Hallway Displays for BACK TO SCHOOL!

Woot!  Woot!  We survived the 2 weeks of getting our classroom all set-up AND our FIRST DAY of school with the kiddos!  And oh my word....I LOVE them already!  They totally stole my heart.  The mischievous ones right along with the little sweet ones.  We are going to have an entertaining year for sure!  Love them to pieces!
So each year, our whole hall goes ALL OUT to make some super cute hallway displays for back to school.  It's the first thing our new families see as they are coming down the hall to meet us at our Orientation afternoon.  Of course we want to make a great first impression, not to mention we are all a little bit competitive and like to make each other step up our game from year to year! ;)
So here's what we came up with for our display this year!

   So I do have to say I'm pretty darn proud of this.  First off, we came up with the idea COMPLETELY by ourselves.  I mean, that's a pretty big deal...right?  Since Pinterest hit the scene, I mostly just hopped over there and found something.  But this idea...it just came to us.  Well...we did have a little help!  Here goes....The adorable lady selling popsicles out of the back of our truck is my bestie and my teaching TA.  We take an annual girls trip with another longtime teaching friend, and we've just added said besties oldest daughter to the mix the last 2 years.  Maggie is 24 so she counts for an adult, plus she keeps us young (I mean...Christie and I are in our mid forties...sometimes naps sound better than late nights out if you know what I mean!)

Anyway, as we were soaking up the sun relaxing on the beach..."When what to our wondering eyes did appear, but an ice cream truck bringing lots of cheer!"  We heard the tunes playing and Maggie and I were both like "Hey, we could do a hall display!"  I mean seriously, do we teachers ever STOP doing the teacher thing...I mean ever...even while relaxing on the beach!!!

So the idea was hatched then and there.  Maggie said she could do her magic on the popsicle creating using her Cameo, Silhouette, or whatever her fancy machine is!  Popsicles...done!  I knew I could use some KG fonts to bust out a cute title.  So all that was left was an ice cream truck design.  That would be easy.  I headed over to TPT and found some cute clip art from Monster Wrangler Mike.  Normally Christie has me print it out, transfers it to a transparency, enlarges it onto the board using an overhead, traces it onto butcher paper, and 10 hours later...VOILA!  But seriously, she was working a part time summer job and wasn't able to help.  Maggie and I have NO PATIENCE for that.  So we did the super fast route of printing out his ice cream truck image, and drawing that sucker freehand on the paper!  I think we kinda rocked that part!

Then we put it all up.  I knew it needed something else...especially a way to show the kid's names.  So I added the "Fogle and Mappin's KINDERGARTEN Ice Cream Truck" sign and put the kiddo's names as "Flavors of the Year".  It was still missing something...in comes my amazing coworkers to save the day.  Meredith, the Pre-K teacher from across the hall, says "Why don't you put your pictures on there?  One of you driving and one of you selling popsicles?"  She's a genius I tell you.  So we took some photos, cut them out...and BAM!  It was finished.  (Unless you count the fact that I was driving a magical truck because I had no steering wheel!  In came another fabulous coworker, Janene, who printed me one and even added it to the display!) DONE! and DONE!

Here are just a few of the other super cute hall displays.  Some of these are original ideas, and some were inspired by Pinterest, but I think they all turned out fantastic!

Here's hoping you find your own inspiration to spruce up those hallways for Back to School.  We hope you each have an amazing year!  Teach on!

SitSpots Giveaway WINNER!!!

Um...what just happened there?  The giveaway ended Wednesday morning, and then there was a crazy blur of 4 hour PD sessions, hot glue scenarios that involved strings of the stuff falling out of places hot glue should not be, name tag creating, hallway decorating, copying, and other madness otherwise know as "HOLY MOTHER....School Starts THIS FRIDAY and I'm NOT READY!"
Whew!!!!  Now that I actually survived getting my room ready AND our FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL just yesterday, I am finally ready to announce the SitSpots Giveaway Winner!!!  Woot-Woot!
Hundreds of folks entered and we sincerely appreciate every one of you!  If we could, we would so be like Oprah..."SitSpots for YOU, and SitSpots for YOU, and YOU!"  But alas, we teach, so that just ain't happening! ;)  But at least we are able to randomly select (along with the helpful random selector people over at Rafflecopter) one of you to snag this amazing prize!
So here we go...

Sheryl, you are the LUCKY winner!  I'll be emailing you the gift card code for your $50 SitSpots prize!  We truly hope you love these bad boys as much as we do.

And if you don't know too much about SitSpots, but now you're thinking "What are these magical creatures and how do they work?"...then head over to SitSpots to read all about them or our SitSpots Blog Post.

And as an update....We started school yesterday and the kiddos loved them.  They thought they were cool and they thought choosing a color was pretty awesome.  (Side note...I did have ONE friend that considered pulling one up...you should have heard the teeth sucking going on in my room.  If the kids could have shot darts from their eyes...they would have.  Needless to say, he politely smoothed that sucker RIGHT back down!!!!)

And A HUGE THANK YOU to Joyce over at SitSpots for her VERY GENEROUS donation!

I-Pad Air 2 Giveaway...and More!

Oh my word.  Back to School has really gotten here for us.  We had our "Meet the Teacher" visits this afternoon.  I am feeling some serious LOVE for my sweet new littles!
And with all of this back to school planning, decorating, laminating madness...some sweet bloggy friends and I decided we needed to show you all some LOVE!  

Head over to I Teach Kinder, our collaborative blog with ALL things KINDER, and enter this amazing giveaway.  An I-pad Air 2 is pretty amazing all by itself, but there's a whole lot more!  You also win 2 adorable owl cases, a Stylus, and an I-Tunes gift card!
We wish for each of you to have a year that's filled with love, tons of learning, and a classroom full of positivity!  YOU make all the difference in the WORLD!
Good luck and here's to a wonderful year!

TPT "LOVE Back to School" SALE!

Oh my word!  I love a sale!  I truly and seriously love to save some cash AND score on my favorite finds!  It's time for the annual TPT Back to School sale.  And this just may be my favorite one yet...because, well...it's all about LOVING what we do!
Here are a couple of items that will be up for grabs when the sale goes live Monday, August 3rd and Tuesday, August 4th.  Be sure and use the code BTS15 for an additional 10% savings!
So to take all of the guess work out for you, we've already broken down the savings!  This is our Back To School GALORE for Kinders pack!  This pack is chock full of FUN and ENGAGING activities for Back To School.  You'll find "getting to know you" activities, simple interactive readers, fun 1st day photo props, and more.  You'll snag it all for ONLY $5.76!
You can also find our Back to School GALORE for FIRSTIES pack on sale!

This fun little number can be found in the Back to School Galore Pack too.  But if you just need a quick back to school activity, you can grab this Back To School Keepsake Flapbook by it's self for ONLY $2.16!

Some other GREAT deals include our Interactive Sight Word Flap Books, Readers, and More!  Since this is an already discounted bundle, the savings are even BIGGER!

Regular Price Before Bundling:  $40.00

Bundle Discount: -$16.00

With 20% Sale Discount: -$4.80

With TPT Code BTS15: -$1.92

FINAL PRICE: $17.28

So take some time, feel some LOVE for Back to School, and head over to our store for some AMAZING DEALS!!!  You're gonna ROCK this year!

Thanks Gabby for the adorable button!

SitSpots GIVEAWAY! I'm in LOVE!

If you've been following us on Periscope...then you KNOW "I got 99 problems and my rug is one!!!"  We had to pack up EVERYTHING...and I mean EH-VUH-REE-THANG in our rooms at the end of the year.  Our entire school had all the carpet ripped up and shiny new white tile installed in its place. 

Great, right?  Everything's all sparkly and clean.  Except I had a major RUG drama going on.  Our old Lakeshore "spot for everybody" rug was on it's last leg.  I mean, a rug can only be barfed on, peed on, drawn on, and tooted on so many times before it dies a slow and ugly death!!!! ;) It was past the point of no return.  And alas, the drama didn't end there.  Those bad boys cost upwards of $400 and the funds are just NOT THERE for everyone in our school to get a new rug.  So our sweet admin team found a way to allot each of us a smaller sum to purchase a rug or a class set of carpet tiles that can be carted all over the place and used for a ton of purposes. I ended up choosing the carpet squares, but that still left me with my RUG DRAMA.  Don't even think those carpet squares can be carted to the front of the room and placed in ANY sort of order that wouldn't tear my nerves slap to pieces.  I mean...the thought of that just makes my stomach twist into knots.  I'm far too OCD in that regard.  I agree with Kristin at The Teeny Tiny Teacher when she said,   "I never did anything except say to my kids over and over and over again . . . Where's your spot?  Which row are you on?  Wait.  I am supposed to have five rows.  It looks like we have six and a half and a couple of islands and possibly a peninsula.  What's going on here?  Last row -- scoot up and join us, I can hardly see you back there!  First row -- scoot back, you're practically on top of me and I cannot breathe For The Love Of Pete Can Everyone Just Sit Where I Assigned Them?!"  

That woman cracks me up y'all!  I totally envision the carpet squares ending up this way when I tell the kids to bring them in.  SOOOO... to solve the rug dilemma...I bought my OWN 8x12 rug from Lowe's for $72 bucks.  Now the tag said it was "charcoal", but once I got it in my room it said "black".  To be honest, I am feeling some serious love for it, but I already know that my teaching partner is going to beat me.  Beat me, I tell you.  My brand new rug is not so good at hiding stuff, what with it being "black - supposed to be charcoal" and all.  I bought a Shark vacuum cleaner to solve that.  Now that woman can vacuum to her heart's content and fall in love with the rug too. But...I digress!!!

So how did I solve the whole "island, peninsula, what kinda order is this"seating dilemma?  I bought SitSpots.   I did y'all!  I really did.  And I swear I believe in my heart that it may just be the best $55 dollars I have ever spent.

They look SO bright and happy on my rug.  EVERYBODY has a spot and this OCD teacher is happy for some order!  AND the best part is the rug and spots came in at just $135 total!  Way better than $400+.  And to be honest, I think it's WAAAAY cuter.  No offense to my old rug, this one just matches my class decor perfectly.  And did I mention I can wash those SitSpots and keep that rug looking beautiful! And did I also mention that this suckers stay put.  You can vacuum right over them with no worries, and you KNOW that will make my teaching partner very happy.  And did I also also mention that they come in all sorts of bright colors and even other shapes like stars and hearts and fish, oh my!  People...it's my JAM!  I am one happy girl!  Now...let's just hope none of my sweet new babies even CONSIDER pulling up 1 of my SPOTS!

And do you remember when I said it was the best $55 I have ever spent?  Well...here's YOUR CHANCE for it to be the BEST $50 you DON'T have to spend!  That's right!  You get a chance to win $50 in SitSpots for FREE!  I know, right!!!!

I emailed Joyce over at SitSpots to see if they had any coupon codes going on right now that I could offer to you all.  And that sweet woman, well she did even better.  She said "How about you give a $50 SitSpots gift card code away to a reader!"  And I was all like "Woman, I love you!  Sit Spots are my new JAM and now I get to share them with a bloggy friend". (Or something along those lines...I was so excited who knows what I emailed her!)  It was a happy moment I tell you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  The giveaway will end Wednesday!  Come Thursday morning...you might just be the new proud owner of some glorious SitSpots!!!  Good luck!

Instagram Giveaway Winners...and Periscope!

Oh my goodness!  We finally decided to be productive and just finished up our newest  Science Flip Flap book for Our Five Senses!  

And what better way to celebrate some productivity than by giving a couple of them away!!  Now if you don't follow us on Instagram, don't worry because we are going to choose TWO winners from our blog too!  Leave us a comment below and let us know what you like best about the book or give us suggestions to make it better.  We'll choose 2 folks to get this for FREE and we'll send it to you later this week!
For now, we better announce the IG winners!!!

Thanks so much for following our blog, Instagram, Pinterest...and NOW...you can also find us on Periscope!!!
If you haven't discovered this highly addictive form of social media already, then trust me...you want to.  You'll get to see live video broadcasts (called Scopes) from your favorite teacher bloggers.  You even get to comment and interact with the teacher as well as with the teachers who join that particular scope.  If you haven't joined yet, you can download the PERISCOPE app on your phone and then you are all set.  
You can follow us by searching for "kindergartensquared".  We haven't added a button to our blog yet, so sorry there are no direct links just yet!
Oh...and did I mention that you have no time to loose, because once a scope goes live...it's only available to view for 24 HOURS and then POOF...it's gone!  Eeek!  
Have fun!!!

Currently... It's What We're Up To!

What the hey?  Who the what? Could someone please explain to me what happened to June!!! Yesterday we were all friendly and today...gone!!!

I can---not---believe---1 month is already GONE!  Gone, I tell you!

So I am hoping I am getting a little empathy here, because the hubs won't hear of it.

He says I'm whiny.

He says "real people" jobs don't get 8 weeks!

He says he WISHED he got 8 weeks!

Well mister...don't confuse me with the FACTS!!!!  Summer is slipping through my hands...gah!!

Good news though!  I LOVE MY JOB!!!! so it's perfectly fine that I'll be going back in a few short weeks.

But too bad for me because I will have to break up with my bed, my pajamas, my coffee cup, The Chew, my books, the beach, the pool, and ALL my other SUMMER LOVES!!!!

So...here's what I am up to this July!

LISTENING:  Crazy, right?  I know!  Peace and Quiet is pretty unheard of around these parts in the summer!  So I am more than happy to soak up every minute of it when I get the chance!

LOVING:  I honestly am excited, scared to death, star struck, freaking out, elated, prepared, unprepared, hesitant, and ecstatic ALL at the same time!  Page can't make it this year, and I couldn't go last year.  So I won't have my team TPT partner there to soak it all in with me.    I can't wait to meet all of the blogging friends I have made over the years and meet some of my favorite TPT sellers too, but lordy I am nervous about meeting them ALL AT ONCE!  I know it will be a little overwhelming!  And I am feeling like Farley too...will I wear the "right clothes"?  Will I see some people I "know" and will they even recognize me?  Will I get lost in that HUGE hotel?  I have GOT to get outta my head, and just enjoy the ride!!!!

THINKING:  I keep checking off the boxes and just when I think I have most everything done, I think of 10 more things.  But...who cares...because I am just READY to go!  Remember...I'm along for the joy ride! ;)

WANTING:  Seriously...where the heck did June go???? 

NEEDING:  I am SOOOOO excited about my soon-to-be home makeover!  We moved into our new house 10 years ago.  We went with a Tuscan theme, and to be honest...I truly loved it!  The hubs...not so much!  So now we are both ready for a change...technically the hubs has been ready for 10 years!!!  We both decided we liked the whole FARMHOUSE thing that we are seeing here and there.  We especially LOVE some of the design styles we see over at Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour and over at Decor Steals.   This led us both to decide that since we finally agreed on a new style...it was time to get busy.  My formal living room in-house storage unit is ready to be cleared out.  But first..there needs to be some serious painting done around here.  I'm hoping I'll get some FOCUS once I return from Vegas!  Who knows, maybe I'll win BIG on the slots and I can hire folks to get it done for me!!!  

ALL STAR:   I'm not ALWAYS in a perfect mood, but I DO try very hard to find the bright spot in things.  If a kiddo is having a bad day, I look for the one good thing going on and try to build from that.  If a co-worker comes over frustrated that the copier is broken or the office staff won't cooperate, then I tell them they "get the morning off" and we'll hit it again later in the day.  When they come in my room cranky...I try to send them out laughing with a smile on their face.  Now don't get me wrong...sometimes I'M the cranky one, but I really do try hard to lift others up around me.  Life's too short to be finding only lemons all the time...gotta make some lemonade!

So that's it for now.  Off to VEGAS tomorrow!!!!  EEEEEKKKK!

Thanks again to the WONDERFUL Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade for this amazing monthly linky party!  It's always FUN and a great way to find NEW folks to follow!!!