A Skirt?!

Something you should know about me- I am EXTREMELY low maintenance.  Like, extremely!!!  No makeup, I dry my hair when it's cold out and that's the extent of that, I wear a lot of jeans (outside of work) and pants/capris at work.  I know how to look cute, and can put together a great outfit super quick, which I do outside of work, but usually I just throw on some dress pants and a shirt and off I go to work.  WELL, this was my outfit today:

 I have been looking for a maxi skirt for months now and finally found one at the Gap! LOVE!!  

When my students walked in for breakfast the first thing I heard was "What are you wearing?"  Then a minute later 3 of my boys walk up, point at my skirt, and actually SCREAMED!! No joke!  It was like I dressed up in my costume a day early!  So Hilarious!!!  Finally at lunch one of my boys said I should dress like this every day! (actually he said for 100 days, but whatever).  They are so funny!  

I will be in costume tomorrow, but then back to the pants- hopefully they won't be dissapointed... 

Happy Halloween!!!  I will post our decorations and costume fun tomorrow :-)

Oh! It's my 3 month blogoversary!  YAY!!  Maybe I'll do something big for the 4 month...

Peek at My Week- Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Week!!

I am looking forward to this fun week! And I'm linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for a peek at my week!

Our theme this week is Bats- how appropriate for Halloween!  I continue testing on Monday (ugh), so will have a sub.  And miracle of miracles- our principal is letting teachers and students dress up for Halloween!!  Kindergarteners will even parade through the school! YAY!  It's gonna be a lot of fun!  Here are my plans for the week:

 Oh! I have my formal observation on Friday afternoon- YUP, Friday.... afternoon... the day after Halloween... BRING IT!! :-D

You can download my plans by clicking HERE- lots of hyperlinks in case you are in need of some fall/halloween centers.  

Have a great week yall!!  And head over to Mrs. Wills Kindergarten to see more great plans!
 

5 for Friday- The weeks are flying by!

It's Friday already?!  The weeks are flying by!  We started doing theme teaching this year and I think that is helping time pass, but man- I need it to slow down just a little...  BUT Friday does mean Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

 We played Pattern Cover Up (everyday math...) this week and I had an epiphany all of a sudden- instead of covering up part of the pattern with piece of paper (which really doesn't work that great) use a cup!  I have 100 cups in the back of my room (from the 100th day last year) and it worked out perfectly!

 On Thursday we brought out the computers during math and the kids paired up to complete some SmartNotebook pattern activities.  They did really well and enjoyed using the computers during!

 Each time they were done with a page they had to make a "Partner Pyramid"! That way the teacher could come around and check.  So cute!

 I started PALS testing today...  It is our major state required phonological awareness and literacy test.  It's SOOOOOO boring to administer.  When the kids don't pass a section while testing with a group you have to do another version 1 on 1...  I hate repeating: "Circle the picture that rhymes with cat, that sounds like cat.  Cat-fire, cat-bat, cat-spoon."  UGH!  Hoping to be totally done after Monday!

 We de-gooped pumpkins this week!! Through a turn of events, each table got to have their own!!! So Many Pumpkins!  I made them use their hands at first, then they could switch to the world's most giant spoon!

 Just scored these little gems at the Target $1 spot!!  They are little plastic pumpkins and leaves.  They also had acorns, but I didn't really like them... Maybe you will.  We are going to use them for patterns and simple addition and subtraction!

Hop back over to Doodle Bugs Teaching for more random Fridayness and have a great weekend!!

Pumpkin Scooping and a Winner!

First, congrats to Catherine on winning my A Pumpkin Grows Reader Pack!!  Check your email Catherine!

Today was a BLAST!!  We opened up some (5!!) pumpkins and de-gooped them!  The kids had a blast, so did my prinicipal, and so did I!  here are some pictures of the experience:

World's most giant spoon- right?! Gotta love the cafeteria!

The facial expressions on my friend in the first and last pics were priceless! Have a great Friday!!

What?! Wednesday Comment Party!

So last month I thought it would be fun to start a monthly linky party called What?! Wednesday (you can see it here), but then realized that I didn't have many followers and so who was going to link up??  Silly girl...  
WELL, I am going to continue What?! Wednesday but make it a comment party because I really want to hear your funny, ridiculous, gross stories!!  Here is the idea:

Alright friends- you know we all LOVE those funny or ridiculous stories about our wonderful students that make you and your partners in crime coworkers say "What?!"  (or "EWWW" or "You gotta be kidding me!" You get the idea...) Well, I think it's time to start sharing with each other so we can all have a good laugh!

 Here is my 2nd installment:

 1. One of my little friends has been having an attitude problem the last couple of weeks- You should all know that Mrs. V does NOT do attitude.  I hate it.  Don't be a punk, alright??  WELL, my friend had to get out of line after recess to get his lunchbox and when he got back he started pushing to get back in his spot.  I very nicely and calmly told him not to worry about it and just go to the end of the line because there was more space.  This is what I got- "UUUUGGGGHHHH!!" STOMP STOMP STOMP... grumble grumble "UUGGHH!"  

In my head: What the?!?!  

I'm not going to lie- I was pissed...  But I remained calmed and had a chat with him that ended with the moving of my friend's clip because I had had enough attitude from him that day.  

Mom had a chat with him and hopefully he is done being so whiny!

2. So, this one does not have to do with students, but I was thinking about the other day and chuckled to myself.  

I was working as a long term sub 5 years ago (already??) at a wonderful school in Michigan.  The kindergarten class was putting on a huge show for the parents so the school was packed with them.  I really needed the bathroom so I walked across the hall and knocked on the door- no answer, so I walked in only to find a mom on the toilet just as startled as me!  I felt awful!  But thought- Who doesn't lock the bathroom door??

So I went back to class and waited a few minutes and then, just to be safe, went around the corner to the other bathroom, knocked on the door- no answer, so I walked in to find ANOTHER mom on the toilet startled just like me! WHAT?!?!? WHO DOESN'T LOCK THE BATHROOM DOOR!!!!  I could not believe it. 

I was so scared to try the other one again that I went back to my room until I knew the program had started so the parents would be out of the hallway... :-(

YOUR TURN!  Please leave a comment with your funny story so we can all laugh together!  

OH! And- my latest giveaway ends at midnight tonight (EST)! Click here to enter- it's at the end of my 5 for Friday post.

Peek at my Week and another Giveaway!

It's lesson plan day!  Linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for a Peek at My Week!

My plans are even more visual this week as I get used to doing this thing!  I feel very proud of that.  You can download my lesson plans by clicking HERE.  Then you can click on all the hyperlinks :-)

I also feel like I'm getting pretty good at differentiating my centers- I'll do a post on how I manage that soon :-)

GIVEAWAY
To keep the word going out about my blog and my new TPT store I'm giving away my newest creation to one lucky winner!!  You can enter for a chance to win my A Pumpkin Grows Reader Pack!  There are 3 levels of readers for your students to read and color to learn about the pumpkin life cycle!  You can check it out on TPT here!

I will be using all three levels this week in my class.  Isn't is crazy how there are so many different skill levels in kindergarten?!?!
Click HERE to enter- the rafflecopter is at the end of my 5 for Friday post! GOOD LUCK!

Now head back over to Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for more lesson plans!

5 for Friday AND a Giveaway!!

Hey all!  Time for another 5 for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

 Patterns, patterns, everywhere!  I really enjoy teaching patterns! So much you can do.  We made patterns out of classroom items at my center this week and then labeled them.  The kids did a great job!

We started our 2 weeks on Pumpkins!  I found a local nursery to donate pumpkins for free!!!!  Big shout out to Greenstreet Gardens in Alexandria for donating 10 pumpkins to our kindergarten kids!!  We used them this week to explore with our 5 senses and do some writing.

Next week we will cut them open and explore inside AND cook pumpkin seeds!

We always have fall and spring soccer matches within our classroom (even though it's not quite developmentally appropriate... BUT they get to run around alot so it's OK).  We split up into 4 teams and each team played the other for 10 minutes and then I had the kids split into 2 groups and everyone got to practice kicking goals!  It was a good time!

This team was really good at celebrating with each other when they scored!! Love it!

I had to take a professional day on Thursday to go to the high school :-(  I do not like going there.  I'm working on my Masters right now in ELL Curriculum and Instruction.  My current class is an adolescent literacy class because the certification is K-12.  ANYWHO- I always feel out of my element and get really uncomfortable...  Have to go like 3 more times unfortunately.

Giveaway!!  I created a reader pack about the pumpkin life cycle and will be giving it away to one lucky follower!!  You can check it out on TPT by clicking here.  

There are 3 levels of readers- Emergent, Emergent Plus (+), and Advanced! You can enter to win on the rafflecopter below!!  You have until Wednesday the 23rd at Midnight.  Good luck!

Now hop back over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to see how everyone else's weeks went! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner Winner and Curiosity Bag

Congrats to Christine who won my Spooky Math Games!! I sent you an email this morning with the file- check it out :-)

Thanks to everyone who entered and who started following my blog and/or TPT store!  

Curiosity Bag!
So we started talking about pumpkins this week- it will be a 2 week theme for us.  I was at my grad class on Monday night and we were talking about interesting ways to get adolescents involved in reading (that's right- I teach K but have to learn about adolescents because the ELL certification will be K-12... BOOOO!).  One of the other teachers started talking about an Inquiry Box because it went along with a strategy we were discussing.  I thought this would be perfect for Tuesday morning! 
I borrowed a smallish pumpkin from a coworker and put it in my computer bag.  That's right, nothing fancy, just a computer bag.  BUT I called it a curiosity bag and really played it up and got the kids excited.  They had to reach in without looking, feel the pumpkin, and then go back and draw a picture of what they thought was inside.
They absolutely loved it! (as my husband says- simple minds!).  I had all sorts of answers- ball, pumpkin, teddy bear (?), rock.  They were so excited to find out it was a pumpkin.  Sorry no pictures... Can't the school just hire someone to take pictures all day so we can document these good ideas????

Monday (tuesday...) Made It!

Hi friends!  I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for a short but sweet Monday Made It!

1.  I finally got my Top Table Points border up!  Took like 2 minutes and it's REALLY cute! 

Don't you love the pictures they have been drawing for me?!  lol

2. I made my first paid product on TPT!!!  Spooky Math Games!  Check it out HERE, and you can enter to win it HERE!!!  Giveaway ends tonight at midnight!