Just a quick post..and a little something for you

It's getting late..not feeling well..and I'm falling asleep as I'm typing but I wanted to post a little something I put together a couple of days ago. It's a Pumpkin-Build a Sight Word activity.

The words are located on the leaf of the pumpkin and students cut out the letters and rebuild the word on the pumpkin. I've only included 3 & 4 letter sight words from the pre-primer dolch list.

The first two people to leave a comment with your email address will receive this. Enjoy.

You can find this over at my TPT store. Click here to go there. 

Halloween Picture Book LInky Party

First, I must say...I heart books. I have books everywhere..and sometimes I forget what I have b/c I have so many. I love Scholastic and ordering, and getting freebies, etc. And that one time--when I went to a Scholastic warehouse..oh boy..the hubby just shook his head at me that day! :)

So how awesome is it that Chrissy over at First Grade Found Me is having a Halloween Picture book party!!

This time of year is my favorite by far to teach with picture books and other resources. So here are a few of my faves!!


1.   
Skeleton has the hiccups, and his friend Ghost offers a variety of ways to get rid of them. Hic, hic, hic.....the kids LOVE this part! Great way to get them to interact with a book.

2. 
This book is about a little witch who doesn't have a lot of experience with humans or Halloween until she accidently runs into a little girl. Very cute.

3.  
I LOVE this book. I ran across this book on Deanna's blog last year. You can find the link here to her post. It's the cutest book ever!!!!

Well I think I'm going to leave it at only 3....because if not--this post will run on and on!



Stay tuned for my Pumpkin and Owl unit...I hope to have it finished and uploaded by tomorrow night!

Giveaway and Fall TPT sale

Hey blogger peeps. Just wanted to give a little quick reminder about the giveaway over at Heather's Heart. 
She's having a great giveaway in honor of her followers. Hop on over and enter to win a Target gift card, a Lakeshore gift card, and a TPT gift card. What more could a teacher ask for??




And don't forget the TPT sale happening this weekend. Because I signed up last night on Casey's blog hop, my sale will run through Monday at midnight.
Everything is 20% off!! Click here to go to my store. 

Fall Sale

I'm joining up with Second Grade Math Maniac for the Fall Sale at TPT. I'm a little late in signing up but better late than never!! Thanks Casey for putting on this blog hop for a great sale!



Hop on over to my TPT store and check out my items that are 20% as well. Click on the blue link and it'll take you to my store. 

Here are a few of my best sellers. Hope you find something. And check out Casey's page for more bloggers who have put their stores on sale as well!!

Awesome giveaway....

Heather over at Heather's Heart is having an awesome giveaway. She will pick 2 winners to win a Target gift card, Lakeshore gift card, and a TPT gift card. Wow!! She is doing this in honor of all the awesome bloggers out there. 
When you read her post, give her a little shout-out! I completely understand where she was when she began her blog...it's a little scary...I'm in that spot now b/c I just started and sometimes I wonder what in the world I need to put on here or whether or not it's something people would want to read.
Blogging can be tough, but you "meet" so many awesome teachers! So hop on over to her giveaway and enter to win. I hope I do!




Oh, is anyone else glad that tomorrow is Friday? 

Behavior Management Linky

I was excited to see What the Teacher Wants was having a behavior management linky party because it's always neat to see how everyone manages behavior differently. I like how you guys are so creative in the choices that you use in order for you students to be successful in the classroom and overall.

For those that are familiar with PBIS, then you will understand our behavior system. PBIS is positive behavior interventions and support. You can read more about here 
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/positivebehavior/background/ and how NC uses it.

Now I can't speak for all schools, but our school has been using it for the past 4-5 years. Students are not allowed to "turn" cards over, or anything of the like. Everything we do is a "positive" approach to the behavior. Our students can "earn" 3 paws a day. We are the cubs so we use paw prints. 

Students can earn paws by doing the following:
C-control your behavior
U-use quiet voices
B-be kind and respectful
S-silently walk to all destinations.

Each classroom can then take those main points above and discuss with the students what each looks like. For instance, in my room, the letter C (control your behavior) would "look like" this---raising hand before speaking, sitting criss-cross applesauce, etc. B (be kind and respectful) would "look like" this---keeping hands and feet to self, using nice words, etc. 
And so forth. 

We have to have this displayed and at any time, the head committee people (not sure of their title) of this PBIS team can visit our school and come in and ask the students and staff what PBIS is and have the kids explain what each letter of CUBS means, do they earn paws, etc.

I choose to display mine like this (sorry for the non-painted door---we are upgrading stuff):

I use the main heading CUBS and under each letter I use a paw print that states what each letter would "look like". Of course my students can't read what's on the paw prints yet, but they already know what each letter stands for and how it should look when done correctly. 

To keep parents informed, we do a monthly calendar (I usually use busyteachercafe.com) because it's fast. I put on the calendar any information that I want parents to know (early dismissals, etc.) and then I put ____ paws and each day my assistant will write in how many paws a student earns. Students can never earn less than 1 or more than 3. 

So there you have it. That's our school wide behavior plan. Link on up and explain your behavior plans!

Something witty should go here........

Sometimes I struggle with a title for my posts....as you can see! :)  
Hope everyone has enjoyed your weekend. I've loved reading about your first few weeks of school...hard to believe there's only two weeks left of September. Where does the time go?

I have finally finished a farm unit that I've been working on foreveerrrr. 

This unit includes:

-syllable sorting
-beginning sound sorting
-tree maps to describe farm animals
-bubble maps to describe farm animals
-double bubble for a cow and a pig
-word puzzles
-sentence building with picture cards and with words only for differentiation with 3 different versions of writing practice to aid in sentence building
-more/less practice
-tens and ones practice

Whew...lots of stuff...here's a sneak peek...

And there's a lot more.....click on the picture to go check it out. It would go great with the farm puzzles freebie I offered up a week or so ago.

Kindergarten Common Core

I've been seeing this workbook all over the place the past few days. I know in our state we have just begun implementing the Common Core this year, and this workbook would be a great addition to use for resources, worksheets, and activities to help with our Kindergarten Common Core. 

 I don't use a lot of worksheets in the classroom, but these would be great to laminate and have students pull out and practice if they are early finishers, or those students who need extra reinforcement, send it home to practice with their parents. This would be great for parents to gain a better understanding of the Common Core. 

My Favorite Freebie Linky Party!

Oh I need to go to bed...but um I'm stalking blogging and saw this great linky party over at 2nd Grade Pad so of course I had to contribute. What an awesome party she's hosting---great freebies to start your week off.



As I'm sitting here trying to keep my eyes open, I'm having a hard time deciding on my favorite freebie. I love everything I've made the past couple of months since starting this adventure. But I think one of my favorites has to be my 5 Little Ghosts book that I just created.
Click on the picture to go to my TPT store and download. 

It's cute and has a simple format so that students can catch on quickly. Just print, laminate, bind and go!

I hope you enjoy your freebie. And as Cynthia stated over at her linky party, it would be great if you would follow all of our blogs and our TPT stores!

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown...and a few other odds and ends

What a week. It was our first full week with all students and I don't think I've ever been as tired as I have been this week. And I have got to get my legs and knees used to standing on that hard floor again. They are killing me!  

Anyhoo---so one day this week a man visited our school with one of the largest pumpkins in Eastern NC. It weighed 550 lbs. It was definitely a nice size pumpkin. So I snapped a few pics.

Crazy huh.

My students enjoyed seeing that---it'll be a nice reference point when we start talking about pumpkins in October.

We are planning are Apples theme right now 

so here's a little something something for you. Grab it up--it's a freebie! :)

Graphics by http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lita-Lita

And here are some Farm Puzzles for you too.

Happy Saturday!!!

TBA's Open House Week!

Well I found this linky today and thought I'd join in. Teaching Blog Addict is having an Open House Linky Party this week and Monday was Meet the Teacher but ooops its Tuesday so I'll just combine both. 

And there is more awesome stuff coming each day of the week so be warned and link up! :)

So a little about me.

I teach Kindergarten in eastern NC---where it's hot, humid, and the BBQ is awesome (oh for those up north, BBQ down here is chopped pork--LOL) I have some amazing friends who are from the north and we've had this discussion so many times--the difference between a cookout and a bbq. 

Anyway----so this year is the beginning of year 10 for me, whew, that's kinda hard to swallow--10 years hmm....my first year I taught 3rd but I've been in K ever since (my heart is with the little ones).

I've been married for 7 1/2 years to my awesome hubby. No kiddos yet for us---lots of prayers are going up on this b/c it's been a long time in the making but we will see what happens. We do have a little 4 legged child though, a beagle named Raylan. 

I'm 31 years old and ahem that's kinda hard to swallow too, but I'm okay with it :). 

A few Loves:

God

hubs

family

friends

SHOES LOL (see currently from previous post)

chocolate of course

reading

the beach

A few random dislikes:

seafood

mosquitoes

humidity

:)

I am National Board Certified as of '09....and I'll have my master's degree in elementary ed when I finish my cohort July 2013. 

Love teaching and seeing new little faces every year, watching them grow from where they are now (whew) and where they will be in June.

We have a wild time in K but they also know when it's time to chill....we build relationships with each other and work together as a family. 

TUESDAY picture link (remember this is two in one b/c I missed yesterday)

Just a few pics---these are not updated b/c I've made some big changes but here's what I got

From the front door

                                                         
                                              From the back of the room

I promise I'll post more pics soon---the lighting is T.E.R.R.I.B.L.E in there for picture taking!

Thanks for sticking through to the end! :)

Currently linky

It's been a great 3 day weekend! Busy busy with lesson plans, grad school projects, hanging with the hubs and the GOP Rally today with VP candidate Paul Ryan.

I'm exhausted...and school hasn't even started this week. That's why I'm so excited that Farley has put up her September Currently! I found these last month and LOVE it. It's so cool to see what everyone is up to and to be able to meet new blogger friends.

So here is mine!

Ok the scotch laminator...if you have one you know how I feel about it. Isn't it like the greatest thing ever?!!! If you don't have one....GET ONE! :) It's not expensive at all and it makes your life so much easier when you need to get something ready really quick and don't have time to wait to get to school and laminate there. Plus the lamination is thicker.

I've read these books 3 times and of course I have the movie and I've seen that 3 times as well. Nothing else I can say! :)

SHOES...I have lots and I'm always getting rid of some to make room for new. My favorites are:

Cowboy boots! Check out the colors on these. I have brown ones but these are great...ssshhh don't tell the hubs I'm eyeing these!

And any kind of flats...wait---I just love shoes...so we will leave it at that. LOL

And I have sooo many more favorites but these just popped in my head! 

Happy Labor Day!

One week down..and a link up with a freebie

Whew---I made it through one full week of figuring out bus numbers, showing kiddos how to tuck their shirts in, how to sit criss-cross applesauce, and a case of the pink eye for me...ugh.

 And then Friday came--26 students total but only 24 showed up---and I did all of the above but with 24 students instead of just a few. But it went rather smoothly I think. I'm just glad it's a 3 day weekend...I need time to recoup. 

Now I need to do lesson plans for next week, grad school work, and create some stuff. But instead--I'm blogging...go figure. 

Well over at Graphics From the Pond she is having really cool link up. It's for those that download these awesome little ghosts, create something with it, and link up to showcase those items. 

So of course I thought I'd jump in. I created a little book about these 5 Little Ghosts and you can pick it up for free over at my TPT store. Hope you enjoy and  hop on over to the linky party and pick up those other items as well. The linky party runs until October so keep checking back!!! There may be more coming.... :)