Back to Work & Read Across America Day

Happy Sunday folks!  Lindsay here . . .

I know some of you probably just fell out of your chairs.  Lindsay? Blogging?  It can't possibly be!!

But it's true.  I'm baaaaaaaaaack!

After taking a long teaching (and, apparently, blogging) hiatus after Baby Charlie was born back in November, I returned to work just in time for the 100th Day of School AND Valentine's Day all in one week.  It was pure craziness and sugar.

Here are some shots of my first week back:

One of my favorite 100th Day centers - 100th Day Gumball machines!!

 
Idea courtesy of A Cupcake For The Teacher . . .

 
Then we used Kerri's fabulous 100 Days of Fun packet and did all sorts of activities . . . like writing our numbers to 100!!  Yes, I had some students who were SO SURE they would never survive physically writing all of those numbers . . . but of course they did and it was fabulous!  They were SO, SO proud of themselves!!

 
For Valentine's Day we made "I love you to pieces" pictures for the kiddos' parents.  Painting + gluing puzzle pieces = fun in Kindergartenland.  (Hot gluing 300 popsicle sticks does NOT = fun for poor Mr. Messyhair at home!  Thanks babe for all your help!!)

 
We even did special Valentine's themed sticker stories in our journals!  My kidlets thought their little valentine pooches were just so funny!

 
And one of my sweet (and oh-so-talented) moms made me this delicious Welcome Back cake to enjoy with my lil kidlets!  (Yes, she made all of those little pieces with fondant!)

 

 

This week our district has Ski Week (really a week off for President's Day) so I am trying to get organized for all of the fun stuff that is coming up in March . . .

 

One of my favorite celebrations of the year is Read Across America Day, which in my classroom really gets turned into a weeklong celebration of all things literary and Seussical!! 

 

You can check out my whole Read Across America unit in my TPT store (just click the image below):

 

 
Your kiddos will love celebrating ready and Dr. Seuss with activities such as:

*Read Across America ABC order
*Real vs. Nonsenssical Words (CVC word practice)
*Rhyme Time (identifying and recording rhyming pairs using literature)
*Cats in Top Hats Sentence Scramble
*Write the Room: Read Across American Edition
*Read Across America: Write, Cut & Glue
*Favorite Nonsenssical Book writing paper

 

 

 

In addition, I am sharing my Dr. Seuss favorite book graph FREEBIE for y'all to enjoy!!

 

Well, that's about it for now!  I'm off to go spend some time with my crazy boys . . . Being back at work always makes our Sunday afternoons together seem so much more precious!

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend too! 

Lindsay

Bachelor Banter and Be Mine Valentine!

Howdy folks!  Lindsay here . . .

Happy almost-the-last-day-of-January!

Tonight's post is gonna be short and sweet.  I stayed up WAY past my bedtime last night watching the Bachelor (instead of Downton Abbey, like Kerri begged me to) last night and I. AM. TIRED.

(Sidenote: What is the deal with Sean keeping Tierra around for another week?  C'mon, I know there are some fellow Bachelor fans out there . . . Thoughts on this week's episode? At least it looks like in next week's episode she just might fall into some sort of an icy river . . .  I don't hate Tierra, I just think Sean is a nice guy with, ahem, rather large amazing muscles, who deserves to find a sweet normal girl who isn't psycho. Is that too much to ask?)

Anyway, as we are enjoying these last few days of January, I have been working furiously to get ready for all of the Kindergarten goodness that is coming next month: 100th Day of School, Valentine's Day, President's Day . . . Seriously, I can't wait.

In getting ready for Valentine's Day, I just finished printing, laminating, and cutting out my brand new unit: Be Mine Valentine {February Math & Literacy Centers)!!

I am SO excited for my kiddos to get their hands on this fun activities, which include 4 math and 4 literacy centers, for a total of 8 colorful, hands-on center activities!

Some of the adorable activities include Cupcake Syllable Sort . . .

Smitten Sight Word game . . .

Be Mine Estimation Station . . .

And Love Shack Addition Sort (just to name a few) . . .

You can check out the whole TPT unit in my store by clicking the cupcake below! (Don't delay folks, Valentine's Day is only 15 days away!!)

 

Well, that's it for now!  I am off to put on my cozy socks and flannel PJ bottoms - it is freezing tonight!  (And by "freezing" I mean, of course, freezing as us Californians think of freezing . . . ya know, like 45 degrees perhaps?)

 

Goodnight and happy teaching tomorrow!

 

Lindsay



 

Valentine House

Howdy Bloggers!

Lindsay here . . .

Okay, first of all, can I just make a confession?  I just started my Pinterest account. Like last Saturday.  And I am already wholly and utterly ADDICTED!  I am loving all of the fab teacher ideas that are just floating around, WAITING to be found!  (However, like any good Pinterest purist I get very annoyed when there are random pictures of handbags or photos of cats floating around the "Education" section.  Wrong category people!  Wrong category . . . (You don't have to take my word about how oddly particular I am about things like that . . . just ask Kerri.  She used to put bow-ties on EVERYTHING and it drove me crazy.  True story.  Who ever heard of ducks wearing bow ties anyway?!)

Okay . . . focus Lindsay. Must finish this blog (so that I can get back to pinning!!).  I am so glad you all loved the Magic Spoons as much as I did.  Todays tidbit isn't quite so educational, but it sure is cute!  I am typically WAY late in posting cute seasonal ideas, but I wanted to give you a heads up on a cute Valentine holder idea.  Presenting . . . a "heart house"!  (I thought the name "love shack" was catchier, but sent the wrong impression.)

Basically, using a large manila envelope, you trim the top into a point, so the envelope becomes the shape of a house.  Then you fold the shorter side of the envelope into the inside, to create a little pocket.  I step-drew the cute parts of the house and had my kidlets use die-cut hearts for shingles, flowers, etc.  This year I am thinking of using some cute heart foamies AND I was able to find bigger, white envelopes - Yay!

Anyhow, the kids just love playing mailman (or woman!) and "delivering" their valentines to all of the houses. 

Happy house-making!!

Lindsay