Monday Made It!! Shower Curtain Mats

It's Monday! Normally I dread Monday's but since vacation begun, we're good... at least for the next few weeks until school begins. As I mentioned the other day, I'll be stopping in now and then with some ideas and posts with some ideas and projects that I have lined up for this upcoming school year! 

Like you, I have a literacy block that is timed for 120 minutes (yes! 120 minutes!). Within that time frame, we do our Intervention/RTI as well as work with our whole group and meet with guided reading groups. As my kids are engaged in their centers, one of the centers that they always love are my Shower Curtain Mats. 

All you need are Dollar Tree Shower Curtains liners and some flyswatters! I think this might have cost me $3.00 plus tax! 

Basically, I had one of my lovely Momma Volunteers make some squares/rectangles on the mat and then write in the letters of the keyboard. Taa-daa!!

My kids love this! We use this to practice sight words, phonics patterns, vocabulary, any kind of word work you would want. I've used it like a Twister Hop game where they've taken off their shoes (they must wear socks!) and they have to hop and call out  the letters as they spell the word. It's great for learning where the keys are on the keyboard as well! You know how kids are so computer and tech savvy these days. 

Hope you find this useful for your classroom! 

What's the Scoop??

Happy Sunday friends! Thought I would ease back into the blogging world with a simple post today on student information sheets. As a parent myself, at the beginning of the year we are so inundated with papers to fill out about our child, county papers on discipline, and this paper for that paper!! 

This is me...only I have piles or papers everywhere!!! Can you relate?!?!

I know! It seems like I forget to fill something out and then my friend e-mails me with-- "Uh...can you fill this out for Gabriel? And now Aidan will be in Kindergarten.... Ahhhh! So, I get it! However, I do feel that these information sheets are important to have. Some teachers don't like to read the previous teacher's notes because they don't want to get a bad impression or maybe they will get too good of an impression! I read it all because I like to know as much as I can to better know and help that student! What are your thoughts? 

So, hop over to my FB page to grab this FAN FREEBIE! I've included several options for you (not all pages are shown)! 

Have a GREAT Sunday! 

Teacher Foodie Hop!

Wow! I am so glad that you joined us on our hop today! I know it's been a while since I've blogged and it's been a nice break with summer and all--- you know-- catching up on rest, relaxation, reading, my kids, and now one of my favourite things about this hop! FOOD! I'm going to share with you a super EASY recipe for mouth watering ribs that is sure to impress at your next back yard BBQ. Heck, you don't even need a grill. To grab my exclusive recipe, head over to my FB page to grab it! Click on the image above to take you there! 

Oh and please be sure to enter for our 31 bag giveaway and a BLOG makeover or start one, and Jamberry nails! Three great ways to start your summer!!

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Happy Mother's Day!!

Yes... sadly friends, it is!! However, through my calculations, I have only 3 Mondays to go (we have Memorial Day off). The end of the year is approaching fast!! Whoa! Still so much I want to do!!!

Hope you all had a great Mother's Day-- whether you are a mommy, a fur baby mommy, a mommy to be, any position with a mothering role-- I hope it was a great day! We spent some of the day with my mommy and the rest I was doing what I always do-- cooking, cleaning, laundry-- because I know it is so hard to get it all done during the week! If you have any tips on getting it ALL done so you can play all weekend, I'd LOVE to know your secrets! LOL! 

My two little loves, Gabriel and Aidan! The reason I live and breathe! Speaking of Mom's, my 

Mother's Day Tea Party was a huge success! As a hostess, I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I wanted but I managed to snag a few:

Our tea party hats! 

Pampering center! 

Photo Booth

Photo Booth props

I served iced tea-- I didn't want a McDonald's incident where someone was scalded by hot tea!!! 

It was so fun to see every one's faces. Just a true delight! The mom's loved their gifts and the kids had a blast serving their mom's food and drink-- "Yes! My mom needs 3 cookies!" LOL! Loved that one. And they loved their gift bags! Click here to see some of what we made. 

This week we also started our Space Unit. Growing up in FL and being so close to Kennedy Space Center, space travel and exploration have always been so cool to me. I think I might've been an astronaut if it wasn't for the motion sickness thing! I loved hearing the sonic boom as the astronauts came home. If you've never heard it, here's a clip. You'll hear it at about the 40 second mark. 

We also tasted some astronaut food! 

I think their favourite was the ice cream! Hmmm! I wonder why! I found the astronaut food at Michaels Craft Store-- no need to travel to Kennedy Space Center! We are still learning about planets this week and played this Planet Rap for the class! Check it out! 

My kids were moving and groovin'! 

We are also starting our Ocean Unit this week (see!! Lots I still want to study and cover!) and am working out of my newest packet

I'm giving one copy away on my Facebook page! Click here to enter! I will pick a winner tomorrow (Monday) after Boy Scouts. 

Don't forget that the Teacher Appreciation week mega giveaway also ends tomorrow! There are TEN prize packs going to some lucky winners!!! Click here to enter. Wish I could enter!! I love the planner-I seriously need organizational help some days! 

Hope you all have a great week! 

Mother's Day Ideas and Teacher Appreciation

Hope you are all having a great Teacher Appreciation Week! I've so enjoyed getting showered with love, flowers, and small tokens of thanks! It has made this teacher heart warm!! 

This week is my annual Mother's Day Tea Party! So excited to have the special ladies come to our classroom to spend some time with us! I had a blast last year. 

              

                                               

              

I had set up little stations like...

I'll be doing the same again this year! So much fun! Of course, we have our little gifts that I wanted to share with you if you need a last minute gift idea...

I did these picture tiles:

Seriously-- they are elegant and take no time to do and dry! One of my mom's is a professional photographer so she did take them!! They are 4 x 4 prints. I modpodged them onto tile (regular, white bathroom tile I bought from Lowes or Home Depot)-- use the matte finish. They dried within an hour!! You can back them with felt or place ribbon-- use a hypoxy glue for strength as hot glue will not be strong enough. 

We also made fingerprint necklaces.

             

                                                 

I used Crayola Air Dry clay. Made a small disk, created a hole, and had each kid put a small thumbprint. They took about a day or so to dry. I used necklace string and a clasp and then just took some scrap paper to package it. Tomorrow I am having the kids attach a label with "Thumb-Body Loves You" and their thumb print characters. Again, simple, cute, wearable! 

I am really looking forward to this event. My son made me a necklace for Mother's Day when he was in pre-school and that inspired this necklace. I always wear it! It's things like that, that you will always cherish and remember! 

Hopefully, you've been keeping up with our week long event:

Today's Giveaway is all about

I'm just in love with both of these!! Enter our Raffle copter below!

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Then, come back tomorrow because it's all about

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AND....

                             

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Hope you all have an amazing Mother's Day! Enjoy your day! I'll be with my little boys-- probably cleaning because that's what I love to do-- according to them! LOL!