End of the Year Book- Mrs. Spitzer's Garden

I love this story!  My son's kindergarten had a special end-of-the-year program tonight (school end's Thursday at noon).

They had the students narrate the story. The students would take turns reading a sentence. It was very sweet!  I believe they used iMovie with still photographs of each page and the children's voices as narrators. 

I'm headed to school tomorrow with my flash drive to get a copy :)

Sad Day!

My heart is just so sad to hear about Moore, Oklahoma.  It hits close to home...since I live in Kansas.  My heart just breaks for the families whose lives will be forever changed due to this storm!

Linking Up with Doodle Bug & Friday Flash Freebie

 

1.  Field Day.  Today was field day.  I finally earned my way out of the field!!!  I ran the Turtle Scooter Races.  Students would time each other, and try and beat their personal best time.  It was fun because students were not competing against one another! It also stayed cloudy for most of the day, which helped keep it cool!

2.  Cleaning my desk!  That was a gigantic task! All of my binders are organized, and all of my files are cleaned! I'm so excited :)  If only my house was organized like my desk....

3.  Online Research Set
I'm using this set with a tutoring group this summer.  I love teaching students how to conduct online research, so this will come in handy!

4.  New York.  My daughter got a scholarship to a dance academy in New York City.  The bad thing is it is like getting $500 scholarship to Harvard!  I'm super proud of her hard work.  The academy is the same time as one of our vacations, so she isn't upset that she can't go.

5.  Summer Reading List....I cannot wait to read this summer!  First up is Safe Haven.  This book has been on my list for a while!  I'd love to hear about some of the books that you can't wait to read this summer!

Flash Freebie!  Until 8pm CST tonight! Please leave feedback if you liked it :)

Let's Get Acquainted- Linky Party (and then organizing before school is out!)

Linky Questions

1. What made you decide to become a teacher?

2. What has been your most rewarding experience as a teacher?

3. If you were not a teacher, what would you be?

1.  When I was little, I loved playing school with my sister.  When I went to college, I did volunteer work as as a tutor in a juvenile detention center.  I also worked part-time for the Native American department of our local school district as a tutor.  I also have a degree in computer science (I'm kind of a big nerd), but teaching is much, much more fun & rewarding!  It is also much more challenging! 

2. Every day when I watch students make connections with the books they are reading is incredibly rewarding!  I also love it when past students have come back to tell me all about the current books they are reading!  I love that they are excited about reading, and I can tell that they will be life-long readers :)

3.  If I wasn't teaching, I would probably work at a book store!

End-of-the-Year

I'm NOT counting down the days, but today I realized that I need to start cleaning up/organizing, so I can go home.  Sometimes I keep things that I don't need, just because I'm afraid that one day I might need them.  This is not a good habit!!!

Here is my list of things to do:

1.  Go through files and purge anything that hasn't been used this school year.

2.  Go through notebooks and make sure everything is current and purge old papers!

3.  See if there are any resources that I'm not using that another teacher might LOVE :)

4.  Organize the book room!!!

What is on your end-of-the-year "must do" list?

Five For Friday and a Flash Freebie

 

I love linking up with Doodle Bugs!

1. I finally got my flowers  planted :)  We did 15 baskets/pots that are on our porch, by the garage and on the deck!

2. Thursday was Formal Day at school!  It was a BLAST.  I wore a super fancy bridesmaid dress from 2001! That dress has sat in my closet for 12 years, and I finally found a reason to wear it.  I felt like a princess all day :)

3. I'm so excited for Mother's Day!  Usually we go hiking, but instead we are going to my daughter's dance competition.  It should be just as fun!

4.  The lilacs in my yard are in bloom!  They smell so good :)  I love spring.

5. This has been a wonderful week! I'm so blessed to work in a school where so many parents are appreciative of everything teacher's do! All week I've been treated like royalty :) 

This is my flash freebie (Free until 9:30 pm CST)...

Teacher Appreciation Week

This is such a fun week!  I've been spoiled at school with breakfast and lunch everyday from the PTO.  Then everyday, the PTO gives us presents!  Today I received a Sonic giftcard and a Subway giftcard.

Last year, I was able to see some of my former kindergarten students from my first year of teaching graduate from high school!  Besides the fact that I felt old, it made me so proud to be a teacher!

I hope everyone is enjoying their week and is getting SUPER spoiled! 

Yesterday, I was able to stock up on some items on my wishlist with the Teacher's Pay Teacher's extra 10% off discount (TAD13)!   I've been having lots of fun buying new paper, frames and borders!  Don't forget to leave feedback so you can earn credits!  The sale + credits are an AWESOME deal.

Teacher Appreciation Sale and New Sentence Building Set for Writing

I'm super excited about the Teacher Appreciation Sale at Teachers Pay Teachers.   The dates for the sale are May 7th and May 8th.  My store will be 20% off, plus if you enter TAD13 at checkout, you receive an extra 10% off!  I had just starting blogging during the Super Sunday Sale, and kind of was still learning the ropes :)

I've been filling my cart, just waiting for the sale to begin :)

I'm super excited to team up with some awesome bloggers and teachers to promote the sale! You can click on the links below to access their stores!  The graphics are from My Cute Graphics!

I wanted to share my latest set.  I work with the kindergarten teachers quite a bit (that's what I taught before I was a reading interventionist).  I made this writing literacy center to help primary students with sentence writing.  It includes 168 picture cards and word cards to help build sentences.  It also includes a template so words and sentences can be customized. This set can be put in a writing center or in a pocket chart center.   I have found that using envelopes are an easy way to organize this center.  I just glue the word cards that are in the envelope on the outside.  I always find that before putting activities in centers, it helps to practice them first in guided reading.