Classroom Reveal!

Here is the reveal of my new classroom finally! I have been very, very busy the past few months as I am sure you all have as well!

I stuck with the Polka Dot Decor again this year.

Here is my classroom door with all of my students' names.

Here is the front of my classroom.

This is were we have carpet time, calendar, etc. and also where the projector is.

I got some SitSpots! My room has built-in carpet, so sit spots are perfect for me because I cannot afford a new carpet to go on top of the one that is built-in.

SitSpots are perfect to give my kiddos an assigned place to sit on this crazy, old carpet. They just velcro right on!

Here is my small group table and storage. I have a SINK! That is so exciting to me. When you haven't had one before, you really appreciate that sink!

This is my favorite part of my room. I will switch these out periodically throughout the year.

Here is the back of my room. I will post pictures of the library when it is finished.

Above the whiteboard are clothespins where I will hang anchor charts.

Here are my supplies I keep close to the kiddos for easy access.

I hope you are enjoying your new students and all the back-to-school fun!

b or d center FREEBIE!

Hi friends! Back to school is creeping up and I am frantically trying to prepare myself! I will start setting up my room next week and then in-service starts the 31st (ah!). This is what my new room currently looks like:

See why I'm panicking?! BUT it is huge and I cannot wait to get it all together.

I did get to meet the other kindergarten teachers yesterday and they seem amazing, so I am excited about that!

b or d Center FREEBIE

I have been working on some alphabet centers for the beginning of the year and I have a FREEBIE to share with you.

Every year, kiddos have trouble deciphering between b and d. It is one of those tricky things that we deal with all year. I made this center for some extra practice working on this skill. It is a "b or d?" sorting center. You can grab this freebie over at the K-3 Connection facebook page. (Click "like" then "fan FREEBIES" to access it as well as my other fan freebies.)

Here are some other ideas I found that can also help your students with b and d. Just click on the picture to see where it came from.

FREE Educents Explorer Guide and Checklist!

How's your Summer going? Keeping busy? Have the little ones started saying the dreaded words, "I'm bored," yet? Luckily, Educents anticipated that from a mile away and compiled a list of 50 things you and your family can do to combat the Summer Bummer! 

It has tons of ideas from recipes, places to go, craft ideas, and more!

Just click here to check out the free guide!

Happy 4th! Back to School FREEBIE!

Happy 4th of July friends! I hope you are having a wonderful holiday with your friends and family. I will be heading downtown for a free concert and fireworks tonight.

I wanted to share a couple of things with you on this special day. First of all, a new Facebook Fan Freebie from my newest creation. Click the picture below to head to facebook for your freebie! (You have to click "like" and then click on the "Fan FREEBIES" tab to access it.)

(You can view this product on TpT here.)

And now, a special Educents deal for my followers! With the code "Fireworks4K3Connection" you can get 10% off and free shipping on $75 or more! This deal lasts until Monday. If you haven't discovered Educents yet, it is a place where you can get some amazing deals on already discounted education products.

Happy shopping and Happy 4th of July!

100th Post GIVEAWAY!

This is my 100th post on my little blog. Crazy! To celebrate, I am giving away my new Polka Dot Class Decor to help you get ready for next year. The best part about it--it is EDITABLE!

How can you win it? Head over to my facebook page and leave a comment! That is it! I will give away more depending on how many comments are left. Good luck and thanks for sticking with me through 100 posts!

Interview Questions

If you're like me... any type of interview situation causes extreme stress and nervousness. I interviewed for a couple of kindergarten positions recently and jotted down the questions I was asked in hopes that they can help someone else score their dream job!

How would others describe you?

Where do you see yourself three years from now?

What was your greatest challenge your first year teaching?

What would I see if I came in your classroom?

What is your greatest challenge working with ELL students?

What is something you have improved on in the last year?

What is the last (professional) book you’ve read?

What is the first step you take when writing a lesson plan?

How do you motivate unmotivated students?

How do you keep parents involved?

How do you run guided reading?

How do you manage your classroom so that new students know what to do?

How do you teach phonics?

What type of assessments do you use?

Do you have any questions for me?

If you have any difficult or frequent interview questions you have been asked, post them in the comments!

Time to Catch Up!

I am officially on summer break! (Does it count as a break if you are teaching summer school, moving into a new house, and moving classrooms? I guess not.) I have some random things to catch you all up on!

First... a funny little picture. You know you always have at least one little stinker in every class. Well, here is what mine did.

What a sweetheart, right?!

You can grab this free end of the year book from Jessica Travis here.

End of the Year Gifts

I chose to do a similar End of the Year Bucket gift again.

The buckets came from the Dollar Tree aka teacher heaven.

Here is what went inside my bucket:

(Sorry it is so dark.)

The book and bookmark came from Scholastic. The little green thing is playdough and I got it in the target dollar spot. The sticker, tattoos, and beach ball are from Oriental Trading.

Announcement!

Aaaaannd I have to announce that I am changing schools next school year! I will still be teaching kindergarten, but it a larger PUBLIC school. Big change, but I am really excited! Here is what my "old" classroom currently looks like... (I can't wait to move to one that is not so tiny!)

Are you looking for a new teaching job? I will post some of the interview questions I was asked soon to hopefully help you out!

EXCLUSIVE Deal for K-3 Connection Followers!

I have an amazing deal to share with my fabulous followers! With this EXCLUSIVE code, you can get 10% off any Educents deal plus free shipping from today until Monday! Just use the code "K-3-10FREE". I may just have a deal coming up in a couple of days that you could use this promotion on...

Have you checked out my new Summer Bundle? If you have had your eye on it, you may want to wait a couple of days to buy it... just sayin'. =)

Plants, Plants, Plants!

We just starting our plant unit! I have been loving it because I found TONS of fabulous free resources to use! Read on to see what we've been doing and where you can grab these freebies.

Parts of a Plant

On day 1, we focused on the parts of a plant. I found this super cute anchor chart idea on pinterest. (Not sure where it is originally from, if you know... help a girl out!)

We read a Parts of a Plant reader that I got for FREE from Greg over at Smedley's Smorgasboard.

We also sang a Plant Parts song by Dr. Gene!

Once we learned ALL about the parts of a plant, we added our new learning to our Plants anchor chart. We will continue to fill out this anchor chart and then use it to publish writing at the end of the week.

Then we made this cute little craft that shows the parts of a plant.

(I got this FREEbie from Kimberly Cavett.)

Plant Needs

On Day 2, we focused on the needs of a plant. 

We sang this Needs of a Plant song to help us remember everything that a plant needs.

We added the needs of our plant to our craft.

Then we filled in the "need" portion of our anchor chart.

Click here to grab this free graphic organizer and a writing page.

We will be finishing the graphic organizer and then doing some writing all about plants. Next week, we will start on the plant life cycle.

Here are some books that we have been using to lead our discussions. Click them to see on Amazon.

           

Follow me on Pinterest to see more great ideas I've found.

Earth Day (Five for Friday)

Happy Friday! We celebrated Earth Day all week! It was a short week for us due to Easter Break (private school perks). Short week = good week. I also finished my Vandy classes this week and I am officially ELL endorsed! So happy to have that completed.

Do you every have those days at school when you think "Is this really my life??". Well that was today for me. This is not Earth Day related, but I had to share...

In case you do not speak fluent kindergarten: "I pooped on the floor today and I will not do it again today. Never not Sunday and Monday."

Insert... is this my life...thoughts.

This freebie came from Miss Kindergarten.

We read this little reader all week. I am so proud of how far my kiddos have come in their reading. It really starts to click around this time of year and it is so rewarding!

Last but not least, it is time to announce my giveaway winner!

Congrats to... Lori!! You will love your ESGI subscription!

If you haven't checked out ESGI yet... you need to. Like NOW. Read about it here.

Thanks to all who entered and commented on that post! I will be sending ALL of you an item of your choice from my store. =)

Earth Day FLASH FREEBIE

Hi friends!

Today is my Friday this week--woopwoop! We started our Earth Day celebration early and I have a FLASH FREEBIE to share with my amazing followers!

It is an Earth Day reader that would be great for "Read to Self" time or guided reading. It will be free just until I get home for dinner tonight--so grab it while you can by clicking on the picture! (Feedback would be GREATLY appreciated.)

Here is a forever FREEBIE I made last year for Earth Day.

I am trying to finish my Earth Day No-Prep pack... and will hopefully have it done before Earth Day actually arrives. Key word = hopefully.

In the meantime, check out this Earth Day post from last year.

Also, today is the last day to enter my ESGI Giveaway! Don't miss it!

Five for Friday--All About Seasons

It's that time again...

This week we have been studying seasons.

First and most importantly... make sure you enter my giveaway! It ends on Wednesday.

We had a field trip this week. We went to go see the Kid Power Program. It was pretty high for my kinders, but they had a great time. (That's what matters, right?)

For the past two weeks, we have been studying seasons. Here is an anchor chart I made for reference. We also made an anchor chart with key words for each season.

We read sentences and illustrated them. Students that were able to added more to their sentence.

As an assessment, I used this fab freebie from Britney Bennet.

Need more ideas for seasons? Click here!

Have a great weekend!