St. Patrick's Day has always been one of my most favorite **holidays**. The green. The pinching. The silly traditions. I love it all. My dad's side of the family is Irish. My cousin's name is Liffey (after the Liffey River in Dublin Ireland). And she has red hair. AND...her birthday is on St. Patrick's Day!!!! HA!!! I LOVE IT!!!!! Celebrating St. Patrick's Day in the primary grades is just my favorite. I love the way the littles believe pretty much anything you say and almost everything that happens. It's cute and endearing and it reminds me how magical life is ... Read More
Book Study!!! Chapter 3
Hello friends! HAPPY SATURDAY!!! How many of you are on Spring Break this week?! We are!!! I'm looking forward to a visit from my best friend and her kids, a trip to take the kids to the Rodeo, a night out watching Zac Brown, and my baby brother's wedding. So much for a "break"! HA!!! Moving on... Let's talk field trips, shall we?! If you're joining in on our book study, Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites, welcome!!!! You can link up with Deedee today and check out what she has to say about this chapter as well. My favorite quote from this chapter... Can I get an ... Read More
Sight Words!!! (Assessment, Activities, Ideas, & FREEBIES!)
Hello friends! I'm happy to say that after 5 weeks of traveling, I'm finally home and settled for a while!! I absolutely love getting to meet so many amazing teachers all over the U.S. It's definitely been the highlight of my year. Just this past week I had the opportunity to travel to Wichita, KS and work with some of the sweetest, kindest Kindergarten teachers. And let me tell y'all...they had some GREAT ideas!!!! One of my sessions covered sight words...mainly quick and easy sight word centers and activities to implement into the classroom for immediate practice and review. I usually get a ... Read More
Book Study! Want to Join?!
Happy Tuesday, friends! How many of y'all are snowed in today?? I keep seeing crazy snowfalls and iced roads on the news and I have to admit that I'm grateful we're only battling temps below 50. Praying for all y'all affected by this nasty weather!!! Now how many of you guys enjoy a good read? I mean, like we have any time to read anything, right?! I've always felt that way. I typically like to reserve my reading for the summer and then I read in bulk. You know, 15 books in a 20 day time span ;) With all the demands and obligations during the school year, I find it so hard to carve out the ... Read More
Hello Alabama! (Kindergarten Teachers, That Is ;)
I'm finally home from another great conference and ready to share a few things I discussed with some of the best teachers in the state!!! There was a lot to cover in 2 days and 8 sessions, so I hope y'all were able to take away a few new tips and tricks without feeling too overwhelmed!! As I've said before, I think the best kind of professional development is the kind you get from the teachers in your own building. Watching others teach & listening to their ideas can be so very powerful. I wouldn't be half the teacher I am today had it not been for the girls with whom I taught. We were all so different in ... Read More
ATTENTION TX Kindergarten Conference Attendees!!! Your Goodies as Promised!!!
These last couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur, so I'm lacking in my posts these days. However, I have to say that I've LOVED my time with all my Texas 1st and Kindergarten teachers these last couple of weeks. I swear I'm not biased or anything, but Texas has some of the sweetest, best teachers around ;) I was able to spend a lot of time with our TX Kindergarten teachers this past week at the SDE Texas Kindergarten Conference. It was awesome!!! I loved meeting and talking to so many talented, dedicated teachers across our great state. During our time together, I promised these teachers I'd come back to ... Read More
The Ron Clark Academy Experience (aka – Best PD EVER!!!!!)
If you are following me on Instagram, you may have seen a few pics from my visit to The Ron Clark Academy last Friday. I couldn't wait to come home and share my experience with you. If I'm being completely honest, I've been struggling with this post. Not because I don't have anything to say (y'all know me better than that ;)), but because I don't know how to put my experience into words. Nothing I could possibly attempt to articulate could begin to do it justice. I wish I could press rewind and get a do-over. I wish I could go through that day in slow motion so I could really take it all in and truly savor ... Read More
100 Day Freebie!!!
Happy MLK weekend!!! Do you get a 3-day break?? Or do you have to go to school on Monday?? The boys are off on Monday and we were thisexcited when they hopped in the car on Friday afternoon. My kindergartner exclaimed, "YESSSSS!!!!! We're off of homework for THREE whole days!!!! YESSSSSS!!!!" Bless him. So we celebrated with some coke floats from Sonic and took a little Sonic selfie to kickstart our extended weekend. Dang, I love those boys. Now let's talk 100th Day. That's right. The 100th Day of school. I know many of you have already celebrated. Lots of ... Read More
Five For Friday!
Today I'm linking up with Kacey at DoodleBugs for a little 5 for Friday... But first, can y'all believe it's already the 16th?! I always feel like January and February are the two months of the school year that just D-R-A-G on, but dang...this month seems to be passing me by in the fast lane! Anywho, let's get started. Let's start with someone to follow. Are you on Instagram?? If you are and by some chance you're not following Miss May at One Fab Teacher, do yourself a favor and follow. I absolutely LOVE her posts. They are always SO positive! In a profession where it's easy to let ... Read More
Penguins!!! (And A Couple of Walruses, Too)
Teaching my kids about penguins has always been one of my favorite themes. There is just SO much you can incorporate in this thematic unit of study...science...math...literacy...a little bit of everything! If you're in the process of planning out your penguin activities for the next few weeks, I thought I could share a few ideas that might help make your planning easier :) First up, here are some of my most favorite penguin picture books. I don't get around to reading them all during our unit, but these are several I've read throughout the years and have loved. The Penguin Who Lost Her Cool is a great little read if you ... Read More
