A Super Sale AND a Super Giveaway!!!

Hey there readers! By now, I hope you know about and are prepared for the huge sale tomorrow on Teachers Pay Teachers! My store will be 20% off during the sale and if you use the promo code HEROES at the end of the sale you get an additional 10% off! I have my cart stocked and ready to go and I'll probably grab more tomorrow... you know how sales are...

The theme of the sale is Teachers are Heroes and I LOVE it! Because I'm already such a superhero fan, it is really nice to be thought of as the superhero, am I right?! Thank you, Teachers Pay Teachers, for recognizing and supporting the teachers of the world.

I recently did a big makeover of three of my products, so to celebrate the superheroes out there and to get us pumped about the sale for tomorrow... I am giving one of each of them away!!! And one just HAPPENS to be a superhero writing pack! Woooo!!!

From THIS...

to THIS!!!

My Superhero Creative Writing pack is the number one best seller in my store and I thought it deserved a little bit of love. <3

From THIS 9 page pack...

to THIS 18 page pack!

This is one my favorite items in my store that I love to use in my classroom. I had made a few more options and some new graphics and I just LOVE how they turned out. The best part... my students love how they turned out too. I did not raise the price on this one cent, so for the same price you get double the badge options! Yippee!

From THIS...

to THIS!

Now this cover didn't change so much, but believe me when I say the new graphics I was able to add thanks to Whimsy Workshop and Creative Clips makes a WORLD of difference on these I Can Posters.

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Movie Clip Monday! Animals!

Hey ya'll! This week we are beginning our Science unit...... ANIMALS! I am so excited! This is such a fun unit to teach and of course, I've been searching for the perfect short video clips to help me. Instead of just finding a clip here and there, I found a whole YouTube channel series that is awesome for animal clips for my little kiddos!

The channel is called Brown Bag Films and they have a series of videos called "I'm a..." and they are short cartoon video clips about a specific animal. And they are packed with quick facts and are very funny. I am a fan! Here's one we are watching this week on penguins and I added another of the hyena because I just thought it was hilarious. Check out their other stuff, too!

I'm a Penguin

I'm a Hyena

Check out the other video clips teachers are using by clicking the image below. It will take you to Techie Turtle Teacher who hosts this fun linky!

ENJOY!

When You Know You're in the Right Place...

Just when you think it can't get worse... I mean, let me paint a picture for you. I have a feeling this is a picture all teachers are familiar with...


You are weeks behind on giving a quiz.
You are thus weeks behind putting in those really important quiz scores.
That stomach bug is going around and you don't have your whole class in attendance for who knows how long.
It's freaking cold. Which means... playground ain't happening (Thank you GoNoodle. I love you) and you have car duty. Yes, I live in Florida, but play along...
You're so worried about a student that it keeps you awake at night.
You're only 3 days into that 10 day antibiotic that makes you want to throw up.
You have a formal observation next week.
You're classroom is a TOTAL train wreck. Where is literally EVERYTHING you need???
Student A is throwing a tantrum while Student B is eating something that is definitely not food and Student C is asking for her fourth band-aid.
You have stayed late in your classroom everyday this week and have nothing to show for it.
You cried last night because the pile of responsibilities is so heavy on your shoulders, you actually feel physical discomfort...


But Little Suzie said, "I love you" 14 times today and yes, you counted.
Little Johnny finished a timed test today, for the first time after 7 timed tests, and he got a lot of those answers right. And yes, you were finally able to actually give that quiz you were behind on...
The child you worry yourself sick over danced today. And he was genuinely smiling.
It finally clicked with your lowest student today and you saw that sparkle in her eyes.
Your teacher table only got piled up with junk once today and that one student that can't sit still cleaned it up for you... without being asked to.
And even though you stayed late in your classroom for the 3rd day in a row, you came home feeling triumphant.

It takes a lot to bring you down, but you know you are in the right place when the little things bring you right back up to the top.

Happy Friday-eve, teachers.

What Are Your Party Plans? A Valentine's Day Linky!

I just finished up planning for this week. I am usually more ahead of the game than this, but I still hadn't quite decided on all the things I wanted to do for our Valentine's Day Party! I think I finally came up with a plan and I thought, I wanna know what ya'll are doing, too! So....

Link up your blog posts at the bottom of my post to share with others your classroom party plans! And keep reading... there's a freebie for you in this post! (Maybe like 20 freebies!).

Our day will start with making our mailboxes! I have a few students this year who I know will not be able to bring any sort of home made mailbox from home, which is what I had my students do last year. So this year, we will be making them in the classroom. I decided on a paper bag mailbox, to save on money and time. Here are some pins I found that I'm going by!

This pin is from greylikesbaby.com. Obviously these were not made by kindergarteners, but you get the idea. Click the image to pin it yourself and see the original pin.

I am planning on whipping out my handy dollar store sorting trays (AKA, chip and dip trays), to put different craft supplies in to really jazz up the mailboxes. I'm thinking stickers, stamps, markers (best teacher ever!), glitter glue, pom poms, and plastic gems. Any other suggestions? Maybe ribbon!

Here's a picture of my sorting tray being used as a center. I can't wait to fill these babies with fun craft supplies!

Then moving on to Valentine's Day centers!! I will have some help that day, with my sister-in-law coming in to volunteer! She wants to be a teacher, too. :) She's going to help the kiddos decorate Rice Krispy Treats with icing! I scored some free pink, red, and white icing tubes at a teacher supply store so that will help! I got the recipe for the treats off of Kellogg's website! Click the image below to see it.

I also will have a high school volunteer who comes to my classroom every other day. He is great with the kids! I am going to have him run a Valentine's Day Bingo center, with this awesome freebie I found from Tamsyn Fegan's TpT store! Click the image below to get it for yourself!

I found it through an awesome Instagram loop where I scored 20 FREEBIES for February! Click the image below to go to my Instagram and find the matching picture! Then just click through to get your goodies! (This is much easier on a phone, by the way...).

Here's the freebie I linked up! Click the image below to snag a great morning work or center activity for this fun week!

FREEBIE!

I also have a para on that day for about an hour, so I thought she could run a craft center! I found these adorable paper plate hats on Pinterest and since I have a plethora of paper plates that are collecting dust, I thought this would be a great one to add in on our special day!

Here's a picture of the original pin. Click the image to pin it yourself and to see the original post from alphamom.com.

So with Autumn running a Rice Krispy Treat center, my high school volunteer running a Bingo center, and my para running a craft center, what will I be doing? Oh, you know, just a Valentine's Day Minute to Win It Center!!!

I found this pin today from makoodle.com, and I just about jumped out of my chair! There are 5 Minute to Win It activities for Valentine's Day! My kids will freak out!! Click the image below to check them out and pin it yourself!

And then of course, there will be my favorite part of the day: exchanging valentines! And of course, eating those delicious Rice Krispy Treats!!!

What are your Valentine's Day plans for your class this year? Use the image below in your post and be sure to include a link to this original post! I can't wait to read all of your great ideas!! BLOG POSTS ONLY PLEASE! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

February Currently and a IG FREEBIE LOOP!

TWO months in a row, I am doing my currently on the FIRST day?! Something is wrong with me... I'm always like a week late on these...

I have been SO sick the past few days. Right now I am feeling decent, but I got to sleep in two days in a row. I am wondering how I'll feel tomorrow. I need to get some emergency sub plans in place just in case. I am a total procrastinator when it comes to those...

However, this month's special currently category... What pageant would I win? Totally a time killer/waster. I am excellent at filling up my extra time with awesome things to do. Like video games, Netflix, creating, journaling, reading, doodling, ahhhhh, I wish I had time to kill all day long...

I am so excited that it is February! I LOVE this month! There's so much awesome stuff to do with my kiddos and there are a lot of special days in this month for my husband and me. Hooray! To celebrate, a group of teachers (myself included) are doing an Instagram FREEBIE loop! If you do not already follow me on IG, click here or the picture below and follow and stay tuned for tonight's loop starting at 8pm EST! If you have never participated in a loop before, it is SO fun! You start at the loop picture on someone's IG, click it and another name will pop up. Click that name, go to their store, download their freebie, and then click their picture for another teacher! There's sure to be a ton of great Valentine's Day resources for you to collect through the loop and you will discover a bunch of great teachers to follow! So, join us at 8pm EST for your bunches of freebies! You can go to my IG by clicking the picture below.

Can't wait to see you there!

Product Swap with Hanging Around in Primary!

Hey ya'll! I have to share with you the most recent product swap I did! Just like last time, Melissa over at Jungle Learners hosted a fabulous opportunity for us bloggers to swap products and share with the world just how awesome they are! It was so fun last time, that I just had to jump on board again. And just like last time, I will be giving away a copy of the product I tried out and my partner in crime will be giving away a copy of MY product that she chose over at her blog!

To check out my last product swap with Sweet Sounds of Kindergarten, click HERE.

This time around, I was matched up with Christina over at Hanging Around in Primary!

Out of the products in my store, she chose to try out my 2D and 3D Shape Activities pack for grades K-2! Check out her blog post by clicking the image above or below. She will be giving one of my shape packs away on her blog so you don't want to miss the chance! In celebration of another awesome product swap I will also be putting the 2D and 3D Shape Activities pack on sale 20% off through the weekend! Yay!

Christina has a variety of Read and Write the Room products which are always a big hit with my class of kinders, so I was dying to try one of hers. I chose the Read and Write the Room Numbers to 30 pack. My kinders are working on numbers up to 20, but because of the 100th day the other day, we have been counting way beyond 20. I felt like going up to 30 would be a great way to practice those 2-digit numbers!

I printed out each 1/3 page card, cut, and laminated them. You don't necessarily have to laminate them, but you'll see why I did in a moment... After you print the cards, attach them to the wall around the room or in one area for students to locate and figure out which number should go in place of that tricky yellow question mark.

Also included is the recording sheet for students to find the matching cards and write in the missing number! I printed these in black and white to save on printing costs but they are provided in color. The pencil banner matches the cards on the wall so if you have more than one Write the Room activity going on there is no confusion on which cards students are to look for. Students look at the red letter at the top of the cards on the wall and write their answer in the corresponding box on the recording sheet. I really like how Christina made the labels with letters rather than numbers. It was much less confusing than labeling them with another number! And for some of my lower babies it was extra practice for letter matching. ;)

My classroom is a teeny tiny portable, but the bright side is I can staple to the wall! I don't have to worry about tape or sticky tack falling off the wall. Now you see why I laminated them... I put them near the water fountain. I decided that would be the best place because that is also where I have my 100s chart posted, so for those trickier high numbers that my students are still learning, they have the chart to refer to to help them! The image above does not show all the cards included. There are more to the right and the left scattered and mixed up. I have done Write the Room in the past where the cards are truly scattered around the entire room, but because of the location of the helpful 100s chart, I decided to have them a little closer together this time. 

I placed the recording sheet on a clipboard and the kids knew what to do right away! We do Write the Room activities quite a bit in my class so the activity was predictable, which is always a good thing when it comes to an independent center.

I really like this picture of these two kiddos sharing and helping each other. I usually do centers in pairs, but depending on your students and your classroom, you could do this with much larger groups. The feedback I always get from my students on Write the Room activities is that they LOVE to look around for the cards they need next.

Christina has a ton of other Read and Write the Room activities that look great as well and if your kiddos like this one, having these activities ready for them with varying skills will be great!

And now for the moment we have all been waiting for!! Enter the giveaway below for your chance to win a copy of Hanging Around in Primary's Read and Write the Room Numbers to 30 pack! She also has the pack on sale in her store through the weekend! And be sure to check out Hanging Around in Primary for a post on my 2D and 3D Shape Activities pack and enter that giveaway, too! And don't forget to check out the other bloggers who are swapping products this weekend. There are a TON of other giveaways going on on their blogs, too! I know I'll be entering them! Their links are below! Good luck!

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Click through the blog names below to check out more swaps and enter more giveaways!

Movie Clip Monday: How Do Plants Grow?

You know I love linkies, right? Of course you do! The Techie Turtle Teacher has an awesome one going on over at her blog all about video clips, which I use frequently in my classroom. Short videos are great to get kids' attention and in Kindergarten they totally think it is a treat to watch a "movie" at school (even if it is only 3 minutes long...).

Here's a current favorite right now: How Do Plants Grow? by Hoopla Kids (we are studying plants right now in science!)

The thing I love the most about this little clip is the science experiment at the end, which of course the kids begged me to do! And we did! We even used blue food coloring and the same kind of flowers as the video just to be sure it was the same experiment. ;)

I hope this little post has helped you stumble across a gem of a video clip! I know I'm finding lots of other awesome clips other teachers are using on The Techie Turtle Teacher's blog! Click the button below to go there now!