Apples Aplenty! Apples Galore!

This past week, my kinders worked on one of my favorite units - my apple unit. These are some pictures from our week.

Frugal Finds

Last night, I went with a friend on a "quick" trip to Target (probably my FAVORITE store!). Yeah right! We can never make a "quick" trip anywhere! We always find lots to look at! :)

While we were there, we had to make a trip through the Dollar Spot. We noticed that the selection was rather slim (I guess they are changing over their seasonal merchandise) and they had some of their Dollar Spot items marked down to 50% off making them $0.50 each. When we got to checkout we discovered they were actually 70% off making them only $0.30 each. I only purchased a few things but they sure were a great deal!

Here are the items I purchased for $0.30 each:

These tin pails have chalkboard labels painted on so I can label what is in each container. I love it!

These are 3 little adhesive cork boards. I am going to put them around my room to hang notes that I need to see but can change out easily.

I also purchased a set of 4 plastic tumblers for my kinders to store their pencils in at their tables. I couldn't get the picture of them to load. Sorry!

While wandering in the store, we went through the Back to School section where some items were on clearance as well. I found a couple of great buys there too!

These student scissors have 2 per pack and I got them for $0.43 per pack. These scissors were originally $1.50 per pack. WOW!! I got 14 packs to allow for up to 28 students which only cost me a little over $6. I have been needing new scissors for my kinders but didn't want to spend $30 on them!

I found these 6 packs of pink erasers for $0.92. They were originally $1.84. I got 5 packs so I could give each of my kinders a new eraser. Erasers seems to disappear in our room...LOL!

Friday Freebie: Labeling Parts of an Apple

Since we have been working this week on both labeling parts of objects as well as my apple unit. This was the perfect addition to our week. This is a simple activity sheet that has the kids practice labeling the main parts of the apple. Each child is given the apple sheet and a strip of labels to cut out and glue.

Click on the picture to download this activity from TpT.
Please let me know if you can use this too! I love hearing from you!

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Don't forget to enter my blogiversary giveaway!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I have so much that I am loving this week. Today is Johnny Appleseed's birthday so I love the apple unit that I have been doing this week with my kinders.

I love that it is officially fall even though it is still very warm here in SC. I have started decorating for the fall season and I love all of it. Today, I am sharing some pictures with you of my decorations at home. I love incorporating fall into my house.

Top of living room shelf

 

Dining room table

End of kitchen counter

Fall is such a beautiful time and I love this time of year for so many reasons. I love seeing the leaves change colors, the cool down (some what) in temperatures, and of course I love watching college football!

My 1 Year Blogiversary!

Today makes the 1 year anniversary of me starting my little kindergarten blog! Wow! I can't believe it has been 1 year since I started this journey! Boy the time has flown by! I have learned so much and met so many great teachers who have taught me so much!

In honor of my 1 year anniversary, I am having a huge giveaway with some great products by some of my favorite bloggers! So here is the list of fabulous goodies:

My fellow SC blogger Amanda at Teaching Maddeness is giving away her Set of Non-Fiction Text Features Signs Set from Teacher's Clubhouse.

Lacey from Wild About Teaching is giving away her Apples unit.

Lori from Teaching with Love and Laughter is giving away her Kindergarten and First Grade Writing Forms.

Mrs. Cupcake at A Cupcake for the Teacher is giving away her Perfect Pumpkins Pack.

Debbie from K is for Kinderriffic is giving away 0-20 Number Posters pack.

Leslie at KindergartenWorks is giving away the choice of one item from her Teachers Notebook shop.

Jen from Jen's KinderKids is giving away the choie of 1 item from her TpT store.

Marie from The Hands-On Teacher is giving away the choice of 1 item from her TpT store.

Tangelia from Buggy in Kindergarten is giving away her Now I Know My ABCs Phonics Packet.

Erin from Creating & Designing is giving away her On The Farm unit.

Cara is giving away the book: The Response Revolution.

I am giving away a choice of either my Common Core Math Assessments Pack or 2 of my Calendar Sets.

Here are the important details for entering my giveaway:
1) Follow my blog
2) Follow my TpT store
3) Follow these wonderful teaching blogs
4) The giveaway ends at midnight on Oct. 2nd.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks so much for being such wonderful followers and friends! I love hearing from all of you!

Limeades for Learning Voting (Donors Choose)

As I have said several times since starting my blog, I am a HUGE fan of Donors Choose. They have helped me get much needed items in my classroom without having to purchase them with my own money.

With that being said, I am a Sonic teacher and beginning today, there is a voting contest called Limeades for Learning going on. I would love it if you could vote for my project to help it get funded. The voting begins today and ends on Oct. 29th. You can only vote once per day per email address. The projects with the most votes will win funding by Sonic. Thanks in advance for you help!

Just click on the picture below to vote!

Sundays in the South: Halloween Fun Unit

Sorry that I have been MIA for the past few days. My hubby's brother just bought a house and we have been helping him clean and move in.

This week I finished my new Halloween unit and posted it today on TpT and TN for $5.00. This unit includes 27 pages of activities to use that are aligned to the Kindergarten Common Core standards. Included in this unit are literacy center activities, math center activities, and activity sheets.

Language arts activities:
-Halloween Costume writing paper (2 versions)
-Favorite Halloween Candy writing paper (2 versions)
-Matching uppercase to lowercase letters center activity
-Trace, write & glue sight words activity sheets (2 versions)

Math activities:
-Matching sets to numbers game
-Sequencing numbers 1-10 activity sheet
-Tracing numbers 0-20 activity sheet
-Writing numbers 0-20 activity sheet
-Sequencing jack-o-lanterns by size activity sheet
-Counting jack-o-lanterns activity sheet
-Comparing jack-o-lanterns activity sheet

TpT                                       TN

Friday Freebie: Apples Counting activity sheet

I love teaching my apples unit every year so Johnny Appleseed's birthday next week (Sept. 26th) is the perfect excuse to teach about apples.

Next week, my kinders will be doing this counting sheet where they will circle the correct number for each box. This activity sheet was created with an old Carson Dellosa clipart cd.

Apple Counting activity sheet

I hope you can use this freebie too! Please let me know if you download and how you use this activity sheet!

Behavior Management Linky Party

What the Teacher Wants is doing a Linky Party for Managing Classroom Behavior!

I started my Clip Chart Management system when school started a few weeks ago and it is working great! I got my clip chart for free from Live Love Laugh Kindergarten.

The kids LOVE moving their clips up the clip chart! They are also quickly discouraged from in appropriate behaviors when they see someone else making good choices and getting to move their clothespin up the clip chart. Of course the lower levels are for students who are making inappropriate choices or not following class and school rules.

Sorry! Blogger would not let me rotate this picture!

I have been rewarding my students who get to to the top of the clipchart by getting a sticker on a card. When they get 5 stickers, they can get a treat from the treasure chest. My treasure chest has all kinds of fun prizes inside like happy meal toys, pencils, and books.

In order to communicate with parents, I send home a monthly behavior calendar with the color their child ended the day on. If the child ends the day on pink, purple, blue, or green, I just color the color in. If the color is on the bottom of the chart, I color in the circle and write the reason for the move. This helps the parents understand their child's behavior better.

Writer's Workshop Wednesday: Labeling (Nouns for People & Places)

This year in writer's workshop we are using our new reading series - Houghton Mifflin Journeys. I love how this series starts with simple things like labeling. For the past 2 weeks, we have been working on drawing and labeling our pictures with nouns for people and nouns for places. Here are some pictures of our writing.

So how is your writer's workshop going?

Too Tired Tuesday!

Well I just popped by for a quick visit this afternoon. I am super tired today!

This morning we began MAP testing my kinders but because we have such a large group we are going to have to do 1/2 of my class at a time. The problem with this morning's test was that only 10 of my 26 kinders' names were in the computer to be tested. I have to test the other 16 kinders tomorrow. This was just the first part of the MAP test (literacy). Hopefully it will work better tomorrow! We still have to test the numeracy part of the MAP test next week.

I hope everyone has had a Terrific Tuesday! This was the sunrise this morning from my back door. I just thought it might brighten your day!

September Monday Made It

I am a little late in posting this because since school began I haven't kept up with my crafting as much as I did over the summer, but here are my Made-It's for September.

Classroom Made-It #1
I sorted my leveled books into baskets and added cute labels and ribbons to help my students find the correct book basket.

 

Classroom Made-It #2
I made this adorable Post-It note frame that I saw on Pinterest to sit beside my classroom phone. This helps me when the office calls with important information for me to write down.

Walmart Frugal Finds

My hubby took me out to dinner on Friday night which was great. We went to a small local restaurant with some great seafood and very casual dining. This is the note he wrote me on the brown paper table covering! So sweet! I love him so much!!

While out with my hubby, I went to Walmart to pick up some things we needed for the house but I couldn't resist going through the school supplies and clearance section. I found some irresistible deals! Our local Walmart has discounted some of their leftover back to school items.

I found these great little index card boxes that were originally $0.88. They were on clearance for $0.25 each. They will make great storage for literacy games. I got 6 of them in the 3 different colors here.

I found these smaller pencil boxes that were $0.50 originally on clearance for $0.25. They are the perfect size to store my dry erase markers and erasers for my dry erase literacy station and to store pencils for my write the room literacy station. I got 8 of these.

These mini-notebooks were in packs of 4 and were marked down to $0.25 for each pack which was another great buy. I am going to use these in my writing center. I think my kinders will love getting to write on the mini-notebooks since they are different from the typical writing paper. I also purchased enough of these to give my kinders for part of their Christmas presents.

I found these packs of binder rings with 8 in a pack marked down to $1.00 from $1.44 so I got 2 packs.

In all, I spent less than $7.00 on all the items I purchased for my classroom and I got a ton of stuff! I just LOVE finding great deals when shopping! It means I have more money to spend on other things! :)

Southern Saturdays: SC Gamecock Football

Well it is another Southern Saturday so I am looking forward to college football. Last weekend, my SC Gamecocks kicked off their first home game in Columbia with a win over East Carolina, but I wasn't able to go because I had family coming in for the weekend.

This weekend, I am heading to the game with my best friends. I am so excited. I can't wait to hear 2001 play and watch the players rush onto the field. I promise to take lots of pictures and post soon! For now, I am getting ready to head out to meet up with the girls for the 2 hour drive and do some tailgating before the game.

Go Gamecocks!

 

Friday Freebie: Counting Up To 10 (With Numbers)

During the first quarter of the school year, I always begin teaching my students one-to-one correspondence. I teach this using many different kinds of manipulatives. For some kinders, this seems to be a quick skill to master while for others it can be very difficult so I always give lots of practice. I also teach my kinders to count pictures on paper. I created these 2 counting sheets with DJ Inkers clipart to use with my kinders for homework. I hope you can use them too!

Counting up to 10 objects (with numbers) activity sheet

If you download and can use these activity sheets, please leave me a comment. I love hearing from you!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

This adorable gift basket was given to me this morning by a fellow kindergarten teacher which brightened my day! It is amazing how the little things can mean so much!

Math Skill For the Week: Sorting

I am writing this post while sitting in my swing outside. We are having some fabulous fall weather here in SC. It is only 78 degrees this afternoon and it was only 65 degrees when I got up this morning. We don't have really cool days until much later in the year but boy am I thankful for these wonderfully cooler days. It was so nice outside at recess today that I didn't want to come in.

On to other news...this week, we have been working on sorting in small groups. My kinders are starting to understand sorting by colors and sorting by shapes, but they are still having a lot of difficulty with sorting by size. This is always the most difficult for most of my kinders but they do eventually understand it.

Sorting by color

Sorting by shape

So how do you teach your kiddos about sorting? Are there any other ways that I should try for those who are still struggling to understand the concept?

Giveaway Winner

Well it is Saturday and I can sleep later than normal but guess who is up befor 6am. This teacher! I guess I am too excited about the first home football game for my SC Gamecocks! I can't wait to hear 2001 play and watch them run out on the field at Williams-Brice Stadium!!

I only had 6 entries for my quickie giveaway of my Little Friendly Ghosts Tens Frames so my winner is:

Congratulations Suzanne! I will be emailing the set to you in just a few minutes.

If you didn't win, I have decided to keep the set on sale for $2.00 through Sunday. 

Click on either of these links to purchase this game:

TpT                  Teachers Notebook

Hope everyone has a great Saturday!

Friday Freebie: Trace the Shapes activity sheet

Since it is the beginning of the school year, I am working with my kinders on skills that many of them come to kindergarten lacking. I have many kinders who didn't know how to hold a pencil and weren't able to recognize their names on the table. This week I am working with them on the basic 4 shapes so I created this simple activity sheet to have my kinders practice tracing the shapes correctly.

Trace the Shapes activity sheet

If you download and can use this activity sheet, please leave me a comment. I love reading them!

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Just a little plug from me:

I have 3 Donors Choose projects that are currently posted. I would love to have these projects funded. If you enjoy downloading my freebies, I would love it if you could donate a little to one of my projects. You can also search for a match code that will make your donation worth twice as much!