Western Theme Classroom Decor Packs!!

I LOVE my Western Theme Classroom! Take a TOUR HERE!

I am always adding to the decor.

I recently just created 2 HUGE WESTERN THEME DECOR PACKS: PART 1 and PART 2.

I wanted to put them all together but the file was too large.

Check out my ROOTIN TOOTIN PACKS!!

Get it Below on TPT!

WESTERN THEME DECOR PART 1

and

WESTERN THEME DECOR PART 2

LIEBSTER AWARD--Love it!

LIEBSTER AWARD!!!! 
How COOL!!!

I was so excited and honored when I was nominated for the LIEBSTER AWARD from Jill at ABC's And Polka Dots.

After reading more about this award, I learned The LIEBSTER award is presented to 
newish bloggers, like myself.

“Liebster” means favorite, beloved, cute, lovely, dearest and welcome in German, and this award helps to draw attention to blogs that aren’t too well known.

I think most importantly, it's a great way to connect and 
make new blogging friends!

AND I am very excited to do just that!

THANK YOU JILL!!! VERY SWEET and YOU MADE MY DAY!!

Here are the "rules" for this award:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me

2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 readers

3. Answer the questions posted for me by my nominator

4. Share 11 random facts about myself

5. Create 11 questions for my nominees

6. Contact my nominees and let them know I've nominated them

Now I just need to search for my nominees!
This will be my goal in the next week!

JILL'S QUESTIONS FOR ME:

1. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

I love strawberry cheesecake ice cream! Especially from Cold Stones!

2. What is your favorite type of music to listen to?

I love all types of music so this is hard to answer. Funny, but I actually love "techy dance" music, especially when I am by myself in my car.

My husband laughs because every time he gets in the car after me, the stereo is up so loud!

3. What is your favorite subject to teach?

I like teaching writing to my kiddos. It's hard for them but I love putting on calm music and watching them write in their little "offices".

4. Where did you go to college?

I got my bachelor's degree and master's degree from National University. I will probably be paying off my school loans forever now haha!

5. Do you prefer sweet or salty?

SWEET!!!!! Sweets (chocolates) are my weakness! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE chocolate chip Pazookies from BJ's restaurant! My favorite candy is Reeces Pieces.

6. Name 5 things that are currently in your purse.

1. Tic Tacs (I drink so much coffee I feel like I always have coffee breath)

2. Two Starbucks gift cards (my favorite place!)

3. My cute cheetah wallet (full of receipts and needed to be cleaned out)

4. My new I-phone!!!! 

5. A to-do list of things to get at Target (my favorite store)

7. Where is your favorite vacation destination?

Anywhere tropical!! I have been to Cabo and Cancun twice and I have loved every minute of those vacations! The water is so clear and it's a perfect getaway!

8. How long have you been teaching?

I taught preschool for 5 years while going through college

and this next year will be my 10th year teaching in public schools.

So all together, 15 years!

9. What is your favorite children's book?

My all time favorite children's book is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. It's so sweet and tender and teaches so much about unconditional love. This last year though, I was obsessed with Pete the Cat!!!

10. Do you prefer the mountains or the beach?

BEACH! BEACH! BEACH! NO question! I live in San Diego and my favorite thing to do is to get a cup of coffee and go to the beach! I love the sand, water and beautiful sunsets. Nothing makes me feel closer to God than being at the beach! 

11. Name one special thing about the town you live in.

One special thing about the city I live in is the weather! There is no where else in America (in my opinion) where the weather is more perfect! San Diego weather is always great!

11 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME!

1. I am a fraternal twin and I am married to an identical twin!

2. I am currently pregnant with TRIPLETS!!!!! Yes! It's true!

 (2 identicals and one fraternal)

3. My favorite stores are Target and Victoria's Secret!

4. I am a reality TV junky! 

5. I love sushi, diet coke and coffee!

6. I am very sensitive (which is my strength and my weakness)

7. I love throwing parties and having people at my house. 

8. I've always wanted to open up a bed and breakfast on the beach!

9. I can stand on my head forever! Honestly, if all the blood didn't drain to my head, I could stay on my head for hours.

10. My favorite color is pink!

11. I still sleep with my blanky from when I was a child. Silly, I know.

QUESTIONS FOR MY NOMINEES:

1. What is your favorite thing to do?

2. What are your 2 favorite stores?

3. What two words would best describe you?

4. What is something new you want to learn?

5. If you weren't a teacher, what else would you do?

6. Who is in your family?

7. What is the hardest part about blogging for you?

8. What do you do to relax?

9. What is the last movie you saw?

10. Would you rather have an appetizer or dessert?

11. How long have you been teaching? What grades?

Mother's Day Tea!

PHEW! We made it through our Mother's Day Tea today!
It was so much fun!!!!

You can purchase a lot of the little "goodies"
in my BEARY SPECIAL MOTHER'S DAY TEA UNIT HERE.

Here are some pictures of our day:

This was our main food table.

We had muffins (donated by Mimi's Cafe),

croissants, grapes and water (donated by Costco),

scones (our amazing Vice Principal made them for us, along with her homemade butter!!!!),

hot tea (donated by Starbucks)

and cold tea (which I got at the Dollar Store).

I brought in a lot of my own platters and pitchers.

I put doilies under everything to give it a real tea feel.

I made the little bear signs (which are all in my Mother's Day Tea TPT Unit).

I used white linens for the tables

 (you can use regular plastic table clothes as well, I just have a lot of my own).

Since our theme was TEDDY BEARS and TEAPOTS, I had each of the kids bring in a teddy bear from home. This was an easy and CHEAP way to decorate the tables.

I used recycled jam jars for the centerpieces and put PICKED BOCA-VILLA flowers inside them (again easy and no cost at all)!

I put doilies under the jars.

This is the BEARY SPECIAL BOOKLET each of the little love muffins made for their  mommies, grandmas and aunties. It is full of cute gifts. Again, it is all in my TPT unit.

The boys wore homemade ties and the girls wore bonnets. 

The bonnets were made from paper plates and bowls.

I cut a large circle in the center of the plate and stapled a bowl to it. 

I hole punched to holes on the sides and added yarn.

The kiddos decorated them with ribbon, flowers and stickers.

I set up 2 photo areas.

My daughter has all this tea stuff in her room so I just grabbed it. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful, hard-working mommies!

Mother's Day Tea! Teddy Bears and Teapots

We will be having a BEARY special and 

TEA-RRIFIC Mother's Day Tea!

Click here to get my 

TEDDY BEARS and TEAPOTS PACK on TPT!

 Here is a sneak peak of what is in this pack. I will be posting more pictures of our actual tea party later.

 

St. Patrick's Day Shenanigans!

St. Patrick's Day Shenanigans!

Kinderworld is full of treats and tricks this week!

Leo the Leprechaun is visiting our class each day and he is a sneaky little fellow!!!

Click HERE to get my 

St. Patrick's Day Unit on TPT!

We make Leo the Leprechan and

 a mini booklet called "My Pot of Gold Booklet".

Each page has different writing prompts to write and draw about St. Patrick's Day!

Everything below can be found in my TPT unit.

 Leo leaves us little notes each day for 5 days.

See what he does below on each day!

Leo the Leprechaun is a lot like “Elf on a Shelf”, except sneakier. He is a tricky, little leprechaun who plays tricks on the kiddos. 

Each day he leaves a new note and a St. Patrick’s Day book.

This is a little peek at our sneaky week:

Monday: On Monday, Leo arrives! He leaves his first note and plays his first trick. He took out

all the crayons and filled the caddies with only green and gold crayons! He also left us our first St.

Patrick's Day Book, "There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed a Clover."

Tuesday: On Tuesday, Leo takes a green bath. He fills the sink with green water and glitter.

He leaves us a poem about Leprechaun Legends and mini pictures to create a chart.

We write our own Leprechaun Legends and create a class book!

Wednesday: On Wednesday, Leo stays the night listening to music. He leaves out an

i-pod and “mixes” some things up in the room (i.e., chairs, tables, books). He must be in his

pajamas because he leaves it itty bitty clothes and hat on the floor for washing.

Thursday: On Thursday, Leo is hidden in the room. The kiddos create their own leprechaun 

traps. For writing, we use the leprechaun trap template (first, next, then, last). On Thursday, we 

create our Leo the Leprechaun craftivity and pot of gold booklet. We hope all these Leprechauns 

will lure Leo to our trap!

Friday: FRIDAY is a BUSY day in Kinderworld!

Leo leaves the classroom a big mess! He gets into the paint and leaves his little footprints all over the

desks (dip your fist in green paint and dab 3 fingerprints above for toe prints). He also leaves the

recipe for FLUBBER and MAGIC PUDDING, which we make that day. 

For Math, we do our Lucky Charms Cereal Sorting, Tallying and Graphing Activity.

At the end of the day, we have 5 St. Patrick's Day Literacy and Math Centers.

Table 1: Lucky Numbers Bingo (Focus #'s 10-30)

Table 2: Blarney Blending (building words and write them in green in a white board or writing 

template in my TPT unit)

Table 3: Experiment and measure with FLUBBER

Table 4: Roll and Cover (focus on addition)

Table 5: Read and Color St. Patrick's Day Booklet 

These are some of the activities we do during the Daily Five Rotations for

Word Work, Work on Writing and small group instruction.

 

This is one of our table traps!

The next day, all our traps were ruined and our little leprechaun got into the paint!!!!

He left footprints all over the room!

We also have some fun with rainbows and colors.

We make an "All About Me" Rainbow.

Another fun activity we do during the week is Mouse Paint.

We read the story "Mouse Paint" and learn about mixing 

primary colors to make new colors. Then we make our own

little "mouse cracker" goodies and mix frosting.