Sunday, May 26, 2013

WIN IT! The Quietest Classroom Pencil Sharpener!

Hello fabulous followers!

Did you read my review of The Quietest Classroom Pencil Sharpener? One word can pretty much sum it up: AMAZING!



This is your chance to win one! Troy from Classroom Friendly Supplies has been nice enough to offer one for FREE to one of my lovely followers. (You must be a U.S. resident for shipping purposes.) All you have to do is enter below! Good Luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Pencil Problems Solved!

My class has had tons of pencil problems this year. At the beginning of the year, I bought an xacto pencil sharper. It was supposed to suction itself to a desk or table so that you could sharpen by hand. It came unstuck every two minutes and was really hard to use. Then, one of the fabulous parents from my room got us an electric sharpener. (I donated the xacto sharpener to another teacher and it broke soon after.) The electric sharpener was great for a while. Then the batteries ran out way fast because the kiddos weren't using it correctly and it was LOUD. We had to wait until the end of the day to use it because of all the noise it made.

I kept seeing my fellow bloggers talking about "The Quietest Classroom Sharpener", so I had to check it out. I am oh so glad that I did! It is pretty much the greatest thing ever!


If you have not heard about this sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies, you MUST try it out! Troy, who owns the company, is a teacher! He is very nice and the shipping is super fast.

Here's what it looks like... it comes in multiple colors!



It is different that any other sharpener I've used (in a good way!). To use, you pull out the silver part of the sharpener (it is already pulled out in the pictures). Then you squeeze the two black triggers at the top and insert your pencil. When you let go, it holds it n place. Then you crank the handle and it does not take long at all for your pencil to be perfectly sharp! It hardly makes any noise when sharpening--perfect for the classroom!



Check out these before and after pictures. That has got to be the sharpest pencil I have ever seen!


Do you have one of these yet? What do you think of it? If you would like to get one go to Classroom Friendly Supplies and start shopping! 

Want this sharpener for yourself? You can enter to win one here!

Happy sharpening!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Last Five for Friday of the School Year! (May 24)

Today was the last day of school for us. *tear* I only made it to Wednesday without crying. One of the parents from my class even cried today... I've had some awesome parents this year and it is always SO nice to hear you're appreciated.

 I can't believe my first year of teaching is over! It flew by. I will miss my sweet kinders like crazy! I have had such an amazing year with them, and they really are a great group of kiddos. I couldn't ask for a better first class and I will always remember them.

BUUUTTT (there's always a but) this last week has been insane! We had field day and the end of the year program in addition to the potty accidents, shouting out all day every day, missing book orders, crying, rolling on the floor, arguing with friends and blue teeth. Yes, I said blue teeth. One of my kiddos colored every tooth in his mouth with blue crayon during work on writing. WHY? Just why.

Look closely. Those teeth are BLUE.

I'm linking up for my last Five for Friday of the school year. (What?! I'm still in shock.)


Here's a look at our last week of school: 

1. We had our kindergarten graduation/spring program today. My kiddos sang The Kindergarten Wall. Such a sweet little song with a good message. If you need an idea for your graduation, check it out! It made me tear up when I first listened to it. My class really liked it too. They did an awesome job and were so stinkin' cute in their cap and gowns.

2. I sent home some cute (educational!) gifts with my kids for the summer. I was inspired by the gifts Elizabeth from Kickin' it in Kindergarten and Jessica from A Turn to Learn shared on their blogs. I kind of merged the two together. Thanks for the ideas guys!


These gifts were a HUGE hit! I only spend a few bucks per student too! The buckets with shovels, balls, and telescopes all came from Birthday in a Box. (If you order from here, make sure you go through Ebates first so you can earn cash back! I forgot and I was SO mad at myself!) I got the Iggy Pig books from Scholastic. Gotta love those dollar books! I printed the other books from Learning A-Z so that they would have some things to read on their level over the summer. The whole bucket cost me less than $5 per student!


Below is the letter I included with the buckets. It has some educational ideas to go with the goodies the kids received. Click here to download this FREEBIE.


I also sent them home with my Summer Learning Pack. Believe it or not, they are super excited to work on it. Yay! It reviews everything we learned this year and will help reduce their summer learning loss. It is also quick and painless for them to complete. Just one page per day and each page covers multiple skills.



Click here to see the pack in my TpT store.

3. Yesterday was field day. The kids had a BLAST but man, I was one tired teacher by the end. The weather was great, so I was very happy about that.




This is a cute snack one of the fabulous moms made for my kiddos.

A robot snack! Applesauce for the head, Hi-C for the body, raisins for the feet, and air heads for the arms. So cute! And mostly healthy is always a huge plus!

4. This is my first time linking up for Share Whatcha Wear. A linky inside of a linky. Woo!


(Sorry about the bad lighting.)

5. The news of the tornado destruction in Oklahoma is heartbreaking. I can't imagine being in the schools there! Teacher's Notebook is selling a bundle to help out with relief efforts. There are over $1,000 in products that have been donated so far! Click here to help out.



Click here to see my review of  The Quietest Classroom Sharpener. It is amazing!



Side note-- Does anyone know why links aren't working when you try to add them to pictures now? Am I the only one this is happening to? It has been driving me CRAZY!

Happy Friday! xox

Friday, May 10, 2013

Busy, busy, busy! with a FREEBIE

Sooo it has been a busy week to say the least! We only had a four day week, but it seemed like it was six days long. How does that work? The end of the year is creeping up and I absolutely cannot believe it! We started learning the song we will sing at Kindergarten Graduation. It made me want to cry! I am going to be a mess the last day of school. I'll miss my sweet kinders.

 

Mother's Day


For Mother's Day, we created the cupcake coupon book that was in the TpT newsletter. I still remember giving things like that to my mom and how much she loved them. The kids thought it was the greatest thing ever and can't wait to help their mommies with some extra chores. (You're welcome Moms, haha!) I think they turned out pretty cute!

 
(This came from Amanda Gregory's TpT store. You can grab it for free here.)

 

Tooth Extraction Subtraction


We have been working on subtraction and we did this super cute activity from Heidi Songs blog.
Here's how it works: The kids each get a page that shows a kid with ten teeth (put the sheet inside a page protector). They roll the dice to see how many teeth to knock out take away. They black out those teeth and count how many are left. Then, they write down the subtraction problem they have created. 



My kids had a blast with this and were SO ENGAGED. Dice + dry erase markers = FUN in kindergarten.
You can get the pictures of the kids from Heidi's blog. Here is a free recording sheet I made to go with it. Just click here to download.

Summer Centers


I got to bust out the Sizzlin' Summer Centers this week. Woohoo! We will be using centers from this pack until the end of the year.




Teacher Appreciation Sale


I was so excited for the TpT Teacher Appreciation Sale that I filled up my cart the day it was announced. I can never pass up a good sale. Here is some of the stuff I bought:











You can see that I kind of went clip art crazy. Oops.

I had orientation for grad school this week. My summer break won't be much of a break, but I am excited and nervous to go to school again. Completing two classes in one month may kill me!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Fabulous Feedback Linky!

Tomorrow I am hosting my first linky party for you to show off any items you picked up during the Teacher Appreciation Sale! Don't forget to come back and link up!


Today, I am linking up with Christina Bainbridge for her Fabulous Feedback linky party!



Who doesn't love getting great feedback?! I definitely do. I appreciate any feedback given and I read every. single. comment. It seems like 80% of people don't leave feedback. I will never understand why. Don't people know they are missing out on FREE TpT credits?! I always leave feedback and earn my TpT credits!

I want to give a BIG THANK YOU to those of you who leave feedback on your downloads. I think my fellow sellers will agree that it feels really great when you get positive feedback. =) Constructive feedback is also nice to receive! It really helps to know what others are thinking.

Here is some of my favorite feedback I have gotten. If you have left any of the feedback below, shoot me an email and I will let you pick any item from my TpT shop for free as a thank you!













ALL of these items (as well as the rest of my TpT store) will be 30% off tomorrow and Wednesday.


Don't forget to link up with your favorite feedback and come back to link up with your Teacher Appreciation Sale loot tomorrow!

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Sales, sales, sales!!

Hi all!

As you know, it is teacher appreciation week this week! There are some amazing sales going on. ALL items in my TN shop will be 30% off May 4-May 10! (10% is taken off automatically checkout.) They are also having a giveaway for a $100 Oriental Trading gift card, so be sure to enter every day!





Later this week (May 7-8), my TpT store will also be 30% off! (Get 10% off with the code TAD13.) I am super excited to do some shopping myself. I never pass up a good sale. =)



Grab these items while they are on sale! There are some really good deals. Click the picture to go to the item.

normal price: $3.50      sale price: $2.45

normal price: $6.99      sale price: $4.89

normal price: $5.99     sale price: $4.19



normal price: $9.99        sale price: $6.99


normal price: $4.50     sale price: $3.15

normal price: $3.50        price: $2.45

normal price: $3.00      sale price: $2.10


Happy shopping!