Addition FREEBIE!

Hey friends! I'm back with a little freebie! It's nothing fancy, but it will really help your kiddos understand the concept of addition!

Introducing....

{click on picture to go to free download!}

There are 7 different versions of these mats. Some have 2 to a page so you can print them onto colored paper, laminate, and then cut them in half to use in small groups or whole group activities. 

There are also work mats with numbered lines for you to use to assess or put in a math station! 

I am so excited to being our addition unit this week! I'm such a nerd! =) 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy this freebie!!! 

More to come soon!

Love Notes

Hey y'all!!! I know it's been way too long since my last post! But I've got some super cute Vday, St. Patty's Day and Easter clipart just waiting for me to create some freebies with- so maybe next weekend I will get some creative juices flowing! But for now, I'm linking up with Amy from Literacy and Laughter to share my love notes! =) (Click the heart above to go to her post!)

“Lovely List”

Name: Jessica
Grade you Teach: Kindergarten
State: Tennessee
Birthday: May 4th
Favorite Colors: Teal and Pink (me too Amy!!!) =)
Lucky Number: 30
Favorite Subject to Teach: Literacy
Go to Snack: Lately it's been jazz apples, popcorn or this amazingness...

TV Show: The Biggest Loser, Grey's Anatomy, New Girl, Modern Family, GLEE, Drop Dead Diva, oh the list could go on... ;)
Last Movie You Watched: African Cats- it was amazing!
Music You are Loving Right Now: Elenowen- ya'll need to check them out!!! They are amazing!
Always shopping at: Target, Old Navy,
Word of the day: DANCE!!! -My 16 month old niece has been doing it all night! I love it! =)

“We’d all love to know…”

What are your favorite hobbies or what do you enjoy doing during your free time? I love to be crafty, play with my niece, read, spend time with the family, and go to the movies!

Your favorite vacation destination? The BEACH. =)

The best advice you’ve been given? "You should avoid talking bad about yourself because it poisons your mind with negativity. Anytime you hear criticism- from others or yourself- it has the potential to be extremely disheartening and lead to more negative thoughts and feelings. You can't control whether someone else talks badly about you, but you can certainly avoid speaking disapprovingly about yourself. Don't validate your self-deprecation by speaking those thoughts out loud or even by allowing them to stay in your mind." - Angela Watson "Awakened"

Most rewarding part of teaching? Hearing my students read, write and master their math skills while using the strategies I've taught them! =)

What are you known for? Hah! Teacher wise- I'm creative and a great team-player. (B/c my k-team is so AMAZING!) And my teacher friends compliment me on my blog!!! =)

2 random facts:

#1: I'm famous. (In case you didn't know...)  Okay, not really- I'm totally joking. My sister sold a picture of us as kids in our tap-dancing costumes to awkward family photos...

 and since then we've been on a puzzle....

"THE" puzzle...

the opening credits of the NBC show "Best Friends Forever" (which didn't last long- I wasn't too impressed!)
Here's my .04 millisecond of fame! It's at the 3 second mark... It's the little things friends! ;)


 and most recently, the 2013 Awkward Family Photos mini-calendar! hahaha

We're on October's page! =)

#2: I think my cat- Beyonce is going through her teenage phase. She really enjoys scaring the heeby jeebies outta me! One day I was searching all over for her around my tiny little house... and here is where I find her (she was stuck too- LOL) 

Most recently, her hiding spot was in my backpack... I was working on my master's and went to grab a pen from my backpack and she popped her head out and scare the living daylight out of me! I about died from laughter. Silly girl!

The Loves of Your Life: 

My niece- Sonorah

 I didn't think she could get any cuter... and then I put pigtails in her hair for the first time. She she LOVED them. I can't handle it. Tonight- Nana put in "African Cats" while she was eating dinner and Nay-nay was glued! I was too! I love movies like that! Anywho- at the end, she came back from taking a bath and started to play. As the credits started rolling and a pretty song was playing, she started to shake her booty and head at the same time as she was trying to dance and I just couldn't handle all the cuteness at once! All I could do was laugh! I'm pretty much obsessed with her. I'm one of THOSE aunts.

You've already seen a picture of Beyonce tonight... but I have to share this one of Nala- who clearly loves me so much in this picture!

This is Jovie. I'm stealing her from my sister... ;) She stayed with me all last week and I've talked my sis into giving her to me for another week...

Now it's YOUR turn to create your LOVE NOTE post and link up with Amy!

FIrst week back- stations and organization!

Hey all- just wanted to share some pictures of what I've been up to these past few days!!! 

I changed my station tub labels finally so they match each station label on the rotation chart! Now I don't have to run around the room looking for each activity and where the kids put it! (I was originally using these tubs to differentiate seatwork station- but that  will come later!)

New tub labels!

Here are my centers for our first week back....

Work work center: rhyming words

Big book center (FREE response page found HERE)

Writing center (I still need to print off the picture cards!) I'm going to have them make a list of things they need to build a snowman! (page from packet found HERE)

Our ABC station- stamping word family words

 These are their anchor tubs- activities to do for the early finishers!

Opposites game

Color word songs and matching colors to color word activiity

Puzzles

Fine motor skills

Classification puzzles

Pocket Chart Station

Recording sheet for pocket chart center
can be found in packet HERE (TPT)

Where we keep their library books and check-out folders! This helps me see who has library books to return throughout the day!

New mailbox system!!! =)

After a hard morning- I opened up my planner to discover this scripture I had written for the New Year a while back!.... talk about a God moment =)

Finally posted the dramatic play center words I bought this summer from Growing Kinders!

And funny story- as I was cleaning and putting all their dramatic play toys into bins, I noticed the baby dolls that have been in the room since i started 4  years ago and never realized how OLD they are! hahaha- I think it's about time to get some new ones... ;)

My room - all ready for my kiddos!

New week we are beginning our unit on shapes! I made this chart (inspired by the one found on Kindergarten, Kindergarten!) to fill out as we learn about each shape! 

Here are pictures of our math stations this week:

Trace each shape with stickers

pattern block puzzles

shape puzzles- i love how these have real life objects to match!

Kids will use playdoh to make shapes (We were going to use wiki-stix, but I'm out!)

And I washed the chair pockets my mom made over break and put new name tags in them! 

 Inside their chair pocket- they keep their writing folders, math journals, poetry journals and crayon pouch!

 And on their tables, the little caddy holds extra pencils, glue bottles, and glue sticks.

Hope everyone is having a great start to 2013!!!!

Christmas fun- Wrap up!

Hey friends! So it's back to the daily grind today! (The alarm is going to go off way to early this morning, and all the sleeping in over break is going to catch up with me!) Thankfully, it's just an in-service, so I won't have to be too energetic with the kiddos just yet! They'll be back on Monday. But I wanted to share a few pictures of some more Christmas things we did! They are all pinterest-inspired!!! =)

First is our name trees! One of my colleagues found this idea on Miss Kindergarten's blog

 Here's the kiddos working hard...

I loved how these 2 added some more details... too cute!!!

We also made these ADORABLE elves... but they took us way too long, so I probably won't make them enxt year! 

On one of our last days before break, we had a lot of fun doing all the Pete the Cat Saves Christmas activities foudn on Heidisong's blog! =) One activity we did was draw their favorite part of the story after I taught them how to draw Pete! They LOOOOVED it!

And last but not least! Here is a few pics from our Polar Express Day! We had SO much fun and it was the same day as our Holiday party!!!

The room all set up the night before!

They were so excited!!! I kept it a surprise for them until that morning!!!

Hot chocolate time! Look at all of those happy faces! =)

I was bummed because I had 6 kids out that entire week. (The flu spread like wildfire in my class! So I hope the kids who had it, have kicked it to the curb so we can have a great start to our year!)

OH! And I can't forget their cute little baggies we made for the party. It's nothing fancy, but they were so excited to use a little bit of paint! I called them over during the movie one at a time to come make them! They are supposed to look like Christmas lights! hehe

And here's a HILARIOUS group pic of us wearing their Rudolph hats- one of the boys told me "Ms. G- I can't wait to wear our party hats!" (while waiting for them to dry.) It was so precious!