Summer, Summer, Summer {It's Not Over Yet!}

{1} Watermelon Watercolor
(A summer or back to school art activity for ages 5 and up)

I found this awesome idea HERE, on the art blog Splish Splash Splatter.  Rebecca did it with second graders, so I needed to modify it for kindergarten.  I still wanted to incorporate the idea of overlapping, but using just four watermelon slices simplified things a lot for my kinders. 

We did the pencil drawing as a whole class, then in small groups we identified which lines to erase. 
 

I let them choose their background color and after the paintings dried, we went over the pencil markings with black felt tip markers.

{2} My Summer Project

Sidewalk Salvage - Popsicle Chairs

"After"

Before (sort of)    

So...I actually forgot to take the before pictures, so this is my closest approximation of the gray paint that was on all 4 chairs.  It was not a nice galvanizing or pretty color.  Think file cabinet greenish gray:)  But the chairs were not only in great shape, but free!

Gotta love sand paper and spray paint!

{3} Summer Travels
 While visiting family in Reno, I discovered this super fun shop.

http://www.junkeeclothingexchange.com/

{4} Summer Teacher Leadership Training 
The Marshmallow Challenge
(an activity for all ages)

As a member of my school leadership team, I attended a two day conference focusing on Common Core and 21st Century Learning.  My favorite part was the Marshmallow Challenge. It's something that can be used across all grade levels to emphasize the 4 Cs, especially collaboration. Watch the video and you will be so surprised at what age group rules this competition!  This is our winning structure:) 

{5} 10 Favorite Teacher Discounts
Do you love getting teacher discounts as much as I do?  I've created a list of my favorites. 

BLAST OFF BACK TO SCHOOL SALE!

Monday and Tuesday only, 
my CVC Record Sheets are 20% off!

 

Check out other sales at TpT as well!

Use Promo Code BTS14 .

Back to School Sales!!!

Back to school sales on 
Monday and Tuesday!  
Check out all of these awesome stores!

Vegas Baby!

Linking up in Vegas with Doodle Bugs Teaching

#1 Beyond excited to meet the man himself, Paul Edleman, today at the awesome and inspiring TpT Seller's Conference...

#2  ...and there's my lime, woo-hoo!...

#3    ...my lunchtime view...

#4    ...my post happy hour view :)

It was so nice to meet many teachers from around the world at the first ever TpT conference.  The workshops were informative and inspiring!

#5  In Vegas style, now it's on to the next party,  
linky party that is.

Five for Friday/***4th of July***

*****!!!Happy Fourth of July!!!*****

Link up time with Doodle Bugs Teaching

{1}  Easy Independence Day Refreshments

I'm dreaming of making something fresh and light today.  These are some ideas I found on Pinterest:

{2}  Summer Chalkboard Art
I've had this vintage chalkboard since I was a child...a very, very long time ago.  Who would have known that I would enjoy playing with it decades later!

{...and bare feet too!}

{3}   Paddle Boarding

A colleague and I went out for a little paddle boarding early yesterday morning.  I cherished the time and it was beautiful out.

{4}   Thrift Store Crafting

Summer gives me more time to hunt the thrift stores for vintage plates and candle holders. With a little E6000 glue, and a few minutes, I have a special plate for someone special.  At Christmas time I load these with chocolate truffles from Whole Foods, add a few festive touches and wa-lah, I have a pretty gift for my parent volunteers. Here is a tutorial. 

{5}   School Pride

So proud of my school...We are healthy Stingrays!  Click here to find out why.

*******Have a sparkling 4th!*******

Throwback Thursday and an Update

This Throwback Thursday post is from October.  I'm thrilled to update and say that all of the treatments that Delaney had to endure for many months were successful and that she is now CANCER FREE!  She was able to walk in the victory lap at the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life last weekend and there were countless tears of joy.  Little Delaney still has many challenges  ahead of her, 

but . . .

though she be but little, she be fierce

~Shakespeare

                                            TEAM DELANEY

5

A little story to share about a precious little girl...

Many years ago I had a wonderful room mother named Diane.  I became friends with Diane and her family outside of school.  Diane was special not only because she was my room mother and friend, but she had eight sweet, smart, beautiful children, who teachers would fight over to have in their classroom.  One hot summer night, Diane passed away in her sleep of heart failure, at just 43 years of age. Just two weeks later, her husband passed away, of a broken heart they say.   Her eight children were mostly teenagers at that time.  They all wanted to stay together, so they did.  The two oldest children were in their early twenties and were given guardianship.  Janice was one of the two sisters who dedicated her twenties to going to parent-teacher conferences, handling finances, chauffeuring her siblings to sporting events and sleepovers and all of the other obligations involved in being a parent, including ultimately celebrating graduations.  After all of the children became adults, Janice married a local firefighter and they now have three small children of their own.  Delaney, the fierce one they call her, is fighting the battle of her life.  She's fighting brain cancer and thus, Team Delaney has been formed by her dedicated uncle and the community.   Janice and her older sister, Jennifer, helped me make this scarecrow for me about 26 years ago when they were very little.  I thought it would be fitting for him to wear the t-shirt this month.   You can find out more about Delaney and her fight here and here. 

 Victory lap last Saturday!

Now head on over to Second Grade Shenanigan's for more Throwbacks.

CVC Word Building

Today I'm linking up here with  
Sell It Saturday
This fun product contains no text (all pictures) for young students learning how to build CVC words

Whether you teaching summer school or you're preparing for the fall, here's a freebie to try and the complete set for sale
 

The FREEBIE:
Kooky Cookies 

Do you want to keep track of what your students are doing with word work while you are doing the oodles of other things that we all do like working with small groups, one-on-one assessments, student conferencing,  putting out fires, saving the world etc?  Do you want to avoid giving your students massive paperwork and most definitely want to avoid going through it all?  Then let's get this party started!  Here's a freebie for use with magnetic letters and cookie sheets...

...and here's how I use it...

As students make their words, they are rewarded with a stamp on their record sheet. They work independently, then simply carry their cookie sheet, with the word and record sheet on top, to the person with the stamp. The person might be me, a classroom volunteer, or sometimes even a responsible peer. The student quickly reads the word, points to the picture and receives a stamp.  My average students earn between 3 and 6 stamps in a 15 minute center.  Then the record sheet is saved for the next time that we do the activity.

I purchased my magnetic letter set at Lakeshore (currently on sale) and the cookie sheets on the Dollar Tree website.

  TPT product for sale! 

 

CVC Record Sheets for Building Words on Cookie Sheets and Other Fun Ways.  I have used this in my classroom and my kinders and I absolutely love it.  If you like the freebie that I posted about above, then you will love the complete set.  The activity is the same, but there are three more levels in this product.   I also included record sheets for letter beads and letter tiles and a generic set for making CVC words using whatever other materials you like to use or that can dream up.  I use these throughout the second half of the kindergarten year.  Some students even ask to do them during their free choice time!  It's available for $5 now, right HERE!

  Bead-n-Read

This is the letter bead version included in my product for sale.

I found my lower case beads at Lakeshore.

Tile Style

This is the letter tile version included in my product for sale.

I found my letter tiles and the handy case at Really Good Stuff.  Baby food containers are the perfect size for CVC tile words. Who knew?