Keep Calm and BLOG ON!

This title reminds me so much of my trip to Scotland last summer... I had the joy of spending 5 weeks in the UK working with sweet 10-11 year old students in one of the public schools there. It was a wonderful experience, and I am so glad I got to be a part of it. 

But that's not the point of this post! I'm joining yet another linky party. It's fun watching my hit counter go up uP UP because so many of you lovely people out there are just like me: blog stalkers. I love to read anything and everything that people post, especially in hopes of great new blog ideas, classroom ideas, or whatever! So here's my contribution! 

1. Why did you start blogging? 

I started blogging because I wanted to keep track of my first year of teaching. I want to share what I learn in this next year of my education career, and I know that the blogging world is such a great place to be encouraged, inspired, and held accountable! I love technology, and I want to put my creativeness into use, as well. A blog is perfect for that.

2. What blogs do you stalk? What blogs inspire you?

Oh my goodness...This could become a long, LONG list. I will keep it concise for time's sake. I wish I could figure out how to make a decent blogroll on WordPress (regretting not just keeping my blogspot account!) So here's my list:

A Turn To Learn

Can Do Kinders

Kindergarten Crayons

Kreative in Kinder

Live, Love, Laugh Everyday in Kindergarten

Mrs. Miner's Kindergarten Monkey Business

Rowdy in Room 300

The First Grade Parade

A Modern Teacher

Miss Kindergarten

3. Blogging tips, tools, and great ideas you have learned along the way 

I really don't have any tips, tools, or great ideas. What I've just been doing is creating nice content and pretty things on GimpShop and PowerPoint, posting regularly, and joining linky parties in hopes of people noticing my blog. I'm thinking about joining the Teacher Blog Traffic School once I start getting more content up, but for now I'm just enjoying using this blog as a place to just write to whoever wants to read it! 

4. Blogging and balance 

Nonexistent! Right now, I'm not in school, and the school year hasn't started. Blogging and blog stalking is almost a 24/7 thing lately. It's getting to be an addiction. If someone has some tips on how to relax a bit and not blogstalk, PLEASE let me know what you do to curb your addiction. :) 

5. What are your blogging goals for the summer? 

- Have 50 people following me! I'm not sure how I'll accomplish that, but I bet I could if I put out great content! 

- Meet great teacher bloggers who will give me guidance in my first year of teaching. 

- Put up new content at least twice a week. 

Thanks goes to Sprinkle Teaching Magic for hosting this linky party!
Also, thank you to Jen's Kinder Kids for posting her linky in the first place!
I would not have found out about this without her lovely post.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Wow! This week has been crazy. Thursday I got the opportunity to go to a TCEA conference in Southeast Texas to learn more about the iPad. The school in which I'll be working allowed me to borrow one of their iPads for it! I got to play with the iPad for 4 hours straight :) Some of the apps that I'm LOVING for kindergarten are:

 

Hungry Fish: I love this game because it can be adjusted for any age, really. Students that understand the basics of addition can practice their skills while more advanced kids can feed their hungry fish harder addition sums! It's even fun for me, and I'm an adult!

 

Futaba: THIS IS TOO ADDICTING! I love that it can be up to four players. The object of this word game is to pick the word that matches the picture. This can be for older kinders and even first graders. The competition makes it fun because they have to pick the word before anyone else does. And they can't just click all four options. You're only allowed one shot at the guess or you can't get the point. Three futabas wins! LOVE. Especially for ESL kids. :)

 

Sentence Maker: This can seem a little basic, but it's a great app. It'd be wonderful for centers where they can hear the person reading to them. They hear a sentence and drag the words to the appropriate places. It'd be good for vocabulary expansion and for phonics understanding.

I'll post more about the apps I'm loving once I try out more. The iPad is truly addicting, and it is a fantastic invention!

In other news, I made the menu board I've been dreaming of! This is my first ever Pinterest DIY project I've completed. I've done recipes before, but never a craft! Soooo, without further ado...Here is my completed MENU BOARD! <3

 

Sorry it's so photo heavy! I love this board. Mom and I made 40 dinner cards on a Word document with pretty fonts. A fun time was had all around, and now it's hung in our kitchen looking marvelous! I know it's not kinder related, but it's how I spent my weekend! Oh, and today my family and I went to Landry's for dinner. Can you say YUM?!

QOTD:: What crafts have you made from Pinterest? Any others I should try?

As always, thank you for stopping by! Leave me a comment with your answer to those questions!

Manic Monday Freebie

Today is Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies, so I thought I'd get in on the action for the first time ever! 

  

I decided at 10:00pm last night that I really wanted to make my own calendar for school next year. I saw a lot of wonderful examples, like the one on Mrs. Freshwater's Class, which you should definitely look at. My only problem is that I like things done the best way for me! That means that most of the time, I end up creating my own version of already made things. So here is my freebie! It's my own version of a 2012-2013 calendar, starting this May and ending next May. If you need me to add more months, change fonts, or anything, just send me a message or comment below! I'd love to help you out! 

Thank you for stopping by! Let me know what you think!

QOTD: What are some sections that are necessary for a teacher's binder?

On the Hunt for Classroom Books!

What a weekend!! It's hard to know where to begin, but I guess the most logical beginning is what we did on Saturday. 

Yesterday, we decided to go garage sale-ing (or sailing, whichever you prefer). My parents came with me and we printed off our city's list of documented garage sales in the area. I brought my trusty red felt-tip pen (LOVE) and my iPhone with a wonderful Maps app, and we were off at about 9AM! We obviously stopped for Sonic drinks to make it through the long day of garage sales. Obviously. I withdrew about $40 in cash just in case. 

We hit around 20 homes in search of cheap children's books. Some homes had them and others didn't. That's the fun of it. We saw some precious little ones selling lemonade, and one little girl who proclaimed, "I'm in kindergarten now and I will be going to 1st grade! I'm SCARED!" We had a blast. There was even one home that was an estate sale, and my mom bought a brand new golf set (for lefties) for only $40! Mind-blowing! 

I'm going to show you all the books I got first, and then I'll tell you how much I spent. Okay? 

 

I got 20 BOOKS! For around $5.50! There was one sale where each book was 25 cents, but everything at their sale was 50% off the original sale price! What a deal. This was the same sale where I got the book The Polar Express, which was originally $18 hardback copy! I love garage sales. We're going again at the first of June because that's about the time when teachers are done with their school year. I can hardly wait to see what I find.

Today, I went to church, and saw something special waiting for me. I received a basket of books from my Secret Pal/Sister from church for my graduation gift! Isn't that sweet? She even got me some sidewalk chalk. Here are the two pictures of that.

I love new books. I can't wait to use all these in my class! I'll post more as I get more. I'm going to be making a teacher binder soon, so keep an eye out for that. I really haven't been doing much else.

What do you think?

Which books do you like best for kindergarten?

Which are NECESSARY?

Shopping and My Handiwork!

Mom and I decided to go on a shopping trip yesterday. That bucket list idea really had me motivated. :) We got a lot of groceries, and I got some great stuff for my bedroom, my classroom, and just to be crafty. Here's some of the stuff we scored: 1. The cutest reading center monkey I ever did see! SO good for my Wild About Kinder theme. His name is Mason Monkey. Presh.

 

2. Three books! One is a nice photo-filled nonfiction called Space. There's a mix and match Safari animals book that would be fun for kinders to look at. The last one is my favorite. It's a height chart covered with wild animals! Totally going to track their height over the school year to show how much they grew. Too cool.

 

3. My very own beginners herb garden. I picked the one with basil, cilantro, and parsley because those are the most useful herbs. We'll find out if I actually have a green-thumb.

 

4. Crafty things. We're going to make that menu board, so we had to get some supplies for it. Also, I got some Leopard print duct tape so that I can decorate some WHISPER PHONES I want to make out of PVC pipe this summer.

 

5. What color should I make my accent wall? Right now it's an ocean blue color. Thoughts?

 

6. Last but not least, I bought a shelving unit!! It's one of those awesome ClosetMaid ones that's 12 cubes. I assembled it last night and this afternoon. It's wonderful and I love it. Yes, that is an Ireland flag behind it -- from Ireland! :) I also got some under-the-bed storage bins and 4 clear shoebox bins. I love storing things neatly.

That's all for an update on my summer so far! What do you think? I love to read your comments.

Have a fantastic Mother's Day!

Summer Bucket List Linky!

I am a university alum! I graduated on Cinco de Mayo with my Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education and Spanish. It's a liberating feeling, really. Now, I'm back at my parent's house living here for a year or so trying to save SaVe SAVE all my money to buy a home. Yes. BUY a home. So while I'm here, I have a lot of spare time before I start my first year of teaching in the Fall. So here's my bucket list because I saw Miss Kindergarten's linky party and thought it would be fun to make some goals for myself. :)

 

1. Finish organizing and redecorating my bedroom! I have been cleaning and organizing this whole week, and I'm working towards a nice relaxing theme for my room. Maybe turquoise, black, and white like this room. Who knows! I've already moved a ton of stuff out.

2. Make this super cute menu board with my mom. SO awesome!

3. Craft some awesome numbers and letters bean bags out of felt that my cooperating teacher (during student teaching) made. They were too fun for the fourths, and I'm sure that my kinders in the Fall will L.O.V.E. them!

4. Decorate my brand new CLASSROOM! I can't wait to set everything up and find out what I get to use in it. My theme idea is Jungle/Rainforest/Safari. Of course. I keep looking up stuff online to print just to add a little something extra to the room. If you have any suggestions/advice for my first year, don't hesitate to comment below!

6. Spend July with WR. He should be coming to the States this summer and I can't wait to show him around my city! It's going to be a blast.

Summer 2012 is going to be great!

I hope that you enjoyed reading my blog. Come back soon for more updates on my adventure in teaching!

Leave a comment if you have any other fun things I should add to my list!