Blogger Exchange .....Yippee!!

This is my first blogger exchange and I loved it!!  I got my gift today from Mor Zrihen over at A Teacher's Treasure and it was so so so cute.

Look......don't you just love it??  The colors are perfect and so are the ladybugs!!!!

Thank you so much Mor!  I can't wait to use it!


My exchange buddy was Ashley Knaffle over at Live 2 Learn.  Dummy me forgot to take a picture of the gift I sent her.  #@$#%%.....can't believe I forgot the picture!!  Ashley posted one and here it is!  I hope she liked it!

A great big thanks to Caitlin and Sarah for hosting this fun exchange.  Hop on over to Teacher Blogger Exchange to check out all the adorable gifts everyone gets.

Testing, Testing, Testing

Hello out there in bloggy land!  This week has been........Kuh-razy!!!!  Let me say that with a little more emphasis........Kuh....uh....razy!!! 

Who else is having their state tests this week????  My school is smack dab in the middle of administering the CRCT.....Georgia's version of the state mandated tests.

You may be asking yourself.....

Why is she posting about state testing? 

She teaches kindergarten!

Kindergarten doesn't have to take those tests!!!

Well let me tell ya........I got pulled to give the test to a small group of 5th graders............yes I said 5th graders!!!   5th graders who are as tall as I am!!!

Well actually my paraprofessional (who is a certified teacher too, but hasn't been able to find a teaching job) and I both got pulled to give the tests this week!  I am giving it all week and my para had to give it Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

You may be asking yourself....

Who was watching the kinderbugs during this time!

My partner from next door had to send her paraprofessional to watch my class on Tuesday and Wednesday morning while we tested.  Then today my para was back in the room and had them by herself.  She will have them again tomorrow by herself.

I told you it has been........Kuh.....razy!!!!

It actually hasn't been terrible.  The 5th graders have been great!  I have never thought I would like to teach 5th grade.....you know.....that height thing and hormones and all, but these guys were funny and sweet!  I have enjoyed spending time with them! 

I am super proud of my kinder kids because they have been super good all week, even with our schedule being completely off and them having to stay quiet all morning!  So proud........ that we are making S'mores tomorrow and shaving creaming the tables and doing some cool science experiments!   They are going to love it!!

I've been tagged!

Okay.....let's play a  little game!  Connie over at Creating Kinders tagged me to answer 10 questions about myself.  So here ya go! 

Here Are The Rules:

• Post these rules

• Answer the 10 questions that the tagger posted for you

• Create 10 questions of your own to ask the people that you're about to tag

• Tag 10 people and link them with your post (and let them know they've been tagged)

Connie's questions for me...
1. What grade do you teach?    I teach kindergarten.
2. What was your first job ever?   My first job was as a waitress at the Holiday Inn.
3. Favorite TV show right now?     That's easy.......The Big Bang Theory!!!  Love, Love Love it!
4. Favorite theme to teach?     Probably my Spring theme.  I have made lots centers for Spring.
5. If I won $1000, I would ... I would get new counter tops for my kitchen.....granite...yeah baby!!
6. What are your summer 2012 plans?    My plans are to spend as much time at the beach as possible and do some unit planning for next year. 
7. Casual or dress clothes for work-school?  I usually go middle of the road....not too casual but no dresses or heels either.
8. Favorite go to meal at a restaurant?     Something with chicken.....I eat so much chicken that I should be sprouting feathers!!!  tee hee hee
9. What's for dinner tonight?    I had a Zaxby's Nibblers meal....see I love chicken! 
10. Name 2 blogs you love right now .  This one is hard...I love so many blogs.  1.  Adventures in Kindergarten....Her blog is super cute and she posts some great tutorials to help with bloggy questions.  2.  A Cupcake for the Teacher.  Another super cute blog with great ideas.


Here are my 10 questions.
1.  What do you like to do when you are not teaching?
2.  If you didn't teach, what job would you have?
3.  What is your favorite time of year?
4.  Coffee or Tea?
5.  Beach or Mountains?
6.  Does your classroom have a theme?  What is the theme?
7.  How many hours each day do you spend reading blogs?
8.  If you could go any where in the world, where would you go?
9.  What is the last book you read?
10.  How long have you been blogging?

Here are my ten!
Mrs. Ring's K-Crew Kids Rock
First Grade Blue Skies
Apples and ABCs 
Teaching with Sight
Pocket Full of Kinders
Going Nutty
Mrs. Shelton's Kindergarten
Kinder Kraziness
Mrs. Futch's Class
Krazy About Kiddos
 

Happy Birthday TBA!!

Teaching Blog Addict is celebrating their 1st birthday and hosting a HUGE giveaway!  Hop on over for your change to win 24 fabulous teacher-made products and 2 Amazon gift cards! Click on the picture below!

Freebie.......Spring Roll-Count-Color and Award!

Here is a Spring math freebie for you! Hope you enjoy!  Click here to get your copy!

Sarah over at Co-Kindering gave me the Lovely Blog Award!  

Here it is!!

Thank you so much Sarah for thinking about my lil' blog!

When you get this award, you pay it forward.

Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Pass the award on to 15 other lovely bloggers.

3. Follow the person who sent it to you.

 There are so many blogs I adore but I don't think  I can pick 15!

One Extra Degree

First Grade Blue Skies

Pocket Full of Kinders

Mrs. Shelton's Kindergarten

The 3AM Teacher

Check out my new bloggy look!

So........I spent much of the morning updating my blogs look!  I think it turned out nicely.  Let me know what you think!

Wild about Animals

Our field trip to the zoo was just the beginning of all things animals.  The kinderbugs have had lots of fun with all of our animal themed activities and centers!


I purchased Deanna Jump's Zoo Animals packet and it was just full of all kinds of great stuff!  You can purchase it here!

Here are just a couple of great ideas from her packet.

We didn't just have fun with zoo animals, we also threw in some farm animals too!  The farm animal measurement center came from Mrs. Kilburn's Kiddos.  Check it out here.

I created several animal themed centers that were inspired by Julie Lee.  I love her ideas!!!! Check out her zoo ideas here.  The clip art is from KPM Doodles.

My best friend and teaching partner, Lisa Ring, created some awesome anchor charts to use for teaching about animals.  Check them out here!

 Here are a few more activities we did this week.  I have had them forever so I can't tell you where they came from. :(

Happy Furlough Day!

We are off today because of a furlough.  It hurts the pay check not getting paid for today but it is going to be an absolutely beautiful day to be off!


85 degrees.


Perfect beach weather. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!


Too bad I'm not going to the beach.


I am doing yard work!!! Uuuuggggghhhhh  


BUT my yard is going to be looking good!!!


BTW.....my class had an AWESOME day yesterday at the Jacksonville Zoo!  The weather was great and the Kinderbugs had a blast!!


Hope all my bloggy friends have a great day today!  I will be back with more animal/zoo freebies sometime this weekend!

K-2 Linky

I love linking up with other bloggers and I L-O-V-E finding new blogs to follow.

Jeannie over at Kindergarten Lifestyle is hosting a little linky party for kindergarten-2nd grade blogs.  So if you want to find more awesome blogs come on over and join the P-A-R-T-Y!!

Freebie or two....as promised!

Are your kiddos struggling with segmenting syllables?  Well mine are!  Bless their little hearts they are getting segmenting phonemes confused with segmenting syllables.  I probably would too if I were six.  So...........I decided to search for syllable games last night.  What's more fun than learning while you play a game....Right?!?!?  I had seen one somewhere out there in bloggy land but alas I couldn't find it last night.  So I made my own and I am sharing them with you! If this was your idea or you know who the idea belongs to, let me know so I can give you or them credit.  Hope your kids like them.  Click on the picture to get your copy.  BTW....I added a key to the document you should get it when you click on the link.