Complete CC K Math Curriculum GIVEAWAY!!!

We did it!  We finally bundled ALL 5 of our math units, plus our Math POP! Active Task Cards for Practice and Review into 1 HUGE bundle.

It's everything you need to introduce, teach, review, and assess EVERY. SINGLE. Kindergarten. COMMON. CORE. STANDARD! 
 Can I get an AMEN! ;)

So if you are new to the CC standards, or just need some new resources to help you teach the standards in a meaningful, engaging, and fun way...then this might be perfect for you.

We are going to attempt our 2nd Rafflecopter giveaway (practicing for the BIG GIVEAWAY coming soon from lots of our favorite bloggy buddies...be on the look out for more details in the next few weeks!) to give this bundle away to 1 winner!

The bundle value is $57.00!!!

The giveaway runs through Thursday the 8th at midnight!  Earn 2 entries each for following our blog, TpT store, and Pinterest board.  You can also earn 10 entries simply by adding a one line blurb about the giveaway onto any of your blog posts this week!  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

August Currently

Yahoo!! I saw Oh' Boy 4th Grade's: CURRENTLY for August and got excited because this is my first CURRENTLY!! Cristy is always the diligent blogger eagerly awaiting each month's currently!! Maybe she will be so proud of me!! I am really trying to redeem myself after being off the grid for so long while I was at the beach for many weeks!!

Drum roll please!!! Farley's Currently for August!

Listening: The hum of the fan is accompanied by Big Brother After Dark playing in the background!! Addictive!! 

Loving: My new running shoes are so cushiony and comfy!! Not quite as cute as I like, but they are all pink. Need these to keep me running which keeps the stress down :).

Thinking: I am so lucky to have such a great family, awesome friends, and a fabulous job with people I love, love, love!!

Wanting: We need 5 instead of 3 planning days!! 3 days are not enough! It is what it is... We will persevere and get things ready for those precious kiddos!!

Needing: I need to finish setting up, cleaning and decorating my room!! However, I really need a pedicure, manicure, and a massage!!

B2s Must Haves:  

1. We are in desperate need of a cordless hot glue gun!! Natalie is a genius! She puts masking tape on the back of things to hang in the classroom and hallways. Then she puts hot glue on the tape and glues whatever we need to the wall. It peels off super easy and doesn't leave difficult to peel off paper and glue!

2. Hobby Lobby has the cutest paper lanterns in beautiful colors to hang from the ceiling in your classroom. Cristy bought some and I tried not to copy her but I really have to have them.  

3. Stephanie Ann's Ultimate Supply Label Pack with Pictures 

is awesome!! The labels are perfect for anyone who wants to label 

all of their supplies and look Pinterest ready!

Ok, for real better get to sleep! I guess I won't be able to get up for a 5 am run!! Stayed up way too late!! Or maybe you could just look at it like I woke up really, really early!!

A Great Start and Teacher Evaluation

Well friends yesterday was our second planning day! We were way more productive yesterday than we were on our first planning day!!

 On our first planning day, we had a blast!! We ate breakfast, had our nuts and bolts meeting, worked in our room  (visited with our friends), ate lunch, worked in our rooms some more (visited some more with friends)!! It was a great day!!

Too bad we have a bazillion things to do before the kiddos come to our meet the teacher day on Monday and then the first day of school on Tuesday!!. We need more than 3 planning days!!

We are so excited and can't wait to post pictures of our outside displays! They are going to be ADORABLE!! I have to thank Natalie because she is super creative and does all the decorating!! She decorates while I run around the room starting 101 things without finishing a single one!!! Are any of you like that???  Christie and Cristy work together on their display because Cristy is super organized and finished lots of things last week and at the end of last year.

So are any of you participating in the new teacher evaluation system for Georgia called TKES  (Teacher Keys Effectiveness System)Teacher? In our county this year, there are several lucky teachers who get to pilot this new system. Guess what??? Cristy and I volunteered to participate! We love jumping on the bandwagon early so that we can ease into things.

We have not been formally trained, but after doing some reading, we decided to make some dividers for our TKES notebook. These dividers can be placed in page protectors with a tab or in those new dividers with the pocket so you can see the cuteness. If you need these dividers, just click below and grab them :).

If you have already participated in the TKES process, please, we would love any advice and quick tips!!
Thanks a bunch in advance for your help!

Nighty-night friends!!

Classroom Management- Give us a Name!

Hi Fabulous Friends!!! Well it's almost officially the first day of preplanning!! Yikes, we come back Thursday, August 1st!!

You know Cristy and I have been working at school already trying to get our rooms ready. Her room is going to be super beautiful and color coordinated! While mine is much cleaner than usual, it it not quite "Pinterest" ready as Cristy's is about to be!! Just wait!! Cristy will be posting gorgeous pictures of her room along with all the awesome, new Teacher Pay Teacher products she purchased to help with the cuteness factor!!

Anyway, we are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired of using that TRAFFIC LIGHT for classroom management. Don't laugh!! We know we have been using this system for a million years, but it is easy, mostly effective,  and so much fun to use!! Just kidding, it is easy, but that is about it! No offense, if you still use and love this method. For us, it is just not the right fit anymore.

Our basis for classroom management is Love and Logic and we love it!! However, we needed a way to keep parents abreast of behavior so we chose the "Old Faithful" traffic light!!!

What now!! Well, Natalie (my right hand woman) told me about Class Dojo. Then I told Cristy! Then we decided, why not???

 Class Dojo is an online platform for managing behavior that even sends email reports to parents. We have just been playing around on the site. It runs on the computer, ipad, or even iphone as well as some other digital devices. The teacher sets up a class and the kiddos can earn merits or demerits for how they behave in the room.

It is so cool. The teacher can keep the system up on the projector for everyone to see or keep minimized. With one click, a merit can pop up for a student for being helpful, working hard, or any other positive behavior you notice. Also, with one click, a demerit can pop up for a student who is performing a negative behavior.

There is also so much more to this program that we need to explore. Including emailing parents at the end of the day/week, keeping graphs about behaviors, etc...We are not sure we will love it, but are ready to try.

Almost forgot a very important thing!! It's FREE!! Teachers love FREE stuff!!

Here is the thing we need help with!! The program refers to adding merits and demerits. We would really love some other words to refer to getting a good point or a negative point.

What can we use in the room and in front of other adults that won't sound too silly?
We want the kiddos to know what we are talking about when we say, "Great job!! You just earned a .... for being helpful or Please get back to work or you will get ....".

Thanks a bunch!!
Good luck to all of our friends heading back to school soon!!!  To our friends who have more summer, ENJOY!!!

Common Core Resources GALORE! FREE E-Books are HERE!

Page and I have been working in our classrooms this week.  I still can't believe we actually start back NEXT week!!!!  I have some new decor changes and some revamping of some old storage.  I tell you... PINTEREST is going to put me in the poor house!!!  I'll be sure to post some before and after pictures next week.

Anyway once the dust (cleaning and otherwise!) settles, it'll be time to move on to the REAL business at hand...actually TEACHING the new littles!  We began implementing the Common Core Standards over the last 2 years.  We are feeling pretty comfortable with the standards so far, but dang it if they didn't take some getting use to.

We LOVE the new standards since they are so much more "thinking" based rather than just a bunch of facts to memorize.  We've seen a real shift from teaching kiddos "a mile wide and an inch deep" to TRULY digging deep so kiddos form BIG understandings about the world around them.  Then all the other "stuff" becomes easy to teach, because our kiddos have learned to THINK!!!!

This CAN make the common core standards seem a bit daunting in the beginning.

But...STRESS...NO....MORE!  Some awesome teachers (Tracee Orman, Deanna Jump, Rachelle Smith to name a few!) have masterminded and organized a great resource for Back to School!

The FREE Common Core E-Books are HERE!!!

You have 2 awesome books at your disposal!

Rachelle from What The Teacher Wants headed up the
Common Core K-2 Math E-Book!

Deanna organized the Common Core K-2 Language Arts E-Book!  

It should be posted ANY day now, so be on the look-out! 

Once you follow the links to the K-2 E-Books, you can then link up with any of the K-12 E-Books.  We know some of you teach lots of grade levels or have some friends in upper grades who you might want to pass on the E-Books too!

Every page in the E-Books are created by a different TpT seller.  Each page contains:

*Tips to help you implement the common core
*A FREE common core resource...games, puzzles, lessons, and more!
*Links to 1 or 2 priced products that support your implementation of the standards.

So...what are you waiting for?  Head over and snag these babies!  I already have!!!

Be sure and check out our Math E-Book page too!  You'll find our Measurement Games Freebie!

Plus links to our Top Selling Common Core Math Units (entire K CCSS math curriculum) and a FUN practice and review pack called Math POP!

Have fun and get ready to grab some awesome resources to make your back to school a breeze!!!

PS- Congrats to Maria who WON our Back To School BUNDLE!!!

Back To School BONANZA - 30% savings!

WHAT???  School starts for us NEXT week!  AAAAAAHHHH!  Where did the summer go?

Really, I think we are kinda ready.  We've beached, slept, played, read....enjoyed!  It's time to get back into our routine and our true love...teaching!

So to hopefully help you guys get back into school mode too, we've bundled 5 of our best selling products at a 30% savings!  Activities, games, lessons, forms, class decor, and more to get your year started off with ease...Cruise Into K!

Individually, the products would sell for $31.50... 

BUT it's only $22.00 in this bundle! Wa-hoo!

Quick Peek!

Loooonnnggg Peek! :)

 Our #1 best selling Back to School Lessons and Activities Mega Pack!

Top Selling Kindergarten Forms:  Cruisin' Into Kindergarten!

Common Core Unit 1 Math Pack:  Counting and Cardinality is Out of This World!

Short A Word Work Letter Pack

And one of our newest products...Desk Name Plates:  Brights, Stripes, Chevrons, and More!

Hopefully this will be everything you need to get your teaching off to a super start!  

As always, please leave us a comment letting us know what you think!  Have you used one of these products before, which of these is your favorite... anything you're thinking!!! 

We'll choose 1 winner to snag this BUNDLE for FREE!

 (Don't forget to leave your email!) 

Back To School FREEBIES!

Just a quick post to remind you about our 2 Back to School Freebies that are really popular!  We hope you head over to TpT and snag them up too!  Enjoy!

           

Please do let us know what you think about these freebies!  

We love feedback...helps us do a better job!