Target Gift Card Giveaway

Who wants to win a $50 Target gift card?

I am joining in with a few of my K-2 friends to just say thanks for following me! This gift card could be yours in a few simple steps:

1. Go to this link and enter the Rafflecopter: http://gvwy.io/nueep4l

2. Like this post.

3. Comment with your grade level.

4. Then help us spread the word!

Good luck!!

Favorite Books For Fall

I am joining my Kinder Friends to share some of our favorite books to read during the Fall. The book I have chosen is not really a themed book but is an amazing title to help continue beginning of the year learning through fall.

The book that I would like to share is called The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak. It is a great way to show your K/1 kiddos how to read a book with expression and to really focus on comprehending the type of character that is talking in a story. It models how as a reader you should adjust your tone and voice to sound like what you think the words would sound like. This story is a very engaging read aloud. When I read it to the students, I stop and pause and model how to actually think about what the words are saying in order to adjust to them. Sometimes I will have them repeat the words after me. Then I challenge the students to go back to their reading spots and try it out with books of their own. It is certainly a text that I use in the fall to get the student's minds prepared for all of the character work that we do at the beginning of the year, but it is also a great book to refer back to through the year. If you are interested in this book,  You can get it here. 

I hope you give this book a try in your classroom this fall. Now hop on over to my friend Cristina at The Primary Besties to find some more great fall titles!

Back To School Giveaway

Here in Florida we are preparing for Hurricane Irma. All of South Florida is in a state of emergency. Several of my family and friends have chosen to evacuate however my husband and I are staying.  We are putting up the hurricane shutters, filling all containers we own with water poured through a filter, stocking up on gas and food, and tying down tree branches.  I hope that all of you will keep my state in your prayers through this weekend and after when clean up begins.  The fact of the matter is that this storm is much, much wider than our state so no matter where you are, you will feel the effects. Stay safe everyone!!!

On to my giveaway.  I am joining my I-Teach K-2 friends to giveaway this awesome blue tooth voice amplifier for your classroom.

All you need to do is:

1. Like this post.

2. Comment with your grade level.

3. Enter the short Rafflecopter at:  http://gvwy.io/nueep4l

4. Help us spread the word.

That's it!! Good luck!!

4 Tips for Surviving the School Year

Hey there! Our school year has started already and we have been busy building our classroom and school community. Here are a few tips that I use with my kiddos each year that I think always help our year go smoothly.
1. Introduce the staff. We have a VERY large Elementary school. (I am talking over 1200 kiddos.) We always have a ton of people who visit the school. These people have to go through a DL scanning process in order to receive a badge stating that they are allowed to be on campus.  Also, all school employees have badges that we are required to wear, but they don't all look the same. Not all schools may have this service (or badges), so my advice to you is to teach the kiddos who the adults are that may be all around them and what their job is.  For example, when you tour your school to show the students how to walk through the lunch line and pick their food, make it a point to introduce the cafeteria staff. As you walk by the clinic, ask the nurses to come out and meet your students. As you walk by the custodial office, pull those awesome people out and have them say hello.  After you have met everyone (don't forget the lovely front office staff) your kiddos will feel much more comfortable saying hello to those staff members that work so hard behind closed doors. The students will also know who to look for when delivering messages to some of those staff members.

2. Teach students to be courteous and respectful.  Our school strives through several lifelong guidelines that we teach every grade level from Pre-K to 5th.  This consistent policy of being trustworthy, being truthful, no put downs, being an active listener, and always doing your personal best helps our school wide community and the classroom community. The students know that all of those things are expected from them in ANY classroom, lunchroom, or playground that they step foot in.  One of the ways that I set up these expectations in my classroom is using this What Are Manners book and poster set.  (Just click the links below the pictures to download.)

The books are interactive asking students to draw non-examples and label manners.

The posters go great with the interactive books as anchor charts or reminders to keep up in the classroom all year.

3. Don't sweat the small stuff.  I have a tendency to get worked up over things that I want to be perfect. For example, my printer ran out of ink and the school doesn't let us do color copies, so my awesome, colorful labels for all the reading, math, science, and communication folders won't print. (It happens EVERY.YEAR!) But sometimes I need to think do those sweet faces really care if their journals all match or is it just my type A, OCD mind??? You got it, it's me!  In the great words of Princess Elsa, "Let it go, let it go!" Those precious little humans just want a loving, kind, fun teacher!!!

4.  Watch for sales!! (TPT has some pretty awsome back to school sales!) I don't know about you, but I am constantly buying things for my classroom. In fact it is so bad that when my family is out shopping, I ask my children to tell me (force me really) to put it back.  I have also begun this habit of picking up extra snacks, or folders, or supplies (or whatever really) if it is BOGO. As teachers we put our hearts and souls in to our classrooms and our students but it should not be breaking the bank.

I hope these few little tips can help you start out and continue to have a great year!

Teacher Appreciation Freebie

TpT is having their site wide Teacher Appreciation sale! Everything in my store will be 20% off. Just click here to browse my store and then enter THANKYOU17 at checkout.

ANNNNDDDDD, Just because I love all teachers, here is a FREEBIE for you: 

It is a fun way to teach your students about comparing and contrasting stories using the The Three Little Pigs!

Just click HERE for your freebie. Enjoy and thanks for all you do for your students!

Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your friends and family.

To help celebrate this wonderful holiday, I am teaming up with some I-teach K-2 friends to offer this AMAZING opportunity. You can win a $100.00 gift card to Amazon! All you have to do is follow this link to the Rafflecopter and enter to win! http://gvwy.io/nueep4l

Good Luck!!

"Eggstra" Special Giveaway

How many of you would love to win some "Eggstra" special Easter or Spring themed products? All you have to do is enter the rafflecopter below for your chance to win this amazing pack of products for your classroom.

One of the products you could win is my "You've Been E.G.G.ed" Classroom Kindness Writing Activity and Egg Hunt.

It is SO much fun! Your students will love this activity. One piece of the product is the Egg Hunt (with a twist). First you pick a classroom that you want to surprise. Then you ask your students to write a sweet message to another student (one they may or may not know) using the Egg writing paper included. Then fold the message up and place it inside a plastic egg.  Now you wait for the other classroom to leave. (This is our FAVORITE part!) After they are out of their classroom, you and your class sneak in and hide the plastic eggs that each contain one of the sweet messages for your students. Finally, you tape the "You've Been E.G.G.ed" sign on the front of their classroom door and head back to your own classroom.  The best part is that the students are spreading cheer and not expecting anything in return.

Want to have this fun activity and many others?? Enter to win here: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spring is here!

Spring is finally here which means that we get to learn outside more often.  

I don't know about you, but I love taking my students outside to enjoy fresh air as much as possible. We learn about animals, trees, plants, and life around us.  We enjoy many nature walks around the school grounds. During our walks we like to play learning games. One of the fun games is called inside/outside circles. Your class is sure to LOVE this.  You can play it with any subject or topic.

How do you play??
First, create two circles with your class that have the same amount of students in each circle. (One circle should be around the other one.) The inside circle of students should be facing outwards and the students that make up the outside circle should be facing towards the inside circle students. Once you have your circles created, you choose a topic. For example, you could say "Living and nonliving things". Then the students on the inside circle have to come up with a problem and they ask the student that is facing them their question.  For example, the inside person could say "cotton". Then the student on the outside circle must answer the question. (The answer here would be Nonliving.) The Inside student then provides feedback to their partner by either praising or coaching them. Finally, the inside circle stays still and the outside circle rotates one person to the left. Now they are facing new partners and can come up with another question or ask the same one.  Play continues around the circle until the students get back to where they started.
Tip: Carry white boards and expo markers with you and the students can write their problems and answers.

Want a FREEBIE?
I want to encourage you to take your kiddos on these super fun nature walks. Click here for a Free Nature Scavenger hunt.

Enjoy and don't forget to check TpT for some great Spring savings. Just search #kinderfriends for some great deals!

Now hop on over to my friend Elaine for some more great Spring ideas!

Target Gift Card Giveaway

I am joining a few of my I Teach K-2 pals in a Target gift card giveaway.  You can win $100!!!

Everyone could use a little extra spending cash. Use it for your classroom, treat yourself to something special, or both!
To enter this giveaway, follow this link: http://gvwy.io/nueep4l
Good luck my friends!

Celebrating 2,000 with Brinca into Bilingual (Mrs.Nicolau)!

This week, I am celebrating with Mrs. Nicolau on reaching one of her goals (2,000 followers)! Several of us are helping her celebrate with TONS of Giveaways and prizes!! 

Read below for your chance to enter and win big!!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

ALL GIVEAWAYS WILL RUN FROM SATURDAY 18TH (6AM CT) UNTIL TUESDAY 21ST (12AM CT)


Mrs. Nicolau is giving away TWO RAE DUNN MUGS!
These cute mugs are very hard to find (depending where you live) and everyone is going CRAZY for these!

Let's giveaway a gift card!! Enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a $25 TPT Giftcard! Remember the more entries you have, the more changes you have to win!!!








Who does not LOVE TARGET?! We ALL do!!  So let's do a giveaway for a $25 Target giftcard!






Since we are going crazy with prices, why don't we get even crazier?!... Let's also celebrate with a $21.00 gift card from the AMAZING Melonheadz!

Last, but definitely not least! I have many blog friends that have joined me to celebrate this amazing event! They have all joined me to giveaway bundles by grades!!!

The first bundle is for our Bilingual K-1 teachers!

Next is the 2-3 Bilingual Bundle!

Last is our K-2 Grades Bundle in English!

Are you excited enough?! We sure hope so! Stop by Mrs. Nicolau's blog to enter on all these great prizes!!!

While you are there, drop a note to her. She LOVES hearing from her readers! :)

Click on Brinca into Bilingual

Share The Love Hop

Valentine's Day is a day of showing you care and love for those special people in your life. This is actually something I try to do every day. However, I do get busy and sometimes forget to be grateful for what I have and show those certain people in my life how much they mean to me.  I am joining a few friends of mine this week in an effort to share how we "Share The Love" to some of our favorite charities, organizations, and families in need.  

We are ALL going to donate 10% of our earnings from February 10th - February 14th to the charities and families that are close to our hearts.  It is our wish that you may Hop through and feel it in your heart to donate something to one or even all of these charities and families.

My choice for the "Share The Love Hop" is a sweet little girl named Miaya. 

Miaya is a beautiful three year old little girl. In late January 2016 she came down with an upper respiratory infection that would not seem to go away with the antibiotics prescribed by her doctor. She was on her second course of antibiotics when she spiked a fever and started complaining about leg pain. She was taken to All Children's Emergency Center on February 21st and she was admitted for further testing. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on February 25, 2016.The diagnosis came as a complete shock to everyone as Miaya had been an extremely healthy child up until this point.

The day after her diagnosis Miaya was taken into surgery, to have a port put in, and they started chemotherapy later in the day. She will continue chemotherapytreatment until May of 2018. As you can imagine the medical bills the family are faced with are immeasurable. Miaya is the grandaughter of a fellow teacher and very dear friend to me. She had to take a leave of absence from her teaching position to give Miaya the care she needs. I am hoping through all of our love and support we will be able to help ease the impact of what is to come. I am asking all of you reading this, if you can spare even $1, every penny helps. You can donate with me to Miaya on her GoFund Me page: Miraculous Miaya.

In order to say thank you for Sharing The Love and donating with us, you can get a freebie at each stop.  My FREEBIE is a writing activity that encourages spreading love around the classroom and school while working on letter writing skills. It is a 10 page writing activity.

You can get it at my TpT store or by clicking Love Letters

In addition to this freebie, I will choose 2 people who answer the question below on this "share the love" blog post to pick an item from my store for free. I will randomly pick 2 winners on February 15th.  Here's the question:

How do you encourage your students to "Share The Love" with the world around them?

**Don't forget to leave your email address along with your comment below so I can contact you if you win!

Continue Sharing The Love (with one of my teaching Besties) Cristina of  McCrone Love at The Primary Besties!

Stories For Their/Your Soul

This week I am joining my Kinder Friends to share about stories that we think are good for your soul.

I love reading. It is my favorite subject. I had a very hard time deciding on just one book that I love, so I am sharing 2.

1. A book for your teacher soul:

I have to tell you about this book that I read, researched, and continue to go back to while I am planning for differentiation in my classroom. It is UHHH-Mazing. It is called The Common Core Companion. This book goes through EVERY K-2 Informational and Literature Reading, Writing, and Listening/Speaking standard. It will take one standard then show you the K level of it, the first grade level of it, and the second grade level of the standard. Then it will give you examples of what the student could be doing, questions to ask, and examples of how to expand or remediate EACH standard. The Common Core Companion is a wonderful tool that can ease your soul when planning for whole group, small group, or individual lessons. I highly recommend you get it and use it! You can get it on Amazon for about $28.00

2. A story for the Classroom Soul:

One of my ALL time favorite stories to read is called A Frog Thing by Eric Drachman.  This story is about a little frog named Frank. Frank is determined to fly. But flying is NOT a frog thing!  Frank sets his mind to it even though others laugh at him and tell him he can’t.  This story is so much fun to read with the students in your class.  It teaches so many great lessons and will really warm the kiddo’s souls. The students learn (above everything else) that if you just be you and try, anything is possible. If you don’t have the book but would love to try it, you can get it on Amazon here OR watch and listen to it on You Tube here.

After using this text with your class you can always connect it to Science by learning all about frogs and their life cycle.  I use this Frogs Can Grow Too life cycle reader and activity set to work with my kiddos.  

This product will be for sale in my store until January 22, 2017. You can get it by clicking the link above or by searching #kinderfriendswinter on TPT.

Your next stop is my good pal Elaine over at Kitty Kitty Kindergarten.

She has a fabulous and uplifting story about empowering a class to share with you!