New Year's Eve GIVEAWAY!


3......2.....1....Happy New Year!
What a great way to ring in the new year....by winning this HUGE giveaway!
 
Here's what you can win:
(Some things are so new they aren't even available for purchase yet!  You could be the first to have them!)
 
 
 
 
 





 





Enter below using Rafflecopter before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st (EST)!
One lucky winner will be chosen!
 

Click {here} for Mrs. Jump's blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
Click {here} for Mrs. Wills' blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
Click {here} for Lori (Teaching with Love and Laughter)'s blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
Click {here} for Erica Bohrer's blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
Click {here} for Kim (KinderGals)'s blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
Click {here} for The 3am Teacher's blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
Click {here} for Donna (Kinderglynn)'s blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
Click {here} for Michelle (Fabulous in First)'s blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
Click {here} for Kindergarten Smorgasboard's blog and click {here} for his TpT store.
Click {here} for Kathleen (Growing Kinders)'s blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
Click {here} for Mrs. Parisi's blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
Click {here} for Mrs. Albanese's blog and click {here} for her TpT store.
 


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Remembering.....and celebrating

It was hard to go to work today....my mind kept thinking about last Friday's tragedies.
I didn't want to leave my own kids at home.  I wanted to stay with them all day long, play board games and eat ice cream.  I wanted to hold them and kiss them endlessly.
Then I remembered that I have special kids at school too, that I hold dear to my heart, who are expecting a teacher to come to school today and teach them, make them laugh, and show them that school is an amazing, safe place to be yourself.
So that's when I knew where I had to be today.
 
I wasn't sure if any of my students had heard the news this weekend, as every channel, every radio station and nearly everyone that I ran into was talking about it.
No one did.
And I was happy about that.  I really wasn't sure how I was going to handle it.  And if it does come up tomorrow or the next day, or even next week or next year, I really can't say what I will do.  All I know is that it's my job to make my students feel like school is the best place to be.  After all, I want my own children's teachers to do the same for them.
 
And so I am celebrating....celebrating all the wonderful students in my class. Every.Single.One.Of.Them.
They are all special and have touched my heart in so many ways.
 
It was business as usual in my classroom today, well, maybe I was a little more "easy-going" than normal.  We had Fun Monday - I usually only have Fun Friday on a weekly basis, where my students can choose whatever they would like to play with and with whomever they would like to play with.
But between dress rehearsals for our Christmas concert tomorrow night and trying to squeeze in some last minute activities I thought I would let things slide just a little bit today...and maybe for the rest of the week :)
 
Working on our Pocket Chart activities...one is from last week and one from this week.
You can find these in my best-selling All Year Long Pocket Chart Fun Activities.
 
The kinders made their parents the *cutest* handprint calendar (idea originally taken from Little Giraffes).  Thank you to Ms. C and Mrs. Sampogna for helping us with this big job and for laminating them, binding them AND wrapping them!  Phew!  What would we do without you?!?!
This is the card that my kinders made which will go with the calendar.
The one on the left is done by my SK students and the one on the right is by my JK students.
Adorable!
 
I pulled out this cute game that I made last year.  We have been getting really good at identifying the numbers on a die.  I had ALL the kids running to this centre today!
 
Click HERE to read my post from last December and download your FREE copy of my
Roll-a-Number centre.
 
I had a very L-O-N-G day (it was my ___-th birthday today, yes, you fill in the blanks!).  So I'm off to bed.  But I wanted to let you know that if you are looking for a few last minute things to do with your kiddies this week (which are extremely FUN, I might add) you must check out Tanya Solano's Holiday Fun pack.
My students just loved the Alphabet Maze today!  Hmmm....I think I'm going to use the Picture Crossword tomorrow....
 
Have a good night everyone!


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Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary


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Writing Center Posters FREEBIE and a peek at my week!

Last year I wrote about how I use these posters in my Writing Center.  I change them thematically or by season.  You can read about that post here.
 
I also uploaded them onto Google docs as a freebie....but lately I have been receiving e-mails from some of you sweet friends that they aren't downloading!  I don't know what's going on with Google docs so I decided to go to the best, most reliable place I know to download things...TpT!
So here you are, folks, ALL of the Writing Center posters I made for you to download for FREE!
Just click on the picture to download your copy.
 
 
Here's a peek at what we started on this week.  We read the Gingerbread Man and Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett as our theme this week is.....drumroll....Gingerbread! (hmmmm...what gave that away?)
 
Learning how to count and read 5-frames....we will be learning about 10-frames in the new year.
 
Roll and cover game....my students LOVE these games and insist on them each week!
(I love the fact that they are learning to share, take turns and wait patiently for their turn! HA!)
 
The sight words were mixed up and the kiddies had to unscramble them.  You can't see it in the picture but I had a poster of the words nearby so the students could cross-reference their answers.  I thought this might be a little challenging but they did a great job!
 
Counting out the "gumdrops" on the gingerbread houses and recording our anwers.
 
You can find these activities and more in my Gingerbread Literacy and Math Activities unit on TpT.
 
Phew!  We have a LOT to pack in before Christmas Break.  Our play is in 2 weeks and we are busy rehearsing every day!  AND we are nearly done our Christmas craft....just putting the finishing touches on it!  I promise to post when they are done!
 
If you are getting ready for the new year, I created this new unit, The Mitten.
We do a whole book study on Jan Brett's book.  It's a perfect book for the long winter months!
I included lots of hands-on center activties, an original song written by me, a fun art activity and LOTS more!
AND....it's one SALE this week!!!
You can click on the picture to check it out!
 
 
Hope you have a great week!

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