Lil' Country Kindergarten

St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Ten Frame and Base Ten Number Match-up

2012-02-22T22:41:00.000-08:00

Just popping in to add a freebie for your Math Work Stations for March. I hope everyone is doing well and getting lots of new ideas for March. We are gearing up for our Dr. Seuss celebration and I'm loving all the great ideas I've seen on everyone's blogs and through Pinterest. I have way more resources accumulated that I'll ever be able to use and I'm loving that!

I'm working on several St. Patrick's Day activities and stations that I hope to be posting soon! For now, click on the picture below to download your St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Ten Frame and Base Ten Block Number Match-up freebie!

March Math and Literacy Stations {Linky Party}

2012-02-19T09:22:00.000-08:00

(Feel free to grab the button above to add to your post. It will take your readers directly to the resources that are submitted and you won't have to link back to this post.)

I cannot believe how fast February is flying by! I am currently working on trying to get a jump start on March station ideas for Math and Literacy. Hopefully this will give everyone enough time to get things added, as well as, time to get things printed and assembled for March. I don't have a whole lot added yet, but I'll add things as I find them.

If you have additional freebies or things that don't fit into the work stations category, feel free to list them, as well. We don't want to miss out on anything fabulous!

If you would like to include a link to your own items, please fill out the form below. Your activities can be free or for sale. You can link to as many products or activities as you would like.

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Do you use Legos in the classroom?

2012-02-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

Do you use Legos in your classroom? If so, how are you using them? My kids have used them for free play and inside recess, but I've never taught a specific lesson using Legos.

Here are a few things I've found that I wish I would have been doing sooner. I know there are several of my boys that would LOVE constructing letters, words and numbers if they thought it felt more like play. :)

Source: handmadefont.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

April's post at Chalk Talk titled LEGOS!! The Thing to Have

Via: Online College Advice

Sorry for the snoozefest!

2012-02-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

I apologize that my little ol' blog has been a snoozefest of activity the last couple of days. We were out of school Monday and Tuesday for snow days and Wednesday was our Valentine's Party. My list of things to share with you is a mile long and I feel like every single thing is important, but I haven't been able to drag myself away from my family.

I've enjoyed EVERY single minute with my kiddos and husband that I can while I've been home. My babies have shared icky upper respiratory germs, so there's a whole lotta coughin' goin' on at our house right now. (My poor babies!)

So, instead of posting about teacher relevant things, I'll share with you a few pics of our fun in the snow on Tuesday.

(Don't judge that they don't have their hats/earmuffs on in all of these pictures. I made them take them off for less than 5 seconds per picture so I could get a few clear shots. My daughter's face kept being hidden by her ginormous, furry hood.)

This isn't even our dog, but she has adopted us and we really like her. She showed up one day a few months ago just skin and bones. We fed her and she hasn't ever tried to leave. She almost matches our other beagle so we call them Copper and Non-Copper.

Were any of you able to enjoy some fun in the snow this week?

Presidents' Day Math & Literacy Work Station Activities

2012-02-12T23:12:00.000-08:00

Last night, I stayed up way too late thinking that we will most likely have a snow day today. Unfortunately, it's well past 1:00 A.M. and I can't get to sleep because of the sheer anticipation that there could be the slightest chance that we could not have to go to school tomorrow. It's bad, I know. :) So, I at least tried to be productive.

I created a small Presidents' Day Math and Literacy Work Stations unit. I have it in my TpT shop for $2 if you need a few last minute activities for this week or next. I also added some of my freebies to the end of it in case you haven't seen them

Wow! I don't know how Deedee Wills does it!

2012-02-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

(Click on the pictures above to grab a copy.)

So, just for ~~insanity~~ fun today, I decided to create a version of a 'Peek at My Week' for literacy and math work stations like THE Deedee Wills from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten. After finishing up, I decided I truly don't know how she keeps up with it each week. She's amazing and has all of her things all lined out each week and actually has it on her blog for others to see. Like, every week!

Here's where I'm at. I did finish a Literacy & Math Stations of the Week document, but I can't imagine that I would be able to change it every week. Mainly because it took me forever to print everything, add everything to the lesson chart and I haven't even done all the cutting and laminating. Deedee, how do you do it???

Can't we just figure out a way to clone these fabulous Kindergarten teachers and have them by our sides everyday to get us in a greatness routine? Please!!!

Plus, I'm trying to stick with my goal of paying off our land this year, so we'll be completely debt free. Therefore, all of the links I have listed were things that I was able to get for free. (This might help you, too! Just one of the stations would cost you anything, but it's well worth every penny!) When my debt free goal is met, I'm totally buying every great unit I see! Ha!

Have any of you tried creating plans like Deedee's? Do you have any secrets for me? I'd really like to figure out a way to embed my Pinterest pins in a Word document to make them clickable links. Then, I could do the picture and link part all in one step. Any suggestions for how to make this work? If I do this again, I might have to just compose all of it in a blog post so it's a little easier.

Read to Someone Response Sheet {Freebie}

2012-02-12T15:43:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd share a little freebie that I'm going to start using with my kiddos during The Daily 5. I hope it is useful for you, as well. Click on the image below to download a copy.

Feeling so blessed and full of LOVE!

2012-02-11T15:08:00.001-08:00

What an amazingly great day today! I received a super sweet gift from Michelle from Apples and ABC's for the Be My Valentine Exchange hosted by Ms. Preppy and Kindergarten Korner. The thoughtful gifts that Michelle sent are above. :) The polka dot cork board she made is super cute and she sent some colorful heart stickers. I love that she decorated the cork board herself. Won't this be cute to hold little pictures or notes by my desk?

Then, I got an email from Mary at Sharing Kindergarten. She included her super cute Valentine Candy Sorting Jars Activity just for following her blog and TpT store. You’ll definitely want to check it out. You can’t pass up a freebie like that!

If all of that wasn’t enough, I got an email from Rachelle at Life Is Sweet…In Kindergarten saying I had won her birthday giveaway! She sent me her Lucky Leprechauns and Seuss on the Loose units on HER birthday. (It feels more like my birthday now!) The units are HUGE and they cover a variety of standards. I cannot wait to get them printed and start using them. I especially love the reader with the Leprechaun unit. I didn’t have any St. Patrick’s Day little readers…until now! You can purchase both of the items by clicking on the pictures above. They are each $8 through Rachelle’s TpT store.

Can you believe all of this? Then, a few days ago, I had asked Shawna from The Picture Book Teacher’s Edition if she would mind to make a blank Beginning/Middle/End foldable like she had created in this post and guess what? She made it and sent it to me and didn’t even ask me to pay for it. How generous was that? If you haven’t checked out her blog and started following her, you really need to. She is so very kind and she creates HUGE units and shares lots of freebies, too.

All of this couldn’t have come at a better time. My little man is sick and it is sooo cold outside that there’s nothing better to do than stay inside and drink hot chocolate and print lots of fabulous resources. Opening my mail and emails has definitely made this a wonderful day! Thank you ladies!

Giveaway at The Teacher Tattles

2012-02-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

Ms. Trinh at The Teacher Tattles is having a $25 Target gift card giveaway to celebrate 500 Pinterest followers. You should definitely check it out before February 17! I know she would love it if you became a follower of her blog, too!

We Celebrate Presidents' Day Song for Shared Reading {Freebie}

2012-02-10T04:50:00.000-08:00

I posted on Facebook last night that I LOVE that there are sites devoted to basically rhyming dictionaries. That makes me so happy! I know you have probably been using things like this forever, but it was a new find for me. :) I like www.rhymer.com and www.rhymezone.com.

All I can say is WATCH OUT! Now I'm going to feel compelled to make all kinds of songs that don't truly have the right number of syllables to match the tune, but it's not going to stop me from creating! Ha!

I created a freebie song for Shared Reading called We Celebrate Presidents' Day to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic. (In case you aren't familiar with the tune, you can find a midi file here.) I created three copies for your use. Click on the pictures below to download your freebies.

Valentine, Valentine What Do You See? Emergent Reader {Freebie}

2012-02-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

Well, the infamous third quarter 'comfortables/crazies' have kicked in my classroom. You know where students aren't really worried anymore about self-control, they are absent all the time because everyone shares their germs and support from parents tends to wane a little because their child 'never acts like this at home'. Behavior and germs and denial, oh my!!! (Oops, did I say that out loud? Sorry!)

So, I took a nap tonight and regrouped. Then, I was all motivated and ready to create something fun for my wonderfully fabulous, talented, supportive, witty, amazing and faithful followers because I LOVE you all!!!

Head on over to TpT to download your free copy of my Valentine, Valentine What Do You See? Emergent Reader.

Also, if you haven't checked the February Math & Literacy Stations Google Doc lately, be sure to see if there's anything you can use. Almost everything that everyone has added is free. Yay!!!

Tech Tips: How to Add Pages to Your Blogger Blog

2012-02-06T05:03:00.000-08:00

On my last post, several of you mentioned that you would like to learn how to add pages to your Blogger blogs. I promise it is super simple. :) Instead of coming up with something myself (that would likely be way too drawn out), I just did a Google search and found the following link to be the most descriptive. Plus, I'm a visual learner, so I like the pictures for each step. Let me know if you have any questions.

http://shabbyblogsblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-add-pages-to-your-blog.html

Good luck! Be sure to come back and comment if you added pages to your blog. I'd love to check them out!

Word Family Sliders

2012-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Source: reallygoodstuff.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Last night while I was at school (super late) getting ready for my new little guy today, I was working really hard on setting up a few more word work stations for my students. We have had the Slide and Learn Word Families sliders above from Really Good Stuff for about two years now and up to this point, I had primarily only used them for whole class activities. I had them available for stations, but there was no accountability other than the child sliding the blue rime and pretending to read. Bad teacher, I know. Basically, only students who could read ~~or those who wanted to have something play with~~ would even pick them up.

So, I decided to make a recording sheet for the students to complete as they are working with the sliders. I also made two rings for differentiation. One ring holds our regular word family words and the second ring has a little bit harder rimes. Click on the picture below to get your copy of the Word Family Sliders recording sheet. .

If you are interested in purchasing a set, here's a link to the product. They are $29.99.

You can always make your own, too. I like the colors of the paint chips below. However, you can make these out of white paper, construction paper, scrapbook paper, cardstock or whatever your little heart desires.

Source: pediastaff.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

How do you organize all the links to freebies and activites you find?

2012-02-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you who read my blog in a reader, I wanted to let you know about a new page I created. It's very new, so please do not pay attention to the fact that I haven't entered much yet. :)

The new page is titled Themes, as you can see above. I wanted to my blog to be more functional for myself and those of you who visit that like to see what I might be doing in my classroom. Unfortunately, blogging about a new link every time I find a great activity isn't something you would probably like to see. My posts would be even more out of control than they already are on a daily basis. Ha!

So, I decided to create a Google Docs form to help me submit links that would also allow me to organize freebies and paid items by month, subject, lesson, etc. Check out the new page tab underneath my header and let me know what you think. As I mentioned, I just created it a few minutes ago, so I haven't submitted much yet. I'm getting a new IEP student tomorrow, so I need to go to school for awhile tonight and get a few things ready.

So, what do you think? How do you organize all the great ideas you get?

Giveaway at The Resource(ful) Room

2012-02-05T07:57:00.000-08:00

Amy at The Resource(ful) Room is having a giveaway to celebrate 300 followers. You can win a Dana Buchman lunch pail, travel mug, and cute pink scarf for yourself, along with, a Brown Bear, Brown Bear book and plush animal for your classroom. The giveaway ends tonight after the Super Bowl. Hurry over for your chance to win!

Alphamania: An Alphabet Resource for Teachers and Parents {Review}

2012-02-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

Click on the book above to view a sample

For those you of you who implement a letter a week into your Reading curriculum, you'll definitely want to take a look at Cindy Johnson's ebook, Alphamania: An Alphabet Resource for Teachers and Parents. It is full of ideas that go along with each letter of the alphabet. The ebook format is simple, easy to read and well organized.

You will find activities for crafts, snacks, movies, books, geographic locations and songs that correspond with each letter of the alphabet.

Categories for each letter include:

Crafty Creations
Activities
Tiny Tastes
Special Guests and/or Road Trips
What to Watch
What to Read
Letter Stretchers
Creature Features
Where on Earth?
Musical Notes

My favorites for Kindergarten were Letter Stretchers, Where on Earth?, Creature Features and Musical Notes. I love the idea of extending the curriculum beyond the regular letter of the week activities from year's past. The great thing is, you don't have to go out and purchase a lot of materials to make these lessons come alive. The majority of the ideas are very simple and easy to implement right away.

In my classroom, students have really enjoyed reading non-fiction texts to study different animals. The Creature Features section of each chapter includes a list of animals for each letter. The Where on Earth? portion is great for using a globe, map or a SMART Board or projector to find different geographic locations on Earth and expose students to new cultures around the world.

This ebook would be a valuable resource for parents and educators who teach a letter a week or those who need additional activities to reinforce what you are already doing. I would definitely recommend this ebook to others.

You can download a sample to view for free. You can purchase the ebook for only $5.99. There are a variety of formats for download, too. Check it out here.

*I was given a free copy of the ebook Alphamania: An Alphabet Resource for Teachers and Parents in exchange for posting a review.

Kids Tooth Brushing Chart for Students - Classroom Resources for Teachers

2012-02-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

For those of you who teach a Dental Health unit to your Kindergarten class, I encourage you to check out the site LoveYourTeeth.net to create printable tooth brushing charts for your students. The printables can be customized with your school name and the names of your students. The charts help your students track their brushing habits, day and night, for four weeks. If you have a regular classroom blog, you can also add a badge to your blog or web site. The site is very simple and easy to use. Check it out by clicking the link below.

Kids Tooth Brushing Chart for Students - Classroom Resources for Teachers

A Public Service by Dentist Advisor

Fabulous at Forty Giveaway at Ms. Solano's Kindergarten!

2012-02-03T22:08:00.000-08:00

All I can say is...WOW! Tanya at Ms. Solano's Kindergarten is having an amazing giveaway to celebrate her upcoming 40th birthday. She's giving away, not one, but two $50 gift certificates to ErinCondren.com! Be sure to head over to enter by February 17th. Become Tanya's newest follower and wish her a happy 40th birthday, too!

Confession time...
I've already been browsing the Erin Condren web site for what I might potentially buy if I'm lucky enough to win this giveaway. I'm going for the power of the positive mind vibes right now. :) Does anyone else do stuff like this? My fingers are super crossed in anticipation! I love anything that's organizational and pretty! I won't tell you want I want yet, because that might jinx it. :) Not like telling you that I'm already shopping for something I haven't even won. A girl can dream, right?

Groundhog Day Last Minute Ideas

2012-02-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for a few last minute things for Groundhog Day, check out the Groundhog Mini Unit from 2 Teaching Mommies. My favorite pages are the Groundhog Parts and Groundhog Size Sequencing. My students will love labeling the parts of the groundhog.

Don't forget these two freebies I posted earlier:
Will You See Your Shadow? Groundhog Song {Freebie}
Groundhog 100's Chart Activity

I've also created a Groundhog Day and Shadows mini unit for Teachers Pay Teachers that includes an emergent reader.

Here are a few things I found that others are using:

Source: acupcakefortheteacher.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Source: teacherspayteachers.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Source: pasteandpearls.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Source: peacelovelearning.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Lots of fun ideas can be found on the following Pinterest Board: Deb @ Living Montessori Now.

Thanks to The Very Busy Kindergarten for finding this YouTube video. It's perfect for me since I'm in Missouri. :)

Okay, I realize this is a commercial, but the hand shadow puppets are absolutely amazing!

Lights and Shadows Science Discovery Unit by Sharing Kindergarten

2012-01-31T22:08:00.000-08:00

Mary at Sharing Kindergarten was kind enough to send me her wonderful unit, Light and Shadow Science Discovery Unit, to review. I'm so excited to be able to share about this fun unit!

In this unit you will find links to relevant videos, book suggestions, activity ideas and pictures to show you just what you need to get ready for a mini unit on lights and shadows. This is perfect to combine with Groundhog Day this week and even better for prompting students to have discussions about what makes and blocks light. You will appreciate the higher level thinking that your students will be asked to do, as well.

This lesson covers five days of content. The format of the unit is very easy to follow, with pictures of the texts that will be read with each lesson. There are also printables to go along with some of the activities.

Right now Lights and Shadows is on sale in Mary's TpT store for only $4! The lesson planning is already done for you and all you have to do is assemble the materials for each day. You've got to love something that makes your life simpler so you can focus on the bigger things and this unit does just that. Mary has done all the hard work and you just print it out, get your books and charts ready and prepare your students for a fun filled unit that they will be sure to love!

Head on over to Mary's blog, Sharing Kindergarten, or take a peek at her TpT store.

Will You See Your Shadow? Groundhog Day Song {Freebie}

2012-01-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

Be REALLY glad that you can't me hear me sing when I'm making up songs or pretty much anytime I'm singing. I'm one of those people who really can't sing, but LOVES to sing anyway. :) Sometimes, my class and I will be singing a song and the para in our class will be singing along and I will stop so the kids have to fill in the missing part of a song and she will keep singing and we both laugh. It's only funny because she CAN sing and I'm, at best, very pitchy. Ha!

Everyone in my family can sing well. Hmm, maybe I am adopted.

Somehow, singing with kiddos is amazingly fun! They are so enthusiastic and carefree! However, when adults have to hear me, I want to fore worn them to cover their ears and to please not judge me. I remind them that the kids don't seem to mind how horrible I am.

Well, if you've made it this far, I'm rewarding you with a freebie song for Groundhog Day that I made up this evening! Thanks for sticking with me! :) Click on the picture below to get your copy.

So, what kind of singer are you?

Groundhog Day and Mini Shadow Unit

2012-01-28T13:17:00.000-08:00

Last night I created an emergent reader for Groundhog Day and couldn't stop there. I have added a new mini unit to my Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook stores. I'd be thrilled if you took a look! The mini unit is 19 pages long and is only $3.

This mini unit contains all of the following:

Groundhog Facts
Groundhog Facts Recording Sheet
Super Groundhog Sites
Groundhog Headband Template
Groundhog's Shadow Activity
Groundhog Shadows in Relation to the Sun/Light (Cards and objects to manipulate)
Guess the Shadow
Little Groundhog Down Below Emergent Reader
Little Groundhog Down Below Shared Reading Prediction Sheet

Can you 'predict' what I'm working on?

2012-01-27T19:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a little clue...

Even More Hundreds Charts for Holidays and Activities {Freebies}

2012-01-25T21:03:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun creating the upcoming holiday and celebration hundreds chart activities that I decided to make some more hundreds chart items for spring and a few for previous holidays. Click on each picture to download the files. This weekend I might work on condensing everything into one file.

To view the previous hundreds chart post: Click here

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

Giveaway at Herding Kats in Kindergarten

2012-01-25T04:46:00.000-08:00

Head on over to Jennifer's blog, Herding Kats in Kindergarten, for your chance to win one of three great prizes! Jennifer is celebrating a milestone 250 followers! Giveaway ends January 29, 2012 at 7:00 P.M.

Favorite Follower Award

2012-01-23T16:51:00.000-08:00

I got a sweet comment from Sara at Kindergarten is a Hoot. She let me know she was awarding me the Favorite Follower Award! How sweet was that? You have to go check out her cute blog. She's adorable!

Winners of this award are to pass it on to four of YOUR favorite followers... the ones who are always sure to leave you some love, and who make you feel really good about whatever it is you posted!

I would like to say this was hard for me, but it actually wasn't this time. I love that I can give someone an award for being a loyal follower! Who doesn't love followers who are supportive, compassionate, friendly, kind and have a heart for teaching? I love that these women give me honest feedback and take the time to connect with me through their comments and emails. Plus, they have amazing ideas to share!

That being said, I appreciate each and every single one of my followers! I am always thankful when people reach out to give me advice, constructive criticism and to just plain share the love! :)

I chose the following ladies for being such amazing followers!

Pam from Can Do Kinders

Shawna from The Picture Book Teacher's Edition

Jeannie from Class Full of "Special" Kinders

Cheryl from Crayons and Curls

Congratulations!!!

Lots of Hundreds Charts for Upcoming Holidays and Activities {Freebies}

2012-01-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

I have been having a little fun with hundreds chart activities lately. I thought I'd add some freebies just in case you might be able to use them, too. :) Just click on the picture below to grab your copies. Each chart has a self-check sheet and a blank chart.

Groundhog

Easter Bunny

Cat in Hat

Leprechaun

In case you missed it before, here's the heart I made for Valentine's Day.

200th Post Giveaway Winners!!!

2012-01-20T18:41:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the following winners in my 200th Post Giveaway! I wish I could give something to everyone! I truly appreciate all of your entries and enthusiasm! You are all the greatest!

A special thank you to the Williams' Sisters at Kinder Friendly for sharing their wonderful February and Valentine's Day sets. I am thrilled they participated in this giveaway!

#1 - Rachell Crockett

You win a $10 TpT gift certificate!

#2 - Jennifer @ Keys4Education

You win a $10 TpT gift certificate!

#3 - Malarie

You win two wonderful Valentine's sets from the Williams' Sisters at Kinder Friendly!

All three winners have been notified. If do not hear from them within 48 hours, alternate winners will be chosen.

Giveaway at Ashleigh's Education Journey

2012-01-19T04:36:00.000-08:00

Enter for your chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card at Ashleigh's Education Journey.

Giveaway at The Picture Book Teacher's Edition

2012-01-18T20:50:00.000-08:00

Shawna at The Picture Book Teacher's Edition is having a 20 Posts, 20 Followers, $20 Giveaway! She's giving a $20 Amazon gift card to one lucky winner! I know have a little list of things I'd love to spend $20 on! Be sure to enter by Sunday morning.

3D Shapes Poem {Freebie}

2012-01-16T22:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to each of you who commented on my last post about needing help with ideas for 3D shapes. I am going to try to implement lots of them this week. I also found a poem and made it a little more kinder friendly. I'll probably add it to our Reading Binders and try to recite it the rest of the week. Click on the picture below to download a copy for yourself.

WARNING--Do not read the following statement if we're teetering on the edge of friendship, because I promise this will automatically put me in frenemy status for unnecessary grossness! :) You have been warned!

On a somewhat unrelated note, several people mentioned using toilet paper tubes as a match for cylinders and I can't get a little scenario out of my head.

I can't remember who said this, but I was in a workshop and the presenter mentioned not asking for students to bring in toilet paper rolls anymore. She suggested asking for paper towel tubes and then cutting them to size. The reason: most people change the roll while still on the, ahem...'pot', before they've washed their hands. Then, you put them up to your eyes for binoculars and make cute crafts out of them and you know for a fact where a person's hands have been. EEEWWW! I've never looked at toilet paper tube activities the same again.

I know you wish I wouldn't have mentioned that, but now you'll have the same visual so now I can get it out of my head and put it into yours. Ha!

Are we still friends?

Help! I need ideas for 3D shapes!

2012-01-16T19:14:00.000-08:00

I started teaching 3D shapes last week and I need ideas!!!

We have several sets of plastic and wooden 3D shapes to manipulate and we've cut 3D pictures out of magazines to sort. We're also singing HeidiSongs 3D shapes songs daily . I just printed Penguin Playtime 3D Shape Review from Ketchen's Kindergarten. The majority of my students have caught on very quickly. However, I still have a few that cannot remember the names of the shapes at all. They can tell me characteristics, but have no name recall whatsoever. (Unless it's the 'spear' aka sphere.) Ha!

I'm looking for activities for the following shapes: cube, cylinder, cone and sphere.

Please comment with any great ideas, links or products you have that are free or for sale. I would love to support fellow bloggers. :)

Presidents' Day Emergent Reader

2012-01-16T15:16:00.000-08:00

I just added a Presidents' Day Emergent Reader to my TpT store. I had to purchase quite a bit of clip art for it because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted for free or that offered the availability of commercial use. I wish there was a site that had links to all kinds of sites for teachers that everything was available for commercial or freebie use. Maybe we need a linky party for that! :)

I hope you like it!

***I'll send a free copy to the first three people who comment with a link to something you find amazing for teaching Kindergarten students about Presidents' Day. It doesn't have to be your own idea. :) Be sure to include your email address. Thanks Gladys, Constance and Miss Nguyen's Class for being the first three to comment! I have sent each of you a reader. Let me know if you don't get it for some reason.

50 Fabulous Followers Giveaway at Ketchen's Kindergarten!

2012-01-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

Head over to Ketchen's Kindergarten to enter her giveaway for a $25 Target gift card. She's reached 50+ followers! Help her celebrate and make sure you become a follower of hers! You will love her blog and her great ideas. I love that she posts plans. I enjoy seeing a little glimpse into what others are doing. :)

The giveaway ends on January 21.

Candy Heart Skip Counting

2012-01-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

Just something fun for skip counting by tens. I included a color copy and a black and white version. I just spent $60 on ink for my home printer and I'll probably use half of it over the next 24 hours printing out all the fabulous things I've found for winter and February. :) I will likely print this once in color and have black and white copies for students to put on a sentence strip or pre-cut construction paper.

Click here or on the pictures above to grab your copy.

I'm celebrating my 200th post with a GIVEAWAY!!!

2012-01-15T11:28:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited that this is my 200th post! How better to celebrate than to have a giveaway!!! I would like to give two lucky readers each a $10 Teachers Pay Teachers gift card. I have also teamed up with the Williams' Sisters at Kinder Friendly and they are generously offering two of their February units to one lucky winner! That's 140 pages of ready to use centers for your Kindergarten classroom!

Be Mine Valentine ~ Math and Literacy Centers for Kindergarten and Valentine Hearts Counting with Tally Marks

***Be sure to include your email address in your comment(s) so I can contact you if you win!***

You will get one entry for commenting on each thing you do below.
1. Follow my blog.
2. Follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
3. Make my shop a favorite on Teachers Notebook.
4. Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your post.
5. Become a fan of Lil' Country Kindergarten on Facebook or become a NetworkedBlogs follower.
6. Follow Lil' Country Kindergarten on Pinterest.
7. Follow Kinder Friendly's blog.
8. Follow Williams Sisters on TpT.

This giveaway will end on Friday, January 20 sometime at 6 PM CST. The winners will be chosen using a random number generator.

Check out this great new Kindergarten blog!

2012-01-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

Last night, I stumbled upon the blog Kinder Friendly and I know that you will want to see it, too! I received two wonderful gifts in my email this morning for becoming a follower and leaving a comment! I want to encourage you to head on over to Kinder Friendly. I will be teaming up with them on my next post for my 200th post celebration! I'm thrilled!!! You're going to love what they have to offer!

Here's a link to their store if you are interested in purchasing some of their wonderful items! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Williams-Sisters

***Update: I just printed the Winter Whimsy: Kindergarten Math and Literacy Centers for January and it is EXCELLENT! I seriously can't tell you how wonderful it is and how much you will get for the price. So many skills are covered and everything is bright and cheerful. My students are going to love this next week!

February Math and Literacy Stations {A tiny bit early!}

2012-01-14T19:59:00.001-08:00

I know I just finished the Winter Math Work Stations Linky Party, but I’ve decided to go ahead and get a jump start on February station ideas for Math and Literacy. Maybe this will give everyone enough time to get things added, as well as, time to get things printed and assembled for February. I’ve added a freebie tonight, just to kick it off. Click on the picture below to download a copy of the chart and self-check sheet.

Click on the picture below to take you to a Google Doc filled with lots of great ideas from amazing bloggers.

If you would like to include a link to your own items, please fill out the form below. Your activities can be free or for sale. You can link to as many products or activities as you would like.

Scholastic Dollar Deals are Back!

2012-01-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited about Dollar Days again! I just had to share! I am shopping right now! Is there anything that's a must have that you recommend?

Dollar Deals are Back!

Love to Joplin

2012-01-14T06:31:00.000-08:00

While watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Joplin) last night, I kept thinking how blessed I am and how lucky our family was that we were not affected by the devastating tornado that ripped through Joplin on May 22, 2011. I live in Southwest Missouri and I remember not being able to get in touch with a friend who lives in Joplin and feeling scared for her and her family. I also remember crying for days for people while feeling so completely helpless. The stories of loss were beyond heartbreaking.

I was thrilled last night when I read that Erica from Joplin had reached out to Deedee Wills to ask bloggers to send some of their items to help lift the spirits of other Joplin teachers. What a wonderful thing she is doing for her co-workers and what a blessing it is that Deedee continued the generosity by offering the same opportunity to other teachers. I hope that you will all feel compelled to email Erica with something that you might find beneficial to Joplin teachers. I'm sure it will be appreciated. If you do, be sure to link up to Deedee's blog by clicking on the picture above.

1. Send your TpT product or Teacher's Notebook to Erica at edoennig@joplin.k12.mo.us

2. Then link up at Mrs. Will's Kindergarten

Sweeter Than Sugar {Part 2}

2012-01-12T21:14:00.000-08:00

I wanted to give a shout out to the following two ladies for awarding me the Versatile Blogger Award. :) I am so thankful for their kindness and support. I continue to be humbled by the generosity of other bloggers.

Now, go check out these great blogs!

Thank you, Patsi from ABC123Kindergarten and Dee from Over the Moonbow.

See my original post here. I'm a rule follower and I don't want anyone to think that I'm not following the rules by passing this great award along to other bloggers. I promise, I did! :)

Giveaway at Ms. Rachel's Room

2012-01-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

Be sure to head over to Ms. Rachel's Room for her Winter Math Packet giveaway! The giveaway ends Wednesday night.

$10 TpT Certificate Giveaway at Growing Up Teaching

2012-01-12T17:34:00.000-08:00

Head on over to Growing Up Teaching to enter a giveaway for a $10 gift certificate to TpT. Kim has reached 10+ followers and is celebrating! Actually, she's already up in the 20's now. :) Yay!

Winter Math Work Stations {Linky Party}

2012-01-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

I've tried to make good use of my time today, so I've been searching high and low for some fun winter math work stations and I thought I'd share all the freebies I've found. If you have created something for sale or for free that fits this category, please feel free to fill in the form below to be added to the Google Doc.

Click on the picture below to take you to a Google Spreadsheet with links to 40+ winter math work stations.

Our First Snow Day of 2012!

2012-01-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

Living on a gravel road and teaching in a rural school district definitely has it's perks! We woke up to about an inch of snow this morning and we got the call at 5:50 that school had been canceled for the day. It continues to snow, so who knows what tomorrow will bring? I kept waking up all night looking out the window to see how much snow had accumulated because 16 of my individual barometers were definitely indicative of a snow day yesterday!

I vow to get some lesson planning done today. Sadly though, I left everything at school that I need. I might have to sweet talk the hubby into taking me to town. :)

This week we read the book Footprints in the Snow and used it to make predictions. It is also a wonderful story for making inferences. Especially if you stop right before the wolf starts getting hungry. :) Click on the picture below to download the freebie.

Have a great day!

Mini Envelope Template {FREEBIE}

2012-01-08T11:53:00.001-08:00

After my last post, I got to thinking that the mini envelope template I created could be used for many things, so I made a blank one for you to use. Click on the picture below to download the template from Google Docs. If you make something with it, I’d love for you to come back and comment about what you’ve made.

Nuts About Numbers: Activities for Math Work Stations {Freebie}

2012-01-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

I finally had the chance to sit down a create a freebie for the squirrel mini treat envelopes I talked about in this post. I realize that not everyone may have a Dollar General nearby to be able to get these exact envelopes, so I created something similar for you to print and fold. It won't take a lot of ink for the envelope, either. You can always print it out in grayscale and copy it onto construction paper, too. I hope you like it! There are 25 pages in all.

Click on any of the pictures below to download Nuts About Numbers from my Teachers Notebook Shop.

Sweeter than sugar!

2012-01-06T20:58:00.001-08:00

I wanted to take a minute to thank the following super duper sweet bloggers who awarded me with the Versatile Blogger Award. I’m so thankful to have such a great group of bloggy supporters and friends. Thanks for making my week! Without you to read my posts, this wouldn’t be nearly as fun! I am still thrilled each time I get a comment, a new follower or even an email from another teacher! An award is just like the cherry on top of the already yummy icing on the cake in my book! Anyone feel like a group hug? Ha!

1. Thank the person who presented the award to you and link back to them.
Thank you so much to these ladies! Go check them out at the links below. If you aren’t already following them, I would jump at the chance if I were you! Looking at this list just makes me smile!

Lisa at K is for Kindergarten

2. Tell seven things about yourself.

I don’t want to totally bore you with this again, but check out this post where I posted 7 things about myself for a previous award.

3. Pass this on to 15 newly discovered blogs and let them know they've received the award.
Sorry, I couldn’t stop at 15! I thought it would be hard, but I’ve found so many new-to-me bloggers lately. I’m so excited to pass it on! I know each of these ladies would love your support, too! If anyone would like to take on a little project creating a button for one of the links below without one, let me know. It would be a great little surprise to them! I’m going to try to do a couple of them myself. Shh, don’t tell!

Mrs. Ricca’s Kindergarten

Sneak Peek: Valentine’s Dollar Store Goodies

2012-01-06T19:01:00.001-08:00

I picked up a few Valentine’s goodies from Dollar Tree and Dollar General the last several days. I plan to do a post with each of the items in use, as soon as I finish the printables to go with them. I thought I’d take a few before pictures though in case you want to pick up some of these items before they are all sold out.

Dollar General

Be Mine Treat Bags (4 count) $1

I’m Going Nuts for You! Mini Treat Envelope Bags (12 count) $1

Chocolate Covered Love Heart $1

Rose Petals (150 count) $1

Felt & Gingham Novelty Heart Bag $1

Dollar Tree

Heart Shaped Boxes (10 count) $1 x 2

Square Silver Tray $1

Round Bowls (4 pack) $1

Heart Table Scatter (60 count) $1

Picks (7 count) $1

Heart Stickers (72 count) $1

Here’s what I’ll be doing with the following two items:

The heart picks will be used as individual pointers during small group. I started using mini pointers for my RtI groups and they loved it! It just adds a little fun and I think it has really helped with one-to-one correspondence with letters and words.

My calendar helper and I will be using the chocolate covered heart as a pointer during calendar time. We are currently using a snowflake. Now that I mention it, pointing to anything with a chocolate covered heart just makes me happy! Happy teacher, happy students!

There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow Mini Math and Literacy Unit

2012-01-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

I just posted a mini Math and Literacy Unit for There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow at both my TpT and TN stores. The unit is based on the book There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow by Lucille Colandro and illustrated by Jared Lee.

Click here to see the unit in my Teachers Notebook shop or Teachers Pay Teachers store.

This mini Math and Literacy unit includes:

Shared Reading
Magnetic Board Retelling Pieces
Pocket Chart Sequencing and Vocabulary Cards
Syllable Sort & Self-Check
Spinner & Graph
Snowman Roll & Color
Pattern Pieces

Credits:

Graphics: http://www.scrappindoodles.com/
Paper: Essentially Scrapn Frame: Print Candee
License Numbers 35230 and TN42906
Fonts: Elephants in Cherry Trees, Doodle Tipsy & Print Clearly

I hope you like it!

Giveaway at Color Me Kinder

2012-01-03T22:08:00.000-08:00

Edana at Color Me Kinder has reached 50+ followers and now she's having a giveaway! Two people have a chance to win a $10 TpT gift certificate. Hurry over for your chance to win! The giveaway ends on January 10.

Puppy Love Numbers 1-31 {Freebie}

2012-01-03T20:25:00.000-08:00

It's not too early to start planning for February is it? Especially since I've already been adding stuff for March. :) The sad thing is, I don't even have my lesson plans done for January. Is there something wrong with this picture? Ha!

I wanted to share a simple freebie with you that I created tonight. Click on the pictures below to head over to my Teachers Notebook shop to download the file for free. I hope you like it!

Teaching Blog Traffic School Goals Revisited

2012-01-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the last day of my short-term goal setting period for my Teaching Blog Traffic School course. I gave myself from December 11 to December 31 to achieve my first set of goals. Unfortunately, I didn't meet all of them. :( In my defense, I didn't expect to be without my regular computer for 14 of the 20 days during this goal period, but that's okay.

I want to thank everyone for your support of my blogging goals and I truly appreciated your sweet comments on my original post. It feels so good to have support and encouragement from others. :)

Here's where I'm at as of January 1, 2012. (Click here to see my original post.)

Blog followers:

Beginning - 486

Goal - 500

Now - 541

Woo hoo!!! This is so exciting! That means I now have 541 people to share my passion with! :)

Facebook Fans:

Beginning - 276

Goal - 286

Now - 312

I was truly amazed that this number jumped so much!

Goals I met: (Sorry, but I totally had to add the strikethroughs. It's such a visually happy reminder that I accomplished something!)

Blog

~~Reach 500 followers~~
~~Post at least 5 times per week~~
~~Have 3 items pinned on Pinterest~~

Facebook

~~Post 1-2 times a day~~
~~Gain 10 new fans~~
~~Add at least 10 pictures~~

Teachers Pay Teachers

~~Sell $20 worth of resources~~
~~Gain 2 followers through my store~~

Forums

~~Post 4-5 times per week on A to Z Teacher Stuff~~

Goals I did not quite meet:

Blog

Create one item for sale
Create and share two freebies

Teacher's Notebook

Sell $10 worth of products. (I sold $6.)
Gain 10 shopper favorites for my shop. (I gained 9.)

I will keep working on my goals and I hope to carry over the last few that I didn't meet into this month.

Do you have blogging goals for 2012?

Winter Fun Activities for Kindergarten

2011-12-31T21:55:00.000-08:00

I've been searching around for lots of new things to do this winter and I thought I'd share some of the great freebies that are out there.

I know there are tons of great paid items, as well. However, I'm a huge Dave Ramsey fan and one of my goals for the New Year is to pay off our last 20 acres by the end of the year so I was only looking for freebies. (If you haven't heard of Dave Ramsey, you should definitely check him out. His book, Total Money Makeover, completely changed the way I look at money, finances and debt.)

If you have a New Year's goal to save money or pay off debt, you should definitely look into his books or classes. Sorry for the little plug for Dave, but I love him!!! A sweet friend of mine gave me free tickets to see him live a few months ago and according to my husband, you would have thought I was a teenage groupie the way I was like, "Oh, Dave! Did you know I get to go see Dave? Look, there's MY Dave!" Ha! It's seriously sad, but I do love the man for saving my finances. My biggest and best achievements were paying off my grad school student loans years early and saving an additional $300 per month for retirement. We now have everything but our land paid off and that is such a huge blessing. Yay! Now back to our regularly scheduled post on winter planning. Sorry! ;)

Check out what I'm pinning for winter on

Snowman Brace Map from Can Do Kinders

Source: candokinders.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

The Mitten Printables from 1+1+1=1

Source: 1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Draw a Snowman by A Kinder Garden in Bloom
My Snowman Emergent Reader from Can Do Kinders
Skip Counting Snowmen from The Littlest Scholars
The Snowman Emergent Reader from Mrs. Albanese's Class
Lots of cute Snowman Ideas from Kindergarten Rocks (You have to leave a comment for her to send them to you.)
Winter Rhyming and Winter Letter Match from KinderKids Fun
CVC Word Write and Read from Can Do Kinders
Roll-a-Snowman from Live, Love, Laugh Everyday in Kindergarten
Penguin Color Emergent Reader
Pine Tree Place Value
Winter Animals Memory
Winter Writing Prompts
Winter Math Journal Prompts
Snow Buddies Story Starter at Read, Write, Sing

TpT January Freebies
Winter
Penguins
Snow/Snowman
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Winter Links
This site has lots of winter links.

Happy New Year to everyone! May all your bloggy wishes come true!

2011-12-31T21:07:00.000-08:00

Source: www.homerlee.com

We're at home tonight ringing in the New Year with Pinterest inspired recipes, watching movies and playing with lots of toys and games. I have been truly blessed in 2011. I have a healthy, happy family to love, lots of wonderful friends, a roof over my head and a job that I am passionate about. I can't help but be a little excited to see what 2012 has in store. :)

I hope each of you has a wonderful and safe New Year! Blogging and reading other blogs written by passionate teachers, mothers, and others is something that I'm thankful for everyday. I love to learn and grow and this is a wonderful outlet for me. I hope you have been inspired by others this past year, too!

On that note, I just had to share this super sweet post from Ann at Mrs. Greene's Kindergarten Korner. She really knows how to make a person's day! What a great thing to read at the end of 2011.

I look forward to seeing what 2012 has in store for all of you! Happy New Year!

Disappointed about DJ Inkers? Visit Denyse at Scrappin' Doodles! {25% off}

2011-12-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

I know a lot of people are really bummed about the Terms of Use changing through DJ Inkers right now and I feel your pain. I use to exclusively use DJ Inkers and Carson Dellosa Clip Art for everything I made. However, now I'm a Scrappin' Doodles addict! Plus, Denyse is amazing to work with! Her customer service is outstanding and her response time is unbeatable.

Right now, you can hurry on over to Scrappin' Doodles to take advantage of 25% off all orders over $5 through December 31, 2011. Just use code BOXINGWEEK2011. (Some exclusions apply)

***Update: At this time, you only have to have a license if you are offering freebies on your blog or in your stores. If you purchase graphics to make items to sell, you can do so as long as they are offered in a secure PDF file. This only applies to Scrappin' Doodles and Cheryl Seslar graphics, not Alice Smith. Check out the Terms of Use here.


Source: www.ScrappinDoodles.com

If you are considering the switch to Scrappin' Doodles graphics, be sure to check out the Affiliate Program while you're there. You can earn commission from sales generated from click throughs from your blog or site. I have been an affiliate for several months and it's so easy! If you click on the picture above and make a purchase, I will receive a percentage of the sale. I truly appreciate all of you that have purchased through my link on the right side of my blog. Every little bit helps--especially when I can use the commission to buy more graphics to make more printables! (Did I mention my addiction?) Ha!

What are you waiting for? Hurry on over to Scrappin' Doodles!!! Be sure to check out Scrappin' Doodles on Facebook and sign up for the weekly email newsletter. You will be so glad you did!

Martin Luther King, Jr. in Kindergarten {Linky Party}

2011-12-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

I don't know about ya'll, but sometimes, I get a little bit anxious when I've taught something too many times the same way. Especially when I see so many great ideas on all the fabulous Kindergarten blogs I read. I added a linky to the bottom because it's so much easier for people than trying to create a clickable link in their comments.

My Martin Luther King, Jr. mini unit has been the same for about 3 years. :( It's sad, I know! There isn't anything wrong with what we do necessarily, but it's definitely time for me to change things up a bit.

We generally spend two days on a mini unit to learn about Martin Luther King, Jr. Since I was already looking, I thought I'd share some of the links I've found to a few new ideas for this year. I'm excited to use some of the songs/poems for pocket charts and little readers.We currently use the books in the widget above to help with our mini unit, but I'd love to know of more that you find meaningful for your students.

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/martin-luther-king-jr/printable/54972.html
http://www.kinderteacher.com/MartinLutherKing.htm
http://www.kinderkorner.com/mlk.html
http://www.jmeacham.com/balanced%20literacy/balanced.literacy.shared.reading.htm#MLK

April at Chalk Talk has lots of great ideas in her MLK mini unit here and here.

Click on the picture below to check out the MLK things I've been pinning.

Freedom, Freedom, Let it Ring
(Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
(Author Unknown)

Freedom, freedom, let it ring,

"Let it ring," said Dr King.

Let us live in harmony,

Peace and love for you and me.

Freedom, freedom, let it ring,

"Let it ring," said Dr King.

The following link has several songs that could be used in a pocket chart for shared reading or maybe made into mini books. http://martin-luther-king-day.123holiday.net/king_songs.html

Poetry Journals

Crafts
http://www.frugalfamilyfunblog.com/2011/01/crafts-for-martin-luther-king-jr-day.html

What are your favorite Martin Luther King, Jr. activities or books? Feel free to grab the banner above and link up below if you have any old or new posts about things you do or have done to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Who Wants New Followers? {Linky Party}

2011-12-22T10:42:00.000-08:00

If you have a blog that has less than 150 followers, link up below. :) I'd love to find out about you and I'm sure others would like to find you, too!

Also, just in case you don't have enough blogs to read over Christmas break, here are a few more that I found that I thought they could use some more fabulous followers. I tried to find blogs with less than 150 followers. :)

Check out the Common Core Assessments at Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten

2011-12-19T04:33:00.000-08:00

I just stopped by Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten blog and she is offering Common Core assessments that would be very beneficial to any Kindergarten classroom. She is offering them as freebies right now, too! She has has lots of management ideas on her blog and she's a new teacher. Go show her some love and support!

***Update, Nicole (Mrs. Ricca) has updated the files from DocStoc to Scribd. You should be able to download them now. :)

Teaching Blog Traffic School

2011-12-17T08:23:00.000-08:00

As a Christmas present to myself (with the use of affiliate commision I had earned) I purchased the Teaching Blog Traffic Schoo l course from Charity Preston from the Organized Classroom Blog. I have only completed the first four lessons, but I wanted to post my beginnings so I can chronicle the growth of my blog and to try to keep myself accountable for my short-term goals.

I purchased the TBTS course on December 11. My stats were:

I created the following short-term goals for my blog, stores, etc. I think I may have been on some kind of I just bought myself a present on a Dr. Pepper high when I came up with some of the numbers, but I guess I thought they were reasonable goals at the time. Ha! :) We'll see! I gave myself until December 31, 2011 to complete the following goals.

Blog

Reach 500 followers
Post at least 5 times per week
Create and share two freebies
Create one item for sale
Have 3 items pinned on Pinterest

Facebook

Post 1-2 times a day
Gain 10 new fans
Add at least 10 pictures

Teacher's Notebook

Sell $10 worth of resources
Gain 10 shopper favorites for my store

Teachers Pay Teachers

Sell $20 worth of resources
Gain 2 followers through my store

Forums

Post 4-5 times per week on A to Z Teacher Stuff

I have to admit, I think I'm becoming obsessed/worried because my regular computer's hard drive has to be replaced and I'm having to use a computer that I can't create with right now. I'm worried that I'm not going to achieve some of my goals. However, I'm not going to let it stop me from trying!

Have you ever created goals for your blog? How did you measure up with the expectations you set for yourself?

My laptop must be a teenager because it's rebelling against me!

2011-12-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

I'm not proud to admit this, but my normally patient self has turned into a horrible-thought-sending-meanie-with-a-touch-of-evil-glare kind of person every time I've turned the computer on this past week and it would immediately shut itself off. Even worse, sometimes it would decide to come up with a screen that was eerily similar to the "blue screen of death".

So, my sweet husband took a hint and lugged the sickly thing to the computer ER today. I hope they get it fixed STAT! Apparently, I'm super attached to my computer and all it's cutesy fonts and clip art and fabulous family pictures that not all other computers have on them. :)

While my computer is away, I'm praying that all of my pictures & files will be okay because I am the world's worst at backing everything up. :( Silly me! I totally regret not doing it in times like this!

I promise you a freebie as soon as I get back up and running! Thanks for sticking with me!

I've Been Featured!

2011-12-14T17:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to Katie at Playing With Words 365 for featuring my Pinterest inspired Rudolph project.

Be sure to head over to Playing With Words 365 to see some of the other features, too.

Christmas Cuties & Winter Wonderland Templates

2011-12-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

I created the following freebie, Christmas Cuties Templates, for you to use to create items for your classroom. Here are a few ways I thought I might use them:

calendar pieces
flash cards (sight words, numbers, alphabet, ordinals)
gift tags
patterning
name/artwork labels
work station labels
etc.

Click here or on the picture below to download the freebie.

I also created a winter version called Winter Wonderland Templates. You can purchase the set for $1 through my Teacher's Notebook store. Click here or on the picture below.

Snowman ornament giveaway winner!

2011-12-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Jackie from Diving into Kindergarten for winning the snowman ornament giveaway!

Jackie, please email me your address as soon as you can so I can forward it to Angela at ~A~ Creation. Also, let me know what you'd like on the bottom circle. For example, last name and year, Merry Christmas 2011 or leave it blank. :)

Sunshine Award and a Sight Word Sort Freebie from Kindergarten is a Hoot!

2011-12-10T08:10:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to Sara over at Kindergarten is a Hoot for awarding me the Sunshine Award. :) (See who I awarded here.)

Sara is a sweet new blogger who is offering lots of great freebies on her blog. Right now she is generously offering a great sight word sort freebie. I know how much ya'll love freebies! So head on over to her blog and while you are there, become a new follower. She would love the support!

Source: kinderisahoot.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Scotch Thermal Laminators are on sale on Amazon for $16.99 {Today only}

2011-12-09T13:22:00.000-08:00

Scotch Thermal Laminators are on sale on Amazon for $16.99!!!!

I just bought a second laminator for home and another for a para in my room. I'm so excited!

Source: amazon.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

What gifts are you giving your kiddos families this year?

2011-12-07T20:27:00.001-08:00

I keep going back and forth about what to make or have my kiddos make for their families this year for Christmas. Last year, I posted about the silhouettes I made here. What will you be doing for your kiddos families?

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but a giveaway would be delightful!!!

2011-12-06T20:03:00.001-08:00

Angela from ~A~ Creations on Facebook is generously offering the most adorable bottle cap snowman ornament for one lucky Lil’ Country Kindergarten reader! Angela is the mom of one of my former Kdg. students and she is just precious! She recently started making bottle cap jewelry and accessories and she’s doing a great job! She even makes school related logo items, so keep that in mind for secret pal gifts, school spirit activities, student gifts, student teachers, stocking stuffers, etc.

(Text on the bottom circle of the snowman is optional. The ornament can also be personalized with your last name in place of Merry Christmas, if you like.)

There are 4 chances to win! Be sure to leave one comment with your email address for each of the following types of entry.

This giveaway ends on Friday, December 9 at 9:00 P.M. CST. The winner will be chosen using a random number generator.

Angela also makes necklaces, pendants, key chains, pins, ornaments, etc. Here are a few of the things she has made for me. She can do personal creations with your photos, sports teams, princesses, brands, seasonal designs and other styles. She also takes requests!

Head on over to ~A~ Creation and tell her that Lil’ Country Kindergarten sent you!

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell Mini Unit

2011-12-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist buying another Granny Swallowed... set from Scrappin' Doodles! Now, you'll have a mini unit for the story There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell. It is similar to the I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie printables I created last month.

Click here or on the picture below to grab these printables from my Teacher's Notebook store for only $3! I'm super excited about having an item for sale, but very nervous, too! You can also purchase this item from my TpT store.

Don't worry, I will still offer lots of free printables! :)

Help! What am I doing wrong?

2011-12-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

For some reason, when I convert my Microsoft Word documents to a PDF file, the two sheets I have on one page end up turning into two full pages. I have read a zillion and one articles and help sections online and cannot find my particular problem and a solution.

My emergent readers aren't very valuable when they only print one whole page instead of two small ones that can be cut in half. :)

Any suggestions? I'm using Microsoft 2010 and the PDF conversion that comes with it.

KPM Doodles

Check out the great Christmas freebies at these blogs!

2011-12-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

I am loving all the great freebies that everyone is offering this year! Check out all the fabulously fun freebies these ladies have created!

Be sure to head over to Live, Laugh, Love K first! Sheyna is a new blogger and already sharing lots of fun goodies! I'm sure she would love some support.

Christmas patterning from Jeannie at Class Full of "Special" Kinders.

Source: classfullofspecialkinders.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

A mix of fun freebies by Barb at Grade ONEderful!

Source: gradeonederful.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

I love this Gingerbread Man song by Louanne at My Kindergarten Kids! I'm going to add quotation marks to it and use it in a lesson next week. My kids will love this!

Source: Uploaded by user via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Pam at Can Do Kinders has lots of great Christmas freebies, including this fun Write the Room set.

Source: candokinders.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Krissy's Gingerbread Puzzle at Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business looks like lots of fun!

Source: kindergartenmonkeybusiness.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Jennifer at First Grade Blue Skies has an adorable Torn Paper Santas tutorial.

Source: firstgradeblueskies.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Here are a few more things I found:

I think my list could go on forever, but I think I better head to bed. :)

Rudolph Craft & Writing Prompt {Printables}

2011-12-02T19:22:00.000-08:00

I found the cutest Rudolph craft on Pinterest and I knew I had to have my students make it this week. This was our inspiration.

Source: craftgawker.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

We read the story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May and then worked on our bags and writing prompt. We are still in the process of working on our stories, but I'll post a picture when we finish. We added crumpled newspaper to our bags to make them fluffy.

Photo Source: PaperBack Swap

Click here or on the picture below for your free printables.

Click here or on the picture below for the writing prompt.

The best thing about this project is that right before Christmas, I'm going to take the bags down off the bulletin board, take out the newspaper and put each child's Christmas present in the bag. That means, no wrapping presents this year!!! That is thrilling to me because it always takes me forever!

Student Supply Responsibility {Sorting Mat}

2011-12-01T22:19:00.000-08:00

I love this idea by From the Pond! The mat was made for sorting colored pencils, but I could see myself having my students use it to make sure they don't have more than they need in their art boxes. Also, if they are missing a color, they can tell at a glance which one they need without me having to go through all their crayons. I love the idea that this encourages student responsibility and reinforces color recognition and one-to-one matching. :)

Source: teacherspayteachers.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

I Think I Have Creativity ADD Brought on by Pinterest and Teacher Bloggers!

2011-12-01T18:44:00.000-08:00

Please tell me I'm not the only one! :)

Truly, there needs to be a 12 step program for the insanity that occurs when you have so many things you want to create and implement, but you don't get ~~ANY~~ most of them done because you're so busy gathering more ideas and trying to do too many things at once because you were inspired by something you saw on Pinterest or another teacher's blog! Wow! That sentence had a bazillion words in it! I think my teacher card may have just been revoked! Ha!

However, the best thing is that I love what I do and I feel blessed to have a job that allows me to challenge myself in so many ways. It's a great feeling to be truly inspired and to know that there are countless things that I can change or do to be the best teacher that my students need me to be.

So, no matter how much I may suffer from creativity ADD brought on by Pinterest and my fellow bloggy friends, I'm so glad that my inspiration cup runneth over!

Source: 9gag.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

A Printables Challenge from Teaching Heart {I've Included Freebies!}

2011-11-30T04:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I came across the Amazon Gift Card Giveaway at Teaching Heart. I loved the challenge of only being able to use Microsoft Clip Art and having limited topics. As you can tell, I'm quite the Scrappin' Doodles lover, so I felt a tad bit intimidated and limited by only being able to use MS Clip Art, but thrilled to be able to get myself out of the little box I tend to get in creatively. :)

By the time I found the giveaway, I had to go pick up my son from school and I had an appointment to get my hair highlighted, so I was really anxious to get back home and start working on as many things as I could in a short amount of time. See what I came up with below. :)

All of these printables have multiple pages, so you can click on the picture or the link and it will take you to all of the pages. I just added a picture of the first page of each one. Enjoy!

Gingerkids Song and Math Printables

Candy Cane Math Journal Word Problems

Christmas Ordering/Sort by Size

I'm a Little Penguin Song

Penguin Activities

How the Grinch Stole Christmas Activities

2011-11-28T23:48:00.000-08:00

I have noticed that many people are on the countdown to Christmas break and I have to confess that I am, too! I love my students, but I cannot wait until Christmas. I absolutely love being home with my family!

So, after watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas with my daughter last night, I was looking for some Grinch activities to add to my lessons before Christmas. I came across Deanna Jump's The Grinch Mini Unit from last year. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to use it when I found it last year, but I can't wait to use it now. I thought some of you might like to be reminded of it, too.

Source: mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

I searched for a few more activities to help extend the unit and came up with some of the following links and a few things just for fun.

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I will add some Grinchy freebies of my own hopefully later today.

Christmas Freebies {Linky Party}

2011-11-27T10:30:00.000-08:00

I took a much needed break and spent lots of quality time with my family over Thanksgiving break. However, that means I didn't spend time creating anything fabulous yet for Christmas. So, since I haven't been creative, I want to at least share some of the fun freebies that others have been generous enough to post. :) I encourage you to please join my Christmas Freebies Linky Party and link up to your amazing freebies or others that you've found!

Santa's Sleigh Drop Subtraction Activities by From the Pond

Jingle, Jingle and Teddy Bear Patterns from The Resource(ful) Room

Christmas Math Centers by Kindergarten Katy

Lots of great Christmas learning plans at 1 + 1 + 1 = 1

Plus, check out all the free Christmas things to download at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Source: ketchenskindergarten.blogspot.com via Lil' Country on Pinterest

Like Miss Kindergarten's Facebook page and get a great snowman freebie! Thanks, Hadar!

Winter/Snow Books for Sale

2011-11-27T09:27:00.000-08:00

Winter/Snow Books for Sale

I have one lot of books left for sale if anyone is interested. I lowered the price by $5. I have checked each of them and they have no markings on the pages that I can see. They are all good to excellent condition. I have labeled or written my name on the front inside cover of each book.

The books will be shipped Media Mail. At this time, I will only be able to ship to addresses in the United States.

Set 2: 14 Winter/Snow books

(Click picture to enlarge)

$15 + $5 Shipping = $20

Titles Include:

Let it Snow
Snow Angels
The Snowman Mystery
Polar Babies
Clifford: The Snow Dog
The Biggest Snowball Fight
The Little Snowflake
Snow Music
Sadie and the Snowman
The Biggest Snowman Ever
Frozen Noses
The Penguin Who Wanted to Fly
Teddy’s Snowy Day
Winter Poems

You light up my {teaching} life!

2011-11-26T19:51:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much to the following bloggers for sharing the Sunshine Award with me. I appreciate it more than you know!

Jeannie at Class Full of "Special" Kinders

Chrissy at ReadWriteSing

Diana at Cole's Little Pups

Rules for accepting this award:

1. Thank the person who gave this award and write a post!

2. Answer the questions.

3. Pass the award to 10-12 fabulous bloggers, link their blogs, and let them know!

What is my....

Favorite color? Red to wear, burgundy/dark red to decorate
Favorite animal? Dogs
Favorite number? 4 - The number of people in my little family!
Favorite drink? Dr. Pepper, Sweet Tea and Sonic Cherry Limeades
Facebook or Twitter? Facebook
Passion? Spending time with my family, making baby bows and teaching!
Giving or getting presents? I LOVE to give!
Favorite day? Friday-Sunday (It's too hard to pick just one!)
Favorite flower? hydrangeas and sunflowers

I would like to pass on this award to the following bloggers. The list of blogs I love is HUGE! I am so inspired by all the blogs I read and I've become a better teacher from all that I've learned. It's so hard to narrow it down, but here goes. (Obviously, I love the bloggers who awarded me above!)

Mrs. Wills Kindergarten

Learning with Mrs. Parker

Chalk Talk

Kreative in Kinder

My list actually goes on and on. I am a people pleaser and only listing a few of the many great blogs I love is very hard on me. :) Am I the only one that has a hard time with things like this?

Scrappin' Doodles 40% off Black Friday (and Saturday) coupon!!!

2011-11-25T07:54:00.000-08:00

When I found this coupon in my email this morning, I was giddy with excitement and had to share!!!

Scrappin' Doodles has a 40% off Black Friday coupon good through midnight Saturday, November 26, 2011.

Click here and use coupon code BLACK2011 at checkout.

Be sure to join the mailing list, too!

Denyse has added some adorable sets this week, too! You won't want to miss out on this amazing coupon. I cannot wait to use it!

Stone Soup and Kindergarten Cuteness!

2011-11-21T20:43:00.000-08:00

Today was our annual Stone Soup celebration. I think this year's pot may have been the biggest one yet. I don't think a single person was able to finish an entire cup of soup. We were all so full! Do you and your class participate in a feast or Thanksgiving tradition at school each year?

I just had to share the following two pictures because I thought they were cute! The fact that two students chose their teacher to be thankful for absolutely made my day! I told them I'd take a picture because it was proof that they were automatically going to first grade. :) Of course I'm kidding, but how sweet are these?

Stone Soup {Printables}

2011-11-13T10:11:00.000-08:00

The Monday before Thanksgiving, our Kindergarten classes always get together to read the book Stone Soup and then watch the movie. Two weeks before that, we begin asking families to send in canned or fresh vegetables for us to make our own version of Stone Stoup.

I created the following printables to go with our day full of Stone Soup festivities!

Emergent Reader (color)

Emergent Reader (black and white)

Stone Soup Activities

I'm such a woman! Here's an easy way you can help me email you back!

2011-11-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

Only two comments into using Disqus again yesterday and I've already removed it. See what I mean about my love/hate relationship? I have the right to change my mind constantly though, right? :)

Many people don't have Disqus accounts and I don't really like the generic, no picture, anonymous posts that people tend to leave with Disqus because they aren't registered or don't want to link their other accounts like Facebook to their comments. I'm right there with you! I rarely link my Facebook, Google, or Yahoo! accounts if I can help it.

So....back to regular comments through Blogger for the blog.

However, here's a way you can help if you have a Blogger profile.

Go to your Dashboard.
Click on the Edit Profile link next to your picture.
Click to put a checkmark in the Show my email address box.
(See pictures below if you aren't sure what the pages look like.)

Then, when someone tries to reply to your comment, they can actually do it through email, as opposed to seeing the noreply-blogger@comment.com in the To: part of the address line of an email. It will actually show your email address and I will be able to respond to your comments personally.

If you don't have an email address listed, I try to track you down through your profile or blog first. Otherwise, the best I can do is use an @ sign in front of your name on the post you commented on and hope that you might come back and read it.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer. Obviously, the choice is yours as to whether or not you are comfortable having your email address on your profile, but if you do, it will be much easier to contact you!

Christmas Candy Math Flip Book {Numbers 1-20}

2011-11-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

I can't help myself! I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but Denyse at Scrappin' Doodles is making so many cute graphics that I have to get busy using all of them before Christmas sneaks up on me! The Christian radio station I listen to is playing Christmas music right now, but only on the weekends and I've been LOVING it! I've been in the mood to put my tree up for awhile now. I'll wait until Thanksgiving though. :)

Tonight, I created a Christmas Candy Math Flip Book that covers the numbers 1-20. You can bind it to use it as a flip book or cut apart the pages to create a matching game. I hope you like it!

Click on the picture below to download the printable or click here.

Update: I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie Emergent Reader

2011-11-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

Several people mentioned having problems with the emergent reader printing with only one copy per page instead of two copies per page. For some reason, it keeps happening to me when I convert the files to PDF. So, I went back and totally changed all the settings for it and tried to force it to work right for you. If you have any trouble with it not printing two copies per page, let me know.

Here's a link to the original post with other activities included.

Emergent Reader

Check out School Sparks for lots of free Kindergarten Resources

2011-11-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

Image Source: www.SchoolSparks.com

I was recently contacted by Renee at School Sparks about the wonderful resources she has created that are available FREE to Kindergarten Teachers. Renee is a retired preschool and Kindergarten teacher and it's obvious she knows a lot about early childhood education and what teachers need to help students succeed. I am so glad that she made me aware of her wonderful site!

I highly recommend you check out School Sparks to find something for your classroom or recommend the site as a resource for your students' parents. Be sure to check out the Kindergarten worksheets page for resources covering skills like fine motor, alphabet, auditory processing, visual discrimination, letter/word awareness, phonemic awareness, math/number awareness, social/emotional development, holiday themes and Kindergarten themes.

I also love the Kindergarten Readiness Test she has for parents. I think it would be extremely beneficial for parents of our students to fill out during Kindergarten screening. I am going to recommend it to our counselor. Sometimes I don't think parents truly know how much is expected from their child throughout the Kindergarten year.

Check out School Sparks and tell Renee that I sent you. :)

Kindness & a Wonderful Pilgrim CVC Game

2011-11-10T04:45:00.000-08:00

I am so excited! I woke up this morning and found out that I had won a $5 DonorsChoose gift card from Jennifer at Herding Kats in Kindergarten. She was originally going to choose two $10 winners, but she added two $5 winners, as well. How extremely sweet is that? The kindness she shows despite the frustrations she is feeling this week is very refreshing. Go check out her blog and give her some love this week. She could use some support and encouragement and I know you are all good about that! :)

Plus, check out the great Pilgrim CVC Game Jennifer created below. I think it will be great to use with my higher level students. I love the graphics, too!
CVC Pilgrim Game

Check out this amazing blessing from Seat Sack!

2011-11-08T18:34:00.001-08:00

Image: Source

I recently entered a Seat Sack giveaway on Facebook for a Teacher Tote and much to my surprise, I won! I was beyond thrilled and when I emailed the company with my shipping information, I mentioned that I would blog about the tote when I received it. I promptly received an email back stating that there would also be something in the box for me to review on my blog. It wasn’t a little surprise either, it was a HUGE surprise!

The box was filled with a class set of 25 red Seat Sacks, a leatherette File-n-Save Sack for my file cabinet and a brand new beautiful tote! I was giddy with excitement! My family thought I was crazy, but it was well worth it! Check out this wonderful box of goodies!

For the tote, I went with Caldera Red and it is beautiful! I was very impressed with the quality and size of the tote, along with the lining, double straps, extra pockets, a place to add my keys, phone, etc. I thought I would use it for day to day items I tote back and forth to school, but found that it is the perfect size for my laptop. Yay!

Check out the great selection of totes here. Right now, they are buy one get one half off using code BOGOTOTE. These would make excellent gifts for your teacher friends or your child's teacher.

Michelle H. at Seat Sack was such a wonderful representative of the company. She returned emails promptly and had excellent communication. I was very impressed with the entire experience and I certainly feel blessed to have gotten so many quality items to use in my classroom.

If you are thinking about purchasing Seat Sacks to save room at your desks or tables or just to organize your space at home, I highly recommend Seat Sacks. Also, now would be an excellent time to stock up, because they are selling the Seat Sacks for buy one get one 50% off using the code BOGOrange2011.

I feel like these are the most important features that a teacher would look for in a Seat Sack:

machine washable
large variety of sizes to fit most chairs
slips directly over the back of a chair
organizes books, folders, binders, dry erase boards, etc.
easy to clean
quality material

I encourage you to check out Seat Sack and see for yourself the amazing products they have available for your classroom.

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie {Printables}

2011-11-06T18:04:00.001-08:00

It all started with a quick glimpse of the Old Granny Who Swallowed Thanksgiving Dinner graphic set on the Scrappin Doodles Facebook page yesterday and I knew I had to get busy creating a few things for my Kindergarten kiddos. I LOVE all of the Little Old Lady Who Swallowed a … books. It seems like my students love them just as much. I hope you find a few things you will be able to use.

***UPDATE: Check out the wonderful lesson plans that Deb at Writing Every Day Works created to go with the book and printables. What an amazing resource!

Image: Source

The book I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie is illustrated by the author/illustrator of Skippyjon Jones books.

I’m sorry these are all separate, but I don’t have a paid subscription or a program that allows me to merge my documents into one anymore. My free subscription ran out. If you know of any good free programs, please let me know.

Shared Reading Lesson

Magnet Board Printables

Syllable Sort

You can find more activities or lesson at the following links:

Mayflower Labeling Printable

2011-11-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

Just a few pages to create an anchor chart for labeling the Mayflower, along with a student response sheet. Just click on the picture above to take you to the freebie.

Fun Fall and Winter Fonts

2011-10-29T21:45:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or do cute fonts just make everything better? :)

Tonight as I was searching for something for a printable I was working on, I thought I might as well share some of the things I came across for fall and winter with all of you. Some of the dingbats fonts are adorable for single use graphics for math and reading printables! I was mainly searching for fall fonts, but I added a few links to winter/Christmas fonts that were cute, too.

What's your favorite free or paid fall or winter font?

Fall Fonts
Font Space
Fonts 101 (I love the LD Falling Leaves font!)
Free Digital Scrapbooking
1-Free-Fonts
Fonts 2 U (Fall) Fonts 2 U (Thanksgiving)
Web Tool Hub
California Fonts
FonTsner (LD Fall Finds is cute and 2 Peas Fall Dingbats are adorable!)
Bright Hub (Love the Pumpkin font!)

Winter Fonts
Witty Living
Dyers
Free Digital Scrapbooking
Fonts 2 U (Winter) Fonts 2 U (Christmas)
Web Tool Hub
DaFont
FonTsner (Christmas)

Don't forget about the Jack Hartmann discount!

2011-10-29T15:34:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that Lil' Country Kindergarten readers only have a few days left to save 20% on all orders over $10 at www.jackhartmann.com with the coupon code LilCountryMP3. The offer expires November 1st.

Need some inspiration or a little more information, check out my original post here.

I just purchased the Rockin' Reading Songs mp3 download. I can't wait to start playing the songs next week! I hope you find something great for your classroom, too!

Number Recognition Printables 1-20

2011-10-24T19:55:00.001-07:00

Just thought I would share some printables for numbers 0-20. I was looking for something that incorporated a little more than just writing numbers and showing one type of value. I know they are very basic, but I am going to use them with some of my HeidiSongs printables like the number songs, number cards, as well as, our number poems for each number in order to create a packet for each number. Plus, my students can use information from our anchor charts to fill in some of the worksheets. This will help them be a little more accountable when the chart is being created. Numbers 1-10 are all the same format. The numbers 11-20 have a few different elements to help with base ten, greater than/less than, counting from a given number, etc.

Click here or on the pictures below to download these freebies from my Teachers Notebook store.

Check out the Common Core Standards Widget to the right

2011-10-18T18:35:00.000-07:00

***Be patient. It may take a minute to load.***

If you haven't heard of Free Technology for Teachers, you HAVE to check it out. There are tons of amazing technology links, resources, tips, etc. that have been very beneficial to me and I've only known about the site for a week and a half. It's the kind of site you want to go back and read everything from the beginning so you don't miss out on all the great tips.

Today's great find was the Common Core Standards App. I love it because now I don't have to lug my binder back and forth between home and school. Check it out on the side of my blog. How cool is that? I'm all about things that make life easier!

You can embed it like below or have the widget to the side. I like it better on the side for myself. What do you think?

You can find out about it at MasteryConnect.

Does anyone have a zero number poem?

2011-10-10T13:41:00.001-07:00

We have number poems for 1-10, but I would love to have one for zero to put on an anchor chart. Does anyone have a good number zero poem you'd like to share?

Do you love Jack Hartmann as much as I do? You will now!!! :)

2011-10-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

In case you don't know, I LOVE Jack Hartmann and his music! I got to see him last year at Conference on the Young Years and he is so funny and energetic and his songs are catchy and full of fun for my Kindergarten kiddos and me! :) I am so excited that he is now offering his CD's as MP3 downloads!

What's even better than his new MP3 downloads?

The fact that he's offering Lil' Country Kindergarten readers a 20% discount on all orders over $10 with the coupon code LilCountryMP3 through November 1st!!! The code will give you a one time discount on each item in your cart, not just MP3 downloads, so feel free to mix and match! Just head over to his newly redesigned site and start shopping! http://www.jackhartmann.com/ You'll be so glad you did!

Between this offer and the email I got below, I am pretty sure I scared my Kindergarten kiddos with my giddiness today!

Jack Hartmann with my two co-workers and me!

My kiddos and I are currently in love with his DVD, Movin' with Jack--mainly because they can't get enough of the Silly Pirate Song and Humpty Dumpty. They are hilarious doing Hip-Hop Tooty Ta! It's one of those songs with actions that you truly hope no one walks into your classroom and observes you doing with the students! Ha! Apparently it's not as cute when you're doing it at 36 as it was when you are 5 or 6. :) However, it's soooo much fun and it's a great song to get the wiggles out.

Just try to get these catchy songs out of your head! :) I dare ya!

You can find out more about Jack Hartmann at the following sites:
Blog
Facebook Fan Page
Web Site

I am not being compensated for this post. I am just sharing my love of educational music with you through the quality products provided by Jack Hartmann. :)

We're Going on a Leaf Hunt {Leaf Rubbings Printable}

2011-09-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Source: Amazon.com

As part of our Fall unit, we read the story We're Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger. Then, we took a walk around our playground to collect leaves. When we got back to the classroom, we created leaf rubbings with our new finds. Click on the image below for a free printable if you would like to do this activity with your students.

Book It Reading Forms {Printables}

2011-09-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

If your class participates in Pizza Hut's Book It program, feel free to check out the printables I created a few years ago for students and parents. Just click on the image below to print forms for October through March.

Looking for Laura W.

2011-09-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

Laura W. from UAFS,

I received a message from you today about the tap light segmenting picture you found through Pinterest. I'm trying to email you back, but it keeps coming back as undeliverable. I hope you read this! :)

Here's a link to the picture if you need it.
http://lilcountrykindergarten.blogspot.com/2011/02/daily-5-in-pictures.html

Blessings,
Marlana

Lil' Country Kindergarten

St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Ten Frame and Base Ten Number Match-up

March Math and Literacy Stations {Linky Party}

Do you use Legos in the classroom?

Sorry for the snoozefest!

Presidents' Day Math & Literacy Work Station Activities

Wow! I don't know how Deedee Wills does it!

Read to Someone Response Sheet {Freebie}

Feeling so blessed and full of LOVE!

Giveaway at The Teacher Tattles

We Celebrate Presidents' Day Song for Shared Reading {Freebie}

Valentine, Valentine What Do You See? Emergent Reader {Freebie}

Tech Tips: How to Add Pages to Your Blogger Blog

Word Family Sliders

How do you organize all the links to freebies and activites you find?

Giveaway at The Resource(ful) Room

Alphamania: An Alphabet Resource for Teachers and Parents {Review}

Kids Tooth Brushing Chart for Students - Classroom Resources for Teachers

Fabulous at Forty Giveaway at Ms. Solano's Kindergarten!

Groundhog Day Last Minute Ideas

Lights and Shadows Science Discovery Unit by Sharing Kindergarten

Will You See Your Shadow? Groundhog Day Song {Freebie}

Groundhog Day and Mini Shadow Unit

Can you 'predict' what I'm working on?

Even More Hundreds Charts for Holidays and Activities {Freebies}

Giveaway at Herding Kats in Kindergarten

Favorite Follower Award

Lots of Hundreds Charts for Upcoming Holidays and Activities {Freebies}

200th Post Giveaway Winners!!!

Giveaway at Ashleigh's Education Journey

Giveaway at The Picture Book Teacher's Edition

3D Shapes Poem {Freebie}

Help! I need ideas for 3D shapes!

Presidents' Day Emergent Reader

50 Fabulous Followers Giveaway at Ketchen's Kindergarten!

Candy Heart Skip Counting

I'm celebrating my 200th post with a GIVEAWAY!!!

Check out this great new Kindergarten blog!

February Math and Literacy Stations {A tiny bit early!}

Scholastic Dollar Deals are Back!

Love to Joplin

Sweeter Than Sugar {Part 2}

Giveaway at Ms. Rachel's Room

$10 TpT Certificate Giveaway at Growing Up Teaching

Winter Math Work Stations {Linky Party}

Our First Snow Day of 2012!

Mini Envelope Template {FREEBIE}

Nuts About Numbers: Activities for Math Work Stations {Freebie}

Sweeter than sugar!

Sneak Peek: Valentine’s Dollar Store Goodies

There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow Mini Math and Literacy Unit

Giveaway at Color Me Kinder

Puppy Love Numbers 1-31 {Freebie}

Teaching Blog Traffic School Goals Revisited

Winter Fun Activities for Kindergarten

Happy New Year to everyone! May all your bloggy wishes come true!

Disappointed about DJ Inkers? Visit Denyse at Scrappin' Doodles! {25% off}

Martin Luther King, Jr. in Kindergarten {Linky Party}

Top Three Posts of 2011!

Who Wants New Followers? {Linky Party}

Check out the Common Core Assessments at Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten

Teaching Blog Traffic School

My laptop must be a teenager because it's rebelling against me!

I've Been Featured!

Christmas Cuties & Winter Wonderland Templates

Snowman ornament giveaway winner!

Sunshine Award and a Sight Word Sort Freebie from Kindergarten is a Hoot!

Scotch Thermal Laminators are on sale on Amazon for $16.99 {Today only}

What gifts are you giving your kiddos families this year?

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but a giveaway would be delightful!!!

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell Mini Unit

Help! What am I doing wrong?

Check out the great Christmas freebies at these blogs!

Rudolph Craft & Writing Prompt {Printables}

Student Supply Responsibility {Sorting Mat}

I Think I Have Creativity ADD Brought on by Pinterest and Teacher Bloggers!

A Printables Challenge from Teaching Heart {I've Included Freebies!}

How the Grinch Stole Christmas Activities

Christmas Freebies {Linky Party}

Winter/Snow Books for Sale