Product Swap

It's time for another product swap! This time I have swapped with the awesome Aussie teacher, Brooke Benyon.

 

 

 

You should check out and follow her blog if you don't already!

Her teacher tip Thursdays are awesome!

 

Now...on to the product I picked from her store {there were so many good ones it was hard to pick!}.

 

 

This unit is packed FULL of fun activities for when you work with plants!

We planted beans because I was pretty sure I could keep them alive and we documented the growth.

My favorite activity (one of those where you take the picture with your phone, yet somehow it's not on your phone...) was where students wrote and drew what they thought our bean would end up looking like.

Below are some pictures from this super fun unit:

 

 One of my student's parents so thoughtfully provided the items for us to make "dirt" for a special snack.

Helping another open the pudding.

Double thumbs up good!

Now you can hop on over to her blog to check out her product review on something from my little store (which is now 20% off!!)

And be sure to click on the product swap button at the top to see all the product swap reviews!

Boot Scootin' Blog Hop {come on ya'll and grab up your freebies!}

Hello friends! So glad you could drop by and check out this awesome Boot Scootin' Blog Hop! Elizabeth from Kickin' it in Kindergarten has organized all of this fun with all of us Tennessee teachers! I hope you hop around and grap up some goodies!

 

Here is my freebie to you. It is Beehvie Bingo for the 1st 60 Fry words. You can get it from my TPT Store or from Google Docs whichever works best for you.

 

Earth Day is coming up. I can't wait! For part of our unit we will be reading "Diary of a Worm" and then we will do a worm study. I love this project {although earthworms do creep me out just a little bit}. The best part is when kids write about worms using their 5 senses. Just imagine a kindergartener's face when they see they have to write about what they think a worm tastes like! You can check out my "Diary of a Worm" unit in my little store.

 

Now, hop on over to Mary's blog, Pitner's Potpourri to see what awesomeness she has in store for you! She always has something fun going on, so you know her freebie will be fabulous!

 

  

April Currently

This is my first time linking up with Farley with currently.

 

 

 It's  never to late to try something new! So here it is:

 

Listening...to the TV in the living room. It pretty much stays on all the time for the boys - Tank and Charlie.

 Loving...my last day of Spring Break! I can't believe how quickly it passed by!

Thinking... I am acutally ready to go back. I spent 3 days of my break in the classroom trying to get ahead on things.

Wanting...a chinchilla for my classroom. I've always wanted one. And when we were at Petsmark last week looking to replace my classroom fish that had died, I spied one. I have to get principal approval first, but my hubby is all for it!

Needing...to get housework done. I'm not a cleaner and I despise housework, but alas it has to get done.

Advice...Stay positive! No matter the situation you choose how to react and try to stay positive (this is for myself as well). 

Decomposing Teen Numbers

As you may know, I moved back to kindergarten this year after a couple years in 1st grade. When we recieved our grade card at the beginning of the year and all the K teachers were looking over it, we saw decomposing numbers on the math section. My first thought was "What exactly does that mean!".  Anywho, our Math series (which we got last year) doesn't quite work with common core and has nothing for decomposing numbers. So here is my approach to decomposing teen numbers and it is ice-cream themed because I am ready for SUMMER! 3 different station activites are included. Just click on one of the pictures to see it in my little store.

 

 

AND....the 1st TWO followers to leave a comment with their email will get this little packet for free!

The 1st two have already commented. :)

Easter Fun and New Class Pets!

Whew, Friday was our last day before Spring Break. We all had at least a touch of Spring fever! Friday we colored eggs with Kool-Aid. If you haven't tried it yet, you should. All you need is a packet of Kool-Aid and 2/3 cup of water. It's super easy and smells much better. While they were in special classes I hid about 300 eggs stuffed full of goodies in my classroom. I didn't get any picutures of our festivities, but we had a blast. :)


The hubby and I went out for a date night last night and we ended up at the mall so I could get some new earrings (Tank, our bulldog, found one of my hoops on the floor and decided it would look better if he chewed on it.)

While we were at the mall, we saw a little kiosk that had hermit crabs and African dwarf frogs. Naturally, I was drawn to it and ended up walking away with 2 African dwarf frogs.

Meet Kermit (up front) and Mrs. Piggy (in the back). I can't wait for my kiddos to meet them!

These will fit in great with our Glofish, Flo, Mo and Jo:

 

Do you have any class pets?

St. Patrick's Day FUN!

We had a wild and crazy Friday in my little kindergarten classroom. Our little leprechaun, Scotty (my husband, who loves helping me trash my room) made a visit. Here are some pictures of what he left for us.

Everything from our reading center was thrown everywhere onto our meeting rug

 Footprints, gold and candy were left on all of the tables

He even got into our cookies!

I forgot to take pictures of our cubbies. They were covered in streamers! 

Amazingly, my little ones were able to put their excitement aside, clean up the craziness, chill out and begin our day. I was happily surprised. 

Later that day, we wrote about leprechauns and made one to go with our writing. One of my little girls wasn't too excited about making a boy leprechaun and wanted to use the strips for the beard for hair instead. Those turned out so cute!

We also made Reagan Tunstall's Rainbow Name-bow activity. I sent home the parent note with the paper provided and 13 of my 19 darlings brought theirs back. I loved seeing what the parents wrote down for each letter. I LOVE these!!

Word Work Station {and *freebie*!}

Hello friends! Do you have a favorite part of your school day? My favorite part would have to be station time. Though, it would be a tie between Math and Reading stations. They both are so much fun! One of my favorite reading stations is my stamping words station and the kids think it's pretty cool, too. :)

Here's a little look as to what goes on during this station that they visit once a week.

This year I finally figured out something that worked to store my stamps in. The cases they come in don't last long. I had seen an idea on Pinterst to use ice cube trays, but I wasn't sure how that would work. And then it came to me, the little baskets I already had would work perfect! Who knew those cheap baskets from Wal-mart would work so wonderfully?! By this time in the year, they can pretty much keep the stamps in ABC order (they know how OCD I am about that!). The stamp pads you see came from Oriental Trading and have lasted all year, which is quite an accomplishment!

Here's a little unit that I use to help differentiate at my stamp station:

 

And a freebie to go along with it!