The Small Beginnings of Classroom Decor, Meet the Teacher gifts, and a delightful poetry journal

Hello Friends!

School starts for me in 3 weeks! Yikes! I can't believe it is coming so soon! My partners and I actually had a conversation yesterday about the beginning of school and it hit home that it was actually coming...... Wow!

So..... a couple of things.... first of all, I love the apple colors of my classroom - just love them! So, I do not want to completely change my classroom theme. There are some things that I really, really like and I think my students do, too! I love my Chicka tree. I love my beach umbrella reading nook. I love my apple colored curtains. I love my "no desk" classroom! I love the many shades of red, yellow, and green AND I love the polka dots hidden here and there throughout the room! That said, I DO like to shake things up every year and do something different. Last week, I was at the fabric store and found this cute, cute Eric Carle fabric. I think that I am going to use it to re-cover my crate seats. I am going to make an Eric Carle banner to hang from the ceiling with the The Very Hungry Caterpillar panel. I also found some Eric Carle banner and room decor from MPM Teacher supplies that I ordered and it should come next week. I'm excited!

We meet our new students a few days before school starts. Our little ones bring in their school supplies and enjoy a classroom scavenger hunt with their parents while putting them in their correct places. When they have finished their scavenger hunt, they come to me for a small welcome gift. I have given numerous types of gifts. I have not found one that I really like which is the reason for the variations! As the years go by and kids with allergies increases, I am also very leery of giving them food gifts. This year, I know I have a little one with severe allergies, so I am on the hunt for non-food students gifts. 

I have been perusing Pinterest and have found some fun ideas from some wonderful teacher/bloggers, so I thought I would share the links and pictures here.  There is food included in a few of them. They will work for classrooms with no allergies; just not me this year! Click the image and it will take you to the website of the creator!

I've been bubbling with excitement to meet you!

It's going to be a bright year!

You are oFISHally a kindergartener!

We are going to have a bright year!

 Welcome to Kindergarten!

 And finally... this is not a Back to School gift, but a wonderful, wonderful Kindergarten Poetry book! Wow! Click the image below to go to the website - cute as a button!

Until next time!

Blessings,

Final days of Christmas in July sale - Draw, Cut, Create Books

Hello Friends!

The last two days of my Christmas in July sale are here!

When I first started TPT, step by step illustrating was not as popular as it is now. I created quite a few "Draw, cut, Create" books and then I deactivated them because they were just awful..... I knew what I was doing, but frankly, I did not have the knowledge when I first began as to how to create useable, attractive resources.

So...... I have slowly been revising some of my older packs that were deactivated. If you have purchased any of these packs, please go to your Purchases page and re-download. These packets will be on sale Friday and Saturday. When you go to the page, you will find that not all packs on this page are for sale. These are not "Let's Make a Book" packs; rather themed step-by-step directions for creating illustrations that can be used in many ways.

Here are a few of the packets on sale; but not all of them! Click the Christmas in July image to take you to the sale items.

Until next time!

Blessings,

Christmas in July Sale Days 7 and 8 - Social Studies Let's Make a Book

Hello Friends!

This part of my Christmas in July sale is for two days - July 22 and 23. It is my Social Studies "Let's Make a Book" packs. Just as with my science packs, I thoroughly enjoy using these with my kiddos. They are set up to do one to two pages a day centering on one topic within the main subject. Part of the reason I love doing these booklets is because my little ones can take their books home and share their knowledge with their parents. I know they do this because I have had parents tell me that they are so impressed with the facts that their kiddos tell them!

Here are a few pictures of my kiddos interacting with the booklets.....

 The firefighter isn't really a book, BUT...... it has some fun activities and Draw, Cut, Create firefighter AND it is a Social Studies resource! :)

 Click the image below to take you to the social studies part of my store!

Until next time!

Blessings,

Christmas in July Day 6 - Literacy Center Packs

Hello Friends,

Today's sale is my Literacy Center packs. I don't have a lot of these because there are so many awesome sellers who create them, so my thought is why re-create the wheel when it is already there, right? But, I do have a few and here is why.......... Most of the time, my kiddos are repeating the same things in their Word Work centers; gaining stamina and increasing their skills from day to day. But sometimes, I like for the Word Work centers to be focused on a theme. But I usually only want a theme for a week; not a whole month, so I have created a few Word Work Centers that are short; either four or five in a packet. This gives my kiddos a break from the usual that doesn't take too long to finish.

I looked and looked for pictures showing my kiddos interacting with these centers, but could only find one and there are no kiddos in it..... This is from my "Five Fabulous Scarecrow Literacy Centers" pack...... That's all I could find......... so sad........ 

Click the image to take you to this section in my store!

Until next time!!

Blessings,

Day 5 Christmas in July - Math "Let's Make a Book"

Hello Friends,

Today's sale is my math "Let's Make a Book" packs. This sale is one day only - Saturday, July 19.

This is from "Shapes Can Be Many Things"...... We discuss how we can see shapes in everyday things; sometimes looking for shapes in the classroom and sometimes in the schoolyard. I actually do this unit early in the school year to get my kiddos trained to create their "Let's Make a Book" illustrations with shapes!

In "3D Shapes in My World", kids do not really create a book; instead they create 3D shapes upon a base that they take home each day.

Finally, when I wrote "Fractions for Little Kids", the Common Core had not come to our school, so I was still teaching fractions in kindergarten. Last year, we did not teach fractions and I really missed it because this is such a fun unit to teach. I loosely based it upon the book "Eating Fractions" by Bruce McMillan. Each day, we focused on a fractional part and then cut real food into fractional parts. Then we used paper to re-create our food in our book - so fun!

So that's it for Day 5! Click the link below to take you to the sale!

Until next time!

Blessings,
Cindy

Christmas in July Day 3 and 4 - "Let's Make a Book!" Science Books

Hello Friends,

This is a quick post before I go out on a long walk on a beautiful morning!

For the next 2 days, my Science "Let's Make a Book" will on sale. These are my favorite things to do with kids! These books are set up to only do one or two pages a day. I teach one topic a day on the subject and then send the kids off to their tables with cut paper, glue, and crayons and they illustrate their pages. I import the step by step illustrations upon my Promethean board and my kiddos become totally independent! Yay!

Many of my science packs are on sale for July 17 and 18! Click the link below to take you there!

Until next time!

Blessings,

Blog Hoppin Scavenger Hunt - FUN, FUN!!!!

Hello Friends!

When my friends on Blog Hoppin suggested that we sponsor an Instagram Scavenger Hunt, I thought "Yikes!" Although I have an Instagram account, I really have not used it. I guess I am still in the pick up a phone or write a note generation, so everything that is INSTANT scares me!!! It's like when you click "send" on your emails and then re-read it and wish you had re-read it BEFORE you sent it! BUT......... this scavenger hunt is TOTALLY different! It is a super, fun way to share pictures and there are some really nice prizes involved with the biggest one being a DSLR Canon camera! Also, no on has to worry at all about the quality of your pictures because it is the QUANTITY that counts; so INSTANT is the way to go for this with no regrets. It is all just for fun! Woo hoo! 

My Blog Hoppin friend, Cara Carroll wrote an amazing post describing the hunt on our BH website. Click on the picture above to take you there AND if you want to follow someone (me) who is just now coming into the age of "instant", here is my instagram name.... kinder.kay..... Don't forget to add the "dot" between kinder and kay. Kinderkay with no dot was already taken - so sad..... :(

Until next time, my Friends!


Blessings,