Diary of a What!?

This week we had the chance to go on our first field trip of the year. Our school was invited to attend a viewing of the play "Diary of a Worm, a Spider and a Fly"

We all had so much fun! The scenery was fabulous, all the kids loved it. It was full of fun music and costumes. The play lasted about an hour, which was perfect for my kinders.
(They started to get a little restless at the very end).

Their homework that night was to draw a picture of their favorite part of the play on their "Play Report"
We also made a "Diary of our Class" book. Now they all get to have a turn taking it home and reading it with their families.

If you would like to use any of the pages for your own class, just click on the picture!

Have a fabulous week!

Apples, Apples and More Apples!!

We finished up our apple unit on Friday with a bang!

It all started with making slow cooker applesauce! Each child was asked to bring in apples for our festivities the last couple of weeks, so we used the rest of the apples up making a yummy treat. I found the recipe from First Grade Parade, click here if you want to try it out! (It is DELICIOUS!)

I forgot to take pictures during the preparation, but we used my apple peeler/slicer and the kiddos were all very amazed! We tasted the skin of the apples afterwards and they decided which one they liked best. (Just a side note if you want to make it....I prepped 6 of the 8 apples at home before school. 2 apples are perfect for their short attention spans)

 
While our applesauce cooked, we talked about the Life Cycle of apples, and then completed Wild About Teaching's freebie:

 

We did four different apple centers....call me crazy doing all of these by myself! Let's just say I'm glad we all survived.

1. After tasting the applesauce, they completed a recipe/direction page on how we made it. They also colored a happy face or sad face depending on if they liked the applesauce or not.

2. Apple Stamping. I cut apples in half and they got to use them as stamps to paint with on their paper

3. Q-tip 10-frame painting from Sharing Kindergarten:

4. Apple Pattern Craft: (we just colored them with markers instead of using more paint)

 

The apple stamping was definitely the most crazy. I had 2 box lids that they were supposed to put their paper inside before painting, to help control the mess. I explained the rules/directions for each center and then they got started.

I'm looking around at all the tables and notice at the painting table that EVERYONE'S hands were bright red....and NONE of them had their paper inside the lid, so paint was everywhere! (Mind you, it had been a total of 30 seconds since they'd all started.) I tried to remain calm....gave them wipes to clean their hands and table with, and reminded them of the rules.

After we switched centers....I'm glancing around, and AGAIN there was paint EVERYWHERE! (People....I know I explained the rules to them. I guess they were just SO excited to paint that they forgot every word that came out of my mouth and just went to town.) So I, again, gave them wipes and had them clean up.

The next time we switched, I learned my lesson. I stayed at that table to make sure that they knew what to do....and they were great!

Lesson learned. When we paint....I will remember that they are so excited, they don't remember a word I'm saying. Ha ha. It's all about the experience, right!?

 After all the insane fun centers were done, we read a few apple books to finish our celebration. 

Here are a few other fun ideas for you if you're still learning about apples. Just click on the pictures to go to the links.

Apple Cloud Dough:

Apple Chips:

Apple Stamping:

Are you still learning about apples? What fun things are you doing!?

Johnny Appleseed Freebie!

I've been reading a lot of blog posts that start with something like "It's been awhile" or "I've missed all of you!" Well.....I am no exception! I have not done a blog post since the beginning of August!

I don't know how all of you do it at the beginning of the school year! Blogging, making products for TPT, Facebook, lesson planning, plus helping your own kids (if you have any) do homework and other activities. I have only had enough energy to wake up, go to school, come home, eat dinner, and just relax! Haha.

Since my last post in August, I have been getting my classroom put together (Pictures coming soon!) and just finished my third week of school! I forgot how exhausted I am with my little kinders at the beginning of the year.

They're all getting more used to the routine and classroom rules which makes me so happy.

This year I have 15 kids: 4 boys and 11 girls. It's definitely a more emotional and chatty group than last year! But I'm having so much fun getting to know them.

I hope you are all having a wonderful start to your school year!

Now, onto your freebie!

Johnny Appleseed Day is on September 26th and will be here before we know it! I just created a fun little freebie for all of you to go along with all your apple festivities:
 

 

I also came across these other fabulous apple freebies on TPT today. Just click on each picture to go download them.

A Read and Color page and Hat craft:

 ABC order and Sight Word Coloring Page:

Label Johnny Appleseed page and a Johnny Appleseed craft template:

and an info sheet and clip art:

I hope you are able to use some of these to help celebrate Johnny Appleseed this year. I'll be back soon with classroom pictures and more apple fun!

Enjoy your weekend!

Winners, Giveaways, Bundles and Freebies!

Wow! What a crazy past week. Throwing a 12-Winner Giveaway Party can take a lot out of ya! I had to take a little break, but now I'm back to officially announce all 12 winners and congratulate them again!

Day 1:
K-2 Winners Choice: Amanda Ploitano
K-2 Bundle: Jessica Mahaffey
3-5 Winners Choice: Kristen Dawn

Day 2:
K-2 Winners Choice: Yvonnee Gaynor
K-2 Bundle: Andrea Lee
3-5 Bundle: Desiree Cotten

Day 3:
K-2 Winners Choice: Veronica Rob
K-2 Bundle: Lori Raines
3-5 Winners Choice: Susan Fletcher

Day 4:
K-2 Winners Choice: Cherie Ong
K-2 Bundle: Amanda Politano
3-5 Bundle: Karen Huffman

I still can't believe Amanda Won 2 different giveaways. Lucky, lucky girl! All in all there were over 9000 entries, I couldn't believe it. Thank you all so much for entering, I hope you were able to find some great blogs and stores along the way.

I also need to give a HUGE shout out to all the product donators! I definitely could not have done this without them. I'm so grateful for their willingness to help me out. THANK YOU!


A few other things for you today....

Heather from Peacocks and Penguins is having a 300 follower giveaway! I just recently found her blog and let me tell you.....adorable! She even has a link to find out where she got the inspiration for her blog title, I just watched the video it linked to and fell in love with it! (Click here to see it, or go to her blog) There are 5 amazing different prizes so click her picture below to go and enter. I have even donated a winners choice to her first prize pack!

I'm excited to let you in on a little secret:

Starting TOMORROW, Teachers Notebook will have amazing product bundles for $20-$30! It will include many products from a lot of different sellers.....talk about a KILLER DEAL! It will only be for one week, so don't miss out on it! I can't wait to look at all the different bundle options tomorrow!!
 

 

The August FB Frenzy has started! It is LOADED with Back to School freebies this month, and there are over 70 waiting for you!!!

There were so many this month that Heather from Creation Castle decided to divide it into TWO different hops. A K-2 and a 3+(including clip art)! Talk about an amazing back to school gift for everyone!

I am stop #2 in the K-2 hop and am giving you my Count the Room Math Center as a freebie!

Here are the "Maps" to each hop....click on them to go and get started!

   

And last, but not least.....I have a another little freebie for you! My school does a "Super Scooper Club" with reading. The kids keep track of how many minutes they read at home each night, write down the books and minutes, then get an ice cream scoop on our bulletin board display for every 60 minutes they read! I have both that sheet, and a generic "Reading Log" sheet as a freebie for you today. I also have one of each with a ___ to fill in the desired minutes. Just click on the pictures below if you'd like to grab them!

 

The hubs and I are off to visit family for a week....I'm kind of freaking out because my classroom is getting PAINTED this week (I'm going there today and it'd better be done!) Then I'll only have 3 days after we get back home before it's Meet the Teacher night!! I'll probably take a sleeping bag and camp out at school for 3 days so it's finished in time.....wish me luck (I'm gonna need it!!)

Have a fabulous weekend!