Diggin' In ~ 5 Senses Book Pack

Hello Friends!!

Whew, things have been a little nuts lately, sorry for my absence! I am excited to share one of my favorite products for the beginning of the school year with you, and tell you about the AWESOME Giveaway that I am taking part in as a finale to this Diggin' In Series!

Ok, let me tell you a little bit about my 5 Senses Book Pack. I created this because I had students at several different levels of ability. This is especially pronounced in Kindergarten ~ you get some babes coming you who can read at a second grade level and some who don't know the difference between numbers and letters, and can't write their name. I love being able to differentiate for my students while still having them all work on the same project and feel included. With this book pack all the students color the same pages in the same order, they just write different amounts depending on their ability. 

Here are a few examples from my 5 Senses Book Pack. 

If you like this and think that you like to use it with your students, now's the time to snatch it up! The TpT Back to School SALE starts TOMORROW {Monday the 4th} and my ENTIRE store will be 28% OFF! This book pack is only $1.99 to begin with so that's a pretty sweet deal :) Enjoy!!

Ok, as promised I will now tell you a little bit about the AMAZING giveaway that will be happening August 11th-17th!!

Here are some of the prizes: TpT gift cards, Target gift card {$50.00!!}, Amazon gift card {$100.00!!!!!!}, 31 gift bag, laminator, TpT products!!! Check out Where the Magic Happens for images and a complete list of the goodies!!!

Amazing Giveaway!!!

Hello Dear Friends!

I wanted to take a few minutes to let you know about an awesome giveaway hosted by Alexis from Laugh Eat Learn that I am taking part of! There are some really great prizes for you to win :) Check them out below!!!

Food Network Magazine Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway Kindergarten Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway 1st Grade Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway 2nd Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway Intermediate Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dollar Store Delights!

So while shopping for paper products for our BBQ this past weekend I discovered a treasure trove of organizing delights!!! As several of you know I am staying home with the Little Bean at the moment, otherwise I would have been snatching up a bunch of these things for my classroom! I took some photos to share with you all :) I hope you find some of these gems at your local Dollar Store too!!

What a great sorting tray in the top middle! I love the boxes with the lids too for markers, crayons etc. 

Great tubs and baskets for anything and everything!

Purple! Love the little buckets! Have you ever read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? If not, I definitely recommend it. It's a wonderful story about kindness. These little buckets would be perfect for implementing this idea into your classroom!

These little dishes are adorable! Not sure exactly what I would use them for but I know I could think of something :) Aaaand, they come 4 to a pack! $.25 each?? Whaaaat??!! :)

I like these because you can never loose the lids! Haha 

Need new table organizers? Also, check out the adorable woven baskets!

 I love these baskets!

So many shapes and sizes! It's a beautiful sight :)

{And no, I am not being paid by the Dollar Store to promote their products ;) How sweet would that be though?! ;)}

Stock up with my Sequencing Through the Seasons Super Pack!

Welcome to the Summer Stock Up hosted by The Primary Gal! 

I am excited to share one of my favorite products with you ~ my Sequencing Through the Season Super Pack! This pack bundles together all three of my sequencing packs ~ fall, winter and spring!

I love this product for several reasons. One is that it can be used right off the bat at the beginning of the year and can also be used throughout the rest of the year. Another is that it is SO easy to differentiate for your students with the different levels provided!! I also love this because of the writing component. Each sheet comes on it's own, or as a small strip and separate writing page. In the past my Kg team used these writing pages as assessments for our little guys. 

Here is an example of the single sheet:

Here is an example of the writing page:

I had some help from a little friend ;) 

Enter to win this pack FOR FREE!!! This pack includes all three of my sequencing packs bundled into one!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stock up with my ABC Line in Print, D'Nealian or Cursive!

Welcome to the Summer Stock Up hosted by The Primary Gal! This product is near and dear to my heart ~ it is the first thing I ever made for TpT!!! I did not have a tablet at that point so I drew and painted everything by hand, the "old fashioned way!" Creating art is a huge passion of mine. I spent quite a while painting the images and figuring out the best way to scan them into the computer without loosing the quality. It was a fun summer!

The ABC Lines are available in Print, D'Nealian and Cursive. There are flash cards in Print and D'Nealian, and the Cursive comes as half sheets. I also offer an upper/lowercase letter match. 

So I use the large cards as my alphabet line. One of the reasons I love this type of alphabet line (one image per page) is that if one rips or gets lost it is so easy to replace it ~ simply reprint and laminate! You don't have to patch with tape or buy a whole new one. 

I use the flashcards cards as alphabet quiz cards for students who are struggling to remember their letters. I have also used them for my word wall. One of my students' favorite things to do with them was to use them in Literacy Centers. In the beginning of the year I would simply have them put the cards in alphabetical order. Then as their skills progressed, I would pull out a few letters and have them sort pictures that started with that letter and lay the cards all out on the floor (kg students do so much better when they can move all around!).

My students, and even the older students I tutored, really love the pictures. I chose some rather unconventional images for an alphabet line, such as a quill, a tangerine, a zinnia, to help expand their vocabulary. The kids learned pretty quickly what the new pictures were :)

I would love to hear how you plan on using these in your classroom! Enter the giveaway below to win an entire set of both the large card alphabet line and the flash cards for FREE!

Here are a few of my favorites :) {Images do not print with the black border}

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Summer Video Series ~ How To Make Cooked Playdough

I am so excited to bring this Summer Video Series to you!! Every two weeks I will post a new video on how to make something that you can use with your children and/or students, or something to help you organize your classroom.

This is the first ever video in which I am the "star." I generally prefer to stay behind the camera, but with much encouragement from my husband ~ and by "much" I mean he has been bugging me to do this for months ~ I finally said ok! As you can hear Little Bean wanted to be a part of the sound track, along with our dear friend Sophie the Giraffe ;) Several people have pointed out that the play dough matches my apron, which was totally not planned!! Apparently I really like pink and green :)

Here it is! I would love to hear your thoughts on the video and hear what things you would like to see in this series!

I am having a raffle for those who subscribe to my YouTube Channel! Enter to win a FREE TpT product under $4.00 of your choice!


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Classroom Organization

I am SO excited to be taking part in this link party series!!! Thank you so much to the amazing Laura for putting it all together!!

I LOVE organizing my classroom for the year! I am always one of the teachers who go a week before preplanning starts so I can pull everything out, bring in the new things I have and start putting things up. Having an organized classroom is helpful for you, as the teacher, and helpful for your students. Not only will having an organized classroom help your students to be more secure, you will be teaching them an important skill.
Here are a few tips on how I like to organize my classroom. I hope you learn some new things!
{I am currently fortunate enough to be staying home with our wonderful little boy, so I'm sorry for the lack of photos!! I found some old ones, but am missing several ~ sorry!}

Bulletin Boards

My first year teaching Kindergarten I learned an awesome trick from a few of the other Kg teachers ~ using fabric instead of butcher paper on the bulletin boards. I love doing this for several reasons; it is good for the earth as you aren't tossing butcher paper every time you want to change your boards, you can pick out fun colors/patterns, it doesn't rip when you pull things down etc. The down side, however, is that it does cost you a little right off the bat. I bought mine 6 years ago and have no idea what I spent, but it was well worth it. I have also used it in two different classrooms with very different style boards and just fold it in different ways to make it fit (don't cut it!). I change out the border on certain boards with the seasons, but the fabric stays up all year. 

{Fabric covered boards with border} 

Classroom Library

I have tried a few different ways of organizing my classroom library over the years and have settled on sorting by genre and DRA level. I have a tub for Animals, Dr. Seuss books,  Fairytales, Seasons (this obviously changes throughout the year), Alphabet, Math, Science, and School Library Books (books the children have checked out of the school library and are are waiting to be returned on library day). I also have few different levels of DRA levels books. One bucket is empty and as we make books throughout the year I add my example books to the box so the kids can practice re-reading them. As the year progresses I switch out the books based on the season and the children's DRA levels. 

{An old photo but similar to how I set up my library now}

Binders, Drawers and Tubs

Drawers: One of the things that keeps me most organized are my days of the week drawers. I invested in plastic drawers and labeled one for each day of the week and one for copies that needed to be made/papers that need to be refiled. I make all the copies I need for each subject ahead of time, paper clip them together and label them with a sticky note, and put them in the drawer for the day I will need them. I also put Read Aloud books that I need for the day in the drawer (when they fit). I keep my lesson plan binder on top of the drawers with my lesson plans open so I (or my principal) can easily refer to them. 
Binders: I print out my lesson plan/daily schedule for each week and keep it in a binder for easy referencing. My former principal actually required this so he could easily pop in and see what we were working on. I also have many binders for full of all my master copies. At the end of each year I begin copying all the things I will need to begin the next year. I have been working on scanning my master copies into the computer so I can have them in digital form. It saves space, the quality is better, it's easy to print extras quickly (no dashing to the copy room at the last minute!), you can edit and add to them!
Tubs: Keeping items in tubs is super helpful. You can keep them loose or portion them out into ziplock baggies depending on what they are and what you need them for, for example, I had one tub with loose  coins and a tub with coins that were sorted. Kindergarteners love to help sort incase your tubs ever get all mixed up :)

{Community Supplies ~ the students used these at centers, for art projects and when they ran out of glue at their table they got a new one from here}

Thanks so much for stopping by! Again, sorry for the ancient photos! I hope my descriptions were clear. If you have any questions please feel free to ask :) Happy SUMMER!!

For more great tips on how to organize your classroom stop by Laura's Blog Where the Magic Happens and check out all the awesome teachers participating in this Linky Party!

10 Things I Would Like to do This Summer!

I am linking up with Deanna Jump and friends to share 10 things I'd like to do this summer!! 

Oh man, where to start? There are so many things I would like to get done! Ok, here goes :) 

Number 1

I have always wanted to be a runner, but have never consistently kept it up. It always one thing or another that gets in the way, like getting sick or the weather getting cold and snowy... Well I have decided that I want to run a 5K before we try for another little bean, so I have started jogging again. I load Little Bean into the car and head to the beach or one of the beautiful parks in our area. I then proceed to jog with our awesome Bob jogging stroller, and then we hit the swings ~ swinging is one of Little Bean's all time favorite things to do :) One thing that keeps me going is my Run Keeper app. I love that it tracks how far I've gone and what my average pace is, although I vary my pace for heart health. You can also set it to play music from your iTunes play list which is pretty cool. 

Number 2 

Work on my TpT store! I have so many products swirling around in my mind just waiting to be created! Now to find the time... :) I'd also like to revamp some of my older projects. My goal is to create two each month ~ we'll see! What are your goals for creating products? Any tips or tricks?

Number 3

Begin and finish a painting! I haven't painted for pleasure since finding out I was pregnant. I mostly oil paint and that's not safe during pregnancy due to all the fumes. We have friends getting married this fall and my gift to our friends who get married has always been a painting. They send me a photo and I paint it! It makes me so happy to know my artwork makes other people happy :)

Number 4

Cook/bake more recipes from Pinterest. I love cooking and baking, and fortunately I was blessed with a little one who will (usually) happily sit in his high chair munching on snacks or playing while I cook and bake. I always show him what I'm doing and let him "help" me, which he loves :) I was also blessed with a husband who is willing to try just about anything! There have only been a few meals that he's said "I'd be ok if you didn't make that one again..." Haha ;)

Number 5 

Work on Little Bean's photo book. We love creating photo books through iPhoto on our computer, so I began one Little Bean's first month and had lofty goals of doing one month at a time. Of course, that only lasted for the first 5 months and then Christmas and TpT took over (I know, excuses, excuses). So, I am a few months behind! The fact that he's our first and our iPhones make taking good photos ridiculously easy means that we literally have thousands of photos. So, this is a big goal and a big project! 

Number 6

Take a road trip home. I haven't been home to Ithaca, NY, in the summer in years. I would really like to take Little Bean and have a family get together not made crazy by Christmas/snowy weather. It's so beautiful there in the summer!! It's a pretty long drive and my husband isn't sure he can swing the time off, but we are brainstorming how to make it happen.

Number 7

Visit my best friend and her baby boy! She is about 6 hrs away from us now but they are in the middle of packing to move to a new state, so our visit has been put on hold until they relocate - it's killing me! I can't wait to meet and snuggle the little guy and introduce him and Little Bean :)

Number 8 

Get some sewing done. There are always so many projects I want to make! Even before I had Little Bean I always had a million sewing projects I wanted to get done. I dream of a time when I can have a studio space to paint, draw, sew etc. My huge dream is to not only have a studio to do those things but also have space for a wheel to throw pots and a small kiln. I miss pottery so much!!! Someday, someday. 

Number 9

To take advantage of the beautiful area we live in by visiting lots of parks/playgrounds, going to the zoo, aquarium, children's museum etc. and exploring some new hiking trails. We love being outside and thankfully so does Little Bean! 

Number 10

Work on my tan! My brother is getting married this fall and I can't wait! My soon to be sister-in-law picked out beautiful bridesmaid dresses that have a strap on one side and are strapless on the other. Wearing a strapless bathing suit top with a little one is dangerous; wearing one with a little one who is exclusively breast fed and knows exactly where the  milk comes from is out of the question! Haha. Hopefully I can get a little time on the weekends to get some sun on my own. Ooh, maybe I can even squeeze in some reading... :) We'll see!

What fun this has been! Hopefully writing these goals/desires down like this will help them come to life :) What are your goals for the summer? I'd love to read them! 

Happy (almost) Summer!!

Five For Friday

I am excited to once again be joining Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five for Friday Linky Party! I love reading about other people's weeks. Here are my 5 things. Make sure you read all the way to number 5! I'm throwing a great giveaway you won't want to miss :)

1

Before heading home from visiting our good friends in Florida we went to an alligator farm! 

Little Bean had a great time :)

2

We celebrated our wedding anniversary!! 

What a special day it was :)

3

I gave my TpT Store, my FB page and my Blog a spring makeover! Previously my logos were all different, so I made new ones that match. Stop by and check them out :)

4

This past winter was brutal on my skin, especially my hands. I found this great sugar scrub recipe that's super easy to make and works wonders on my dry, chapped hands. Since Mother's Day is coming up I thought it would be the perfect gift!

5

I'm having a Teacher Appreciation Giveaway! 

Check out the post to learn how to enter to win 3 FREE TpT products of your choice!!

Happy Friday!!!

xo Amelia