Winners Winners Chicken Dinners!!!

Today is the day I announce my 25 follower giveaway!!!

Comment #8 - Greg from Smedley's Smorgasbord of Kindergarten!!!!!!!

and

Comment # 18 - Lori Raines!!!!!

Congratulations to both of you!! Please email me with your choice of the TWO items from my TPT store that you would like!!

If you didn't win this time - check back (and tell your bloggy friends) I am going to do another giveaway when I reach 100 followers!! It will be bigger and better than this one so I hope I get to 100 soon!!

60 followers!!! KRAZY!!!!

WOW I can't believe that less than a week ago I had 25 followers and now today I take a peek and I see that I am up to 60!!!!! I am so excited to have you all peeking in on me here in my little corner of the world wide web.

Don't forget to head on over to my giveaway post and make sure you leave your comment. Tomorrow is the last day! I will be announcing the winners on Saturday! Just click on the picture to take you to the post where you can enter!

Blog title fits today!!

Boy or boy does my blog title fit me today! I have had a very KRAZY day! I have been so frustrated all day but I know if I blog about it I'll feel better.

First of all I go to visit my sweet daddy at his nursing home this morning and the social worker tells me that we need to find a new placement for my dad because his Alzheimer's has progressed to a point where he needs to be in a facility with a memory care unit. Apparently my dad has started to become aggressive and since his current facility is not an Alzheimer's facility the staff is not trained to handle him properly so for his safety and for the safety of others we have to move him. I expected this to be a daunting task because it was no easy feat getting him where he currently is but God was watching out for us and we have a plan and a back up plan. I found him a very nice secured facility. They are affiliated with the Alzheimer's association and they even have a secured wing for when my dad's alzheimer's progresses further.

Then as I was beginning to breath a sigh of relief that this seemed to be working out so well, I checked my email and there was an e-mail from the person in charge of GED testing for my county. I had emailed him because my son is trying to register to take the GED test and be able to use his ESE accommodations. Well come to find out it is a HUGE process to get him approved to be able to use them! We have to have a form filled out by a "professional diagnostician" whatever that means!!!  He is no longer in high school so I don't have access to a school psychologist and I don't have the money to pay for an independent psychologist to simply fill out a form by looking at my son's IEP and evaluations. I am so angry! The state already makes it next to impossible for student's with learning disabilities to graduate and now they are making it just as impossible for them to get their needed accommodations to take the GED test. My poor son was told to just take it anyway and whatever sections he doesn't pass he can just retake them as much as he needs - at $70 a pop! He's not a deadbeat who quit school to be a bum, he was 19 years old and a junior in high school (because our great state feels it is appropriate to retain students TWICE in elementary school) and he wanted to be done with high school and go to college. Now they are making it nearly impossible. I have him taking a timed practice test right now to see how he would do in the given time frame to see if he would be able to complete it with a passing score in the allotted time without his extended time accommodation.

OK now that I am finished whining I am happy about a couple things! I made some binder covers to help me stay organized AND thanks to a great idea I got on my last post I created a cover for my organizational binder. Check them out! If you would like me to make you set of binder covers with your name and grade just let me know! - You can find the set of binder covers (without my name and grade of course LOL) in my TPT store by clicking HERE

My Common Core binder cover and spine

My data notebook cover and spine

My lesson plan cover and spine

My GO Book cover!! Thank you to Sue at A Rainbow of Teaching for the idea!

Too many things for one title to hold BUT I do need some suggestions!!

OK I have SO Many things to blog about today that I just couldn't fit it all in to just one title. I hope I can fit it all into one post LOL!

First off I was so surprised and so touched that Lisa, over at Teaching Kindergarten Kiddos gave me an award!!! She gave me the One Lovely Blog Award! Isn't it pretty????

I was super honored to get this and now I get to pass it along!
Once you get your award there are 3 rules to follow:
1. Follow the person you get your award from
2. Link back to the person who gave you the award
3 Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers (I am not sure how "new" they are so I hope its OK)
So here are my 15 Bloggers that I want to share this award with (I had to be really careful because I want to give it to EVERYONE!!)



http://learningissomethingtotreasure.blogspot.com/

http://kindergartensmorgasboard.blogspot.com/

http://mrswheelerfirst.blogspot.com/

http://lovinkindergartenwithmslindsey.blogspot.com/

http://arainbowofteaching.blogspot.com/

http://teachinspireprepare.blogspot.com/

http://kindergartencenter.blogspot.com/

http://dirtyhandslessonplans.blogspot.com/

http://kindertrips.blogspot.com/

http://jenskinderkids.blogspot.com/

http://mrsstanfordsclass.blogspot.com/

http://tattlingtotheteacher.blogspot.com/

http://littlemindsatwork.blogspot.com/

http://beeskindergarden.blogspot.com/

http://www.ateenytinyteacher.com/


OK that's ONE of many things I want to share today!! OH and don't forget to head on over to join in on your chance to win my giveaway! I started that giveaway on Friday to celebrate 25 followers and BAM! I am now at 52 followers!!! I son't know yet why it gets me so excited when I get more followers but it does! LOL I guess because if you have no followers then you're basically just talking to yourself on here huh?? Anyway!! Click on the picture to go straight to the post about the giveaway so you can join in before its too late!

Next up on the agenda, I am SUPER excited that I finished my calendar patterning packet and it is now up and available at my TPT and my TN stores!! Check out some sneak peeks - I posted a sneak peek of August through March yesterday so here is a sneak peek at April, May, and June! Oh yeah and the links to my store if you are interested in this set!

Get these at my TPT store by clicking HERE

April - ABCC pattern

May - AABBCC Pattern

June - ABCD pattern

Finally, this novel post is almost finished! I just need some suggestions. At my old school - every time I say that, I feel like I sound like Phoebe from the Magic School Bus videos LOL - anyway, at my old school we had organizational binders and since our mascot was a dragon we called them DRAGON books. I am sure DRAGON was an acronym for something but I long ago forgot what, anyway at my new school they also use an organizational binder but they don't call it anything but "your binder" B-O-R-I-N-G!!!!!! The one teacher on my team that I have been directed to for questions told me that some of the teachers make a cute cover and maybe put their name on it. She said last year she had Ms. {name}'s Shining Stars and had a picture of a star on it. So I thought I could get creative and come up with my own little thing that could go with my theme - who am I kidding, I have no theme,  its just primary colors so really I could use anything! I want something cute for their binder "name" and I am just drawing a blank. My new mascot is an Eagle but I am not sure I want to call it an Eagle Book, besides I can't find any cute graphics/clip art of eagles. I thought, since they are the "babies" of the school I could do something like Mrs. Foreman's ????? Eaglets but I don't know what!! And again - can't find any cute clip art/graphics of eaglets either. I have also thought about the old standby The BEE (Bring Everything Everyday) Book but I'm not sure I want to go that route either! SO I am coming to all my bloggy buddies on my knees begging for ideas! Please help me to end this creative drought I seem to have going on in my head right now!!!  (Can't wait to read all your great ideas!) Now I am off to eat some caramel popcorn and watch The Bachelorette (Don't as me why I have no clue what draws me into this show)

Rainy Day, a Freebie, a Sneak Peek and a GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Just wanted to remind everyone to head on over to my post from yesterday about my 25 Follower giveaway! Click on the picture below and it will take you to the post with all the details!

Ok, well since I live in Florida and Tropical Storm Debbie is knocking on our backdoor it has been raining ALL day long! When its rainy and I am cooped up in my house all day I get bored SOOOOOOO I decided to start working on my next project. I am making calendar pieces for each month and with different patterning skills! I'm super excited about this and can't wait to finish them up I only have April, May, and June left to finish so it should be done and in my store(s) soon!. Below are a few sneak peek pictures. I am hoping to have the set completed by Wednesday and have it in my TPT and TN stores before Friday. That way they will be there when my giveaway ends and if you win my giveaway you can get the entire set for FREE!!!!!

Here is a little sneak peek

August - AB pattern

September - AB Pattern

October - AAB pattern

November - ABB pattern

December - AABB pattern

January - ABC pattern

February - AABC pattern

March - ABBC pattern

Now for my Rainy Day Freebie!! I have received a lot of comments and compliments on my word family flip charts so I am now offering my -at Word Family Flip Chart for FREE!!! Check out the samples below and then click HERE to get yours for FREE!!!!

25 Followers!!! Time for a Giveaway!!

I am super excited to have reached 25 followers! I know to many of you out there in bloggy world 25 is just a drop in the bucket but I am thrilled to be getting new followers all the time! So to celebrate reaching 25 followers (and maybe even to get more!) I am going to have a giveaway!!

The giveaway entry period begins right now and ends on June 30th at midnight eastern time!

I will choose TWO winners on July 1st using the random number generator. The two winners will win their choice of any TWO items from my TPT store. Entering is easy and you have a chance to have up to 5 entries!! Here's what you need to do:

1. Follow my blog - leave a comment on this post telling me that you are following me = 1 entry

2. Blog, Facebook, or twitter about this giveaway - leave me a comment on this post with the link to your blog post, Facebook post, and/or twitter post about this giveaway. If you blog/post on more than 1 social media leave a separate comment for each link = up to 3 entries (each comment equals 1 entry)

3. Check out my TPT store by clicking HERE and then come back here and leave me a comment on this post, telling me which 2 items you would choose if you win!

That's it... SUPER easy!!

No Monkey Business is having a giveaway!!

No Monkey Business is celebrating 300 followers with a great giveaway!! Head on over to her blog to get all the details and find out if you are a Heart, CLub, Spade, or Diamond teacher!! I'm a Club all the way with a little of the others sprinkled in :-) 

Head on over to her blog and check it out for yourself - see what suit you are! (Click on the blog title below)

NO MONKEY BUSINESS

Thursday Love-Day Linky!!

I am super excited to be connecting up with such a fun Linky! Smitten With First is having a fun linky about the things we love! I couldn't wait to link up!!

My husband thinks I have totally lost my mind I have been crafting like crazy!!! AND I bought a sewing machine!! I have NEVER owned a sewing machine - well I take that back, when I was a little girl, my momma was a seamstress and I had my own sewing machine that she taught me how to use, I was by no means (and still am not) a little Suzy Homemaker BUT when I was about 8 years old she taught me how to make a pillow and I just took it from there. Soooo I have been super busy over this past week and I LOVE LOVE LOVE everything I have made so for my Thursday Love-Day I am sharing all my projects I have completed over the last 7 days! (Most of which have been inspired by Pinterest)


#1 My crate seat cushions!! I turned the crate upside down and made the cushion to tie to the bottom of the crate for seats - I made 4 of these for my listening center! Is it perfect? NOPE. Did I make it ALL BY MYSELF? YEP! I think they came out great especially since it is the first thing I have sewn in over 30 years!

#2 My kindergarten wall sign! I bought small wooden letters and I painted them brown and then painted pink polka dots on them. then I attached them to a pink and brown ribbon.

This is the finished product - the lightening makes them look read and white but I swear they are brown and pink LOL To give you an idea of the size of the final product - that's a king size bed! 

Here is a close up of one of the letters and the ribbon

#3 My rocking chair seat and back cushion!!

This is a picture of the ADORABLE fabric I found at Joanne's I thought it was super cute and it is bright and colorful!

This is the finished product sitting in my computer chair - again it is not perfect but I made it all by myself!! My momma would be so proud! Oh those things hanging down that kind of look like arms, those are the ties to tie the cushion to the chair.

#4 My wall letters!!!!!! These are my absolute favorite - LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!! I have seen on Pinterest people using the letters to spell READ but I have a big empty space on my wall so I wanted more than just read and I wanted it to be cute (duh) SOOOOOOO I played off the popular "Live Laugh Love" saying as well as the "Eat Pray Love" book/movie and I made READ PLAY LEARN!

It was super easy! All I did was buy the wooden letters from Joanne's and I picked out 3 really cute brown/pink related scrapbook papers (so they will go with my Kindergarten wall sign). I traced each letter on the scrapbook paper, cut them out and used Mod Podge (gloss version not matte) to attach them to the wooden letter and then I did 2 coats of the Mod Podge over top of the letter and paper to give it a slight glossy look as well as to seal the paper onto the letter further They came out SO cute!! I can't wait to hang them on the wall - I'm thinking Command strips but I'm not 100% sure how to hang them yet (any suggestions would be more than welcomed)

These are all the completed letters 

LEARN - can you tell the "L" is really a backwards J? Some one must have put it in the wrong bin and I didn't notice until I had already completed the entire project and saw the difference between the "L" in LEARN and the "L" in PLAY

Up close so you can see the pattern on the letter

PLAY - isn't it cute????

Another close up to see the pattern

Here's READ! This one is my favorite!

Up close again

Anyway that's my Thursday Love-Day loves!! Head on over to Smitten with First and join in the fun!

Online Thirty-One party! Come join the fun!!

Hello all!! I am so excited I am hosting an ONLINE Thirty-One party!! It closes 1 week from today on Wednesday the 20th, the website says it closed on the 13th but I promise it is open until the 20th!!

There are all sorts of super cute bags, purses, lunch boxes, and organizational tools!! I have what I call the Ultimate Teacher Bag but they call it the Organizing Utility Tote (pictured below) but it is the PERFECT teacher bag! Lots of pockets, plenty of room for books, pens, markers, all sorts of goodies!!

If you want to place an order follow these simple was steps

1. Click on the picture of the bag below (or go to www.mythirtyone.com/Afox)


2. Click on "MY PARTIES" (You can also browse through the catalog from this page too)

3. Then find my name - Cindy Foreman - and click where it says "SHOP NOW"

4. VERY IMPORTANT if you place an order make sure that you choose to have your order shipped directly to you otherwise it will be sent to me and I'll have to send it to you and it will take longer for you to get your stuff.

*Also if you order please leave me a comment and tell me what you ordered!! I love to know what everyone likes (and that way if for some reason your order comes to me I can get it to you)

All settled in and ready to enjoy my summer!

Well today i went one more time to work in my new classroom. I always worry I won't have everything ready for the first day of school and I don't know why I worry because I ALWAYS have everything ready in plenty of time. This move to a new school has been so exciting but at the same time I want to make a good impression on my new teammates and my new administrator so I want everything to be just right.

Yesterday I was able to completely unpack and put away all my stuff but the furniture was all over the place and I wasn't really able to picture in my mind what I wanted the space to look like come August, so today I decided that I was going to go in and arrange all the furniture the way I wanted it for August and take pictures that way when the custodians move everything to clean the carpets and wax the floors I will have pictures of exactly how I want to set up my room and I won't be in a panic have a heart attack worry as much when trying to figure it all out again. I am SO glad I went in today and I feel like I really got a LOT accomplished (even though it will all be moved into the center of the room in just a couple weeks LOL) I don't have a large room so I had to make the best use of my space so I got rid of the rectangle table that was beside my desk and pushed my desk up flush against the wall. This opened up a TON of space. Then I started really thinking about the tables in my room. I have had a total of 4 flower shaped tables that each seat 6 kiddos. I asked the custodian to remove one of those tables and it was perfect! I still have seating for 18 students and if for some crazy reason I go over 18 (which is not likely in my state due to class size laws) then I still have a small round table I can use as well. I am SO please with how the room looks and I am super excited to have it all figured out so now I can enjoy the rest of my summer without worry. I can focus on fun stuff like DIY's for my new classroom theme of Bright and Colorful primary colors!  Oh I also found out today that they are having ESE summer school at my school and my classroom will be used by an ESE pre-K class beginning tomorrow so that will force allow me to not work in my classroom all summer and enjoy a much needed summer break. I won't be able to get back into my classroom to work until early August which is perfect timing. Although they did say that if I have things I need to drop off I can come by after 2:00 to drop off stuff so I can still shop and make stuff YAY!

Here are a few before and after pictures from my classroom.

 This was my desk area yesterday - you see that their is a table next to the desk with the computer and printer on it, I removed that table, pushed the desk against the wall instead of having it sticking out into the room, and I put the computer on my desk and the printer on a student desk next to my desk. and below is the new picture of my desk area 

 My desk area when I left today! I think it looks much better!

 This was my view from the door yesterday, with 4 big flower tables and (you can't see it in the picture) a round table for small group.

This is the view from the door today 3 tables nicely spaced :-)

A view of one of my books shelves and the kitchen area from yesterday

My books shelf and puzzle cabinet - looks a little plain right now but with a cute bulletin board and some decorations around them they will be super cute! 

 My teaching area! My friend's mom is going to make me a primary colored chair cushion for my rocking chair!

 Side view of my teaching area and my printer

 My theme books will go in this bookshelf and then behind it is my listening center

 My listening center - I am looking for 2 bright yellow and 2 bright blue tie on chair cushions for my crates so I can make primary colored crate seats for my listening center

 Bookshelf and kitchen center today

Kitchen center