What's Happening ?!?!?!

Hi Bloggy Friends! Kerri here...
Do you read the Tacky the Penguin books to your class?? Of course you do!! Who wouldn't?? They are absolutely hysterical and probably my all-time favorite series of books to read to my kids. I went on AMAZON and STOP. THE. PRESSES...there are 2 Tacky books that I do not own (well, didn't own. Of course, I ordered them the minute I saw them. Because, as my husband tells me, I HAVE A PROBLEM.)
ANYWAYS...here they are...Seriously, have I been under a rock or what!! I can't WAIT until they come in the mail. (insert giddy squeal!!)

 Well, today we made our Tacky Art, which I have been making for years and is one of my all-time faves, and they came out RIDICULOUSLY silly, of course. Many of my kids asked if they could do "CRAZY" eyes, cause you know Tacky is an ODD bird, so of course I said SURE!! Here they are...

I used scrapbook paper from the dollar spot at Target for the shirts, because we didn't have time to design our own shirts. Come to think of it, we forgot to add his bowtie too. Oh Barnacles! Too bad...


I also wanted to share the most beautiful, sweet, kind thing my room mom has been making for me. Every few weeks, from September, she will hand sew a little piece of fruit out of wool and put it on my front table. It has become a little game for the kids to come in and see if there is any new fruit in the bowl. One of my boys found an old piece of green felt on the floor before Christmas and was all excited to give it to her so she could make a strawberry with it, and yesterday, I found a strawberry in the bowl!! This is SERIOUSLY one of the most thoughtful things any parent has ever done for me. Take a looksie!

Aren't they precious?? I appreciate her so so much. I wish I could knit cute little things like that, but ALAS, all I can do is sew on a button.


That's it for today, friends!! Thank you a GINORMOUS bunch to those of you who have already purchased my Arctic Life Unit. I can't wait to bust it out starting next week with my little friends!!

Of course, I will be making some FREEBIES to go along with this unit, and I'll be back this weekend with other fun stuff!! TGI almost F!!

Jan Brett Author Study and New Arctic Unit Posted!!

Hi Peeps!! Happy Tuesday! Kerri here...
First of all, thank you for all of your kind words regarding my new tattoo. I KNEW you wouldn't judge me for telling you!! I plan on adding my hub's initial and my initial to it, so our whole family is represented. One of the male teachers at my school made the comment, "So, he got your initial and you didn't get his??" Whatever, dude...way to lay on the guilt!! :)
 Don't worry, I'm not going to get all crazy and tat myself up, but it IS quite fun! :)


We started our Author's Study on Jan Brett last week. We study her books for 8 weeks and create a project for each book. At the end, we make a really cool cover and bind the projects into a book. Many of the ideas I got from my dear friend Kim who I used to work with (miss you, Mrs. Mac!!) and some I added myself last year. I also got some FAB ideas from my fellow bloggers!! 


We read The Mitten last week, and created this project:

Where did I get this worksheet?? It is FABULOUS!! Is it yours? Please let me know so I can give you all the credit!!

We glued the animals in the order they appeared in the story...

This week we read The Hat, and made this little project...

We step drew Hedgie the Hedgehog, which came from www.janbrett.com (this website is AMAZING, and she gives sooo many great ideas!!) We also filled in this Venn diagram together comparing and contrasting The Mitten and The Hat, which is from the lovely Cara Carroll, of course!! My kids LOVED drawing Hedgie and they especially loved adding their own hat!
Next week, we will be reading The Three Snow Bears and I will be back to share the project that we make for it. It is the perfect book to introduce the Arctic, which is the perfect segway to my newest unit that I just posted on TPT...

Here's what you get...

Literacy Centers:

-Arctic Life Sentence Scramble-

laminate and cut out word cards. Students unscramble sentences and complete the worksheet, adding correct capitalization and punctuation to their sentences.

-Arctic Life ABC Order-

laminate and cut out word cards. Students put cards in ABC order and complete the ABC Order worksheet.

-Arctic Life Noun & Verb Sort-

laminate and cut out word cards. Students sort words into nouns and verbs and complete the noun and verb worksheet.

Math Centers:

-Arctic Life Add 3-

laminate and cut out cards. Students sort the number cards by their Arctic characters, add the 3 numbers together, and record the addition sentences on the worksheet.

-Arctic Life Place Value Match-

laminate and cut out cards. Students match the place value cards to the number and fill out the corresponding worksheet.

-Arctic Life Telling Time-

laminate & cut out cards. Students match up the clock cards to their time cards, and complete the worksheet.

The clip art is SUPER fun, and the 3 Lit and 3 Math Centers are perfect for this time of year!! You can click on the picture above to go to my store!!

One more thing...I will be back later this week with a RAD Giveaway. Here is a little teaser pic, Timree, the artist who made this, is offering her best selling product to one of our followers!! Check it out...

Ooh, la la!! Isn't it fantabulous!! Stay tuned...

Got inked...and a TARGET find!

Hey Peeps! Kerri here...
I debated whether or not to tell you this, and my Bestie told me that I should ABSOLUTELY not tell you, for fear that you might judge me, or worse yet, UNFOLLOW our blog! (The horror!!) But, I have faith that you will still be my bloggy friends if I tell you that yesterday, the hubs and I (in honor of our 13th anniversary, which we celebrated on December 21st)...got INKED!! Yes, that is right. You heard it here, inked is the cool way to say WE GOT TATTOOS! Now, if you know anything about my hubby, he is NOT the tattoo type. Me, on the other hand, well, let's just say that this was my 5th tattoo. The other 4 I got in college, when I was a self-proclaimed hippy. It's all a blur now, but what I DO know is that my guardian angel was working over time for me back then. Thank you Jesus for your Grace and second chances!!
Anyway, back to the big reveal!! My hubs doesn't like wearing rings, so he got our initials on his ring finger (cuz he's gonna be marked as mine ONE way or another-HEE HEE!!)  and since my fingers are SUPER bony, thanks alot Mom, AND since I LOVE my wedding ring, I got my girls' initials on my wrist. TADA....

I absolutely LOVE them!! And, if you live in Orange County and are willing to get inked yourself, then I HIGHLY recommend Life After Death Tattoo in Costa Mesa. The owner, Chris Perrin, is an awesome Christian guy, was SUPER cool and easy to work with, and his shop is FABULOUS!!


In other news, I found these adorable little gems at TARGET today in the Dollar Spot (of course!!)

Little Valentines take out boxes!! Aaaawww!! Aren't they soooo cute! I plan on making some Valentined freebies to share with you that utilize these boxes, so HURRY out to Target and pick yours up!! Also, I would love some suggestions on what I can use them for! I am thinking some sort of SORTS, language arts or math themed obviously, but I welcome your ideas!! I'd also love to know how many of you have tattoos...I know there must be some of you out there!! 


P.S. A big huge hug to those of you who have purchased my newest unit, Winter Games Math and Literacy Centers! I feel so honored that you like my TPT stuff!! Don't forget to pick up your Winter Games Number Order to 100 FREEBIE!! It already has 624 downloads-AMAZING!!

Winter Games FREEBIE and Snowman ART!

Hi Peeps! Kerri here...
Well, I am now officially back in the swing of things. I'm not gonna lie, those first couple days were R-O-U-G-H, but now I feel back in teaching mode. YAY!! I even created a little FREEBIE for you, my peeps, mis amigos, meine freunde (excuse the German, I took 4 years in high school and that is almost all I remember!!) But, first things first...
Here are our uber-adorable, TLC art made Snowman! I tweaked the nose a tiny bit, but other than that I got this project from the TLC Art Winter book. Have you ordered yours yet?? It is THE BOMB-DIGGIDY!!

I heart snowmen sooo much!! And, did you notice the Moon labeling art that we also did this week? Yes, it is straight out of Cara Carroll's Moon Unit, which I also heart a whole lot!!


I finally have all my Winter Games Math and Literacy centers, laminated, cut and ready to roll for next week. Here's a little looksie...

Snowmobile Addition Sort

Winter Games Sentence Scramble

Winter Games ABC order

Snow Much Fun Short and Long Vowel Sort

Winter Games-Spin, Tally, and Graph

Ice Fishing Fact Families

Ski Trip Subtraction Sort

Winter Games Story Writing Paper

And...now for your FREEBIE!! Let me just preface this with saying that this center was a TRUE LABOR OF LOVE, because I lost almost the WHOLE DARN THING after finishing it and saving it without making sure it was all there...I know, I know, what a loser, right??  I have NO IDEA what I did, all I know is I was P!$$&D (Can I say that on my blog??) 
After freaking for about 30 seconds, I re-made it and it is so very cute! It is a Winter Games Number order to 100 Math Center which is a perfect companion to my Winter Games Unit (thank you, by the way, to those of you who have already purchased it!!) Just look at this freebie...

You can click on the cover picture to go to my TPT store. While you're there, be sure to pick up my Winter Games Unit! Thanks, Peeps!!

Winter Writing Freebie!

Happy New Years, Ladies and Gents!! Kerri here...
I hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve and New Years Day!! I have to go back to work tomorrow, so my New Years Day has been filled with Target shopping, laundry, newsletter writing, etc. Not exactly relaxing, but it will be good to be back in the swing of things again.  We had SOOO much fun last night watching football and some motorcycle jumping thing (the boys) and playing Pictionary and Taboo (the girls!) At midnight, we went outside and it was wicked foggy, which was weird and wacky.  All the kids lit sparklers and ran around like maniacs! See exhibit A...

And Exhibit B...

I hope the neighbors weren't TOO annoyed with all our shenanigans!! All in all, it was fantabulous and I cannot believe it is 2012 already!!


I have a little FREEBIE for your Lit Centers! My firsties will be working on writing Super (who, what, when, where, and maybe even why) Sentences when we go back tomorrow (is it really tomorrow?? I think I'm in denial still!!), so I created this little chart for them to use to get their Super Sentence brains working....

They choose one word from each column to create an excellent, fabulous, maybe even a little silly, SUPER SENTENCE!! I also created this little diddy so they could make their own little book of super sentences...

BTW, I am LOVING this font called "Fontdinerdotcom Sparkly" from www.dafont.com! It is so much fun! 
Anyway, back to the center directions. I plan on having my kids use the chart, choose a word from each column to write  SUPER sentences in their little books, and then illustrate their sentences. Easy Peasy lemon squeezy!! If you click on both pictures above, you can get your very own copy of the chart, AND the cover + writing paper for the book! TADA!! Instant writing center!!
For those of you who get to sleep in and watch the Rose Parade/Rose Bowl game tomorrow, well PIN A ROSE ON YOUR NOSES! :)
Just kidding...enjoy every last second of your break!! I will try not to be TOO jealous!

One Room Schoolhouse and TPT SALE!!

Good Evening Friends! Kerri here...
Are you all ready to party like it's 1999 tomorrow?? Over here is the B household, we are gonna play board games, watch football (well, the male half of us is) and eat, eat, eat. I may as well just wear my fat pants to the party, right girls??  :)
 I wanted to let you know that I am throwing a sale in honor of New Years Eve tomorrow! All of the items in my TPT store are officially on SALE, effective NOW through January 1st! You can pick up my newest unit:

This unit is filled with Literacy and Math activities that center around winter games...skiing, snowboarding, sledding, hockey, ice fishing, ice skating, bobsledding, and snowmobiling. I know my kiddos are gonna be stoked to use these cutey cute centers!


And, you can get your little old WInter Words Writing Pack for 20% off! Here it is...

All bright and sparkly and just waiting to be laminated!! Mine are actually in the corner of my living room right now in a big ole roll of laminating film, just begging to be cut out!! click on either pic to head over...


Enough of that...onto the One Room Schoolhouse! I went to Knott's Berry Farm today with the Fam (note to self...DO NOT EVER go to Knott's the day before New Years Eve...it is BANANAS over there!! Seriously, I think we went on one, maybe 2 rides. People were EVERYWHERE. UGH...)
But, I did get to go in the one room schoolhouse that they have there. Mr. Knott brought it over from Beloit, Iowa way back in the 50's. It was built in 1879 and it is the actual, SAME schoolhouse. Peeps, it was GLORIOUS! Every teachers dream to see. Can you say Little House on the Prairie? (One of my all time faves growing up!) Check out the pics...

Isn't is sooo precious!

I love #5..." After 10 hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or any other good books. " H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S.!! Also,  #6..."Woman teachers who marry... will be dismissed." WTH??

I had a desk like this in my room growing up. Santa brought it to me for Christmas when I turned 7. It was filled with school supplies and I played school with it everyday. I was in HEAVEN!

Aren't we such studious pupils??

The teachers changed every single year almost. They all must have gotten married or just GAVE UP! HA!!

This stove is FABULOUS! And, it was actually working! NO LIE!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed these photos as much as I did! And, if you are ever in Cali, I suggest you head on over to Knott's to see it for yourself, but NOT right before New Years Eve. Please! You will rue the day you made that decision, trust me!! HA!
Talk to you in 2012!!

Holiday Survival and New Year Cheer!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Lindsay here . . . I feel like I blinked and December is gone!  Am I the only one?

I somehow managed to survive the last week of school before break . . . let's just say that those may have been the five loooooooooongest days of my life.  We are talking FOUR students throwing up in class (on the rug, in the middle of a lesson, on rainy day schedule so we were stuck inside all day!), bloody noses, Holiday program practice, and art projects galore!!!!  And on top of everything I was sick . . . nose running like a faucet on top of those nights with faaaaaaar too little sleep! (Thanks Jack!)  I was sooo excited when Friday came and I got to go home to my precious baby and amazing husband . . . and GO. TO. SLEEP! :)

Christmas was great with the fam this year . .  it was Jack's first Christmas!!  As you can see, he was FULL of holiday cheer . . . or not!

Of course, his tempermental disposition may have been due to all of the absurd holiday outfits he was forced to wear . . . sorry buddy! But those Santa footie pajamas are soo cute - mommy couldn't resist!



Random highlight from our family Christmas - my husband just may have gotten the worst stocking stuffer EVER . . . a random bag of tuna.  That's right people . . . tuna.  (Try to top THAT!)

Another highlight of the break was having a "Bloggie Date" with some of the gals from the blogger world . . . Annie from Moffatt Girls, Kristin from A Teeny Tiny Teacher, Fran from Kindergarten Crayons, Hadar from Miss Kindergarten and others . . . We met up at Ruby's on the pier in Huntington Beach and enjoyed some gab and good grub! I felt so fortunate to spend time with this group of talented ladies - I am seriously loving all the goodies they have to share on their blogs!  Thanks gals!  And let's get together again soon!

Okay, changing gears now . . . I'm not sure I'm quite ready to head back to work next week, but ready or not . . . January is right around the corner!  I love coming back from break because I feel like my kinder kiddos are always QUITE grown up when they return, and ready to learn!  I am super excited to pick up right where we left off in December . . . with lots of writing, practicing our reading, and MATH!  My kiddos are still needing some practice with writing their numbers to 10, so we have been listening to "The Numeral Song" by Dr. Jean on repeat.  Its the best EVER!!  The kids LOVE the cute little rhyme that helps them learn to make each number and soon . . . VOILA!  They have mastered writing their numbers! 

I decided to update a little number book that I have my kinders do every year, and included the lyrics to Dr. Jean's "Numeral Song" so the kids could take their books home and teach their parents! On each page students will trace the number, write the number, locate and circle the number, and represent the number.

Click on the Dr. Jean Sing To Learn CD image below to access the number practice book!

Hope you can use this book with your kiddos, and don't forget to pop in Dr. Jean's "Numeral Song" to go along with it!! 

Hope you all enjoy your last few days of break before returning to school!  Make sure to sleep in and don't get out of your PJ's until at least noon!! :)

Lindsay