Gratitude Giveaway

I really have enjoyed my recent electronic journey into the land of teaching blogs, TPT, and FB.  I have been able to connect with other educators all over the country (and the world!)  It has opened up all sorts of new ideas, given me perspective, and allowed me to think, learn, and collaborate in the most amazing ways.

And I am just so grateful for anyone who decides to read anything I've posted or buy one of my TPT products!

 I want to say  thank you to 236 blog followers, 200,000+ blog views, 180 TPT followers, 630 FB likes, and 16,000+ Pinterest followers by doing a quick little giveaway on my FB page.

(I do hope to do something on a grander scale this summer:)

You can enter to win any 3 items from my store and I'll pick 2 winners next week on May 24th.
Just go to my FB page and click on the Giveaway tab at the top:)

Thanks for stopping by!!



The button is made with graphics from:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Fun-For-Learning
www.theschoolsupplyaddict.com

Teacher Appreciation Freebies Roundup

Teacher Appreciation Week may be coming to an end, but the celebration isn't over yet!  Teaching Blog Roundup is teaming up with 20 of the best blogs to host this Teacher Appreciation FREEBIES Roundup blog hop.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  I would like to show my appreciation with this great freebie for you.

Click Here for the FREEBIE:)

I'm glad you hopped by!  If you are new to my blog and liked what you see, don't forget to follow me!  Now head over to Fantastic First Grade Froggies to roundup the next FREEBIE!

We Appreciate You!

Calming the Chaos

Welcome to the 
Calming the Chaos Blog Hop 
by 2peasandadog!

We have come together to share our top tips for
making the last month of school run smoothly.

Visit each of our blogs to learn something
new and catch a freebie or two!

Happy Hopping!

So how do we keep those wiggly little critters, riddled with spring fever, from jumping out of their skin?
Let 'em wiggle and giggle!

I have been taking my class outside for a lesson or two a day so they can move around while they work and a little noise isn't going to hurt anything either:)

Today we took two colored counters and a box of sidewalk chalk outside to practice making ten.  We drew a large ladybug on the sidewalk.  We placed ten 2 color counters in a small cup and spilled them out on the ladybug. The kids separated the colors on each side of the ladybug and recorded the combination.

If going outside for math won't work for you, 

grab this free indoor version HERE!

Primary Grades

Check out this Great Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Free Comic Book Day!

We all know how important it is to place varied types of reading material in our classroom libraries, so why not add a few comic books?  Especially when they're FREE!

Free Comic Book Day is on the first Saturday in May every year at participating comic book stores across America and Canada.  Various comic book publishers send out stacks of comics to participating comic book stores to give away.  Click on the picture below for more info and to find a participating store in your town.

My boys and I went last year and we had a great time!  The comic book store we went to had Stormtroopers and Jedi knights on hand for photo opportunities.

Two of my boys with a Clone trooper, Mace Windu, and a Stormtrooper

This year we're just embracing our complete geekiness by going to Dave's Comics for our free comics, then off to a local toy emporium to celebrate "May the Fourth Be With You" (another day to honor total geekdom) and finally to top it all off, to the theater to see Iron Man 3!  I can't wait!!

So go grab a few free comic books this Saturday, for your classroom, for your kids, or for yourself!

Place Value Parade

We are trying to move around a little more lately in an effort to keep Spring Fever at bay and we have become very fond of  'scoot' style games.  It is essentially a hands on, movable worksheet:)

Today we had a Place Value Parade.  I filled cups with unifix cubes and placed them around the room on work mats labeled with a letter (numbers cause too much confusion with a math activity.)
The students pour out the cubes on the work mat, sort them into tens and ones, then record the information on the recording sheet.

They had a great time moving around in the 'parade' and we still got all our place value practice done!

If you would like a copy of the recording sheet, it is available on my FB page.  Click the picture to go there:)

Let's Talk About Blogs Linky

This little blog started out as a way for me to escape some of the craziness of my life and reach electronically out into the world.  Not that I don't love the crazy in my life - I do!  

But, teaching in a Title I school with all its special challenges is demanding enough - now throw in 3 boys, a husband, an itty bitty house, and a cat.  Mix in a dose of ADHD, Asperger's, a whole bunch of middle school homework, a couple of toddler tantrums, and a broken toilet.  Now that is nothin' but fabulous!

Life comes at ya fast, baby - duck or catch!

(I also feel I must mention that the last boy is 3 years old and I am 46 years old - yes, do the math.

46 - 3 = I am nuts!)

So blogging is a way for me to connect with other educators out there in cyberland - to keep me thinking, learning, collaborating, and hopefully prevent my brain from imploding:) 

But, since I am still fairly new at this and I have much to learn, when I saw Melissa's post on her blog First Grade Smiles about blogging etiquette and followers' expectations, I decided to jump in. 

 So here goes...

 

I am using The Army Wife Teacher's idea and listing my answers below:)

Why do you choose to follow a certain blog?

I usually am drawn to blogs that have ideas I can put to use in my own classroom.  I like pictures!  I want to see the pic so I can stick it quickly in my brain (or better yet, Pin it!)  I like a little wit and humor, too, but I really am looking for new insight and ideas.

I usually follow blogs that follow me - I figure if they found something on my blog that made them want to follow me, maybe we have something in common and I can find insight on their blog.

 When you leave comments, do you expect a response?

I do not really EXPECT a response, although it is nice.  Sometimes I will check back for a response, and sometimes I will subscribe to the comments so I can either see a response or see what others have to say.

What is your favorite thing about 

reading and following other blogs?

I love new ideas, pictures, humor, freebies, linkys, blog hops, and some giveaways (the super huge ones kind of freak me out:)

What turns you off when reading 

other blogs or comments you receive?

Blogs

• fonts that are difficult to read
• posts that are too wordy with no visual breaks - too hard to read
• too much product promotion
• comment verification (I turned mine to no verification and no anonymous comments - I get ZERO spam!)

Comments

• I really am interested to hear anything anyone has to say when they comment on one of my posts!  I'm flattered that anyone took the time to comment.  
• That said, I don't like it when folks only comment in order to ask me to follow them.
• But, I do love for other bloggers to leave a link to their blog when they comment!

Do you follow any blogs by e-mail?

Only a few and only when I cannot follow through the blogger feed.  I really rely on Facebook  to alert me to new posts.

My question:

Do you use Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, TpT, etc.?

 I use Facebook and Pinterest quite a lot and I love to follow others.  I like to see the links for those pages right at the top of a blog so I can quickly link up.  

Thanks, Melissa for a great linky idea!

And while you're here, I might as well offer you a freebie:) 

Hope you can use it!

~Nikki

A Bunny Blog Hop

A Tisket, A Tasket, Freebies for your Basket!

Several phenomenal teachers and bloggers are joining forces for an amazing bunny blog hop!  As you follow us along the bunny trail, you will visit some of your favorite blogs and discover a few new blogs too!  Each with a fabulous freebie just for you!

Thank you for hopping on over to my blog!

Here's the freebie for your basket!
time to the hour and half hour game and color by code sheet

(It is part of a larger pack available on TpT.
The preview is at the end of the freebie.) 
Just click on the picture!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting!  If you are new to my blog and liked what you see, don't forget to follow me.  A Tisket, A Tasket, next up with a Freebie for your Basket is Faith from Kindergarten Faith.  Hop on over!

Just in case you didn't join us from the beginning, here is an ordered list of all the participating blogs.

Stephany from Primary Possibilities
Sally from Elementary Matters
Lory from Fun for First
Linda from Primary Inspiration
Nicole from Mrs. Rios Teaches Second Grade
Brian from Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings
Liz from The Happy Teacher
Jennie from JD's Rockin' Readers
Sarah from Learning is for Superstars
Teresa from Fun in K/1
Nikki from Teaching in Progress
Faith from Kindergarten Faith
Renee from Fantastic First Grade Froggies
Amy from Happy Teacher Heaven
Leah from Learn with Leah
Nicole from Teaching's a Hoot
Kristy from The Phonic's Phenomenon
Rich from Mr. Giso's Room to Read
Susanna from Whimsy Workshop
Amy from Motivate to Learn
Lola from Preschool Wonders
Kimberli from Mixing the Next Batch