What A Week! School Stuff and a Conference

What a week! I am officially in school mode- teachers in my district return on August 6^th. The kids start back on August 9^th. I’ve spent the last two weeks working in my classroom, organizing and sorting materials. I do not do well with clutter in the classroom and am a little OCD about everything (including baskets) matching. I have officially been put on basket restriction. Mr. Davis was not to thrilled about hauling tons of bright blue and green baskets home to store as I unpacked a new shipment of yellow and black baskets to match my bee theme. I can’t wait to post pictures soon when I get everything done. Everything is organized for the most part. Decorating and labeling is left.

When I found out I would be moving to kindergarten in the fall, I immediately started looking for professional development opportunities close to where I live. With my two littles at home, the I Teach K conference in Vegas wasn’t an option (maybe next year). I was able to go to the North East Alabama Early Childhood Conference held at Big Spring Lake Kindergarten School this past Wednesday. It was a great day (minus the long drive across state lines to get there). I loved meeting Deanna Jump from Mrs. Jump’s Class and Shari Sloane from kidscount1234.com. These two ladies are amazing educators with phenomenal ideas that I can’t wait to implement. Shari delivered the keynote address with such an uplifting message about all the fun things kids say in her classroom. What is the funniest thing that a kid has said to you?

With back to school in full swing at the Davis household, I’ve been purchasing things like a mad woman. Here are my favorite purchases from this week. Click the pictures for to be linked to the item website. 

Zero the Hero Necklace- I can’t wait to wear this every 10 days. When I saw it, I just had to have it. The original manufactuer retired, but creativemathematics.com has started selling them. They aren’t on the website yet, but you can order over the phone. So Adorable!!!!

Zero the Hero Puppet- I saw this on www.kinderteacher.com. It came in the mail yesterday and is so cute! I can't wait to order Zerona for the 100th day!

Shari Sloane CD’s- Shari Sloane has a wonderful singing voice and has recorded serveral CD’s for classroom use. They will be such an asset to my classroom. Be sure to check them out.

Kits for Shari Sloane’s songs- Katie and company has made manipulative kits for many of Shari’s songs. I ordered this Letter Pop one and can’t wait for it to arrive.

Lakeshore Learning Labels- I’ve got to start labeling and I’m all about not reinventing the wheel.

I hope you have had a wonderful week! 

Don’t forget to follow my blog on bloglovin. When I reach 100 followers I will give away a Scotch Thermal Laminator. This is a MUST for every teacher!

10 Things I've Learned From Teaching- Linky Party

Teaching is such a fun career, and everyday I learn something new. Today I’m linking up with Miss Kindergarten for the Top Ten Things I’ve Learned from Teaching. I hope you enjoy reading my top ten and reflect a little on all the things you have learned too.

1.  Be Prepared – Especially at the beginning of the year while you are trying to feel out your kiddos, always have more planned. You never know when you might need a little something extra to keep your kiddos busy.

2. Be Flexible – Things come up. I sometimes laugh that my lesson plans are the greatest fiction that I have ever wrote. I try to follow them each day, but we have fire drills, assemblies, teachable moments, and just the every day silly stuff.

3. Teach your kiddos that respect is important. Yes, I want my kiddos to be successful academically. But even more, I want to be proud of their character and the content of their hearts. Teach your kiddos to respect others.

4.  Differentiated Instruction- In college, differentiated instruction is the buzz word that everyone hears constantly. But… differentiating instruction is so important to meeting the needs of your kiddos.  I love checking out A Differentiated Kindergarten blog. She has the most amazing ideas of differentiation in kindergarten.

5.  Be organized- Your students will thrive in an organized and structure environment.

6.  Teaching is more than coloring. In college I couldn’t stand the people who said that the field of education was a coloring major. Teaching is so much more than coloring.

7. Never Stop Learning- The best teachers are the ones who never stop learning and never stop trying to learn the best practices in education.

8. Don’t try to be their friend. You are not there to be liked. You are there to be the teacher. The students will respect you for teaching them.

9.  Start a diary- Every night at dinner I have a hilarious story or two to share with my husband. Write these stories down. On the bad days, it is always fun to read through the funny things. Remembering the child who was thankful for cheese, starfish, and penguins at Thanksgiving or the child who asked Santa for deodorant for his daddy makes my day every time!

10. Teaching is an AMAZING career. It is a job that I can’t wait to get up and go to each day!

Student of the Week... More Themes

I've been working super hard trying to set up my kinder classroom. I have about two days left of hard work before it is ready to go. I will post pictures soon. I can't wait to show off my bumble bee themed classroom.

I've finally posted two more student of the week packets on my Teachers Pay Teachers account. The first is a circus themed packet. The second packet is a generic student of the week packet. Click the pictures below to be transferred to my TPT store. Currently I have the following themes for student of the week:  Jungle, Dog, Frog, HoneyBee, Owl, Apple, Pirate, Circus, and a generic theme. What other themes would be helpful???

I hope you have a wonderful week. Be sure to check back tomorrow for Made it Monday. I've been working on the most adorable things this week for my classroom.

It's Finally Here!!!

When I got home today, I was so excited to find a precious box sitting on my doorstep. When a box is this cute, you know what is inside has to be precious! I couldn't wait to get the little people to sleep so I could open my box. Inside was a adorable teacher plan book.

A few weeks ago,  I was reading some of my favorite blogs and came across a post about Erin Condren. She specializes in life planners and stationary products. My favorite item is her teacher plan book. It is AMAZING and completely worth the wait. Here are just a few of my favorite features in the plan book...

• I love the All About Me page ~ It has a place for all the access codes and passwords that we as teachers constantly have to keep up with. I can't tell you how often I have forgotten my passwords. 
• Absent Log ~ It has a great place to keep up with student absences- the log has a place for name, date, reason, and if a note was sent back. 

•  Graph Paper ~ The plan book comes complete with graph paper. I'm going to use it for graphing student progress but it could be used for seating charts, groups, grading... the possibilities are endless.
•  Monthly Calendars ~ The book has monthly calendars on a 2-page spread. I need this kind of space to keep up with my life. 
• Checklist pages ~ No more printing up rosters to check off forms, money, etc. Now I can keep track of it in one place. 
• Folders, Sheet Protectors, and Zippered Pockets ~ Great for storage

The teacher plan book has fabulous laminated tabs so everything is very easy to find. It is bound using a heavy metal coil- this will definitely stand the course of the year.  These are just a few of my favorite parts. Please be sure to visit her website for the guided video tour of the plan book. I was sold after watching the video once. Now that I have the plan book, I can't wait to use it. 

On a side note... YIKES!!! I went to my classroom on Monday. It is never a good sign when the custodians beg you not to cry as you walk down the hallway towards my classroom. Words can't describe how crazy it was when I walked in. After two full days and almost 100 boxes, it is finally getting a little better. I took today off to swim with the littles, and I can't wait to get back to work tomorrow! I'll post some pictures soon. 

Don't forget to follow my blog on Bloglovin ~ When I reach 100 followers I will giveaway a Scotch Thermal Laminator. 

Favorite Pin Friday

It is time for Favorite Pin Friday! I am linking up with Cara at First GradeParade today to show all of my fabulous pins from the week. I don’t know what I did before Pinterest! So here are my favorites for the week…

Sensory Boxes ~ While looking for ideas for my social centers, I came across the cutest blog with the best ideas for sensory boxes. I am making this bee themed sensory box for the first weeks of school.

Bumble Bee Aprons ~ I ordered these bumble bee aprons from etsy as soon as I saw them. I ordered 2 for my home center and one for me. They will be precious in my bumble bee inspired classroom.

Where do I live? Nesting boxes ~ Teaching the concept of where a student lives is so hard. When I saw these nesting boxes, I immediately pinned it. What a great way to teach a confusing concept.

Red Velvet Pancakes ~ Yum!!! I made these for my family this week and they were a huge hit. The original poster has the cutest blog, Little Baby Garvin. I’ve been following it for a while  and she always has the cutest ideas for kiddos and for the house.

Pink Hunter Rain Boots ~ I am in LOVE with these. Definitely on my Christmas list (or maybe it will be a back to school gift for me)!

I love my house. I love that we brought our babies home to this house. BUT… the bathrooms are so tiny with no counter space and there are tiny closets in each room. The master closet isn’t big enough to hold all my shoes. I love this idea for storage in the bathroom. I’m definitely going to have to talk the hubby into this. I could never make this pin work ~ I would just come up as an error. Please let me know if you have seen this so I can give the original poster credit. 

Car Storage ~ Having a little boy means I constantly have toy cars EVERYWHERE!!!! I love this idea to keep them all contained.

I can’t wait to see what everyone else pinned! Have a great weekend!

Don't forget to follow my blog on bloglovin. 
When I reach 100 followers I will give away a Scotch Thermal Laminator.

Student of the Week Themed Packet Update

About a month ago ( for original post click HERE) I posted about my student of the week program. I LOVE giving students the opportunity to tell about themselves, and a student of the week program is a fantastic way to build a classroom community. I have been working hard to create different themed packets for all the themes that teachers could use in their classrooms. 

I finally finished my jungle themed packet

 and my dog themed packet. 

Both of these packets are now for sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, along with my other packets (Bee, Frog, Pirate, Apple, and Owl). Be sure to check back this weekend. I plan to add a circus and generic packet. 

If you haven't followed my blog on blog lovin yet be sure to click on the icon at the top of my blog. When I reach 100 followers, I will giveaway a Scotch Thermal Laminator. You don't want to miss this!

School Supplies Are Back!!! and a Giveaway

When I went to my local Wal*Mart yesterday for some grocery shopping, I was shocked when I saw the school supplies out. Didn't summer just start? Even though I hate leaving my littles each day, I am a teacher at heart and I get so excited when I see the new supplies out. Of course I had to do a little shopping. I picked up my B.E.E. folders, sheet protectors, and binder pockets. I can't wait to post about my adorable B.E.E. folders. They truly help my kids stay organized each year. However, I was most excited about the laminator I got on sale. It is the Scotch Thermal Laminator and was on sale for $24. A pack of 50 full size laminating sheets were also on sale for $13. I quickly threw in it my cart and rushed home to use it to laminate some of the Daily 5 items I have been working on. It was AMAZING!!! The lamination was thick and sturdy, so I know it will last. I plan to buy another one before the sale ends; one for school and one for home. 

So I want to have a little giveaway. I plan to giveaway one of these fabulous laminators when I reach 100 followers. Be sure to follow my blog on Bloglovin so you don't miss out on the giveaway opportunity.

Back to School Shopping Spree

We will be heading back to school soon. Yesterday I spent the day with my mom, shopping for my new kindergarten classroom. My mom is a master teacher, who has taught 30 years. She owns her own preschool and currently teachers state funded pre-K. I love spending time with her; she always has so  many wonderful ideas and such great advice. Whenever I am  around her I am so excited to be in my own classroom. 

Our first stop was The School Box, our local school supply store. I was able to pick up a few cute bulletin board sets for my classroom.  Both of these sets were from Creative Teaching Press. 

   

Our next stop was IKEA. Can I just say that shopping at IKEA is so much fun. I picked up quite a few goodies for my dramatic play and blocks center. Here are a few of my favorite finds.

 I loved these children's cookware sets from the children's section. 

They were very affordable (between $3-7 a set)

 I was so excited to find this paper roller and paper. The set cost $10. 

Can't wait to see this in my Creation Center. 

I LOVE the IKEA Trofast storage options. My son has a few of these in his bedroom to organize his toys. They are wonderful and so heavy duty. This wall storage system will be great for my science center. I'm contemplating buying another Trofast storage system for my math workstations and my working with word stations. 

 Can't wait to use these train pieces in my block and building center.

What goodies have you bought for you classroom this summer?