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.

I feel like December has been a whirlwind...

I can't believe I have not posted since before Thanksgiving.  The Holidays always get hectic and I get distracted.  We went on a trip to my mom's in Mississippi for Thanksgiving.  Then we had a couple weeks of busy, busy, busy at school and then it was Christmas break.  I had every intention of working on some things for the new year (and I may still) but last minute runs to WalMart and making reindeer pancakes for my girls became the priority for the holiday.  :)  I have a few more days off so I will try to work on a few things for 2012.  Here are a few things we did in my class during the couple weeks leading up to Christmas.  I know it is late, but maybe it will be helpful for next year.  :)

Building sentences using a color code

Building sentences with sight words using Christmas bulbs

using magnet letters and little erasers to count one-to-one

Painted Poinsettias. After they are cut out you out red on green and glue yellow dots for the center.
They are really pretty all together on a bulletin board.

A Christmas mobile and writing activity

We love to become Sight Word Champions!   If they read all of the learned sight words by the end of the  9 weeks
they get to write their name on the chart.

These were Pinterest inspired.  My Grade Chair did them and then all of us in the pod had to do them too.  They are so pretty hanging from the ceiling, I don't even want to take them down.