Winner!

Hello Blogging Friends!

Remember this?

Well it is time to announce who has won this little puppy!  The winner of my 100 follower giveaway is...

Lisa R.

Learning is Something to Treasure

Thanks to all of you who entered and I love all the new blogging friends that I have found.  

Have a wonderful next few days, as I am off to Orlando for a Common Core Convention with my Principal, Assistant Principal, and Curriculum Team.  Apparently, I am going to come back as a "Common Core Expert."  

Hee Hee!  I guess we will have to see!

Happy Blogging!

Ann

It's Official...and a giveaway

It's officially summer break!  I finally finished up all my classroom duties (it took me an extra day because of all those extra "hats" I wear).

Finally....

...today was the first day that I could sleep in (of course, I was still up at 6:15 am).

...today is the first day that I can stay in pajamas until...whenever (It is currently 9:30 am and I am still sporting them).

...today is the first day that I can relax and enjoy one...two...three cups of coffee if I want...in consecutive order (normally, I have one, maybe two in the am and one, maybe two in the pm...I'm currently on cup #2).

...today is the first day that I can actually catch up on all the blogs I follow,  play on FB, peruse pinterest at a relaxing pace, and even post on my own blog (I've done all of the following so far).

...today is the first day that I can actually do a thorough cleaning of my house (I'm already on top of that too..laundry is in...there are no dishes in the sink...I'm thinking I will tackle my seven year old daughter's room today).

...today is the first day that I can actually take my time and enjoy my breakfast (I haven't even made myself breakfast yet...I forgot about it because I am so excited about all the other things that I can do...I firmly believe that my body could survive on coffee alone...even though I know that isn't very healthy).

...today is the first day that I could do absolutely nothing if I want too (However, I don't believe my ADHD self would allow this to ever happen...oh, and my littles wouldn't allow me to do this either...they are just like me and want to always be doing something.  They don't just "sit" well.  Except for when they are in school...Ha!  Same as me!).

Well, I think you get the idea that I am excited about summer break.

I am also excited about all of the new followers that I have picked up because of my $10 Target gift card giveaway.  I am so excited that you decided to follow little 'ole me.  I am pretty sure that I have returned the love and are following you (if you have a blog).

Yes, my 100 follower giveaway is still open...but will be closing soon (Friday @ midnight).  If you haven't entered yet...please do.  Really all you have to do is follow me and leave a comment.  I love to hear from my blogging friends!  Especially now that it is summer break.  

Is it just me or does anyone else miss the communication with your co-workers during the summer?  I know that our team tries to get together once a week, even if it is just for fun (trips to IKEA, lunch, beach, etc).  As a matter of fact, we have a trip planned for tomorrow.  We are going to IKEA and Lakeshore Learning...my husband better take the credit card from me now.

Speaking of giveaways....

Heather over at Heather's Heart also has an AWESOME giveaway going on right now.  Go check it out and enter!

Good luck!  

Okay...so although I have all this time to do whatever I want...my neglected house is calling my name.  It needs a little bit of attention.  I have been ignoring it's calls for quite some time now. Oh, and you know how we are at the end of the year in our classroom...you know in the "pitching" mood.  All I know...my daughter's bedroom better LOOK OUT!

Happy Blogging!

Ann

100 Followers

Actually, it's 101...you know...like in 101 Dalmations (I love that movie!)

I am so excited to reach this milestone of having 100 followers.  That is a big deal to me, since I am an old school blogger meaning I haven't figured out Google Docs yet and I don't have a TpT or TN account (Learning Goggle Docs is one of my summer goals).   

It's just little ole' me sharing some good teaching ideas.  

So in honor of now having 100 followers, I have decided to have my first giveaway.  While I was at one of my favorite stores yesterday, I happened to pick up one of these...

It's not a Dalmatian, but he sure is cute, don't you think?  

Yes, I am giving away a $10 Target gift card.  

I know...I know...you are already thinking...that is ten items from the infamous dollar spot (if you add some loose change that you find at the bottom of your couch or on the floor board of your car to cover the tax).  

Here is all you have to do to qualify for this little puppy (hee hee, I crack myself up):

1. Follow my blog 
2. Leave me a comment
3. Post about my giveaway on your blog (who knows, maybe I will reach 200 followers and then have to give away another little puppy).

That's it!  That's all you have to do.  

Oh yes, a deadline...since it is summer break (for most of us), I will give you some time to accomplish the following.  The giveaway will close at midnight on Friday, June 15th.

In the meantime, "THANK YOU!" to all of you who already follow me.  I really do appreciate you and the comments that you leave.  I read each and every one of them.  It makes my day!  You are like my VIRTUAL FRIENDS who are always there to listen and help out when needed.  I look forward to finding more friends out there in blogger land.

Happy Blogging!

Ann

My Favorite Things

Now that school out (other than two post planning days), I have time to catch up on blogs.

During blog surfing this morning, I discovered that Mary over at Sharing Kindergarten is hosting a fun Linky Party:

So here are my top five favorite things:

 

#1  The Beach

Although I was born and raised in Illinois, I am a beach girl all the way.  I love everything about the beach.  My house decor is beach themed and my classroom decor is beach themed.  When we go on vacation, we generally go to the beach.  We live four blocks away from the beach and my husband owns a rental stand in Daytona Beach.   Ironically, my school is less than one block away from the beach; on quiet days, you can even hear the roll of the surf.  I believe it is calling out my name every day.  My newest beach love...paddleboarding!

#2 My MacBook

When I am not at the beach, you can usually find me playing on my MacBook.  Sometimes, I even sneak it to the beach with me (living dangerously).  Prior to this year, I was only a PC girl.  However, a teacher at our school wrote a grant to the Apple Corporation and our school received over $750,000 in Apple product (Amazing, huh?).  Every teacher in our school now has at least one MacBook and some classroom's have an entire class set (for Grant research).  We also received iPads (6 per classroom) and iTouches (12 per classroom).  In just one year's time, this PC girl has become a Mac Lover!  Mac goes to bed with me everynight...oh, and the hubby shares the bed with us. 

#3 My Keurig Machine

And of course, when I am working on my MacBook, there is always a cup on coffee in my hand thanks to my Keurig Machine.  I don't know how I survived all those years without this handy little contraption.  I do know that my regular coffee machine (Grinder), who sits on the opposite end of the counter, is quite jealous of all the attention that Keurig gets.  Grinder should be happy.  At least now he doesn't have to work a 24 hour shift.  Instead he gets used once a day and can just lounge in my kitchen for the remainder of the day while Keurig has to work on my demand.   The way I look at it is that Grinder should be thanking me and mocking Keurig!

#4  Cruising

Do they have Keurig machine's on Cruise Ships?  No, but they do have 24 hour coffee!  Cruising would have to fall into my top five favorite things.  We go on a lot of cruises....after all, I live in Florida and have five departure ports within driving distance of us.  It is amazing the last minute deals you can find too; they are so good they are almost paying us to fill up the cruise ship.  We are a family that keeps our passports always up to date because you never know when mommy is going to say "Pack your bags, kids.  We leave for a cruise tomorrow."  Also, cruising allows me to visit all those lovely tropical locations that have....you know...BEACHES!!!

#5 Nikon D7000

And lastly, this little puppy.  My camera!  It has to rank as one of my favorites!  It goes with me everywhere.  My husband says that it is another child because when we are packing the car to go somewhere, we first check to see that we have all our kids and then the next question is..."Did you get the camera?"  Even my kids have started asking this question when when we load up.  "Nik" is a wonderful camera.  It is so user friendly too!  He wasn't my first Nik...he is actually my third Nik.  The other two are jealous of him because he gets the most attention now.  Maybe I should put Nik 1 and Nik 2 on the counter with Grinder and they all can have a pitty party together. Oh, and they could invite PC too.  Hey!  It's not my fault...they need to stop making new technology and then I will be able to control myself.

Anywho, that is my top five favorite things. 

What are your favorite things?  Go link up and share.

Happy Blogging!

Ann

   

Just One More

Yes!

It's finally here!

Tomorrow is the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

JUST ONE MORE DAY (insert happy dance here)!

I nearly can't contain myself!  But I will try...just for you!

Today was our kindergarten celebration (you know, the party with the caps and gowns and such).  Our little kinders did AWESOME!  Every year all four of us kindergarten teachers stand on that stage with them, smiling ear to ear.  I even noted that my jaw was hurting afterwards from all the smiling that took place during the ceremony.

I hope you don't mind, but I want to share a story about one of my little cuties that I had this year.  I had a little girl in my class (we will call her Sally).

When I got Sally on the first day of school, she DIDN'T SPEAK.  I'm talking, she said NOTHING!

Both of her parents expressed their concerns to me because according to them she would talk at home (so they knew she was capable) but she simply refused to speak in public.  I remember her mom doing everything to coax her to say something to me back in August at Meet Your Teacher Day.

Sally simply refused to speak.

So, of course I was concerned too, but stayed optimistic.

Mid year review came and Sally still wasn't doing much talking.  The kids would ask me "Does she know how to talk?"  I would explain to them that Sally would speak when she was ready to speak.

I was right!  With a matter of time and a lot of nurturing, Sally started to feel more and more comfortable with all of us.

Amazingly, today, that same little girl, WITHOUT HESITATION, spoke into a microphone.

She told an entire audience, of probably more than 150 people, what she loved about kindergarten.

There was no stumbling over her words.
There was no reluctancy in her voice.

 IT WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SOUND TO MY EARS.

I will NEVER forget how I felt at that very moment.

The pride that I felt, simply did me in!

Of course, there were tears streaming down my face.

Little Sally reminded me of the profound impact we can make on a child.

Sally is my success story this year!

Needless to say, after the program, both of her parents came over to me.

As they walked up to me holding little Sally's hand, I proudly said "Did you hear how well she spoke to the audience?  I couldn't be more proud of her."

Her mother, with tears in her eyes said..."It was because of you, Mrs. Greene."

I'm telling you...I'm still beaming with pride over my little Sally!

Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to share my story with you.  It was one of those wonderful moments that you get to have in your teaching career that reminds you why you do what you do.  I am sure that you have had those eye-opening moments as well.  Please share...I would love to hear.

Oh, and since I am on the subject of "Just One More,"  I noticed that I am at 99 followers.  I only need ONE MORE to get to 100.  Wouldn't that be a great last day of school surprise?

Happy Blogging!
Ann

Two More Days

Just two more days left with my cuties (not counting...just keeping you informed).

Today we had a great alphabet dress up day.  I wish I had taken the time to take some pictures (even though I would have had to block out all of the faces), but, of course, I forgot again!  Anyway, we had some really cute and creative costumes this year:  biker dude (Bb), doctor (Dd), electrician (Ee), Fred Flintstone (Ff), G.I. Joe (Gg), Harley Davidson Dealer (Hh), Ladybug (Ll), Minnie Mouse (Mm), Nymph (Nn), Pirate (Pp), and a Rock Star (Rr).  And that was just in my room.  In the other three kinder classes, I saw some great creativity as well.  Everyone across campus was ooohing and aaahing over our cuties.

Tomorrow is our Kindergarten Celebration (we are not allowed to call it a Kindergarten Graduation).  We have practiced on the stage for the past three days for our big, annual event.  We began the excitement last week when we took cap and gown pics.  Here is what one looks like...

Isn't he cute!

His mom works with me, so I can show his face.

Tomorrow, they get to dress up in their caps and gowns, sing for their parents, and tell the entire audience what was their favorite part of kindergarten.  They receive a packet with a kindergarten certificate and other memorabilia that we kept throughout the year.  It is always a great celebration!

Does your school do any type of celebration to honor your kindergartners?  Tell me...I would love to hear.

Happy Blogging!

Ann

Currently

Currently, many of you are finished with your school year (Yes, I am jealous!).

However, I only have three more days with my little cuties.  It will be a bitter/sweet end to the school year.  It always is for me, no matter how easy or difficult of a group I have.

Since I am still in "teaching mode," but the kids are more on the "summer break mentality,"  I am exhausted!  But I decided to take a few minutes to partake in Farley's Currently Linky Party.

Here is what is "Currently" happening with me...

Oh and by the way...I am so excited because I noticed that I am almost at 100 followers.  I never imagined that less than a year ago, when I started this blog, that I would ever reach that milestone.  So I have to say "Thank You" to all of you who are already following me.  I really appreciate you and your comments and I hope that I have shared some good ideas that you can use in your classroom.  I look forward to this summer when I can take some time to learn how to use Google Docs properly and create some fun items to share with you.

In the meantime, Happy Blogging!
Ann

Publishing Class Books

So I was FINALLY uploading some photos from my school camera in preparation for the end of the year and I came across some that I had every intention of sharing with the blogging world back in August.

And since, I have noticed that some of you have begun thinking about next year already (I still have 5 more days), I thought I would share them now so you may find an idea to use at the beginning of the next school year.

Every year, I start the year with making and publishing a large amount of class books.  Here are some of the books that I created with this group (it changes a little from year to year):

1.  The first book goes with the story The Day The Monster Came To School.  This story is not a book, it is just a story that someone gave me years ago and I have used it ever since.  I have seen some really cute reproducibles on other blogs that teachers have created using the same story, so I know it is circulating out there.  After I read the story, I have the children color what they think the monster looked like and then they tell me a rule that will help the monster stay at school.  I write what they say at the bottom.

Sorry, I couldn't get it to turn.

2.  The next book is The Birthday Book.  I have a little poem (see second photo) that starts the book.  We discuss the months of the year and what can make each month special, which leads us into their birthday month.   I have them color their birthday cake and then we graph our birthday months.  After that, I take the cakes and make it into a book (see third photo).  We refer to this at the beginning of each month to see what class birthday's we need to mark on the calendar.

3.   This book is usually created on their first day of school.  I have little reproducible apples that have a picture of a little boy or girl on them.  I have them color their gender apple and then we graph how many boys and girls are in our class.  After a few days, that graph turns into this book with a picture of the graph at the back.

4.  Everyone loves Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and there are so many activities that I do with this book I may need to save that for another post.  This book is usually created during our second week of school when we are doing lots of name activities and we start our study of all the letters of the alphabet (Smart Start-for those of you that use Macmillan Reading Series).  We first glue our Chicka Tree together on the paper and then they add stickers for the letters in their name.

5.  This book is created because it goes along with our adopted Macmillan Treasures reading series.  We have a big book titled "Hands Can" that discusses all kinds of things are hands do.  Then I chart different things that the student's know our hands can do.  I paint their hands and then we put it into a book with what they said on the chart.

6.  We create this book after reading A My Name is Alice.  The students draw a picture of themselves and complete the writing prompt on the page.  If they do not know how to write their name yet, I write it for them.

So that is just a few of the books that we make during the first few weeks of school.  I hope you got a some ideas for creating class books next year.   I do this every year and they become the most read books in our classroom library.

I would love to hear about some books that you create with your kiddos during the school year.  Please share.

Happy Blogging!
Ann