Leader in Me Ideas, Thin Mints Should Not Be Called Thin, St. Patrick's Day Math, a HUGE sale and PUPPIES!!

I think I win the award for most random blog post title ever... :)

I hope you are having a fantastic week and that your children are being little angels for you! I wanted to share what I've been up to (besides being way pregnant and eating thin mints). 

Monday I visited my kinder friends' room to work with some of their kids and help take down some bulletin boards. I saw some really cute "Leader in Me" ideas. (If you're not familiar with The Leader in Me curriculum, it's all about goal setting and following through.) My friend Hannah asked me to make her the kindergarten TEKS (Texas standards) cards with small visuals last year and of course I did it for her. I began the TEKS cards by making the second grade set for my own room and then I got so many requests I ended up spending hours and hours and days and days making them for all the other grade levels...and of course visuals for kinder. I'm not complaining at all because I love helping other teachers...but I will say...it's not the most fun in the world... Luckily for Hannah, I love her and was more than happy to help. I love the way she posted them. (All of my photos have a St. Patrick's Day background today...I'm in the spirit y'all!)

I also saw this little gem. LOVE! She's so clever!

Here's an up close view.

Monday I went home from school with a box of thin mints. UGH. Now, before I complain about them I want you all to know that I do realize I'm an adult and I am not the cookie monster. I should have the self-control to eat only 1 serving of cookies, right? Well.....let's just blame it on being 33 weeks pregnant (because that makes me feel better) but I totally, TOTALLY do not have that kind of will power or self-control right now. It's bad. The box is gone, it's no longer in my home...but I will not confess to the amount of servings I had before the box was removed from the premises...*shame*. 

So I decided that enough is enough! I know I'm pregnant and I'm supposed to eat a little more than usual and gain weight. But I don't think extra calories from sweets (which is my biggest weakness right now) is going to be the most beneficial for my baby. I should be eating more of the good stuff: veggies, fruit, etc. 

I saw this really cute idea on Pinterest (where else?!) and thought it was very appropriate for what I need to do. (I would link back to the pin but the pin is only a JPEG, no site.) I need to get out of the habit of eating sweets and giving in every time I see a cookie, piece of candy, etc. This will not only be good for me and the baby now but also for when the baby is here and I'd like to not look like a pregnant girl any more. 

I read that it takes 21 days to form a habit. So the idea is to stick 21 sticky notes to a door frame so you can take them off one at a time as you work towards your goal. I lined the doorway to my bedroom with the sticky notes at 5:30 this morning before I left for work. My husband didn't know what I was doing and was probably thinking I had lost my mind... :)

I love this idea because it can apply to anyone about any topic. You can use it to motivate you to get to the gym or use it with your classroom. It can also be used with a  student who needs a little extra help accomplishing a goal. Now...let's see if this keeps me away from those darn cookies!!! 

Alrighty, no more cookie talk! I am thrilled to finally be finished with my kinder St. Patrick's Day math unit. Here's a sneak peek at what's inside:

We played the "Roll and Color 1 More" game today in small group. 

Most of the kids didn't need the counters but a few did. Sorry about this photo, I took it upside down! :) You can see the file here. It's going to be on sale until Friday! Which leads me to the HUGE sale portion on this post...

I'm very excited to be a part of this huge sale!! :) Everything in my store will be 28% off starting tomorrow and ending Friday at midnight. Today everything is 20% off. I have a TON of clip art I'm looking forward to buying tomorrow! Yay!! 

And last but not least...PUPPIES!! My step dad's client's dog had puppies. There were 9 and now there are 6 left that need a good home. If you're in the San Antonio area and you are interested send me an email and I can get you the contact information. They are adorable little guys! They are mixed breed, I really don't know what they have in them but the owner of the mom can tell you more about her. 

Have a great evening y'all! 

Centers Sunday #6! {Free K-2 Centers}

Hi Friends!! I hope y'all had a great weekend. I'm here to bring you centers Sunday #6. This week I went with a St. Patrick's Day theme. I asked y'all what sort of centers you needed for  your rooms this week on my Facebook page and I tried to incorporate what you asked for as much as possible. If you follow me on Facebook you can let me know what skills you need and I can feature them in a center activity.

Ok soooooooooooooo here we go, kinder:

This is a math center for helping students understand the concept of how many more. I've found that this is a tricky concept, even when I taught second graders. In this center I included shamrock and horseshoe counters so the kids can match up the counters 1:1 and see the difference. Hopefully this will help them understand the concept of how many more. The number cubes are easy to put together, just print them on regular paper, cut them out and tape the sides. You can pick this file up here.

First Grade:

This activity has children practice reading and writing long a and long e words. Students sort the words and then record them on their page. Easy peasy! You can pick that file up here.

Second Grade:

For this activity, students read the clocks and record the time. The clocks are time to the 1 minute intervals. An answer key is included if you want your students to check their answers. You can pick the file up here.

If you like these centers, stay tuned. I'll be working on a St. Patricks' Day math packet for K/1/2 and literacy if time allows. I spent tons and tons of time working on my second grade social studies notebook this week and I'm not anywhere near to being finished...but my goal is to get it done by the 27th! We'll see! Cross your fingers! :)

Ok y'all I've been working hard ALL weekend. I'm going to take some time now and enjoy what's left of this beautiful day! Have a great evening and a fantastic Monday!!

Tutoring Printables & Facebook Freebies

Hello everyone! I hope y'all are enjoying your weekend. This weekend I am dedicating totally to work...sounds like a bummer but good thing I love what I do!! :) I usually work during the weekdays like normal people but Jackson has been sick so I've been on mommy duty all day every day. 

I did have time to meet with my tutoring groups this week. With my nephew we worked on sight words and CVC words. I made him some simple sight word puzzles for review. He's only 3 so the more simple the better! These puzzles might work for you either as a small group game or send home enrichment. You can pick them up here. Most of the words are taken from the Dolch Preprimer word list. I'll be adding to them as we work through the list. I cannot offer you a blank copy because it breaks the copyright policy of the clip art designer who created the puzzles. Sorry! 

With my kinders we also reviewed sight words. We used my February sight word pages.

With my second graders we reviewed based words and inflectional endings. I created an assessment page for them. You can pick the page up here.

I've also added two new Facebook Fans Freebies. You can pick them up on my Facebook page.

Now the rest of the weekend is seriously devoted to finishing my 2nd grade social studies notebook project. It is a huge undertaking and I cannot wait to get it posted! Thank God Jackson's God parents are going to take care of him today so Mommy can work and Daddy can get in the yard. Woo hoo! :) Funny the things you get excited about once you've become a parent! HA! Enjoy your weekend and make sure to come back tomorrow for Centers Sunday #6!

Base Words, Sight Words and the Rodeo! Yee Haw!

Hey Y'all! I hope you're having a fantastic week. I wanted to share an activity I did with my second grade group on Monday. We practiced identifying base words and inflections. The kids did really well with this. We started with a base words center from FCRR and I made these extension activities. 

Each pair of students got a board with 8 base words and had to cover the base word with the matching word plus an inflectional ending. For example the word "hopeful" is covering the base word "hope". I wasn't sure how hard this would be for them at first, so I made the boards color coded. (That also helps with clean up.) However, my group did very well. To make this center harder, you could print them in gray scale and give the kids more cards to choose from.

After the kids practiced with several boards I had them pick four words to create an anchor chart in their notebooks. We folded a page in half and made three slits. The kids wrote the title "Base Words" and wrote a base word on the inside flap. On the outside they recorded the base word plus an inflectional ending. They did that four times. If you want to use the boards and cards I made you can pick them up here.

I wanted to share this little gem with y'all too. My 3 year old nephew Hank is beginning to write his name! :) Yay! I'm so proud of him. 

We worked on the letter N and then reviewed some of our sight words with one of my spin, read and color sight word practice pages.

On Monday, the husband and I took Jackson to the rodeo. We had such a great time. Before we got all messy and stinky, I asked my husband to take a picture of Jackson and me. It is SO hard to get this little booger to sit still for pictures and I was SO excited to see how this picture came out. It is so rare to get a good one of him and me...I will cherish this one forever!!

Here are some pics of Jackson in the petting zoo. He LOVED it.

I think the llama had the most personality in the entire zoo! :)

Jackson was very excited to see "quack quacks". We had to pull him off the cage. Haha!

Ok I gotta run, Jackson has ANOTHER ear infection and he is not a happy camper. Off to mommy duty! Night y'all!

Centers Sunday #5!! {FREE K-2 Centers}

Hello everyone! I hope y'all had a great weekend. I've been a little under the weather with a cold...hopefully it will be gone soon! I'm here to bring you some fabulous K-2 centers that are all about the MONEY! I figured it was appropriate since tomorrow is President's Day and all...and we have school! Boooo!! (Makeup day for our ice day...in South Texas we don't get snow days, we get ice days!) :)

Alrighty, here ya go!

Kinder:

For this center, kinder kids practice identifying both sides of a penny, nickel, dime and quarter. Make sure you explain to them that they have two chances of spinning a penny, but they have to shade in the side of the penny they landed on (heads or tails). This will help them see that pennies are not only Lincoln's face but also the torch. You can pick that file up here.

First Grade:

For this center, students will need a number cube. They spin a coin, roll the cube and count out that many of the coin. So if they spin a penny and roll a 6, they count out 6 pennies and record on their sheet. To make it more challenging, you can give them a number cube with numbers 7-12 on it. You can pick that file up here.

Second Grade

For this center, students pick a card and count the amount of money on the card. Recording sheet included. You can pick the file up here. 

I hope y'all find these useful this week. I'm very busy working on a file for second grade teachers in Texas. I've had requests to make a 2nd Grade Social Studies notebook that is similar to my 2nd Grade science notebook for the Texas TEKS. It's coming along, but it is quite an endeavor! I'll make sure to post about it when it's all complete. 

Have a great week my friends!! :)