Sharing the LOVE- Show and Tell Aprons!

Welcome to our Show and Tell Apron Blog Hop!  We decided to get together to celebrate our sweet, talented friend Sandy Welch and share her wonderful  Show and Tell Aprons.  Theses aprons are not only pretty and adorable, but one of the best teaching tools a primary teacher can have. 

I love mine. It makes me happy every time I wear it- and the kids love it, too.  The aprons are fabulous- but the creator... well, she is even more special.  You will never meet a more genuine, kind, caring person. I was blessed to meet Sandy through our blogs when I first began years ago- and I am thankful that she is one of my very best friends today.  

The aprons are fabulous for teaching all sorts of things- spelling sight words, recognizing sight words, rhyming words,sequencing stories,  number facts, patterning... I love my apron.  I can't even explain all of the uses for this apron.  It seems like I'm always thinking of another way to use it.

She also has cards all set  to use with the aprons, so you will be ready to go!

   

Now, I have a child size apron, too!  We use this one A LOT!  The kids are crazy about their new apron.  

We are talking about fairy tales in our class right now.  The children can retell fairy tales in order using these  wonderful cards to go with the apron.  

The clip art is from Whimsy Workshop- who is another one of my favorite people in the world!  

These cards are perfect now since we are working on familiar stories and fairy tales. After we read and retold Three Billy Goats Gruff, this little sweetie wanted to retell it during free choice time.  I think she's pretty happy wearing that apron!

Sandy made this video with some of her great ideas for using the apron.  The apron is a magical part of our day.  We spend money on so many center activities and manipulatives and programs- and this is something worth every single penny,  because you can use it every day in so many ways- and it helps your children learn.  I'm a visual learner, and I know if my teacher had worn one of these aprons when I was in school, I'd have been able to see and understand things so much more easily (Yes - even if my high school and college teachers wore one. I need to see things to get them!)

These aprons wash beautifully, too.  I don't have to wash mine much, but I have a few times, and it looks good as new. After you wash the  apron, just lay it flat to dry.  Sandy takes such care with each apron, and each is beautifully and carefully made.  She packages them with such love and care, I can't wait until you see how pretty they come to you!

Sandy is the perfect kindergarten teacher and friend. She's come up with such a genius idea, that her friends just had to share it with all of you so you can join in on the fun and have a ball teaching with your apron!

Here is how I'm using the apron this week. This time of year we are  working on learning our math facts to 5, so I just layer in the math facts in the pockets and we practice any chance we get!

The possibilities are ENDLESS!  Thank you, Sandy, for such a wonderful product and such a genius idea for teaching!   You can check out Sandy's store at TpT HERE or her website HERE! Check out Sandy's other friends and fans and visit the other posts on this blog hop!

Thank you for stopping by.  

Five for Friday and Funny Kid Friday!

Time for another Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs and Funny Kid Friday with Kid People Classroom!

I had a fun week- with not toooo much "schooly" in it, but I did find some things that I really liked, so I thought I would share those.

I have loved reading all about the I Teach K convention, and seeing all the wonderful, happy pictures. I am so proud of so many of my friends for their accomplishments and acknowledgments!

My wonderful friend Sandy, from Kinder-Gardening has been making theee most fabulous aprons to use in the classroom, and they sold out right away at the conference!  YOU GO SANDY!  They are just amazing for teaching- and the kids LOVE them!  They are useful for everything- making sight words, sentences, number sentences, ordering numbers... I LOVE mine! You can get one at Sandy's TPT Store!

Dan Colquhoun (Rockin Dan Teaching Man ) had his songs highlighted at different presentations because they are AWESOME!  The kids have so much fun learning with them. I am so excited that even more people are going to be using them. The link will take you to his Youtube channel!

My sweet Susanna's graphics (Whimsy Workshop) were used all over the place at presentations- and of course they were.


They are also AWESOME.  I use her products in my classroom all.the.time. I am thrilled for her work to be recognized even more!

I am SO glad everyone had such a great time.  I had a wonderful week, too.

First of all, my sweet, sweet friends Amy and Holly took me away for my birthday.

When we went to get Holly, she had taken the shirt I gave her from school that I kept as an extra- and fashioned it into her travel shirt. It says, "Trust me. I'm a doctor."   I knew we were off to a great start...

They planned such a fun secret get-a-way, and we had so many laughs and so much fun!  AND a facial.
For a minute, I was really excited scared because our hotel was RIGHT NEXT to a plastic surgery office.  I didn't know what they had planned...
Here was our spa- ahhhhh.

Before the facial... aka no make-up.

None of us had ever had one... so 50 was the year for me to have one, don't you think?

We ate

 and ate

 and ate

great food.  We saw an Arthur Treacher's- but were too full of fancy food to eat there. I haven't seen one of them in YEARS and had such great memories of going there with my mom and sister when I was younger.  Maybe they are all over and I am just missing out.

We saw Tammy.  Oh my gosh.  Tammy!

 We shopped, shopped a little more, ate a little more.

We talked and talked and talked, and talked some more- with lots of laughs sprinkled in all along the way.

We were trying to get lucky.  That is how crazy we got in that department. Holly got us scratch off cards!

We are all refreshed and ready for another year of school.  AND the facial people realllllly want to see us back in 6 weeks, so- you know- it's sort of like a required doctor appointment, I am thinking.
Probably not- but still- I am not waiting another 50 years! What a blessing to have such perfect friends.

Our last night out the back window

Since I came home all refreshed and renewed... I found some new words to live by for my new year.

I found Marc and Angel Hack Life, and spent all morning there.  I love reading lists of do's and don'ts- I just do- so I did, nodding my head all the while I was reading. I am such a list person- these were great for me.  Here are some of my favorites.

The first list I read was 10 Habits You Must Quit to be HAPPY. Luckily I don't do some of these, but these were my favorites.

Quit procrastinating your goals. 

Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it.  Action and change are often resisted when they’re needed most.  Get a hold of yourself and have discipline.  Putting something off instantly makes it harder and scarier.  What we don’t start today won’t be finished by tomorrow.  And there’s nothing more stressful than the perpetual lingering of an unfinished task.

The secret to getting ahead is simply getting started.  Starting, all by itself, is usually sufficient to build enough momentum to keep the ball rolling.  So forget about the finish line and just concentrate on taking your first step.  Say to yourself, “I choose to start this task with a small, imperfect step.”  All those small steps will add up and you’ll actually get to see changes fairly quickly.  Read Getting Things Done.

So- I started my 10 Minute to Toned Arms.  I realized that "pinning" something doesn't make it happen.

(PS- that's not me. haha...yet... well, never, but whatever.)

Quit trying to be someone you're not. 

One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else.  Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you.  Don’t change so people will like you.  Be yourself and the right people will love you, and you’ll love yourself more too.  The Road Less Traveled.

(Oops- It sort of sounded like I wanted to be her in the picture above.  Well, sort of with the arms. )
                                                                                  
Next- I LOVED this whole list-  16 Things You Shouldn't Have to Justify to Anyone. It's just good to read and remember.
Don’t change so someone will like you.  Be yourself and the right ones will love the real you.

I loved this entire list, too-  30 Challenges for 30 Days.  I started to pick favorites but there were too many.  OF COURSE the entire list is overwhelming, but I could pick a few to concentrate on.

And finally, I loved reading 10 Choices You Will Regret in 10 Years.  Again, these were great to read through and think about so you don't have any regrets that you can avoid.

                                   

And- on that note, I sort of loved this saying- WOW.  True.

                                   

                           

Now... for Funny Kid Friday!
                                                          
This is a quick one that reminded me of last week's story.

One morning during our story on the rug, a little boy in the book we were reading didn't hear his mother calling him.  My little girl sitting right in front of me said so sincerely, "Oh I HATE that when my ears go blind!"

Another time, I had these balancing birds (which I have had forever) out for the class with our science center.

When one of my little guys from my class last year stopped by to see me in the morning, he said, "OH I remember those! I love those! We don't have anything fun like that in our room this year. We only have iPads instead." 

So... take that, Technology!  

Have a wonderful weekend!  

Five for Friday October 4th

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday! YAY Friday!



Here we go!

My favorite part of the week was making our Cat Cookies!  You can read my post about them here and find links to all sorts of great Word Family Freebies from TPT.  They would be great with black frosting for Halloween cats!

Here is my Chunky Monkey part of my Beginning Reading Prezi. It has links to some chunking and word family activities, and some videos that I use for chunking words:

It is part of my Beginning Reading Prezi from my TPT store.  I also have a bundle of my Beginning Reading and Writing Prezis. I use them both a lot throughout the day.

You can click on the picture below to get a copy of my "recipe" for cat cookies!

UG.   It's just a fun word family and I had some quick things to share.  If you haven't seen this book- it is a keeper! PERFECT for the "ug" chunk.

I discovered it when I got it as a  gift for my best teaching buddy  who has a sweet little pug named Bugsy.  Well, then I had to get one for myself! Here's why...

 OK- warning- the last page is the funniest thing EVER when you are 5 or 6... maybe even older...



It really does teach that UG chunk though, now doesn't it?

Then there is

but nobody poops on the rug- so read this one first or it will be anticlimactic...

Laura Richardson has a fun Word Family Poetry - UG Family FREEBIE at TPT with 10 activities to go with this poem.

 

One of my little guys came in from outside yesterday and said the wood chips on the playground were hot as a bug in a rug.  So close. 

My friend Sandy from Kinder-Gardening posted this sweet saying a while ago- and I never want to forget it.  In the midst of worrying that my little kinders won't be writing non-fiction well enough, or writing answers in complete sentences, I am quickly snapped back to reality when one of my little guys bursts through the door announcing to EVERYONE that he just went poop and wiped all by himself- or my other little guy revisited his worry of being flushed, and we conquered that fear yet again...

The weather this week was absolutely perfect.  I took my class out about ten minutes early for recess and just pushed them on the swings.  How sad is it that as I was walking them out, passing other classes still inside, I felt like I had to rationalize that I was  taking them outside to PLAY?!  Last year, when I ask for favorite kindergarten memories, so many of the kids said it was when I pushed them on the swings.  I don't even do it much at all, but after hearing it is a favorite, you can bet that I know it matters. 

Speaking of swinging, I LOVE this bus stop in Montreal, Canada. Here is a description:
A team of designers decided they wanted to put magic into everyday events. Next to a bus stop alongside a Montreal city street, they installed 21 interactive musical swings. The swings play a tune when pedestrians move together in unison – the notion that we can achieve more together than alone.

                     

I want a swingset.

My friend Susanna from Whimsy Workshop made this precious little snake as part of her Reptiles and Amphibians Clip Art Bundle at her TPT store.  I laminated him and am going to leave him on my door when we are out. It seems like someone is always looking for us when we are at the computer lab or out somewhere buying toys or getting ice cream like we do so often. A therapist comes to find one of my kids, or someone comes back from a doctor appointment, and we aren't in the classroom...  My oh-so-important question is - which way should I write my message:  "Not here" or "Knot here" ...   hmmm  What do you think?! OR is there something better yet?!   These things keep me up at night. 

                                                      

My wonderful mother found these adorable masks at Cracker Barrel - and got them for my class!

These are our new names over our lockers:

Finally,

I will leave you with this thought...

Have a wonderful weekend!