Strong Teachers! Super Sale on TPT

Three.Million.Teachers. WOW! I'm so glad that I get to be a part of the teachers that buy from TPT and the teachers that share on TPT. You just never know what will happen when you get a bunch of teachers together. Ladies and Gents, we are a powerful group of people.
To celebrate, I'm joining in with the teachers on TPT who are throwing a sale on Thursday, February 27 and Friday, February 28, 2014.  Use promo code TPT3 and you'll be shopping for items 28% off! My whole store, yes m'am.
I've got my wish list ready and my favorite sellers tagged. Cha ching!
Tomorrow night I'm revealing a new product…come back…But in the mean time, I'd be so honored if you would take a look at a few items I'll have on sale.

To find more great teachers sharing their stuff, visit 

Blog Hoppin!

February Free-For-All starts Friday!

I hope you got to participate in the January Facebook Free-for-all. If you did, you already know how much fun it is to click and grab those freebies. Here's just a little sneaky peeky at some of the great blogs that are giving away goodies. To get a better look at the choices, click the image to head over to The Primary Gal's Facebook page. 

In the hop, I'm offering a sample set of writing prompts from my Super Smart Writing series. 

Here's how I used the pages in my classroom. First, we did a survey to find out everyone's favorite season. In time, I'll work with each group to write about their choice season. Due to the ice/snow days, I've only had time to pull the winter group. Here's one smart kinder's work. (He really did draw pictures…with his white crayon. Cute.) Each group will decorate their trees to match the season they write about.

 Remember, you can hop from February 21st through February 24th! Start here!

GA Blogger Meetup on March 22!

Attention Georgia bloggers. Did you get your invitation?! If you didn't please email me right away.

For more information about the event or to rsvp, CLICK HERE!

To join our Georgia Teaching Bloggers Facebook page, CLICK HERE!

To find out about International Cherry Blossom Festival events, CLICK HERE!

Last week, we met to plan the big event. Special thanks to Diane from GA School Supply and Greg Coleman (Mr. Elementary Math) for your great ideas. We're excited!

Centers on Sunday: Measurement

After winter break, we're aiming to help students learn about measurement. My center tubs are ready to go. Want to peek?

Center #1: I can describe measurable attributes.

Center #2: I can compare objects with the same attribute.

 Center #3: I can describe measurable attributes.

Center #4: I can compare objects with the same attribute.

Center #5: I can describe more than one attribute.

 Center #6: I can say which has more or less of an attribute.

You can find all of these centers here:

Work Smarter = New Blog Design!

We've all heard it said: "Work smarter, not harder." Now don't get me wrong, I love some hard work…and wanting to figure things out for myself has saved money at times. But when it comes to technology, I NEED HELP! Besides, even if I was capable of redesigning my blog, it probably wouldn't be the best use of my time. My precious hours could be better spent on more creative things that I'm actually good at. 

Here's a great article from The Right-Brain Business Plan site. The author says, "If you're trying to do it all yourself, STOP IT!" Focus your energies on the tasks that you are best at; then get help for the rest. 

Enter Kassie Garlock from Designs by Kassie. I told Kassie that this little blog was about to have a one-year anniversary and needed to grow up. She cleaned it up, colored it up and VOILA! Here it is. I was so happy, I sent Kassie a little song. So play it, sing along and if you need a new blog…call Kassie!

If you like the look of her work, please leave her a note in the comments.

I'm in Love with Linking Up!

Yes, I do. I link up. All the time. I love connecting with my teacher friends out there in the big wide world. So today I'm linking up with Molly at Lucky to Be in First.

So many things to love in this here life. Here are my big teaching loves…

The Mitten Tier 2 Vocabulary…and 2 Printables

"I am very jostled in this mitten," said the bear.

So we were challenged by our administration to focus more on Tier 2 vocabulary. Our district even worked with mother nature to provide us with snow-day time to watch the videos. How kind was that?

Just as a reminder, Tier 2 vocabulary words are the words that appear in reading that may not be used in common language but are important to academic rigor. They are not content specific. They may not be discovered by children on their own.

Sometimes it can be a challenge to understand how research and learning strategies look in a kinder classroom. I found some extra help in this article: Strategies for Teaching Vocabulary in Kindergarten.

And here is a look at my "have a go" with college talk and The Mitten. Over the course of several days, we reread parts of the book. As I read the page about each animal, my kids would let me know if they heard a "college" word.

We also acted out the meanings of the words. Here is a darling showing us how to swoop.

If you want some props for this, masks can be found on the Jan Brett site. 

Next each child selected his or her favorite college word. If you want the free printable, click here.

"The bear lumbered to the mitten."

Now on to my other four things for the week. 
#2
Take a look at a survey and graph we made about the seasons.

#3
We started our rocks and soils unit. I put the vocabulary words in a tub of dirt so the kids discover things and animals that can be found in the dirt. They really "dig" this center. Ha.

If you want to see more of this unit, click here:

  

#4

I have a Valentine Freebie for you. I'm going to have my kiddos add adjectives. We'll mount the pages on pretty scrapbooking paper before we give them to our families. Get it free here.

#5

I went to Dollar Tree and bought a class supply of Valentine candy. Then I went back again because the dogs ate half the boxes! We are going to use them to make these books.

That wraps up my Five For Friday! Be sure to check out the other great blogs at Doodle Bugs Teaching.

Get more freebies over at The Primary Gal!