Aa is for Absolutely Exhausted!

WHEW!!!  It is Sunday night, and I am STILL worn out from last week.  I have 26 little darlings in my classroom.  Yep - 26 of them and ME with a high school helper for 2 hours in the morning and another for 2 hours in the afternoon WHEN they don't have other responsibilities, meetings, or special activities. 

We use the Treasures Reading Series so we have been focusing on letters Mm and Aa in Unit 1.  We have also been working on the HFWs we and the along with color words, number words, and a few extra words.  It amazes me every day how much these kids want to learn.  They are like little sponges SOAKING UP EVERY WORD!  I had a simple reader in my reading rug library bucket called "I Can".  This wasn't one of the paper books that comes with the series, it was a "real" book that simply used the words I and can.  My kids can pick up a book from the reading rug when they finish their Morning Work which consists of the following - page to trace and write first names, a # page to circle sets of __, a position word page to match pics that are the same, and a letter-of-the week page to color and trace the capital and lower case letter 4 times each.  This sounds like a lot, but it really only takes them about 10-15 minutes while I take lunch count and read morning notes in Monkey Binders.  :)  Anyway...I was SO surprised the other day when I heard a kid almost scream in excitement, "I CAN READ THIS BOOK!"  It was awesome!  I think we had to have a few high-fives b/c he was SO excited.  It truly is the little things!

We follow a PACING SCALE in reading and math so "the core" (I get SO TIRED of hearing those two words) is followed daily regardless of holidays, special activities, natural disasters...OK - I am getting carried away, but you get the idea.  We NEVER skip a lesson - PERIOD (or the world might end).  :)  There is no more of the pulling five days into a four day week to have end-of-week tests on Friday.  The hardest part was training ourselves that Day 5 wasn't always a Friday.   It does get easier, but I don't think I will ever get used to it.

Here are a few pics of things we did this week.

This is the Letter Aa craftivity from Rowdy in Room 300's  

Alphabet Craftivity Mega Pack.

My kids LOVED this alligator and had the most fun working on it.

I added a little sign that said, "Aa is for Alligator.  Chomp...chomp!"

Here, two of my guys are working with two very popular things in my room - the big, soft, rolly dice and the bingo dotters!  Those things are awesome.  Wish my teachers would have had them when I was a kid.  Here they were working with the HFWs - I, can, we, the  AND letters Mm and Aa.  If they rolled it, they could find it and dot it on their page.  If they had already covered it, lose a turn.  Lots of oohs and aaahs during this activity.  SO MUCH FUN and learning going on at the same time.

Above is The Great Shape Trace which comes from Julie Lee's Schools in Session Packet.  Julie has some of my favorite things out there when it comes to station activities.  I LOVE her stuff - ALL of it!

This is a page that I did to follow "The Core" suggested word work lesson.

You can download a copy of this page for FREE by CLICKING HERE.

Students were encouraged to write Letter-of-the-Week in Middle.

Then, students were asked to draw four pics that started with that sound.

Finally, students were encouraged to write the words above/below the picture.  This little guy did an amazing job - love that he used two short a words and two long a words.

Students LOVE puzzles, but they can't do puzzles until they listen to the story on CD and then read the Pocket Chart Poem to a friend.  Once those two activities are complete, puzzles can come out for the remaining time.  :)

Those of you who read my blog posts know I am a HUGE fan of Reading Eggs.  My students love it.  We only have one rule - You cannot go to the play or game room except on Fridays.  Well, I took the picture above on Fridays b/c I couldn't believe it.  This little girl didn't go to the play or game room - she kept right on going with her lessons. It is because of this determination that she is on LEVEL 39 already!  Woo-Hoo!!!

I will leave you with one of our independent writing assignments from last week.  Students were asked to write the sentence "I am _______." making sure to fill in their first name on the line, make a capital at the beginning of the sentence, and putting a period at the end.  Then, students were asked to illustrate the sentence by drawing something they like to do when they are not at school.  We ALL know what most kindergarten handwriting looks like - especially when you give them lines to write on at the beginning of the year and LET THEM GO indpendently.  Well, you can imagine my surprise when I was going through my papers at the end of the day and saw this little "jewel".  WOW!  Not only did this student neatly write his sentence - he wrote his entire name and drew a picture that was actually recognizable.  I was SO impressed with this and many others in my room.  :)

This week we will be wrapping up Unit 1 - Families on Monday and Tuesday.  Then we will take our Unit 1 Assessment BOOK, oops, I meant, TEST on Wednesday.  It is about 20 pages long.  That is entirely too long, but I'll leave that discussion for another day!  On Thursday, we will begin Unit 2 - Friends.  I told ya - the Pacing Chart makes things VERY weird!!!!!  Hope everyone has a great week full of learning fun.

Kindergarten Common Core

Whooo is interested in Kindergarten Common Core?  Well, a friend of mine introduced me to this wonderful resource!  (Thanks, Shirley!)  

I downloaded the small sample and was amazed at the quality that was put into this workbook! It is organized very well and is SUPER teacher friendly. It also has some great graphics and activities to make learning fun! It has some great Common Core Activities and Common Core Worksheets. 

If you are a Kindergarten Teacher, this is a must have for your classroom! {And even if you don't teach to Common Core - you will want what this has to offer!}  It is a great value for 39.99! But why don't you take a look at the Kindergarten Common Core by clicking {here} and download the sample and see for yourself. 

If you are a blogger, you can receive this amazing workbook for free!  Yes, that said FREE for bloggers!  All you have to do is blog about it before September 16th and they will send you the free download!

Enjoy this great resource,

Amy

An Apple a Day...

First - I want to apologize to my parents who actually take a look at my blog.  I did take pictures last week, but it is hard to post them when I leave my camera at school!  :/  Sorry!  I will take twice as many this week and post a lot of pics next weekend to make up for it.

Well, maybe I need to eat an apple a day b/c I had to go to the doctor today!  (This sounds like a Dr. Seuss book in the making, huh?)  I'm fine - got a super strong antibiotic to fight off the junk and have an extra day off tomorrow to rest.  Anyway...I decided to make an apple-themed page since one of our stories in Unit 1 is Picnic at Apple Park.  My kids have been "eyeballing" the magnifying glasses sitting on my desk all last week.  Every time they would go by I would catch them looking desperately wanting to snatch them up and then the question would come from more than one of them at the same time, "What are those for?"  My answer was always, "I don't know...it's a surprise...you'll have to wait and see."  Oh, the grins and giggles!  Well, I am going to put them at the word work station this week.  I am certain there will be more grins and giggles - lots of them!!!  I use the Treasures reading series so these pages deal with letters (Mm and Aa), HFWs (I, can, we, the) and color words (red, blue, yellow, green) b/c those are the ones we have covered so far.

 

The first page is a writing page.  The second is a stamping page.

If you would like a copy of these two pages - CLICK HERE!  :)

 Enjoy...and as always...please leave a comment if you grab the freebie.

Run, run, as fast as you can...

Well, I we have survived the second full week of school.  My class is already settling in nicely.  Most of our kids go to half-day preschool before coming to Kindergarten.  Preschool kids go home right after they eat lunch.  So...for the first week or so of school the kids always expect to go home when we return from lunch.  They are so sad when they figure out that we have to stay for 3.5 more hours!  This is a rude awakening to some of them.  Because it is such a LONG day for me them, I always plan the first three weeks to introduce new things daily to keep them excited.  I always save the most exciting "thing" for right after lunch b/c we always need that little "boost" to get through until we go to special class.  I am SO thankful for a principal who understands that we must have special class in the afternoon.  That is such a small thing that makes such a big difference!

Our school using the Treasures Reading Series.  This week's Read Aloud Anthology was "The Gingerbread Boy".  This is one of the kids' favorites of the whole year.  They just love hearing this story and participating when we get to the "Run, run...as fast as you can...you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"  They nearly squeal in anticipation each time.  Even though I do my big Gingerbread Unit right before Christmas, I do pull out a few activities for the kiddos after we read this story.

 Activity 1 - First, color your gingerbread man exactly how you would like it.

Next, cut out all the pieces and glue them together on a piece of construction paper.

Finally, glue the poem to the bottom of the paper.

To grab a free copy of my poem - CLICK HERE!
*Sorry I didn't get a picture of the final products posted out in the hallway.

Activity 2 - Here the students are playing Cookie Connect Three!

This activity came from a great packet on TpT by Deedee Wills.

You roll the dice, count the spots, trace that # somewhere on the page.

Then, when you get three in a row, up or down, you circle the group.

The kids absolutely loved this game.  I know that it was the highlighter that really did it! 

Activity 3 - This was a page called Ginger's Walk where the kids traced the letters.
One page had uppercase letters.  The other had lowercase letters.

I also had a 3rd page of counting gingerbread men and writing the #.

These pages came from Pocketful of Centers.  CLICK HERE to see unit.

Pam, from PofC, makes the greatest creations.  :)

Another group of boys - one working on upper and one working on lowercase letters.

Activity 4 - Oh, my!  Yes, I did it - I pulled out the dotters on Day 11!

The kids went bananas over this activity.

You would have thought I had a million $s over at that station.

Kids would roll the cube, identify the letter, and dot it on their page.

Who knew this could be SO much fun...and educational...all at the same time. 

Some of my little ones still need lots of practice writing the alphabet.

They also need to see the alphabet in order without singing it aloud.

This is an oldie but goodie!  I don't know what I did before Write-n-Wipes!

Oh...the power of a dry erase marker and a tissue!  HA HA

I am looking forward to Week 3 with my class.  This is our last week of Start Smart.

SS lessons are shorter giving time to teach routines and procedures. 

When we return after Labor Day, we will kick it into full gear.

Hope everyone is having a great start of the school year.

Leaving you with a FREEBIE - just a little something I made for my class.

We are going to use this to review the Gingerbread Man.

I am also going to use this to introduce magnifying glasses!

Enjoy - please leave a comment and let me know what you think.  :)

Back to School FREEBIE

Well, I survived the first full week of school...BARELY!  It is amazing how tired a person can feel after just one week back in the routine of things.  I slept late this morning and even took a nap late this afternoon!  I have 24 kids in my class.  Thank goodness they are 24 great kids because that is a whole lot of little people for just one adult to entertain teach all day - especially at the beginning of the year when they do not know routines and procedures.  Whew - tired just thinking about it.  We did accomplish a lot this week.  We learned several how to work with several different activities.  I was very proud that by Friday we knew how to rotate through our four areas with very little confusion.  This might be a record folks!  Here are some of the things we worked on this week in stations.

 

Here the kids are learning to work with Play-Doh.  I have three main rules when working with Play-Doh.  #1 - DO NOT MIX THE COLORS.  #2 - Only roll out snakes (at the beginning) to form letters.  We are not making snowmen or other really cool things right now.  Once they got started they were perfectly fine making only snakes.  #3 - Put every tiny bit of your color back in the container when finished and SNAP the top on tightly.

OK - what is it about a dry erase marker that makes kids so happy?  I really do not understand it, but every time I hand them out, it is pure joy!  :)  We learned how to stay ON the gray rug (notice how close to the edge that this little guy got - ha ha, but he was ON the rug).  We learned how to snap the lid on the end so it doesn't run roll away and how to drive like a granny or grandpa with the marker and stay on the road (lines) when tracing.  I love what a great job the kids did when tracing in these Write-n-Wipe sleeves.

We also learned how to look at the color board if we don't know our color words yet.  The kids loved coloring the Chester Colors Book that I got from Jayme Pierce at kinderbabies.blogspot.com.  Check it out because it was FREE and has LOADS of activities.

 We learned how to recognize a title (usually on top) and how to read from left to right.  I think we all know that using a pointer made this a very fun activity!  Kids learned how to pass the pointer (without whacking someone) and how to point to the word they were reading.  Students loved reading about Chester.

We also learned where the Pocket Chart Station was located and how to maintain it.  Kids loved counting Chester and matching the picture with the number.  I was surprised how many kids could already count and knew their #s up to 10.  I have to say that I am totally impressed with this BIG group b/c not one time did I find my cards scattered on the floor (even though they did leave a book on the floor - ha).  The kids did a wonderful job keeping this area clean and orderly.  (This activity also came from Jayme Pierce.)

This was a favorite - color words for colored Chesters!  

It is funny to see a purple raccoon!  Just sayin'.  :)

 (Another activity from Jayme Pierce)

 

The students were also introduced to the Computer Station where they learned to log in to Reading Eggs.  If your district doesn't purchase this for your kids, you are missing out.  The kids love it, and it is a wonderful literacy station with a variety of fun, educational literacy activities.  We have used this program for the past three years and it is a favorite of the kids.

 

As you can see above, I put out too many cards to start with in this pocket chart.  The kids were confused and had cards here, there, and everywhere - seriously, upside-down and backwards!  I didn't really mind b/c they stayed in their station area and that was one of the main things I was trying to teach at the time.  I did take out the cards and only put five back in - one for each row and that made it much simpler.  (Again - Jayme Pierce activity)

 

Here is one  of my little sweeties working on a "red" page which was our color-of-the-week for the first week.  We were all about red this week!  This is a page where the kids write the word three times, find and color the word in the boxes, and finally find and circle the word in the sentences at the bottom.   All in all we had a wonderful first week of school!  I love how excited my kids are and how receptive they are about every little thing. 

 I see great things happening with this bunch!

 
Many people have asked me how I organize and store my Treasures Reading materials.

I use these wide-three-drawer storage units from Wal-Mart.  I have four of them, but the other one is on the other end of my counter by my reading table b/c it is the one that I am currently using.  I have EVERYTHING for the unit in the labeled drawer.  This includes student activity books, sentences strips, cards, games, activities, teacher's manual - EVERYTHING fits in this drawer.  I can't tell you how much time this little system has saved me.  I LOVE it and can't imagine using anything different.  If you use Treasures and would like a copy of my drawer labels, please CLICK HERE.

I needed something else to use when kids finish up b/c we all have those little speedsters in our room!  This activity had to be something that everyone could do.  So I made this little packet of pages for every letter of the alphabet.  I made a D'Nealian set for those of us that use D'Nealian handwriting, and I also included a set of ABC Print (Zaner-Bloser) b/c I hate when I see something I want to use and it doesn't come in the style I need. 

 If you would like a copy of my creation - CLICK HERE.  

If you pick up my freebie or have any comments on stations, organization, or just have a back-to-school tip -

 please leave a comment!   :)

Classroom Ring Masters!

Mrs. Lirette over at Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives is giving away a great package to help your students learn sight words.  Please check out her giveaway by CLICKING HERE.  Your students will be RING LEADERS of sight words in no time if you win this packet.  If you don't win, you can still pick up this great set for a great combo price by visiting her TpT store.  Good luck!

New Bloggers!

I have received my 2nd Award!  All this blogging is new to me, but it is nice to have new followers.  I was happy when I reached 50, but I am looking forward to getting to the 100 mark.  This time it is the Liebster Award! 

 

Thanks so much, Crystal from Ms. Jones' Junction.  I'm so glad you found my blog and introduced me to yours.  :)

This award is named for the German word "Liebster," which translates to "beloved" or "favourite", and is given to a "new, up and coming blogger."

Here are the rules:
1.  Link back to the person who gave it to you. Post the award to your blog.

2.  Give the award to at least 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers
3.  Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have been offered this award.

 
I am giving the award to:

Miss A's Kindergarten

What I Learned in Kindergarten 

Kindergarten Schmindergarten

Lisa's Kinderland

Hopping Into Kindergarten

I can't believe that I only have ONE more week of summer vacation before going back to school.  WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO?  WOW!  Check out these new blogs.

 

 

Birthday Bags

Today's project was BIRTHDAY BAGS!  I plan to hang a handled birthday bag for each month across the top of my bulletin board using Command Hooks.  On each child's birthday, I give the birthday boy/girl a birthday crown to wear, a sparkly birthday pencil with a fun eraser, a birthday sticker, a birthday card, and a present (toys from the dollar section of Target or Dollar Tree - think stickers, toy cars, lip gloss, etc.) that he/she chooses out of my birthday box (which is a box wrapped like a giant gift).  This year I plan to have a gallon size Ziploc bag that already has the crown, pencil, sticker, and card for each child already in the monthly birthday bag hanging up ready to go so that I am not frantically getting those things together the day before (or of) the child's big day.  :)  I made monthly labels to put on my jungle-themed bags that I found at Hobby Lobby.  (I LOVE that place!)  Here is a pic of the bags.  I was pleased with the way they turned out! 

 

Here is what the finished product looks like!  :)

If you would like a copy of the monthly labels for the bags -CLICK HERE.

As always - if you pick up a copy, please leave a comment.

Teacher Tool Box and Math Stations

Well, I broke down and made myself one of those super cute organizers that everyone has been blogging about.  I have to say it was SUPER EASY and turned out SUPER CUTE.  Obviously, my room is done in a Jungle theme so that is how I made my box - giraffe and vines.  The only color box that Lowe's had was dark blue so I would really like to paint my box.  Hmmm...part 2 of teacher tool box project?  Have any of you all painted these plastic toolboxes or does anyone know the best type of paint to use to paint these?   

My next project is fixing up my new bins for Math Stations.  I would love to know what you all do for math.  Do you have a series that you use?  Do you not have a series and totally rely on your own math activities?  Do you use a series and then do stations on the side?  So many options!  My district uses Harcourt Math (orange workbook with a big elephant on front).  I am not crazy about the series, but it isn't horrible either.  I think I would classify it "middle of the road".  I usually teach math as a whole group lesson at the SMART Board and then call small groups to my teaching table just like I do in reading to do the Math Workbook page from the series.  While I have these small groups, my other groups do themed math activities at stations or go to the computer.  My VERY favorite activities come from the very talented Julie Lee.  I just love her stuff, and so do my students.  :)  So...what do you all do for math time?  I would LOVE to know.  

Brown Bear Mega Unit Giveaway!

I just discovered a fabulous new blog!  It is called Pocket Full of Kinders.  WOW - is it packed with great stuff.  You should run over now and check out Shuna's new Brown Bear Mega Unit b/c it is on sale until Wednesday and who doesn't love Brown Bear, Brown Bear?

Hope everyone is having a great summer!  Be sure to check out Pocket Full of Kinders b/c she is taking requests on new units for her TpT store, and if she picks your suggestion - you will get the packet for FREE!

Student Memory Binders

Organizing Student Work

I have been teaching for what seems like forever.  One of the hardest things for me to do is keep student portfolios organized.  I have tried this and that, but it always ends up being more work for me (instead of something students can manage).  After much time and effort looking for new ways to handle this challenge, I came upon Mrs. Terhune's First Grade Site!  WOW - does she have some great ideas!  My favorite is what she called a Student Memory Book.  I plan to call it a Memory Binder.  Hopefully, the kiddos will be able to manage this after I teach them the "ins and outs" of it.

This is a picture of Mrs. Terhune's Memory Binders.  SUCH an inspiration!

I created some monthly sheets that I plan to print on card stock and let each child color as a divider in the Memory Binder.  If you would like a copy to use in your own Memory Binder that I have inspired you to make (or just want a copy for your students to color), please CLICK HERE!   

Pages were created using Kids All Year from DJ Inkers and DJ Fat Chat Font.

As always - please leave a short comment!  Thanks for looking  :)

Font Linky Party

 

Last night I was browsing the web while I couldn't sleep!  I came across a Linky Party hosted by Teachery Tidbits.  Click on the picture above to see original post.  I have never participated in a Linky Party, but FONTS are one of my favorite things!  I love, love, love cool fonts.  DJ Inkers has some of my favorites.  My favorite font collection is Super Fontastic.  I think it is safe to say that fonts make me happy.  The only issue I have with fonts is that some of the cutest ones drive me crazy because they use all lowercase letters with no capitals.  (I think this is the teacher in me coming out because this really makes me crazy when I see these all lowercase fonts - especially when they are so cute!)

 What are your favorite fonts?

This, That, and The Other

THIS...

I found a great new blog today!  It is called Buggy in Kindergarten.  Click on the link to check out  a great giveaway celebrating Buggy in Kindergarten having 100+ followers.  :) 

THAT...

I haven't posted in a while, but I would love to know what you all do for Classroom Management???  I have done the library pockets with 4 colored cards, check marks on the board (LONG ago...you remember - Assertive Discipline), and most recently the clip chart system.  There are things that I like about each, and there are things that I dislike about each.  Just curious what you all use - please leave comments explaining your system.  I would appreciate it.  I'll leave you with some pics of my classroom last year.  I am going to reinvent my "Jungle" this year and brighten it up with some polka dots and a palm tree (something I never got around to making last summer).  If you need to make a palm tree for your class, you should definitely check out Deanna Jump's Blog for great step-by-step instructions.  I actually cut my carpet roll in half to make two smaller trees using regular size (not golf) umbrellas for my reading rug.  Hope you all are having a great summer (if you are already out).  If you aren't out yet, hope you don't have too much longer! 

 

Entrance to my 2nd home classroom - bathroom door with Clip Chart Management System on left - mailboxes for take-home papers on right.

View from my door

 

 Focus Wall (note to self - pick up NON-GLARE sheet protectors this summer)
Classroom Motto (framed) - Just do your best.

 

Left Wall - Computer Station - 6 new touchscreen HATCH all-in-one systems.

Crazy about the touchscreen computers - HATCH system is o.k.

Calendar and Color Bulletin Board on Left Wall.

My Desk and counter space (with sink - LOVE) and lots of cabinets in the back!

Two work station tables to the left side-by-side.  LOVE these tables from Lakeshore!

Can I just say - MOST FABULOUS PIECE OF FURNITURE EVER!!!

I have assigned seats at stations (name labels are taped inside top middle two cubbies w/pics at beginning of the year).  I know this sounds a little crazy, but it helps kids stay organized and lets me know who is not taking care of station materials.  The bottom two middle cubbies have supply labels taped inside them so that kids know exactly where things can be found (and put away).  Each set of items is labeled by # so that if supplies get mixed up on the table, they know which supplies belong to whom.  You can get my cubby label HERE.  Not sure why border isn't showing up around the outside of the text box for supply labels. Hopefully it will when you print.

 

Another view of the room - student work tables with table cubbies to hold pencil boxes.

Teaching table in back corner along with my super duper organization boxes for my reading materials.  Click here to see the ones I use.  I have green, blue, gray, and orange - one for each unit of my reading book and an "extra" drawer for all that OTHER stuff.

Group rug in front of SMART Board - HOW did we ever live without a SMART Board?  The more I learn how to use this thing - the more dangerous I become!!!  Writing Center (which doubles as a group listening station one day a week) - better pic at bottom that shows later in the year as this pic shows first week of school.

Touchscreen computers - LOVE, LOVE, and LOVE some more!  My district purchases the program Reading Eggs.  If you haven't ever heard of it - click on the link and check it out.  We LOVE it and can't imagine our classrooms without it.  VERY fun and educational!

*Pocket Chart Poem (Kids LOVE this station - changes weekly)

*SMART Board and whole group rug

*Big Book Cart (where we use lots of Wikki Stix to find HFWs)

*FAN - b/c I was BURNING UP getting my room ready last year!!!

*Green Pocket Chart hanging on whiteboard on right - GOT IT - SWAT IT - This is a game that my kids absolutely love from day 1 to day 174.  Caller (me at the beginning of the year - captain of group later on) calls out a HFW and first of two students who SWATS it with a decorative fly swatter wins.  Winner can either stay and face next opponent or get a sticker/piece of candy/eraser when he/she chooses to hand off swatter and sit down.

I usually put some type of "Sorting Activity" in this pocket chart that hides our journals.

Each student has a slot to store his/her Reading Journal, Math Journal, and Weekly Morning Work Packet.  Students know to pick up Weekly Morning Work packets in the morning after putting backpacks away in hallway, math journals after lunch when we return to the room, and  Reading Journals on Friday mornings.  This little set of cubbies has been a management LIFESAVER!!!  If you would like a copy of the Reading Journal that I use (goes along with TREASURES READING SERIES by MacMillan/McGraw Hill) and was made by a dear friend, CLICK HERE.  I make color copies for each student and bind them with a laminated cover.  Surprisingly - they hold up all year.  :)

My teaching table where I spend half my life!

My student Reading Relaxation Rug where students can read books 

or do one of three pocket chart activities that go with the theme of the week.

My Welcome Back bulletin board

Close-up of student table with table cubby (another of my favorite things)

My WRITING STATION later in the year...

Overalls hold letter-of-the-week picture cards with words

Red Pocket Chart holds Station Assignment cards for groups and Monthly Writing Station packet of word cards and "I Can..." pages - you know...directions.

You can CLICK HERE to view the Monthly Writing Stations I use in my classroom.

Small Apple Pocket Chart holds animal-of-the-week and five facts about that animal.

Various letter and theme words are hung as well as previous month's word cards on a ring.

ONE OF MY KIDS FAVORITE PLACES TO GO DURING STATION ROTATIONS!

THE OTHER...

I have truly been enjoying my summer.  I am usually the teacher who leaves school in May thinking about school in August.  I decided to REALLY take a break this year and enjoy my two favorite things in the whole world.  If I don't make many summer posts, it isn't because I've left the blogging world - it is because I am busy!  Here's an old pic, but one of my faves - my little ball player and his #1 fan, his little sister! 

One of my goals for next year is to become a "regular" blogger and blog weekly (if not daily). 

Have a great summer everyone!