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Rockin' Resources Linky Party


I am excited to be linking up with Kelley at Teacher Idea Factory in her first linky party!


Here are my top 5 things I couldn't live without.

1.  My Elmo and Wireless Slate {Ok, so this is really 2 things} - I use my Elmo every single day in my classroom.  I love how my students can see exactly what I want them to do and how I want them to do it.  I also use my wireless slate every day.  I use the smartboard program to do my morning calendar. {I don't actually have a smartboard :( }   It is so much easier to use with the slate.  
Not my actual one , but mine is similar. 

2.  Lakeshore Learning - I know this isn't a "thing", but I just love this store.  I was so excited when a store opened here in the valley a few years ago.  {My husband was not as excited.  lol}  I love going and looking, and I love it even more when I go and buy.  My classroom is filled with items from Lakeshore Learning.  

3.  Starfall - I love how I can put my students at a computer with Starfall and not worry about what they might come across. 
4.  Scotch Thermal Laminator - I love that I can print things off at home, laminate them, and be ready for the next day.  I have had it for a few years, but I have just really started using it this year.  Love it!
5.  My Bic Pens - I know this is kind of silly, but these are my favorite pens.  I'm usually carrying one {sometimes two} around in my pockets.  I have them in blue, red, and purple.  I really want some green ones, but I'm not sure they make them.  I will have to look into that.  

Jump over to Teacher Idea Factory to see what other teachers can't live without.



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First Day of School Raccoon Craftivity


I just love reading the The Kissing Hand every year!  It is one of my favorite books to start off the year.  I feel like it really helps my Kinders feel better about being away from Mom and Dad.  For some of them, this is really the first time that they have been away from their parents.  I decided I wanted to do something different this coming year so I came up with this cute raccoon.


You can find the directions here.  It is on sale today and tomorrow.  I hope you enjoy it!

What are some of your favorite books that you like to read at the beginning of the year?

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Memorial Day Sale


I am linking up with Kindergarten Lifestyle in a Memorial Day Sale!  Everything in my store will be on sale for 20% off on Sunday and Monday.

Memorial Day Sale at Teachers Pay Teachers no promo code needed

I just uploaded my newest packet - Constructing Antonym Pairs.  It has a fun matching game as well as a board game to help practice antonyms.


I hope everyone has a relaxing and safe Memorial Day!
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A Gift From My Husband, My Week So Far, and a Small Freebie


On Monday, my husband was trying to get my computer to print on our new printer. {Last week he bought a wireless printer - Yeah!}  He was having some problems with it and we were both getting frustrated.  Finally, we just decided to go to bed and work on it Tuesday.  On Tuesday, I was out shopping and had to call my husband about something.  He told me that he was on the way to my in-laws. {We eat there every Tuesday night. Yes, I like my in-laws. lol}  Anyway, he was a little later than he should have done.  He told me he had just picked up something he bought for me - a new computer. YEAH!!!  My husband said he thought I needed something better to make my items for school and TpT.  How sweet is he?  I love, love, love my new computer!  I'm still in the process of moving everything over to my new computer and learning how to use Microsoft Publisher 2010.  {I've been using 2007.}  My old computer was a netbook and my new one is a laptop.  I love having a bigger size screen and a full size keyboard again.  Love it!

This week has been much better listening wise.  We have had a fun week.  On Monday, we did a mini-unit on The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  We then did our usual day on Tuesday (reading groups and centers, writing, math).  On Wednesday, we watched our school's annual musical.  This year the students preformed Guys and Dolls, Jr.  The music teacher outdid herself this year!  The students did so well!  Today, we went back and did our usual day.  The students are really enjoying our literacy centers this week and have been actively working, even with only 8.5 days left.  The groups that I have been meeting with have been playing my Strike CVC game.  My lower group is still working on blending so for a few students I will say the sounds and they will say the word.  Other groups read the  words themselves.  I am so proud with how well my students are reading!  They have made so much progress this year!


Here is a little freebie I made with my new computer.  I wanted to try out a few things that are new in the 2010 version of Publisher.  The clip art is by Scrappin Doodles.


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Smiles and a FREEBIE


After a rough week {listening apparently was an option this week lol}, Friday and Saturday brought me many smiles.  Friday was Field Day.  I love watching my students do all of the activities!  It's so much fun to see the students cheer each other on as they do the potato sack race or do the water cup race!  In the afternoon, we had popsicles.  So here begins my smiles.

1.  All of the students wanted us to read the jokes on the popsicle sticks.  Most of them were, let's say, quite lame.  One however made me and my bestie laugh.  I thought I would share it with you and maybe it will give you a laugh too.

What is a shark called once it becomes famous?
A star fish!

Ok, still a little lame, but it was better than the rest of the jokes.  lol

2.  I picked up a Vanilla Bean Creme Frappuccino on the way home from school - yummy!  I was very anti-Starbucks for years. {I dislike coffee.  Please don't hate me. lol}  I gave away gift cards and everything.  Then I found out about these.  What was I thinking all those years?  


3.  I went to a wedding Friday night {I still don't quite get the whole Friday night wedding thing}.  The bride was beautiful!  Loved, loved, loved her dress!  She works with my husband and texted him yesterday thanking us for coming.  How sweet is that?

4.  Colton finished his soccer season yesterday.  He plays in a league where the teams are made up of half "typical" children and half children with disabilities.  We are so proud of Colton!  He learned so much this season.  I appreciate that his coaches were so patient with him!



5.  My husband bought me tickets to see Wicked for my birthday!  I am so excited!  Being from Kansas, I have a love/hate relationship with the Wizard of Oz. {You can only hear "You're not in Kansas anymore" so many times before you go crazy! Ironically, that is the first thing my husband ever said to me when I met him.  Good thing he was cute.  lol}  I have heard so many good things about Wicked that I'm going to ignore the hate part.  The best part of it is that we got tickets for my actual birthday.  It will be end of my first week back next school year and I'm sure I will need a little relaxation.


Now onto the freebie.  I was reading Colton's new book Pirates Go to School.  This is seriously such a cute book! I came up with some activities that go with this book and decided to give as a freebie.  I hope you enjoy them! {A couple things look funky in the preview, but once it downloads it looks right.   Sorry about that. :) }




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Book Fair Finds


I just love a good book fair.  Don't you?  I took my son last night to the book fair at my school.  He likes to check everything out before he commits to anything.  We ended up coming home with 5 new books.  {That's pretty good for me - lol}. This is what Colton {with a little help from Mommy and Daddy} picked out.

Colton kept coming back to this book and finally decided that he wanted it.  We're not allowed to read it though.  He sometimes wants to keep certain books to himself.

I'm so excited that that I fnally Colton finally got Pete the Cat.

Colton has enjoyed reading Froggy Goes to Camp lately so this was an obvious choice to him.

Pirates - need I say more?

I was so excited that my husband {Mr. Colton Has Enough Books} picked out Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed. Progress, we've made progress.

Colton picked out Froggy Goes to Hawaii and Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed for me to read before bed last night.  Just as I finished reading Five Little Monkeys, Colton rested his head on my shoulder and fell asleep.  I love those moments!

Have a great Friday!
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A Whole Lot of Cuteness Going On


Today is Multicultrual Day at my school.  Each pod {group of about 8 classrooms} is given a continent to explore and then each class picks a country from that continent.  In the past, my classes has explored Italy, Brazil, and Ecuador.  The Kindergarten Hall {as we like to call ourselves} was given the continent of North America.  We focused on the United States and Canada.

We talked about the United States flag and the Statue of Liberty.  We made these flag hearts from Teri at A Cupcake for the Teacher.  {We had to modify it a little bit to fit what we had at school.  White construction paper at my school at this time of the year is a prize to be won.  I lost.  lol}  We also made Statue of Liberty pictures based on the directions from Deanna Jump.  I just love how both of the projects came out!  Everyone who saw our projects loved them too!




I love how each one is so original!

Our art teacher is from Canada so he wanted to do a project with the Kinders.  He had my students make beavers playing hockey.  My bestie's class made moose waving the Canadian flag.  We thought they turned out great!




I just love how the moose are singing Oh, Canada!

Here is another cuteness that happened earlier in the week.  My students were at play centers {I am so glad my principal still believes in play} and a little girl came up and asked what I wanted to eat.  I said a piece of pizza, a piece of cake, and 5 potato chips.  Now, I'm going to be honest.  I have absolutely no idea what food I have in the play kitchen, so I was expecting her to just bring me anything.  I kid you not, a few minutes later she came up to me and brought me this.


I loved how she made sure to have 5 potato chips!  The best part was that she had all three plates on one arm carrying them like a waitress!  She was so proud when she brought me my "food."  Love my Kinders!


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My Summer Bucket List


Ah, summer - so close, yet so far away!  Ok - not that far away.  We have 18 days left this year, but there is so much that needs to get done in those 18 days.

I am joining up with Hadar, April, and Teri in a Summer Bucket List Linky Party.





{1}  I am attending the I Teach K conference here in Las Vegas.  This year I want to make sure I take all of the wonderful ideas and get them ready to use in my classroom.  Last year I attended and had such good intentions.  This year I will use the great ideas!


{2}  I want to organize my school library.  I'm not sure my husband is going to love having all my books at home, but I'm tired of finding books that I just bought in my classroom library already.  I am going to use Booksource's Classroom Organizer.  I have their app on my phone, and I have put a few books in already.  


{3}  I want to organize my scrapbook room and actually do some scrapbooking once it is organized.  I am very lucky in that I use our extra bedroom as my scrapbook room.  However, it has kind of become a dumping ground.  I am going to have to do a mini-organization before summer starts {my parents are visiting}, but I want to really have it organized by the end of the summer.  Maybe this is where I can put my books from school.  LOL

{4}  Try out some new recipes.  I don't even know what recipes, just some new ones.  Do you have any good recipes?  

{5}  Enjoy our pool.  Our son used to hate the pool.  He is very excited this year {which is so nice}.  I think it helps that his daddy got him a "pirate ship" to ride on in the pool.  


{6}  Work on my blog and TpT store.  My son goes to Extended School Year so I have 6 weeks {well, really 5 - one week is the I Teach K conference} to work on items for my store and to work on my blog.  It's always so strange for me to be home when he is at school, but at least this year I have a focus.  I usually just waste the time away.  

So there it is - My Summer Bucket List.  Hopefully, I will actually accomplish some, if not all, of these this summer.  I hope everyone has a great summer and accomplishes everything on their Summer Bucket List!

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A Little of This & That and a Giveaway


I hope everyone is having a great Teacher Appreciation Week!  This post is kind of all over the place, but it has a happy ending {at least I hope you think it does}.

The Kinder classes at my school have started to practice the songs for our Kindergarten Program we have at the end of the year.  One of the songs that we are performing is One Small Voice off of Jack Hartmann's CD I've Got Music In Me.  I get chills every time the students sing it.  I just found a video of Jack Hartmann teaching the signs that go with the song.  I am big into signing with children.  My son uses ASL as his main form of communication. {He has autism and is just learning to talk at age 6}  We are going to teach our students the signs and hopefully they will get it in time for the performance. I'm sure they will do great.  They are such smart Kinders!  Here is the video I found of Jack signing to One Small Voice.


Here is a picture of a sea of handprints.  No, I don't have that many students.  Some of them belong my bestie's class.  These are the beginnings of the Mother's Day projects that we are doing this year.  I decided that I wanted to try out a new way of doing the handprints.  We used paint brushes to brush on the paint instead of having the students dip their hands in the paint. {I'm sure some of you have been doing this for year.  It's just new for us. lol} It was so cute when the Kinders giggled as we painted their hands.  They all said it tickled.  :)  


This is card that my son came home with yesterday.  Love it!  Don't think I won't be stealing borrowing this idea next year for Mother's Day.  


Then today, he came home with this picture.  Apparently, the little girls in his gen-ed class were helping him make a card for his mommy. {Did that just melt your heart too?}  If you can't tell, it's me and him on a pirate ship.  Pirate ships are his thing right now.  Remember the pirate ship pizza?


Now for the happy ending.  In honor of Mother's Day and my son's love of pirates, I will be giving away 5 copies of my Pirate Math and Literacy Activities packet.  {My husband picked how many - love him!}  In order to enter, please leave a comment about your favorite Mother's Day gift that you have either received or given.  I will be picking the winners Sunday evening.  Thanks to Kelly, Miranda, and Allison!



Thanks for visiting!

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Recipe and Teacher Appreciation - Teacher Style


I'm so excited that I can share my recipe form I used with my class. The cute border is from Scrappin Doodles.  {Please let me know if it downloads for you - I'm still kind of new to all of this. lol}



Have you had a good Teacher Appreciation Week so far?  I know that I have.  On Monday, students brought in notes and pictures for us.  I love all the drawings that my students make for me - so cute!  The PTA had Tropical Smoothies and cute notepads for us.  Today, students brought in some of my favs.  Such great families! {Our PTA had us fill out a form.  My bestie and I were a little embarrassed when it got sent home, but the PTA assured us that parents wanted to see them.}  The PTA brought around a healthy snack cart filled with granola bars, yogurt, fruit, and water - YUM.  They also gave us some cute pencils. We have a great PTA!

Hope you are having a great week too!
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A Thank You, Kinder Recipes, and a Pirate Ship Pizza


I want to thank everyone who visited my blog yesterday during the Jackpot blog hop.  I was so excited that so many people visited my new blog, became followers and downloaded my product on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Thank you - you made my day!  I hope everyone has a great Teacher Appreciation Week!

Ok - now to Kinder recipes.  We made a mini-book last week called Recipe for a Plant. We then used the book to write a recipe for a plant together.

My students wrote their own recipes the next day.  I just have to say that I love how Kinders write, especially how they write recipes.  So cute! Here are a few of my students' recipes.


So proud of this student!  She remembered to put the silent e at the end of cake.


This student did a great job too!  She added a lot of detail to her pictures and her writing {see the 3 eggs in her picture on the first step}.


I love how he Kinder spelled Parmesan cheese!

This activity was a lot of fun for me!  My students did such a great job!  I love looking at what they were able to write at the beginning of year and looking at where they are now.  They have grown so much!

Now the pirate ship pizza.  My son's favorite book as of late has been Curious George and the Pizza Party.  In this book, George is very curious and takes many balls of dough and makes one large ball of dough.  It ends up being too much and George cuts the dough into different shapes.  The children end up making pizzas that look like rainbows, houses, and stop signs.  Well, Colton is into pirate ships so my husband helped him make a pirate ship pizza.  It turned out so cute!


How fun would this be at the end of a pizza or Curious George unit?  

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

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Teachers Pay Teachers Teacher Appreciation Sale


Teacher Appreciation Week is here!  I am so excited for my first sale at Teachers Pay Teachers!  I have put my entire store on sale for 20% off from May 6-8.  Use the code TAD12 for an additional 10% off from TPT.  That is a total savings of 28%!

Thanks to Donna at Peace, Love & Learning for the cute graphic {which just happens to match my blog}.
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[name=Amy] [img=https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jqCbbbeQW6g/Xgz_AsQv8oI/AAAAAAAADKM/NEeARhV2sIkaPzV5Cc6u0sO3ouKsQquHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/amy.jpg] [description=Hi! I am Amy, a primary teacher with over 20 years experience. I'm excited to share ideas, tips, and tricks to help make your teaching sweet!]

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