Soy Una Pizza

I was looking back at a video of my summer camp kids (as well as my awesome fellow teachers' kids) performing a song by Charlotte Diamond and realized that I never posted a sampling of songs that I use with the kids all the time.  Several of them are also new ones that I learned this summer AT summer camp.

This is an oldie, but TREASURE GOODIE.  It's called "Juanito cuando baila."  It's performed by Jose Luis Orozco normally, but the youtube video is by someone else.  The kids LOVE this one and they learn all of their body parts in Spanish.  This version is slower, but just as good.  I think it's a little easier for the little ones to catch on.

This is another Jose Luis Orozco song.  Actually, this video has two:  "Buenos dias" and "Diez deditos".  These are two more classics that the kids really enjoy.  The first one is great for starting off your morning circle time with and "Diez deditos" is a fun way for them to learn their numbers to ten.

Another very popular one with the kiddos by Charlotte Diamond.  Mostly because they know the English version (Slippery Fish) but also because, as much as I don't like having kids songs stuck in my head, this one is catchy.

This is another Charlotte Diamond classic.  It's a repeat after me song, which makes it very easy for the kids to learn it.  And this one is also very catchy.  Not to mention, who doesn't want to sing as loudly as they can?

This one comes from Cepillin, a popular Mexican kids' tv show.  This song is awesome.  The kids love dancing to it and singing along with the different instruments.  It is also very, very catchy.

And lastly, a mom from my summer school program posted this video of the kiddos singing for the parent performances.  They did such a good job.  I am SO proud of them!  My kiddos are in the front two rows.  What cuties.

What songs and interactive media sources do YOU use in your classroom?

Off the Grid

Hi everyone! 

It sure has been a while!  Hubby and I took a much needed vacation for the past week to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary.  Can you believe it?  It has already been a year!  Crazy crazy crazy.  Time sure has flown.  To sum up our adventure, we took a completely unplanned, 1200 mile trek up the coast.  Spontaneity at it's best.  Here's a little picture to give you an idea:

1200 miles, 6 tanks of gas, great music on repeat (Imagine Dragons, Kid Cudi, Mumford and Sons, The Killers, etc) and pit stops and photo ops later, we're back home and doing loads upon loads of laundry, cleaning out coolers, washing camping supplies and putting things away.

Anyways, I just wanted to check in with everyone.  Thank you for still reading my blog even while I was gone!  That's amazing!  Over 1700 views, WOW.

I get the keys to my new classroom this week which means that there will be plenty of posts and pictures to keep you up to date on my newest adventure/endeavor: kinderland!

Stay tuned!

Cheerios

Now I don't know any of these kiddos personally, but this video really touched me in a lot of ways and for many different reasons.

Listen to these little scholars.

For your viewing pleasure.

Sacred Saturday Round 2

For Sacred Saturday this week, hubby and I are planning on going to the beach, maybe try out some paddle-boarding. Neither one of us have ever done this before but we're really curious to see how it works. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out and we spend the afternoon lazing on the beach. They both sound like pretty amazing ideas to me. Who knows, maybe we'll even take a little daycation trip somewhere! Any suggestions?

Favorite Pins Friday

On this week's installment of Favorite Pins Friday (brought to you by The First Grade Parade)

*RULES*

{1} Pin away all week on Pinterest.
{2} Join the linky party and share your favorite pins from the week!
{3} Give credit to the original source (NOT the pinterest pin or pinboard, but the REAL source).

My favorites for this week are:

QUOTABLES

This gem comes from 9gag.  I thought this was solely an issue in my household, but apparently it isn't.  

Please, this movie was amazing.  Who doesn't love Two of a Kind?  You can find this here.

CRAFTING

Yeah yeah, I know it's from my blog, but HOW CUTE it THIS???  I'm such a proud wreath mama.  It's from yesterday's post.

So, I'm not sure where this pin comes from (I think from the Second Grade Super Kids Blog).  How CUTE is this?  And so easy to make!

SCHOOL

I seriously love this door.  This will be my door on the first day of school.  Not sure where this one comes from though.  Here's the link to the google image.

This chair would be perfect in my room.  Too bad it's probably incredibly expensive.  Here's the picture on Flickr.

What are YOUR favorite pins?

A Seussy Afternoon

As a send-off gift this past school year, my wonderful classroom parents all joined forces and purchased an AMAZING Cricut Cake.  With all of the moving, and what not, I haven't had much of a chance to sit down and get crafty.  

Until today.

After a long and expensive efficient trip to Michaels and Target (arguably my two favorite stores in the universe), I was ready to get to it.  I have been wanting to make a Seussified wreath for my school puerta and had found one on Tangled with Teaching that I adore.  I needed balloons (in red, blue, light blue and white), a styrofoam wreath and ribbon.  Oh, and other little doodads for decoration. These included a wooden letter "A" and pretty tagboard paper for my Cricut.  It took a while, but I was happy with my purchases.

The steps:

{1}  Cover the wreath in felt.  I didn't understand why, but now I do.  It's SO much easier to attach the balloons to the felt than it is to the styrofoam.

{2} Cover in balloons.  There are several ways you can do this.  I have seen multiple blogs attach the balloons with pins.  I didn't have pins, and decided to use my hot glue gun.  If you use a hot glue gun, you need to press the balloons down firmly.  I reinforced the hot glue gun with some Tacky glue just to be safe.  The bow was easy enough to put on - just a classic slip knot.

{3} Experiment with the cricut!!  I got to play around with it and ended up creating this beautiful little sign to put on my wreath. I covered my wooden letter "A" with red and white chevron duct tape and VOILA!  Tacky glue it all on to my wreath and here's the finished product:

I love it.  I painted a little chalkboard square on to the bottom of my modge podged sign because I don't actually know my classroom number AND this way I can reuse it!

Throw Back Thursday

Early morning post!

It's time for some Throw Back Thursday material.  I'm linking up with The First Grade Parade to share a little old material that I absolutely love.

Since we'll be going back to school so soon, here's a post from last year about the first week of school and my descubrimientos and creaciones.  I wrote it on August 19, 2012.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Originally posted on August 19, 2012

SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2012

1 week down!

Oh my gosh, I can't believe that the first week of school is already over!  And the best part of it is:  the kiddos are doing fantastically.  I thought it would be more difficult to get the second graders and the first graders feeling like they were on an even playing field with one another and that they are to help each other, not whatever else each other.  But luckily, they have completely proven me wrong!  The second graders are so good with the first graders, and not in a patronizing way either, just in a, "we know how Maestra's class runs, follow us and you'll be fine" sort of way.  It's really cute, and quite endearing.

Ok.  Now the nitty gritty.  I was ridiculously productive today and just feel the need to share with you guys everything that I did!  First off, I finalized my lesson planning pages.  I just made them on word, super easy.  But now I don't know have to pay $10 for a planning book (even though the Dr. Seuss one was SUPER cute.  C'est la vie).  So my morning was spent making DETAILED lesson plans.  It looks a little something like this:

Crazy, huh?  The post-its are on there because they're things I need accomplished right away - they are my priority.  Those things that are not a priority will be stickied below the pink line, and moved up on an as needed basis. 

Then I went on to create my reading logs for their homework packets.  The second grade one looks like this:

Pretty nifty, huh?  I modified one for first grade to fit more first grade standards, but clearly as the year progresses and they need modifying to fit their learning needs, these will change.  If you want a copy of them, message me and we'll see what I can do to help you out.  I haven't figured out how to share documents on blogs from your Google Docs, and frankly, it's almost midnight and I am tired.  But I pinky promise I will look into it and post those as soon as I can!

Next, I made these really cool t-shirts for some of my kids to wear.  When I am running centers, etc. I need to make sure I spend as much time running the center as possible and as little time answers little questions and telling kids to stop sharpening their already razor sharp pencils as possible.  So to help alleviate this stress, I made two neon yellow t-shirts.  I will pick two kids (at first at least) to be my mini-maestras.  The other children not working with me will be required to ask my mini-maestras their question BEFORE bringing it to me. 

They are nice and super bright so that you can't miss them!

Then finally, and this took the longest, I found these bilingual Brain Breaks here.  I printed them, cut them out, colored the letters, glued them on construction paper, cut those out with a little trim, laminated them, cut them out again, colored some Popsicle sticks and finally hot glued the breaks onto the sticks.  For the sake of getting a picture tonight, I put them in one of our mugs:

Super cute!  But you can't really see a clear example of them, so here is an example of each color:

And now this little teacher is very tired and is shocked that her husband hasn't called 5150 on her yet.  Hope everybody has a great night and a relaxing Sunday!

We're halfway there....

Oooooh oooooh!!  Livin' on a prayer!!!

Sorry, I just love that song.

We're halfway there!  It's almost Friday!  This week went by pretty quickly, I must admit.  And I have SO many things to share with you!  I'll try to keep the writing to a bare minimum this time.  Mostly pictures.  :)

Target brought out more goodies!  Check these beauties out!

Hanging Border Storage!  YIPPEE!!!

Border storage has got to be the most annoyingly difficult part of classroom organization.  I saw these and, honestly, didn't care how much they cost.  They're worth it.  Lucky for me, they were only $3.

Dry-Erase Pockets

I'm just too tired of using page protectors.  So I bought enough for small groups.  Let's give them a whirl!

And of course, there was more Dr. Seuss stuff, but all in due time.  More paper cut-outs, borders and brightly colored knick knacks (like little jars and stuff.)  I can't wait to start decorating!

Now, here's the real dilemma.  My new classroom does not have teacher rugs (and in my previous district the carpets were purchased for me).  That being said, I do not own any teacher carpets.  Not that I have a burning desire to own a classroom rug, but it will make certain aspects much easier.  Even if I don't actually purchase it (or create a project through Donor's Choose), I need to decide what carpets I want.  Here is what I'm thinking.

I really, really, REALLY love this rug: 

Find this rug at www.demco.com

Being the paranoid shopper that I am (hard to believe, right?) I'm not sure I want to invest or ask for people to help me invest in a rug that is SO theme specific.  But I ADORE this rug.

Another option that I really like is this one:

Find this rug at www.apluseducationcatalog.com

This one is bilingual!  And it's cute and bright and really, there's not much to NOT love about this rug.  

So here's my dilemma.  Should I get a HUGE Dr. Seuss rug and a small bilingual rug for the reading corner?  Or a HUGE bilingual rug and a small Dr. Seuss rug for the reading corner?    

Any suggestions?  

Happy 1000!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!  My blog now has 1,000 views and counting!  You cannot beging to understand how EXCITING that is for me!  Here's to many thousands more to come this year!

To celebrate my 1,000 views, I did a little classroom shopping at Target.  (Ok, so maybe I did the buying before the 1,000 views but does the order of events really matter?)  Target has started bringing out their Dr. Seuss $1 spot stuff, so I went a little crazy.  Ok, maybe A LOT crazy, but I'm excited about it all.

The LOOT!

Would you believe that they are already almost completely out????  

Here are my three favorite purchases:

Foam Clocks

I plan on using these foam clocks for our daily schedule.  I bought enough to show the kids with a big, Seussy clock what time each part of our day will start.  It will be great!

Socks

Oh my gosh, socks.  These socks were adorable and I thought they would be so much more fun to erase our writing on our whiteboards with than those stinky little mini whiteboard erasers.  I can't wait!

Tablecloth

So, this doesn't come from the dollar section, or from the school stuff.  I found this gem in the backyard aisles.  And isn't it just perfect??  I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet, but I couldn't pass this one up.

What themes will you be using in your classrooms this year?

Target $1 Spot

And so it begins.....

Saturdays Are Priceless

Hi everyone!  I know I have been posting a lot lately, but I keep getting these ideas and wanting to post them.  I don't know, sometimes my idea flow gets a little out of control.

Anyways, I wanted to share with you the idea of Sacred Saturdays.  My friend over at Teach. Pray. Love. Blog. wrote about it this morning and it gave me a great idea: let's turn it into a thing!  You know, like a "everybody who is interested grab the little button thingy that I made for Sacred Saturday and post about Sacred Saturday on Saturday mornings" thing.

So.  Sacred Saturday.  Well, what is it?

If you read my friend's blog (by the way, not only is she a friend, but she was a bridesmaid in my wedding, so she's pretty special to me!) we were told on pretty much day 1 of the credential program that if you don't carve out a few hours on Saturday to just do something completely selfish and for yourself, you might go crazy.  Those hours you carve out were dubbed "Sacred Saturday".  You don't mess with Sacred Saturday.   Messing with Sacred Saturday is worse than messing with a cranky kindergartner, so don't do it.

Some of the things that we would do in the credential program for Sacred Saturday included hiking, going out for coffee with friends, going to a coffee shop to read (for fun!  oh me oh my!), walking around the farmer's market, going to the park, watching a movie, baking, cooking, blogging, etc.  Something that you don't normally get the chance to do during the week, but LOVE being able to do.  The key is it needs to be something that makes you happy, something that is not a chore and something that you do purely for yourself.  And it absolutely CANNOT be school related!  You need a break from school stuff.  As a teacher, you know that you eat, drink, live and breathe school every day of the week for nearly 24 hours a day.

Even on the weekend, we tend to work on school stuff.

So for a few hours on Saturday, stop.  It's hammer time.

So here's the idea, Saturday morning write about what you did for your Sacred Saturday!  Nothing special, nothing big, and not a super long post (unless you're absolutely DYING to dish out all the details).  Just something that can help give the rest of us some neat ideas for next week's Sacred Saturday.

So what did I do this Saturday morning?  I spent the morning with my husband making breakfast.  I don't get to do that during the week and I really miss it M-F.  Breakfast, laze.  That was my Saturday morning.  And it was amazing.

What did YOU do?

BlogLovin

Just needed this to make a Bloglovin' widget.  But now that it's up here, follow me on BlogLovin!

It's so easy to do, there's no reason why you shouldn't!  So click on over, sign up and follow me (as well as all your other favorite blogs.)  The best part: a blog does not need to be a part of BlogLovin' for you to follow them.  So hurry over!

Favorite Pins Friday!

Ok, so I might be new at this blogging thing, but I saw this on The First Grade Parade's blog and decided it was something I wanted to do!

So here's the general idea.  Throughout the week, go pin-crazy on pinterest and then review your favorite pins on Friday.  Easy enough, right?  Just make sure you link your pins back to the original source, not to Pinterest (need to give credit where credit is due!)

#1. This one comes from Apples and ABCs.  I thought this was the CUTEST spin on the first day of school picture!  Rather than hold up the picture frame with "My First Day of Kindergarten" spelled somewhere on the frame, why not hold up a big letter "K" that has been modge-podged with school scrapbook paper?  How adorable is that!

#2 How TRUE is this?? It was posted here on Electric Fairground.  Very well put, Mr. Lincoln.  Very well put.

#3 Back to school forms for Kindergarten.  These come from Kindergarten Korner.  I think the questions she asks on her forms are SPOT ON.  I can't wait to use them!

#4 This is self explanatory. (I can't find the original source!)

#5 From The Country Cook, doesn't this just look delicious?

#6 You have no idea how badly I need this.  It is so simple to make, but it never occurred to me to make one until I saw it on Pinterest.  And by that point, why make it when it's already made and ready for me to download?  Now I can finally stop clicking Forgot your login/password? This one comes from The SuperHERO Teacher on TpT.

#7 The Martha Stewart in me can't WAIT to make something like this!  How cute are they?  And how easy do they seem to be?  The Centsational Girl knows what's up!

#8 It's pretty, it's yellow and I love the message.  Find it here.

#9 This one made me giggle.  We've all had those days though, right?  Where you had one simple task and you were so out of it you managed to mess it up?  Yeah, I definitely have.  This one comes from here.

#10 This picture only fuels my wanderlust.  You can find this picture on this Tumblr blog.

That's all for this week, but if you're intrigued by my pinning, come check me out on Pinterest!  Just click the Pinterest button at the top of the page and you'll be linked up to my page!  Happy pinning!

TGIF and Some Resources

Happy Friday everybody!  I hope you all had a spectacular Fourth of July!

Here are two great Spanish websites for educational resources:

www.primeraescuela.com

www.primergrado.com

Enjoy!

Zapping into Kindergarten

Have I mentioned that I'll be teaching Kindergarten next year?  No?  Must have slipped my mind with the mountains of boxes I was packing and unpacking.

Mountain?  Oh yeah, I failed to mention that we moved, huh?  Yeah, we moved to be closer to work, with me being at a new school and all.

New school?  I didn't mention that either?  Well jeez, I must have been really busy.

Yeah.  I have been.  Between moving my classroom and moving a household, this summer so far has not felt like summer at all.  But the new digs are cool, and the new school is pretty rad too.

Now, if you know me at all then you know that I like to give myself the month of June and the first half of the month of July to really relax and catch up on, well, sleep more than anything else.  Sleeping, socializing and reading are my big three.  I haven't really been able to catch up on most of those things (what with the moving and organizing and packing and driving and furniture shopping and teaching etc.)

Teaching?  Did I say teaching?  Yes, yes I did.  On top of the madness that has become my summer I am also teaching summer school.  But not just any summer school - DUAL IMMERSION summer school.  And while only having 4 weeks of summer school to teach my incoming kinders (most of whom are still 4) their letter sounds, numbers, colors and shapes is challenging and a bit of an educational whirlwind, I am enjoying it incredibly.  Kinders are a totally different beast - not only are they coming in not knowing the curriculum (an aspect that, generally, as a teacher I am expecting =] ) they also need to be taught socially.  Socialization is something that I am not used to teaching quite to this degree.  By the time my students came to me in first grade they were already "trained" how to be in school and how to interact with other kiddos.  In kinderland, most of them have no idea what is and is not appropriate.  So for as much as they are learning, I am learning (maybe x10).  And it is SUCH a rush!  I am loving it!

Considering that all of my materials are for first or second grade, I am back to making materials that I can use not only for summer school but also in kinder this year.  I was inspired by a game called "Zap It!" that I found somewhere on Pinterest (Here it is!)  The idea is the kids pull popsicle sticks and read the vowel that is on the stick.  If it is said correctly, the student gets to keep their stick.  If they say it incorrectly, they put the stick back in the container.  If they pick one that says "Zap!" they lose all of their popsicle sticks and have to start all over.

But popsicle sticks aren't as fun.  So I found die-cut stars at the dollar store ($1 for 36 stars) and wrote my vowels on the stars.  I made 25 stars (5 for each vowel) and 2 "Zap!" stars.

Being the OCD, decorative teacher that I am, I could not simply write "Zap!" on the star and leave it at that.  Oh no, I had to decorate each star with polka dots and dashes.  Have you ever done that on 27 stars????  Do you have any idea how MIND NUMBING that is?  Oye.

Here are all of my materials:

The stars, markers, Zap! bucket and laminator. And my cute

little birdies that sit on our table.

Then I laminated all the stars and cut them out.  7 sheets worth of lamination!  7!!  Stars are shockingly tricky to fit on an 8.5x11 sheet of lamination.  But I did it, for all 27 stars!

The finished project:

Here are the stars, all laminated and decorated and ready

to go!

You wouldn't believe how much the kiddos love to play this game!  And now that I have it all laminated, they won't ruin it as quickly.  I can't wait to share this with them tomorrow!

And now, if you aca-scuze me, I have some Pitch Perfect to watch!