Having one of those days...maybe one of those weeks.

It has not been a stellar week. My student teaching-ness is really starting to stick out like a sore thumb I think.

Have you ever just felt like nothing is in order, like you just need to make lists and then when you go back to look at the lists you made it doesn't make sense or calm you down? 
I feel like my head is spinning.  I am comfort eating. I think I gained 10 pounds this weekend. 
I feel out of control!
 Currently at this very moment  I am freaking out because I have to come up with a fabulous St. Patrick's day craft for my Kinders to complete and hang in the hallway and I don't have a clue. Sounds silly but everything has to be spectacular.
I also have to come up with at least 1 week of math and language arts lessons that have data I can collect for my masters. BUT WHEN!!! Data collection freaks me out. Kindergarteners and data collection is a huge time drainer when you have half day kindergarten. My AM/PM Kinders are only with me for about 3 hours each. Every minute is precious learning time! There is so much to learn and I feel like I am really struggling to pull everything together without being super literal. And then there is that resume I should be working on. Oh... but I'm not. My mind is spinning in a million directions. Which was why I made some lists. Which didn't seem to help.
Where has my weekend gone! I literally have not left my bedroom, but to go to the bathroom and grab unhealthy food. My back hurts...its dark again. School tomorrow. Ugggh!
I could just cry.

Anyways.... I'm off to have a nice pity party. In attendance?

me

some HD-PB ice cream

And...

Some OC Housewives(see Vicki is already crying!)

If anyone is local, feel free to join me. Trust me, I have PLENTY of HD ice cream. Lots of spoons.

Some top 10 awards...

Are there certain blogs that you return to day after day that continually provide you with inspiration? Then why not give them an award to say a big thank you! 

The Top Ten Blog Award was created by Teaching Blog Addict to do just that.

 

 I decided to take some time and give out this award to 10 special bloggers who have gone out of their way to make me smile everyday! 

 my Top 10 award list:

Congrats!

Winners be sure to pay it forward! 

What to do with this award...

 

WINNER!!!! Congrats to.....

And the winner is......(drumroll please...)

 Holly over at Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade! 

Congratulations! You just won a trip to Disney World!!!

Just kidding. But you did won a $15.00 gift card to Target, some fabulous clip art from The 3A.M Teacher, and awesome units from The Teacher's Cauldron AND The Picture Book Teacher's Edition.  I'll be in touch with you shortly.

 On a personal note, I wanted to take a minute and say thank you.

Thank you to all my new blogging friends who have come on over to visit my blog this week to sign up for my first giveaway. 

Thank you to every person who has taken the time to leave me a nice note since I started blogging. As a student teacher it means more than you would know.  It gives me confidence, makes me laugh when I'm over on this side of the PC crying, and makes me see that I too can be a successful teacher someday soon. Maybe I can even pay it forward.

Thank you for the generosity. I haven't blogged about this yet, but you wouldn't believe the astounding amount of  just plain giving there is in the blogging world.  If I need help with my future TPT store, no problem. Clip art? You got it! Help me with my first giveaway? Sure! Come follow my new blog when I have maybe two posts? Of course! Others send me little freebie units just because I love Dr. Seuss(JEN!) You all have families, drama, and classrooms of your own yet you have taken me under your wing when I need it. Its unreal. You don't even know me:) 

When I first started to blog, I was really embarrassed and insecure about people finding out and judging me. Now, I feel proud that I blog about education. I tell everyone that will listen how many followers I have, crafts I have posted(even if they look horrible), or what I read today. I talk about some of you like old friends. So.....

 THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

If there is ever any way little ol' me can help you out.. just ask. Have a great week everyone:)

Oobleck... and other seussy stuff you should know!

It's Friday!!!! WooHOO!!!!

I have been really prepping for next week's Dr. Seuss birthday celebration and Read Across America Seuss-tastic activities.
Here is a little preview.

THING 1 and THING 2 Bulletin Board

(well actually mine has 30 little "things" on it)

I made each "thing" out of red construction paper, the hair out of blue construction paper and pasted the students faces to personalize. Each "thing" is labeled 1-30(I have 30 students!)
To add a little spice I decided to rip up electric blue tissue paper and glue this all over the hair. It added a 3-D effect and gave the "Things" that Dr. Seuss look.

 Finally, I typed out a Dr. Seuss quote I really enjoy with a free Dr. Seuss font I found online.

A FREEBIE!

 I thought you might want to make some "things" of your own so I drew up a little FREE template like the one I used. Simply trace.Don't laugh at my template. I just drew it up free hand and scanned it. Hey better than nothing. How are you supposed to know how to make a THING!

 things12

Next, my class will be making.....   

Simple Dr. Seuss paper plate face

I based mine off of one I saw on Pinterest awhile ago. I never pinned the original so I cant give credit to anyone, but thanks for the idea!
All you need is:

Paper plates

A hat template(I made my own template for the hat)  

3 red stripes ( I cut these from cardboard,but you could draw these too)

6 black whiskers( I cut these from construction paper as well)

3 triangles- 1 for the nose, 2 for eyes.

I drew on the mouth.

The entire thing took approximately 10 minutes to assemble. We will be hanging these in the hall.

FINALLY....The OOBLECK! 

For our main center on Friday, we have decided to make Oobleck. Oobleck is a strange green matter that falls from the sky in the Dr. Seuss book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck.
I found a recipe and I cant wait to get my hands on this green gook!

Why oobleck is COOL!

1. Oobleck is a solid and a liquid at the same time.

 2. If you make a ball and throw it up in the air, it loses shape and becomes flat in the air.  

3. Oobleck can be molded in a container and when taken out does not keep shape

4. If you fill a balloon with 0obleck, the air presses or forces the Oobleck back out.

5. When you leave Oobleck in the sun, the color evaporates, it turns hard like cement on the top and like jelly on the bottom. When heated this also happens and it is sticky.

6. Oobleck does not bounce.

Don't forget to enter my FABULOUS giveaway! Ends Sunday! $$ Giftcards, clipart, AND
some seriously nice lessons!

G-I-V-E-A-W-A-Y! Win $$$, clipart, and more!

GIVEAWAY TIME!

To celebrate 50 followers, I am having a fabulous giveaway with my favorite blogging buddies!

**Check out the stuff you can win:**

I will be giving away a $15.00 gift card to Target!

 ****

The 3a.m. Teacher will be giving away some of her awesome good clip art! You will win her entire telling time graphics set!

****

The Teacher's Cauldron is giving away her wonderful St. Patty's Pot O' Gold Literacy and Math centers! 

**** 

The Picture Book Teacher's Edition is giving away her new fabulous Mitten Tree Math and Language Arts Unit!

 **** 

You have 7 ways to enter! .It's easy peezy, lemon squeezy, mac n ' cheesy!

(All comments below please and leave your email so I know where to reach ya!)

1.) Follow my blog, Just Teaching...Kindergarten, and leave a comment below.

2.) Follow The Teacher'sCauldron, and leave a comment below.

3)  Follow The 3 A.M. Teacher, and leave a comment below.

4)  Follow The Picture BookTeacher's Edition, and leave a comment below!

5) Follow 3 TPT stores: The Teacher's Cauldron, The 3A.M. Teacher, and The Picture Book Teacher's Edition. Leave 1 comment below( no TPT store for me yet!)

6) Blog about our giveaway and leave 2 additional comments!

This contest ends on February 26, 2012 at 5p.m. 

Good Luck! 

If I could... I would LINKY PARTY!

Shawna Devoe over at The Picture Book Teacher's Edition has started a cute lil' Linky party that I just had to participate in called...

 IF I COULD... I WOULD.....

How fun! Hmmm! There are so many ways I could answer this.
However, since I constantly worry about my future....

Pray for me ladies! The job market is slim and I have no idea what I'm doing. It just occurred to me that I do not know how to do a teaching resume. Another thing to stress about! AHHHH!  I am a perfectionist if you have not noticed(very type A) and once I focus on something, it has a tendency to consume me.


One final note....
Guess who has over 50 followers and is grinning from ear to ear? THIS GIRL.  Therefore, I will be having a giveaway which I will be announcing hopefully tomorrow. Woohoo! I am just finalizing the logistics with some blogging friends who are also going to be participating in the giveaway with me to make it even more fab. Can't wait. 
In the meantime, go on over to Shawna's and hook on up to this Linky party! Shawna's blog is awesome! She is seriously brilliant.
 

Busy Busy Busy!

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. I am so sorry I have not posted all week!
I have been crazy busy. I had a midterm due, Tuesday was just crazy, I was battling this cold, and I have been trying to figure out how to make my blog design. I just cannot bear to pay someone $50 or even $100 for a cute little blog. I am determined to figure it out. So. . .  I am researching and playing with GIMP. It's kinda fun and yet kinda makes me want to pull my flipping hair out. I don't have Photoshop and I cannot afford it so we will see. 
I also am trying to figure out this whole TPT store thing. Everyone seems to be doing it, but I have so many questions. Do you all just buy your clip art? It seems like even if you buy clip art you can't use it for commercial use.. is TPT commercial use?

Also, this may seem like a really dumb question, but where do you all make those 100 page units? Are those just word documents? Or is there some hidden place to easily whip up things like that?
(Remember, I'm a student teacher, so before you mutter under your breath what an idiot, I'm new here!)

Hmmm.... on a brighter note, I have 47 followers!!!!
When I get to 50, I'm gonna have a giveaway, because that's what we do here, right ladies!
Woohoo! I'm so excited, although I've never won anything in my life personally, maybe someone can win mine and I'll live vicariously through you!

Lastly, I was trying to think of something academic to share since this is a teaching blog. So, I thought I'd post some pics of this  bulletin board I made this week.

To go with our theme of Valentine's Day, we decided to talk to the kiddos about things they learned how to do by heart in Kindergarten. We got some cute responses!

A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!!

Valentine's Day Kindergarten Style

I have been crafting away all weekend preparing for Valentine's day.
My first craft was to cut up some old Crayola and melt them into heart shaped Jumbo-sized Crayons.

I will be wrapping each crayon in a bag I bought at the Target Dollar Spot with a tag I made that reads, "Color your Heart out Valentine!"

I also made some cute Valentine Joke boxes that are filled with goodies for my Kindergarteners. I found this idea on Pinterest and if you are interested in any of these free printables, they can be found on the blog, Delia Creates

I used cardstock from Target, which worked well for cutting and printing purposes

To fill my boxes, I added an assortment of erasers, stickers, tattoos, and candy corn (All from the Valentine Section at Target!)

To ensure my boxes would stay secure, I used a small amount of hot glue.

I can't wait to give the kiddos these gifts! I hope they like them!

On that note.... I just got Evelina's Valentine picture from my sister! Check this little ham out.. OMG.

Another Award....Twice!!!!

Over the weekend I was awarded the following award..twice!

 I would like to thank both Steph at Be A nut with Mrs McNutt AND Kelly at Kindergarten Kel for giving me this award. Both of these ladies have spectacular Kindergarten blogs and this was such a nice surprise!
This award must be given to a blog with less than 200 followers, which is a really awesome way to recognize us new bloggers just getting started! THANKS LADIES! 
If you receive The Liebster Blog Award, you have to give it to 5 others with blogs that have less than 200 followers. So, here are the lovely bloggers that I'm giving this special award to:
(in no particular order)


1. Mrs. Brown at Busy in Kindergarten
2. Kelly at All That Glitters in First Grade
3. Sarah at a Kindergarten in Bloom
4. Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten
5. Jen at Wild about Teaching


Congrats everyone!

Vowels Vowels everywhere!

Guess who is sick again? This girl!!!  I have come to the sad conclusion that I may just never be able to breathe out of my nose again:)
So many kiddos out sick this week. Miss M even had a sick day!  Substitute teachers galore!

Today we explored vowels. I was surprised that many of the Kindergarteners knew that "a,e, i, o, and u" were called vowels. This made things a whole lot easier! (We did have one little guy who was really hung up on the idea of consonants verse vowels...maybe he watches Wheel of fortune a lot?)
I made vowel books for the kiddos to complete based on a picture I saw on the blog, Made for 1st grade(thanks ladies!)
The activity required the students to cut out 16 pictures that had a LONG VOWEL or SHORT VOWEL initial sound( for example, Igloo, Apple, Unicorn, Alligator, etc.)
Then, the students sorted and glued the pictures by sound under each vowel flap.
This was a great way to introduce vowels and practice our sounds.

 I also stopped by my sister's house tonight to give my little niece Evelina her Valentine gifts... oh she is adorable. She is still breast feeding and while I was there tonight she crawled right over to the dog and tried to latch onto the poor dog's(wait for it)...nipple. I almost died laughing!

 Here are some pictures of the little munchkin:)

Don't forget to check out the giveaways at 2nd Grade Shenanigans and The adventures of Mrs. Smith!