3.27.2013
I am a guest blogger! Woo hoo!
This is a super quick post today! I am so excited to be a guest blogger on Greg's fabulous blog Smedley's Smorgasbord of Kindergarten! EEK! He emailed me and asked if I'd like to guest blog and of course I said absolutely! If you get a moment today, stop by and check it out. It should be posted at some point today.
Love and hugs sweet friends
3.25.2013
JOIN MY GIVEAWAY, Let's Get Acquainted, and MORE Giveaways!
Hello sweet friends!! I am SOOOOO super excited because.... (drumroll please)
I HAVE REACHED OVER 350 FOLLOWERS! WOOT WOOT!
How is this possible?! I am so thrilled that I cannot even contain myself. My little blog :) I am just so thankful for the support that I have gotten from my amazing bloggy buddies out there.
I am throwing a giveaway to celebrate this awesome occasion and it is going to be HUGE!
I am honored to have a few *big namers* joining in on the fun! We're talking big time here folks! I can't wait to get this thing started :) I would love for you to join me in my giveaway too, I would be forever grateful!
If you would like to contribute an item to my giveaway, please fill out the form below. Of course I will do my best to include every single product in the giveaway, but depending on how many entries I receive in each grade range, I may not be able to include all of them. Please forgive me and know that I am still beyond appreciative!
IF YOU HAVE ALREADY SPOKEN WITH ME THROUGH EMAIL ABOUT CONTRIBUTING, PLEASE DO NOT FILL OUT THE FORM :)
And now for the good stuff! I am thrilled to be linking up with the amazing Latoya Reed from Flying into First Grade for her super "Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party".
This weeks topic is THE NOUN GAME!
The rules for the noun game are simple, just share about your favorite person, place, thing, and animal! This is going to be a blast :)
PERSON
This one is super easy. My mommy :) She is the most AMAZING person in the entire world. She is kind, loving, and generous. I am so thankful to have such an amazing mom! (I also snuck my sissy into one of those pics because I love her millions too hehehe)
PLACE
MY BED! Oh my gosh, I could live in my bed. I have a king with one of those totally expensive squishy mattress toppers. I love laying with my puppies, reading a book, or watching a movie :) It's such a cozy little getaway!
THING
Definitely my iPad! I use it for everything! Internet, pictures, books, games, list-making, life organizing, etc. This is one of the best investments I've ever made. Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but I've secretly named it (I think our relationship is getting pretty serious).
ANIMAL
I'm sorry that I have to break the rules on this one. I have two fuzz heads and I know that if I chose one, the other would get super jelly. These are not dogs, they are my babies. Their real names are Lola and Liam. However, they don't go by their names very often. Lola is called: Lo, Lo-ster, Lolie, Yo-ya, chicken, chunky, etc. Now Liam is a whole different story. When we first got him, we started calling him "Li-Li", which soon turned into baby talk and he became "Wee-Wee". So mostly he goes by Wee-Wee, or Weasly, or Weasly Potter. Pathetic. The neighbors always give me strange looks when I scream for Wee Wee. Sigh. I'm not sure how that one stuck, it just did.
So there you have it! I loved linking up and this week and look forward to doing it every week! This is such a fun linky :)
And now for some exciting news! Two of my VERY favorite bloggers are having amazing giveaways that I am thrilled to be a part of! Check them out:
Brittany at Lovely Literacy & More reached 200 followers yesterday and is having a fabulous giveaway that you can't miss out on!
There are so many amazing prizes that there will be a total of 4 winners.
You could win: Splendid Spring Literacy Centers pack from 3 Teacher Chicks, a Font set by Keepin' It Kool In Kinderland, Spring Digital Paper Pack by Fun in PreK-1, $7.00 gift certificate towards clipart from Melonheadz Illustrations, and Alphabet Phonics Clip Art Set-Beginning-Sounds by K is for Kinderrific.
You could win: 100 Background Papers Mega Pack for only $1.00 ($10 value) by Sonya DeHart, Clothespin People Dolls by Glitter Meets Glue Designs, $10.00 gift certificate towards clipart by KPM Doodles, and a TPT product from Mrs. Pauley's Kindergarten.
GIVEAWAY ENDS MARCH 30th @ MIDNIGHT
I am also teaming up with 8 other amazing bloggers to help you get through the Spring Fever with a fabulous giveaway. It is hosted by the totally awesome Amanda Pauley from Mrs. Pauley's Kindergarten! The giveaway starts today and runs through midnight on Saturday, March 31st.
Check out these amazing prizes you could win:
{Click on the products to check them out on TpT or the names to check out the blogs.}
Insect Math & Literacy Unit {Brand new product - not posted to TpT yet!} by Mrs. Pauley's Kindergarten
Aren't they both incredible?! Be sure to go enter! Good luck!
I feel like a bit of a rebel posting at 11:00 am on a Monday! HA! Gotta love Spring Break! Hope you are having a fabulous Monday!
Love and hugs!
3.23.2013
Spring Break, What's Hatchin? and Hippity Blog Hop!
HOORAY HOORAY it's spring break!! I cannot believe that I made it :) This week was soooooo long. I'm not sure if it was because everyone knew the break was almost here, but my kids were literally bananas. I have such a rowdy crew this year. Love them dearly, but holy crow. I'm totally ready for a little me time!
I'm going to start this off by linking up with the amazing Brigid from Brigid's Daily Lesson Log for her Spring Break Bucket List Linky!
Who doesn't love a good list?! I make a new list for just about everything every ten minutes. No joke. I have a "Today" list, a "This Week" list, a "School" list, a "TPT" list, a "Blog" list, etc. Am I really making a list of my lists right now? This could go on and on and on. I love that this list is all about the fun things that I want to do!
1. Sleep - literally as much as humanly possible.
2. Read - for fun, not for school! I have so many books on my kindle that I want to read
3. Create - things for TPT, things for my classroom, things for the end of the year, etc.
4. Nails - toes and hands! Mani pedi anyone?!
5. Watch - I have got to catch up on my DVR list, I'm at like 20% free!
6. Clean - my house, my car, my life! It's time to get organized my friends
7. Relax - I'm thinking 2 things: sun and margaritas! The one good think about Florida :)
Here are 2 random funnies from this week. On Tuesday one of my sweeties came waltzing in with a shoebox lid in his hands. He places it on my desk and heads off to his seat. I called him over a minute later and said, "Honey, why did you leave this on my desk?" to which he responds, "It's for the school, to get 25 cents!" I was still totally drawing a blank. If you have caught on already, I'm impressed by your sleuthing skills. So finally, I told him I didn't understand and he said, "You know Ms. Bosland, it's a box top!" HA! What a little cutie pie! I didn't have the heart to tell him that it wasn't the right kind of box top so I just said thank you and took it. Sigh. I hope I don't have the troops bringing in tons of actual box tops now.
In other ridiculous news, I was reading with my kids and one of them read this amazing piece of literature to me:
I'm not going to make any comments about this book. I'm just not. Because there's not really anything I can say that is appropriate. Good grief.
Moving on!
Because it is spring break this week and we will miss celebrating Easter closer to the actual holiday, we decided to do our activities this week! We focused on Oviparous Animals (animals that hatch from eggs) all week long.
To introduce our topic earlier this week, I printed pictures of animals that are and are not oviparous. I folded them up and put them inside little easter eggs! I had the kids come up one at a time to open the eggs and identify the animal. Then the kids had to sort that animal on the chart under either "oviparous" or "not oviparous". They had such a blast with this!
All of the pieces for the chart can be found for FREE in my TPT store! Click HERE to check it out!
The littles had a student version of the sort to work on as we did the whole group sort together!
We also read one of my favorites, "An Extraordinary Egg" by Leo Lionni! It is about 3 little frogs who find an egg hidden amongst some rocks. They think it will hatch a chicken, but it turns out to be an alligator, that they still call a chicken. Hehehe. SO cute. The kids think it is just hilarious.
The next day we started by reading "What's Hatchin Chick?" by Christie Beriener from First Grade Fever!. I found this adorable story in Christie's Chicken Unit. It can be found HERE. This is always a winner with the littles. They love guessing which animal is hiding in each egg.
After reading the story, we created a class book of our own called "Little Egg, Little Egg, What Do You See?" I got this totally awesome freebie from the always wonderful Deedee Wills from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten. Click HERE to grab a copy of this class book for yourself! My kids had so much fun with this and did really well! I was super impressed with my little artists.
The next day we completed an oviparous animal prediction chart! I found this terrific activity in Katie Mense's "Are these animals oviparous?" center pack. I mixed it up a little bit though and modified it for the smartboard! I created a document that had a picture of each animal on a smartboard slide with the next slide telling whether it is oviparous or not. The kids took out both a green and a red crayon.
I started by showing the first slide, which was a frog (that corresponded to Katie's prediction sheet). Under the prediction column, the littles colored either a green dot for YES, a frog is oviparous or a red dot for NO, a frog is not oviparous. Then we would go to the next slide. That slide told us whether the frog was oviparous. The kids then colored in the correct color under the results column. They totally loved this one! They were cheering and screaming each time they got one right. HA!
I have more fun to share with you tomorrow, but I will try to keep this post less than 400 pages long ha! I have a tendency to cram way too much into my posts.
Don't forget to join the fun and hop along in the Hippity Blog Hop hosted by the fabulous Mrs. Leeby! I am loving being a part of it, sooo many goodies and what an amazing giveaway!!
Love and hugs!!
3.22.2013
HIPPITY BLOG HOP! FREEBIES AND GIVEAWAY!
Happy Friday to all of my favorite PEEPS out there! I am extra excited right now because in less than 15 hours, I will officially be on Spring Break - can I get a woot woot!? And I am even more excited to be a part of something totally awesome! You must read on to find out all about it!
WELCOME TO HOP STOP NUMBER 5 IN THE
If you are here, that means you have just hopped over from the ridiculously fabulous Brittany from Lovely Literacy & More! I hope you became a new follower of hers and snagged her awesome freebie while you were there - that girl ROCKS!
I am SOOOO thrilled that you are here :) If this is your first time finding me, it is so wonderful to meet you.
Here's the scoop on this fab-filled blog hop:
You will hop by 13 different blogs, hunting for totally rockin' freebies to put in your Easter basket along the way. Although these products are super useful and fun, that is not the best part.
BE SURE TO VISIT AND FOLLOW ALL OF THE BLOGS ALONG THE WAY BECAUSE
at the end of the hop, you will make a final stop at Learning With Mrs. Leeby's blog. There you will find a HUGE giveaway with 14 SPECTACULAR prizes, including a $25 gift card to Target. Who couldn't use a little money to go crazy with?!
As part of the giveaway, I am giving away my complete commercial use font pack, containing 56 cutey cute fonts, worth $15!
Click on the picture below to see a sample of each font included in the pack.
And now for the FREEBIE fun! I have created an Oviparous Animal sort that includes the pieces for a whole group class chart, as well as a student sort! I hope you will be able to use it with your littles! Click on the picture below to grab your copy!
Now you are ready to hop to the next stop!! You are in for a treat, because you are headed to Aimee's amazing blog - Pencils, Books, & Dirty Looks! She has another wonderful freebie waiting for you! Click the picture below to take you there!
I hope you are enjoying the Hippity Blog Hop! Don't forget to enter the SUPER FABBY FAB GIVEAWAY at the end of the hop :)
Love and Hugs To My Old (I mean that in a very loving way) and New Bloggy Friends!
3.17.2013
Lucky Linky, Freebie, Sale, and Giveaway Winners
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Are you feelin' lucky today?! (or just hungover from last night haha) Thank the heavens that I am not hungover. No drinking for me last night! I went to dinner and a movie with my favorite people. My sissy, her fiance, and my Mary! We saw "Oz The Great and Powerful". It was really good and pretty funny. The wicked witches face looked strange though. I'm not sure what was going on there.
Well I love the weekend, especially when there is a holiday. I am linking up with the always amazing Brittany from Lovely Literacy and More for her Lucky Linky! You should definitely link up if you haven't already. I would love to hear what you are lucky to have in your life! The only rules are:
*Share one or more things that make you lucky
*Share your luck with others by sharing a freebie
Here are the things in my life that I hold nearest and dearest to my heart.
MY FAMILY
I am so fortunate to have such an amazing family. We are unbelievably close and have the most fun together. I literally have more fun with my family than anyone in the world. My parents are the kindest, most generous people and my sister and I are best friends. I love them :)
MY MARY
Mary is one of the biggest parts of my life and I love her dearly! She is always with me through thick and thin and I could not be luckier to have her in my life.
MY PUPPIES
I love love love love them!!! They are the most amazing little fuzz heads in the entire world. They are literally my babies. So darn cute.
MY TEAM
My entire team is not in this picture, there are 2 other amazing friends, but I couldn't seem to find a picture with all of us in it. I cannot tell you how fortunate I am to have this group of amazing women teaching beside me. They are kind, loving, warm, and generous people who are creative and awesome teachers. They save by butt anytime it needs saving! I love them.
MY BLOGGY BUDDIES
Joining the blogging world has been one of the most rewarding experiences. I have met some absolutely amazing friends and gained such fabulous idea. I am inspired every single day. There are SO many blogs out there that I love and stalk daily, but these are my closest bloggy buds around! I love these ladies so much!
And now for the best part - the FREEBIE! Click the picture below to grab a free copy of the KWL chart from my Ocean Animals unit!
I am also linking up with Mrs. Wheeler from Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade for her Lucky Day Sale Linky and Amy from Albuquerque Amy's First Graders for her Golden Deals Linky. I am having a 20% off sale today at TPT! Be sure to check it out and snag some things while they are cheap cheap cheap! Check out my store HERE!
Earlier this week I had a little giveaway to share my new Oceans Unit with 2 of my followers. I said that I would pick on Thursday. I am SO sorry that I did not post the winners on Thursday. Instead, I am announcing the winners today and because it is 3 days late, I decided to giveaway 3 more copies! So now 5 lucky followers are getting my unit! Here they are:
#15 - Mrs. Leeby from Learning with Mrs. Leeby
#4 - Karyn from A is for Apple B is for Blog
#1 - Jessica from Fun in PreK-1
#21 - Danielle from Carolina Teacher
#19 - Elizabeth from Kickin' it in Kindergarten
I am also sending a copy to one of my bloggy besties Amanda from Mrs. Pauley's Kindergarten, just because she is so super supportive and awesome! Thanks for all of your positivity and love girl!
Check your emails ladies! I hope you are able to use and enjoy the unit!
And there you have it! Only one more week until SPRING BREAK! I seriously cannot wait. I hope this week FLYS by!
Oh and before I forget, here are some totally awesome giveaways that are going on. Click the pictures below to take you there and check them out:
Have a very lucky and relaxing St. Patty's Day!
Love and Hugs!