All About ME! A Back to School Unit

I have finally been working on some school stuff!

I wanted to take some of my favorite back to school activities and put them into one pack. While we are reviewing different math and literacy skills from Kindergarten, I like to throw a bunch of get to know you activities in the mix.

The activities I chose to put in this pack are ones that I use sporadically throughout the first month of school. Here is an explanation of the activities:

First, I have 2 partner activities that lets students get UP and moving while getting to know one another.

 With "Get to Know Me" students each get a card and walk around the room to find the student with the matching symbol. When they find that partner, they must do what is on each card. You collect and shuffle cards before repeating numerous times! I pull this game out a couple times during that first month. "Teaming Up" is a game to help students get to know each other better by sharing their similarities and differences. I also included a recording sheet to hold students accountable for listening to their partners!

Next, is a"get to know us" book. I have my students each fill out the following page at the beginning of the year and we turn it into a class book. It is a fun keepsake to look at as the year goes on.

Another activity is called Namesakes! This is a presentation I have the students make to the class after they go home and talk with their parents about where their name originates from. This always makes for a fun conversation between your students and their families and they come back with lots of fun facts about themselves. Since I do this as an oral presentation, I included some speaking and listening rubrics/checklists for you to take an initial assessment on your students' skills.

The next project I have is called, "These are a few of my favorite things" and I have created two options for this craft! I like to create the first one for an open house or back to school night. They are fun to hang around the room and help decorate! It is a mobile with students' favorite things attached. There are 7 pieces to this mobile, but I usually have students pick the 5 they want to include on their craft.

Pieces I chose: my favorite after-school activity, my favorite outfit, my favorite color, my favorite book, and my favorite food!

Here it is hanging!

In case you don't have time to make the mobile, I have included a mini-book option that is just as fun!

Disclaimer: Spongebob is not really my favorite TV show... but I do really love The Giving Tree!

Still with me? Lastly, I have one of my favorite beginning of the year projects - Color me Happy! I love to do an art project at the beginning of the year to get students expressing themselves in different ways. This project goes with the Dr. Seuss book, My Many Colored Days.

 

This art/writing project allows students to get in touch with their feelings and create their own masterpiece! The project has plenty of organizers to help guide students' thinking and then you get to let them loose with the paint, crayons, markers, and colored pencils! You will be amazed with what they come up with on their own!

So there you have it... my All About ME unit is complete and is available in my TPT store for $5!
Make sure you follow my facebook page... ya know... in case there happens to be a giveaway or something.... WINK WINK WINK WINK WINK!

Five for Friday!

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday!

I have been out of school for one whole week now and it feels WONDERFUL!!

Here is what I have been up to:

(1)

Some of my teaching friends and I spent the night at the Hard Rock Hotel here in Vegas... and in case you have never been.. it is a goooood time! Here is some visual proof:

 ^Craziness^

 Me, Michelle, Lindsey

Me & Linds enjoying the pool!

(2)

The next day, Parker's dad and brother came to visit us here in Vegas! We casino hopped all over town and ended up staying at the Golden Nugget one night:  

 

My future fam - how good lookin' are they?!

 

The Golden Nugget pool surrounds a big ole shark tank and they even have a water slide that goes right THROUGH the tank - crazy!

(3)
I am finally doing some TPT work! It has been awhile, but I am almost finished with my new All About Me! unit for back to school. I am very excited about it and it has lots of my favorite activities for the beginning of the year. Here is the cover:

Fingers crossed it'll be uploaded and ready this weekend!

(4)
Road trippin'
We are leaving Vegas in just 16 short days and we have lots to do!!! We have our road trip route though! When we moved here 3 years ago we traveled the southern route and visited Pennsylvania, Chattanooga, New Orleans, Austin, Albuquerque, and ended up in Vegas! We did that all in 14 days. This time we are driving longer between stops and it'll be only 8 days but here is the route:
Denver - 2 days
St. Louis - 1 day
Chicago - 2 days
Washington D.C. - 2 days
H-O-M-E!

I am in the process of planning our events at each stop, so if you have any ideas or "must-see"s let me know! So far all we have planned is seeing The Book of Mormon in Chicago!

(5)
Wedding colors:
My wedding planning is moving along quite nicely! I receive my invitations in the mail and we are sending them out the weekend we leave Vegas! I posted this on my personal blog, but I finally mapped out my color scheme and what I want my wedding to look/feel like! This is what I came up with:

You like?!

Time to clean up this apartment, go to the gym, and get back to work on my All About Me unit!

See you soon!

Andddd it's over.

Many tears were shed this past week as I wrapped up my last 4 days at school. It has been such a great 3 years of laughing and learning and I will never forget all my students, parents, and colleagues who I had the pleasure of getting to know!

After a few hours of cleaning and packing this is how my day ended yesterday:

My teensy little classroom looking all dark and dingy.

Let's rewind a little bit.

Here is how I spent my last few days with the kids.

Monday:
 we made memory books and I gave the kids their end of the year gifts:

I used the same gifts as last year - water bottles from the dollar store and bunches of smarties!
I also gave out Reagan's free candy awards that were a HUGE hit!

Tuesday:
Game day! I spent the morning cleaning our math tubs and letting the students play all our math games from the year. They reviewed some important math skills and had a blast! After lunch, my kids had brought in their own board game from home and basically had a free-for-all playing all sort of different games with their friends.

Wednesday:
Half-day and last day with kids.
No lunch is served on our last day so I decided to provide breakfast for my kiddos! We had cereal, poptarts, and lots of OJ!! I also laid down some butcher paper and markers for my kids to decorate while I was serving breakfast.

After breakfast we read a few of our favorite stories from the year. Watched an episode of Phineas & Ferb and shared lots of hugs and tears before we left for summer!

I cry every year, but this year was a whole new level of sadness since I will be moving so far away.

Now that this chapter of my life has closed, I will be anxiously awaiting what life has in store for me next. For now, all I know is that we are hoppin' in our little mazda 6 on June 30th to head out for a 8 day, cross-country road trip back to Boston.

It will be a wild and busy summer, but I will be sure to keep this blog updated as much as I can!

For everyone still in school - YOU CAN DO IT - and for everyone else that is already on summer break with me.... Cheers!! I am heading out to the pool with a margarita in hand.

See ya sometime next week ;)

End of the Year Trivia!

4 days.

FOUR.

I am really saddened by this. Normally I am jumping up and down and the days feel like they are crawwwlllinnngggg. Not this year. My last days at my school are coming to an end and I actually want it to slow down... just a bit. I just want to hang out with my kids and chat! I am going to miss them SO dang much :(

In the meantime, we are having fun reviewing what we have learned this year!

I made this trivia game last year as part of my end of year pack and my kids are loving it.

I display the gameboard on my smartboard and the students work in teams to answer the questions! It is huge motivation to keep my kids learning and listening throughout these last few wild days.

Some of the questions I included:

Reading: 

What is the problem and solution in the story _____? 

What is a glossary?

Math:

The sum is 27.

a) 10 + 9 + 8

b) 17 + 10 + 1

c) 5 + 5 + 11

Language:

What is an adjective?

What is the difference between a verb and a noun?

Science:

What is the life cycle of a plant?

What are two reasons we should take care of our earth?

Social Studies:

Name a president we have learned about this year and give me 2 important facts about this person.

Who were the pilgrims?

I also have bunches of blank question cards and I will have my students come up with their own questions tomorrow!

Here are my teams and their points before we went out for an afternoon brain break:

In case you couldn't tell by my obviously amazing drawings that would be: team puppies, team tigers, team zebras, and team seals - HA! My kids think I am an excellent artist...

Before I go finish report cards, I have to share this photo I put on my facebook page the other day:

One of my sweet students came in really early the other morning and took this out of her backpack while yelling "HAPPY SQUASH DAY!!!!!!!!!!" She was so excited!!!! I don't think this is a real holiday... but I went with it.

Now I need to learn how cook something with a squash...

TGIF!

New Look - Blog Design!

If you have followed my blog for some time now, then you know my fiance, Parker, LOVES to design blogs and other websites.

Well... he was at it again this weekend...

Introducing TGIF 3.0!

This is the last makeover for awhile soooo I hope you like it!

Parker has been designing blogs/websites for family and close friends for the past couple years and he is ready to take on more clients!

Whether you are interested in a small makeover or a whole new blog design feel free to contact him at
PLJONES05 at gmail.

His designs start at $50 with plenty of options for you to choose from!

I mean c'mon... who wouldn't want a blog from THAT guy ;)

Happy Memorial Day!

Summer Bucket List & Some Lucky Winners!

I am so excited to join a FUN linky party hosted by some of my favorite bloggin' friends!

 Thank you Hadar, Teri, and April for hosting the 2nd annual Summer Bucket List linky!

This will a busyyyy Summer for me.. so here it goes!

{1}

WE'RE MOVING!!!! Cross-country, that is! Back to Massachusetts to be with the fam. Parker and I surprised our family last weekend with a fun gift and now we get to plan a road trip! [You can click here to see the video of the surprise reveal - it went great!] I get out of school June 5th and we are set to leave June 30th. I want to spend the a couple weeks planning a memorable road trip with Parks!

{2}

I want to get a job!

 I feel ya, kid
Wahhhhhh.... Moving back home is VERY exciting... but I need to find a job - ASAP. I have just started applying to schools back east and I am hoping some more positions will open up as the Summer season begins.

{3}

I want to plan a wedding!

Marriage date is 9/20/2013 and it is finally getting closer!!

 

source

Wedding bands, centerpieces, flowers, invitations... the list goes on...

I am loving coral dahlias in bud vases and I am thinking of centerpiece ideas as I type!

{4}

I want to decorate a house!

source

If you have been following my blog for awhile, you would know that Parker and I had been looking for a house in Vegas. Well, obviously that has changed (see #1). This means we will likely have to rent for a bit in Mass. before we can save more money to buy a home. I just want to decorate something - even if I have to settle for a little apartment. While I wait not-so-patiently, I will be stalking Pinterest looking for fun decorating tips!

{5}

I want to organize!

 source

Jewelry, kitchen stuff, school stuff, office, bathroom - LIFE! I want to organize my life.

If you don't know of the blog, IHeart Organizing, I grant you full permission to leave here immediately and go scour her website for days. Then, take a bathroom break, and go back for a few more days. I drool in jealousy while looking at her organization skills. I have started making a list of all the things I need to organize and I think if I can take the time to tackle one project at a time, I will be off to a good start!

So there you have it - my Summer bucket list of 2013! 

Oh and if you are here looking for the winners of my 1k Giveaway!

I will be sending out emails soon! Congrats!!!

1K GIVEAWAY!

Last weekend I was feelin' quite blessed! This little ole blog was started just over a year ago and I cannot believe that I have reached 1,000+ followers! I am so thankful for all of the friendships I have made through this blog! :)

To thank all of you I have asked some of my amazing friends to help me out with a giveaway!

I have lots of changes coming up next year and I am in a "mode" of trying to finish up this year with a bang...while simultaneously preparing for next year! Since that is what's going on in my life I thought I would throw a dual giveaway!

Every new beginning comes from another beginning's end

Thanks to KG Fonts and her husband, Mr. Magician, for the fonts and graphics!

To celebrate I have created an end of the year "survival kit" giveaway and a new year "starter kit." Both should help you either finish out the year or begin your new year. I will pick a winner for each so make sure you enter both giveaways - who knows... you could be lucky enough and win both!!

First up - the SURVIVAL KIT!

I have 11 school days left and I need all of these to help me and my kids get through these last few days! Summer fever has hit us here in Vegas and it is h-o-t and my kids are antsy! My friends donated some of my favorite units and I threw in a $25 Target gift card for fun! Maybe a new pair of summer sandals? A good book to read by the pool? Whatever you want!

What you can win:
Michelle's Dollar Store Superlatives - End of the year awards!
Kelley's Summer Countdown Survival Kit!
Rachelle's Out of this World - End of the Year activities
Reagan's Last Week of School activities
My Writing Through the Seasons {Summer}
$25 gift card to Target!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Next, the STARTER KIT!

I don't know about you.. but about 2 weeks into summer, my brain starts reeling. How will I set up my classroom?! What will I do those first few days?! Again, I got you covered! I asked some of the best to donate their packs and if you win, I promise you will be SET for those first couple weeks in school! As you can see, my amazing practicum student included a $50 credit to her store, Simply Cute as a Button so you can get some custom signs to decorate your room as well!!

What you can win:
Hadar's First Day of School Craftivity!
Amy's Beginning of the Year math lessons and activities!
Katie's Classroom Decor set!
Lyndsey's Friends in First Back to School pack!
My First Week Fun! activity pack
$50 credit to Simply Cute as a Button

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am home in Massachusetts for the weekend to celebrate a friend's wedding and visit the family, so I will pick a winner Tuesday when I am home! Good luck to all and I hope you have a faaaaaantastic weekend! I know I will :)

Thank you all for following along my silly journey through life! I am very appreciative!

xoxo