Happy 4th! Celebrate with a Sale!

Happy 4th of July! We hope you are celebrating our beautiful country with your family and friends! Lots of yummy eats, cold treats, fireworks, and fun!

If you take a break from the fun, hop over to our store for 20% savings on everything including already discounted bundles!

Celebrate!!!

Language POP! Comment to Win!

FINALLY!  We just posted our newest pack in the

 "POP! series"...Language POP! 

You get 92 fun and active task cards for daily common core kindergarten language practice and review!   These cards are meant to be used in WHOLE GROUP with the teacher leading the fun!

There are 8 FREE task cards included in the preview download on TPT! 

50% off in our store TODAY only!
 (Maybe early morning too!)

Multiple Ways to Use the LANGUAGE POP! Task Cards!

FUN and ACTIVE Brain Breaks - Although kiddos will still be working on language concepts, these task cards have them engaged, up and moving, and are tons of fun! They give them a little break from seat work or more focused tasks.

Language Journal Prompts - Read a card aloud to the students and have them respond in their journals using words and pictures. 

Time Fillers for Daily Language Review - Use a card when you have a few spare minutes to fill throughout the day.

EVERY SINGLE kindergarten language standard is included in this pack!

Each standard has multiple task cards included with most standards having 4 or more task cards.

So leave us a comment on how you might use these in your room. 

 We'll choose a winner to get the pack for FREE in a day or 2!

July Currently...When did THAT happen?

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...aaarrgh!!

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 - The boys are quietly engrossed in something and that equals a quiet enough house that I can hear the hum of my PC while blogging. RARE!!!  Although...this could be a good thing or a bad thing.  This is what the quiet equaled yesterday...

My  7 year old tried to create a zip-line from the upstairs to the downstairs door for his beanie babies.  He attached it to the fan so that the zip-line would go "sideways".  That's my 10 year old trying to reach the 15 foot fan to undo the mess...and yes...that's a mop.  We had no special tools at hand for this job!!!  Watch out for the "quiet". 

Loving - My husband earned a lateral promotion with his company.  He went from working 12 hour days (7pm to 7am) to an actual Monday-Friday job with 9 hour days(6:30am to3:30pm).  We are beyond BLESSED.  We have our husband/father back and it's been so wonderful!

Thinking - Our school is an awesome place.  We feel like it comes a close second to the "Happiest Place on Earth".  Well...we've been through a big change last year with a new principal and this year we will be getting a new assistant principal.   YIKES!  People...I don't always love change and this has been a bit stressful, but I know we will all rally and make it through!

Wanting - Page and I always say we are going to do better with this blog.  There are 2 of us for the love of Pete!  But somehow, we still don't post as much as we would like.  We have so much to share, but sometimes we get stressed thinking about blogging.  We are both so darn wordy that it takes us FOREVER to write a post.  We need to work on enjoying the process and not writing a darn novel every time.  (I know you guys would probably appreciate that too!!!)  So we really are going to try to bring you MORE good stuff in a SHORTER format (PS - Today's novel does not count!).

Needing - I am pretty sure it's obvious why I need to put on my big girl panties.  Whining and worrying don't do a darn bit of good.  Change is coming...embrace it, relish it, look for the adventures that await! 

4th Plans - If you love Zac Brown Band and you live in GA, you might want to head to Senoia on July 5th.  Word is they'll be playing a concert there for FREE.  There will also be tons of food trucks, market booths, games, and just an all around fun day.  We'll wrap it up with some fireworks.

Hope you have an awesome 4th and July!!

Be sure and head over to read more great Currentlys!

Made It Monday!

So I know it is technically Tuesday...but I did MAKE it on Monday, so that counts...right!??!

I've been decorating the house for the 4th of July.  I'll leave everything up for the month, so I do tend to get a bit crafty and shoppy for each holiday!

Here's the rundown of the decorations.

I bought the Flag Pallet and Flag Mason Jars from my sweet friend's daughter and her friend (Spontaneity Designs) at Serenbe Farmer's Market Day this past weekend.  So cute, and so worth having THEM make it!

I leave the tree up year round and decorate it to coordinate with whatever holiday is closest...think pinks and reds for Valentines, vintage eggs and butterflies for spring.  So for the 4th I used red and white ball ornaments, a vintage Uncle Sam card, some of my hub's former Marine medals and dog tag, and some cute patriotic ribbon, and of course an American flag on top!

Now...for the actual Monday Made It! part...

Be sure and visit 4th Grade Frolics for the Monday Made It! linky for more great ideas!

I hand-cut the cute little STAR pennants hanging over the mantle.  I used scrapbook paper to cut out the stars and then I backed each of them with red card stock to give them more support.  I hole punched 2 circles in each star so that I could weave the string through.  I am not always the best at thinking things through and I originally punched 1 hole at first...BAAAAD idea.  Those stars were flying all over the place, spinning around backwards, and sliding into each other.  Thank goodness I figured that one out after ONLY 2 stars!  I also painted the wooden 3D star beside the blue spool.  It came in blue and I thought it needed more color since everything else on the mantle was blue.  I also painted the E's.  They came in orange and well...that just did NOT match the 4th theme at all people! (What was Hobby Lobby thinking???)

I printed the cute "I'm proud to be an American" print from How to Nest for Less for FREE!  Then I just trimmed it up and put in the blue wooden frame from Hobby Lobby.

So I hope this gets you in the festive 4th mood!  And for our Non- American friends that won't be celebrating the 4th of July, then hopefully you can get some ideas for YOUR next holiday.  Friends...you can seriously make a pennant banner for ANY holiday and it will make you smile!  Happy 4th!

Cristy

Reflecting on Instruction- How we Love to teach Reading

Hope everyone is having a super summer!!  We are definitely enjoying out time off :).

Pictured above are my Boys (1st 2 boys my kiddos and the 2nd 2 my nephews)

and Cristy and her cute fam!!!

We recently reflected on things like pencil sharpeners, behavior management, pouches vs boxes, and how to get the wiggles out, but this post will be on research based instruction. We will try to make it short! Maybe we will just write several posts on instructional likes and dislikes :).

We Love: Cafe, Daily 5 Reading, Multi Sensory Phonics, 6 Traits Writing

The majority of our kiddos really excelled at reading!!!  Why??

We loved using Orton Gillingham Multi sensory methods to teach phonics (letters, sounds, blending, segmenting)!! It was hands on and minds on! It met the needs of diverse learners. We followed the sequence of letters from the book Recipe for Reading.

For the absolute best training on using Orton Gillingham, you should attend the 30 hour training conducted by the Institute of Multi Sensory Education!  It was expensive, but well worth it!! Click the link below to check out their site.

Cafe Rocked! We taught the kiddos strategies so they could be independent readers. They didn't rely on anyone else to help them figure out words!!

We used Science and Social Studies non-fiction texts as well as a variety of fiction texts to teach mini lessons on the strategies. We modeled using the strategies then gave students opportunities to practice using Daily 5!

What's Daily 5???
Read to Self
Read to Someone
Work on Writing
Listen to Reading
Word Work

Daily 5 was an awesome way for the kiddos to practice the strategies we introduced!

Needs: More Training on 6+1  Traits
Our kiddos were pretty great writers, but they really could have been better!! We would love a little more training on 6 +1 Traits writing. Do any of you have any experience with this way to teach writing to kiddos??
Let us know what you use to teach writing.

More Reflections-The Great and The Sad!

So you read about our Good, Bad and Ugly! Check out the GREAT and the SAD!

The Great!

Epic Greatness: Class Dojo

We loved, loved using Class Dojo! This is an online FREE (for now) behavior management program!! I say FREE for NOW (not because I have insider info), but it just seems every time we find something GOOD that is free and online, eventually it is not free after the world sees how awesome it is! Anyway enjoy free as long as you can.

This online program allows you to assign an avatar to all of your kiddos then award them positive and negative behavior points! You can customize the behaviors and make them as specific as you want.  You can also give your kiddos their own code so they can create and customize their own avatar. We used that as an incentive for when they got to a certain number of points!! CLASS DOJO is awesome!! It made our classroom such a more positive place!! It was way better than that stinky old, negative Red Light! Click the image below to visit the Class Dojo site and learn more!!

The Sad!

EPIC SADNESS: Mr. Marc- Adventures to Fitness

Our kiddos loved getting their wiggles out to Mr. Marc during Adventures to Fitness! Mr. Marc has several  online episodes that you can tie to curriculum and the kids just love them!! But guess what happened to this awesome site halfway through our school year????  I bet you know!!! Yep, they started charging money for accessing the episodes! There are 5 free episodes but that is not even close to the number available that can really align withe the curriculum! Sad news for us and for our kiddos, because as teachers, we can't afford to purchase them and our school doesn't have funds either!!  Boohoo!!!

Thanks for reading!

BEST Pencil Sharpener E-VAH!

LOVE!  I am in LOVE!!!  It's a taboo relationship.  Because frankly...it's with my new pencil sharpener!

It's wrong to love a pencil sharpener this much, but I don't care!

We have had a ROTTEN year as far as pencil sharpening goes.

Here's the RECAP from our last post if you missed it!  

(Be sure and check the post out for more "reflections from the year")

Holy smokes...who would think that sharpening pencils could drive someone to drink???? Ok so maybe not drink, but pretty darn close! We started out the year with 2 cans labeled "SHARP" and "NEEDS SHARPENING". Great plan! Worked really well except the kiddos are big fans of their pencils. They have some sort of connection to those little wooden writing thing-a-ma-bobs. And when they returned to the "SHARP" can to pick up their pencils...well let's just say that didn't always go so well. As in---you're 5! Let's be honest, are you gonna always find YOUR pencil in the can or the sparkly star pencil or the one with the WHOLE eraser still in tact! People!! We had some serious issues with not getting the right pencil back. We thought about writing their names on their pencils with a sharpie, but that just sounded like too much work on our part!

So we had sweet George the maintenance guy come install a brand new kickin' it old school crank pencil sharpener so they could go back to sharpening their own pencils. Of course THIS would be a success because surely those pencil sharpeners have come a long way and are just sharpening like butta....right! Maybe we should have know there was trouble when sweet George installed the sharpener on backwards!!! When he left the first kid went to christen  the thing and HELLO!!!...crazy town! He did come back and install it correctly, but the story only goes down hill from there!  

So...here's the whole entire sad story.  The #1 pencil sharpening RULE!  You may ONLY sharpen pencils between the hours of 7:30 am and 8:00 am!  NO SHARPENING during the day because ALL that noise makes us want to pull our hair out!

Good rule.  Easy to follow, right?  Not so much!  At least not for 2 of our cutie pies...let's call them Spunky and Sassy (to protect the names of the innocent guilty!)  These 2 cuties managed to make their way to that darn sharpener nearly 100 10 times a day!  And always right when I was giving directions or the principal came in to talk to the kids or myself.  Rrrrrr!  Rrrrr!  Ckkkk! (Those are the horrendous sounds coming from the sharpener if you don't speak the language!)

In their defense, those darn cheap pencils from the warehouse were a pain to sharpen.  The lead kept constantly falling out every time it was sharpened!  The pencil sharpener kept chewing those pencils up like a beaver would a log!  The pencils were like 2 inches short by the time the sharpener worked and the lead stayed in!

Needless to say...I was SAD!  So...so...sad!

But NO MORE my friends...no more!

Insert heavenly angel music, rainbows, puppies, kittens, and any other happy image here!
Because THIS is what we are going to do to make it 

ALL BETTER!

Troy, over at Classroom Friendly Supplies, is a teacher and owner of this great product!   I think I have a crush!  I let Troy know of our pencil sharpening woes and he sent us a sharpener to try out!  And oh my goodness...I am in LOVE!  

So here's our official review!

It was shipped to my house so I haven't clamped it down like I will in my classroom.  I used it just holding it with my hand which worked just fine, but the clamp will help my littles be able to control it much better.  

PROS:

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Look at these babies!  They are beautiful!  These things sharpened like buttah!  EVERY single pencil I stuck in this thing came out EXACTLY like these!  Perfect points every time.  I swear my littles will be gah-gah over this!

Also, it was really very easy to use.  I'll admit I watched a quick little video from his website to save me time figuring out how to work it!  So simple to use!

The price is TOTALLY worth it and he gives BIG discounts if you order in bulk.  Our PTA is planning on purchasing one for EVERY classroom.  (Did I mention we LOVE our PTA????)

It was pretty darn quiet too!  I think I wouldn't even mind if the kiddos sharpened pencils between the hours of 7:30 am AND 2:30 pm with this baby installed!

CONS:

It's not ABSOLUTELY quiet.  Like... there is some noise coming out of this thing, but who cares when you get points like that...the FIRST time you sharpen!  Which means even if there is some noise...it only lasts a brief few seconds and the kiddo is DONE!  Not like before...sharpen, lead breaks, teacher cries...REPEAT 4,000 times!  WAHHH!!

FINAL WORDS

So if you don't have one of these babies, we HIGHLY recommend getting one to save your sanity!  We even think this beats our electric sharpener on quietness, sharpness, and... people...did I mention that my sharpener is PINK!  LOVE!