Teacher Tam's Common Core Summer Packet

Teacher Tam has created a great summer packet that focuses on the common core standards. Click on the picture below to find out more about it! It is purchasable through her TpT store.

BTW: I am on the Spring Break countdown. I only have 9 more school days until my Spring Break. I can't wait!

Wacky, Wonderful Weather

We have been working on our weather unit. We will continue this unit next week. Here are the things I have created to go with this unit.

What's in the Cloud? CVC words

I wanted something for my independent kiddos to do during group time and this activity sheet is just the thing I needed. I created this activity sheet for my kinder kids to practice stretching sounds in CVC words. This is an essential reading skill and something that most of the kinders I have worked with need extra practice on.

Umbrellas & Raindrops Word Family Sort

This is an activity that I created for my assistant to do with her small group during our guided reading time. The students will work together to sort the raindrops onto the correct word family umbrella. These are all word families that we have already focused on. You could also have your kinders do this as an independent center.

You can't really tell from this picture but I printed the umbrellas on light purple paper.

I hope you can use these activities too! Please leave a comment if you download. I love getting your feedback. Thanks!

Spring Has Arrived!

  This beautiful rainbow was seen right outside my house yesterday. 

Well it is official...spring has arrived in South Carolina! I am loving this wonderful spring weather we have been having.We have been having 75 to 80 degree days with lots of sunshine. It has been fantastic but it has caused my sweet kinderkids to get spring fever very early! They have been wearing me out. 

Yesterday we had a Flex Day (a teacher workday that we had already made up our time for) so we got the day off. The weather was fabulous with a warm breeze and it even got up to 82 degrees so I headed down to the beach for the day. It was FABULOUS!! After a couple of hours, I decided that some retail therapy was also in order. I had to have some new sandals for spring/summer so here is what I found! 

These adorable sandals are by Chinese Laundry. They were just so cute I had to try them on and they will go with so many outfits this spring. Comfortable flip flops are always a winner in my book!

I LOVED these wedges as soon as I saw them but was pleasantly surprised when I realized they were comfortable as well as cute. They are made by Clarks and feel great on my feet. I probably won't be able to wear them when I am teaching my kinders but I will have lots of fun wearing them on dates with my hubby and weekends.

Obviously black is one of my signature colors! These adorable sandals are made by one of my favorite shoe makers - Born. I loved the flower on top of the shoe. They look adorable on the foot as well. They are oh so comfortable and I will be able to wear them a lot this spring while teaching my kinders.

I have obviously updated my sandal collection. Sorry for the long non-teaching post, but I hope you enjoy seeing how I spent my day off! I hope you all are enjoying the spring weather as well!

Easter Egg Fun

I have been working on some Easter activities this weekend and I couldn't wait to share them with you. I created this Easter egg syllable sort to help my kids practice syllables. I also created the recording sheet for my kiddos to use during center time.

Easter Egg Syllable Sort

Easter Egg Syllable Sort Recording Sheet

I hope you can use these activities! Please leave me a comment if you download them. Your comments always make me smile. Thanks!

Currently for March

This is a quick post tonight. Today was a wild day in my classroom. My assistant was out and I was left with a sub who doesn't usually work with small kiddos so they tried her out to see what they could get away with which means they used up all of my extra energy!

I am linking up with Farley again at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her March Currently linky party. Here's mine:

I hope your week is going well! Tomorrow is FRIDAY! YAH!!

BTW: I have had couple of donations to my Donors Choose projects and I have partner funding offer right now that only leaves about $75 and $80 for each of my projects. YAH!! :)

Donors Choose - Spring Friends & Family Match

I just wanted to pop in to let you know that Donors Choose is doing their spring friends and family match code again. This code will double donations. The code is BLOOM and you must enter it when you donate in order for it to count. This code will be good through March 19th.


I hope that everyone will consider donating to a project during this time since all donations no matter how small or large can be doubled. All donations are tax deductible. If you would like to donate to one of my projects please click on the Donors Choose banner below. Thanks!

BTW: I am now up to 89 followers! WOW! I never thought I would have this many followers after just starting my blog in September.

Luck of the Leprechaun!

I am doing our St. Patty's Day unit this week. I made this activity sheet for my students to do during independent group time. They need to practice CVC words. I hope you can use it too! Have a great week!

What's In The Shamrock? activity sheet

If you download this freebie, I would love for you to leave me a comment. I love to hear from you!

Dr. Seuss Is On The Loose!

Last week and this week we have been working on our Dr. Seuss unit. This is one of my favorite units that we do all year! This year has been lots of fun as well!

After reading The Cat in the Hat, my kinders completed the rhyming hats game from Kelly's Kindergarten. This was a rather difficult activity for some of my kinders, but it was a nice challenge.

We made these adorable Cats in the Hats by following written directions. The kids loved doing this craft!

This picture didn't upload correctly.

After reading Green Eggs and Ham, we practiced adding during our small group math time. The kids used the plates and green eggs from A to Z Teacher Stuff. The kinders rolled a die and put that many eggs on the left side of their plate and then rolled again for the right side. This was a good way to practice addition hands-on.

After reading Ten Apples Up on Top, we used the apples sheet with number words I made to make these adorable ten apples up on top self portraits. They turned out so cute!

Ten Apples Up on Top Number Words Apples

To finish off our Dr. Seuss fun, we had a Dr. Seuss day where the kids got to dress like a Dr. Seuss character of their choice. I had lots of Cat in the Hats and Things show up to class. I also had a couple Cindy Lou Who's. They were adorable!

Thank you so much!

I popped on my blog for just a tonight and found that I had been nominated for a blog award, the One Lovely Blog Award by Mrs. Egley's Kindergarten and Mrs. Greene's Kindergarten. You ladies have made my week. I needed a smile. Thank you so very much!

Here are the rules for the award:

• Thank the person who gave the award to you and link back to them.
• Pass the award on to 15 other bloggers.
• Follow the person who nominated you.

Here are my nominees in random order (Sorry there aren't 15...I just couldn't do it tonight.):
Kinderzoo
Wild About Teaching
Pocket Full of Kinders
A Kindergarden in Bloom
Camp Kindergarten
Criss-Cross Applesauce
DillyDabbles
Kids Reading Activities
A Special Kind of Class

Thank you again!

Prayer Request

I am sorry that I have not been on this week. On Monday my uncle lost his entire home to fire so this has been a very difficult week. I am asking all of you to please pray for our family during this difficult time. I have been through a house fire when I was a child and lost everything I owned. It is a very hard thing to recover from. Thank you all for understanding. 

Leaping Leprechauns!

St. Patrick's Day is coming soon so I wanted to share a freebie with you. 

Shamrock Syllable Sorting Game

I printed it on cardstock and laminated it for durability. The kids pick a picture card and clap the syllables. Then they put it under the correct label - 1, 2, or 3 syllables. I have also included a recording sheet to go along with the syllable sorting game.

Shamrock Syllable Sorting Recording Sheet

 ~Joni

WOW!

I can not believe that it is March already! It seems like we were just celebrating the new year last week and we have already completed 2 months in 2012! Wow...time is going so quickly! 

This week we have been celebrating Dr. Seuss. I forgot my camera at school and will post pictures of what we have done so far next week when I get back to school. Today we had a school-wide (over 700 kids) celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday by having a hat parade. It was a lot of fun but it meant the kids were very hyper excited throughout the entire day! Now I am home and trying to relax. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

BTW: I have a new Donors Choose project that I would love to get funded. You can click on the link below to visit my project page. I would appreciate any donations. You can also search for a match code that will double any donations. Thanks in advance!