Kids Book Club

Eleven kids in my little house reading, making bookmarks, coloring, writing, whew! I have eight kids  in the chapter book, The Lemonade Wars, and three younger kiddos in Stuck. The time went so fast! I had so much fun. This week we are going to decide if our books are fiction or non- fiction and I am pretty sure this will bring a good discussion for the bigger group. The Lemonade group will also summarize each chapter after we discuss it! The little group is going to do some illustrations. All will do vocabulary as well! I love the freedom this book club gives me! Have a great day!

More Ladybugs

I have always loved ladybugs and I never sat down to make a true classroom theme....UNTIL NOW! I am so excited that my theme for the first week of school is ready. Woohoo! Yes! Check that one off the list. Go check it out at my TpT store if you would like.

Class Theme Ladybugs - Look Who's Spotted in ___ Grade!

VBS - Always Teaching!

So it is Vacation Bible School at church. I am in charge of the preschool and kindergarten part at our church and I adore these kiddos. In fact, it was VBS that made me realize about three years ago that I was ready to teach younger children.

I started teaching in 2000 - 2001. I taught math at the local middle school. I loved math but the age was not the right fit for me. I LOVED THE KIDS but I am just made to work with younger kiddos. Well, a position opened up where I student taught with my favorite teacher and I jumped on it. I became a fifth and sixth grade looping teacher (I taught the kiddos for fifth grade and kept them through sixth grade) for the next ten years. I had a great time teaching that age, but just felt the tug to teach the young kiddos. Three years ago I was blessed to get to transfer to an elementary school just a few blocks away from my house to teach first grade. I am loving first grade. My teaching career so far has been a blessing and I am grateful for everything I have been given.

Now back to VBS...

Our theme is "Everywhere fun fair" and the kids learn about the bible with a circus theme! They also have different locations everyday. Yesterday they learned about Japan. Today was Zimbabwe. I love the music, the crafts, the games, the crafts, the stories, the crafts, and THE CRAFTS! My own two kiddos woke up so excited for VBS today and I love it. It is the reason why I work throughout the year to get VBS organized...my own kids love it and I love seeing the excitement through their eyes.

I hope everyone else is having a great day. I will post an activity soon!

Friday Fun

We have almost made it through another week. Has anyone else noticed that summer months are just as busy (if not busier) than the school year months? Like I posted earlier this week, this has been "dance" week. Yesterday was the first day of recitals and today is the second day. My kiddos did amazing! It was so fun.

Now, on to school stuff. I am going to post one of my freebie activities. I absolutely LOVE math (and when I say LOVE picture me singing it as a Broadway singer) and my goal is to always make my students enjoy it as well. I have taught math from first grade up to the college level. My activity today is just a simple subtraction game. Please check out Racing Back from 100 and enjoy the freebie!

So, now that summer is upon us, what is your biggest goal?

Book Club for Summer and Gardening at School

Once a teacher, always a teacher. I decided that I wanted my kiddos to have fun reading this summer but also have a purpose. So, I made a book club with their friends that I know also enjoy to read! I feel kind of selfish because then my kiddos get a play date, I get to share my love of reading, and I get to try new ideas for kids that just love to read and have fun! Win-win situation. So, I decided on the books today. I will post soon when I get them and see if anyone has any reviews, ideas, etc! Wish me luck... 6-7 second and third graders for one book and 4 first graders doing another book. It will be fun, right? I am not crazy, right? Oh please send me good vibes! I am just so optimistic that it will be successful. Look for my weekly reviews of the kid book club starting on June 20th and every Thursday after that. I am sure there will be giggles and struggles!

Right after this, my kiddos and I are heading over to our school to work on the school garden. We are going to help paint a sign today for the garden. I am hoping to post some pictures after. I love that the teacher keeps this project going all summer for the kids. YAY! I am so appreciative of how other teachers go above and beyond to make school fun and successful for my own children. SO THANKFUL! Here my two amazing kiddos:

Freebie and Dance Week begins...

Let's start with the fun stuff. I posted a new freebie in my TpT Store! Yay! Don't we all love freebies? I know I do. This one is quick and easy. It is a writing activity for your students to do at the end of the year. Basically, they are telling next year's students about the teacher, the rules, fun stuff... I should clarify that this assignment is just as fun to read as the teacher as it is for the students to write. I always get a little giggle when I read the responses. Here is your chance to grab the freebie: What You Need to Know... FREEBIE

Now on to the other fun for the week! It is dance week in our household. My little man only does boys hip hop (which he loves because he gets to be with the "big boys"), however, my daughter is in competition dance. So, she has her four competition dances and four more recital numbers. Include the costume for the opening number and that means that she has nine costumes! Nine! And she is eight-years-old! I am crazy... crazy... crazy.... However, she loves loves loves dance. So, when your child loves something, you do it. I honestly have fun at all the stuff. I talk to the other moms. My sister-in-law is the "big boss", she runs and owns the dance studio, so family is around and that makes it even more fun. Today was pictures, tomorrow is competition dress rehearsal, Wednesday is dress rehearsal for recital numbers, then Thursday and Friday are the recitals. Whew... I am tired already! It will be so fun, but we are going to need a break after it!

So, we are off this afternoon since pictures are done. I think this calls for some family time! Enjoy your day and go grab my freebie!

Paint Card Synonym activity

One goal I have this summer is to create more activities and resources my students can use in the classroom. The first one I made is using painting sample cards from the store. I grabbed a bunch of different colors and then wrote down words that my students use too often at the top of each card. Under the common words, I wrote synonyms that would be better word choices. I pinned it to Pinterest but wanted it to be here as well.

This is a quick, easy way for the students to have lists of more word choices. Plus, anything with color catches their attention. For a challenge, why not give the students their own paint sample with the common word at the top and let the students come up with the new word choices! YAY!

I hope you keep coming back to read the blog. VERY soon I will be having my first TpT Giveaway to a follower. Will it be you? Leave a comment!

We made it! Summer Vacation! The cheers...the hoorays... the tears as I lost my class. Oh what a great year. I loved this class. They were so sweet, kind, and just plain LOVED learning. They would get excited over the simplest activities.

Now, onto summer projects for school. This blog is the first one. I want to consistently update it. I want to get ideas out there and have teachers/friends share ideas with me!

Secondly, I want to work on my TpT Store ( http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Amy-Padgett-150 )! I want at least 75 products by the end of the summer, more if I can, and would LOVE to increase my followers. If anyone that reads this has ideas on how to increase followers, my ears are open!

Well, I hope you are all having a fantastic night. I am! My family is watching a movie together and I need to join them so I am off. I will log in again soon.