Back to School Blog Hop!

Anyone else not ready to go back to school yet?! This is my last week of summer before the madness begins! To those of you who have already started setting up your classrooms or have started school I wish you a great year with your students!

Alright lets get to the fun! For those of you who don't know me, I am a kindergarten teacher and I am going into my 6th year of teaching! I wouldn't call myself a veteran by any means, but I'm always happy to learn something new from other teachers!  I am teaming up with 50 great teacherprenuers to bring you tried and true classroom management and organizational strategies that work in our classrooms. Please make sure that you hop to each participating blog this week! Here are a few tricks and tips I have learned along the way and am happy to share with you!

Number, Number, Number! 

From the very first week of school, give each student a number. This number will help them line up in order which limits fighting over who is in the front or who was in a certain spot first. This same number will be put on popsicle sticks for picking a student to call on or choose partners for work.  Numbering their supplies such as a box of crayons helps to know whose crayon was left on the floor (teaches them responsibility/pick up after themselves). You as the teacher will soon learn your students numbers and it will come in handy to quickly count your students, put papers in order, or putting groups together.

Color Coordination

The tables in my classroom are organized by colors (all colors of the rainbow). Each table's supply bin is the color of the table. For example, the red table has a red supply bin. All the supplies also correspond to the color of the table/bin. In the red table's supply bin there are pencils with red grips, red scissors, and glue bottles with red tape. Now, this might be a bit much for you, but it helps so much with organizing classroom supplies! It also helps the students understand that everything we use has a home in the classroom. It also makes it easy to clean up and have students help with organizing the supply bins too! It is unbelievable how messy students can be! But you're probably not surprised! 

Classroom Storage

Every classroom is different and with each classroom comes limited space for storage am I right?! Well if you have a ton of storage in your classroom you are one of the lucky ones! Unfortunately my classroom doesn't have a ton of storage so my teaching partner had a genius idea of how to maximize storage! My classroom doesn't have closets, it has cabinets so a way to maximize storage is to hang an over the door shoe organizer  on the inside of your cabinets. The small pockets are great for storing dry erase markers, sharpies, stickers, velcro or whatever your heart desires! Pure genius I tell you!

Promoting Kindness

I picked up this fabulous idea from the kindergarten team I joined last year when I started at a new school. Students are able to earn "kindness coins" for showing acts of kindness throughout the day. Some ways that students can earn a kindness coin might be by helping a fellow classmate in some way, being a respectful listener during a lesson, following directions the first time etc.. This individualized behavior strategy not only promotes kindness in the classroom but gives each student a way to monitor their positive and kind behavior. Students put these coins in a small box with their name on it and keep it in the classroom. At the end of the week students can exchange 5 coins for a prize from the prize box. 

Giveaway!

We are hosting a giveaway!  Enter to win one of two great prizes. We are giving away the chance to win a $50 TpT Gift Card and classroom resources from over 30 teacher authors. 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you were able to learn something new! Be sure to continue the hop by clicking on the apple picture below.

SaveSave

Springing Into Learning!

Who doesn't love spring?! warmer weather, flowers blooming, birds chirping, bright colors, and the best thing for us teachers is that spring break is just around the corner! In the spring time, I love teaching my students about plants and insects/bugs/butterflies. Let me tell you about 2 spring classroom ideas that I like to do with my kindergarten students!

Plants

My students learn all about the parts of a plant and what each part does. This is a cute flip book where they label the plant parts. You could also have your students write about each plant part too. 

Butterflies

Who doesn't love learning about the life cycle of a butterfly especially when you can have real live butterflies at the end of the cycle! Students will love to make their observations daily and it is so fun to see these little caterpillars grow before your eyes! I like to make a butterfly journal that my students can write their daily or weekly observations in.

Freebie

Thank you for stopping by my blog! I am sharing a sample of my spring themed Short-a Word Work-No Prep! You can get it HERE

If you like what you see, you might like my short-a word work no prep pack! 

You can check it out HERE

Thanks for stopping by! Hop along to these other amazing sellers and get some spring ideas and resources!

An InLinkz Link-up

Spread the Love! TPT Sale!

We're having a Valentine's sale! Come spread the love by checking out our stores!  My store will be having a sale February 12-15! Click HERE to download this picture (below) that has all the links to our stores! Come check out our sweet resources!

New Years Resolutions

It has been a busy month, but Happy 2016! This year I decided to do a new resolution craft/writing activity with my students. Last year, I did this great New Years Resolutions craft (Free!)  from Dots-n-Spots. But this year I found this cute craft that caught my eye! I first read my students this great story, Squirrel's New Year's Resolution. I love that this book does a great job of explaining what a resolution is especially at a level that my kindergarten students can understand.

I found this cute craft from Hanging Around in Primary (also free!) My students did a great job with it! The best thing about this craft is that it allows your students to think of a resolution for school and one that is personal.

Lastly, I have a few resolutions of my own! It has been 6 months since I have started my TPT journey! I am quite proud of what I have accomplished so far. Here are a few goals I have of my own this year..

1. Keep up with my blog!

2. Keep up with my TPT Instagram account

3. Continue to make more products

4. Make a rotating banner for my TPT store

5. Learn how to make some new recipes! 

6. Exercise! (this is a goal every year!)

I hope you all can achieve your goals for this year! May 2016 be a great year for you all! 

Hanukkah Linky Party!

Happy Hanukkah!!  

With Hanukkah starting tonight! I wanted to share one of my hanukkah resources with you! 

These are two dice games! A Hanukkah roll and cover game as well as a Hanukkah Bump! These two games will help your students with their numbers 1-12. Hope you enjoy! 

An InLinkz Link-up

TPT Cyber Sale!

Wow! It has certainly been a busy month! The last couple of weeks have been busy preparing for Thanksgiving!

We accomplished so much in the last couple of weeks...

Leaf printed T-shirts

Pattern Shape Placemats and Turkeys

Indian Beaded Necklaces

I'm Thankful For... Written on Turkey Feathers

My students also made pinecone turkeys, Indian headdresses, pilgrim hats, and pilgrim bonnets. We also had a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast! Check out some highlights!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is time to gear up for the holidays! Don't forget to checkout the TPT Cyber sale!

Trick or Treat Blog Hop!!

I just love Halloween! This awesome blog hop will get you in the trick or treating mood! Thank you to Rachael from The Classroom Game Nook  for hosting this blog hop! Each participating blogger will share with you a "trick" (trick of the trade) or a useful tip/technique they use in the classroom, a "treat" will also be shared which will be a limited time freebie AND a product giveaway!! Just click on the picture at the bottom of this post that says "click here to trick or treat to the next blog." You get to go "trick or treating" from blog to blog and gather all the freebie treats! If you start on my blog, and blog hop to the other participating blogs, you'll eventually come back to my blog and that is when you'll know that you have completed your "trick or treating" adventure! This blog hop will run from October 24-31. Enjoy and have fun!

I have 2 useful organization tricks that are very useful in the classroom. If you are looking for ways to  organize your things in a way that doesn't take a up a lot of space, then these 2 tricks are for you!

Classroom Materials Organization

First of all,  I have to give credit of this trick to my co-teacher! We used a over the door shoe organizer that was cut down to fit the cabinet door and I poked holes at the top with a hole punch for the hooks. We couldn't use the metal over the door hooks because then our cabinet wouldn't close properly, so we used command hooks and strips so it can stick on the door.

Teacher Resource Organization

My second organization tip has become very useful to me especially as I started out teaching. Instead of using a file cabinet to organize all my units of study. I use binders which are organized by the seasons (Fall, Winter, Spring/Summer). Within each binder are sheet protectors where worksheets, center activities, examples of projects, and master copies are kept in an organized manner. I have found that organizing my resources this way is great especially when moving to a new grade level, a new classroom or moving schools.

Freebie!!

I am featuring a band new product in my store! It will be free for a limited time during this blog hop so get it while you can! This freebie is my "Fall Fun Game Board" and the best part is that it is EDITABLE!!! You can edit the cards to go along with whatever you're teaching! It is great! Hope you enjoy it! You can grab your freebie HERE!

Giveaway!

The best part now is a special giveaway for my Number Poems! These are the perfect size to hang in your classroom! Your students will LOVE the rhymes and will remember them all year long! Check them out in my store HERE!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much for "trick or treating" to my blog! If you like what you see, lets stay connected! you can follow me on TPT, Instagram, or my blog! Be sure to click on the picture below to "trick or treat" onto the next blog!

Apples! Apples! and more Apples!

Fall is finally here and who doesn't love apples! There are so many ways to study apples and the possibilities are endless of how you can use apples in your classroom!! In my class we focused our apple study with science and math.

Students were asked to bring in apples of a variety of colors and sizes. Here are a few activities we did during apple week!

Sorting Apples

 First I had my students guess the different ways I was sorting the apples. First, I sorted by size, then I sorted by apples that had stickers and those that did not. Last, as a class my students sorted by color. Surprisingly, we didn't have any yellow apples so we sorted them by red, green, and a red/yellow mix.

Do Apples Sink or Float?

Students were asked the simple question if they thought the apple would sink or float. Students first made their predictions! Then we tested the apples! We found that the apples FLOAT!! My students also made predictions comparing a big apple vs a small apple.

Who doesn't love some good Brain PoP Jr to help explain why different things sink or float.

Apple Tree Race to the Top Game!

This is the perfect game for your math centers during your apple week! Students play with a partner where they take turns rolling a die. For each turn you take the number that you rolled, and color in the same number of boxes that you rolled. For example, if you roll a 5, then you color in 5 boxes. Whoever gets to the top of the tree first is the winner! Your students will love this game! You can grab it for free in my store here!

Apple Tasting

Students had the opportunity to taste a red, green, and yellow apple. They decided which apple they liked the best! Students helped with the graphing process by placing their favorite tasting apple on our big class graph. 

           

Applesauce!

To end our apple week the students made applesauce! They all had a chance to help peel and chop apples! They all loved the applesauce and it was so easy to make! Oh the power of a crockpot! :)

What do you like to do for apple week with your class?? I would love to hear your ideas! 

Happy Fall with 2 Fabulous Freebies!!

Goodbye Summer! Hello Fall!

 I love the season of Fall! Here in California it certainly doesn't feel like fall with temperatures in the 80s!! I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures, warm sweaters, boots, great holidays, and all things apples and pumpkins! In celebration of this new season I have 2 great freebies for your classroom!

 Pumpkin Roll and Cover

This is a great game to play during math centers and it is a great way for students to practice their number recognition and cooperation. These roll and cover games are popular in the primary grades and really fun! This game can can be played where each student gets their own paper and they take turns rolling the dice. Whatever number they roll they have to cover the number with a chip or counter OR they can color in the number. The first student to have all numbers covered is the winner!

Race to the Top of the Apple Tree Game

If your students like competitive games, this game is perfect for your students! They each get their own paper and take turns rolling 1 die. Depending on the number that they roll, that is how many boxes they color in. They take turns doing this until they reach the top of the tree. The first one to reach the top is the winner!

If you like these products be sure to rate them! Hope you and your students enjoy these fabulous fall freebies! 

Beginning of the Year Self Portraits

I hope all you teachers out there are having a great start to the new school year! One of the best things about teaching kindergarten is being able to see so much growth during the year! Writing is one area that I love seeing the growth as you can compare the beginning of the year to the end of the year. I especially love showing parents at conferences just how far their child has grown within the first 2-3 months of school! I have always done a first day and last day of school self portrait. This activity is a great way to see growth from the beginning and end of the year especially with how the students write their name and how they draw themselves.

If you want to try this activity with your students, you can purchase the kindergarten self portrait in my store here. I also have a version that is for all grades which can be purchased here

Enjoy!!