My May Bulletin Boards

Hey everyone. Today I am linking up with Amy over at Teaching is Sweet to showcase this month's bulletin boards.

This past month we've been busy exploring digraphs. I had the students make these cute flowers as a culminating craftivity.  Each student selected a digraph to focus on. Then they cut out the petals and assembled flower. You can grab your own copy  HERE!!!

 

We recently went to see a Curious George play at a local theater. The students loved seeing their favorite monkey in person. After the trip we made these cute monkey's to display our reviews.

Don't forget to stop on over at Teaching is Sweet to see what others have been up to this month.

You Oughta Know May

It's blog hopping time! Once again I am teaming up with the lovey Mrs. McClain and a bunch of other fabulous teacher bloggers to share classroom tips and tricks. 

Some of you know that I am a fanatic when it comes to organizing. Everything needs to be color coded and labeled plus you get extra points if it is alphabetized. As the year is winding down I have been busy filing stray papers and getting my binders cleaned up.

Is anyone else obsessive with their binders too? Anyway, here is a look at how I organize my Guided Reading and Sight Word binders.
 

I love these letter tabs that I found at the office supply store. They are kind of expensive but it makes alphabetizing a breeze. I originally bought them to organize my Popcorn Word (sight word) Binder.  I can easily access the activities and resources I need for each word.  By the way, the photo below features awesome sight word activities from the Moffatt Girls.

 

Of course after alphabetizing the first binder I had to do another one. Organizing can be an addiction I tell you.  Next I tackled my Guided Reading binder. This one is massive. I keep everything in there... comprehension passages, leveled reading response sheets, lesson plans, student data, the works. The lesson plans featured below are from JD's Rockin' Readers.

I love how alphabet tabs allow me to quickly skip to the DRA level I need for each group. Obviously, my Kinders are not reading on level P, but I have the resources printed and ready to go for tutoring sessions. It never hurts to be overprepared.

Here's a chance to spice up your own binders with this free nautical binder cover. Click Here to snag your own. Don't forget to leave some feedback if you like it.

I would love to hear how you manage your classroom binders and resources; tell me I am not the only nut out there. Also, please take a few minutes to check out the other bloggers below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Teacher's Appreciation Week

                      

This past week was Teacher's Appreciation week. Families all over the country showed their support and admiration for teachers.  I can not believe the level of gratitude shown towards me this week.

One of my Kindergarten Families nominated me for the Scholastic Teacher Appreciation Sweepstakes. I was selected among the 100 teachers who won the sweepstakes. I still can't believe someone took the time to even nominated me. Scholastic was generous enough to send me these delicious strawberries. Being a Kindergarten teacher, I did share them with my family, but it pained me to do so.

Our PTO provided the staff with a beautiful French themed lunch.  It was great not having to get up 5 minutes early just to pack something for lunch. The whole school really went out of their way to show that they care.

I would love to hear how you celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week in your school!

TPT Flock

This past Saturday I joined a group of fabulous TPT sellers and bloggers in Binghamton NY for a meet up. It was such a wonderful experience! I had the chance to collaborate with some really talented ladies. I left with some Tech Tips. Many of the ladies suggested that I start an Instagram account so I can quickly share ideas and classroom inspiration on the go. Here's the link if you want to follow me.

The workshop was sponsored by some awesome donors! The Holiday Inn in Binghamton was generous enough to donate the meeting space along with offering a discount on the hotel room. Teachers Pay Teachers provided us with some nice swag and a delicious breakfast.  I have gotten so many inquires about the cute tote bag. We also received a goodie bag filled with resources from fellow TPT sellers and some really talented Etsy artists. Many regional Etsy artists donated teacher themed creations as door prizes.  Three  people even won iCreate Hue document camera

We also did a teacher tool box exchange. Each of us brought a $10 gift classroom gift for a fellow teacher. I was fortunate enough receive these awesome Thank You cards from Mary Beth over at Brain Waves Instruction. Mary Beth is a passionate and enthusiastic Secondary ELA teacher. She did an amazing job facilitating one of our round table discussions on TPT success. I am so glad I had to opportunity to learn and grow with her. Thank you for the note!!!

 

I want to say a big thank you to everyone involved in this amazing event. I can't wait untill next year!

Stop, Swap, and Roll

Hey everyone. This week I am participating in Jungle Learners' Stop, Swap, and Roll TPT swapping party. Participants are partnered with another Teachers Pay Teachers seller/blogger and test out the others' products. I was fortunate to be paired with Laura over at Year2Tastic.  Laura teaches year 2, the UK equivalent to 1st grade here in the USA.

Laura has so many great products in her store that I had a difficult time selecting which product I wanted to test out. I finally picked her Superhero themed Addition and Subtraction game. My class is super excited about the new Avengers movie coming out so I thought this would be a nice surprise.  You can snag your own copy HERE  at her TPT store!

The pack includes 4 adorable game boards, directions, and playing cards. The games included are...

• Addition through 20
• Subtraction through 20
• Addition through 50
• Subtraction through 50

I printed the boards on card stock and laminated them for durability.  They make great print and go centers.
 
This past month we have been focusing on addition through 10.  I used this game in small groups to introduce addition through 20.

This was a great challenge for my advanced group, but the some of my Kinders struggled with keeping a running total in their heads. I decided to modify the game by having the students use counting chips to keep track of their total. This made a big difference. I played the Subtraction Through 20 game with one of the 1st graders that I tutor.  It was a perfect review game. He had so much fun, he asked me to bring it back next time.

 My class had a blast playing addition to 20. Want a chance to play with your class? Enter below for a chance to win a free copy.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks again to Melissa over at Jungle Learners for the opportunity to collaborate with other amazing teachers. Hop on over to her blog to meet some other fabulous teachers.Click Me. Don't forget to check out the product Laura selected from my store. You can read all about it and enter to win it free Here.

Earth Day Books and More

Happy Earth Day everyone!
This week in Kindergarten we have been busy celebrating Earth Day.
I went to the local library and found so many great books that discuss recycling and taking care of our planet. I even found some Earth Day books featuring some of out favorite characters like Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious, Franklin,  Biscuit and Clifford.  Here is a list of our 15 favorite Earth Day Books

• Franklin Plants a Tree
• Recycle (Non-fiction)
• Earth Day
• Earth Day Hooray
• Reecyling is Fun
• Why Should I Recycle? (Non-fiction)
• Compost Stew
• Michael Recycle
• Biscut Celbrates Earthday
• Earth Day Puppy
• Where Does the Garbage Go? (Non-fiction)
• Fancy Nancy Every Day is Earth Day
• The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle
• Emeraldlicious
• We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers 

We also got a little creative and made this cute Earth Day craftivity.
This kids had a blast making this craft. The kids used blue and green markers to create an Earth on a coffee filter. They then used pipettes to drop water on to the coffee filters.  They LOVED using the pipettes.  We let them dry over night and then assembled the rest of the craft the next morning. On the bottom they attached a writing prompt where they listed ways they could help protect the Earth.



How did you celebrate Earth Day in your classroom? 

You Oughta Know... Go Noodle

Hey everyone! This month I am teaming up with the lovely Mrs. McClain and fellow teacher bloggers for another addition of the You Oughta Know blog hop.  A few months a go I had the opportunity to attend the New Jersey Kindergarten Teachers' Convention in Atlantic City.  It was one of the best experiences. I got to spend a few days bonding with my amazing Kindergarten Team while learning and growing with other K teachers in the state. And the highlight of my trip was meeting Dr. Jean!!!

While I was at the convention the topics of focus and attention span were brought up numerous times.  Young learners can only sit still and retain for a few minutes; they need the opportunity to move and talk.  Mini breaks are great for allowing students a chance to get their wiggles out so they can focus  and follow along during the rest of the lesson.

One of the presenters at the convention mentioned https://www.gonoodle.com and I couldn't wait to try it out. Here's a little more info for those of you who might not know what Go Noodle is.  Go Noodle is this awesome website that provides kid friendly videos and activity that get your students up and moving. I like to use videos and songs from youtube but I was always paranoid that there would be an inappropriate ad at the end. Not with Go Noodle.

Go Noodle offers a variety of activities from yoga and stretching to running and dancing. There is even a section where you can link up you favorite pre-screened youtube videos.

When you create an account you can select a monster that grows and changes the more you play.  Your monster gains 1 point after each video and levels up after 10. My kids just love earning monster points.

Head on over to www.gonoodle.com to create your free account today! Don't forget to check out more great classroom tips from other teacher bloggers.

An InLinkz Link-up