My Week in Pictures!

We have been in school 19 days and this year is already flying by! I thought I'd share some of the activities that we have done this week!

On Monday, it was Clifford's Birthday! So we read some of his book and my class colored his picture. I love his books! They are fun for the kids and always have a great item to talk about! His manners book is wonderful!

I found this page at the PBS website under party favors.

 In Math this week, we reviewed the number 4 and introduced the numbers 5 and O, so Pete the Cat fit right in! We had fun discussing what comes before, after each number. Adding, subtracting using each number. They loved it!

 This is from Golden Gang Kindergarten {click here}

Last week we did Chicka Chicka Boom Boom name activities, and I wanted to help my class recognize their name, so we made these cute apples!

 

This is from Maggie's Kinder Corner {click here}

I blew it up and copied it on red construction paper.

The letters can be found {here}

This week we taught the letter Mm. We made a class list of Mm words (I need to get better about taking pictures - they came up with some cute words!). We also used Starfall.com and played with the letter Mm activity.  We read an Mm poem and graphed how many times Mm was used. Every day to enter the room,  they had to tell me what started with the letter Mm. Well, one child's favorite word was monster. So we had to make monsters on Friday!  Miss Kindergarten to the rescue!

You can find these at her TpT store for $3 {click here}

Here is a little sample of their writing -

we are still learning to write, so they copied the sentence off the board.

I think they did really great!

I hope you had a great too!

Now, to plan for next week!

I am in Love with my Smartboard and Smartboard Freebies!

A few weeks ago, our district gave us the best gift - a Smartboard and training to go with it! I am in love! It has been so much fun to find activities to help my little kindergartners learn!

I am a firm believer in hands on activities and this fits right in! I know it is not traditional hands on, but the kids do interact more than a paper and pencil activity. I love finding activities that they have to problem solve and figure out the answer. It has been so much fun to "play" with!

I love using it as one of my center rotations {and I know the kids do to!}

I have found some great sites with some great Smartboard activities!

Just this week I Googled Kindergarten Basic Needs and Wants for Smartboard and found some to use that were free! {here is the link}

Then I decided to look for Daily Calendar activities and found another great file {click here}.  But I also saw Mrs. Will's blog about Smartboard Calendars {here}.  All free!!!

I was also Googling Kindergarten Smartboard Activities and found Sheppard Software, and also this great site -{click here}.

We have been reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom in my classroom and we had to have some Smartboard fun so I found these {click here}

but of course, I wanted to have more fun, so I had my sweeties make these:

{My super good teacher friend, Joy, drew these and I had my cuties cut out the coconuts - four because we were learning about the number four - and then they had to pick out the letters of their name using foam letters and glue them on - Aren't they adorable?}

Then, last year, I won my school $500 from TeachHub.com and I bought these great Smartboard activities for my school from Lakeshore {and I see that they are having a buy one get one 50% off sale right now using coupon code SOFTWARE! - Expires 10/31/2012}

and

Okay, so what Smartboard software or link do you love?

Please share!

Show Some Random Love!

The Bubbly Blonde Teacher has a dear friend that was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. Her name is Tiffany. She is not yet 30 years old and a mother to Emma.

Would you like to help with her medical expenses? You can click below and head over to The Bubbly Blonde Teacher. By donating $20, you can pick up some amazing products worth over $130! Something so small can make such a difference in someone's life!

Kindergarten Common Core

Common Core Standards are a must for most of the Nation, {45 states follow the Common Core Standards.}.  But, living in Texas, all teachers must cover all the Kindergarten TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) with their students. 

About a year ago, I began reading so much about all the Common Core Standards for Kindergarten and was really interested about what was required.  Even though my state does not follow Common Core Standards, it is amazing how similar the standards are, (with a few differences - for example patterning is not found in the common core standards - whereas Texas requires patterning - TEK K5 and K6). But with so many similarities, I could not help but be interested when a blogger friend, {Laura from Kinder Kraziness}, posted about the Kindergarten Common Core workbook.

Wow! What a great resource! If you live in one of the 45 states that requires you to follow the Kindergarten Common Core Standards, {or are just interested and curious about the standards}, this resource is a must have! 

I downloaded the small sample and was amazed at the quality that was put into this workbook! It is organized very well and is teacher friendly. It also has some great graphics and activities to make learning fun! It has some great Common Core Activities and Common Core Worksheets. 

If you are a Kindergarten Teacher, this is a must have for your classroom! {And even if you don't teach to Common Core - you will want what this has to offer!}  It is a great value for 39.99! But why don't you take a look at the Kindergarten Common Core by clicking {here} and download the sample and see for yourself.

And if you are a blogger, you can receive this amazing workbook for free! Just blog about it before September 16th and they will send you the free download! {Go here and find out more!}

Shabby Apple Love!

I have fallen in love with the dresses at Shabby Apple! They are so pretty! And I soooo need some new dresses for back to school! If you have a few minutes, go visit them and look over all their beauties! But, please come back.... I have a coupon you can use to buy one of their beauties!

And do you want to see their top selling dresses? Well, here is a list of Shabby Apple's best selling dresses so far this year:

1-  Alice
2-  The Red Queen
3-  I'm Late! I'm Late!
4-  Ingrid
5-  El Capitan
6- Elizabeth Islands

Now, I have some exciting news for you! Would you like a discount code to buy one of those beautiful dresses? I have a 10% coupon that expires Friday, September 14 - just use the code favorite10 sitewide at Shabby Apple and you can save 10% off a new dress!

Oh, I forgot to tell you! They also sell the cutest items for little girls! {click here to see Little Girls Dresses from Shabby Apple}

If you do decide to shop, don't forget to use the site wide code  

favorite10 to save 10%! This code expires 9/14/2012.

Have fun shopping!

Look what I made!

This summer I bought Mrs. Wills Overhead Station packet {check out her blog post here}.

{click on the picture to take you to her TpT store}

Well, in my tiny classroom, I don't have a lot of space to store a overhead projector, so.... I started thinking..... I love the little cart Deedee uses for her overhead (love the wheels - that would make it so easy to wheel it out of the way when it wasn't being used). So....I found an old baby bed in my school that no one wanted



My sweet husband cut off the legs and added wheels and my sweet daughter used duct tape and made it pretty!

I love that I can wheel it anywhere in the room! Right now I store it behind the bathroom door - but if that doesn't work out, I can easily just roll it to a new spot!
Now all I need to do is hang a dry erase board low enough for my kinders to use it (I think I may use 3M tape to hang it - in case I change my mind and want to move it)!

Leave me a note and let me know what you think! :)

I also linked up with 4th Grade Frolics - there are some cool crafts! Go check them out! :)

Giveaway Winner!

And the winner of Angela Watson's Awakened book giveaway is....

Mrs. Krull

Congrats!!!

I will be contacting you!

While I am talking about giveaways....

Have you seen these?