Busy Busy Day in my Classroom!

I was so excited to get into my classroom for the first time today that I woke up super early and couldn't fall back to sleep. I can not believe how much I got done today even with a broken toe. I was a little worried when I first got there because all my furniture was pushed to the front of the room and my tables (which are VERY heavy) were all up on their sides. I thought "Oh boy this is gonna be fun" But I guess the ibuprofen I took must have helped because I was able to get all my furniture in place and I was able to even get some of the decorating done too! I am going back tomorrow to try to finish up so I can enjoy the rest of this week.

Here are some pictures from today

Here is what it looked like when I walked in (AGGHHHHH!!)

See my tables were all like this! 

and all the rest of the furniture was all pushed to the front - I was expecting it but it was still a little overwhelming

I got to school at 8:30 and left at 2:15 this is how it looked when I left...

My door - I love it!!

another view of my door and my owl welcome banner

The view from the front door -all my decor is on the tables but at least all the furniture is in the right place now

One of my storage shelves and my puzzle cabinet - and and the bulletin board with the plastic tablecloth from the Dollar Tree! LOVE the ides for this- no paper!!

This is my reading rotation charts - not quite finished needed to laminate the pieces. 

My clip chart

My word wall! 

My group center area and my theme book shelf

My teaching area

Now for my absolute FAVORITE thing I did today!!! I put up my READ PLAY LEARN letters and some sticky wall decors and it came out SOOOOOO cute!!! Although a couple of my letters kept falling. I'm not sure what to use to keep them from falling. Any suggestions??

my reading area - right next to my housekeeping area

I am SO pleased with how this turned out - now if I can only keep the letters from falling off the wall. 

I am going back tomorrow to work some more and will post more pictures then!

Tell Me More Linky and an Ouchie

I am linking up with Amy over at Step into Second Grade for her Tell Me More Linky Party. Its a fun way to just get to know each other outside of our teaching blogs so I am hopping right in. 

First thing I am going to tell you all is that I BROKE MY PINKY TOE AT LAKESHORE!!!! Owwwwieeeeee!!!! Well actually I didn't break it, someone else did :-( I was walking around the back of the laminator to reset the the little umber do-dad thingy and someone had let their kid push their shopping cart and when I turned back around to go back in front of the laminator he ran right into my little pinky toe! It is al swollen and black and blue and it hurts really bad (I will spare you a picture of it LOL but you can still feel sorry for me) I bet my hubby hopes this makes me leery to go back into Lakeshore for a while, but I have a feeling it will have no ill effects on my affection for Lakeshore. 

Next, I have an AWESOME family!! My hubby and I have been married for 20 years and he totally completes me. He has made all my dreams come true. We have 3 great kids!! Our daughter, Ashley, is 24 years old and she is a brand new kindergarten teacher! Our sons are Bobby (almost 22) and Garrett (19). Bobby is going to be entering the police academy in January (scared to death but super proud), and Garrett is working towards his GED and plans to enter our local community college as soon as he can, he wants to major in art and become a tattoo artist (my rebel child but he's all mine and I love him bunches!) My sweet daddy is also a major part of my family. He lives in a nursing home nearby and he is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's Disease. I try to go see him as often as I can but it is really difficult to see him like this. The picture below was taken last Christmas. He was starting to go down hill at that point. 

Me and my honey in the back, Bobby, Ashley, my Daddy, and Garrett on the couch

I have 2 brothers and a sister. My sister and I are very close even though she is 14 years older than me. Our mom passed away when I was only 23 years old and my sister stepped in to be the mom figure I needed. 

My sister and I

Let's see, what else.... Oh yeah!! My husband and I went on Weight Watchers in March of 2011 and I lost a total of 35 pounds and my husband lost 110 pounds!!! On August 30th it will be my 1 year anniversary of maintaining my weight loss!

Left picture was taken in June of 2009 and the picture on the right was September 2011

You can probably tell in the "after" picture above that I am a huge UCF football fan! I graduated from UCF and so did my daughter. I LOVE going to the games and cheering on my school!

I LOVE to shop! My favorite things to shop for are clothes and purses. I am not a big shoe person although I do own quite a few pair. I love me some Ross, TJ Maxx, and Dress Barn. Oh and I love Coach and Dooney & Bourke bags, but I also like just cute and fun purses too. 

Well that's all I can think of right now with this painful throbbing in my toe, so I think I will be done for now and start googling what I can do for a broken toe. Let me just say, one more time, owwwwwiiiieeeee :-( 

Breaking the rules!! Pay attention Kindergarten teachers!

I warned y'all it was coming and here it is, my 2nd post in for the day - please don't tell the bloggy police on me, I just went over 100 followers and would hate to get in bloggy trouble :-) I just HAD to post and I promise it will be short and sweet! I just finished and uploaded my Kindergarten friendly Common Core standards written in the "I can..." Marzano learning goal format. I am going to use these in my classroom with my Marzano learning goal scale (I blogged about it briefly just the other day - you can check out that post HERE)

Soooo anywho, I have been searching and searching and searching for Marzano/Common Core combos and found some really great things created by some really great teachers, but they were mostly created my teachers of upper grades and they were just not written in a kindergarten type of language.

So I decided to undertake the task myself. I had already made my learning goal scale  thought that I would create the Common Core Learning goals to match my scale. That way I can hang my scale in my classroom and then I can put the current learning goals up around the scale. I am thinking I will put this on my white board so I can just use magnetic tape on the back of the cards and that way they can just stick up and I can take them down when we move on to a new goal(s).

I can't get in my room until Tuesday so I can't take actual pictures of the scale in use, but I will as soon as I can. For now here are a couple pictures of what the cards look like.

That is just a few of them! I can't wait to print them out, laminate them and get them up on my wall. If you are interested in getting a set for yourself head on over to my TPT store - You can buy just the scale, just the cards, OR you can get the scale and the cards in a bundle. Here are the links

Just the scale     http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Primary-level-Marzano-Scale

Just the cards    http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/KINDERGARTEN-Common-Core-I-Can-Marzano-Learning-Goals

The bundle with the scale and the cards  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/KINDERGARTEN-Marzano-Scale-and-Common-Core-Learning-Goals-Bundle

BEFORE YOU READ THIS NEXT PART REMEMBER THAT THE COMMON CORE LEARNING GOAL CARDS ARE ONLY FOR THE KINDERGARTEN STANDARDS, THE SCALE CAN BE USED IN ANY PRIMARY/ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM

OK if you have read this far and if you saw my post earlier (when I warned y'all about my double posting today) then you saw that I made a little mention of a flash giveaway. So here it is!! I am going to give away my scale bundle, just the scale, or just the cards (your choice) to the first 10 people to comment on this blog post! Make sure you tell me in your comment if you want the bundle, just the scale, or just the cards AND your email address. Ready... Set... COMMENT!!! :-)

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner! Woo Hoo!

OK first off I gotta say I am SO totally PSYCHED to see that I now have 102 followers!! As my sweet daddy says when he is excited "YEE HAW!"

I want to congratulate Pam K! She is my 80 Follower Giveaway winner! Pam check your email!!

Thanks to everyone who entered and welcome to all my new followers!! My next giveaway will take place when I reach 150 followers and I will be looking for help from some of my fellow bloggers so if you would be interested in helping me out when I reach the big 150 send me an email at mrsforeman4@gmail.com!

Finally keep your eyes open I just might break the rules and post twice today  (I know, its terrible but I don't do it very often and I think you might forgive me when you see the 2nd post LOL). You see, I have been working on creating Marzano style and Kindergarten friendly I Can... statement posters to go with the Kindergarten Common Core Standards. I am making them to match my Marzano scale that I made as well - you can see that post HERE or you can see it in my TPT store HERE. I will be posting them as just the pack of I Can statements and I will be doing a bundle of the I Can statements and the scale together. Keep your eyes open be because there just might be a flash giveaway in the making! (if not today then certainly tomorrow)

Someone stop this train I want to get off!!!

It has been a crazy couple days. Yesterday I spent the day working on school stuff like ALL day long, took pictures and had every intention of posting a blog post after dinner. Well, apparently my sweet daddy had other plans. Right as I was setting the table for dinner I get a phone call from his nursing home, they tell me that my dad was found unresponsive, they did a sternum stimulation to revive him which it did, but  not by much, he was still pretty out of it and unresponsive so they called 911. Thankfully the hospital is directly across the street from his nursing home. When I got to him at the ER, my sweet daddy was so confused, he has advanced Alzheimer's disease and dementia. He doesn't know who I am but he knows that I "belong" to him, when I got to his side I took hold of his hand and he held my hand and he said "don't leave, stay here with me." I told him I wasn't going anywhere I would be with him the whole time, he pointed at my husband and said "you too!" WHen he started joking we knew he would be ok. The doctors ran a series of tests and determined that my dad had another mini stroke, this makes 4 since March. There is nothing they can do about them since they are caused by a fluid build up on the brain and the fluid build up is caused by the Alzheimer's. So after 6 hours in the ER they sent him back to his nursing home and once he was resettled I was finally able to go home and sleep. Then this morning at 5am I woke up and could barely move. My back, shoulders, and neck were SO sore, can you guess where I carry my tension/stress???? So at 5am I took a muscle relaxer and fell back to sleep until almost 10:00am LOL Then around noon I started getting this strange pain in my stomach. It has lasted all day long, hubby wants to take me to the ER but I don't think its that bad. If its still hurting tomorrow I'll go to the doctor.

Somehow in the mess that has been my life for the last 24 hours I was able to actually get some stuff done for my classroom. OH yeah I almost forgot! I received an email from my new principal yesterday asking me to be part of a Common Core/Marzano planning team for my new school. I felt so honored, I am BRAND NEW to this school and have been asked to be part of this team! She said she could tell by the communications we had over the summer that I was a teacher leader and she wanted me to be part of this planning team. I felt so valued! A feeling that has been long missing from my teaching career. I am so thankful and so blessed to have received the opportunity to move to this school!

OK On to the good stuff. Now yesterday and today I spent a lot of time working on stuff for my classroom. I made my Retelling Rope that I found on Pinterest, I made my students' Common Core assessment folders, I made my job chart, and I was able to buy a few little things for my classroom as well. Check out my goodies!!

First up is my Retelling Rope, I gotta say this was SO easy to make and it is by far one of my favorite things I have made!!! Thanks to Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives for the great idea!!

How stinkin' cute is this?????

This is the whole thing, I did it on a 3/4 yard piece of wavy black ribbon. I looped the top over itself and used hot glue to make it into a loop for me to hold and to hang it on a hook in my read aloud area.

This is the castle at the top for "setting"

The bee is for the character(s) and the boot is for the "kick off" of the story

Next comes my 3 little fuzzy balls, for 3 main details or beginning, middle, and end

Finally at the the bottom is a bow for what ties it all together at the end
like the solution to the problem

That's my retelling rope! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! Not sure why I like it so much its so simple but I just do! I am SUCH a teacher geek LOL

OK on to my assessment folders. I have been trying to wrap my head around this beast that is Common Core and I am a very data driven teacher. I am constantly assessing my kinders (I just love to see the growth). Now I have my data notebook (with the super cute binder cover I made) that I will keep all their formal assessments in but I wanted a way to keep track of their mastery of Common Core Standards. SO I created an assessment folder (ok actually, I made 18 of them) and I put in them a baseline reading and math assessment that I created for the very beginning of the year just to give me a very quick snapshot of where they are. The reading one has upper and lowercase letters/sounds, and the sight words that go along with our reading program. The math one has number identification, rote counting, and plane shape identification. Nothing fancy just a quick peek at where they are starting. Then I included a Common Core assessment I found on TPT. It has an assessment for each quarter!! It is GREAT!!! I showed it to my principal and she wants me to bring a copy of it to the planning meeting! The best part is its FREE!!!!! Check it out HERE. Here are my assessment folders:

The front of one and the inside of another - nothing fancy schmancy

This is the page I will use for their baseline - I know part of the words are covered by the brads but this is just for me, I made one that is the student view - the letters and words are a little bigger

This is the math baseline that I made - again  know that some of the numbers and part of the square are covered but its the same thing, its only for my view, I also made one of these in a student view

This is the beginning of the first quarter CCSS assessment. I LOVE how this assessment is set up and it is SO easy to use!! Cant wait to share it with the planning team. It would be great if we all used it but if not then I'll just use it as an informal assessment.

OK, I also made a job chart to go with all my owl stuff! I don't call it an owl theme because my room isn't all owls, its still a "Cute" theme LOL I do my job chart a little different than most Kinder teachers. I tried doing the whole everyone-gets-a-job thing but I found that over half the jobs I had were meaningless and were never done so I decided to simplify and I now do 2 teachers helpers each day. I have 2 happy face magnets that I use. I have a chart (this year with owls) that has the kids names on it in alphabetical order (this also helps in the beginning of the year when they are learning how to line up in ABC order for lunch (I call it lunch line order). Anyway on day 1 I start with the first two kiddos on the chart, the top one is the line leader and the 2nd one is the door holder, and then they are also my messengers, paper passers, and anything else that needs to be done, for the day. Then the next morning I move the happy face magnets down ONE place, so the kiddo who was the door holder the day before now gets to be the line leader and they are the "main" helper for the day. So in essence everyone gets 2 days in a row of helping out. It also eliminates the "WHen do I get to be line leader? I never got to be line leader" conversation because, once they learn the system (and they pick it up pretty quickly) they are able to figure out for themselves when they will get to do it. If I have an absent student then I just move that happy face down 1 more, if it happens to be their day to be line leader then they get to catch it the next time around I don't go back. Anyway... here is my helper chart (warning - not my best work and it still needs to be laminated but I still like it)

Ta Da!!!! 

the crooked cut is bugging the daylights out of me but I didn't have my paper cutter at home with me :-( 

Finally, today I was out grocery shopping and I stopped into Wal-Mart to pick up a couple things and I just couldn't stay away from the teacher aisle!! Check out my goodies!

88 cent bulletin board sets!

LOVE the 88 cent stuff!!! Got some metallic hooks that look like bright colored polka dots , 2 super cute notepads, and look at the owl post its!!!! Had to get them!!!

This was NOT in the 88 cent section - I WISH!- but I was looking for blue painters tape and found this in the Home DIY section - they are peel and stick primary colored polka dots!!! I can't wait to get these up on my wall!!!They are going to be SOOOOO cute!!!!

Last but not least - These were at JoAnne's and I just had to have them - they were a little overpriced in my opinion but the teacher heart wants what the teacher  heart wants so I bought them. I will use them in small group for blending activities and I can use them in a pocket chart for a center too!

Finally, I am so excited that I get to start working in my room next week. The custodians will be done with the floors and carpets by Monday so anytime after Monday I can go in and get crackin' on setting up! I am super excited about it and can't wait to post before and after pictures. I can't wait to see how all these things I have been making over the summer will come together to make one super cute and inviting kindergarten classroom. I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left until preplanning begins! Next week Tues. - Thurs. I will be slaving away in my room., the following week I will be working on the planning team, and then the following week I will hopefully be finishing up my room and then I will be going to south Florida to help my baby girl (ok, she's 24 but she will always be my baby girl), set up her very first Kindergarten classroom!!!

Oh one final reminder! Don't forget to enter my giveaway!! Time is running out!! Click HERE to enter!
Have a GREAT weekend!!

Cindy

I feel so loved!

I am so honored that Mrs. Kazanjian, over at The Kinder"garden" Teacher picked me as one of the bloggers she wanted to recognize!! Thank you so much Mrs. K!!!

Look what she gave me!!

I feel so special, especially now that I know what this means!!

This award is named for the German word "Liebster," which translates to "beloved" or "favorite", and is given to a "new, up and coming blogger." 

Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you. 
2. Post the award to your blog.
3. Give the award to at least 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers.
4. Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have been offered this award.


I am giving the award to: 

I am now off to dig out my sewing machine and get started on my other 2 tote bags. I also saw a SUPER cute Retelling Rope I want to make, and I am thinking about trying to go to a 5:30 yoga class. Hmmm wonder if I will get it al down... probably not but anyway getting this award just made my day!

Tuesday DIY and a quest!

Before I begin I want to remind you all about 2 things

My current Linky Party!! Come on over and link up and my 80 follower giveaway!!  (just click on the pictures)

OK, now on to my Tuesday DIY!! I was blog stalking this morning and saw a cute idea about ways to organize listening centers. I saw a super cute idea at Sweet Life of Teaching and was inspired! Its super simple, just print off the tags and hook them onto a tote bag with the book(s), CD(s), and a personal CD player. The students can then just grab a bag, find a spot and listen to reading! Now, since I am not paid during the summer (I know SHOCKER!!!) a so we are on a tight budget over the summer. That being said I really wanted to do this for my listening centers. I decided that I would go to Wal-Mart and just price the tote bags and personal CD players and then when hubby gets paid I might be able to pick up a couple.

I was sad that I couldn't find ANY cute colorful tote bags that would work for what I wanted and as I was leaving the craft section the fabric section caught my eye. So I went over and was looking at the remnants they had on clearance and again that little voice in my head (just like with the cushions for the crates) said "HEY you could totally MAKE some tote bags!!"

Now apparently that little voice in my head forgets that I am NOT a real crafty person. My mom used to sew up a storm and was always trying to teach me but I was just never really interested, why should I lean how to sew, you can buy pillows and clothes and all that other stuff at the store! Boy I wish I would have listened and learned. Anyway, that voice in my head, which I swear is my mom LOL, kept yelling at me that I could totally do this! So I thought "OK well I have a sewing machine and the voice WAS right about the crate cushions, I did make those and they came out SUPER cute, and besides what's a tote bag  except a pillow with one end open and no stuffing, right?? LOL

So I bought some really cute fabric remnants and then I thought "ugghhh tote bags have to have handles, I can't do handles" so I put the material back and was walking out of the isle when, and I SWEAR this happened (all the more reason I think the voice is my mom) my purse bumped a display a spool of large ribbon fell off the shelf, this was super cute ribbon that matched the fabric  remnants perfectly!! I was putting it bad on the shelf, and admiring how cute it was when DING DING DING, I realized I could use the ribbon as the handles!!! So I went back and grabbed the fabric.

I got home, pulled out my sewing machine and I am SO proud of myself because I made 2 pretty darned good tote bags!! They aren't perfect but they are cute and they will do the job! The remnant fabric I bought actually came with a total of 2 pieces of fabric so I can make 2 more bags, I need to go back and get more ribbon though because I only bought enough for 2 bags. I am so proud of myself I can't believe I made 2 tote bags! My mom would be so proud!

Here are some pictures of my accomplishments!

Here they are, I made these!!
I know one is longer than the other but its ok, it gives it character LOL

This is the ribbon handles! LOVE the polka dots! I still can't believe I did this!

This is an up close look at the fabric - I just love the swirls and polka dots!

The other fabric that I am going to use for the other 2 bags is really pretty too (see below) - I think I will get pink or blue ribbon for the handles although the green would be cute too, so would yellow and orange! So many options with this fabric!

So that's my DIY for today! Now for my quest! I am on a quest to find 3 - 4 personal CD players for my classroom that don't cost a fortune! I went to Wal-Mart and Best Buy today and the cheapest one I found was $20!!! Back a few years you could get them for like $5 each!!! I am desperate to find these for less than $10 each! Does anyone know where I could look? I think I am going to check out Big Lots tomorrow but I am not holding out much hope since they never seem to have what I am looking for. I just want the simple little CD player with the headphones.  Any ideas where to look??