Peek at my Week- Back to the Basics

Wow!  I haven't been on here since September 1!!  Back when I didn't know my students yet and had so much hope for the year... Well my friends, the first 19 days of school have been trying, difficult, stressful, etc, etc, etc.... It has taken a Herculean effort, and maybe one minor breakdown in the back of my classroom, (and maybe a lot of adult beverages on the weekends) to get through the first four weeks!  

So, in hopes of being out of this funk and on to better times, I am linking up with Deedee from Mrs. Will's Kindergarten for a Peek at my Week!

 So my troubles mentioned above have stemmed from 1 student.  And the actions of this 1 student have effected how the rest of my class has done with our classroom rules and routines.  My assistant principal even commented on how it must be killing me back at the beginning of the 2nd week of school, because she knows how much of a stickler I am for routine and having them set and ready to learn.  WELL, now is the time to reset it all!  We are going to review everything like it is the first week of school.  Expectations will be high and I KNOW things will get better!

In other news we are starting Apples this week, but are catching up on so many other things that we will start apples this week but will really hit it hard next week!  I do have positive things to share, but I'll save it for another day.  AND maybe I'll even have energy for a 5 for Friday post this week!  

Here are the plans:

Here's to a good week friends!  Make sure you jump back over to Mrs. Will's Kindergarten for more plans.  Happy Teaching!

Peek at my Week- Back at it!

WHAT?!  It's time to start posting lesson plans again???  Nooooo.... Where did summer go??  I can't believe it's already here friends!  But I do have to say, I enjoy lesson planning (nerd alert!) and I also enjoy linking up with Deedee from Mrs. Will's Kindergarten for a Peek at my Week!

 I was VERY happy with my first few weeks of school last year so I have decided to pretty much stick with them this year.  Had to make a few modifications based on changes in our team math and language arts plans, but overall I was able to roll with them!  I have changed them to make them visual of course, which I have fallen in love with.  So, I'll keep this short and sweet:

On the first day I switch math and reader's workshop because I like to read The Kissing Hand earlier in the day.  Centers for the first week are pretty much just to practice using materials (nothing super hard) and practicing moving from center to center.  We have rest time for the first month, if the kids need it.  I always plan on doing it the first 2 weeks and then go from there.  I've stopped after the first 2 weeks the last couple years because they weren't actually napping.  Here are the plans:

While I'm not excited to get up early to get into the room and make sure everything is ready (because I haven't been in my room since wednesday due to training and a wedding!! AHHH!!) I am very excited to meet all my new students!!  Hope you have, or are having, a wonderful year!  Good luck everyone!

Happy Teaching!

Oops, a sale?! And Giveaway Winner!!

Hi Friends!  So in my crazy rush of packing for Michigan/Italy and making sure my dog didn't lick her paw that she had surgery on I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THE TPT SALE!  Epic fail friends... I also haven't created basically anything this summer to add to my store even though I had big plans to do this...  Well, maybe I can pump out some this week and have my own special sale! YAY!  I'll keep you updated.

In more exciting new- I have a winner from my 1 year blogiversary giveaway:  

Congratulations Linda M!!!  Be on the lookout in your email- I'll send everything later today!  

Hope you all are having fun shopping the sales- I need to head over to TPT and start grabbing things from my wish list :-) Have a great week everyone!

August Currently and a giveaway!

I'm linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for my August Currently!

And, before I forget, I'm throwing a giveaway for my 1 year blogiversary!  You can find it HERE!

Five for Friday and a Giveaway!

It's Friday already???  Wow, time flies when you are sitting around doing nothing :-)  Linking up with Doodles Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!  Oh- make sure you read to number 5 for a link to a great giveaway!

 Last Friday was my last day of grad school- ever!! WOOT!!!

 So I got together to celebrate my graduation with some of my fabulous team members!! Cookout on the roof.  The weather was perfect for it!!  Love these ladies :-)

 Visited Target for some travel items and ended up getting some things for the classroom... of course...  Thank you Dollar Spot!

 

These little buckets have chalkboard paint! Amazing!!

 I'm too school for cool and got very excited when I ran by the school last week to discover that our new math curriculum came in!! And now it's sitting on my dining room table so I can check it out :-)  Has anyone every used Math Expressions?!  Thoughts on it?

 I'm celebrating my 1 year blogiversary!!  Click HERE to enter to win these fabulous prizes:

Happy Friday friends!! Some of the people in my district are already back at school- with kids!!! (modified calendar)   Luckily, I still have 2 1/2 weeks, including visiting family in Michigan AND going to ITALY!!!  Hope you all have a little more time left as well!

1 Year Blogiversary Giveaway!!

Hello Friends!  Very excited for today!! Not only am I (still) celebrating being done with grad school, BUT it's also my 1 year Blogiversary!!!  I started my blog after being inspired by all the wonderful bloggers at Vegas last year, and now that I'm done with grad school (did I mention YAY!!! yet??), I will have more time to actually blog about whats going on in my classroom.  

In honor of the occasion, some very wonderful kinder blogging friends have generously offered up products to help make this is fabulous giveaway!!  Here is what you can win:

From me:
My newest inspiration is a game from one of my profs this summer and I am very excited about it!  It's called Plot a Word, and while the cover page and directions are not quite done... I still wanted to give it away!  Here is a little preview:

From Laura over at Differentiation Station Creations: Her Monster Munch: Addition to 20 pack!  You can check it out HERE.

 From Carolyn over at Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together: her Eric Carle Prezi! You can check it out HERE.

From Cara over at Kindergarten Boom Boom: 1 free item from her store!!!  You can check out her store HERE.

From Terri over at Kinder Kapers: her Peas and Carrots: Composing and Decomposing numbers to 10!  You can check it out HERE.

From Allison over at A First Grade Teacher: her Nonsense Word Cards Set 1!  You can check it out HERE.

From Jada over at Daisy Days of Learning: her Kindergarten Year Long Skills Practice pack!  You can check it out HERE.

From Debbie over at Rainbows Within Reach: her You're Wonderful digital download!! I have lots of experience with this song- it is AMAZING!!  You can check it out HERE.

Wowie wow wow!! That's alot of stuff!  You can enter on the rafflecopter below until midnight on Monday night, August 4 and the winner will be announced on Tuesday.  Good Luck everyone!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Talk Tuesday- The Very Brave Bear

Another Tuesday, another book!  Linking up with Deanna from Mrs. Jump's Class for Book Talk Tuesday!

I got this book free through Scholastic- don't you just love them!

 So Bear meets Boris the buffalo one day:

Boris apologizes for scaring Bear, who of course says that he wasn't scared, and that's when they start challenging each other- "I know something you're scared to do."  BUT it turns out that they are both able to do everything that the other can do!

 That is, until they come upon a very scary cave!!

 Looked at their scared little faces!  Then they hear a noise and get so freaked out that they run away, jump in the muck and mud, and discover that the very scary thing is .... just a frog!!

 
 Now, all through the book there are rhyming words that let the students guess what the challenge will be on the next page.  The frog is also hiding on every page, which I didn't notice until a student pointed it out!  How fun!  

Hope you enjoyed the book!  Head back over to Mrs. Jump's Class for more!