Hey there teacher friends! We so hope that you are all enjoying the B2S Bash 2014 blog hop. We know how hard teachers work all year long, so we hope that some of these prizes will make your classroom life a little easier. We have one more HUGE Bash Basket that will go to one lucky winner. We are all kinda jealous of this one, and it really doesn't need a description or an introduction…. are….. you…. ready…. ????? ….. The Ultimate Bash Basket: Are you kidding me?!? Now you see why we are completely jealous! We all know about the millions of different ways that you can use ... Read More
B2S Bash: Organize Me and More
I am so excited about this giveaway and even more excited about this bash basket! Check it out below... Organize Me and More... 1. C. Jayne Teach Teacher Anchor 2. Decor Pack and $25 Gift Card from Teach Created Resources 3. Caddy from Land of Nod These resources are perfect for back to school as you work to get that classroom organized! a Rafflecopter giveaway And as if that amazing prize package isn't out of control enough…this basket will also include a $25.00 gift card to spend however you'd like at Creative Teaching Press! Before you run off and hop over to the ... Read More
Back to School Bash!
It's the week I've been waiting for…and keeping a big secret…until NOW! It's time for the 2014 Back to School Bash, and I couldn't be more excited about hosting it with some of my favorite teachers bloggers friends! Be sure and follow all of these girls to stay up-to-date on what you can win over the next few days! It all begins TOMORROW and it's completely out of control! So brace yourself! ... Read More
Number Sense & a Freebie!
One of the best things we can do for our little friends at the beginning of the year is set a strong foundation in numeracy & number sense. If y'all have been reading this blog for 5 minutes, you might already know that I absolutely LOVE teaching math. BIG love it. Which is funny considering I still call my mom when I'm trying to figure out how much money I'm going to save when there's a sale. I can figure out 50% off like a champ....and if there's anything more than that I know I'm winning...but start throwing in 15%, 20%, 30%, etc. and well...let's just say there's a reason the primary grades are my wheelhouse :) ... Read More
Personal Vocabulary Books ~ A Freebie!
Yesterday I showed y'all a fun little vocabulary activity we do in our classroom before/during/after reading. I thought we'd continue with a little vocabulary fun today so that I can show y'all one of my favorite little resources...our Vocabulary Mini Books!!! This was a class favorite this past year! Since we're in Kindergarten, we started off with a GIANT version of this book. Basically, we copied these pages on chart paper and did this activity whole group. I would use these books for one word and then complete 1-2 pages per day. I felt like this helped us to stay on task and really dig deep into word ... Read More
Vocabulary Can Be Fun, Too!
Hello friends. My name is Cara and I'm a WORD NERD. I love words. Everything about them. I pore over them. I **try** and make myself more interesting by using those "fun" words in random conversation. Words are FUN. Entertaining. Convivial. Delightful. Enjoyable. Fill in the blank here :) I want my kids to love words as much as I do. I want to hear them using "big" words in their everyday conversations. Not that I expect my kids to use insanely challenging vocabulary all the time, but there's no reason they can't "speak smart"! Last year one of my goals was to ... Read More
Flashback Friday….It’s My BIRTHDAY!!!!!
SO...today is my BIRTHDAY!!! Forget the fact that I'm halfway to 70....as Mr. Spouse likes to remind me every chance he gets...but it's my day!!! I love ANY excuse to celebrate and, well, finally being halfway to 70 sounds like the perfect reason to party! I want to celebrate with YOU. Yes, YOU. So my entire store is 20% off today!!!! AND....that's not all. I'm giving away EVERYTHING in my ENTIRE store to one friend today! But you have to head over to Facebook to enter. In the meantime, I'm flashing back to an old post I wrote a couple of years ago...all about birthdays! Pretty fitting, don'tcha ... Read More
Sight Wordle – Simple Sight Word Center
Now that we've talked all about the Writing Center, let's move on over to one of my other favorites...the Sight Word Center. Do you have a sight word center in your room? I LOVE mine. A special little center dedicated to nothing but sight words. This center is filled with TONS of options for the kids. Playdoh & letter stamps, sight word rings & cards, games, sight word books....the list goes on. I try not to keep out the same choices any longer than 2-3 weeks because, again, the novelty wears off. I'll always bring back activities at different times of the year, but I like to change it up ... Read More
Work on Writing – A Writing Center Makeover
How many of y'all struggle with your writing center? I know I do. Every year. I want my kids to be engaged and excited about every part of the writing process. I want them to LOVE to write. I want them to CHOOSE to write when they have free time. This is not always the case for every child, but I'm DETERMINED that it will be!!! Writing is a HUGE part of our day. We write for EVERYTHING. We have about 30-45 minutes for Writers Workshop...then there's Shared Writing...and of course the Writing Center. And we're writing in all other academic areas as well. You'd think it's easy to ... Read More
Apples & Freebies!
Not really sure what it is about apples that I love so much, but dang. I DO. I love them. I'll take them anyway I can get them. I'm kinda like Bubba in Forrest Gump, but instead of being obsessed with shrimp, I'm obsessed with apples. I even have a board dedicated to them... Today we're celebrating July birthdays in the family. Mine included. You know what that means?! All the apple pie I can handle. GET.OUT.RIGHT.NOW!!!!!! So that got me to thinking about apples in the classroom. A thematic staple of mine for the last 13 ... Read More
