Florida Blog Hop FREEBIE!

Glad that you were able to join us for the third annual Orange Ya' Glad it's a Blog Hop!

I am the

If you have hopped with us in the past, some things will be familiar, and some things will be new!

This year, all of our bloggers are focusing on FREE tips or ideas that they can share with you to get your school year off to a great start.  Some ideas will have a freebie, others might just be a stand alone concept.  The idea is to try and share things that will solve problems and create a happy and stress free first few weeks!

Let's get started!

Since I will not be going into the classroom this year, I wanted to share just a quick classroom management strategy/tip that I use for dismissal. 

One thing I always worry about is dismissal. The school I have been teaching at has 800+ kids every year.  There are seven kindergarten classroom with 20+ kids in each room.  That's a lot of babies walking around not knowing where they're going!!! Talk about stressing me out!

My solution: transportation labels that HANG!  A quick, easy visual of how the kids dismissed from school daily.  To create, I simply printed on cardstock and laminated {for durabilily...highly suggest}, stapled to a long piece of ribbon that I hot glued to my classroom door.  I then wrote the kiddos names on clothespins, attached them where they needed to go and VIOLA, that's it!

The clothespins make it easy for transportation changes that occur throughout the year.

If a student rides a certain color bus, I simply write their name in that color.  I.e...if Stacy rides red bus, then I write her name in RED.  If a student goes home differently on different days, I give them two clips and color code it based on the days.  For instance, I labeled all M,W,F blue and T, TH green.  I chose those two colors because we do not have a blue or green bus. 

To help you out, I am offering this little guy for FREE!  Simply click the image below to snag your copy!!

I also stumbled upon this bad boy for free and plan on attaching them to the kiddos the first week until they are familiar with dismissal and naviagting through the school.  Click the image below to head to A Modern Teacher's blog to read all about how she is going to use them and to snag her freebie! 

Thanks, April!

I love having share time in the primary grades. 

But when I first started, I didn't want the kids to just bring something in, talk about it for a second and that be it.  I wanted a little learning and social skills applied to this beloved time of day.

So I came up with the Mystery Bag!

   

How it works:

I send home a black, drawstring, canvas bag with my printed (and laminated) direction sheet and paper for the clues inside.

Students are asked to bring something they wish to share, but it must fit in the bag. They are to tell no one from school about their item in the Mystery Bag.

Students come up with three mystery clues for the item they are bringing. 

When it is our designated 'share time' the student then presents the class with the first clue.  If someone has a guess, they raise their hand. Everyone has to be listening carefully so that we don't have the same guess more than once! (They also only get one guess per clue)

After a couple guesses from the class, the student gives the next clue.  This continues until the mystery has been solved! 

We then 'open the floor' for questions about the shared item.

The kids always love this time of day and it's a bonus for you, as students are working on so many different life skills; social and communicative!

Click below to snag your FREE copy!

We will be having an Instagram giveaway again!  At the bottom of each post, there will be a letter.  Mine is...

 

 The letters all work together to give you the name of a type of orange!  This year is a bit tricky...it's a two word name!  **Hint: Start at Tamara's blog and going through will give you the right answer!** 

Once you've solved the puzzle...take a picture of the answer.  

Post it on instagram and hashtag it with #orangehop2015.  We love original ideas...so, do something fun with your image!

We will go through the pictures and select a winner!

  

Next up... a blogger I love! I seriously can spend hours reading tips and tricks on her site!

The wonderful Amy from the 24/7 Teacher!

Teacher Binder: Keeping it simple and easy!

Last year, when I headed back to school I was 6 months pregnant and preparing to make my life as teacher and ready-to-be momma as easy and stress-free as possible. With all the doctor's appointments that were soon to be coming up and the sudden illnesses that crept up on me a time or two, I wanted to have something simple and easy to access information quickly from in the event I had to spend time away from my classroom.

I created a binder as the year went, inserting pages of information that I found useful to anyone who may have to step in my room for a brief amount of time. 

Many of the pages I created are similar to the resource pages I provided in my Long-Term Sub Binder, which I used during my maternity leave.

I provided two different cover page designs. I'm slightly obsessed with all things navy, gold, and arrows! :) 

What are some "must have" things that you need/leave for subs or for organization for easy finds?  I would love to add to my collection and fine tune my organizational skills a little! :)

Updates All Around

Thanks to the wonderful ladies who set up the TPT Sellers Challenge earlier this month, I have been super busy revamping and refreshing many of my old products.  They gave me the motivation I needed to just get it done already!! 
I've also been busy trying to get into some sort of 'routine' with this whole health venture. Stay tuned.

The first product I updated was My ABC Book - Foldable Emergent Readers.

These are great for reinforcing letters and letter sounds while building self-confidence amongst your youngest readers. The text is repetitive, there are pictures to match each vocabulary word, and traceable text on every page.

I introduce each book as we work on each specific letter. We spend time participating in echo and shared reading.  The kiddos then head to their table groups to read, trace, and color their books.  As they finish, they pair up and buddy read or spend time at read-to-self. 

 The books remain in the students 'book luggage' for the next week until it is sent home to be read with family. 
***
I also updated a sound-spelling product that I have renamed Building Words!

This little guy went from 32 to 80 pages!! I completely made over every single page of this product and provided three versions of each letter page for easy differentiating.  I provided a FREE sample in the 'Preview' section in my TPT store! Just click {{HERE}} to check it out!
 This packet was created when I was teaching first grade for the first time. I had several students who needed practice with sound-spelling and I wanted to provide them with an opportunity to be successful.  Even though there are harder words, the success comes when they sound them out phonetically! 

My students always ask me to help them spell out harder words and my response is always the same "sound out and write what you hear." How else are they suppose to learn? Trying is half the battle. 

When making over this product, I took into consideration several key factors that it was lacking. Differentiation, extension, and an alphabet line to provide for letter/letter sound support.  Through the years, my students have come into my classroom more prepared for multi-level style centers/worksheets and I wanted to provide them with just that. 

**Suggestions for use:  -staple or bind into a book for each student to use and work on independently {book cover provided below}
-print on cardstock (for durability), laminate each page, and bind together. students use expo markers to complete pages
-use pages in small group 
-used in a center rotation

****

Now for #teacherskeepinitreal

Here it goes....the truth. Ugh! I have not started this health journey off well.  It's not that I'm not trying either. Don't get me wrong. It's just life. It's so busy and ever changing that getting into the routine of things is a little more challenging than expected. 
Let's see. I made my declaration of change SIX days ago and out of those six days I have only worked out twice. BUT here's where my mindset is changing. I'm proud of those 2 times. They were hard workouts and I pushed myself.
I will continue to increase how many workouts I do, as I can.

Eating is going better. 
Listen...if I could live off of chocolate chip cookies alone, I would. I seriously bake and eat dozens of cookies in a setting.  It's gross and it's a problem.
I'm happy to report that in the last 6 days, I have only consumed two cookies.
I can't even believe that! THAT is an accomplishment!! 

 I've been eating a lot of fruits/veggies and drinking a lot of infused water.  I like to drink a detox water. It's lemon, cucumber, and mint. Chop 'em up, let them sit in water overnight and enjoy! SO good! Warning: you pee a lot!!

A few recipes I've tried {click image for recipe}:

                                 

I'd love to try some more delicious recipes! If you've got a really good one, send it my way! :)

 

Five for Fraturday!

I try and I try and I can never make it happen on a Friday! 

What's that saying…"There's no tired like teacher tired on a Friday"

That rings very true for this preggo teacher. :)

Here's what we've been up to.

We have been working hard on our reading stamina as we prepare to implement the Daily Five {it will really only be 3 rotations a day} in our classroom.  I have used the Daily Five method for the past five years and will always use it. I love the 'Sisters' and what they have taught me!

Also..don't mind the extension cord that this poor sweet boy is laying on. We have yet to get our technology pieces mounted, so taped extension wire it is! :)

Zero the Hero visited our room this week! We learned all about the number zero. We started by reading the book, then watched a quick clip on teachertube, and made these adorable little zero the hero masks while we searched for the numbers with zeros on the end {when we count by 10's}. 

They were too cute! 

Here's the book we read:

Click to check it out

The activity we completed with our Zero the Hero masks:

Click to check it out…it's a freebie!

We've been practicing our colors and color words all week with a little help from Frog Street Press and my corresponding Rainbow of Colors book!

We first learn the adorable song that goes with each color word, brainstorm a list of items that are that specific color, and then complete our pages in our book.  We are doing really great with spelling color words.

You can check out my Rainbow of Colors book by clicking the image below.

Click HERE for the Canadian version.

I must say…I am in love with this adorable little craft and bulletin board idea from Jennifer from First Grade Blue Skies.  It's perfect for beginning of the school year and Open House on Monday! :)

I will say, I did have everything already pre-cut for them. It was more of a 'following directions' and 'working on gluing' project. From previous experience, I wasn't ready to let them cut, glue, and follow multi-step directions during the second week of kindergarten. lol

You can find this adorable craft along with other great beginning of the year activities HERE

Another great resource we've been using this year comes from non-other than Cara Carroll. She literally is my 'go-to' girl! 

We are working on numbers 1-5 (with a splash of zero) and really 'digging deep' with number sense. Her Don't Forget my Number packet is perfect for any primary class! She has number anchors 1-20, multiple recording sheets to extend students learning, multiple hands-on and engaging activities to be placed in math tubs, used as whole group lesson, or small group games, and SO, SO, much more!

Check it out HERE!

What a busy and exciting week for us in kinderland!

Now onto getting lesson plans done for week four. :)

Happy weekend, friends!

Pretty Colors

Reason #499 why I love teaching kindergarten.... teaching colors!

Frog Street Press came up with these adorable color songs eons ago and they are perfect for helping kiddos learn and remember their colors and color words.  I sing them all year long with my minders and they love them. 

Last year I updated a book that my interning teacher gave me way back in the day to use when teaching the songs/colors.  Well, I've updated it again and added the colors pink and white {as well as the Canadian Version}! :)

These are examples of what the pages look like in the book.  At my school we spend two weeks on colors.  We teach one color a day and have lots of activities that go along with that color.  First, I teach the kiddos the song.  We sing it multiple times {and then more throughout the day}, then we brainstorm things we know that are those colors.  For instance, when teaching the color red we list items that are red like; strawberries, fire trucks, apples, etc...

Then the kiddos complete their red page.  The color in the block letters for the word red {I make them say the letter as they color it in} and then write an item to complete the sentence.  They color that item in the space above the sentence.  i.e. if they say 'I like red strawberries' then they must draw a couple red strawberries.  Easy!

I send home the book once it's complete with a note to parents asking them to use this color book as a nightly reader and/or just to sing along with their kiddo to reinforce the colors and color words.

I'm super excited about our color weeks this year because Cara over at The First Grade Parade just uploaded a wonderful new unit all on colors.  There's lots of fun activities that can be incorporated throughout the week to reinforce the songs/colors we've learned! Don't you just love her titles?  LOVE IT!

How do you teach/reinforce colors in your room? I would love to spice it up even more! :)

**If you've already purchased my packet, please go back and re-download to get the updated version!** 

First Day Photos!

Woohoo!  Second Monday in a row that I am joining in on the Monday Made It fun!!  This summer has been such a relaxing summer but the month of July so far has been all about making things slowly for my classroom.

This week I was determined to make a "K" for my back to school pictures!

Last year I did the whole "picture frame with "My first day of Kinder" adhered around it.  I found it to be oh-so-cute but the kiddos had a hard time holding it.  I think it might have been a little too heavy for some of my tiny kinder babies. 

SO, once I saw Michelle's adorable "K" I knew just what to make.  She has a fabulous how-to post over on her blog.  You can click HERE to check it out.

It's quite simple though. 

I got my letter and paper from Hobby Lobby {they have large numbers there, too, for all you K-5 teachers}.  I forgot that I needed mod-lodge, so I got that at JoAnn's.  Michelle snagged her letter from Michaels.  Really any craft store should do in purchasing all the materials!

Then, you just trace your letter onto your paper, cut it out, apply some mod-podge to the letter, lay on the paper, smooth out the paper to rid of any bubbles, and then cut and add your ribbon.  Don't forget to apply mod-podge over top once it's all adhered! I also used a sealant spray to make sure it was good, sealed, and sturdy.  That is completely optional though!

Here's the final product!

I do not have any cute pictures of my nieces or nephews holding the "K" but you can see how adorable it looks in the hands of a tiny one on Michelle's blog! :)

Thanks again, Michelle for the adorable idea!

How do you plan to take first day of school pictures?

FINALLY and Welcome {freebie}

I am FINALLY allowed into my room!!  There will be no AC in this horrible Florida humidity but with three industrial-sized fans blowing from every direction, I'm hoping to get some stuff accomplished! FINALLY! woohoo!

I will post pictures of my room progress when I get a chance.

Remember the other day when I said I would be posting my first "Made it Monday?"  You might have noticed that didn't happen!  My projects came to a stand-still when the four-day workshop began {which I'm suppose to be getting ready for right now...it can wait}.  SO...this weekend my goal is to finish up the projects and post this upcoming MONDAY! Fingers crossed!

I did make one thing and it's now a FREEBIE!

I love banners and since I don't have a fabulous Cameo {YET} I printed these, laminated, and will adhere them to ribbon today...at some point.

Click HERE to go snag your freebie!

If you live in the following states...sign up for our Postcard Exchange.  We desperately NEED YOU!!!!! :)

 ALABAMA, HAWAII, MONTANA, NEVADA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW MEXICO, NORTH DAKOTA, UTAH, WEST VIRGINIA, WYOMING

Click HERE to sign up!

I can't stop!

Well friends, my lack of motivation to do all things school has quickly changed! 

I can't STOP working on things for school!!! I still am not allowed into my classroom, which continues to give me anxiety every time I think about it, but at least I'm working on SOMETHING! :)

Here are my latest creations:

 

{above: front cover of student book}

{below: example of color song page}

I love teaching colors! I love teaching anything really but this is always fun for kinders and there's SO much you can do with colors.

I like to introduce colors and color words with these fun songs {like the one above}.  I begin each day with a new song for us to learn.  Then, we brainstorm a list of objects/items that are that color. For example when we do the "blue" page, we first sing the song {I enlarged each song on chart paper} then create a class list about all things blue!  

Once we've had lots of time learning our color song and exploring objects that are blue, the kiddos then go to their desk to complete their color page {like the one above}.  Once they've colored the top part {I have them color the word "blue" with a blue crayon/colored pencil and they color the picture} then they write and draw on the bottom.  Here's what that page looks like:

I create the book by coping the pages on both sides so that when you open the book the color song is on top and the corresponding writing page is on the bottom.  It will look like this:

I love using this color songs book because 1. the kids absolutely LOVE the songs and request to sing them ALL DAY LONG! and 2. they get to take them home and practice them as well! 

I also created another Parent-teacher communication binder per request:

You can snag either of these items at my TPT store and/or my TN store!

 While you're there check out my sweet friend's brand new teacher notebook store and her new blog {she's already posted a FREEBIE}! She's SUPER creative! I can't wait to see all the things she will share and create!!! Make sure to follow her!

Don't forget to sign up for the Postcard Exchange.  There are still quite a few states left that need to be filled up ASAP.  Click HERE to head to the post to sign up or to find the link to see if you've "made the cut!"

 

Soothing Preparation

As my to-do list continues to grow while days continue to dwindle, I'm left feeling a little overwhelmed, all kinds of stressed, anxious, and excited all at the same time.  After having only a solid 3 weeks of a summer vacation (after all was said and done), I go back to school tomorrow.  Granted I have spent some time already in my classroom {as you already know}, there is still a GOBZILLION things to do.

I was searching for a funny quote to send to my very dear teaching buddy when I stumbled upon this and thought I would share! 

How to Tell You're a Real Teacher {Don't you just love these?!}:

Real teachers grade papers in the car, during commercials, in faculty meeting, and in the bathroom!

Real teachers drive older cars owned by credit unions!!!!!

Real teachers have disjointed necks from writing on boards without turning their back on the class.

Real teachers have been timed gulping down a full lunch in 2 minutes, 18 seconds.  Master teachers can eat faster than that!

Real teachers can predict exactly which parents will show up at Open House.

Real teachers know the best end of a themed lesson plan can come from Blockbuster.

Real teachers know the rules don't really apply to them! :)

*Real teachers hear the heartbeats of crisis; always have time to listen; know they teacher students, not subjects; and they are absolutely non-expendable!!!*

The year is here for me, no turning back, and I am S.O. excited! I feel that I have grown as an educator solely by learning from those around me {ON THIS BLOG-WORLD}!  Thank you for helping me to master my craft! :) If it wasn't for teachers like you, willing to share, I wouldn't be where I am today! Woohoo!