March *Freebie* Fun...and Sound Racers =)

I love Spring. Here in East Texas we are already seeing the signs of Spring:  tulips trees, dogwoods, azaleas, and many other flowers are all starting to bloom. March also brings Spring Break, my birthday and my niece's birthday. But, I also start freaking out a bit....

3 months of school left???!!!???!!! Holy Moly...I need to see how much more I can cram into my kiddos heads. There are times I am feeling good about all of the progress my kiddos are making then....BAM!!! They say or do something that makes me want to go bang my head against the wall. Seriously, where have you been the last 7 months ????!!!!!????

One of my kiddos last week could not remember what this sign meant -....and this happened right after she just successfully finished a math sort that was mixed addition and subtraction. I had a 5 minute conversation with her that made me think I needed either an adult beverage or medicine for the migraine headache that was coming on. I felt exactly like this...

At times like this, all I can say is Help Me Jesus.

With Easter being in March this year, we will be doing a few of our leprechaun and St. Patrick's Day activities this week. Here are some of the *freebies* I shared last year.

Click on the picture above to grab your *freebies*.

My kiddos LOVE dice games. =)

Here is a subtraction sort....

And some ABC order fun.

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I finished this packet several weeks ago and just never got around to sharing with you about it. My kiddos love this and I am able to use it with all of my Guided Reading groups. The packet has around 300 words that focus on:

*short vowels and CVC words
*blends
*digraphs
*CVCC and CCVC words
*magic e
*r controlled vowels
*the 2 sounds of ow
*ou words like in mouse
*oo words like in boot
*vowel teams like ai, ee, oa, ay, etc

This is wonderful for RtI and is amazing at helping children blend sounds together to help decode words. The kiddos LOVE using little cars to drive over the sounds and then race and blend the sounds faster to read the word.

It is on sale this weekend. Click here to go check it out. =)

I hope you enjoy the *freebies*. I would love for you to leave me a heart note if you grab them. 

From My to Yours,

Groundhog Love

I am obsessed with Punxsutawney Phil! I love this groundhog!

If I had a bucket list, meeting him would be on it! =)

So, I am totally bummed this year that Groundhog's Day is on a Saturday. We are also having Art Day on our campus this Friday. I am not sure when I am going to squeeze in all of our Groundhog's Day Fun but I WILL!!!!!!

Last year, Phil sent us a package that we had to open on February 1st. We read this non-fiction book about groundhogs.

Check out this book here.

I was able to grab this book several years ago for $5. =)

In the package, we also had groundhog riddle puzzles, materials for our prediction craftivity, goodies for a groundhog snack, and many, many more things.

Here are some songs and videos we will be checking out this week. =)

Here is a prediction chart we will make.

source

a cute poem and craft

source

Here are some groundhog math *freebies* from me. =)

If you already grabbed this, download it again. There was a boo boo! =)

And nothing makes learning more fun than a snack! =)

source

Good Golly Groundhogs...I am so excited!!! =)

If you have time, I would love for you to leave me a heart note. =)

From My Heart to Yours,

A President and a Difference

Tonight is an important night. Many people are putting their faith in the outcome of this election. Every election has a HUGE impact on each one of us. Whether the results of the election make you happy or sad, the world will still go on. There will be celebrations and tears. A bad attitude won't change things. My faith is in God and I must lean on Him and not my own understanding.

Tomorrow you will wake up with a new president or we will welcome the other one into another term. You will go to school and face the same obstacles, challenges, and children. Fussing and complaining about it won't really make a difference...although it does help us feel better at times.

In the past month, you experienced the freedom to vote, make a difference, and let your voice be heard.

Tomorrow you will meet numerous people who need YOU to be their difference....the children in your classroom.

About 2 weeks ago, I had a Wal-Mart Greeter kind of day....except I no longer feel as if I could do that job and see all of those wild children out of control...Have I told you the story about the child that was licking the floor in Wal-Mart???!!!???? Kind of makes you want to throw up doesn't it.

I was feeling frustrated. I realized that I have a choice to be reactive....holler, punish, reward the "good" kiddos, threaten with Sad Notes, blame them for my feelings, or let my negative emotions take control.

OR

I could be proactive and tackle the frustrating issues with a plan and remember Conscious Discipline and that nobody can make me angry or upset without my permission. Instead of thinking How can I get this child to stop ______________________ I need to start thinking How can I help this child more likely choose to _________________?

Thinking about how I could handle these problems in our classroom made me think of the election. A president wants to come in and "fix" things We often have to face new challenges that someone tried to fix but are now beyond our control.

I think teachers are often taught quick fixes to solve problems (I know I learned some in college). These quick fixes often don't carry over outside of the classroom. I want to teach my children ways to be problem solvers but more importantly how to be kind and helpful because they want to...not to get a reward or to have their clip moved. When is the last time you got a reward for doing the right thing?

What happens in Washington today, in January, or 4 years from now is not what will make me a better teacher. I have to be the one to decide what attitude I face each day with and more importantly what attitude I use to help each child God has placed in my classroom. Obama or Romney will not make as much difference in a child's life as YOU will. 

I want you to take a few minutes to think about these quotes:

And because I love and treasure each one of you, here are some *freebies*. =)

Click here to grab this quick and easy dice game.

This is a fun spin and graph game.

Hop over here to grab this one. =)

Here is a fun digraph sort.

Grab this *freebie* here.

I hope you enjoy these *freebies*.

I would love for you to tell me about a kind of problem you might be having in your classroom.I know I don't hold the golden ticket answer but I have found many things through Conscious Discipline and my own beliefs that have made a difference. I would love to share them with you too. =)

If you can, please take a few minutes and leave me a heart note...I treasure each one.

Remember, you are more than a president....you are the daily difference who leaves your heart prints on a child.

From My Heart to Yours,

Tally Dem Bat Bones

Wahoo for Friday! 9 weeks of school are officially completed and I am wondering how time flies by so quickly???!!!????

It is finally starting to feel like fall here in Texas. Several days this week it was in the upper 80's and tonight it will get down in the 30's! You have to love Texas weather. I know to leave the short sleeves in my closest still because on Thanksgiving it could be back in the 80's....because here in Texas we do our own thing! =)

Here is a quick and easy math center for next week that some of my kiddos practiced today. We have a pumpkin die-cut at school. I whipped out some pumpkins, pulled out the pumpkin seeds that are reeeaaalllllyyyy old and let my kiddos use the bottle glue...and that might have been THE best part of this activity!!! =)

Here is a peek at their pumpkin patches. =)

Click on the picture below to grab your pumpkin patch label. 

Isn't that font the cutest??!!!???

On Monday, we will have a delivery...BAT BONES. Shhhhh, they are really pretzel sticks I dipped in white chocolate!

We will use the bat bones to practice using tally marks. Here is a picture from last year. The kiddos LOVED this...and they of course believed they were REAL bat bones!!! =)

Sorry for the bad iphone picture. =(

We also learned this Bat Bones poem.

Click here to grab your copy.

Click here to get your bone tally activities.

I would love to hear what you think about these. When I shared them last year, I still had less than 100 followers....it is hard to believe I am still blogging! I still get nervous and scared sharing my thoughts and activities....but your sweet hearts notes always make my heart smile. =)

I hope you each have a wonderful and relaxing weekend. I am going to procrastinate grading a little bit longer. Grades are due by midnight on Monday but right now I am ready for some spiced tea, my book, and cuddling with my kitty and my bunny. =)

From My Heart to Yours,

Shining Our Pumpkin Lights

This past week seemed to go by sooooooo slowllllllllllyyyyyyyyyy....and I was even out of the classroom for 2 days for Engineering training and  for writing Science curriculum. I think having a sub for 2 days in a row erased some of the things we had been working so hard to learn. Does that happen to your class when you have had a sub????!!!????

At one of the meetings we talked about how the time period from mid-October to the middle of December is so hard for teachers but especially for our kiddos. It is a time for meetings, programs, crafts, fun activities, holiday celebrations, Red Ribbon week, bright intense colors like red and orange, and then the stress that our kiddos might be feeling at home as their parents prepare for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. For many of our kiddos and their families, the holidays that we LOVE are stressful for them as they try and find the means to buy Thanksgiving dinner stuff and Christmas gifts. Meanwhile, any routine in our classrooms is starting to be disrupted by all of the fun activities and programs of this time of year.

This helps to explain why our kiddos start going a little nutty and by Christmas Break we are ready to be the Nutcrackers and find ourselves telling the kiddos we are in contact with Santa and have been telling him all of the things going on in our classrooms.

Thursday some of my kiddos we definitely a little squirrelly and I had to stop myself from going a little nutty too!

What popped into my head was the poem about God picking pumpkins.

It seems to be that "yucky stuff" that we let get in the way of so many things we do. I let it get in the way of remembering to be patient and even at times from stopping and looking at all of the blessings in my life. It is easy to get caught up in the negative "yucky stuff". 

I think I need to try and remember to scoop out all of that "yucky stuff" before I even get out of the car each morning. Part of our job is to keep the light inside of each pumpkin God puts in our classroom burning. I think of each year when we put "Jack" our jack-o-lantern in a jar. For the rest of the year, we watch him decompose. It is nasty. Last year to my horror Jack almost was knocked off of where he was sitting...I would have died if all of his nasty, smelly smithereens were splattered on our already nasty carpet.

I think we sometimes feel if some of our little pumpkins might already be rotting. We might not take the time to even see why their light might not be burning very brightly.

When I went to find the pumpkin poem, I also came across this one.

source: http://happyhomefairy.com/tag/christian-pumpkin-poem/

I am a Jack O’ Lantern

My lights will shine so bright

For I’m a Christian pumpkin

My symbols tell what’s right

My nose is like the cross

On which our Savior died

To set us free from sin

We need no longer hide

My mouth is like a fish

The whole wide world to show

That Christians live in this house

And love their Savior so!

The story starts at Christmas

My eyes are like the star

That shone on Baby Jesus

And wise men saw from far

My color, it is orange

Just like the big bright sun

That rose on Easter Day

Along with God’s own Son

I just love this! What a great way to let your love for the Lord shine out to others this month.

Since pumpkins have been on my mind, here is a little *freebie* that I hope you enjoy. The kiddos roll a dice and add 10. The first player to cover 5 in a row wins. This is to help with place value and those tricky teens. =)

graphics by Scrappin' Doodles

As you get ready for a new week, remember to look for the light in each one of your little pumpkins. Be sure and keep the light going with your love and patience...and you'll see it shining through their little jack-o-lantern smiles. =)

From My Heart to Yours,

Monster Snack Attack

I am stopping myself right now to post this before it gets out of hand. I am already thinking of Monster Snack Attack 2. Monsters snacking on letters and numbers have my brain pop, pop, POPPING! =)

Do you think I need an intervention when my dreams are about making things with clip art??!!???? I seriously had a dream about a mini-lesson with one of these activities. I am even thinking of a shirt idea to tell my friend Carla at Sewing Sassy...I am thankful that she knows about me and my brain pops. She almost always has a similar one too!

I am in LOVE with this clip art and have about a gazillion ideas of how to use it! =)

Does this clip art make you happy too?

Maybe these cute monsters will help my cute monsters kiddos learn how to rhyme. =)

sorting real and non-sense words

sorting letters and numbers

50 chips- a great counting game

ordering numbers from least to greatest

adding and handwriting practice =)

Did you say to yourself at least once Those are so stinkin' cute?

Well, guess what???

If you did, you get all of these games as ***FREEBIES*** here!!!!

And if you didn't say they were cute....oh, well- you can grab them too!

I started looking again at everything in Chapter 1 of the CD book and felt VERY overwhelmed. There is so much information in there that my hair starts to hurt and my eyes start spinning in different directions!

I am going to think about the best way to give you that information without overwhelming you too! Please, please, please share with me your doubts and hesitations about Conscious Discipline...I probably had them too! =)

I would love for you to take a moment and leave me a heart note if you grab these *freebies*. I really cannot even find the words to let you know how much each one means to me.

From My Heart to Yours,