Tag!! :)

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! I sure did. I had a lot of fun in Pittsburgh and more wedding talk with the bf. :) He hasn't got the ring totally paid off yet, lol, but we are talking financials and perhaps a date? I love the fall so if we check our budget, we're looking at October 12, 2013. I like the ring the numbers have to it! :) We'll see I'll keep ya posted.

On the blogging front, I got tagged by Loving and Learning in Pre-K so I'm gonna complete the fun little game...

Alright, so here are the rules:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

 

Fun Facts

1. I love fall!

2. I want to live in a rural area..maybe KY soo bad.

3. I'm a cat lover.

4. My favorite color is pink.

5. I still love to color! (it relaxes me)

6. My lucky number is 9.

7. My favorite dinner is tacos.

8. My birthday is July 25th

9. I've traveled to Italy.

10. My favorite disney movie is Beauty and the Beast (yes, I did recently see the 3d version and it was aawesome)

11. My favorte disney character is Goofy.

12. I have a little sister who is 19 and a pain in the butt, lol.

 

Julia's Questions..

1. What is your favorite subject to teach? language arts
2. Do you have a SmartBoard in your classroom? No, but I have a touch screen computer
3. How often do you use songs in your class? I would say maybe a couple times a month.
4. Are you married/single/engaged/etc.? in a relationship
5. What type of music do you listen to? country
6. How long have you been teaching? almost 1 year..newbie! :)
7. What is your New Year's resolution? do more exercising
8. If you weren't teaching, what would you be doing? hmmm..probably nursing
9. If you create your own materials for TPT or TN, where do you get your inspiration from? other fellow teachers and sometimes The Mailbox books
10. What is your favorite TV show? The New Girl
11. Do you have any pets? No, I used to have two cats, but had to give them up when I moved. :(
12. What is your favorite recipe website? themixingbowl.com or tasteofhome.com

 

Tagged Bloggers:

1. Climbing the Monkey Bars

2. Crazy for First Grade

3. Creating and Teaching

4. Creative Classroom Chaos

5. Differentiation Station

6. Down Under Teacher

7. Ashleigh's Education Journey

8. Extra Special Teaching

9. F is For First Grade

10. Fairy Dust Teaching

11. Life in First Grade

12. Little Warriors

 

My Questions to you guys...

1. How long have you been teaching?

2. What is your favorite color?

3. What is your teaching style?

4. Name one best blog you frequent often.

5. What is your favorite movie?

6. Where do you shop to find teacher deals and supplies?

7. Is your classroom themed or do you change it for the seasons?

8. How do you like your students grouped? (rows, clusters, etc)

9. What is one classroom rule you think is most important?

10. What do you do to relax and de-stress?

11. What is your favorite dessert?

12. How long have you been blogging?

Even Odd Sort

Hey everyone! I just finished up making a game that focuses on the skill of even and odd numbers. I just posted it in my TN store so stop  by to check it out! Have a good weekend!...I'm going to Pittsburgh with my wonderful boyfriend of almost 6 years...maybe get engaged? haha.

Great Lesson!

You ever get one of those lessons that after you're done teaching it, you're thinking "wow! that went so well and the kids were having fun and really learning!" In an ideal world, I wish all of my lessons were like that, but it can't always be. Well luckily, yesterday was one of the lessons! My first graders are learning about graphs and I bought some fruit snacks and we sorted them based on color then I had them individually come up to the board and put an "x" for each one they had. Then we tallied them all up. In order to eat them, they had to answer one of my questions, which included which color has the most, least, how many more does blue have then red, etc. They loved it and I loved them for learning! :)

 

Number Spot Game

I know, I know, shame on me for posting again but I just finished this game and wanted to share it with you! It would be great for K-1 and I know I'll be using it tomorrow at school! It's a memory matching number game. Visit my TN store (or click the cover picture) to purchase and download a copy! I hope you love it! Have a good night :)

Math Fun!

Good Morning! I wanted to share with you a little of the things we've done so far this week. The first picture is the completed marshmallow addition projects my kindergarteners worked on. They love it! (and really loved eating the extra marshmallows at the end!) The next few pics are my first graders playing an addition game. Over the weekend, I went to the dollar store and found these colored foam blocks. My mind starting thinking what to do with them and I decided to put numbers and equal/plsu signs on them. Then the kids put them together and made addition number sentences. :) Finally the last pic is my kindergarteners playing a number matching game with ice cream cones and scoops. They counted the dots on the scoopps and matched with the number. They really liked it! :)

Evaluation and youtube

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a restful weekend. I only have 4 days of school this week because we have conferences on Friday and will be an inservice. I planned my lessons more thoroughly this weekend, so I feel like it's going fast already! I'm nervous because my principal has scheduled evaluations with all the teachers to talk about their work so far. Mine is Feb. 24th so still a little ways away but I'm anxious to talk about my progress. Since there will be cuts in positions, this is going to be a big eval on my part!

Also, I wanted to share with you a really cool guy who posts videos on Youtube. It's teachertipster.com and he is amazing. I believe he is a first grade teacher and he has ideas for everything from games to class management. I really like his tip for self control and using bubbles. If you have time, check him out and I will post that bubble video on here! Have a good Tuesday! :)

News....

Well, I think my linky party is a bust! haha, that's ok. I have news for you. I applied a few weeks ago to become a freelance writer for The Mailbox books and they emailed me and wanted me to submit a unit plan. I created a thematic watermelon unit for 1st grade. I uploaded all the files and worksheets on TN. Click on the image to check it out and purchase a copy! I submit the files on Monday, so I hope they like them and hire me. It would definitely be a fun part time job!

My First Linky Party!

I think I am getting enough followers (thank you so much by the way!) to start my first linky party. My topic is classroom management. How do you deal with your kiddos? Is it a system you have in place or a bunch of small things? I have seen only the color changing system (my whole school is on that one) and it has worked  some of the time. I myself am doing sticker/behavior charts. It's simple, but I'd like to add more. Link up with me to share your class management ideas! :) Oh and Happy Friday!! Yay!



New Math Game

I know posting twice in one day is super bad  (not sure why though since we teachers have so many ideas! haha) But I couldn't resist until tomorrow, I wanted to share a newest creation I just made with you. It's a subtraction game that would be good for first or early second grade. It's like tic-tac-toe and has a forest animal theme. Come check it out! :) Thanks and let me know what you think!

 

A fun, Busy Wednesday

I want to post some pics of my day yesterday. We were busy in Title! The first 3 pictures show my 3rd graders completeting various center games. We had some extra time so instead of sending them back to class, I differentiated instruction based on what they still need to master. The last two pics show my little kindergarteners playing number bingo. I put a random number on the board and they had to count all their objects on their boards and cover up that number if they had it. Lots of fun! Then I had them be the teacher and I sat and played! They got such a kick out of that. :) Have a good Thursday...almost the weekend yay!

What's Not Wrong?

Getting Carried Away in Kindergarten is having a linky party of what's not wrong in life. Here is my list..

1) having so many papers in the desk because you printed up so many reproducibles to use and so many ideas!

2) being a little late to bed because you had to watch a few episodes of Bridezillas

3) not spending time with the bf on monday nights in order to watch The Bachelor

4) not telling the bf you have hot pockets for lunch in the freezer because you want to keep those for your school lunch

5) staying on the computer for hours blog hopping to get more great ideas!

Direction Rap and scary weather

Hey all! So the weather this afternoon is crazy and a little scary. We are getting two fronts moving in and the temperatures are just clashing. Today it was in the 50's and tomorrow it'll be in the 20's yay! But it's making the wind speeds go nuts and looking out my window now, it looks like a tornado! 

I wanted to share something with you. It's not really math related, more social studies, but it's a rap song I made up when I was student teaching to teach the kids the directions. I've included a copy for you so I hope you like it. The students really liked singing it over and over again and pretending they were rappers! :) I think it really helped them catch on to the 4 directions! Click on the rap to download!

I also wanted to post these pics of my room/office because I said I would when I posted my day in shoes linky party. I'm sure you can see from the pics, my room is not big at all. It's cozy and just enough space for a kidney table, my desk, a whiteboard and my favorite, a touchscreen computer which we use as a small smart board for lessons. :)

Whoo Hoo a quarter of the way to 100 and It's Monday, Whatcha Reading

Happy Day off to my teacher friends! I'm glad we have this day free but also glad at what the world has become since MLKjr. We still have a way to go, but I think he would be proud!

I am excited to see my followers increase substantially in just the last week! Thank you guys for joining and I hope I can share even more games, ideas and fun stuff with you all the time! :)

Finally, the last thing I wanted to post today was what I'm reading. Book Journey has a Linky party for Reading Monday. Hop over to the blog to check it out and link up your reads. I have to admit, right now I am reading The Cornerstone Classroom Management by Julie Powell. I LOVE this book! She offers so many ideas and ways to organize your classroom. I think it will be an invaluable resource. My boyfriend got me a Kindle Touch for Christmas so I have the book downloaded onto that. I am glad it's on the Kindle because I don't think I could lug a book that big everywhere I go! So what are you reading? Hope the rest of your day is relaxing. :)

New Game

So my 3rd graders are learning about multiplication and I know this game is available from stores already, but I put my own spin on it and added "prettier" colors to make it more child friendly. It's I have Who Has Multiplication and contains 28 cards. Please visit my store to purchase and download it (click on the image to go there). I hope you like it!

A Day in My Shoes Linky Party..

Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher is hosting a linky party called A Day in my shoes. Here is a schedule of my day in Title Math. (will post pics on tuesday!)...

8:00-8:15 Bus Duty---not fun in the winter :(

8:30 School Starts

8:45-9:15 Pull first group of students (2nd grade)

9:15-9:40 Planning Period

9:40-10:10 Pull second group of students (3rd grade)

10:10-10:30 Break

10:30-11 Pull third group of students (2nd grade)

11-11:20 Lunch

11:20-11:50 Pull fourth group of students (3rd grade)

12:05-12:35 Recess Duty

12:45-1:15 Pull fifth group (1st grade)

1:15-1:45 pull sixth group (K)

1:45-2:00 Planning

2:00-2:30 Pull seventh group (1st grade)

2:30-3 Pull eigth group (K)

3:15 Daycare Duty

3:45 Home :)

It looks so confusing but the gist of my job is to instruct small groups of students for 30 min, or I have the option once in a while to "push in" and help the classroom teacher. I think it makes the day go so fast to pull small groups however I'm praying to get my own grade and classroom (somewhere) this coming school year. I look forward to my afternoons because I get to pull the little ones and they are my absolute favorite. Ok have a good rest of the weekend everyone!

Share the Love

Hello Lovlies! For some reason I am super excited for V-day this year. I wanted to share with you a special project that will be going on. Ms. Preppy is hosting a Valentine Exchange. You need to sign up by Jan. 22nd and she will then email you a special friend to buy or make a small gift for. Then send it in the mail by Feb. 6th. I just signed up and am so excited to buy and receive a gift! :) Head over to her blog for more info and to learn how to sign up!

Center Signs!

Ok, so I'm waiting for the laundry to finish (not wanting to clean the apartment today) and just whipped up these center signs for sale at my shop on Teachers Notebook! Please visit to purchase and download or click on the image below. :)

Love for Joplin

After last years tornado ripped through the city of Joplin, MO the teachers are without many important materials. Please hop over to Mrs. Wills Kindergarten to join her linky party in sending  files and activities to the teachers in Joplin. I am very blessed to be in one of very few professions where we all band together and look out for one another. My thoughts and prayers go out to Joplin.

500 Follower Giveaway

Hey everyone! A Teacher's Treasure is giving away a ton of cool stuff when she reaches 500! Stop over to her blog to check it out and enter to win! :) Happy Saturday!

Coin File Folder Game

This is a coin game I just made and thought I would share with you! I know my students especially my first graders have a hard time grasping counting coins. Enjoy and feel free to leave a comment! :)Click on the image to download and print game.

Time to Relax

Yay! The week is over, testing is done and I have a long weekend! ahh..time for some much needed recouping. :)
Living in Cleveland, we're used to the snow, but it came so fast and brutal last night and continues into today that I'm just glad I'm home safe and sound. I'm beginning to think I don't like the snow. I think I'd like it just for Christmas eve and day and then it can go away! In the spring, I'd like to start looking for jobs in Kentucky. I love the country and south. :)

100th Day Linky

Since I only take my small groups for 30 min, I will probably only be doing one activity to celebrate 100 day but I have two of my favorites I'd like to share with you!...

1) A week or so ahead of time, ask 10 parent volunteers to sign up to bring in 1 fruit item. Explain to the class that 10 fuits represent 100. These could include grapes, a cantelope, strawberries, etc. Then as a class, cut up the fruit (teacher's job! ) and create a big fruit salad.

2) Gather a 10 bags of loose candy (as many pieces as there are students) and hide the baggies around the room. Invite the children to look for the bags and when they find one, to place it on a table. When all the bags have been found, dump the candy pieces into a big bowl. Divide the candy up among the class and enjoy the treat! :)

Valentine Number Game

So I thought of this game at school today, but had to wait till I got home to create it. I hope you like it! It's Valentine themed and you have to match the number words to the numbers. (1-10) Perfect for kindergarten! :) Click on the picture to download!

Eye Strain..

So I believe I mentioned this week at my school, we're doing AIMsWeb testing. For anyone that's not familiar it's online testing in the subjects of math and reading. Each grade has different tests that usually take 1-4 min. I have to test 5 different classes and boy are my eyes sore from staring at the monitor all day. :/ On a better note, I do have a button created so I'm excited to share that with you! Please grab it. :) Also, after I was done testing a first grader (which is my ultimate favorite grade) he told me my "classroom" was nice! :) How cute! That made my day! Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday!

Lions, Tigers and Buttons..Oh My!

So being in Title, sometimes I don't always get to have my day as I plan it because I get pulled to sub. (I actually like it, because I get to be in the classroom and teach a whole group!) Today I had to sub in a Kindergarten class. We had a lot of fun and the afternoon was just centers...(easy peasey) During the first session of centers, a little boy spilled an entire bag of buttons! Needless to say, we were cleaning that up for the rest of the session! I do like these little ones. They make me laugh! :)

Currently January

Oh Boy 4th Grade has her Linky party for this month...here is mine!

Winter Whimsy

So above, I posted my missing number file folder game. I have a pic of it completed a few posts below. If you would like to make a copy, just click the picture and download. :)

Alien math game

Above are a few pictures from the alien math game I made. If you click on them, you can download a copy for yourself if you would like. I have the completed center posted a few posts below. :)

Hands on numbers

So yesterday, I had my kindergartners using play dough to make numbers. They love it! We also "sculpted" the answers to basic addition and subtraction facts. 

I also posted a pic of my door right now. I love changing everything with the seasons or holidays (I think it keeps me sane from not looking at the same stuff day in and out! haha) I bought the snowmen at and education store. I didn't laminate them because I'm just going to give them to the kids when I put up V-day decorations. I also found a cute snowman font which you can't see well where the letters are made of snow and the inside circles are snowmen heads! :)

New Year, New Job??

Hey everyone! So it's back to school today. Since it's such a short week and next week we are doing RTI testing, I'm just reviewing with the kids this week. I was also informed that there is a good chance there will be substantial budget cuts for the upcoming school year and my job is pretty much in jeopardy! Yikes! I've interviewed with another district before the holidays and hope they will contact me, but I'm getting a little nervous! Let's just hope the rest of this school year is fun and I will try not to freak out too much!

Lots of Laminating!

So I've been pretty busy these last few days. I've finally figured out how to make my own file folder games. I'm posting a few pics of what I have so far. I've taken these ideas and concepts from what I've seen on TPT and added my own spin. The graphics are made by Just So Scrappy too. Tell me what you think! Also, once I get the right software in the mail, I plan to post some for you to use and print out, but for now, I cannot make them PDF. :/ It's back to school tomorrow so the laminator will be busy making these pieces long lasting! ;)