theme for your classroom? I have been thinking of Polka Dots! A new year, a new theme! Our school is doing safari theme, but I want to try to something a little neutral - so each year I don't have to keep buying new border and decorations. I think this is something I could keep around for a while! :)

Now, what color to use???

(you can click on the pictures to go to the products if you are interested - I have not received these products, just happen to like them bunches!)

I DO have this carpet that I got from Lakeshore (actually it was a DonorsChoose project that was funded several years ago):

Lakeshore Learning - Getting Ready to Read Activity Classroom Carpet

(I love my rug! It is so durable and the colors look just as great as the day I received it!)

So I was thinking of using polka dots and saw this cute pack at her TpT store:

Kreative in Kinder blog

But wasn't sure about it matching my carpet. But it is just so stinkin' cute! She does have a super cute Zebra theme set:

Kreative in Kinder blog

Then I saw she had this set:

Kreative in Kinder blog -

If you go to her blog you can see all her cute classroom themes! You will love all of them - they are sooo cute!

Wow! The bright colors are soooo cute! What is a girl to do! I am such an indecisive person! I think she is making a primary color set, have to keep an eye out on Kreative in Kinder's Facebook page for that one! She always puts her sets half off the first day she posts them!

I was browsing Teachers Pay Teachers and I found these cute primary polka dots:

Erica Bohrer

If you go to her blog you can see the cutest polka dot classroom!

I am sooo hooked on polka dots! I need to just sleep on it and maybe it will come to me in a dream what I should do!!!

Next, I decided I needed to make some seats for my sweet Kinders to sit on. You know, the cute milk crate seats. Then I saw this blog post from Maggie's Kinder Corner:

Maggie's Kinder Corner

Go visit her for the how-to - It sounds super easy!!! :)

I soooo HAVE to make these! I love the vinyl seat cover idea! Wow - so cute! My new Summer project! :)

What is your classroom theme???? I would love to hear any and all ideas you have! Who knows, maybe I will change my mind! :)

And before I forget - you know I love giveaways and I sooo want a HearAll from Learning Resources and you can win one here:

Teaching with Love & Laughter