The Classic Crafter

Giveaway time!

2012-06-28T19:33:00.001-04:00

Happy Thursday! There are so many of you that I miss at my new blog: Teaching with Grace!

Please come stop by and check out our new hang-out! I'm having a giveaway right now for the Playful Learning Book Study. You can win an e-course worth $125! How awesome, right? Come visit to enter!

Have a blessed day,

Missing you... Post 2

2012-02-22T22:04:00.001-05:00

Double the love! I just wanted to make sure you got to see both of my excellent posts from today!

I'm really excited about how well my new blog is going. I hope everyone has switched over and started following. On Saturday I will have the last double blog post here. I will also be offering a couple of goodies on Saturday over on TWG!

Have a blessed day,

Missing you... Post 1

2012-02-22T22:00:00.003-05:00

I missed everyone this weekend! My little boy has been sick so I'm making up for lost time. Here is the first of two posts that I added over at Teaching with Grace. Don't forget, you have until Saturday to switch over and follow. I might even be offering a little somethin' somethin' for those who do ;)

Have a blessed day,

Two for the Price of One!

2012-02-18T14:34:00.000-05:00

Only a few more days until I will no longer be doing double posts. Make sure you've clicked over to Teaching with Grace and become a blogger. The 25th will be the last time that I do a double post.

Today, I have two different posts to share with you. The first is for next week: Washington or Lincoln?
It has great ideas for what you could do next week on Monday (if you don't have the day off) or Tuesday (if you do get the day off :) ). I hope you love them! I'm really excited about the Washington.

The second is to show you the great new things that I just listed on Teachers Pay Teachers! I am so excited about my two new activity units. They each have three different activities in them to help your lovelies practice their Friends of Ten number sense!

Have a blessed day,

New TWG- Pin-ccomplishments: What are they?

2012-02-16T21:22:00.000-05:00

Great new post over at Teaching With Grace!!

I think I've created a new word: pin-ccomplishment!!

Have a blessed day,

TWG- Linky party for Reading!

2012-02-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

So, how do you deepen your student's reading comprehension? Check out the linky party here to share your idea and read lots of others!

Don't forget to check out Teaching with Grace! You only have until the 25th to read the posts here. If you want to keep up with the awesome posts and ideas make sure you head on over and follow me.

Have a blessed day,

Book clubs in Kindergarten?

2012-02-13T21:43:00.000-05:00

Check out the newest blog post over at TWG! I'm showing you how to use a book club in Kindergarten. I can't wait!

Have a blessed day,

A rewarding experience!

2012-02-10T08:08:00.000-05:00

I am so blessed! My new blog (Teaching with Grace) has been gifted with the Liebster Award! I am so excited. Go here to check it out!

Have a blessed day,

New TWG- Phonics are Phenomenal!

2012-02-08T21:26:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to head on over to Teaching with Grace and follow my new blog so you can keep up with the news! Only another two weeks until I no longer post to this blog.

Phonics are something that, for me, were barely covered in my education classes in college. I think that I must have been raised during the 'sight word only' era. So having to teach and explain phonics are definitely very new to me. One of the ways that I have discovered is easiest for me to teach them is through music. When I was a Third grade teacher I never, ever would have thought that I'd love to sing to a whole group of students. But of course, we all know and love Dr. Jean.

BUT did ya'll know that she has a blog too!?!?!?! It's awesome! I love the song that she posted today. You definitely need to go check it out! What's better than singing about CVCs to the tune of the Wheels of the Bus?

I hope everyone had a great day today! My day was a tad hectic...you know, Mom being declared almost cancer free, son throwing up 4 times, having to get a last minute sub... all the normal stuff :) Here's hoping tomorrow is "more boring"!!

Have a blessed day,

Epic Fail post on TWG!

2012-02-07T21:17:00.000-05:00

Yep, you read that right! I love to share ideas that went well but every so often we all have those ideas that just do NOT work well. My newest blunder started out as a great idea. I wanted to give my kiddos a new way to practice their number writing. So, I decided to find a way to make a bag with something squishy and fun inside that they could write in. Well, I tried using paint but that didn't work. I also saw some great ideas about using clear hair gel with glitter mixed in. Wow... it so didn't work when I tried it on my 'sample bag.' So, instead the kids got to use white boards and markers :) Not brand-new to them but we hadn't used them in awhile so it was still fun!
Here's a link from The Hippie Housewife that I might try the next time I want a 'Squishy Bag' for the kids to write with!

Image from The Hippie Housewife

Her bags even look better than mine did! Maybe I just put too much paint in it... hmmm... Does anyone have any advice?

Have a blessed day,

Awesome weekend finds: Newest TWG post!

2012-02-05T15:55:00.000-05:00

Check out the newest post over at Teaching with Grace

Happy Sunday everyone! I'm pretty stoked about the two finds that I just discovered on Pinterest. I loooove Pinterest! If you have an account, follow me! If you don't and you want one, just leave a comment with your e-mail address and I'll send you an invite! (I heard on the radio the other day that if you apply for an invite through Pinterest it is literally months before you'd get one. Crazy right?)

Anyways, below are the two awesome finds. I hope enjoy them! The first is a site with an incredible list of math literature for so many different topics and concepts. Check it out here!

One of the best things is that she keeps updating it and adding more books as she discovers them! This is definitely a K-5 must!
The second site is more for the lower grades but can definitely be adjusted to meet the upper grades too! Second Story Window has these awesome posts about Busy Bags for toddlers.

This is so great for beginning of the year Kindergarteners. Really, all year long it'd be great! I have several students right now (in the 3rd 9 weeks) that would benefit more from practicing their skills with this type of object instead of what I have them do now...Read to Self. One in particular who doesn't Read to Self... he does more Talk to Self... or Talk to Someone..... or Look at Wall.... or Look at Shoes... you get it ;) If you click on the linked picture, it will take you right to SSW's post where she has written directionson how to make ALL of the Busy Bags! Isn't that awesome? Thank you, thank you Second Story Window!!

Have a blessed day,

Math Every Day: New TWG post!

2012-02-02T15:27:00.000-05:00

Check it out below and don't forget to head over to my new blog! In a few weeks, I will be permanently switching to it. You won't want to miss out on anything!

Each month I send home a calendar with math problems on it for my students to complete at home. There are lots of different sites out there where you can get these from for various grade levels. There is a site that my administrators told us about a couple months ago that I just LOVE to use! The Math Corner is an excellent resource for many different math items: resources, math in your world, games, and more! There are a ton of great resources for all elementary levels.

The calendars are an excellent thing to send home with an incentive for turning them back in at the end of the month. My students can earn Super Tickets that they turn in for treats from the treasure box. (It's great for counting, needs and wants, and cause/effect!) I love that my parents totally support this! I have over half my class turn in their calendars this month. It's definitely catching on in my room! It's great to have the parents support their child's learning even with something so simple as one math problem a day!

Have a great day!

Have a blessed day,

Newest post is up at Teaching with Grace

2012-01-31T21:15:00.000-05:00

Here's the newest post that's up at Teaching with Grace. I hope you all enjoy! Be sure to head over to follow my new blog before the end of February!

Most teachers have a well kept secret, or so they think they do. Many have that one great resource that is a no-fail for great ideas and they swear that no one else knows about it (even if the website hosts thousands of people!). I would have to say that this sight is one of my favorite "secrets" and I'm so excited to share it with you!!!

Have you heard of Have Fun Teaching? If not, click here now!!

I love, love, love this site and use it so much!! My favorite thing of all is the videos for each letter of the alphabet, sight words, and numbers. But there is so much more on this amazing site: worksheets, coloring pages, flashcards, and the list goes on and on!! I hope you check out this site and add it into your bag of tricks :)

Have a blessed day,

What's so special about the 101st day? (with a freebie!)

2012-01-26T14:30:00.000-05:00

Here's my newest post over at Teaching with Grace: Come over and check out the new place if you haven't already!

Everyone celebrates the 100th day of school, right? Well, lower grades do anyways! At our school, we also do the 101st day of school. It's so much fun to have activities about 101 dalmations! We had a blast! I do not claim any of these ideas as my own! I got all of these great ideas from a fellow team teacher who was kind enough to share them with me :) She has been a huge blessing this year!

We had several centers during about an hour block of time. The big hit was Origami dogs! The students used the directions on the manila paper. If you want to make your own, it's fairly easy. First, trace an attribute block (square). Then, cut it out and fold it in half to create a triangle. After that, fold down the two opposite tips to create ears. Finally, draw a face and decorate!

I also used a foldable (love those!!) to show the students step by step how to draw a dog. After that, they could try and free hand the dogs on a larger sheet of paper.

Last, but not least, I had to include a writing prompt. This one simply says," If I had 101 Dalmations, I would...." If you would like it (in all of it's D'Nelian greatness) just check it out right here! (My link will take you right to the Google Document!)

Have a blessed day,

100 Days Smarter

2012-01-25T20:11:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my first dual post from my new blog. Remember you can find it here!

Last Thursday we celebrated the 100th Day of School. Since our district started way sooner than many others, I thought that some people out there might could use some ideas for this year. It's always a ton of fun to get one or two new ideas!

We started out our day with reading Miss Bindergarten's Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten (of course). I love all of these books! I even had a sheet from the Mailbox. My students drew and wrote about what 100 items they would bring. Most of my boys wanted to bring cars and the girls wanted to bring the balloons! I loved seeing all of their answers!

Our grade level does a lot of holiday rotations (Fall, Winter/Christmas, 100 days, etc.). It's a lot of fun for the students to go to the different rooms and have a different teacher while doing their activities. In my room the students got to do this:

That's right! We made Fruit Loop necklaces. All of the students had a blast! They had to count out 100 pieces of cereal. Some of them sorted the colors and some made patterns. They did such a great job.

In other classrooms, they created 100 day headbands (sentence strip hats), 100 day cookies, built with 100 legos, and stamped 100 stamps. They were so excited by the time they came back to me!

Here are some other great ideas that we did in our room and that I saw in the other rooms:

-Predict where you will end up in 100 steps, draw it, walk it, and draw it again. I got a great picture of my kids doing this! They were so excited because 100 steps took us right to the playground!!

-Draw what you'd look like at 100.

-Count 100 objects.

-Make 100 Day Trail Mix.

-Write about what you would do with 100 ______. (I did this more the next day on the 101st day of school!)
I would love to hear any great ideas that you all do so I can file them away for next year! Please leave a comment or send me a quick e-mail.

Don't forget to stop by my new blog Teaching with Grace so you don't miss anything!

Have a blessed day,

Drum roll please... I'm ready to announce...

2012-01-25T20:05:00.000-05:00

May I have a drum roll please? I am ready to make my big announcement!

(Nope, not pregnant! I've noticed that trend going around on blogs lately!)

However, it is kind of a bundle of joy ;) I would like to share with everyone, my newest venture:

I have decided to create a brand new blog just for teaching. You can go here to check it out! I am so excited about this new step! I've been praying, thinking, and deciding about this for awhile. I have loved the past two years here at Classic Crafter. But I've gotten away from crafting and am heading towards posting more and more about my teaching, strategies, and activities.

I hope that each and everyone of you will follow me over to my new blog. I will continue to post here until the end of February. I will double post so that no matter which blog that you check, you will read the newest post. By the end of this week, I hope to have my Facebook page up to date as well. If you want to continue getting the most up to date posts on your dashboard, make sure to click over and follow my new blog!
Have a blessed day,

Hey there!

2012-01-16T20:59:00.002-05:00

Hey there everyone! I know it's been a really long time with the holidays and everything else! Please stay tuned because I have been working on something big and CAN NOT wait to share it with everyone! I am so excited!

Have a blessed day,

Did you do for parent gifts from your students? Minor Freak Out!!

2011-12-10T15:16:00.000-05:00

So as my first year teaching Kindergarten, I have done my best not to drop the ball on lots of the fun and creative things that make each year special. However, my students making gifts for their parents has truly been something that was about to get dropped. I have not been able to come up with something that I thought would be quick, easy, and fun for my students but also special for the mommies and daddies of my sweet pumpkins. BUT I just found this post (literally like 3 minutes ago) from Kindergarten Crayons. Look at these adorable gifts:

So, I tried to save it to my computer in order to crop so it's just the frames but it didn't work :( But at least you can still see the adorable frames!! I have tons of popsicle sticks and will be doing these this week. If you want the step by step directions click here.

Luckily, the photos to be added to them... I took on Friday! My students were so cute in their jammies :) We have a Christmas tree up in the Media Center as well as two fireplace displays on bulletin boards. At the end of the day, we went down and I took their pictures in front of both. I think that I might even have them decorate two... one for each picture. But first we have to decorate 75 tress... that's another post :)

Please leave a comment telling us what great gifts you are doing this year!

Have a blessed day,

Polar Express Day for a Newbie

2011-12-09T21:22:00.000-05:00

Source

Today was our Polar Express Day in Kindergarten. As a newbie to the whole celebration it was SO much fun!! What other job do you get to wear your PJs, drink hot chocolate, and watch a movie? The whole day was so much fun :)

We started off the day with reading the picture book and then retelling the story with a coloring sheet from The Mailbox. All of a sudden our room was buzzed from the front office. Our secretary told us that all of a sudden there had been a flash of red and a gust of wind in the office. When things settled, there was a package waiting for us. Our whole class lined up and went down to the office to find our cold present waiting. Inside were our bell necklaces from Santa! However, Rudolph must have wanted to play a trick on us because they were all twisted together :(

(** Tip #1 for a better time next year: put necklaces in individual baggies so they don't do this!!)

After we came back from specials and had snack, we started the movie. I stopped the movie for the hot chocolate scene. I have seen several different ways that other teachers do their hot chocolate but I used plain cold chocolate milk that is premixed, pour into a crock pot, turn on low, and heat until needed. I turned the crock pot off and cracked the lid about 15 minutes before serving. That way it was warm but not hot. My students were so excited to be able to have their choice of big marshmellows or small marshmellows. I had planned on having them compare numbers of marshmellows (big vs small) for math but ran out of time.

We took a break from the movie to do a writing response. I have a paper from The Mailbox that has a cute graphic of a train and the sentence starter "If a train pulled up to my house, I would go to..." My students came up with the cutest responses!

-To the North Pole
-To the beach
-To Heaven (there was a small discussion amoung the kids about Santa vs. God)
-To tell their Mom and Dad (afterall, who would get on a strange train without their parents.. magic or not!)

The over all day was simply fantastic! Now we only have 1 more week until vacation!!

Have a blessed day,

Thank you to all!

2011-12-09T20:25:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who reads this blog, follows my Facebook page, purchases from my Teachers Pay Teachers, and follows my Pinterest. I appreciate each one of you!

Photo Source

Isn't this a cute picture?

Have a blessed day,

It still thrills me....

2011-12-05T15:06:00.000-05:00

Remember a looong time ago when I was so very thrilled about Esme Codell following me on Pinterest? Well I am just as excited about this newest person who started following my pins the other day. You might know her as well by this little site called: Mrs. Meacham's Classroom Snapshots

She is just toooooo stinkin' awesome for words! My grade level and I use her for so much each year! Tons of her lessons and ideas are used throughout all of our kindergarten rooms. She is great!

Have a blessed day,

Just a funny piece of mail to share...

2011-11-30T06:00:00.001-05:00

This is what I got in the mail the other day.... I thought it was hilarious. Maybe I'll get lucky and some one from there will see this and contact me to send me a new one :) I doubt things like that happen though! It looks like it had some awesome articles in it this time too! Too bad they were highly redacted! Do you have a funny mail story? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear it!!

Have a blessed day,

How do your kids measure? FREEBIE ALERT

2011-11-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

My students have been learning about how to use nonstandard measurement this week. They are having so much fun with it so far!

Our first day, we read Leo Lionni's Inch by Inch.

It's an adorable book about an inchworm who measures different birds and their parts. On each page, we used unifix cubes and paperclips to measure the different parts of the bird. Our second day was spent with the students collecting 5 objects and measuring them with unifix cubes. To summarize our learning we talked about what was the longest object, the shortest, any the same, etc. They had a ball with it!

Our next step is going to be measuring each other's arms. That's where the FREEBIE comes in! I have a printable chart for you to use. I'm planning on them doing just an arm tomorrow and then next week we will be measuring how tall we are. We'll use that data to create a class graph to compare sizes.

Below is the printable that I'm goiing to use. I will have each partner pair have 1 so it's all on the same page as they work together.

Measuring Partners Arms With Nonstandard

I hope you enjoy!

Have a blessed day,

Blog love.... Clover Lane

2011-11-29T13:18:00.000-05:00

I have been addicted to a new blog the past few days. Actually, it's more like a new-old blog to me.... one that I just rediscovered! I started out looking at her amazing tutorials and computer scrapbooking. But then I got sucked in to how she manages her house (5 kids!) and keeps it clean. She is definitely an inspiration and a fantastically easy read! Several of her parenting posts have really made me reflect on my parenting style (or somedays my lack-there-of )

I hope she inspires you as much as she inspires me!

Have a blessed day,

How Can We Pray for You?

2011-11-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

Who else is feeling the resistance this week? I am! This is the second or third time I've tried to post this!

Me- Prayer for my mom for healing during this difficult time. She is having a blood transfusion today. Also, please pray for several of my small group members. One of my good friends has a non-life threatening medical situation. Also, a couplein our group is having an extremely difficult year for their first year of marriage.

Don't forget you can e-mail me through out the week with any prayer requests that you would like posted on each Monday.

Have a blessed day,

The Classic Crafter

Giveaway time!

Missing you... Post 2

Missing you... Post 1

Two for the Price of One!

New TWG- Pin-ccomplishments: What are they?

TWG- Linky party for Reading!

Book clubs in Kindergarten?

A rewarding experience!

New TWG- Phonics are Phenomenal!

Epic Fail post on TWG!

Awesome weekend finds: Newest TWG post!

Math Every Day: New TWG post!

Newest post is up at Teaching with Grace

What's so special about the 101st day? (with a freebie!)

100 Days Smarter

Drum roll please... I'm ready to announce...

Hey there!

Did you do for parent gifts from your students? *Minor Freak Out!!*

Polar Express Day for a Newbie

Thank you to all!

It still thrills me....

Just a funny piece of mail to share...

How do your kids measure? **FREEBIE ALERT**

Blog love.... Clover Lane

How Can We Pray for You?

Did you do for parent gifts from your students? Minor Freak Out!!

How do your kids measure? FREEBIE ALERT