April Showers Umbrella Pattern...freebie!!!

For those of you that read last Wednesday's post, you know that I had planned to post an April Showers umbrella glyph...I'm sad to say that I did not get the glyph finished. (Sorry!) But I do have the  umbrella pattern uploaded to my TpT store for you to download for free!

Click on either of the pictures above to go to my Teachers Pay Teachers store to download your free pattern.

I am linking up on Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies!

Thank you for stopping by!!!

April Showers Bring... Umbrellas!

I'm sure you have heard the old saying "April showers bring May flowers". Well, I think we will get ready for some April showers. Today I created an April Showers glyph that I plan on sharing with you on Monday. I'll give you a little sneak peak of what to expect on Monday below.

My kiddos had so much fun making their umbrellas! We have used up all of our glue sticks... so we had to use the dreaded bottles of Elmer's glue. Why can't students just use a little dab of glue!!! Some of my little angels tried to use a whole bottle of glue to attach just one raindrop! (I'm exaggerating...but really, they do not seem to understand the difference between just a dot of glue and a huge blob of glue!) 

I think the raffia bows add just that extra bit of flair that makes the umbrella craft stand out. My next craftivity will be...did you guess May flowers? If you did, you are probably correct!

Thanks for visiting,

Happy Birthday to me and... a Flower Clip Art Freebie!!!

I have come to the realization that I have several addictions...

1. I'm addicted to Teachers Pay Teachers.
2. I'm addicted to creating new files for my TpT store.
3. I'm addicted to creating clip art for my Teachers Pay Teachers files.

Whew...what a relieve to get that out in the open! LOL

Care to guess what today is? Did anyone guess that today is my birthday? If you did, you guessed correctly! To celebrate my birthday, I'm giving away a free gift to anyone that wishes to download it! My gift to you is a free flower clip art file. My favorite is the little bird looking at the flower...
Included in the file are 6 colorful flowers and 6 black and white flowers .png files.
To download the file, click on the picture below. It will take you to my TpT store.

I decided to join the Manic Monday linky once again!

Thanks for dropping by my blog!!!

My students love...

My students love this video clip. I thought you might enjoy it too!

Be sure to check back in Monday. I plan to have a great "Freebie" posted!!!

Happy, happy, happy!

Is everybody happy? I have not had the best of days, but when I think of Duck Dynasty...I smile! Isn't that ridiculous?

Have you heard about finger lights? I have read a couple of blog posts about the tiny flashlights and decided to give them a try. I found a set of 40 for $7.99 with free shipping on Amazon. My hopes were that the kiddos would:

1. stay focused during reading group
2. keep up
3. not fall out of their chair (Can we say ADHD!)

For the most part I was not dissapointed. My kiddos love using the finger lights during reading groups. Most of them seem to try harder when it's their turn to read aloud.

I have discovered Kid Snippets on YouTube. I use them as brain breaks or transitions sometimes for my kiddos. These short little clips are a huge hit with my class. The "Math Class" snippet is a hoot, but the "Mean School Nurse" clip is my kiddo's favorite.

Enjoy!

120 Chart Freebie

At least 4 days a week, I have my students complete a 120 chart as part of their morning work. I feel that this helps them to be very familiar with the numbers 1-120! As part of Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies, I am sharing some of my 120 charts. Enjoy!

Click on the picture to download the file from Google Drive. Due to problems with Google Drive, I have now uploaded the file to my TpT store as a freebie. Please click on the picture to download the file from TpT. Thanks!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Please take time to enjoy this short little video clip that I found on YouTube... it's so cute!

I have uploaded a new product in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. April Showers Morning Work is an excellent resource. These sheets provide spiraling review for the kiddos while giving them something cute and fun to work on first thing in the morning.

April Showers Morning Work
Includes:
20 Bell Ringer pages
(The Bell Ringer pages include 2 sentences to copy and correct on each sheet along with other review items. Please download the preview file for a better idea of what the Bell Ringer pages include.)
20 one hundred twenty chart fill-in pages
10 least to greatest number order pages
10 Story Starter pages
10 money pages
10 telling time (hour and half hour)
10 sentence jumble pages

1 color one hundred twenty chart mini poster

Please click on the title page above to visit my TpT store. 

Thank you so much for dropping by!!!

Freebie!

How about a freebie! I am posting March Sentence Jumble Part 2 as a freebie today. I hope your kiddos enjoy these sentence jumbles. My students love putting these together! I'm trying something different today...I have been posting my freebies in my TpT store, but today I'm going to try loading this freebie in Google Drive. Keep your fingers crossed that I did it correctly! I will be linking up with Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies on Monday. I decided to get a head start this afternoon! Click on the picture to download the file.

Southern Bloggers

I love to visit blogs...I think it is a type of addiction! Today I found a blog that has links for Southern Blogs! How great is that! More blogs to visit. Woo hoo!

Click on the picture to find the long list of Southern Bloggers.

Brain Break

My kiddos are crazy about this Cookie Monster video clip! It's great for transitions. Enjoy!

Blogs By State

Diane at Fifth in the Middle had a wonderful idea! She made state buttons that can be displayed on blogs. They are just too cute. This is the one that I have displayed on my sidebar:

I love it!

Follow the link below to grab your own. 

March Morning Work

I am so proud of my March Morning Work file that I have in my TpT store! The majority of the graphics are my own creations. I used the ArtStudio app for iPad to make my clip art. It's so much fun to use!!!

Click here to visit my TpT store.

 Please take a look at the free preview file and let me know what you think.

March Sentence Jumble

My kiddos love sentence jumbles. (I think some refer to this type of page as a sentence scramble or a scrambled sentence.) They think it is fun to figure out how the words should be arranged to form a complete sentence. Little do they know how much they are learning while they are having fun! I'm linking up as usual with Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies. I hope your students enjoy the sentence jumbles!

Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies Link Up!

It's Monday!!!
That means it's freebie time!
My freebie today is my April Showers clip art file.
I hope you like it!!!

Click here to go to TpT for the free file:

April Showers

My Liebster Nominees

Drum roll please!!! And now for the announcement that we have all been waiting for...

My nominees for the Liebster Award are:

1. Clip Art by Carrie Teaching First
2. Mrs. D's Corner
3. Pirate Girl's Education Invasion
4. Chalk One Up For The Teacher
5. Mrs. Bohaty's Kindergarten Kingdom
6. Frugal In First
7. Science For Kids
8. Common Core Connection
9. Teachers Clipart
10. Hedrich's Hive
11. Buzz Into Kinder

The Rules:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated you.

2. Post 11 random things about yourself.

3. Answer the 11 questions posted by the nominator.

4. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

5. Choose 11 other blogs with less than 200 followers and link to them on this post.

My 11 questions for my nominees:
1. What are you reading now?
2. Where is your favorite vacation spot?
3. Do you like cats, dogs, or both?
4. Would you rather build a snowman or a sandcastle?
5. What was the last concert you went to?
6. Who is your favorite singer or group?
7. Who is your favorite author?
8. What person living or dead would you like to have lunch with?
9. Why did you become a blogger?
10. What was your favorite subject in high school and why?
11. Have you ever met anyone famous? If yes, who?

I truly hope that all of my nominees have as much fun completing the Liebster requirements as I did! Thank you again Pamela for nominating me! 

Banana Song

My kiddos beg for this video clip! I love listening to them try to sing along with it! You might like it too. This is the short version. There is one on You Tube that loops for 14 minutes!

It's almost Friday!!!

Puddles, Phonics, and Pictures...

    Puddles- It has been a very rainy week so far in South Georgia! Puddles are everywhere. There is even a rumor going around that school might be cancelled tomorrow because of the road conditions. Many of our country roads are still dirt. With all of the rain, the roads become one big mess! The buses slip and slide into ditches, or just get stuck in the mud. Keep your fingers crossed for more rain! I would love to sleep late in the morning. (Update-After getting the 5:45 AM call from my assistant principal and then calling all my grade level teachers to let them know school was canceled, I got my wish! I went back to sleep and slept until 10:30! Sections of many dirt roads were washed away or under water.)
     Phonics- The sneaky "e" finally showed up in our room today during reading. My kiddos really enjoyed me telling them about how sneaky "e" like to play jokes on the other vowels. He slips up beside the "p" in cap...then very sneakily reaches over and pinches "a" just to hear her say her name. Thus cap becomes cape! They had fun lining up and acting out several other words.
     Pictures- My oldest daughter is getting married 6-15-13. She and her fiance had their "Save the Date" pictures made this past weekend. Out of almost 500 pictures, this is the one they liked best:

Liebster Blog Nominee!!!

I have been nominated for the Liebster Blog Award! 

Thank you so much Pamela Kranz over at Desktop Learning Adventures for nominating me!!!

Desktop Learning Adventures

The Rules:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated you.

2. Post 11 random things about yourself.

3. Answer the 11 questions posted by the nominator.

4. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

5. Choose 11 other blogs with less than 200 followers and link to them on this post.

Okay...11 random things about me...

1. My favorite color is fuchsia.

2. When I was in college I went to a KISS concert.

3. This is my 32nd year teaching.

4. I love picking up shells on Sanibel Island.

5. I love to read!

6. I am a shopaholic.

7. One of my favorite restaurants is The Old Mill in  Pigeon Forge Tennessee.

8. I love the Broadway play Wicked!

9. My oldest daughter is a high school science teacher and my youngest daughter is majoring in Early Childhood Ed!

10. My husband is a retired UGA faculty member.

11. I am an original Star Trek fan...Live long and prosper...

Next are Pamela's questions for me:

1. Would you rater play sports or watch them? I love to watch football! 

2. Is teaching your first or second career? Teaching is my first career.

3. There's been a lot of talk about this- MAC or PC? I love my iPhone and iPad, but I am a PC person.

4. Are you an introvert or extrovert? Most defiantly an introvert! 

5. What is your favorite way to relax? Reading a good book on the beach, or reading a good book while rocking on the back porch of a cabin in the mountains...or just reading a good book.

6. What/where is the best vacation you've ever taken? I love vacationing in South Florida in the summer. Sanibel Island, Fort Myers Beach, and Bonita Beach all hold special memories for my family.

7. If you woke up tomorrow and there were no more schools and you could do anything you wished, what would you do? I would love to travel the world...but that would be kind of hard...I really hate flying!

8. What are you listening to right now? I really like Phillip Phillips.

9. Considering birth order, where are you in the chain of command? I am the oldest child married to an oldest child. My oldest daughter is about to marry an oldest son. My youngest daughter is dating a youngest son. Hmmm....what's up with birth order?

10. What is the best part of your job? The best part is knowing that I am making a difference in someone's life. It's the greatest feeling to be stopped by a slightly familiar face asking if you remember them. Just today in a reading seminar I saw someone that looked familiar. She was a former 2nd grade student of mine that is now a 1st grade teacher.

11. Would your rather go to a movie or a play? I would rather go to a play, but those are few and far between. The last movie I saw was The Hobbit.

My 11 questions for my nominees:
1. What are you reading now?
2. Where is your favorite vacation spot?
3. Do you like cats, dogs, or both?
4. Would you rather build a snowman or a sandcastle?
5. What was the last concert you went to?
6. Who is your favorite singer or group?
7. Who is your favorite author?
8. What person living or dead would you like to have lunch with?
9. Why did you become a blogger?
10. What was your favorite subject in high school and why?
11. Have you ever met anyone famous? If yes, who?

And now for my nominees...
Hmmm...I think I'm going to do a little blog hopping and get back to you with my nominees very soon!