Well, we have a winner kids! The winner is Cheryl Saoud and one lucky friend! 

I wish I had more certificates. If people realized how conferences help re-energize our love for teaching, they would make SURE we could attend these conferences EVERY year. They want us to bring up the standard of teaching? Well, FEED US!

There is a book for administrators that has the best title ~ 
If You Don't Feed the Teachers, They Eat the Students.

Congratulations to you Cheryl! Be sure to stop by and say hi when you are in Las Vegas!

Today, we were working on some of our fun Earth Day activities and we weren't getting anything done. So, I decided to pull out the old 'Quiet Game' to move things along. Now, I know what you are thinking . . . "That only works for a short time." Well, this is how it went. 

We played by table. I have 4 tables so if someone talks at that table, they are out of the game. The winning table won 3 points ({Dojo} of course), 2nd place won 2 points, and 3rd place won 1 point. Last place didn't get any points. Now-if their table had gotten out and a child decided to talk, they lost their own {Dojo} point. You could have heard a pin drop in there! Presto! We finished our neato-keeno {Earth Day flip books} by {Anna at Simply Skilled in Second} and were ready to get our 'learn' on! Be sure to Check out Anna's other awesome flip books and enter her giveaway too!

{Ashley at Just Reed} is also have a FANTASTIC giveaway. It is like Oprah's favorite things, but all the prizes are Ashley's favorite things. She has 29 teaching resources you can win . . . some she created, and some from other awesome TpT sellers. Oh, and did I say that one of those awesome sellers is me? You can win my {Reading Record and Response Packet}as well as the other goodies! Hurry and {enter now} for your chance to win!

Do you see anyone you know on here? {Debbie Clement} and {Deanna Jump}? Well . . . It gets better than that! {Kathleen Pedersen}, {Deedee Wills}, and{Kim Adsit} are also presenting! Wow, right? Oh, and {Ron Clark} too!!

I'm just a small fish, but I have the opportunity of presenting at an itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, little workshop. I know what you are thinking . . . why is SHE presenting at a kindergarten conference?

Did you know that my very first job was in kindergarten? I taught the little guys for 8 years back in the 'morning/afternoon' class days. I want to share some of my ideas with you . . . and I think they are sorta cool. As a matter of fact, I still use many of these ideas in my 2nd grade classroom. Organization of stations is never an easy task, but I finally think I have it down to a science! (Yeah, and now I'm heading into retirement!)

I have my kids doing book clubs this week and I thought I'd show you how I keep the kids organized. 

I went to the Dollar Tree a few years ago to get some clipboards to use in my class. Of course, I couldn't just use plain brown clipboards. I used some of the millions of scrapbook stickers I have left over from one of my summer projects, and decorated the backs of the clipboards. Then I painted over them with Modge Podge. I digress . . . My kids choose one of the boards and put their book club forms and books on them.

The clipboards also have a ring of 'THICK' questions on them. This allows the kids to quickly refer to them when asking questions during their meetings.

If you are using book clubs in your room, this might be the answer to some of organizational nightmares you might be having! If you aren't running book clubs yet, check them out. This {packet} can get you up and running in no time!    




Only a few more hours to enter the pencil sharpener giveaway! Be sure to enter {here}!





                            

It's time for the giveaway! Are you ready to win one for your classroom? I'm sure loving mine! I sat down to sharpen about 50 pencils today and it only took me 5 minutes! I know I had to crank the handle, but it is so easy to turn that it didn't seem like I was even sharpening them! They are so sharp too! Click {here} to check them out. You even get your choice of color!

NOTE: If you already bought this pack from me, please go back to your purchases and re-download the pack so you will get everything!

I LOVE these paint sticks (aka paint stirrers/paint paddles) that I saw on Pinterest and that Ronda from the {Hands On Bible Teacher} blog created. As I was reading her blog, I noticed that she had gotten her idea from Pinterest as well. Don't you just LOVE Pinterest?

From this awesome idea, I decided to create some word work activities using these awesome . . . and inexpensive . . . or free, paint sticks! 


 I have included 290 pictures for the letter sounds A-Z (well, I didn't put x in because the sound is just weird!) 

I added words to the pictures, but also added a set of 290 without the words.


I feel like it is good for the kids to see the words at the same time as the picture. You never know when they are going to pick up on reading you know!

I added 4 different alphabets so you can choose the type that fit your style.
There are worksheets that you can use with dry erase pouches at your station and there are worksheets that the kids can write on with a pencil or crayon.








I even added assessment worksheets for you to check up on your little cherubs! Oh, and I included answer sheets as well!



If you would like to check the pack out in greater detail and get a free worksheet too, just click {here} and scoop it up!

I've gone round and round with some of my friends about pencil sharpeners. I know that seems like a weird thing to get riled about, but that's me. I tried to explain the differences between hand and electric sharpeners and they just didn't get it. 

Then, I received my {'Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener'} and they couldn't believe how easy it was to sharpen a pencil and how SUPER SHARP the pencil was! We even tried some of the 'cute' pencils in the sharpener. You know the kind . . . they have the cutest pictures on them and they NEVER sharpen!