Yes, that's a super long title (I really need to get that blog calendar/schedule up and going).  I feel like I have lots to share, but then time gets away from me and here we are talking about three completely different things.  One of these days, Amy, one of these days.  :)

First let's start with Martin Luther King, Jr.  We read several books about Martin Luther King, Jr. and talked about what his dream was.  I was so proud of my Kinders when they "got" the message.  :)

We completed a book about MLK's dream that I found on Teachers Pay Teachers.  After we completed our book, we went back and "buttered" our popcorn words.






You can find this book here.  I know it's a little late for this year, but you can put it in your virtual files for next year.  :)

We also completed a short vowel project.  We have been working hard at learning all of the short vowel sounds, so this project came to be.


The first step was for the students to cut on the line to make the flaps.  Yes, I could have cut 31 of these myself.  However, I wanted to see if my students could follow the directions and cut only the top half of the paper.  I was thrilled when I only had to hand out one new paper.  :)

After that, we wrote the vowels in pencil and traced with crayons.  We then worked as a group to come up with words for each vowel sound.




They turned out great!  Now all I have to do is get them on the walls. :)

All week we have been reading books about Groundhog Day.  I have to admit Groundhog Day is one of my favorite holidays.  I'm not really sure why, but I have always enjoyed doing activities to go along with it.  One of my favorite activities is having the students predict what the groundhog is going to do.  Here are the results from our predictions.


I am so excited to share with my students on Monday that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow.  Did you know that in all the years that Punxsatawney Phil has been predicting, he has not seen his shadow only 16 times?  I can't wait to share this little fact with my Kinders.  I hope that they are as impressed with fact as much as I am.  They probably won't be, but that's ok.  :)

Did your class make a groundhog prediction?  If so, did they think Phil was going to see his shadow or not?

How was your first week back?  Mine was great!  I was so excited that my Kinders were spot on this first week back.  Lots of happy smiles from the students and from the teacher.


Have you seen this pin on Pinterest?  I saw it a few weeks ago and thought it was so cute.  I clicked on the picture and got the dreaded "Component Not Found".  Basically, it went nowhere. {I hate when that happens.  Don't you?}   My heart just dropped, because I really wanted to do this activity with my class.  So what does any good Kindergarten teacher do?  Makes her own patterns, of course.  As I was eating my breakfast Thursday morning {my bestie laughed at me when I told her this}, I whipped out the patterns for shape penguins.  They turned out even better than I anticipated.  I absolutely loved the end result!







I put my patterns on Teachers Pay Teachers as a freebie.  If you would like like to get your own copy, click on the cover below.


Well, I am off to do some lesson planning.  I hope that you enjoy the rest of your Sunday evening and have a wonderful week!

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful break from work!  I have had such a great, and dare I say lazy, break!  Being at home with my son is one of the best things ever.  He's starting to talk more (autism), and we have actually had some real conversations.  Makes this Mommy's heart melt.  :)

This year was the first year Colton really "got" Christmas which made everything even more magical.  This was his reaction when he got what he asked Santa for.  (Ok, really this is staged reaction.  I missed the original.  I got a new camera for Christmas, and my first try was blurry.  lol)


I am linking up with two wonderful blogs today.  The first one is with  Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade for the oh so famous Currently.  This is only my second Currently, but I love reading them every month.  It's always so much fun to read everyone's lists!  So without further ado, here is my Currently list for January.


Listening:  My son loves to play games on the "TV computer" as he likes to call it. Right now he is playing a Thomas game.

Loving:  I am flying back to Kansas on Wednesday to see my grandma.  A few weeks ago, I got a call from my dad saying that my grandma was very sick.  I was going to make an emergency trip back, but she got better and we decided that waiting until break would be ok.  I haven't seen Grandma in almost 5 years.  I'm so excited to see her!!!  I do have to admit though that I'm not excited about the weather.  I love how it says that Friday and Saturday are "warmer."  Um, no, 35 degrees is not "warmer".  That's just plain cold.   Or it might be that I've lived in Las Vegas too long.  lol


Thinking:  I really should be using this time off (or at least some of it) to prepare for these next few months.  Maybe tomorrow.  ;)

Wanting:  I am wanting some new jeans and boots.  I only wear jeans on Fridays and the weekends, so I don't buy them often, but they are definitely on the "want to buy" list.  I also want a cute pair of boots.  I might have to go out tomorrow and get some before I go where "warmer" is 35 degrees.  lol

Needing:  I really, really need to get back to the gym.  I honestly have not one excuse for not going.  It is literally 5 minutes from my house, and I have about 2 1/2 hours in the morning between the time my husband and son leave and when I try to leave for work.  No excuses Amy, no excuses.

One Little Word:  Patience - I need to remember to have patience with my husband, my son, my colleagues, my class, and myself.  I think that I need to really slow down and be more patient in every aspect of my life.

I am also linking up with Jen over at The Teacher's Cauldron  for a New Year's Resolutions Linky Party.


For this super fun linky party, Jen is asking bloggers to identify just two resolutions - one personal and one for blogging.

Personal:  My personal goal is to get my house organized this year.  Yesterday, I cleaned out my son's closet, and it felt so good!  I am not kidding when I say there were years and years of clothes in there.  Some clothes were 3T and 4T.  My son wears a 10 right now.  I was so disappointed that I let it get to that point.  Throughout the year, I want to gradually go through the whole house.  I know that this won't happen quickly, but I know if I stick to it, I can get this place organized.  :)

Blogging:  I want to set up a blogging schedule.  I know this may not seem like much to you, but it will be big for me.  I kind of feel like I haven't lived up to my expectations for my blog.  I found a great inspiration for a blog calendar on Pinterest (where else?  lol).  I want to use this as a starting point for my own blog calendar.

Original Source

Thank you to Farley and Jen for the great Linkys!

Thanks for stopping by on this last day of 2012!  I hope that you have a fun and safe New Year!

For many years my bestie and I did the turkey family project.  The students took home a construction paper turkey and decorated it with their families.  This was such a fun project!  We loved seeing how each family chose to decorate their turkey.

Last year we decided to change it up.  We were in a new grade level, and we thought that it would be the perfect time to change tradition.  We chose to send home cornucopias home instead.  We were so impressed with how well they came out!  So when November came around again, we sent home the packet and here are the results.  Love them!







You may have read about the fire that destroyed my parents' garage last night.  I talked to my dad tonight, and he was in a pretty good mood all things considered.  He's just happy that the fire was caught fairly quickly.  I thought I would share a pic of my dad's truck {or what's left of it}.  I see shopping for a new truck {and building a garage} in Dad's future.


Just a reminder that the big sale is still going on at Teachers Pay Teachers.  My entire store is on sale for 20% off and with TpT's code, cmt12, you can get an extra 10% off for a total of 28% off.  Happy Shopping!

My class and I have been working hard on numbers 0-10.  I introduced ten frames and tally marks previously, and I wanted to put it all together.  That lead me to make our Numbers 0-10 book.  For each number, we wrote the numeral, drew pictures that matched the number, made a ten frame, made tally marks, and wrote the number word.  This project took quite a few days, but it looked great when it was done!




You can get a copy of the cover and inside page by clicking the picture below.  You will need to make 11 copies of the inside page.

Border by Scrappin Doodles

On a completely different note, I got a frantic phone call from my mother today.  We were having a great time putting up our Christmas tree and the phone rang.  My mom was crying and all I thought of was my grandma who went into the hospital last Sunday with pneumonia.  Turns out their garage was on fire.  My parents live on the farm that my dad grew up on.  There are so many outbuildings and trees that could have burnt down, not to mention the farmhouse.  Thankfully, the only casualty was the garage and my dad's truck.  My dad told me later that the fire almost reached the barn {The barn is my absolute favorite thing on the farm.  I even planned my wedding around that barn.}  My brother is a sheriff's deputy and was on duty when the 911 call came in.  The dispatcher sent him out right away.  I can't imagine what his thoughts were as he was driving out there.  I am so thankful that my parents are ok, and that this happened during the day.  It could have been devastating.  My dad is going to take pictures for me tomorrow.  I know I will be sad to see something that has a lot of family history gone.  I still picture my grandpa's truck parked right where my dad's truck probably was.  Thanks for listening {reading?} about my scare of the day.  I know it doesn't have anything to do with teaching, but I needed to get that out.

I know, I know.  I didn't quite get back "later that week"  to post pics.  I'm sorry.  I have come to redeem myself with a freebie, and hopefully get back into the swing of things.  Hold on, this may be a little long.

First up are my classroom pictures.  These are pictures from the beginning of the year, so things have changed a little since 30 little Kinders have joined the room.  {Btw, my 30 little Kinders are the best.  I have a great class this year.  They are great listeners and are always trying their best.}

I have four crate seats for my computer table.  I am so proud of these! They were a family affair.  My father-in-law cut the boards for me and my husband upholstered them.

My wall with my zebra paper.  (I had to add more papers after this picture.)

This was the first project up on the wall.  The students made Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star pictures.

This is my alphabet that I have up in my classroom.

I made number cards to match my alphabet cards.

I am loving my zebra and blue classroom!  My students seem to love it too!  I hope to show you even more pictures of my classroom soon.

Have you heard about the big Cyber Monday {and Tuesday} over at Teachers Pay Teachers?  Well, I am joining in and my entire store will be on sale for 20%.  TpT also has a code, cmt12, that will add an extra 10% for a total of 28% off.

Thanks to Ashley for the cute graphic!

Now, we will move onto the freebie. :)  I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We celebrated with my husband's family at our house.  My husband made the best deep fried turkey - yum, yum!  We also got back to an old tradition - s'mores.  For many years, my brother-in-law and I would make s'mores after our meal.  Well, we stopped when my son started walking.  This year we brought the s'mores back with a vengeance!  Colton got to roast his very first marshmallow, and we had so much fun!


In honor of bringing back the s'mores, I made a little sight word freebie.  Click on the picture to grab your copy.  I hope you enjoy it!


Thanks for sticking with me!  I know I haven't been the best blogger, but I am going to try to be a better one.  See you soon!