Currently and Resolutions

It's the final count down!!! {Arrested Development anyone!?} I think I've started every post in December with "I can't believe 2012 is almost over!" but now I seriously can't believe it! What a joyous year it has been! Here's to hoping 2013 is even half as good!

I'm linking up with the wonderful Farley of Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her monthly party!

Isn't that font adorable!? It's from Cupcake! Go to her blog and snatch it up!

So let's just say thank goodness it's not 2013 yet because I've changed my OLW a million, a thousand, several times! I think I've finally decided on one that I'm going to stick with. Present. As in, live in the present. Enjoy what I have RIGHT NOW. When I see something that needs to get done, do it! When I start thinking about going back to work, STOP and enjoy my break in the present! It's going to be a fun word to focus on, I think :)

And now on to my resolutions! For this party, I'm linking up to my lovely buddy Jen from The Teacher's Cauldron!

Personal Resolution:

Be more brave! I feel like I miss out on a lot of things in my life because I'm too scared to try them. I am going to try really hard to be brave and try different things. What's the worst that can happen, right!?

Blogging Resolution:

Remember to do it for me. Sometimes I get so caught up in the whole blogging world that I forget why I even started blogging in the first place. I always wonder if people are going to like my posts or the products that I create. I am so hard on myself sometimes, so my plan is to remember to blog for me. If I enjoy it, that's what's important {not that y'all aren't important, but you know what I mean!}

I hope you all have a wonderful night celebrating 2012 and ringing in the new year! Cheers!

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Teaching Numbers

Math has always been one of my favorite subjects in school and I just love teaching it! 

I also love teaching with songs, so combine the two together and I'm set! My sweet friend Nicole shared this youtube video with me and I just love it!

This video would be great to use during math, but also if you have an extra couple of minutes at the end of the day or during transitions.

I also created some fun and engaging practice sheets to go with each number 0-20. My students loved their Sight Word Writing Practice so I know they're going to love these practice pages too!

Each number comes with two practice pages and they're aligned to Common Core!

Sample practice pages:

These pages can be printed back to back or can be used separately. You can also decide to print them on cardstock and laminate them or stick them in a sheet protector and have your students complete them using a dry-erase marker.

Students will:
*Trace and write both the number and number word
 *Show the number in a tens frame
*Show the number using tallies
*Color in the number using crayon, marker or highlighter
*Write a sentence using the number word and any noun
 *Draw a picture to match the sentence he/she wrote
 *Color the correct amount of cubes.

I also included some cute number posters that I will place in sheet protectors and have out during centers for my students to reference.

I'm so excited to introduce these to my class!

You can pick up this 68 page packet at my TpT store or TN store!
It's 50% off, only $3, until Dec. 30th!

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The Best and Brightest of 2012!

I'm linking up with Christina from Bunting, Books and Bainbridge to share my best and brightest blogging moments this year!

All in all, 2012 has been a pretty great year!

My top three most viewed posts were:

My First Day of School Craft

Us teachers take so much time to make the first day of school fun, memorable and run smoothly so I'm not surprised that this post was my number one most viewed in 2012!

Second was my DIY Foam Dice

DIY is my absolute favorite as I love making and creating. And throw in great deals from The Dollar Tree, a perfect mix!

Lastly, my Halloween Activities post was my third most viewed!

I think it had a lot to do with this adorable little monster!

The best new thing I learned was from this blog post of really cool tips!

Did you know that you can open a new page in a tab by clicking on the image with the middle button of your mouse?! It's awesome!!

I also found and learned from A LOT of really great bloggers! I appreciate all of you!

 I'm also going to link up with Mrs. Foxwell's RACK Linky Party!

Here's how it works:

You choose 2 blogs that you follow {one newer blog that you recently began following and one blog that you have been following since you first began} and highlight them on your blog by explaining why you think they are such a gift! Then you give them a RACK by offering them one item as a gift from your TPT store!

Here are the 2 blogs I am passing my RACK on to:

One of the very first blogs I ever followed and became BBFFs with is Kristen from Ladybug Teacher Files.

She is one amazing teacher, blogger and friend! Her blog was always one that I would bookmark pictures from! {This was pre-Pinterest days!} She has such fabulous ideas like this whiteboard organizer!

 and she always has amazing, amazing, amazing tech tutorials!!

Plus, she designed and re-designed my blog and I am just SO thankful for her!!

The newer blogger that I have just fallen in love with is Lyndsey from A Year of Many Firsts :)

I first came across her blog when a co-worker shared a link to the adorable binder covers that she made and shared for free!! We started to email back and forth and have since become really good blogging friends! She is so creative and the bomb.com at making cover so for her fabulous TpT products!
She saved my little booty with her Common Core Graphic Organizers!

So there you have it! You can link up too by clicking on the buttons above!

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My Newest Obsession!

I was shopping at Target last week {typical} and found the most awesome mittens! Seriously, awesome!!!
You know how frustrating it is to try to use a touch screen with mittens on...not any more!

See the thumb and pointer finger?? Smartphone compatible!!!

Really, look!

 

The best part? They are only $3 at Target!!!

Absolutely perfect for our bitter 57 degree weather ;)

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Silence for Sandy Hook

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Kicking off a Great Year!

It's official, this has to be the quickest year ever! {Except that every year feels faster than the year before, so next year might be gone if you blink!} I do love the feeling of starting over every year though, something about the clean slate! And I'm not really a big fan of these dark and gloomy days...I'm over winter and it hasn't even started yet!

I just wanted to share this fun craft that I created for the beginning of the school year, but that would be totally cute for kicking off 2013!

 My students love sports so this was perfect for them! We talked about why goals are important and how we should set ones that we can meet. It was fun! You can check out this craft at my TpT store or TN shop!

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12 in '12 Linky Party!

It's that time of year again! Last year Kristin and I had so much fun hosting the 11 in '11 linky party, we had to do it again!

 All you have to do is think back at your favorites in 2012 and add a few pictures. What a fun way to remember the year, huh!? You can use these prompts if you'd like, or just type up your 12 favorite things! 

12. Favorite movie you watched:

11. Favorite TV series:

10. Favorite restaurant:

9. Favorite new thing you tried:

8. Favorite gift you got:

7. Favorite thing you pinned:

6. Favorite blog post:

5. Best accomplishment:

4. Favorite picture:

3. Favorite memory:

2. Goal for 2013:

1. One Little Word:

How to link up:

Create a blog post sharing your favorite 12 things in 2012. Add the button to your post and link it to this blog post. Then link up below, making sure to link directly to your post, not just your blog.

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My 12 in '12

12. Favorite movie you watched:
Okay, I can't choose a favorite movie because I literally only watched Here Comes the Boom and although I liked it, I can't say it was my favorite. Must watch more movies in 2013!

11. Favorite TV series:
I didn't watch very much TV this year...but when I was watching TV it was usually HGTV! I think it has to do with my love of decorating, organizing and seeing other people's homes! One of my new favorite shows on HGTV is Love it or List it!

10. Favorite restaurant:
Okay, okay, so I don't like change and I'm not good at trying new things! I think I tried two new restaurants this year, both fish, and they're good! But Bamboo Bistro is still my fave!

9. Favorite new thing you tried:
Zumba!! I had heard a lot of great things about it and finally tried it! So much fun! Now I just gotta get myself to go more!

8. Favorite gift you got:
 Is it weird that my favorite gift was a blanket?? It's just so comfy!

7. Favorite thing you pinned:
Bahaha!!

Source: pics.livejournal.com via Shelby on Pinterest

6. Favorite blog post:
I love, love, love blogging {obviously!} so it's hard for me to choose, but I really loved this post:

5. Best accomplishment:
Winning this award!!

4. Favorite picture:
My adorable baby nephew!

3. Favorite memory:
 Celebrating my golden birthday with my best friends :)

2. Goal for 2013:
Zumba more and stretch every day!

1. One Little Word:

This one may be my favorite! I first heard about it from Farley {love her!!} and was super excited about the idea. Choose one word that you will focus on in 2013.
My word is "believe".

What a great year! I am SO blessed!

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Winner, winner!

 The bloggy celebration was so much fun! I absolutely loved reading all of your sweet comments! Melted my heart for sure! I'm happy to announce the winner of the amazing prizes is...

Molly from Lessons with Laughter

Yay Molly! You're going to have a ton of fun shopping!

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Winter Craft Ideas

As you may know by now, I love crafts! Not only do they always help our classrooms look cute and inviting,  they're also a great way to practice those tricky fine motor skills. And they involve following directions which we all know can be a challenge ;) 

Here are some fun craft ideas for the winter months:

Winter Name Tree

 This idea was inspired by a couple of things...the adorable stitched Christmas trees by Ashley Hughes and the fun snowman name crafts that were so popular last year!

They turn out super cute and they're so easy to make!

Here's what you need:

Enough 4"x4" green squares for each student in your class {one square makes two triangles, I would have my students count out how many triangles they need and them come collect the squares}

One 1.5"x3" brown rectangle for the trunk

One star which you can download {HERE} and printed directly onto yellow paper, or be colored in, thanks to Ashley Hughes :)

To assemble, have your students glue down the trunk at the very bottom of their paper. Then, hold the square like a diamond and cut it in half to make two triangles. They can round the corners or the triangles or keep them point. Then glue the correct amount of triangles on top of each other. Glue the star onto the very top.

Have your students add the letters in their names using foam sticks, markers, crayons or paint. The possibilities are endless! Add dashed lines for the fun stitched look and you're done! 

You can use larger construction paper for students with longer names, or you can have the trees hanging off the paper :)

This project can also be completed without the name!

Square Penguin

This penguin is one of my favorites because he's so easy to put together and turns out so cute!

Here's what you need:

One 8.5"x9" piece of black construction paper for the body

One 6"x9" piece of white construction paper for the belly

One 2.5"x6" piece of black for the flippers

Two 2"x2" white squares and two 1"x1" black squares for the eyes

One 3"x3" orange square for the feet

and one 2"x2" orange square for the beak

To assemble:

1. Glue the white paper over the black paper to make the body.

2. Cut the 2.5"x6" piece of black in half to make two triangles for the flippers. Glue them behind the body so that the point sticks out.

3. Cut the white and black squares into circles by trimming the corners, and glue them down for eyes.

4. Trim the corners of the 3"x3" orange square and cut in half for the feet. Glue down at the bottom.

Cut the 2"x2" square in a v-shape to make the beak and glue down.

I also stumbled across this adorable little reindeer on Pinterest and thought he'd go perfectly with square penguin! Don't ya think!?

Source: housingaforest.com via Hadar on Pinterest

I hope you can use some of these ideas!

Be sure to head on over to Freebielicous to check out another free winter craft!

And don't forget to download the TpT Holiday Ebooks with tons of holiday ideas and freebies!!

Happy Crafting!

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Blogiversary Giveaway!!

Well, it's hard for me to believe, but Miss Kindergarten is celebrating our 2nd blogiversary! 

Two years ago I stumbled across this amazing world of blogging and I honestly can't imagine my life without it!

I have made countless friends, gained lots and lots and lots of ideas and achieved some amazing accomplishments!

In the past two years, we {I don't know why I am referring to my blog in the plural form but I feel weird saying I!} gained over 3000 followers, received the Really Good Stuff Education Blog award, and hit our first TpT milestone! What a year it has been! 

Here's to another amazing year ahead!

So to celebrate, we're throwing a fun giveaway with some awesome prizes!

One very lucky winner will win:

This adorable holiday apron made by my mom from my Etsy shop!

This amazing reading strategies apron from the ladies at Lesson Plan SOS!

A $25 giftcard to my most favorite store, Target!

A $25 giftcard to either Teachers Pay Teachers or Teachers Notebook {your choice!}

 or

And I threw in a $25 giftcard to Starbucks because what teacher doesn't love coffee?!

To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of Miss Kindergarten and leave a comment below!

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For additional entries, you may:

Follow Miss Kindergarten's facebook page and leave a comment below

Follow Miss Kindergarten's TpT store or TN shop and leave a comment below

Follow Lesson Plan SOS's blog and leave a comment below

{Giveaway closes Wed. Dec  5th at 8pm PST}

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