Feeling Crafty!

I love those little spacemen from Really Good Stuff. They're so cute and they would be perfect for my students who every year have problems with spacing no matter how much I nag! But I didn't want to spend any more $$$$$! Target and Dollar Tree have taken most of it. So I decided to make them myself. Some clothespins, a little bit of paint, some markers for detailing and VOILA!

Spacemen! They were easy and fun to make. Now hopefully this will do the trick with my students and I can quit pulling out my hair.

Pinterest Linky Party

I now have a new obsession and its called Pinterest! I hardly have time for blogstalking! heehee! Its another way to get great classroom ideas and whatever else you're interested in. Follow me and then head on over to Michelle's Math in the Middle. She's having a Pinterest linky party and you can meet some other....uh, Pinners? And some new blogs while you're at it.

Christmas Craft

Teaching Blog Addict is having a Christmas craft linky party. Do you have a craft or ornament you'd like to share? Click here and link up.
Here's a parent gift I did one year.

The frame is made from jumbo craft sticks. Since I have 32 students, I had my dad make them for me ahead of time. Then I had the students sponge paint the bottom and top. They used sticky back foam pieces to make a snowman. I took their picture with them wearing a Santa hat and then we glued the picture on. We glued ribbon on the back and we were finished! I think this year I will have them make the frame. When my dad put the frames together, he constructed some little contraption to keep the sticks from moving around. So I will bring in his little contraption and have the kids lay the sticks down and glue them. Then they can tell their parents they made the whole frame!

Sing a Song

One of the many things I love about teaching kinders is that they love everything you do. I love singing with my students because they don't know that I can't sing! Most of the time we sing with CDs but I have a little collection of piggyback songs that I've collected here and there. These are little songs that are great for transitions and giving directions. One that I start off at the beginning of the year is to help them remember to write their name on their paper. I think I got this song from teachers.net kindergarten chatboard. It's sung to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it". And I'm sorry my song doesn't have a cute little clipart border. I don't know how to do that. Something I will be working on this summer. (Which seems to be quickly shrinking!)

Oh the first thing that you do is write your name (clap clap)
Oh the first thing that you do is write your name (clap clap)
Oh the first thing that you do, oh the first thing that you do
Oh the first thing that you do is write your name (clap clap)

It drives me nuts after the first few weeks, but it REALLy cuts down on those "no name" papers.

What are your favorite songs to sing? Miss Kindergarten is having a linky party about our favorite songs we use in the classroom. Head on over here and link up.

Kindergarten is Rockin'.....In Vegas, Baby!

I am having a great time here at the I Teach K conference! I've seen some great presenters, gotten lots of great ideas, taken tons of pictures and spent WAY too much money!!!!! One booth was selling all their childrens books and puppets for 50% off! My kinda booth! Its great to meet up with K teachers from other states. So far I hold the record for biggest class size - 32! I'm so jealous when I hear class sizes of 24!
Tomorrow is the last day, which is a good thing. My brain is full!

Ahoy Mateys!!! Look What I Found at T-ARRGHH-get!!

Hee!hee!! Sorry, I couldn't resist!! So, I was at Target to get some last minute items for my trip to Vegas....I Teach K conference, yay!...and wasn't even going to look at the dollar spot because I have already bought most of the Dr. Seuss stuff, pointers, stamps, puzzles, well, you get the picture. BUT, I thought I'd look ONE MORE time for those cute little pencil pointers and there they were:

PIRATE STUFF!!!!! OMG, how CUTE are those tote bags!!! Well, I bought them all (all 4 of them) and the other stuff. I just happened to have bought someone's Pirate unit and I will have to figure out how to use the sandwich keepers. My motto is "buy now, think later"! So happy hunting! And if you haven't already, but want to share your Target or Dollar store finds, head on over here to Ladybugs Teacher files and link up!

Tackling the Summer To Do List

I am 2 weeks into summer vacation and my to-do-list. I am LOVING it!!!! As soon as I was finished with school, I headed up to my sister's home in the mountains. It was so peaceful and relaxing. I slept late, read 3 David Baldacci books, watched DVDs, went sailing, I even got to sail the boat.

I've been working on learning how to use my clipart and did a little crafting. And of course I've done a little shopping! Mostly at Target. But that's a whole other post! lol!