Teacher Appreciation Jackpot

I'm so excited to announce that my giveaway download for the Teacher Appreciation Jackpot will be my There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell Mini Math and Literacy Unit! Click on the picture below to grab your copy for free before time runs out!

To find out more about each grade level participating, feel free to visit the blogs below to find out more about giveaways that are relevant to your grade level.


PK-2 Products: Teacher Appreciation Jackpot

3rd-5th Products: Teacher Appreciation Jackpot

7th-12th Products: Teacher Appreciation Jackpot

Also, all items in my TpT store will be on sale for 28% off when using the promo code TAD12. The sale runs from May 6 through May 8. Click here to take you to my TpT store.

All items in my TeachersNotebook shop will be on sale for 20% off through May 11.

Frog, Penguin and Santa's Suit Hundreds Charts {FREEBIES}

Last night, I created several hundreds charts (frog, penguin and Santa Suit) for you to use with your pond life/life cycles and penguin theme units. I hope you will be able to use one or both. Just click on the pictures below to grab your free copies! Check out my other posts with lots of hundreds charts. You can find them all by clicking here.

 

Cinco de Mayo Hundreds Chart

I had a request from a sweet reader, Brooke, to make a sombrero hundreds chart for Cinco de Mayo and I tried really hard to make one work, but it kept looking like a weird, brightly colored cowboy hat. So, I found a picture of maracas online and thought maybe they would work instead. What do you think? Is it too over the top and cheesy?

How sad is it that I didn't even know that Cinco de Mayo was Spanish for the fifth of May until I was an adult? Clearly I'm sheltered and have had zero foreign language classes in my lifetime! I am pretty sure the only reason I know how to count to 10 in Spanish is because of watching Sesame Street as a child. :)


If you celebrate Cinco de Mayo with your students or kiddos, feel free to click here or on the picture below to get your freebie!

Please be sure to let me know if you find any errors. :)

Teacher Appreciation Jackpot

 
I'm super excited to be participating in the Teacher Appreciation Jackpot for K-2! Along with over 150 bloggers, I will be giving away one FREE product through my TpT store on Sunday, May 6th!

You will be able to download a copy of my There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell Mini Math and Literacy Unit!!!

 The giveaway is ONE day only, so be sure to stop back by!

To find out more about each grade level participating, feel free to visit the blogs below to find out more about giveaways that are relevant to your grade level.


PK-2 Products: Teacher Appreciation Jackpot

3rd-5th Products: Teacher Appreciation Jackpot

7th-12th Products: Teacher Appreciation Jackpot

Also, my TpT and TN stores will both be on sale during Teacher Appreciation Week! 

Mother's Day Crafty Gifts Linky Party

I love Mother's Day! Especially since I'm a mommy! :) I love being able to celebrate the special women in my life for all their love, hard work and dedication to their families, jobs and everything they do.

I would love to know what you're doing for the mom's of your students! Feel free to link up to my Mother's Day Crafty Gifts Linky Party! Feel free to grab the code below the picture to paste into your post so readers can visit this linky party!

<center><a href="http://lilcountrykindergarten.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Lil' Country Kindergarten" src="http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s55/marlanajill/Blogging/MothersDayLinkyParty.jpg" /></a></center> <br>

In the past, we've had a local florist come to our school and she gives a presentation on how to arrange flowers and the kids get to make their mom's a bowl full of super cute flowers. However, our florist retired, so we have to come up with things on our own.

For this year, I think I'm going to have my kiddos make a Mom washer necklace. It would look similar to the photo below, except, I will have the kids use the tiny alphabet stamps from the Target Dollar Spot earlier this year to stamp the word MOM using Staz On ink. It will be inexpensive for me and easy for them. What do you think?

Source: theribbonretreat.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

I also created a Mother's Day emergent reader called My Mom and Me. You can purchase it through my TpT store for $2 by clicking on the picture below.

What special things do you have planned for Mother's Day crafts for your students? Feel free to link up below to your post about your Mother's Day crafts or craftivities! Feel free to add your items that are free or for sale.

 Click on the picture below to get lots of great ideas from the Mother's Day Linky Party hosted by Maria at Kinder-Craze!

Testing 1, 2, 3... and a Freebie!

How many tests do you do at the end of the year? These are the tests we are doing the next 2 1/2 weeks.

1. Letter Identification (LID)
2. Concepts About Print (CAP)
3. Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)
4. Writing Sample
5. Phonological Awareness Test
6. Letter Naming Fluency - AIMSWEB
7. Letter Sound Fluency - AIMSWEB
8. Phoneme Segmentation - AIMSWEB
9. Nonsense Word Fluency - AIMSWEB
10. Common Assessment (for grade cards)

This is our first year for doing the first five tests listed. Our school is participating in its first year of Missouri Reading Initiative implementation, so the top tests are all required, with the exception of the Phonological Awareness Test. However, it was required earlier in the year and I wanted to make sure I had multiple data reports to use for comparison. 

So, after all those numbers, it's only fitting to give you a freebie with more numbers! Maybe it's something your students can use while you're testing! :) It's a Beachy Ten Frame and Base Ten Number Match for the numbers 11-20. It's the same as some of the other number matches I have offered, but I updated it to match your beach/ocean units. Head over to my TpT store to download your free copy!

Earth Day the Kindergarten Way!

Confession time here….I have never celebrated Earth Day with my students. (I know, you may need some recovery time. Take all the time you need. I’ll be here when you’re ready.)

www.ScrappinDoodles.com

So, this year, I’m going to do something about it. Implementing the new Common Core Standards this year has been a blessing when it comes to thematic teaching. We’ve ditched our Reading manual and now we’re on our own in all academic areas. Kind of scary, but definitely great! Since Earth Day falls on Sunday, April 22, my class will be celebrating all week next week.


I created the following mini unit to go along with our Earth Day festivities. It is $2.50 in my TpT store. It includes activities for Shared Reading, graphing, Write the Room, Charts, etc. Click on the picture below or here to take you to my store.

 

For Monday, I called our local Lowe's to see if they could collaborate with us to help our students build something and they said yes! They will be coming to our school to host a Build & Grow Clinic to help our Kdg. students build an Earth Day kit. I'm super excited about this! There will be lots and lots of hammering! They are also bringing little aprons, goggles and patches for the kids. I'm excited for the experience!  I called our High School Counselor to see if we could get several high school students to help us since we've never experienced 60 students hammering at one time. Thank goodness she said yes! Ha! 



If you'd like more information about the Lowe's Build & Grow Clinics, visit http://lowesbuildandgrow.com/pages/default.aspx.


 Here are a few things I thought you might also enjoy.

• Let's Recycle Sorting Game
• Paint your own Earth
• Emergent Reader Plays 

Check out my Earth Day board on Pinterest.
http://pinterest.com/lilcountrykdg/kindergarten-earth-day/

Check out my Earth Day selections at My Amazon Bookstore. 



Earth Day Songs


http://www.preschooleducation.com/searth.shtml
http://www.songs4teachers.com/recycle2.pdf

Online Games
Every Day is Earth Day (Starfall Game)
Handy Manny’s Green Planet Show

YouTube: Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures: Happy Earth Day

Earth Day Base Ten and Ten Frame Number Match {FREEBIE}

I am working on several Earth Day activities that I will be posting about soon. Until then, feel free to grab this Base Ten and Ten Frame Number Math freebie by clicking on the picture below.

Also, if you are needing a few books for your Earth Day unit, feel free to visit my Amazon Bookstore tab below my header. I just added four pages of books you might like to help celebrate Earth Day with your students. I purchased four of the books below with my Amazon Prime membership (free 2-day shipping), the Amazon 4-for-3 special offer, along with a free $5 Amazon gift card I had earned through Swagbucks and got all four for only $6.97!  Feel free to use my referral link if you would like to sign up for Swagbucks.  http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Marlana



  

(If you are reading this in a blog reader, you may have to click on the post title to take you to my blog in order to view the widget above.) 

500 Fabulous Facebook Fans Giveaway Winners!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my 500 Fabulous Facebook Fans giveaway! I am still so excited that you are fans! I wish that I could give something to everyone. :) Your comments and support are appreciated more than you know!

Congratulations to Kate S. and Sandra M. of Sweet Times in First!  You were the chosen winners through Random.org. Each of you will receive a $10 gift certificate to Teachers pay Teachers! I hope you find some amazing products!

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell Mini Math and Literacy Unit

Check out my latest unit There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell on Teachers pay Teachers or Teachers Notebook! The colors are so vibrant in this unit that it makes me want to head to the beach for a little relaxation time. This would be great during your ocean unit or just plain fun to finish out the school year!

I would love to send this unit to the first three people who comment and include an email address. :) Thanks, ladies!


Here's a little freebie that I created to go along with this unit. I hope you like it! It's a class graph and results response sheet called Have you ever built a sandcastle? Click on the picture below for your copy.