My Teacher Appreciation Week

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!  Did you feel loved from both students and parents? I know I did! All the flowers, candies, chocolate and cards sure brighten up my days!

I wanted to share with you what my school did this week to thank our teachers and staff.  My school's PTA had a picnic theme this year.  I loved how they decorated the teacher's lounge.

The banner says: Thank You Bower Teachers & Staff For Making Learning A Picnic!

They also hung colorful pennants with each staff's name on it.  It definitely cheered up our hallway.  I wish they could keep this up all year long!

On Monday morning, the PTA set up a continental breakfast for us.  It was a great way to start the week with wonderful muffins, bagels, fruits, yogurt, and LOTS of HOT HOT HOT Coffee!

To go along with the picnic theme, our PTA planned a wonderful luncheon today.  It included a lot of picnic-y foods like pulled pork sandwiches, fried chicken, salads, watermelon, corn bread, and yummy desserts.  I wish I had taken a picture before I ate my plate because it was TO DIE FOR!

On top of the delicious luncheon, the PTA set up a raffle table on things we could win.  We had 6 tickets to put into bags with a label on what you could possibly win.  Some of the raffle prizes were gift cards to Starbucks, Target, nail salons, hair salons, Whole Foods, bakeries, iTunes, and local restaurants (ranging from $20-$50).

Then as each staffer left the teacher's lounge, we were each personally thanked by a parent who gave us a huge Smart Water bottle and a $5 gift card of our choice (Target, Subway, Chipotle, Walgreens, and Starbucks).  Obviously, I had to get my hands on the Target card!

Isn't this the cutest little tag?!

How did you get appreciated this week?  What did your school do this week to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week?  I would love to hear your stories!

F is for Fire Safety!

Last Wednesday, one of my co-worker's husband came to visit my classroom.  He is a fireman and he brought his uniform and fire gear to share with my kinders.  I wish I had pictures to share with you but I forgot to ask one of the aides for her pictures because they turned out so stinkin' cute!  I was too busy holding back one of the kids who wanted to take all of his wrenches (she has a things for tools), and I was holding another student's hand because he was scared of our visitor (the truth is he is really scared of all men except for his dad).

When the fireman's presentation was over he asked my students if they had any questions.  The students didn't have any (they are autistic and down syndrome kiddos) so all of the adults started to ask basic questions-- what do you do when you have fire in the house, etc.  Then my little gal (the one who is obsessed with tools) wanted to talk to the fireman.

This was her conversation with him...
Girl:  (waving her hand in the air rapidly) Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me!!!
Fireman: Yes? Do you have a question?
Girl: KISS ME!!! Come here! (using hand gestures telling him to get closer to her)

Hahaha, it was so adorable how the little 6 year old was asking for a kiss from a fireman!  Too bad not every girl can ask a fireman for a kiss.

Since we had the fireman visit us and 2 drills (fire and lockdown drill) this past week, I created a booklet for the kinders reviewing the letter F.  Using Do-A-Dot markers, the students could practice learning the new fire safety vocabulary words while dabbing the letter F.

Click on the pictures or the respective stores to check it out!

TN   TpT

Also if you download the preview file, you can get a freebie from the booklet. :)

I hope you can check my Do-A-Dot booklet out! Have a great weekend! 

Techie Tip Tuesday- Free Apps

I want to share with you a new website that I discovered recently over the weekend!

It's called Smart Apps For Kids.  It is a great site if you are looking for student iPad/iPhone apps.  I signed up for their email subscriptions to get their daily emails and they share FREE and reduced apps plus their reviews.  These apps are priced free or reduced because usually they are apps that are newer and they are trying to bring awareness.

Here is a screenshot of the freebie deal that is only for today!

Have your heard of StoryToys?  Today ONLY, they have 8 StoryToys apps (reduced from $4.99) that are FREE!  Today is International World Book day and they are celebrating by having all of these apps for free.  StoryToys uses classic fairytales, such as Snow White, Red Riding Hood, etc., and create interactive activities along with the story. These apps are both good for iPhone and iPad.

So why wait? Download now before the prices goes up!

Also, if you haven't already heard from the blogging world, 16 McGraw Hill apps in the iTunes Store are FREE!  I don't know how long they are free for but my students love the math apps.  There are grammar and math apps for varying levels.  Go check them all out, you won't be disappointed!

Kindergarten Common Core File Folder Organization Freebie

Do you teach Kindergarten? Looking for new ways to organize your Common Core materials?  Ashley from Thats So Second Grade wrote a great post on organizing the Common Core standards for her second grade class.  Click here to read her post.

So over spring break I created my own version but for Kindergarten.  Since I know I am still trying to memorize all of the "codes" for the Common Core standards, I thought this was a great idea to organize all of my CCSS material.  You can put in your specific activities and worksheets for each standard so you know EXACTLY what you are teaching when accessing student understanding.  On each folder I have the whole standard printed out as a guide.  Also I color coordinated each subsection for Math and English Language Arts.

These labels are only for Kindergarten.  In the file are labels for file folders, labels for folders, and tabs for each Common Core sub section. Directions on how to do this is attached in the file.  Click the pictures or the respective teacher stores below to get the freebies:

   

Math: TpT   TN

ELA: TpT   TN

This is a great weekend project or after school project! It just takes about 1.5 hours to print, stick, and stack the labels!  Grab this freebie and impress your colleagues on your new super fabulous organized Common Core materials!

Easter Crafts

I know this is very last minute but I wanted to share with you the crafts I will be working on with my Sunday School Preschoolers tomorrow.  The story I am going to go over is when Jesus came to Jerusalem and people praised him and laid palm branches and coats on the ground in front of him.  (Matthew 21:1-11, 15-16; Mark 11:1-10)

Tomorrow on Easter Sunday, I was told I was need to teach my class for a whole 2 hours because of the Easter service! I was sadden by this news since I was going to miss Easter service and baptism.  So because of the extra hour, I needed to come up with more fun activities!

Since my lesson was focusing on Jesus entering Jerusalem, I was going to let the students role play the scene of laying down the palm branches and coats as he rode down the street on a donkey.
Here is the palm branch craft I came up with:

 Very cute right?

Palm Branch Craft:

What you need: green construction paper, scissors, green puffy paint, green glitter, flower tape, pipe cleaners, tape.

Here is a Palm Branch Template for those who want it.  I drew mine by hand.

Steps:

1. Cut the template and add a piper cleaner in the middle of the palm branch.  I used tape because I ran out of elmer's glue at home.  You can use either since this is on the back for a sturdy support.
2. Then use the flower tape to wrap the handle.
3. Cut the diagonal lines.
4. Use the green puffy paint to add lines on the palm branch. (Adults may need to help the younger ones)
5. Put green glitter on the palm branches and shake onto paper plate.
6. Then let it dry!

Jelly Bean Easter Craft

I used Kim Mitzo Thompson's Easter Jelly Bean Craft patterns and revised it for a different project for my preschoolers.  Check out her freebie above to download at the original craft.  Thanks Kim for the inspiration!

What you need: Jelly Bean pattern, crayons/markers, paper plates, scissors, yarn, glue, single hole puncher

Steps:

1. Color the jelly beans and cut them out.
2. Write a bible verse, poem, or whatever you like in the middle of the paper plate. 
3. Glue on each of the jelly beans around the plate.  
4. Punch a hole at the top and add string.
5. Then hang it up!

Have a happy and blessed Easter everyone!

Books, Books, Books, and of course a FREEBIE!

Every time when the book fair comes to your school, do you get a little giddy?  I sure do! Our librarian sponsored a Scholastic Book Fair and I think I spent WAY too much money there today.

Here are some of my new purchases:

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books! by Lucile Colandro
My kiddos are obsessed with the old lady books!  This is a definite must-read in my class!

Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham
As a kinder class, we are still working on the ABCs and when I watched the "Book Fair Commercial, they were advertising this book.  I fell in love and immediately knew I had to get my own copy!  It's a cute story of Moose wanting to appear in the alphabet and causes mayhem with the other "letter representatives" because he was forgotten.

Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
This needs to be in every teacher's bookshelf!  A cute story about an exclamation mark on fitting in, finding your way, and standing out.

Wumbers by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
A "Gr8" book to read with the class on numbers.  Reminds me of the good, old days texting and AIMing friends.  Check out another "1derful" book! :)

On to my freebie...This is an oldie but still a goodie!
I created this book order wish list when I was a student teacher.  It's great for students to look at books and fill out during Library time and take home to their parents.  Parents love this because they can discuss with their kids on what they can buy and how much money they can spend. Click on the pic below for the freebie!

Pi Day Freebie and Other News

Do you teach/celebrate Pi Day in your class?  Did you know it's tomorrow?! 3.14 lands on March 14 every year!  Another cool tip is that it is also Einstein's birthday!

For the last couple years, I have used this neat Pi Day activity with all ages.  We make Pi Day bracelets.

This is an easy activity to do with elementary and middle school students.  Click on the pic below for the freebie! The freebie includes the student worksheets and a lesson plan for the teacher.  I would love to hear your feedback if you use this in your class!

TN Shop

Also, Teaching is a Gift, has a linky party for a lot of different and fun ways to celebrate Pi Day! Click {here} to check it out!

Have you heard about a new website that is about to come in the Education world?  It is called Educents.

If you like sites like Groupon, it is like that by for teachers, homeschoolers, and parents.  They will offer discounted products like learning tools, curriculum, educational toys, e-books, software, and lots more!  I'm excited for the site to launch on April 2!

If you sign up now, you will receive a $15 gift card to use on the site.  They email to you ASAP!  But you better hurry because in TWO days (March 15), they are lowering the gift card to $10.

So click on the logo above or {HERE} to learn more about Educents and don't forget to sign up for great deals for great products!