Five for Friday!

Hey friends!! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!  This week just FLEW by, seriously. Here's what I've been up to. 

#1. I've been working with my nephew Hank on sight words. I am starting to make him sight word booklets to help him get extra practice. Here is the "is" book:

Hank is only 3 so he needs a lot more support than a 5 year old in kinder. I had him highlight the word "is" with a dot marker rather than building it. I only had him stamp the word on the last page. The book is really simple but it's helping him have success with the words he already knows and it's giving him practice using the beginning sounds of unknown words. I LOVE that he is using the pictures to help him with unknown words too...so proud!

#2. Y'all, oh...my...gosh! My toddler is totally ready for mommy pre-pre-pre K! He is starting to notice letters everywhere we go! He will point to letters and say their name (and sometimes get them right). He even pointed to my t-shirt and said "A" as he pointed to the letter A. I couldn't believe it. He is so ready and interested in letters.

I'm really excited because that means I get to start my own little version of pre, pre, pre K! Haha! I'm going to build a curriculum for him, I'm so pumped. Here's what I've made so far:

The Letter A big book (I wrote written by Mrs. Selva but I should have just put written by Mommy!!)

I'm teaching him the capital and lowercase versions at the same time.

I also made some sorting cards. How stinking cute is this picture of the back of my little toddler's head?!? He is such a cutie (little bias here, I know). He was having a great time. He doesn't always follow directions of course...maybe because he's not even 18 months old yet?! Haha! But for the most part he gets it. It's very cool to watch.

I got an idea to make an alphabet frieze with Jackson. When I taught kinder instead of just sticking an alphabet frieze up at the beginning of the year, I would make one with the kids and post it a letter at a time. This way the kids had more ownership over the alphabet and would refer to it more. As we learn a letter I'm going to have Jackson watercolor paint a capital and lowercase letter. After they dry, I'll cut them out and I'm thinking of framing them on black backgrounds. We'll see, I need to find the right frames. Then we will hang the letters up on the wall in the playroom. (Excited!) Here's a pic of him working on the capital A. This guy LOVES to paint. *Sometimes he will knock over the water and paint all over himself...but that's part of the fun!!*

#3. Mommy clothes!! I did some online shopping at Pink Blush Maternity. I found the CUTEST mommy clothes. I'm 34 weeks pregnant right now, so I'm running out of clothes...FAST. I bought this cute pink, tribal cardigan that is super comfortable. I also bought the olive and navy shirt in the picture below. I love the sleeves!!

#4. I woke up Saturday morning to the most amazing feedback ever! I started out as a massive buyer on Teachers Pay Teachers. I mean I bought something EVERY single day. I loooove that website. I didn't become a seller until a year or two later when a teacher friend of mine told me I should. (I was also really pregnant with Jackson and didn't want to go outside in the 112 degree Texas summer.) 

Being a seller on TpT is awesome! But like anything else, it can be hard too. I am one of those people who tries to please everyone. I have a hard time saying no and I never want to upset anyone. So I try really, really hard to make sure all of my products are quality, thorough, fairly priced and of course...CUTE! :) I've never received mean feedback or anything but I have also never received feedback as nice as the feedback below:

That feedback just completely made my day!! I strive to make teaching easier for the hardworking teachers out there. I know how it is to work 12 hours a day (including weekends) and then realize, "Oh no! I need an activity for x, y, z but I have zero time to make it myself."  There are things I could have made myself but going to TpT would always save me so much time! I'm so glad that I can pay back the favor to other teachers. 

#5. I finished all of my St. Patrick's Day math centers for K, 1 and 2. Woo hoo!! I think they came out pretty nice if I do say so myself. You can check them out in my TpT shop or TN shop.

I also gave one of my very first units a MAJOR face lift. "Character is Key" was one of the first units I made for TpT. I made it in June of 2012, almost 2 years ago! I cannot believe it's been that long!! I figured it was time to jazz it up. I created a new cover and added 30 plus pages to the resource. 

Here are some pictures of what's inside the packet:

Alright friends, I've got to go chase this little guy around. Make sure to head back to Doodle Bugs Teaching to check out the other blog posts! Happy Friday!!