Chevron Love!

Last summer I worked on redoing my classroom theme to polka dots... I love them, they're so colorful and they make me happy!  It was a lot of work, so I plan to keep them around for a while.  But when I'm ready for a change, I think I might switch to a colorful chevron decor.  Chevron is all the rage right now, and I can totally understand why!

I was browsing around Pinterest and other online places, looking for some cute chevron ideas to tuck away for when the time comes to make a change in my classroom.  I stumbled upon some cute stuff!

Schoolgirl Style has a colorful decor pack with lots of chevron!

Reagan Tunstall has some super cute chevron print items in her classroom.  I love the ottoman!

And I am LOVING this chevron rug from Cupcake for the Teacher!  So cute!

I've been working on some colorful chevron themed items and have them posted in my TpT shop!  If you're thinking of switching to a chevron theme, or adding to your existing theme, check them out!  I have also bundled everything into a classroom pack for HUGE savings!  

There's lots more in my shop!  Hope you're enjoying your summer (or your last days)!

Summer Bucket List!

Miss Kindergarten, Cupcake for the Teacher, and A Modern Teacher are hosting the 2013 Summer Bucket List Linky Party!  I've decided to join in and post mine!

One:

I cannot wait to get back to Myrtle Beach this summer!  We vacationed there 2 years ago, and I fell in love!  Last year we spent a week in Virginia Beach, and I just found myself thinking about Myrtle while we were there.  Cannot. Wait.

Two:

Organize my house!  Especially the bathrooms!  I am so busy during the school year that by the time summer rolls around, there are a lot of areas that have been neglected, and organization is one of them! I bought a set of containers today so I can get started on this one very soon!

three:

Put my embroidery machine to use!  I haven't had it for very long and I've done a few projects with it, but not nearly as much as I set out to do when I first purchased it!  

four:

READ!  I slack so much in this area when school's in session.  I finished a book yesterday and started a new one today, so I'm doing pretty well with this one already.

five:

And last, but definitely not least, I plan to work on new projects for my TpT store!

School's Out!

Well, technically school was out this past Thursday. However, since I had post-planning on Friday and today, I now consider school to be officially out for summer! After a crazy year with my kiddos, I am ready to relax! When summer rolls around each year, I usually get a lot of questions from my non-teacher friends about what I plan to do with all of my time off. Sleep! Read! Catch up on my DVR shows! Hang out by the pool! Go to the beach!

But, even with all of those relaxing things planned, I will also find plenty of time to plan for next year and work in my classroom. I have to visit my classroom in the summer, because there isn't enough time during pre-planning to get my room set back up after shutting it down for summer and getting it ready for carpet cleaning. When I left today, it looked like this:





And thank goodness for the carpet cleaning! Let's play "Can You Name The Source of This Stain?" Gross!




Stay tuned later this summer to see what my room looks like when I get it back together!

Five for Friday...

Wow, what a week!  We finished up the school year this week, and I am exhausted!  We had Kindergarten Graduation, Honor's Day, and our end-of-year fiesta!  Hello Summer!!


I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching today for another Five for Friday!





1.  I have an amazing sister who gave me some highlights for summer!

2.  We had an awesome fiesta for our end-of-year celebration!  Here's the beginnings of the nacho bar I set up!  I had so many things to carry in from the car that I had to borrow a cart from the sweet ladies in the lunchroom!

3.  Kindergarten graduation was Tuesday!  One of my parents brought in these cute cupcakes!  (The cookie is supposed to be a sombrero from our fiesta!)

4.  I was cleaning out some files this week and found this New Year Resolution craft... almost halfway through the year and I haven't done this resolution as much justice as I should be!

5.  The big bus sendoff the afternoon of the last day!  This is a yearly tradition that I just love!

Ocean!

Our hallway makes me so happy this time of year! We always learn about ocean animals at the end of the school year, and my team always turns the kindergarten hallway into an awesome ocean! We hang all of the crafts that the kiddos work so hard to make as they learn about ocean animals! I just love walking down our hallway and will be sad to see all of it come down!

It's hard to see from this end of the hallway, but my friend at the end has a yellow submarine in her ocean... try walking by without humming the Beatles' song!

 


Here's the part of the wall right outside our door!

The sharks are my favorite.  Look at those teeth!!

Five for Friday...

Oh my goodness! Exhausting does not even begin to describe the last two weeks of the year in a Kindergarten classroom! My to-do list is seriously 20 items long! And my kiddos seem to have started their summer break last week!

But we have 4 days left. Yes, you heard that right... 4 days! Holla!


I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching today for another Five for Friday!





1. Our school has one of these HUGE spoons for each grade level... we call them (surprise!) the Silver Spoon Award. The class in each grade level that has the best cafeteria behavior for the week gets to display the spoon outside their classroom door. My class has had the silver spoon for kindergarten for the past 2 weeks! This is actually huge, people! My lovelies have had a very hard time with lunchroom behavior and cleanliness this year. So, I'm proud of them for this accomplishment!


2. This week was Teacher Appreciation Week... our PTO sent a letter home giving each day a theme for parents to send gifts to the teachers. Tuesday's theme was to bring your teacher a piece of fruit... this day actually turned out better for me than Monday's flower theme!


3. Thursday was Field Day! We had a blast and the weather was perfect! And these purple tie dye shirts that I made for my kiddos looked ah-mazing! :)


4. This one's a little sad. But, this is also one of the hazards of being in my class this year. Luckily, I'm not only a kindergarten teacher, but a baby doll surgeon... she's recovering well. :)


5. Last, but certainly not least... this showed up on the laminator at school... it just brightens everyone's day! And why wouldn't it??! Now we just can't help but smile when we laminate stuff!



Seriously people... 4 more days!!

Teacher Appreciation Sale!

Unless you live under a rock, I'm sure you've already heard about the big Teacher Appreciation Sale that's coming up on Teachers Pay Teachers! :)

Cute sale graphic can be found here!

Everything in my store will be 20% off, plus with Teachers Pay Teachers code TAD13, you can get an additional 10% off everything in your cart!

Check out my newest products!

This is also a great time to start stocking up for the fall! Happy shopping!!

Calming the Chaos...

Welcome to the Calming the Chaos Blog Hop hosted by 2peasandadog!

All of us bloggers have come together to share our top tips for making the last month of school run smoothly. Visit each of our blogs to learn something new and catch a freebie or two!

Happy Hopping!

Wow, we're in the home stretch! My kindergarten kids are definitely ready for summer... and I am, too! We've been working hard all year and it's nice to be able to have a little down time thrown in during the last few weeks. But, in between the down time and fun end-of-year activities, we still have learning to do! This becomes quite a challenge with my little ones because all they want to do is play outside. So, while we're working on reading, writing, and math, they lose focus when they realize that the sun is shining, it's warm outside, and we aren't on the playground! :)

To help them get focused on the learning portion of our last few days, we plan Fun Days as we count down to the last day. What are Fun Days, you ask? Well, they can be anything! I change it up year to year so that I don't become too bored with them. This year, we're having Bubbles Day, Game Day, Movie & Popcorn Day, Teddy Bear Day, and Dance Day! In the past, we've also done Water Day, Video Game Day, and Sidewalk Chalk Day. We talk about which Fun Days are coming up next and what our behavior and focus needs to look like so that we can get our learning finished and move onto our Fun Day activity each day! It gives the kids (and me!) some down time, and really helps them to focus on the day's learning tasks.

If you'd like to plan some Fun Days with your kiddos, grab this freebie that your students can fill out and take home to inform parents!

Primary Grades

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