Woo Hoo! Another Year has started!

Well we are a few weeks in and I have to say we are getting off to a good start.  I am so happy with my new little crew of Kinders.  They are all so eager to learn and they are adorable!  They come in smiling everyday. I am loving it.  I am also so pleased with my room this year.  I was really inspired by Pinterest throughout the summer and worked on several things during the break to put together a new color scheme.  I was unsure for a while how it would all come together.  I am happy to say it came together nicely.  Here are some pics!  I'm so thankful for blogging friends who have linky parties so we can share and gain inspiration from each other.  Check out Swimming Into Second for more great classroom pics.

POLKA DOTS!!  I went with a color theme this year.  Bright green, blue and pink and polka dots.  

My new book bin!  I LOVE it! I love to display kids' work on the bright colors.

My Birthday chart - Pinterest Inspired - will add kids faces later

I bought so many baskets to match my colors, I have no place for them. So for now they are just decoration. 

Front Door - Welcome!!

How we go home chart

My banner I found on sale at WM for $5

My Word Wall (Missing the I - it got laminated to the back of the Y) LOL!

The main learning wall

My Mini Poms and pennants that I just adore!

I am really off to a great year for the 2012-13 school year.  I love being in K again, I feel much more settled in and organized this year.  I am working to stay on top of things and keep a step ahead instead of feeling like I am always playing catch up.  I hope you all have a great year too!

What a great way to help teachers!

Teacher's Notebook is working to earn $10,000 to give to teachers as $25 gift certificates to buy things they need in their classroom.  There is a great short video about it at this link.  Please check it out and donate if you can.  If not at least take a minute to post on your blog or share on Facebook about this wonderful resource for teachers.

Click the image below to check it out!  Thank so much! Let's spread the word so they can reach the goal of $10,000.  Make sure to check back Aug. 9th to sign up to win one of those certificates.  Every penny helps! Thank you Teacher's Notebook!

New Teacher advise

I just have to link up to Fabulously First's party because I love helping new teachers. 

 I would love to be the new teacher liaison and show them around the school and give them copies of all my files, and all my blog connections to help them get started.  I have a soft spot for new teachers because when I first started 15 years ago, I had a very difficult time and thought I had made a mistake.  I was hired 3 weeks after school started due to over crowded classes.  So you know what that means...the teachers got to pick which kids I got.  I was 3 halls away from any other 2nd grade classes and no one seemed to want to help me or share with me.  I was given 2 days to set up a room and BOOM!  you're a teacher now teach! I was given a mentor, but she was a 9 year Kindergarten teacher and couldn't really help me with 2nd grade.  She was a "social butterfly" of the school too and didn't have much time for me.  Anyway, I made it through, but really didn't get help until my third year, I was moved to Kindergarten and had a great mentor that was across from me and actually took time to help me.  She observed me, videoed me and reviewed it with me.  She observed me and we talked after.  Finally!  I was becoming the teacher I had hoped I would be.  I would have to credit my improvement over the last 15 years to the great co-workers I have been able to work with along the way who were willing to help, share and even sometimes give correction when needed.  So I would say my best advise to a new teacher would be ...

1. Be a team player.
2. Do a lot of listening, but don't just sit back and let yourself be overwhelmed.  Ask questions when you don't understand something.  Teachers can talk fast and use a lot of teacher jargon.  Ask, ask, and ask again.
3. Get to know your team and be willing to learn from them.
4. Find the teachers that everyone goes to for advise and hang out in their room as much as possible.

Above all have a love for your kids and know that each year will get better and better.

P.S. I really like Simply Primary's advise too so I thought I would add a link to hop you right over to it.

Linking up!!

I love this teaching blog world I have entered into.  I feel it is a very real blessing in my life.  Not only does it give me a place to share things that I love and gripes sometimes, but I also have been able to become a much better teacher because of all my blogging friends who share...share...share!  I am joining Kindergarten Lifestyle's link up to share my blog and also have a place to find over 200 other great primary blogs.  Thank you so much for doing this!  I hope you enjoy reading and I can offer something helpful to someone.



Link up to find so many great blogs to help inspire you!

Teacher Toolbox!!

I did it! Another great Pinterest inspired project.  I found it first on Pinterest and I think the original credit goes to Create-Teach-Share.  Check it out here.  I also found a great template for the words at Fun in Room 4B. Check it out here. 

I am already in love with it and I don't even have stuff in it.  :)  I am going to be so organized.  Thank you Pinterest and Blogging buddies!  

Yeah! I've been crafting!

I am so happy with myself, I figured out how to fix my header!  It is not perfect yet, but at least It matches a little better.  I'll still play with it and re-size it.  ;)  I would love to learn how to make beautiful "scrapbook" type of a graphic.  Let me know if you can hook me up with a tutorial.  I have some digital paper and little images, but not sure how to layer them.  I'd love to find a simple way to make graphics.  :)

Also, I've been crafting this morning.  :) I found this kit at WM marked way down to only $5 so I grabbed it up because it matches my new color scheme.  I sewed all the little pennants and attached them to a ribbon.  I love it! I think it will go great across all my windows.  I am getting so excited about putting my room together.  Right now I have to go get all my great finds out of the trunk and put them in the junk room office so I can pack the car for our big trip for this summer!

We are so excited!  We will be going to Tennessee to visit some family friends who moved last year.  They were our go to baby sitters for years so the girls really miss their kids.  We will be attending the temple with their 2nd oldest as he is preparing to leave on a mission for our church for the next 2 years.  He is such a valiant young man. I know he will do great sharing the love of Christ with others in Idaho.  Then we will be going to Mississippi to visit Grammy (my mom).  The girls can't wait to see her new goats.

So I will be out of town for a week.  I will be so excited to get back to posting some about school when I get back.  Take care and have a good week blogging friends!

I also made these adorable bandana shirts for the girls to wear 4th of July.  Imagine little white leggings and cute bows in their hair! Adorable and easy!

Just had to add this.  It was Father's Day.  These are my traveling companions.  I love spending time with them!

My new color scheme for the 2012-2013 school year

Ta-da!! Here it is!  My new color scheme for my classroom.  I was inspired by the summer picnic isle at Dollar General.  They had all kinds of cute baskets in various sizes.  Next I found a 4 pack of view 1" binders in the same colors.  Then to top it all off CVS had a sale this week on all their summer picnics stuff (which happened to be the same colors) and baskets for $0.80 instead of a dollar. I also found a fabric kit for making a pennant banner that was the right colors that had been marked down to $5.00 and it was the only one.  How can you beat that deal???  I thought it must be meant to be and I grabbed it all up.  I took all of the baskets they had at my CVS and will be hunting for more as we go on our trip this week.  So now it looks like a blue, pink and green monster threw up in my trunk. Oh what fun I am going to have!  Thanks to all my blog friends for the inspiration to be cute and matchy!

Pirate day!

I forgot all about Pirate day!  I just downloaded the pictures off my camera and found these.  The Friday before the last day of school, we had Pirate day.  It was so cute.  A couple dressed up  and then we made costumes for the rest of the class.  We went on a treasure hunt and everything.  Here are some pics from our fun day.

Calm Pirates

Crazy Pirates!  Arrrgh!

My sweet hubby came to be the Special Reader and read a pirate book in his crazy voices.  

He brought these extra cute little pirate girls with him to share in the fun. ;)

On our treasure hunt, following our map, finding "ar" words and looking for an X that marks the spot.  

Great Find for Math CCSS!

Hey all!  Just as many of you are, I am searching the internet, Pinterest and all my blogging friends to find fantastic ideas for next year.  I already have tons of stuff in my trunk that I have purchased to create my new theme for next year.  I am so inspired by my blogging friends, I just couldn't be lazy this summer.  I have been one here everyday looking for inspiration...and boy have I found it!  


I have been searching for anything and everything about the new Common Core Standards that I can find.  We started slow with our adoption of the CCSS and Kindergarten was only responsible for implementing the Math Standards.  Now this coming year we are all in.  So I am searching to find helpful things for my team so we can integrate the new CCSS into our lessons.  


I found a great site that is sharing a huge freebie with Common Core Math Skills Checks. Over 40 pages for free!  All she asks is that we share.  So please go check her out here.  


And here is the link to her freebie!! I love teachers who help each other.  I am eternally grateful and hope to pass on the wealth of help we can find here in blogland.  

It's the final countdown!!!

Inspired by yet another fabulous teacher in blog land...I have put up these countdown balloons with little slips of paper in them with something extra fun to do each day till next Friday.

I put these 10 activities in the balloons:
1. sidewalk chalk
2. shaving cream spelling
3. eat lunch outside
4. sit anywhere
5. painting
6. bubbles
7. paper airplanes
8. Red Rover
9. Guest Reader (My husband is going to come on "Pirate Day" to read a funny book to them)
10. Chew gum

Here is the blog that inspired me... The Teacher Wife

I love a good new idea to keep the last few days interesting...Let's hope I make it through without dropping from exhaustion.  Best of luck to all my teacher  friends as we finish up the 2011-2012 school year.

OH MY! I feel so bad!

I have really neglected my blog since Christmas.  I don't really even know why...I just got busy, lost my inspiration maybe?  Either way, I am sorry and I will be getting back on as of now.  I have been on Annie Moffatt's blog and she has given me my inspiration back.  Thanks for continuing to follow me and I hope I can still offer some good ideas to help you finish out the year.  I will be working on some things for my team this summer and I will be a much better blogger next year.  :)  Check back soon for my come back.

This is a St. Patrick's Day project we did.  We love art but find it hard to squeeze it in when we are so busy learning to read.  

OH WAIT!  I know what I have been busy doing.....starting another hobby...making CAKES!  I love it but it is very time consuming.  Here are a few of my best creations.