Happy New Year & Sale!

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I can't believe this year has come and gone and tomorrow is a new year!! Time flies when you're having fun! :)  I hope to make some resolutions for the new year... and well actually keep them! HA I *really* need to get better at a little thing called organization! At school.. and at home.. well everywhere! I hope that I can get everything around me more organized and I already started with the storage room at home and it looks 50 times better! Thanks to E for the moral support and his helping hand. It also helps a girl when you have someone saying "why do you have that" and "get rid of that!" HA 

I also want to get better with starting and finishing something.. I'm the world's worse to start something.. get something else on mind.. quit working on whatever I started on.. and well go start on something else... and I end up having all sorts of things started and nothing finished! I'm all over the place! At home.. at school.. everywhere! HA  I always end up {most of the time} finishing the whatever it is I started.. but it just usually comes later. So hopefully this year I can do better with that as well!

I could go on and on about other things.. but I won't bore you with anymore! 

So friends, whatever your plans are for tonight and wherever the new year takes you I hope you enjoy it! I started this little thing called blogging a year ago today! I enjoy each and everyone of the blogs that I follow and get so many great ideas from all of you.. my teaching style has definitely spiced up since I jumped on the bloggin' waggon! :)

 To celebrate the new year and one year of blogging, I am having a sale in my TPT Store! Starting now through tomorrow you can get everything in my little TPT store for 20% off! Click the picture below to go my TPT store!



Happy, Happy New Year to you and yours!!!!!

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Merry Christmas!



I can't believe that it's already Christmas Eve!! Where has this month gone.. better yet where has this year gone!? I'm fairly certain I blinked and the year was gone! I hope everyone is enjoying their time off.. although I miss sweet first grade kiddos I have really enjoyed being off on Christmas break. Although the first week has went by entirely WAY TOO fast, I did manage to catch up on my soaps, visit my sweet granny and pa, have a lunch date with one of my gal pals, finish a little last minute Christmas shopping for Mr. E, and do some holiday baking this week.... I have made sausage balls, peppermint patty candies, and today a pinterest inspired peanut butter reindeer cookie. :) 
I think Dexter knows Santa is coming... he has been trying to jump on the bed all evening.. I know he knows the quicker he goes to bed the quicker Santa will be here! :) HAHA (I know, I know.. he is a dog! HA)

Anyways, I just wanted to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and may your holiday be filled with lots of love and sweet blessings!

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What We've Been Up To--- December Style!

Here is a peek at some of the things we have been up to in December. Although we only had a couple of weeks before Christmas break we still managed to get a ton of fun things done in addition to our other work. 

We read the book Snowballs by Lois Ehlert and completed several activities based around this book. We learned how to label a picture. (sorry for the terrible lighting and my dirty board.. I can't seem for the likes of me to get that darn thing clean!) Students completed a labeling sheet similar to this from The Mailbox. 


We also discussed cause and effect and completed a cause and effect activity using information from the story Snowballs. The cause and effect sheet can be found in my "It's a Winter Wonderland of Fun" unit.

We made these snowmen... I previously blogged about these. The pattern can be found in my "It's a Winter Wonderland of Fun" unit on TPT.



We completed a How to Build a Snowman activity and I positively adore how great they turned out!! The How to Build a Snowman sheet is from my "It's a Winter Wonderland of Fun" unit that you can find in my TPT store. The too cute snowman that the kids colored that I put with the writing sheet I found over at Miss Kindergarten.






We made a tasty Snazzy Snack! These are called "Santa Grahams" and was totally Pinterest inspired!!!!


We made reindeer hand print ornaments..




This one was Pinterest inspired..And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!

We made Candy Cane ornaments using chenille stems and pony beads.. these are super easy and oh so cute!


Here is a pic of our cute little classroom tree... I failed to take one while it had all the sweet little presents under it.


And these popsicle stick ornaments are an old favorite of mine! I have made these every year since I've been teaching and got the idea from one that I actually made when I was in Kindergarten that my mom still had! We ran out of time and didn't get to do them this year. :( But I thought I'd share a picture in case you wanted to file the idea away for next year!

Well that's all I got for tonight sweet friends! Be sure to check out my "It's a Winter Wonderland of Fun" unit on TPT! It is full of activities that can be used all winter long!!

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Polar Express Day Fun!

Yesterday, our Kindergarten and First Grade classes had a fun filled Polar Express Day as we took a magical journey to the North Pole!! Let me just start by saying I felt like I had been run over by the Polar Express by the end of the day! HA We did so many activities in one day.. needless to say we were all wore out! But it was all worth it to see their sweet, smiling faces, and hear their sweet little comments like "today has been the best day ever!" :) We transformed our rooms into stops and the kids rotated around as they rode the Polar Express down the hallway to each stop. Here are the pics of our doors and the train tracks. :)







Each stop had a different Polar Express themed activity. Students had their golden ticket and got it punched at each stop. We had the following activities for the kids to do... At stop number 1 the conductor read them The Polar Express and they made magic reindeer food. At stop number 2 they made a Polar Express keepsake ornament. At stop number 3 they made the TLC Polar Express Craft. And at stop number 4 they made a tasty Polar Express inspired train snack. After all of the classes had rode the Polar Express to all of the stops they made their final stop back to their original classrooms where we enjoyed hot chocolate, doughnuts, and watched the movie. There was a very special delivery straight from The North Pole that was delivered around 2 pm! Our package was still cold when it arrived!!! We anxiously opened our package to find that Santa himself had sent our class BELLS! They were never more excited to get anything than those frozen bells! Many shook the bells immediately and shouted "I can hear it, I can hear it!" and some asked "can you hear it Miss Delk?" They were all kinds of excited! Our day was a total success and I am so happy the kids enjoyed the day. Days like our Polar Express day and the joy that I saw on each child's face makes my job even more rewarding! :) I hope these kiddos will remember this day for many years to come and look back and think "wow, that was a great day!"


Here are a couple of pics of two of the activities that were completed...

TLC Polar Express Activity


Keepsake Ornament.. Students colored a train, cut it out, and placed it on a pre-cut circle. On the back there was a label that said Polar Express Day 2011 and students wrote their name on the back.


No picture of the Magical Reindeer Food.. but if you Google it you will get a ton of links to sites that have the recipe and printable tags. No picture of the graham cracker train snack we made but it was totally Pinterest inspired so you can find tons of pics on there of it!

Do you do a Polar Express Day with your kids?? If so, what is your day like? 

Happy Friday night sweet friends! I am officially on Christmas break and couldn't be more excited!!!! Me and Mr. E had a fun day trying to finish our Christmas shopping. :)

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Snowman Fun & Ornaments

Well we officially dismissed early today due to snow for the first time this school year!! I love snow days.. even though it was only an hour and a half early and the snow didn't amount to much after we left... it was still nice! :)  The Kindergarten class next door must have really been excited about the snow and early dismissal because we could hear them through the wall while we were trying our best to finish our math before dismissing. One of my little sweeties calmly said "Geez Kindergarten, we are trying to learn in here!" HA  Too stinkin' precious!

Here is a little peek at a few things we have been up to lately....

We made these cutie snowmen ..

 You can find the pattern for the snowman along with tons of other fun, winter themed activities in my "It's a Winter Wonderland of Fun" unit that is for sale in my TPT store


We have been busy making ornaments for our classroom tree... the reindeer hand print was pinterest inspired!



And we made candy canes using half of a chenille stem and red and white pony beads.



Sorry for the lack of posts lately... I've been busy! Between after school tutoring, my birthday (a dinner and a lunch), attending two Christmas parties, getting my oil changed, and Dexter groomed I haven't had a whole lot of extra free time to blog these past few days. On a side note I had a wonderful 26th birthday... Mr. E surprised me with a dinner date at Nick's. We had a delicious dinner and then ice cream pie! Yum! And I got a ton of wonderful, sweet gifts! I really felt loved! :)

My fingers are crossed for 2 hours late in the morning! This is totally wishful thinking on my part, because the snow we got earlier didn't amount to a thing! but...... I have been told that you can wear your pajama's inside out, flush ice cubes down the toilet, and put a spoon under your pillow to help bring the snow on... so I bet you can guess what I am off to do! :)

Happy Hump Day Friends... it's almost Friday!


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It's a Winter Wonderland of Fun unit on TPT!

Hi sweet blog friends! I hope everyone has had a wonderful Monday and loaded up on some good Cyber Monday deals!!! I just uploaded my newest unit to TpT called "It's a Winter Wonderland of Fun!" Here is a little peek of what you will get in this unit.....

There are tons of penguin activities in this unit.. including this cute little penguin with penguin facts writing, Tacky the Penguin activities, and much more!





Snowman Glyph


Paper Plate Snowman



Here is the complete list of what is included in this unit!



-Suggested Books (p.3)
-Tacky the Penguin Venn Diagram (p.4)
-Adjectives that Describe Tacky the Penguin Bubble Map (p. 5)
-Tacky the Penguin Story Recall- Beginning, Middle, End (p.6)
-Tacky the Penguin Real/make Believe activity (p.7)
-Penguins can/have/are (p.8-9)
-All About Penguins Booklet (p. 10-11) ** on page 11 copy the number of desired sheets for the students to complete in their booklet. They will write and draw about penguins on these sheets.
-Penguins KWL Chart (p.12)
-Penguin craftivity- pattern and writing page (p.13-18)
-How to Build a Snowman writing sheet (p.19)
-12 winter themed math journal prompts (p.20-21)
-Snowballs Story Cause & Effect sheet (p.22) **on this page copy back and front if desired for a total of four cause and effect boxes to recall from the story Snowballs by Lois Ehlert.
-Roll a Snowball math game (p.23-24)
-Snowball Vowel Fun game (p.25-26)
-Snowman glyph (p.27-31)
-Paper Plate Snowman pattern & writing sheet (p.32-35)
-Do you like hot chocolate class graph (p.36-38)
-Reindeer craftivity- pattern & writing sheet (p.39-42)
-Penguin Addition & recording sheet (p.43-48)
-Winter Wonderland ABC order & recording sheet (p.49-50)

HOp on over to my TpT store and check it out! I have all my items 20% off for Cyber Monday and don't forget to use the code CMS28 to snag an additional 10% off!! 

And since my Birthday is this Friday... I will give the first person who correctly guesses how old I will be a free copy of this unit!! Happy guessing sweet friends! :)


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Thanksgiving Fun & Cyber Monday Sale!

Hi sweet blog friends! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with lots of family, friends, love, turkey and black Friday sales! :)  I have definitely enjoyed my 5 days off. I decorated the house for Christmas and got both of the Christmas trees up, I cooked Thanksgiving for my boys, battled the Black Friday crowds Thursday night and all day Friday in search for some good deals, cleaned house, and graded papers. I could definitely use a couple more days off though.. wishful thinking, right?! :)
 Here are a few pics of some of the things we did on our two day week last week. We made these cute Cara inspired turkey coffee filter projects. They turned out just darling! 





We also made a tasty turkey inspired snazzy snack. :)


We made these cute toilet paper roll turkeys. 

We also made the Dr. Jean Thanksgiving story bracelets. Forgot to snap a pick of those.. boo! But they turned out super cute and I was impressed at how well the kiddos could remember what each color stood for. We also ready many books about the First Thanksgiving and compared Thanksgiving then to Thanksgiving now.


I am joining in on the Cyber Monday Sale. Everything in my TPT store will be 20% off tomorrow!! Don't forget to use the TPT code to snag an additional 10% off!! 


Well that's all I have for today! Enjoy the Cyber Monday Sales tomorrow! 

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Thankful!

I am joining in on the fun that Rachelle and Natalie are having over at What the Teacher Wants. They are hosting their very first linky party called


So here goes my little ole list of things that I am thankful for....

1.  What are you thankful for in your classroom?
Well.... I really wish I could say something totally awesome here.... like a Smartboard or whatever other cool gadgets that are in techno land.... but unfortunately I don't have one of those or any of that. HA  BUT... I am hoping *fingers crossed* to be getting a projector in the very near future. So on that note, I am thankful at the prospect of getting a projector for my classroom! And I'm thankful for construction paper! HA
 But really I am just so very thankful to have a classroom to go to each day and a group of 22 feisty boys and girls to teach. :)

I am also thankful to have a great co-teacher to work with and a good  neighbor (buddy) across the hall in Kindergarten. 

2. What person are you most thankful for?

 I am very thankful for Eric. He is so good to me and brightens my days in so many different ways. We have the best times together and can have fun anywhere! I look forward to wherever tomorrow takes us because I know it will be wonderful. I don't deserve him.. but so very proud I have him! I am thankful for our sweet baby dog, Dexter. He is the best little fur baby ever. He is always excited to see me and I love that! I can't wait for 3 pm each day so I can get home to my boys... because when you come home to two sweet boys like I do what day isn't great?? 

I am thankful for my mama! She helps me in so many ways and keeps me on track. I really don't know what I would do without her. She is also huge help with my classroom and has wonderful ideas. She missed her calling! :)

I am also thankful for all my other family and friends. I am blessed beyond means to have each of you in my life.

3. What 3 blogs are you most thankful for?
Gosh.. I am thankful for them all! I don't think I was really ever teaching until I started blog stalking! I have definitely stepped up my game and really started doing more in the classroom and I am definitely enjoying it more since I started following all of you!

I love Cara at The First Grade Parade! Boy does that girl have some mad teaching skills and she is oozing with creativity!!! If only I had half of what she has going on in my classroom that she does in her classroom who would need fancy equipment?? HA  Her blog inspired me to jump into the blogging world. I hope one day I can be half as great as she is. And she cooks... this girl is crazy talented in the classroom and kitchen too!! My cooking even turned around after following (stalking) her blogs. :)  I definitely look forward to reading about what she is doing in her class and what she is cooking for her boys each week.

Next, I really enjoy Made for 1st Grade. They have some AMAZING freebies, tips, and ideas and out of this world units on TPT. I really wonder if these girls sleep!? ha  

Abby at The Inspired Apple is also oozing with creativity and I can't wait to read about what she is doing with her kiddos each week.

Last but not least I LOVE Rachelle and Natalie at What the Teacher Wants. They have wonderful tips, ideas, freebies... well you name it... they have it! :)  Rachelle is so stinkin' sweet and was so helpful to me when I was needing an idea for a math lesson for an evaluation. (by the way.. your ideas worked perfect Rachelle!)

I could go on and on with other blogs that I love and read daily. Thanks to all of you out there for sharing your ideas, etc. It has helped me in my classroom tremendously!!

4. What guilty pleasure are you most thankful for?

Jersey Shore (sad... but so true!.. go ahead and judge me!) well pretty much any reality tv (housewives, etc.), The Young and The Restless (sad again.. but even more true.. so go ahead and judge some more!) Pinterest (love, love, love!), sweet tea, sweets for my sweet tooth, pasta, and hair spray! hahaha

5. What are you most thankful for?
I am so very thankful for Eric, Dexter, my family, friends, job, home, health, and happiness. 

I am also thankful for Teachers Pay Teachers. I recently got started with it this past summer and positively love creating things to put on there. If you have purchased anything from my Teachers Pay Teachers store please know how thankful I am for you and how much I appreciate it! :) I hope I can continue coming up with things to post on there that someone.. anyone will find beneficial to their classroom.


I need to remind myself more often of how lucky and thankful I really am. Often times we dwell on the negatives and what we don't have, rather than taking time to be thankful for what we do have. So thanks to Rachelle for hosting this linky party and having us all take time out to be thankful. :) 

Don't forget to go link up with Rachelle and Natalie at What the Teacher Wants!


P.S. I am thankful for Thanksgiving break (Wednesday-Friday) this week! I can't wait to put up my Christmas trees, decorate the entire house, cook a turkey, and go black Friday shopping! 



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Turkey Fun!

Hey sweet blog friends! This week we have been learning all about turkeys. Yesterday, I read the book "All About Turkeys" by Jim Arnosky. The kids were really interested in this book and were super quite... I could have heard a pin drop they were so quite! Definitely out of the ordinary! HA  When I would point out some things in the book they would be like "show me, I didn't get to see!" or "where, where, where?" and "let me see it again!" They were excited let me tell ya! And well that makes me excited to see them so excited about LEARNING!!!!! After the story we created a can/have/are class chart about turkeys and the students each filled out one individually. I was surprised at how much the kiddos remembered about turkeys from the book... they had some great little tid-bits about turkeys to add to our can/have/are chart! They needed NO assistance coming up with ideas for each section of the chart! Makes my heart flutter! HA



Here is the the class can/have/are chart. Please ignore my messy handwriting and the poor lighting quality of the pic! :) I think I should have had an a in front of caruncle.. I was so excited about their responses I was jotting them down quickly! :)



Today we discussed what it meant to be thankful. We made these cute little turkeys and students wrote on the feathers what they were thankful for. I got everything from my family, to my teacher, and my go cart. One was even thankful for milk! :) I was especially proud to see that I made the cut for some! :)



Here is a closer pic of my turkey and what I was thankful for. 



You can get the pattern for this cute turkey and the can/have/are turkey activity in my Gobble, Gobble, Gobble! A Feast of Thanksgiving Fun unit that is for sale in my TPT store.


And when I last posted on Sunday I mentioned that it was my sweet little Dexter dog's birthday! Well here are a couple of pics from our 2nd birthday celebration! He had a fun little party and enjoyed two whole tasty cupcakes!! (hold the icing)  Can you say spoiled rotten????? Thanks for all your sweet comments about my little guy! I sure am one proud baby dog mama! :)  




Well that's all I got for tonight folks! 

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