My Review of Easi-Speak™ USB Recorder

Originally submitted at Learning Resources

Fun-and-easy wireless recorder encourages even reluctant students to speak up! Just one button to record, then simply play back and listen (up to 4 hours of audio). Extended uses across the curriculumoral language, fluency, phonics, speech therapy, intervention, math facts, podcasts and more.

Easi-Speak™ USB Recorder

Wow this is a Motivating tool! I give it 5 stars!

Pros: Set up is a breeze, Motivating, Easy to use, Student friendly, Easy to charge Cons: Students can delete files
Best Uses: Can check self, Independent, Sight Word Aid, ReadingListening Aid, Motivating to read

Love this device! Right out of the box, it was a snap to use!

I gave my class one lesson and they easily figured it out and used it! One of my shy students who hates to read has been opening up and reading thanks to this wonderful tool! I love that I can easily recharge it.  It comes with great directions!

I also love that I can listen to the students read when I have more time. This has been such a great classroom tool. I am in love with this tool!!! Thank you Learning Resources and Kreative in Kinder for this great product! :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

I hope you have had a blessed and glorious day! It has been busy in my house! We have been traveling to visit family! Just got home and have to finish hopping down the bunny trail!

Have you been hopping down the bunny trail? It has been so much fun! Click the cute picture to join in the fun!

Have you joined in the giveaways in Blog Land? :)

Some sweet Texas girls are having some giveaways....

 Rowdy in Room 300 is having the best giveaway! Go check her out! :)  

  Kreative in Kinder is giving away the coolest item! Your classroom will love it! Go see her to enter! :)

 Sprinkles to Kindergarten is giving away a gift card! :) Good Luck! and Happy Hopping! :) 

Missing and a Freebie!

I have been missing blogland! I hope you missed me too! I am so sorry I have been away so long! I have been trying to keep up with my kiddos and doing some bonding! And trying to keep them well... Boy! Stomach bugs are the worst! and then there are the viruses! Ugh! Well, I think we are finally on the mend... At least I hope so! :)

To make up for it I am giving you a freebie!

All artwork and fonts are from DJ Inkers. You can visit http://www.djinkers.com/ for these and other clipart and fonts.  

My Easter Bunny Book

I promise to be back soon! I won a wonderful prize from Kreative in Kinder and Learning Resources and I want to show it off! :)

A little of this and A little of that!

I am so sorry you have not heard from me in a while! My family has been sick with a stomach bug and my son started baseball. Life is a little crazy right now! Okay... Now to rambling about a little of this and a little of that..... Please try to stay with me..... :)

Do you like my blog design? Well, Kelly designed my cute blog and she wants to share a great deal with all of you! She is giving $10 off both the elite and basic blog designs. Just tell her I sent you! Isn't that sweet!!! She was so patient with me and did such a fabulous job! :)

Kelly's Avenue Blog: http://www.kellysavenue.com/
Kelly's Avenue Designs: http://www.kellysavenuedesigns.com/

Giggles and Squeals gave me an award! :)

So, the rules of the "One Lovely Blog Award":

1.  Thank the person who gave it to you and link back to them.

2.  Pass the award on to 15 other bloggers.

3.  Follow the person who sent it to you

I am running around like crazy right now, so I will have to pass this award on later, but I wanted to THANK Giggles and Squeals! That was so sweet!!! :)

And I want to do Currently with Farley, but that too will have to wait!

We have Spring Break coming up next week and I will be not able to access a computer, (my hubby is so excited about this! And my blog addiction is so very nervous... I might go through withdrawals!) It will be so nice having lots of one-on-one time with the kids and husband! So, if you don't hear from me, please, please, please forgive me! :)

I will try to back one day this week to blog more before we leave on vacation!

Happy Week to you!!! :)

Giveaway Winners!

Thanks to everyone who participated
in my giveaway!!!
I know you have been waiting for me to tell you the winners - Sorry for the delay!
{I had to have my daughter help me with the cute pictures}
So... here are the winners:

Congrats Miss S.!  You win the awesome t-shirt from Sewing Sassy!

Congrats Holly! (You are on a rolll!!!) 

You win the awesome Dr. Seuss Literacy & Math Centers Unit!

from Kreative in Kinder!

Congrats Tiffani!  You win the wonderful On the Loose! unit

from Loving and Learning in Pre-K!

Congrats Jennifer!

You get to pick two things from the very sweet Heather's Heart!

(Here is the link to her store: Heather's Heart TpT store)

Thank you everyone for participating!

Please visit my wonderful blog friends:

Crystal, Julia, Heather

and Sewing Sassy

and leave them some love for helping me celebrate!

200 Follower Giveaway!

OK, I was going to wait until My actual Blog-i-versary on Wednesday, but I am tooooo excited!!!!

Wow! I can hardly believe when I started last July 22nd that I would have 200+ followers 7 months later! To thank everyone, I am giving away some wonderful goodies from some wonderful people to
4 Lucky Winners!!!:

(Quick tip:  If you hold down the Ctrl key before you click the links below, it will open in a new window and you won't lose your place on my blog!)

The 1st Winner will win:

You can win one of her rockin' shirts! She has lots of styles and colors to choose from! You will have fun picking one! I love mine!!!

Sewing Sassy's Etsy Store and Facebook page

The 2nd Winner will win:

 


  

 Crystal's blog and TpT store

  The 3rd Winner will win:    

Julia's blog and TpT store   The 4th Winner will win: 


 You can pick any 2 unit's from Heather's store! Heather's blog and TpT store   Do you want to enter? Here are the rules:(Please leave your email address so I can contact you){To make it easy on you - I am adding text you can copy and paste in the comments if you want, just make sure you leave your name and email address!} 1. First ---- You must follow my blog! ---- (But since you are here, I know you already do!) ----- Then make sure you follow the other 3 blogs and Sewing Sassy's Etsy Store (add it to your favorites on Etsy). Then leave me a comment!   {I follow all 4 blogs and Sewing Sassy's Etsy Store} (1 entry) Bonus Entries:  2. If you have a blog, add Crayons and Curls to your blog list and/or add my button to your blog and leave a comment telling me you have done this. {I added Crayons and Curls to my blog list} or {I added your button to my blog} or {I added you to my blog list and your button to my blog} (1 entry) 3. Leave me a comment telling me you follow all 3 TpT stores.    {I follow all 3 TpT stores!} (1 entry) 4. Like Sewing Sassy's Facebook page and leave a comment on her Facebook page telling her I sent you {Crayons and Curls sent me!} and then come back and leave a comment telling me you follow her Facebook page. {I follow Sewing Sassy's FB page!} (1 entry) 5. Like my Facebook page and come back and leave me a comment that you follow my Facebook page.  {I follow your FB page!} (1 entry) 6. If you have a blog, blog about this giveaway on your blog and leave me a comment telling me you did!{I blogged about this giveaway and here is the link....} (1 entry) 7. Please leave all comments for this giveaway on my blog only!!! :) There are a possible of 6 entries! Please don't forget to leave your email so I can contact you!  Good Luck!!! :)  This giveaway will end on Sunday, February 26th and 7:00 pm. 

Birthday Celebration!

 Heather's fur baby, Edison, is having a birthday! In celebration, she is donating $1 for each new follower to the Winnie Berry Pet Adoption Center.Won't you visit, follow her, leave her a comment letting you know you are a new follower! She has a HUGE Heart and has some wonderful freebies for you! You will love her, I promise! :) 

New Blog!

I found the cutest blog! First Grade Gallery - Lessons for Little Learners.  Look at her owls I pinned:

She only has 4 followers, so go visit and say Hi and tell her I sent you!

Happy Blogging! :) 

Love Exchange!

I had so much fun with this Be My Valentine Exchange! Kelley from Buggy for Second Grade sent me the most adorable post-it note holder and pen set! LOVE IT!!!

It is so perfect for me! I am always walking around with my post-its and then trying to find where I left them! Now, they can stay put and I can just grab one and go! And gotta love the colorful pens! They make writing so much fun! :)

I had fun picking out a gift for Beth Ann from Taming My Flock of Firsties and I gave her this:

I had to send chocolate! Valentines Day and Chocolate just belong together! mmmmmm.......Yum! (Looking at the picture, I am now craving chocolate!)

I also had fun with the Class Exchange! We sent our cute Heart Men (if you missed that post, click here) and they sent us the cutest heart butterflies! (I forgot to take a picture of them! UGH! If I can get one of my little ones to bring one to school I will post a pic.)  Thank you Linda and Ms. Moffatt! My class loved learning about Mississippi! They want to write you another letter! Yay for Pen Pals! :)



 Thanks to Caitlin and Sarah for putting together this wonderful exchange!  Head over to their new blog and follow them so you can link up the next time they put together one of these cute exchanges!



  And speaking of Valentines.... My class made the cutest Valentine Friends from First Grade Blue Skies 

I used scrapbook paper from the Target Dollar Spot for the bow and paper. Cutest craft! :) Do you love my border? My kids made it! We did patterns on sentence strips. Another fun Valentine activity! :)

I hope you had a wonderful Valentines! Now... What is next? Oh yes! President's Day and then Dr. Seuss' birthday and oh yes! Texas Independence Day is also March 2nd! What a busy (but fun!) time of year!

Currently February

I thought I'd link up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade! and her Currently February linky party! So... What are you currently up to? Head over and link up with Farley! :)

Valentine Poem for Parents *Freebie*

I hope you loved the Heart Man I posted last night :)  Here is another cute item I have my class make every year. I stamp their thumb on a red stamp pad and then criss cross their thumb prints to make a heart shape. (The poem is not my original work, so if you know who wrote it, please let me know so I can give proper credit. Thank you!)  I have left it in Word so you can edit the year each year. :) I usually try to take a picture of the child, put it on the front next to the thumbprint and have them write I love you on the back. Then I laminate them and put a magnet on the back so they can hang it on their fridge.

Valentine Poem for Parents in Word

Don't forget to follow me. I am having a giveaway soon... Here is a sneak peek:

Don't you LOVE her?! Head to her Etsy Store or Facebook page to see more! :)

Speaking of Giveaways....

Peace, Love & First Grade is having a 50 Follower Giveaway! You could win a $10 TpT gift card to buy some of her rockin' products! Please check her out and leave her some love! :)

Kindergarten Lifestyle is having a giveaway where everyone wins! If you leave your email in her comments, she will send you a cute packet and you get to try for some great units from some great authors!!! How cool is that?!

Valentines *Freebies*

Gotta Love February! After all, it is the month of LOVE! :)  My class wanted to share love, so I linked up with Ms. Preppy and Sarah for the Valentine Class Exchange.

Look at what my class made today to mail to our Valentine Class Exchange partners:

Aren't they precious? :)

Would you like your class to make a Heart Man? (If so, keep reading!) There is a cute story to go with it (but I have to admit, I did not write the story and if you know who did, please let me know so I can give the proper credit!) I make these every year and I must say they are so adorable! I usually add googly eyes, but I was out, so I substituted our little die-cut hearts. I have the big hearts (body) and little heart feet and hands for you! (You will have to come up with your own little bitty hearts for the eyes, nose, mouth and heart - but I know you are all super creative and can make little bitty hearts if you don't have access to a die-cut machine)

Each student will need one page of 2 big hearts (I copied onto red construction paper) and will also need 4 of the little hearts (I also copied onto red construction paper). Then you will need to take pink construction paper and cut 1 inch strips for the legs and arms. I taught my class how to fold the strips of paper to make the cute arms and legs.

Here are your freebies! Leave me some love if you grab them! Come back and visit me and let me know if you make them! :)

(Keep reading after you download)

Heart Man Story


Heart Man Big Hearts

Heart Man Little Hearts


I will try to be back tomorrow to give you another cute freebie I do with my class for Valentine's Day!

In the meantime, I am giving you a sneak peek at something I am working on:

If you love it, visit Sewing Sassy on Facebook or her Etsy shop!

LOVE Challenge!

Today I was having a Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Do you really want details? Didn't think so! But let me just leave you with - I had no conference - AGAIN! Let's see - yesterday 30 minutes, today nil and tomorrow 30 minutes - makes for a very tired teacher! Did I mention I have a class of very energetic, talkative students?) and then I read the sweetest comment from Heather's Heart. Wow! My Horrible day turned around and made me smile! :)

Here is my challenge to you!

Go find one of your favorite blogs and leave some love! Anything that might make the person smile! Who knows, you might turn a terrible day around and give a person a virtual hug! :)

:) Love and Virtual Hugs to you! :)

Tag... You're it!

I've been Tagged!

Holly at Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade and Laura at Peace, Love and First Grade tagged me! As a kid, I loved playing tag! I loved running around, trying not to get caught! So much fun! So, I am super excited about this game of tag!

So here are the rules:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

Twelve Fun Facts:

1. I like red wine! (and some evenings I really need that glass to relax! My class is VERY energetic this year)
2. I love Italian food! (with my red wine!)
3. I love Asian food! (Pei Wei and PF Changs - Yum!)
4. I love salad - Spring Mix with tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, black olives and just a drizzle of EVOO and Balsamic Vinegar makes me happy! (Ok... I love food!)
5. I try to only drink water or decaf tea (I love hot decaf green tea! - Caffeine makes me jittery - Although, I love a cup of coffee on a cold morning!)
6. I went back to school to be a teacher when my little girl was 2, before that I did a hodge podge of jobs!
7. My husband wants to buy me a new Blackberry phone, but I want an Iphone - so this is a debate right now in my house!
8. I am a blog addict! My husband is helping me work through it (not willingly of course!), so if I am away from blogland for a few days, you will understand!
9. I have a Summer birthday, and always wished my birthday was during the school year so I could celebrate with all my friends at school.
10. I just realized I type with alot of Exclamation marks! (Okay, I need to work on that too!)
11. I love laying around in my PJ's on a rainy day and reading a good book!
12. My kids make me smile on a daily basis! I love being a Mom!

Holly's Tag Questions:

1. What is your favorite kind of candy? Sour Patch Kids
2.  What is something you are really uptight about? Nasty toilets!
3.  Is your car clean right this very minute? Inside, yes; Outside - no (it finally rained in Texas!)
4.  What's your "favorite" household chore? Cooking! (is that a chore?)
5.  Do you miss Oprah? No
6.  Do you play an instrument? I played the flute in Middle and High School
7. What's your favorite piece of technology? Computer (I wish I had an Ipad and a Smartboard)
8.  Do you have a social life? My kids are my social life!
9.  Are you a phone talker? I like to talk on the phone, but lately I just text
10. Do you text? Yes
11. What's your favorite piece of furniture in your house? My couch
12.  Does anything make you squeamish?  Roaches!

Laura's Tag Questions:

 

1. What was your favorite childhood toy? My doll, Beth

2. How old were you when you got your first cell phone? 20 something

3. Do you have a nickname? What is it? When I was a kid, it was Charlie (I had my hair cut real short like a boy, so my Paw Paw started calling me Charlie) - Now it's Mommy (but sometimes I am called "Teacher")

4. Diet or fully leaded drinks? Mostly water, but sometimes fully leaded Dr Pepper

5. What's your favorite way to exercise? I LOVE to walk!

6. Night owl or early riser? I collapse at night - so early riser (Between 5:00 and 5:15)

7. What's your favorite color combination? I love Brown and pink or blue or red

8. Cold weather or warm weather? Both! I love the cold, crisp Texas weather! But I love the warmth of the sun to hang out and play outside with the kids!

9. Have you given up your home phone to go just cellular? Not yet!

10. What's your favorite thing to do during the summer? Sleep late and Play with my kids!

11. What's the best book you have read lately/last? The Help and Heaven is for Real

12. How early is your Spring Break if you have one? March 12!

12 Questions from me: (Feel free to answer them if you haven't been tagged!)

1. What's your favorite color?

2. What is another job you have done besides teaching?

3. Are you married and do you have children?

4. What was your favorite place to visit?

5. What is your favorite website?

6. Would you rather have an Iphone or Blackberry?

7. What do you eat for lunch while you are at school?

8. What was your favorite present you ever received?

9. What item do you wish your classroom had?

10. What is your favorite movie of all time?

11. Would you rather sit on the beach or go to the mountains?

12. What is your favorite holiday?

I am tagging:

1. Kristin of A Teeny Tiny Teacher

2. Jennifer of Rowdy in First Grade

3. Jennifer of Herding Kats in Kindergarten

4. Marlana of Lil' Country Kindergarten

5. Jeannie of Class Full of "Special" Kinders

6. Pam of Can Do Kinders

7. Jennifer of First Grade Blue Skies

8. Mrs. Coe of Little Miss Kindergarten

9. Alessia of Mrs. Albanese's Kindergarten Class

10. Julia of Loving and Learning in Pre-K

11. Erin of creating and teaching

12. Hadar of Miss Kindergarten

Have a Blessed week everyone!