NEW BLOG ALERT!

Hey everyone!  There is a new blogger on the block!  Her name is Sandra of Sandra's Savvy Teaching Tips.  She has some really cute stuff to share.  Click on the picture below to visit her blog and check out her first TPT product.  

Craving Pumpkins and Building Character!

My church is doing a pumpkin patch as a fundraiser right now. One sweet lady brought this wonderful "Pumpkin Prayer" to share.

I would love to use this with my firsties, but since I teach in a public school, I decided to write a "Pumpkin Pledge" instead. 

Download your copy of both {here}!

Science Week- Day 4 ~Activities and Experiments~

We have been learning about properties and how they can be changed by heating and cooling.  Last week we changed old crayons by melting them.

Now ours were nowhere near as cute as the beauties from Holding the World in a Paper Cup, but the kids had a blast making them anyway.  Students chose five different colors and put them in foil cupcake liners.  Then they placed them in an electric skillet.  So sorry there are no pictures, but when heat is involved that is the last thing on my mind!


Tomorrow we will be changing the properties of a liquid by cooling it.  That means we are making ice cream!!  If you click the image below, you will get the instructions for making baggie ice cream and a little writing mat that goes with it.

Check out all the other Science activities and experiments at Learning with Mrs. Parker!

Science Week- Day 3 ~Freebies!~

My science freebie is to help students get acquainted with science tools and their uses.  I created these sheets to be used as a log for students as they rotate through various science tools stations.  In the document you will find station signs, teacher instructions, an explanation for each station and recording sheets.   Click the pic to get it!

 Here are a few pictures of our stations in action.  I missed out on a picture of the timer area :(. 

 Don't forget to check out all the other freebies at TBA!!!

Science Week- Day 2

Tuesday of Science Week is links to your favorite science videos and websites. My favorite is Sid the Science Kid!  Click the image to visit his PBS site.

On his website you will find experiments, videos, songs, and more. This is one of my favorite Sid videos.  It explains how germs are spread!

 

Click {HERE} to head over to Teaching Blog Addict to check out all the Science websites and videos!

I'm Back and It's Science Week!!!

      I am so excited to be back and blogging after my 2 month hiatus! Thank you to the sweet bloggers who nominated me as one of their Top 10 Blogs or a Versatile Blogger. I love you all! You are dabomb.com!
Everyone be sure to check out their blogs at:
Saylor’s Log
Spotlight on Kindergarten
Smiles, Crayons, and Endless Stories
Simply 2nd Resources
First Grade Fever
Primary Inspired
They are all totally awesome!

You know what else is awesome?  SCIENCE!  I LOVE science and LOVE teaching it.  The wonderful Jennifer from Rowdy in First Grade had the fab idea to put together "Science Week" through TBA. 

Books I LOVE to use in Science are mostly Eric Carle of course! So far this year we have used…

Used more as a relationship builder but we did talk about camouflage.

Used during our weather unit.

Used to discuss properties and attributes of things we are observing.

 Later in the year, we will use.....

 Both for objects in the sky.

Mr. Carle certainly comes in handy during insect and spider studies with The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle and The Very Busy Spider.  Oh and how could I forget his legendary life cycle story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar?!?!  I<3 Eric Carle.:)

Check all the other great science books out HERE!

Primary Connections Giveaway and New Blog Look!

Sweet Beth from Primary Connections has a new blog design and is hosting a giveaway. So head on over for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to TPT and check out her cutesy new look!

Christmas in July and a Blog Makeover

This month I participated in a Christmas in July book exchange.  This lovely little activity was put together by Randee at How About Them Apples?, Nicole at First Grade OWLS, and Jackie at Here We Go Loopty Loo.  We had to choose a children's book and come up with some activities to go with the it.  I chose the oh so wonderful book Olivia by Ian Falconer.  You can download the activities I put together for Olivia by clicking the image below.

Thanks ladies for hosting this super fun party.  I cannot wait to get my book! :)   Everybody make sure to check out these three fab blogs! Click here to go to Randee's blog to see what everyone else got!

Also, the super sweet Texas ladies at Peace, Love and Kindergarten have had a blog makeover!  Click their button to check out their psychedelic new look!

Life's a Teach and then some more! :)

Another one of my blog design giveaway winners is all finished. Go check out the wonderful Melissa at Life's a Teach by clicking her button below.

The sweet Mrs. Brenda from Primary Inspired was one of the design winners too.  She is so wonderful!  After I finished her blog, she gave me several posters that she has in her TPT store!  How nice is that?!?!  She has a lot of great things in her TPT store so be sure to check it out!!!

Also, be sure to check me out on Pinterest!!!

GIVEAWAY!!!

My sweet bloggy friend, Mrs. Saylor, is having a great Doodle Bugs Paper Giveaway!  Head on over to her blog and find out how you can win!

Yearn to Learn Blog Mixer!

Ok, Ok!  I had to go on and join one of these fabulous Linky Parties that is going on.  Yearn to Learn is hosting a blog mixer!!  Here is what she is looking for:
1.  A blogger who is a "New Kid on the Blog"
(Let's say someone who has blogged 2 months or less and has less than 200 followers)
2.  Post a blogger in your same grade level
3.  Post a blogger in a different grade level
4.  It's all about the button. Find a cute blog button and post it.

Here is my contribution:

 1. New Kid on the Blog:

She is having a linky party too!

2. Same Grade Level
This is so stinkin' hard because there are so many 1st grade blogs!  So I picked 2 great blogs, filled with wonderful ideas, that both have some exciting things going on right now.





   She is having a $1 sale in here TPT store! 

She is having a Giveaway! 

3. Another Grade Level

     Great 2nd Grade Blog

4. Cute Blog Button

Thanks so much for hosting this great linky party!

How about them apples?

Pretty stinkin' cute! One of the cutest, sweetest, and newest bloggers around, Randee at How about them apples?, is a winner of my blog design giveaway. Her blog is now finished! She has lots of great ideas, so head on over there and check it out.

P.S.:  Don't get me wrong, I love making the blog designs. I am just sad that I am missing out on all these great linky parties that are going on. So if you are hosting one, please don't think I'm nutso when I link up like a week or two after you started! :)

Hurry... Go visit Randee!  Melissa C. from Life's a Teach, you're next!

Giveaway Winners...I'm one too!

The first two ladies of my blog design giveaway are all decorated up!  Go visit them here:

and here:

OH and I won too! Jenn at Finally in First reached 800 followers! WOW! I won her giveaway and was so happy! The computer man was NOT able to recover ANY of my files that were on my external hard drive, which was everything that I had made and bought for blogging, from TPT etc. So I was totally sad, but Jenn brightened my day! I got the Place Value Go Fish Game, and I am sure my kids will love it as much as I do. :) Don't forget to visit her TPT store and her cute, newly designed blog!

Peace, Love, and Learning

I LOVE finding new blogs!  Peace, Love, and Learning is a a fabulous one! Donna has put together a wonderful birthday pack!  Head on over there and check it out for yourself.  Oh, and she has a she has a cute beagle baby like my Striker!

WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!

I am so excited to announce the winners of my blog design giveaway. Since I hit 500 followers (WHAT?!? WOW!!!),  I decided to have 5 winners instead of 4! Without further ado, the winners are....

 Congrats ladies!  Please email me by Friday so we can get started on your blog!  I will start creating your blogs in the order that you contact me. 

PS: Computer Man called and said he is having trouble recovering my files.  He said he is still working and will get back what he can. :(  

Freebies and Announcement

Today you can find Freebies from me and other excited bloggers at Miss Kindergarten's Blog.

You can also download my freebie right here!  Just click the picture!

Don't forget to enter my contest for a new blog design and go visit Miss Kindergarten for all her birthday freebies!

I have decided to extend my contest until July 4th and announce the winner on July 5th due to my recent technical difficulties :(.  So you still have 2 more days to enter if you haven't!  Remember there will be FOUR winners!

Good News/Bad News

Well blog friends, I have good news and bad news.  Good news is the computer man thinks he can get all my files back!  Bad new is I won't be able to pick it up until TUESDAY because of the holiday weekend.  I have started a couple of things but they will not be finished tonight.  So, Freebie #3 will have to wait until tomorrow.   I am so sorry!  I will leave you with this silly little video that was shared at the technology conference I went to at the beginning of the summer.  I need a laugh!  HAHA!

Oh! Thanks to everyone for your comments about my little hard drive!  They really did help me feel better because I was TOTALLY SAD!  

Don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't yet!

Freebie #2

Dear Bloggy Friends,

      I am sad to report that I cannot give you the activity I had planned to post today.  When I returned home  from a Social Studies Standards workshop, I found that my external hard drive was empty.  This is where I keep all my clip art, items I made, videos I make and find, etc. While trying to figure out how to recover the files myself, the electricity went off because it is storming like crazy here!  I am going to the computer man tomorrow to see if he can help me!
        Anyway, this is one of the only things that I have not shared that was saved on my actual computer.  I had not planned on sharing this in Blogland because I specifically made it for my school, which is a Kids at Hope School.  We believe that all kids are capable of success!  We want to get them to thinking about how they can be successful adults in 4 specific areas of life (Career and Education, Home and Family, Community and Service, & Hobbies and Recreation).  I created this little book so students can write their future.  I can see this being used when discussing meeting needs and relationships too.
        With all that said, there will actually be 5 freebies (hopefully), since I kind of threw this one in here!  Click the pic to download the "My Future" Book.

Freebie #1

As promised, here is my 1st of 4 freebies!  Thanks so much for reading!   Click the "I am a Gift!" picture to get your copy. :)

This is an all about me activity for back to school.  Some of my favorite back to school books that I will use with this activity are I Like Me! by Nancy Carlson and I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont.

400 Followers= 4 Winners and 4 Freebies!

          I am totally amazed that this ol' blog has reached 400 followers!  I know I've told you all before, but I just love you!  I love your comments, your posts, your TPT items, everything!  Now, on to the contest and freebies! *Note there are a lot of exclamation points in this post because I am excited! :)
    
           Some of you probably know that I have made a hobby out of making blog designs.  I find it so relaxing! I made my own, and here is an example of some of the headers I have done:

So, in honor of reaching 400 followers, 4 of my readers will be getting a personalized blog design.  It can be for your teacher blog, classroom blog, whatever!  I will work with you to find out what you want your blog to look like.  You will get a blog header, background, and button.
Here is how to enter:

1. Follow my blog and and leave a comment telling me you do.
2. Follow my TPT store and leave a comment.
3. Blog about my giveaway and leave a comment.
4. Grab my button, put it on your blog, and, you guessed it, leave a comment.

Contest ends Monday, July 4th at midnight.  I will announce the 4 winners on Tuesday, July 5th.   

Now, I know that many of you have BEAUTIFUL blogs and don't want to enter the contest.  That is totally understandable! :)  To say thanks to you, there will be 4 days of freebies, a freebie for every day of the contest, starting tonight!

Get to commenting!  Good Luck!

Classroom Shopping Linky Party!

Kristen at Ladybug Teacher Files is hosting a Classroom Shopping Linky Party. You know me, I can't resist a good party! :)

Of course I LOVE Target! Here is my latest find:

Sorry for the poor quality.  It was a quick shot with my phone!

The purple bag is for my classroom iPad and the small green ones are for our iPods.  I can't wait to get my paint out and fix them up!  The books are Who is Hiding? (a habitat book) and Dinosaurs.  I am going to use the clock for something like "Tiger Time" to discuss things that are happening in our district since we are the Tigers!

I also like shopping at the Dollar Tree, Really Good Stuff, Wal-Mart, and The Tardy Bell!

Now head on over the Kristen's page and link up!

Leaving a Link in a comment

I am sure that Kristen (Ladybug Teacher) has probably done a fabulous tutorial about this, but I'll give it a shot!

I received a comment asking how to leave a link to your blog in a comment.

You will need this code:

Copy the URL to your blog and paste it in the place of URL in the code.

Type the name of your blog in place of Name of Blog.

I typed mine in as a post, but I didn't publish it.  Here is a screen shot of what it looks like.  I just copy the code from here and then paste it below my comment.

Labels!

I've been wanting to make some new labels for my book baskets, cabinets, and student work.  My old labels were name tags from the dollar spot with words written in Sharpie, so I think these are a definite  upgrade. Because I love all my bloggy friends so much, I wanted to share them with you! You can get your copy by clicking the picture below.

P.S.:  I tried to embed the file directly into my post, but Google Docs was being silly.  Anyone else having trouble? 

Have a GREAT Summer night!

New Blog Alert!

Plug-n-Plan... Have you heard of it? If not, you have now! :) She is giving away her newly finished owl themed time unit right now, and it looks super cute I LOVE owls! When I was making my blog design I almost incorporated owls, but that's another story!! Anyway, click the picture and check out her blog!

Postcard exchange and Giveaway!

Mrs. Saoud and Mrs. Mathes have joined forces to bring us a fabulous postcard exchange. They are looking for one classroom from every state.
Here are the states that still need to be filled:

Head on over to Mrs. Saoud's Blog, Primary Graffiti, to join!


Then go over to Mrs. Mathes' blog, The Techy Teacher, to enter a giveaway.  The wonderful Erica Bohrer has offered her amazing letter writing unit for a lucky winner!

Get to blog hoppin'!!!