Kerri B's classroom reveal!

Good Morning, Bits and Bobbers!! Kerri here...

Well, it's officially our last weekend before school starts. I know many of you have already started school, but our kidlets don't come until Tuesday. My classroom is finally ready to roll (for the most part) and I am excited to share some pictures with you. I forgot to bring my fancy camera yesterday, so these iPhone pics will have to do. :)

Let's get started!!

This is my back bulletin board and I put the kids' art on this board all year long. It's my favorite bulletin board of all.  In the winter I cover the grass with white paper snow and in the Spring, it turns into my rainforest wall. The Peanuts Gang are for real vintage and hand made! My fifth grade teacher had them up in her classroom. When she retired, she bequeathed them to me, and I LOVE them!

I re-did my back writing wall this summer and I love how bright and colorful it turned out! I put my students' writing on this wall all year and then, at the end of the year, take it all down and make a book out of it!

This is my guided reading table, and I am happy to report that my crate seats are 4 years old and still going strong! I re-did the fabric with vinyl 2 years ago, and they have been perfect ever since! The orange chair is from Walmart and it matches the crate seats perfectly. You can also see my fun artwork crates that I painted this summer in the corner.

This is my Welcome center-the place where the kids turn in their homework, library books, check their cubbies, leave a note for me, etc. etc. I got the white wire cubes this summer on Amazon and I love them-so clean and functional!

These are my manipulative cubbies and the labels are name tags from Creative Teaching Press. I wanted to cover up the ugly shelves with some curtains or something-oh well. Maybe next summer's project??

I love my Calendar Wall and Math board. It just makes me happy because it's so matchy matchy. I ordered a new black pocket chart from Scholastic to replace the red one, but it hasn't arrived yet. I can't wait to see how the black pops with all the other colors! Of course, I still LOVE my rocking chair!

I added some of my Number Representation posters to my Math Wall this year and I will change them out as we learn different ways to represent numbers. I just ADORE these guys!

This is just the view from the back of the room. :)

My library makes me happy happy happy. I changed out the bins this summer with sturdier, prettier bins from Big Lots that all match, and I got the rug from IKEA. 

Here is the other side of the library. My students aren't allowed to touch the books on this side.  I have some guided reading books on the top shelf, seasonal/holiday books on the middle shelf, and all my listening centers are on the bottom shelf. The polka dot and chevron pillow was one of the pillows I found in front of my neighbors house to be thrown away. Can you believe it???

Here is one more view of my library, just cause I love it sooo much!

I love this area too. I have all of my writing mats for Writing and math tools for our Math lessons on the left, and on the right are all the Fun Friday choices that the kids can play with the last 20 minutes of the day on most Fridays. Neat and Tidy and Labeled!

This is my AMAZING curb find I instagrammed a couple of weeks ago. Can you believe that my neighbors were throwing this shelling unit from IKEA out?? I haven't labeled all the bins yet, because some are still empty, and I still have to get one more green bin. I LOVE THIS THING!!

This picture shows my polka dot painted bookshelf with some fun IKEA 1-2-3 bins. We use these for mini trash cans on the kids' desks. Instead of getting up to throw their trash away, they can put their trash in these and stay in their seat! Can I get an AMEN?? I also have my trusty bookshelf thingy I got from Scholastic forever ago, and my drawers that house all of thematic units for the year! In the Mrs. B box, I keep all the seasonal books I want to read to my kids for the month. They LOVE reading these books! For some reason they feel like these books are more special! 

This is my 30 square rainbow carpet that I bought last summer. Our custodians did a fabulous job cleaning it and it is sooo pretty!

Here is my back rectangle table. I got the stools this summer at Jo-Ann's and they are perfectly perfect! 

This is my desk and corner. The pillow on my chair is another curb find. It matches perfectly!!!

I also love my back corner by the sink. I painted the ceiling tile 3 years ago, thanks to Babbling Abby's inspiration and I painted the fabulous chalkboard from IKEA this summer.

Last, but not least, my front door-complete with my own personal Melonhead from Nikki at Melonheadz. I love how bright and beautiful my door looks!

Well, there you have it! My classroom is all ready for 23 littles to walk through the door on Tuesday. I can't wait!
Have a great weekend, friends!
XOXO Kerri B

Stitch Fix #3-SOOO EXCITING!

Good evening, Bits and Bobbers! Kerri here…

The best day of the month came last week, when my third Stitch Fix box arrived in the mail. EEEEEK!! 

Girls, I am OBSESSED with Stitch Fix. It is literally the best thing since the invention of the TPT (Don't we all LOVE TPT??) You may have read all about my mom's SUPER successful first Stitch Fix box last week. She is HOOKED too! If you aren't familiar with Stitch Fix, I'll explain it at the end of this post.

Well, let's get this party started, shall we?? Here is the beloved teal and tan box after it arrived. The anticipation before opening it is probably my favorite part of all!

Well, actually... opening the box and seeing all of the beautiful colors is my true favorite part of all. Aren't this month's choices GORGEOUS??

This is the style card that they included with my fix. I LOVE these and I save them all!! I just love how they pair each item with different things to show you how you can look fabulous!

Next, I'll show you each piece and give you my first impressions. Then, you can see how I looked in each piece (AWKWARDNESS commencing soon!!)

First up-the Market and Spice Honolulu Embroidery Detail Tab-Sleeve Blouse. When I first saw this, I thought it was a bit plain, but I did love the red and blue embroidery detail. I was also worried it would be too see through when I put it on, but I did like the rolled up sleeves and button detail.

 First impression-cute... but not sure about this one??

Next up…the Jill Jersey Maxi Skirt in bright blue. When I first took this out I LOVED the color and it was super soft, but I felt it was a bit plain. I am a pattern girl, and this was just so much blue. I kept in mind though, that the solid color would go well with a patterned shirt, so I was hopeful about this one.

My third piece was the Renee C Renya Racerback Striped Maxi Dress. I had specifically asked for another maxi dress after my last one was such a HUGE WIN, and I was super excited about the teal color (my favorite!!) so this one made me happy right away. HOWEVER, I didn't know if the horizontal stripes would make me look wide through my mid section (the bane of my existence-ugh!) and racerback is not my favorite, so we would have to see about this one!

My fourth piece was the Tucker Mixed Paisley Print Split Back Tank. This one literally took my breath away the minute I saw it. It was SCREAMING me. The colors, the print, the style. OH HAPPY DAY! The only thing I was a little worried about the the racerback style because I always feel self-conscious about my bra straps showing, so maybe I would have to wear a tank underneath it??

Last up…the 41 Hawthorne Abrianna Lightweight Knit Cardigan in coral. I LOVE this color!!! And this cardigan was SUPER lightweight, which is PERFECT for California at this time of year. I was excited about this one!

Okay, awkwardness commencing!! 

My teenage daughter took all of these pictures of me (begrudgingly, of course. She IS a teenager!) while my next door neighbor was working in his garage. Needless to say, it was KIND of embarrassing! :)

When I put this blouse on, I FELL IN LOVE! It was NOT see through at all, and it looked fabulous with jeans. Plus, my bright blue Kendra Scott set matched it perfectly! KEEPER!

It also looked fabulous with the skirt they sent me! I love love love how Stitch Fix sends you pieces that can be paired with each other! It's like an instant outfit!!

Well Praise Jesus! I love this TOP!  I found out that I WILL need to wear a tank under it to hide my bra straps and also it was a teensy bit short about my hip area, but a tank will lengthen it. LOVE IT!

This print is just DELICIOUS!!

I also paired it was the cardigan they sent me from my first Fix and it was perfect!

It also works perfectly with the blue maxi skirt!! Another fabulous outfit for school!

This maxi dress was SOOOO soft and comfy! The stripes didn't bother me too much, and for school I will have to wear it with a cardigan to cover my bra straps, but that's okay because I absolutely LOVE it!

TADA!! It worked perfectly with the coral cardigan and I like how the cardigan breaks up all those stripes! WINNER!

Well, you guessed it! I kept all 5 pieces!! I just had to. They were all so cute, so comfy, so ME! And, if you keep all 5 pieces they give you 25% off the entire box, which is a HUGE bonus!! Each Fix just keeps getting better and better, as I leave feedback and my stylists look at my Stitch Fix Pinterest board.

Here is how Stitch Fix works:

1. Create a Style profile on the Stitch Fix Website

2. Have 5 handpicked items that fit your style profile delivered to your house.

3. Keep what you like and check out online. Send back the rest in a pre-paid envelope.


4. Look fabulous at work or while you're out playing!!

It takes about 10 minutes to fill out your style profile online, and it is super fun and easy, because you get to choose different outfits that best represent you. I love this part! You can also go back in and tweak your profile, which I have done several times. Just for fun!

This really is the easiest service in the world. There is no pressure to keep anything. If you don't like anything, they charge you a $20 styling fee, but if you keep at least one item, the $20 fee goes toward the cost of that item, and shipping is FREE both ways. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!

You can also schedule your fixes to come just once, monthly, or every 2-3 weeks. I started out with just once, and then after it came and I realized how RAD it is, I decided to switch to monthly. It is so much fun to look forward to each month!!

If you sign up using my referral link (I'm so grateful when people use my link!! Thank you so much!), I get a small referral fee which goes toward the purchases of my own Fixes, and I can keep blogging about it and showing you all my awkward pictures! :)

Come on, ladies! Try it out, You know you wanna!! :)
XOXO Kerri B

TPT One Day SUPER Sale!!

Good News, Bits and Bobbers!! TPT is having a ONE DAY BONUS SALE all day Wednesday!! Now we can stock up on all the goodies that we didn't get during the last sale!

Both Kerri and Lindsay's TPT shops will be 20% off on Wednesday, plus with TPT's extra 10% discount code (BOOST) you can get 28% off! SCORE!

Make sure you pick up Kerri's latest Super Sentence Writing Pack and Number Representation Math Pack that you can use the ENTIRE school year…

And Lindsay's latest Science Notebook Pack…

Alrighty!! Gotta go my shop on, Peeps!!
XOXO Kerri  and Lindsay

Kindergarten Science Notebook {Fall Edition} - or The Story Of How I Will Actually Get To Sneak In Some Science This Year!

Happy Monday folks!  Lindsay here . . .

Today I'm here to talk about time.  As in time in your classroom .  . .

There's never enough of it - am I right?

One of my BIGGEST struggles is often how to squeeze everything in to my short kindergarten day (8:00-1:00) . . . . Between centers, leveled UA groups, pullouts, and mandatory grade level math and language arts time blocks my days and weeks sometimes seem so jam packed full before I even sit down to lesson plan! 

Last year my school district was introducing new math AND language arts curriculums for us to teach (Common Core aligned) and THIS year we have a new phonics program.

Is it possible that I am already feeling stressed and school hasn't even started yet?

Because as teacher we KNOW that there are other things students NEED.  They need art.  They need free choice time.  They need recess and music.  And, of course, they need to explore and experiment.

Which leads me to my newest time-saving idea: thematic science.

As I said earlier, with all of the new curriculum I was learning and implementing last year, I felt that my science instruction fell by the wayside . . . which was so heartbreaking!  Because if there is ANYONE who can get excited about a fun experiment it is a kindergartener!  Those kiddos are just oozing with excitement and curiosity . . .

So to save time this year (and my sanity?) I created a brand new thematic science notebook! 

(drumroll please) . . . Introducing my Kindergarten Science Notebook {Fall Edition}.

 

 

My goal for myself this year is to TRY to do science once a week with my kiddos - this fall notebook set includes one activity per week for the months of September, October and November (along with some added  extras for Halloween!). 

But tying in science and notebooking with the things we will already be learning about each month will keep me sane be so helpful and ensure that the science instruction WILL happen (and will probably be more meaningful) every single week! 

Winning!! :)

Here is how to get started:

These science notebook template pages are designed to be used with spiral bound notebooks.  (Summer is a GREAT time to find these for cheap!)

 

When the actual science activities are being done students can simply use a pencil, their recording sheet and a clipboard (if needed).  Once each activity is completed, the sheet can be trimmed on the dotted line and glued into each student's notebook.

If you are like me (and don't want your students' science notebooks to be glued shut forever!) you will probably spend LOTS of time in the first several weeks of school with routines and procedures using these notebooks.  The time you spend teaching students HOW to get out their notebook, trim the edge of their paper, glue their paper into their notebook, etc. will save your sanity your time in the long run.

{Random sidenote: Let's talk about science notebooks for a second.}

Some of you may be wondering WHY a notebook?  Why can't science simply be done as stand-alone lessons or worksheets that are completed and sent home?

Answer: Science notebooks are an important part of solidifying your students' learning.  By using notebooks your students will be modeling one of the most vital functions of ALL scientists: RECORDING information, figures and data!  Not only that, but your kiddos will practice their writing skills as they grow over the course of the year as well. Finally, a science notebook will create a sense of ownership in your students as they can look back at all of their learning over the course of the year!

 

 

Okay, back to the notebook . . . Also included is a "Science Safety Promise" that your lil scientists can sign and also put into their notebook - thus promising never to set their partner's hair on fire or something like that . . . Just kidding.  No fire experiments . . . this time. ;)

 

 

And every good science notebook needs an adorable cover (OF COURSE!) so that is included as well. (Please pay no attention to the bedazzled notebook - my kiddos will definitely NOT be getting one that is so fancy shmancy!)

 



 

So there you have it folks . . . easy-to-implement, efficient AND adorable!    You can get your very own Kindergarten Science Notebook {Fall Edition}  in my TPT store by clicking the image below:

 

 

Well, that's it for now folks!!  Hope your week is off to a great start!

 

Lindsay