Cruising Back to Reality

Last week I was here:

The Carnival Magic

Beaches, relaxation. yummy food, family, reading, yummy food, sun, beverages, yummy food, and blog withdrawal. Did you notice how many times I said yummy food? I thought they were going to have to roll me home.

Here is a picture before we got on the boat.

I am loving how they made my sister squat down so I look taller!

We swam with dolphins. This is my youngest niece Emma kissing Calypso the dolphin.

She She (me) and her Chickadees

We got home on Sunday and I think I left my brain on the boat!

I usually avoid Wal-Mart but I have been REALLY scared to go because I am afraid I will see that they are starting to put out the school supplies...and I LOVE to buy school supplies. I would love to jump into the school as if 1 month of the year had already gone by. The first month is just exhausting...I feel like I reach my word limit for the day around noon.

I am excited that we are having some BIG changes in our math curriculum. I have wanted to burn the majority of what we have been doing. As you might know, Texas is one of the few states that did not adopt the Common Core. We already have our own standards called the TEKS (We have TEKS for language arts, reading, science, social studies, art, technology, health, etc. These are for every grade level across the state). We have new math TEKS this year that have brought in standards that we were missing with the Common Core PLUS more.

Here is an activity that comes from this FABULOUS book that our district is giving to every K-2 teacher. We are also getting the Debbie Diller Math Work Stations book...WAHOO! =)

This is just a quick activity that you can do when you have a few minutes to spare or you can even use the plates as a transition to line kiddos up. This activity helps build number sense and number concepts. All you need are some plates and some dot stickers. My OCD did have trouble getting the dots to be even so it probably took me a wee bit longer to make. I also put a dot on the back of the plate to show which way is the top of the plate (I am not sure if this matters).

Here is a picture of a few of the plates:

There are 32 plates in all.

I don't have a scanner at home so sharing a picture from the book of the different plates you can make was the easiest way for me to show you how to make all of them. If there is an easier way, please remember that I left my brain on the boat! =)

If you have any questions, please let me know.

I will be back very soon to talk about the first chapter in the Conscious Discipline book. It is a wonderful chapter about composure and being the person you want others to become. One of the big ideas is No one can make you angry without your permission. WOW! I think that is a powerful reminder to all of us. I hope you hop back over to read all about it. =)

Question of the Day: Do you do a scavenger hunt the first day of school? Would you be interested in me sharing a Pete the Cat or Kissing Hand scavenger hunt?

I would love for you to take a few minutes and leave me a heart note. =)

From My Heart to Yours,

Remember to F.R.O.G. and some *freebies*

My classroom has been invaded by frogs. They are everywhere. My chickadees (my nieces) love to count them when they come help me in my classroom. I have frog lamps, wind chimes and even an adorable frog mailbox. The frogs each help to remind me to F.R.O.G.

Fully
Rely
On
God

I would not make it a day in the classroom if God had not called me to be there.

Our job is full of so many challenges. Curriculum, standards, and testing seem to be all that matters. "They" (whoever the heck all of "those" people are) seem to not realize I have been entrusted with the hearts of 18 little ones. I am not supposed to take in consideration that I have kiddos who get their only meals at school. The fact a parent is in jail or they don' have running water or they wake up grumpy because they were yelled at should not matter when they get to school because "they" think we teach a curriculum....but we all know that it does matter because we teach the child.

During my first 2 years of teaching, I cried almost everyday on the way home. I wanted to "fix" their burdens or carry them for my little ones.

I have realized how much I need to rely on God and trust Him to take care of my little ones when I am not there.

I can be there to love, hug, and listen to them. I can remember to have a Heart of Patience.

When I heard this song, I realized this is what we can do for our children and each other.

I never would have thought when I started blogging that I would be so encouraged and blessed by each one of you. Each one of you is a treasure in my heart. When I pray for God to use us to make a difference, I think of each one of you.

So, this poem is for each of you. When you see the frog, know that frog is a reminder that I am praying and thinking about YOU. I hope the frog also reminds you to F.R.O.G. The frog can also be a reminder to stop and take a few seconds to pray for the little ones in your classroom.

I hope you find a special place to put this. =)

Time to hop to the ***freebies***

I created these games for my kiddos to work on during the first few weeks of math work stations. I wanted something that would be fairly easy for them to work on independently....of course you are never sure until you meet your GROUP. Did your heart just skip a few beats??!!!?? Have you heard rumors or reports about the GROUP headed your way???

You can hop over to my TpT store here to go grab this **freebie** fun.

FYI: Followers of my store will be notified of secret *freebies* that I won't tell you about on my blog. =)

Here are the games you'll find:

This game is for my sweet little ones who will need help identifying numbers from 1 to 6.

Yes, I will have Firsties who will not be able to recognize numbers to 5. =(

This game will also work on color words. =)

Pete and Chester will compare who has more apples using ten frames.

building and coloring patterns with cubes

adding or subtracting dice to reach 50

ordering numbers to 20

adding sums to 12

I hope you can use these with your kiddos this year. 

Please take a few minutes to leave me a heart note. Each one is a blessing to me and leaves me with a smile. I would also big {{PUFFY}} heart LOVE for you to leave me a little note at my TpT store. =)

From My Heart to Yours,

*Freebie* Frenzy

I know there are teachers out there who have turned their minds off. They are able to step away from the computer, blogs, and Pinterest. They don't dream of clip art and fonts. They are not crazy enough to already be thinking of August....but that isn't me! =)

It is time to bring back some *freebies* in case you missed them the first time! These are some of our favorite activities that we do the first few weeks of school. Later some of them will go into our reading game basket.

Our reading game basket has word study games in it that the kiddos may play when they have finished all of their work. It is one of the things on our When I finish, I can... list.

My kiddos LOVED this game! It was one of the games we kept in the basket all year long.

Wild about Rhymes

Here is an I have...Who has... game with rhyming words because you can never practice that skill too much!

The next 2 activities are differentiation strategies that I learned as part of my G/T training. In these activities, the children hold cards and have to order themselves according to the game's directions to create a human timeline. They have to do it without any talking! Let me just tell you that right away you learn who the Mother Hen of the classroom will be. They love this activity and it is also great to use as a transition for lining up.

The first one is ordering numbers from 1-20 using 10 frames. The second one is putting words in abc order. The words are from Dr. Jean's Phon-ercise. We sing that song LOTS and LOTS and use those alphabet words for TONS of different activities.

Human Timeline- Dinosaurs

Human Timeline- abc order with Phon-ercise

I found these fun glasses at the Dollar Store and made this game to help know the difference between letters, words, and sentences.

In September, we give an assessment called the TPRI. One of the assessment tasks tests deleting the initial sound. Let me just hear a Help Me Jesus. An example would be, what would the word sold be without the /s/ sound? A typical answer would be monkey. We start working on this skill ASAP. Between this and teaching rhyming words I usually have a headache. =)

This game has helped so much! =)

Here is a *freebie* you can use all year! 

We start the first day of school learning our word wall words. We keep our cheers in a "Cheer" box! =)

These are just a few of the whole group activities we do. I'll be sharing more about how we will start the year off with The Kissing Hand and Pete the Cat....plus building Our School Family.

Don't forget to check out my awesome Pete Rocks giveaway!

hop over here to enter

I hope you enjoy these *freebies*. If you grab them, I would love for you to leave me a heart note.

From My Heart to Yours,

Blessings, *Freebie* and an Adorable Shirt

I have been struggling lately about what to blog about....Do I share about things that happen at school even though we are CONSTANTLY reminded about being careful what we say on Facebook and blogs (and my blog is no secret!)? Do I share about how sad my heart has felt lately watching people I love having declining health problems that seem to take a little of their life everyday and have me wondering how much time they have left? Do I share about how I am still insecure about my blog and sharing activities because I wonder if they are good enough?

Despite all of those questions and struggles I know my life is still blessed. Sometimes we forget how blessed we are because we are looking at the wrong things and we need a different perspective. One of my favorite songs is "Blessings" by Laura Story. Here are some of the lyrics that I love:

'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops,

What if Your healing comes through tears,

What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if the trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise.

I also have needed lately to revisit some of the poems I wrote. It is so easy to get overwhelmed by curriculum pressures, behavior problems, grades, assessments, grown-ups who don't act like grown-ups, and a million other things that seem to keep us from remembering why we teach. We have the most amazing opportunity to teach our children to be patient, understanding, helpful, encouraging, and so much more and that one day they will make a difference. Please take a moment to read this poem and think about the kiddos in your room.

Here is a math game *freebie*. My kiddos are adoring these Love Monsters. They even have asked if the Love Monsters are going to visit us. Yeppers, my kiddos will need psychiatric help because of all of the things I have told them that have made them believe that these clip art monster might be real like some of the stuffed animals that visit us! =)

graphics by DJ Inkers

The kiddos order the numbers from least to greatest. This is a great game for math buckets and helps to develop number sense! =)



Please go check out my giveaway! You could win one of these adorable shirts and some other wonderful items! Go hop over here!

I would LOVE for you to blog about my giveaway! If you blog about it several times, I have a special little present for you!

Please leave me a heart note if you grab this activity. Your heart notes always make my heart smile!

Cube Trains

Developing number sense is sooooo hard for some kiddos because it requires hands-on experiences with numbers. As primary teachers, we already do sooooo much of this but we need to provide daily experiences where they build and compare numbers and create visual representations of numbers to store in their minds. Throughout the year, we give various assessments where the children have to order numbers from greatest to least or from the least to greatest and several sweet little kiddos each year struggle with this...sometimes even those kiddos we think as having number sense do not do well on this because number sense comes down to place value and the relationships between numbers. Activities on the 100 hundreds board, estimating, and place value will help build this number sense.

Here is a little activity to help build number sense. We will use cubes to make the number trains. We talk about using the cubes to help us count better and faster. This means keeping them grouped in 10's and then counting on by ones (We talk about this not being the most helpful time to make patterns). Each child starts with a conductor train and players each take a card and build his/her train with that number of cubes. One player spins the spinner and if the spinner lands on more than the player with the longest cube train gets to add a train car. If the spinner lands on less than, the player with the shortest cube train gets to add a train car. Players continue until there are no more train cars. The players then spin the spinner to determine the winner. If the spinner lands on more than the player with the longest train wins. If the spinner lands on less than. the player with the shortest train wins.

We've played this game whole group this week and the kiddos love it!

cube trains

cube trains recording sheet

graphics by Scrappin Doodles

Please leave me a heart note and let me know what you think.