Kindergarten Lifestyle: What's better than a $25 Walmart gift card???

Kindergarten Lifestyle: What's better than a $25 Walmart gift card???:  How about a chance to win one of 2 Walmart gift cards? Serious - I am giving away 2 $25 Walmart gift cards!! Everybody loves Walmart, ri...

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It's Finally Friday!

Oh goodness, I thought this day would never get here! So glad it did and now 4:30 is here! I hope you all had a great day-I did, but I think this mess of not knowing what to wear for the weather is about to drive me out of my mind! Today was hat day for our Relay for Life. It was the last one. Can we say my assistant and I both participated? LOL, out of 24 kids, 15 brought in a dollar to wear a hat as well. Well, just so happy that Friday is here and I wanted to share my glee!

In case you need some more giveaways to participate in and try to win, here are some below:

   Maria from Kinder-Craze is offering a giveaway for reaching 100 followers! Congrats! You can enter her giveaway for a giftcard to Amazon and fabulous prizes from her TpT store too. She will pick a first and second place winner! It ends May 4!

  Mrs. Bainbridge is giving away 100 Brag Tags-how cool is that? I have been wanting to win some of these and now is my chance! LOL It ends Tuesday so don't be late!





   The 3 AM Teacher is having a great giveaway! But hurry it ends in 2 days! This really is one you don't want to miss!




    
Megan from Oodles of Teaching Fun is having a giveaway to celebrate her followers! It ends May 2 so hurry up and enter!



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Finally....My Giveaway!

This post is long overdue; I apologize for this! I just don't  know what is wrong with me lately, other than i have too many things on my mind and it takes me forever to get somethings completed!

 For this giveaway, I wanted to get things that I love using myself in my classroom. I am sure you will see why when you see what you can win! Well, without further delay, three different winners will be chosen in this giveaway.

#1-A sign with shipping of your choice from the one and only Miss Kindergarten, Hadar! I am including 2 of the signs below. She has an etsy store-so go check it out to see even more! I have one of the countdown signs and we love it! (Please note, Hadar stated it might take 2 weeks before the sign is shipped and mailed.)

                                          

#2 One person will win a set of 6 books by the fabulous author, Rozanne Williams. Her blog is  Reading Writing Connection-you must go and follow her! I love, love, love her books! When I contacted her about possibly helping with this giveaway, she was a definite YES! She sent the 6 books pictured and listed below and autographed them too! How cool is that?
    She writes some of the best books for kids! I honestly cannot brag enough on her and how well the books are written and how appropriately they are leveled. The winner will receive these book titles: Mr. Noisy's Helpers, Buttons, Buttons, The One and Only Special Me, What's Going On?, Orange For Orange Juice, and Who's Hiding?. You really will be very pleased with this set of books!

#3) Thanks so a sweet blogger buddy, Nicole from Rowdy in Room 300, she is helping me with my giveaway too. She is giving one of her fabulous units on TpT to a lucky winner! Her units are great and I know you would be thrilled to win one of them-I know I would! Be sure to go and follow her blog and check out her great stuff in her new TpT store! She has lots of freebies in her store and several units for sale. So far, her units include: Math Monsters, Farming for Math and Literacy, Spring Fever Math and Literacy, A Year of Ten Frames Worksheets, and Dinosaurs, Bugs, and Sea Creatures, Oh My! Math and Literacy Stations (preview shown below).

I am going to attempt to use rafflecopter; however, if it proves to be too difficult, then I will have to use the comment section-HOWEVER, I have turned off the verification thingy so you won't have to worry with that part!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday! We are going on a "zoo" type field trip tomorrow-it is a Tuesday! I really do not like taking field trips in the middle of the week. Actually I like going on field trips on Fridays since if parents want to join us, it might be better for them to be off on a Friday and also-field trips are exhausting! What day do you all usually go on field trips? My grade level didn't want to miss PE and Music since we have it on Friday....I guess majority ruled this year! Hopefully things can change next year! LOL

I stumbled across these giveaways and wanted to share them!

Ms. Jessica is celebrating 100 followers! Go check it out because it sure looks great! It ends Saturday, April 28!




Peace, Love & Learning is giving away 3 of her most popular items in her TpT store. It ends Friday, April 27th.





Alisha from The Bubbly Blonde and Teri from A Cupcake for the Teacher have teamed up for a sports themed giveaway! Enter the giveaway at Alisha site! It ends Friday, April 27!



  Heather from Kute Kinder Classroom has a new blog! She wants to giveaway copies of her Kindergarten Readiness Packet-sounds great! It ends May 7!






  Rebecca from Teaching First is giving away items from her tpT store! You can enter until Friday night!





   Jeannie from Kindergarten Lifestyle is giving away gift cards to Walmart! Who could use that? I know I could especially for the end of the year stuff and Mother's Day program! It ends in 3 days so hurry on over!

   Awesome in 1st is sooooooooo close to having 100 followers! They are giving away 3 different prizes for followers once they do reach 100. Go and help them out! Just click the link in red!



   Krista from Stellar Students has 200 followers! Congrats! She is giving away some neat things from her store and other places! It ends May 1!






    Congrats on 100 followers! Ashley from Live to Learn is giving away a gift certificate to a lucky winner! It ends next Thursday!





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Main Idea Anyone?

Whew, this has been a crazy past couple weeks-minus Spring Break last week-but the ones before were crazy, wild and I felt just like a little hamster on a wheel. The only problem was the wheel was spinning so fast I couldn't keep up! LOL



The reason for this blog is so I can share a packet I won from a giveaway from Heather Perkins at Second Grade Perks.  It was the Main Idea Mania packet and let me tell you, it has been such a great activity to use with my Kindergarteners. It is so neat to watch my kids begin to grasp the new words they are learning and begin to use them in their responses to questions after I share a story with them. You really will get lots of goodies to use in your classroom!

First of all, Heather has included some posters to use as well as visuals (perfect for me) so you will know what to do with all the things included. It also includes a story written by her to help your kids show the main idea and details in the story. There is also a cute art activity (WITH ALL THE CUTE PATTERNS) that could be used as a bulletin board or wall display that goes along with the story-it is too cute! I can't wait to get ours done so I can show how it turned out! But that is not all, there is a game, cut and paste activity as well as another visual art activity to help kids understand the main idea and supporting details in stories. I really cannot tell you enough great things about this packet.

I know you will enjoy using it with your kids as much as I have. Although I teach Kindergarten, the packet was very easy to modify and bring down to their level of understanding. Thank you Heather for giving me the opportunity to help my students learn about main ideas and supporting details in such a fun and easy way! Can't wait to see what you come up with next!


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Technology & Literacy Centers

Well, today, Monday, was GREAT! I was so proud of my sweet babies! I did not have any criers, which is a good thing since we had 10 days off from school! Yay!

I am joining Christine's linky party from Hopping into First. Her linky party is for sharing the ways we use technology during our literacy centers. I was so excited to finally be able and sit down to share some things I do in my classroom during literacy centers. I think my classroom has different technology items for my students to use. However, of course I am wanting to get iPads, iPods. ( I did snatch my son's iPod Touch when he got his new iPhone for Christmas to take to school, but I don't know anything about them-I am pretty much "out of it" when it comes to cell phones and iPods!)

1.) Listening Center I have two listening centers. In my first listening center, it is the traditional "listening center".  After my students listen to a book, they will then discuss the story with their group.  This is also a time when they discuss different story elements we are focusing on at that time. They really love listening to stories!

In the second listening center, I use the listening center materials from Lakeshore Learning. I wrote grants at donorschoose.org to get these items and they have been fabulous! I have two different kits. One kit is on word families and the other kit is for phonics center.

2.) SmartBoard-my kids love, love, love when they get to visit the SmartBoard center. They love being able to play different games from websites, games I have made, or Lakeshore games for the SmartBoard.

3). Computer Center-First, I only have 2 computers in my room; 1 is hooked to the Smartboard and one isn't. They enjoy getting to use the computer to play online games. Some of their favorites have been starfall.com, abcya.com, scholastic.com and others.

4). Leapsters-I have 2 Leapsters with different games that I had funded at donorschoose.org! They love using these. Does anyone have headphones to go with yours? I think I need to purchase some and thought I would check.

5). Finally, I also have 2 Leapfrog Tag Readers-that were again funded via donorschoose.org. The books that I selected were all perfect. I definitely want to write another grant for some new ones!

I did want to mention that I have been extremely lucky with donorschoose.org over the past few years. My first project was funded in August 2007 and I have had many things funded so I can help my students become better and better! If you haven't tried it yet, you should definitely check it out. You never know what YOU could be missing out on!

Thanks Christine for hosting the technology linky party! I can't wait to read what others do during their literacy centers with technology! Christine is also offering a 25.00 giftcard to amazon.com-so be sure to link up and enter! Everybody loves amazon!

Tania from My Second Sense is giving away her Dr. Jean cd's and a dvd! this is a great one and I know you don't want to miss it! It ends April 23!





Heidi from Swamp Frog First Graders is giving away a Luna Interactive Projection Camera from Learning Resources...wow, this is a fantastic gift! It ends Friday, April 20!

Emily from Mon "Stars" of 2nd Grade is giving away certificates to TpT! Who doesn't just love winning those? I know I sure do! The giveaway ends April 21 so don't wait too late!

If you want to have the chance to win some great things, you need to go and check out Michelle's blog Our Sweet Success! She will be giving away items from her TpT store when she hits 100 followers on facebook, her blog, and TpT store! Too good to be true!



Tara from Little Minds at Work is having a "wowwie, wow, wow" giveaway! She is giving away 100.00 gift certificate to Teacher's Pay Teachers! I mean, all I can say is WOW! It ends April 24!





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Boo! and I NEED HELP!

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! LOL, my Spring Break would be over too soon! Oh well, I guess that is the way the ball bounces, right? I'm sure my kiddos will come in feeling the same way-I just hope I don't have anybody that cries this morning....I might just have to sit down and cry with them! LOL, seriously, I do have two kiddos that tend to cry after a longer weekend about missing their mommies-I just tell them that I miss my mommy too but the good news is that they get to go home and see their mommy after school and I don't! They just look at me like I am crazy!

One more thing, I totally need some help from you guys! I would love for you to send me what your school/county uses for report cards AND interims-especially if they reflect the new common core standards.  I would be so very appreciative if you would share with me so I can forward it to my county advisors since both are going to replaced.

Look for my giveaway information tonight or tomorrow night! I apologize for it being so late-I left my camera at school over break and I wasn't feeling too antsy to go back and get it-isn't that awful? Have a great MONDAY-YUCK!



Jillian from Just Tinkerin' Around is having a Totally, Terrific, Tinkerin' Giveaway to celebrate her followers! She has some great items and I feel sure you would want to win them, just like me! It ends Wednesday, April 18th!



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Check these out!

A - B - Seymour: Social Studies Pack is Finally Done....Giveaway Ti...: This post is going to be short and sweet! The good news is that I FINALLY finished my Social Studies Careers and Economics Pack!! :) I me...

Run Miss Nelson's Got Her Camera is having some fabulous giveaways at her site! She is hosting different giveaways for things that every teacher needs! Don't you just know they are all great? Go click above to check out them out.






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1..2..3.. Teach With Me: Earth Day Center Packet Giveaway! 3 Ring Binder Id...

1..2..3.. Teach With Me: Earth Day Center Packet Giveaway! 3 Ring Binder Id...: Happy Easter every one!! With Earth Day right around the corner and it being one of my most favorite things to teach, I have put together ...

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Book Exchange? What do YOU Think?

Oh gosh, it is already Tuesday and I haven't accomplished much on my Spring Break! However, last night I did get my Mother's Day purses cut out for the adorable craft I bought from Hador at teacherspayteachers.com. It only cost $3.00 and I just thought they were adorable. Check out how they are "supposed" to look after my kids finish decorating them! (Wish I could have gotten a better picture to show you, but this is the cutest little craft!) I will add it to the other things my kids make for Mother's Day.

UPDATE: Thanks Hadar for sending her link to better pictures: Just click here to go to her website-you won't want to leave, I feel sure! LOL

I was reading/stalking blogs last night and I came across a post by April at Chalk Talk: A Kindergarten Blog. Well, after I read it, I thought gosh, this would be so neat for teachers to do! They could exchange books with someone who needs books they don't need anymore, have duplicates copies of, etc. I just wondered if someone has done this before? Would anybody be interested in doing this? Would love to have your thoughts about doing this....not sure of the specifics, but I have a few ideas. Anyone, please reply! LOL

Spring Break....Already?

Holy Smokes! I have just been on my spring break for less than an hour and I am so excited but scared at the same time..................I don't want it to be over too soon! LOL, I read on lots of your blogs about how wonderful spring break was and how quickly it came and went. Well, I kept thinking that I hope my break will s-l-o-w down so I can enjoy it and remember it some! I have big plans for Spring Break-cleaning out and organizing my closets and getting stuff out of here! I wouldn't dare take before and after pictures, but who knows, I might just surprise myself and do it! 


Today is finally over and boy I am about whipped! This is how my day went: 5:00 AM, wake up, clean, get ready for school, check emails, out the door at 7:10 AM. 7:15 AM get to school and run around cleaning up and putting things away. See, today is a half day and also Parent Conferences from 12:00-7:00 PM. YES, you read that right!  7:50-My kiddos get to the room around. (Take lunch orders, do calendar, play songs, write thank you letters to the Mom who invited us over for an Egg Hunt on Monday. 
9:10-10:10 go to specials (Computer Lab and Library). Not too much time, but we did get to write thank you notes . They will get back from specials, clean up their work areas, get in line to go and get lunch from the cafeteria. We ate in the room-I love bringing the kids to the room to eat lunch-they are soooooo good! (Much better than in the cafeteria!) After lunch is cleaned up, they get out their BEE Books so we can pass out things to go home including their report cards. First time we have ever passed out report cards BEFORE conferences. Anyway, by 11:15 my bus riders were lined up and ready to go. I took my car riders out at 11:30 and they were all gone by 11:45. Conference stories will have to wait. Too tired to think........................LOL but I did want to share some fab giveaways with ya'll!


Kreative in Kinder: Latest Obsession and a SWEET GIVEAWAY!!: I am SO excited to share with you my class’s latest obsession toy lifesaver!! Seriously, we are in need of a twelve step program already. ...

 Lacey from Wild about Teaching wants to know.............how would YOU use her latest item in your classroom? Love it..... Hurry, it ends Monday night!

  Marlana from Lil' Country Kindergarten has 500 followers on Facebook! Congrats girl! She's having a giveaway for all the awesome followers! It ends April 10!

This is just too cute! Randi from Teach it With Class is having the cutest giveaway with 4 winners! Yep, that's right, I said 4! I sure hope I am one of the 4-I'll find out Monday night!

 Things in the blog world just keep getting better and better! Be sure to check this site out because  Teri from A Cupcake for the Teacher is having a fabulous giveaway! She is celebrating 1000 followers! Wow, that is definitely a great big thing to celebrate! I love Teri's TpT stuff; I have bought many of her cute things to do with my Kindergarten kids and they always love them! Her giveaway ends April 10 and the winners announced April 11-the day my sweet baby boy turns 13! Time is flying by!


This is a great giveaway right now going on! Nicole from Rowdy in Room 300 is giving her followers on her blog and TpT store a tens frame packet. Just send her an email....how easy is that?




 Tanya from First Grade is Fantabulous is celebrating her 1 year blog's anniversary! She has some great prizes-hoping to see my name in lights! It ends Monday, April 9th!


Marissa from Wild About First Grade is giving away gift cards to two of her favorite places-mine too! You'll have to go check out her site to see where they are to. Her giveaway ends Sunda night!





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