Handwriting Zoo

I introduced our handwriting zoo yesterday.  I am telling you people, it is a LIFESAVER!  I used to dread teaching the "handwriting lines" (ok, I still do BUT not as much as I used to!)  

If you haven't checked out the packet yet and you're starting to teach the handwriting house check it out!  It's on sale in my TPT store for $3.00 until the end of September.

Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!  

Yay!

How Do You Line Up?

In the classroom:

This is our line. 

 Our toes goes on the tape.

Painters tape of course!

You know me. . . I LOVE duct tape. . .but our janitors don't! 

(Teacher Rule #1:  Keep your dear janitors happy!)

Close up picture of tape:

Outside:

This is our line.

Our toes go on the paw prints!

The paw prints are spray painted on the cement.  

Can't take credit for the idea though!  

It was the brain child of my excellent coworker Jill.  Genius!

Each class has it's own color so my kids know to line up on the orange prints, etc.

And a little bragging: 

We have the BEST principal ever!  

She called and got permission from our maintenance manager, bought us the spray paint AND helped us spray the prints.  

She even touched them up for us this year!

How do you line your kids up?  

Do you have a tip for us?

First Week DONE!

Here are a few things we did this week:

Went on a Pete the Cat hunt (of course!)

Spent LOTS of time on "Give Me Five"

Love, Love, Love these free posters from Peace, Love and Learning.

Learned lunch routine, practiced walking in hallway, and of course got to know our new classmates!

Read Chrysanthemum and celebrated our names with art projects:

*Rainbow names from Mrs. Jump's Literacy and Math Fun with Names unit

*They also painted a present that started blank and as they painted their names magically appeared!  They found out that the first present their parents ever gave them was their name!

We also worked hard on learning our classroom rules:

Read Chica Chica Boom Boom and did a few activities from Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten Chica packet.

And of course we also:

*learned how to open/close glue bottles

*discussed bathroom hygiene and etiquette (like close the door when you're in there and leave it open when you leave)

*learned what "blurting" is and why our teacher doesn't like it

*practiced raising our hand to get the teacher's attention (instead of chasing her around the room, yelling across the room or tapping on her until she goes slowly insane)

*Practice WBT's attention getter:  

"Claaaasss"

"Yeeessss"

*found out what "arguing with the teacher" means and that it doesn't "Make Our Dear Teacher Happy"

*met all our specials teachers (funny how they all looked relieved when I come to pick them up!)

And I could go on. . . and on. . . and on. . . 

and. . . I loved it!

It was a great first week!

Another Reason I Love Duct Tape

"Lucky Duck" stick:  

(colored craft stick with duct tape wrapped around one end)

I use the sticks to pick helpers, students to answer questions, etc.  Using the sticks helps me make sure I call on every child fairly. No wondering "who hasn't helped yet" or "who hasn't volunteered"  plus it keeps the kids from saying "no fair" or "she already got to help!"

My sticks are kept in this cup:

Purple side up means that stick hasn't been "picked" yet.  Green side (name side) up means that child has been "picked."  When all the sticks are green side up I flip them all back to purple and start again.

Click pic to get a lucky duck label:

WAIT!  Before you go:

All Students Can Shine is having her one year Blogiversary!  Her blog is 1 year old and she has some fantastic prizes to give away!  

Check it out!

Which reminds me that my 1 year is coming up also. . . better get started planning my giveaway!

So Sorry! E-mail issues!

School started this week! 

 On Sunday night this was me:

I admit I was a little lot worried.

Monday was GREAT!  

I have a super fantastic class this year!

Here's me on Monday night:

Tuesday was ok . . 

My hubby left on a business trip Monday and I had to run errands and kids to soccer, etc.

 (single parents I admire you soooo much!)

This was me on Tuesday night:

Today was good. Hubby came home tonight so I got to pawn the overly tired kids off on him.  Was going to turn in early and get some much needed sleep and then found out hotmail was putting A LOT of e-mails into my "junk" folder that it shouldn't have! AUGH! 

 Here's me now:

This mad face is directed towards hotmail! 

Still 2 days left this week and I know the rest of the week will bring this:

And this long post is just to apologize to anyone who has e-mailed me and hasn't heard back from me yet!  Please e-mail me again if I haven't answered you!  I promise I'm not ignoring you on purpose!  I answered half the e-mails tonight and will work on the other half tomorrow night but I might have accidentally deleted some e-mails I shouldn't have!

Hmm. . . I think it's pretty obvious I ramble when I'm tired.

Back to School Blog Hunt Day 20!

How fitting that I am day 20 on this blog hunt and today is my first day with kids!

If you're reading this kicked back at home. . . I am SUPER jealous right now!  If you're reading this exhausted after a long day with students. . .I'm right there with you!

I hope you've enjoyed the blog hunt so far!  I've found LOTS of good freebies and tips and now it's my turn to give one to you!

Here's my favorite question of the day (insert sarcasm here)
I'm done.  Now what?
I'm done.  Now what?
I'm done.  Now what?
I'm done.  Now what?

Raise your hand if you hate dread hearing that!

(me! me! me! me!)  

It's almost worst that the question, "what's for supper?"

Here's my quick fix:

I print the pictures on magnetic paper and can easily change out what they kids are/are not allowed to do when they finish work early.

If it's not on the board it is NOT allowed! 

 Easy Peasy!
\

To get your free copy click the picture:

Enjoy the rest of the blog hop and if you've missed any of the days check out the links below!

Teacher Tipster

Have you seen these videos?  One of my teacher friends sent this link to me on Friday (Thanks Jill!)  

He is hilarious!  Plus, his videos have GREAT ideas on fun/catchy ways to teach kids. We are wondering if he does teacher in-services!

5 things I Miss About Summer

Joy of Kindergarten is hosting this linky.  I still remember when we started the summer with "You Know It's Summer Vacation When" linky.  Sigh. . . .

This is my weekend to say "good-bye" to summer.  Kids start Monday.  Open House was great. . . the kids were all excited and smiling (always a good sign!)  I think it will be a GREAT year BUT here's what I will miss:

 Hanging out at the pool with my kids.

(I read, they swam.  It just doesn't get much more relaxing than that!)

Vacations with my family.

Sleeping in!

Having time to read for FUN!

Having time for friends!

BUT. . . 

9 more months and I'll get to do it all over again!

A friend of mine shared this video with me today.     Check it out if you're in need of a little motivation:

  

Open House Night

Open House night done (check).  Really love checking things off the list!

My #1 Open House Tip:

Take pictures of your kiddos with their families!

Open House night is CRAZY!  

You meet so many new kids and parents it's hard to remember every single one of them.  

If you take a picture you get to look back at the kids (before they enter your room the first day).

Also, when it's time for conferences you can look back at the pictures to help you remember the parents you haven't seen since Open House night.

I've known some teachers to print the pictures off right away and create a bulletin board display or put the pictures on the kids desks the first day so they have "home" to look at whenever they need to.

That's it....short and sweet!

Back to meetings tomorrow and then schools starts Monday!

Pete the Cat Tour (1 more time just for you PreK!)

I've had several requests for a Prekindergarten version of the Pete the Cat tour freebie.  So. . . here it is!  There's also a certificate that says "Preschool", one that says "Prekindergarten" and one that says "Jr. Kindergarten."  Hopefully I did NOT forget anyone!  Click Pete to get your copy!

Also, today is the LAST day for huge saving at TPT!  I'm  heading there right now to empty out my wish list!  YAY!

Back to School SALE!

You've probably seen it advertised ALL OVER the place but I'm going to shout it out one more time!  

TPT is & a Back to School SALE August 12 & 13! You do NOT want to miss this one!  

My store is on sale for 28% off! 

I can't wait to buy the items on my wishlist! 

Click the pic below to jump to TPT and check out the GREAT sales going on now!