Final Five for Friday in May

It's already the last Friday of May!  With only five more days of school to go, I find myself asking, "Where did the time go?"  I do love summer vacation, but I am going to miss my little cuties.  This has been a GREAT year (wild winter weather & all). 

To celebrate the end of the year, I am having a sale!  Everything is at least 20% off, and some of my best selling items are only $1.00!  Now's the time to grab some bargains.  Print & laminate them in the summer.  After you are done shopping, hop over to Doodle Bugs Teaching for another great Five for Friday.

1. Year End Sale!  Visit my store to find some great bargains!

On sale for $1.00 until Tuesday are:

                   

Click HERE to purchase for $1.00!                            Click HERE to purchase for $1.00!

    

Click HERE to purchase for $1.00!

                    

Click HERE to purchase for $1.00!                              Click HERE to purchase for $1.00!

2.  Making "ten rods" with pony beads!  My Kinders had so much fun stringing pony beads onto chenille stems to make ten rods.  I now have more than a class set of ten rods ~ and they are fun & colorful!  After the littles strung them on the stems, my middle & high school helpers curled up the ends to secure the beads.  (I teach in a K - 12 building, so I am lucky to have "big kids" volunteer in my classroom!)

We used ten frames to keep track of the beads before placing them on the stems.

We used our beads to play this fun game from one of Deanna Jump's amazing Guiding Kinders Math sets.  Check out the awesomeness HERE.

3.  With report card testing done, we have had a little more free time in our days this week!  My little students have worked so hard, and learned so much this year.  I am happy to let them take some time for creative outlets! 

4. Memorial Day family "picnic."  Well, we ate our meal inside, but we did spend a lot of time outdoors.  My house boasts an absolutely fabulous covered front porch (my favorite summertime hangout!).  My precious granddaughters had fun playing in the turtle sandbox!

5.  Horsey Girls!  Ten month old Amelia takes after her mom ~ she loves the horses!  (Try to ignore how dirty Alice is ~ she seriously needs a bath!  lol)

Isabella & Olivia are just like their aunt and cousin when it comes to horsing around!  Isabella has discovered that the ramp to the manure spreader makes a good balance beam.  Isabella likes to hop on Alice whenever she can.  This was Olivia's first try at being an equestrian! 

$1.00 Memorial Day Sale!

Yay for Indiana bloggers!  Some of my fellow Hoosier teachers & I are linking up for one of our great $1.00 sales.  Ladies & Gentlemen, Start Saving!

My $1.00 items are:

Click HERE to purchase.

Click HERE to purchase.

Click HERE to purchase.

Click HERE to purchase.

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Memorial Day Sale on Educents

Who doesn't love a good sale?  Well, this is a GREAT sale!  Not only can you get some great products at a discounted price, you can save 10% by using the code below.  Click HERE to save!

Flip Flop Blog Hop

Yay!  Summer is almost here!  But, there are enough days of school left to think about adding some new activities to your classroom.  I'm so excited to join a group of amazing bloggers & TpT sellers in this fun Flip Flop Blog Hop!  For this blog hop we were paired with another teacher, traded products, and got to use them in our classrooms.  I was lucky to be paired up with Maja Austin of Kooky Kinders.  I was doubly lucky that she uses the same reading series that I do, and the product that she sent me was a fun sight word review game! 

Maja shared her Fishy Scrambled Sight Word Match game.  Click HERE to purchase.

This set included cute fish bowl & colorful fish cards.  The bowls had mixed up sight words ~ the fish had the sight words.  The object was, of course, to match the scrambled words to the correct fish.
I found that this set was great for differentiation with my small groups.  Some of my kiddo were able to figure out the words just by looking at them, others used magnetic letters to help them to figure out what their words were.

As a twist on the game, some of my Kinders selected a fish card & found the matching scrambled word.  Also included (not pictured) are some record sheets that help to extend the learning.  The words included are the sight words from the Wonders reading series, but even if you don't use Wonders, it is a great addition to your literacy stations!  I highly recommend it!  :-)

I was inspired by Maja's cute fish product to create a little fish freebie for you.  My little cuties have been working very diligently on reading CVCe words, so I created a little memory game to share.  Get it HERE. 

And, now hop over to Teach Two Reach 2nd Grade Happenings to see another fabulous product in action!

Only 2 more Fridays to Go!

Actually, I only have ONE more Friday!  I am taking a personal day next Friday.  What??  Why am I taking a day off so close to the end of the year???  Well, I usually NEVER take personal days ~ we get three per year, and I only used one sick day this year, so I decided to finally get around to taking a personal day.  It's not really going to be a day of fun ~ my license expired on the 14th of this month, and I need time to complete my online stuff to renew it.  (I do plan to sleep in a little, and maybe read a little!)

But, for now, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her fun Five for Friday linky party.

 

County Fair!  The third graders recently finished their book study on Charlotte's Web, and celebrated with an old-fashioned County Fair.  They invited us to join the fun!  We got to participate in a few of their activities.  My Kinders loved, loved, loved the watermelon eating contest!

 Because our third grade Book Buddies invited us to their fun fair, we wrote thank you notes to them.

 

 Scrappy the Turtle paid us a visit to talk about recycling today!

 



 

 

Prom 2014.  My final year as prom sponsor.  My fourth grade teacher friend & I have been the prom sponsors since our daughters were in high school (They are both now 24 years old!)  Mrs. Lain & I decided enough was enough and resigned our post as co-prom sponsors.  This year's theme is "A Night in Wonderland."  (Think Alice...)  Not my favorite theme, but it turned out pretty cute.  Our little school's tradition is to have a big "Grand March" complete with decorations & crowning before moving onto the banquet hall where we have dinner & dancing. 

 

 

 

My daughter's newest book!  My daughter, Emily Goodwin, has a new book out.  It's about the horrific topic of human trafficking, but it is well written and is a compelling read.  (Available for only $2.99 on Amazon!)  Click HERE to read the first chapter for free!

 

 

 

 

One more thing...  I will be participating in the Indiana Bloggers $1.00 Sale this weekend!  Be sure to check back for the links!

 



Educents

I am excited to be an affiliate of Educents!  Not only will I be able to save money on some fabulous products, I will EARN money, too!  Click on the link below to find out how you can save & earn $$$!

This is an example of one of the great deals that you can snag on the website.  But, you need to hurry ~ the deals don't last forever!  I was also able to get some great products for FREE!  Later in the summer, I am going to be a part of a bundle that will provide Kinder teachers with an entire year's worth of activities!

Five for Friday ~ 3 more Fridays left!

Yup ~ only three more Fridays until school's out!  It seems hard to believe that this year is nearly over.  Because of all the crazy winter weather, our school year is only 178 days this year (two days were waivered by the DOE).  My little cuties have really made an impression on my heart ~ I am going to miss these Kinders!  I was blessed with an amazing group of children this year.  They have learned and grown so much since August!  It will be so hard to let go of them.  But, I do have to say I am looking forward to lazy summer days spent on my front porch.  Click HERE to see a post on a lazy summer day to see what I'm looking forward to.

It's time to link up for the fun Five for Friday linky party hosted by Doodle Bugs Teaching!

 

Mother's Day gifts.  Yes, I know Mother's Day was a while ago, but here is what my kids made for their mothers.  A few weeks ago my teaching partners & I went to the "Free Teacher Store."  One of the goodies we got was a craft kit that contained these wooden door hangers.  The Kinders used them to create these cute gifts.  After the paint dried, they adorned their door hangers with a small picture and some foam stickers. 

 

Seriously one of the cutest bulletin boards ever.  The hallway bulletin board next to our Reading teachers' room is very Pinterest-worthy!  

 

 

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! ...or the boat, or the train, or the wrecking ball!  My kids love, love, love this silly book!  I have so much fun hamming it up as I read it.  (Hamming it up ~ just another perk of being a kindergarten teacher!)  We used this book for a lesson on speech bubbles.

 



 

I recently purchased some of Deanna Jump & Deedee Wills' Writing Through the Year sets.  Because they were a late-in-the-year acquisition, we just finished the "How To" unit.  I am SOOOO excited by how much my Kinders' writing has improved just by doing this one unit!  I had never done a Writer's Workshop before, so it was a learning experience for me, too.  My corporation is moving toward the Writer's Workshop next year, so I decided to try it out with my current crop of Kinders.  I figured that it is good to try out new things with kids who already know procedures, etc.  This way, I get experience in using it before I take the plunge with a bunch of newbies.  I have to say that I am totally in love with this product!  ...and plan to purchase all of their sets!

The picture on the left shows an almost-ready-to-be published piece.  We worked on the same pieces for a couple weeks.  I had never thought that kindergarteners would have the stamina to stick with the same piece of writing for so long.  (I was wrong!)

This sample is from a very average little Kinder.  The spelling is well, kindergarten spelling, but I love the subject!  "How to read Words If you're not sure, sound it out.  If that didn't work, then try a different one.  Break it into chunks.  If that doesn't work, then try a different one.  Look at the pictures.  If that doesn't work, then try this one.  Ask a friend.  If that doesn't work, try this one.  (not exactly sure...) Then ask the teacher what the word is."

We "published" our writing & invited our principal to our Publishing Celebration today.  I didn't snap any pictures, but we sure had fun.  My students have developed a love of writing that I hope follows them throughout their life.   

Our ONE AND ONLY finger painting day.  I must be getting old or something ~ I can only handle finger painting once a year.  We do use other paints throughout the year, but I can only handle the mess of finger paints once a year.  One of my little cuties asked me if May 16th was always finger painting day!  It sort of is ~ give or take a few days ~ I only break out the finger paints in May.

This week really flew by ~ full moon, end-of-year testing, and all.  Tomorrow I will be participating in Relay for Life with my teacher friends.  We walked in Relay for Life last year, and I am looking forward to doing so again.  (Even if it is going to be so cold that it could snow.)  My dear father had cancer, so this event is especially meaningful to me.  I need to remember to put on my pedometer to see how many steps I take tomorrow.  I figure I'll walk to keep from freezing! 

 

Have a great weekend!