Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

Our New Rug!!!

Our new rug - we love it!!! Donors Choose is awesome!! :)

Almost Ready!

Crate seats - have made 6. I might need to make some more for my huge class of 28 kindergarten kids!

Tomorrow is Meet the Teacher Day! School begins on Wednesday! I am almost ready! I will post my class pics soon! :)  

My zebra chair - almost finished!

Monday Made It - using some of that polka dot ribbon!

                   Time for Monday Made It with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics. I bought lots of polka dot ribbon and I am using it all! :)

My new Behavior Clip Chart (looks almost like my old one!)

How We Get Home transportation display - got this from Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera! She has such cute stuff! :)

My Happy Helper Chart!

I Can  Be A Good Listener! This poster set came from Christie at First Grade Fever.  She is so creative - really cute stuff on her blog too! 

More to come later this week- need to finish my rules, Where Are We? chart, zebra rocking chair, and set up my class room! :)

Currently...

I have linked up with Farley 

for this month's Currently. So much fun to read these posts each month! 

1.  I use so much ink - love making new stuff for my kindergarten class!
2.  Just a little obsessed with polka dot ribbon - have bought tons!
3.  My sweet husband moved all my furniture to set my room up. Actually, he does it every year! He is so supportive of my job... :)

Giveaway Winner!!

Congrats to Catherine E from Kinder Cuties for winning my giveaway! She wins a $25.00 gift card to Target  or Wal-Mart! :) I am hurrying to finish some cute things for Monday Make It ( now Wednesday make it for me!) :)

Don't forget... 200 Follower Giveaway!

Don't forget...

click here to enter! :)

200 Follower Giveaway

Yeah! I have 200 (and a few more) followers! To Celebrate, I am giving away a $25.00 gift card to Target or Wal-Mart - your choice! :)

Special thanks to Michelle at The 3AM Teacher for the cute frame! :)

a Rafflecopter giveawaya Rafflecopter giveaway

Awards, Winning, and Funding!!!

AWARDS

Yeah! I got the Liebster Blog award from Marie @ It's a Jungle out there! Her blog is so cute! Thank you Marie! :)

Here are the rules for the award:

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you. 

2. Post the award to your blog. 

3. Give the award to at least 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers. 

4. Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have been offered this award. I have given this award to 5 great blogs!

Catherine @ Kinder Cuties

Connie @ Creating Kinders

Perrine @ Modern Kindergarten

Lisa @ Kindergarten Kiddos

Lindsey @ Lovin' Kindergarten with Ms. Lindsey

I also received The Versatile Blogger award from some wonderful bloggers - check out their blogs too! :) Thank you! :)

Shawna @ Kinder Garden Seeds

Sarah @ FCS and Then Some

Patti @ Mrs. Katzman's Kinder Cubs

There are a few rules for the award and here they are... 

 1. Thank the blogger who nominated you. 

 2. Include a link to their blog. 

 3. Include award image in your post. 

 4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.. 

•  I grew up an "Army Brat" and moved lots! I lived in Japan and Germany.
•  I love Diet Coke - trying hard to drink more water!
•  I have 3 children and 6 step children! They are all wonderful! I have a new grand baby!
•  I love chocolate, but not white chocolate. I do love dark chocolate.
•  My favorite place is the beach and I live about 5 minutes away!!
•  I love to read and I read very fast!
•  I really hate to talk on the phone, but I love to talk in person!

 5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award 6. When nominating, include a link to their blog. Will have to do this part later - already past my bedtime!

WINNING

* Yeah! I have won 3 TpT items from Sarah @ FCS and Then Some and really cute ocean calendar pieces from Joni @ Kinder Kids Fun! Thank you! :)

FUNDING

** My Donors Choose project has been funded - so excited!! Yeah - a beautiful classroom rug!! :) 

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/love-for-a-new-rug/752850/

Monday Made It and Make it, Bake it, Sew it, Grow it!

Monday Made It and Miss Nelson's Erin Condren Giveaway!

This summer is going by way to fast!  My school projects are not finished, but I thought I would link up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics and show a home project. I am also linking up with Miss Nelson from - Run! Miss Nelson's Got The Camera! and her Erin Condren Giveaway! I did not like the before mirror - way too dark! My Living Room does not get lots of sun - so I need to lighten things up!

Mirror - before
After using a deglosser and sanding, I painted the mirror white (not bright white.) I then roughed it up and wiped on/off some bronze glaze. I like how it turned out, but my pictures are terrible - really need a new camera! 

Mirror - after

I love where I live and a giveaway!

I love where I live! So lucky to live about 5 minutes away from beautiful beaches... This is vacation to so many and home to me! 

I just realized that so much of my summer has flown by and I have not thought much about school. I have been reading, visiting with family, teaching Vacation Bible School, and sitting at the beach! I have done a few house projects, hauled kids around, helped my daughter with her babysitting job, and of course - doctors visits. I have also been following several blogging book studies. Next week, I plan to share some freebies and host my first giveaway - almost 200 followers! :)

Behavior Clip Chart

This is the Behavior Clip Chart that I made last year. I did like how it worked in my classroom. I was tired of my green, yellow, red, cards. My kids needed a way to move up!  I have seen this idea on so many blogs last year, but first saw it at Sunny Days in Second Grade. I borrowed her polka dot border idea.:) Did add smileys... my kindergarten kids need the help of pictures. I did add a blue section - Excellent Effort. 

. This is how I hung it in my classroom - hung on ribbon. I needed it big to attach my 25 kindergarten clips! I have to redo it this summer - it was not laminated well. I thought about changing it, but it worked and goes well with my polka dot, zebra - sort of bright colored monkey jungle theme! :)

Summer Reading Party

Finally, summer is here! I have been out of school for a week now. I am trying to rest my brain for a bit and then organize my plans for the summer. First, I am linking up with Clutter Free Classroom's Summer Reading party.

 I want to work this summer on improving my math work stations and differentiating my 

math instruction.  I got Debbie Diller's Math Work Stations last summer, but I am planning to read it again.  

I also plan on joining Mrs. Wills in her book study with this book. I have it ordered - hope to get it soon! This will be our 2nd year with the new Common Core Standards - and writing will be a focus!

I also plan to join Tammy at Live, Love, Laugh Everyday In Kindergarten with her book study. I have had this book for 2 years, but really want to focus and read it again. The Daily 5 is really not used with my kindergarten team, school, or even district and I need lots of support to really get started! :)

Joni's First Giveaway - KinderKids Fun

Joni at KinderKids Fun is having her first giveaway! You can win a copy of her unit - Lovely Ladybugs. It is so cute - with Literacy and Math activities.

Classroom Library Linky Party

Amy Rider from Literacy and Laughter is having a Classroom Library Linky Party and I am joining in. Here is how my classroom library looks this year. 

Reading Center - bookshelves, reading area and individual Book Buckets

Reading Center - Chicka Chicka tree, monkey rug, and reading fence 

Reading Center - leveled reading buckets and animal reading buddies

Spring Break and catching up!

With my daughter in North Carolina.

I had a wonderful Spring Break!Visited my mom...in Alabama and then spent some time at my brother-in-law's horse farm in North Carolina. Of course I did have to travel with my husband, our dog, and 4 teenagers!! 

Lots of time in the car!

Beautiful cabin porch view!

The girls love the horses! :)

The girls - Easter Sunday!

Some pictures of classroom activities that I forgot to post before Spring Break!

Our Easter baskets that we make every year - from grocery bags!

Eric Carle - The Hungry Caterpillar - Life Cycle

Tissue paper butterflies!!

Sight Word Help and a freebie!

Teaching sight words in kindergarten is tough - especially now when we have over 80 teach! Just curious - how many words do other kindergarten teachers teach? I think 80 is too many! We practice our words daily, write them , clap them, sing them... still hard for many! On Friday, we play WORDO (like BINGO). My kindergarten kids love it and we use candy for counters! When finished, they have to color the word box to match the color of the word on our Word Wall! Our new game is Pizza WORDO - lots of fun too! My kids write a Word Wall Word on the pizza crust. When the word is called out, they color in the pepperoni - it is a new favorite! :)

Grab the Pizza WORDO sheet here!    

Busy Days, Busy Weeks, Busy Month - and more Dr. Seuss!

What a busy month - just now posting some of our Dr. Seuss activities!

Cat in the Hat art!

  Cat in the Hat drawings and stories!

Do you like green eggs and ham? Our graph after cooking and tasting green eggs and ham at school!

What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

Dr. Seuss Celebration - Cat in the Hat cupcakes!

Blogging Awards

I just love our blogging community! It is fun to share ideas and I have learned so much from many wonderful teachers!  I want to thank 3 sweet bloggers for awarding me blog awards! :) Special thanks to Michelle at Inspired By Kindergarten  blog and Kimberlee at  Two Fulbright Hugs blog for a the One Lovely Blog Award!

Special thanks to Ann at Mrs. Greene"s Kindergarten Corner for giving my blog the Top 10 Award! 

Check out their wonderful blogs! 

* I will be posting more pictures and some freebies later this week! :)