Free For All Friday!...

...Even though it's really Saturday. :) Internet access is a no-go at my new place as of yet, so I have to update whenever I have wi-fi access at the moment. Besides, isn't it always a good day for free stuff?

I made these after school pick-up signs to put on my door... feel free to download! And if there's another program/pick-up you'd like me to make one for, just shoot me a comment and I'd be happy to oblige! Click the picture to go to the Google Doc, there are 3 more pages to view. :)

I also made this color & sort shapes activity sheet that I'm having my kids use next week. Have your students color each shape with the corresponding color word; then cut out and sort into the table above. One of my teammates used it with her class already and said they were so into it! (Again, click the picture to go to the Google Doc!)

This one's made to be printed on legal size paper, but I'm sure you could finagle it to be printed on regular sized paper if you don't have any available!

I've just finished up my 3rd week of school, and things are rockin' and rollin' with my kinders. They are a CHATTY group this year! And I think 6 of them have megaphones permanently attached to their vocal chords... love 'em, though. It's gonna be a fun year!

Hop on over to Blog Hoppin' to join in on the fun! Teacher Week is over, but you can still link to your posts for another couple of days. :)

Teacher Week 2011: Meet the Teacher Monday

So the fabulous gals over at Blog Hoppin' started Teacher Week 2011 and here is my post for Meet the Teacher Monday! So excited to be a part of it! So here goes... more about me:

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Tell us a little something about you...

I'm Caitlin, and I am currently blogging while watching my beloved Arizona Diamondbacks play. I am a sports fanatic, I LOVE baseball and hockey and go to all the Cardinals games with my family! I love spending time with my amazing friends and family. I enjoy playing pickleball - a little known sport that's a cross between tennis, badmintion, and ping pong. It's FUN! I also love trying to cook/bake new recipes and I sing in my church worship band.

How long have you been teaching?

This is my third year teaching; all in kindergarten. I never thought kindergarten would be my first choice for teaching, but it's what was available at the time, and I ended up LOVING it! I work with an amazing, amazing team of kinder teachers and we just have a blast together at work. I love seeing how much my kinder babies grow in a year's time! Though I will admit, I can't wait till this first month is over so they'll finally be more settled into the school routine. ;) 

You might not know...

I got a scholarship to play college basketball in Nebraska, I've been on The Eric Byrnes Show in Arizona, and Mark Grace CIRCLED ME WITH THE TELESTRATOR DURING A D-BACKS BROADCAST AND IT WAS AMAZING.
 

What are you looking most forward to this school year?

I'm looking forward to trying new things with my kinders this year and possibly revamping some old activities to make them more exciting. Part of the thing I love most about the teaching blogosphere is all the fabulous ideas I get from you all. I've tried some of them in my class and they have all been a hit! I'm also looking forward to just growing in my teaching abilities to continue to better myself. :)
 

What do you need to improve?

I seriously need to get organized. I normally give myself a few weeks before school starts to get in my classroom, get everything out, and organize it to my liking. However, they finished cleaning our classrooms VERY late into July and I didn't get the opportunity to do all the organizing I wanted to. I have a tendency to keep my desk/table cluttered and I really need to stop! I also really want to put more of a focus on teaching math and doing more math centers in the afternoons.

What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?

I love sharpies, flair pens, and post-it notes. I also love getting as many books as possible to have more of a variety to read to my kids. And I love using my document camera and projector - I wonder now how I ever taught without those things! And my kiddos personally love using their individual white boards.

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Glad to be a part of the Teacher Week linky party! Can't wait to get connected with more of you!

Back in action...

PHEW! I haven't come around these parts in awhile, partly due to the fact that in the same week I moved into my own apartment AND started the first week of school! It was total craziness! I moved in on Sunday and I started school the next day. I couldn't find anything! I've taken a bunch of pictures of my classroom to share with you all, but I've gotta wait till I get my computer set up to get the pictures on here. I'm liking how I have it re-arranged; it's more of an open space than I had last year.

This first week of school only added to the craziness -- on the 3rd day of school, we found out that we had to lose one of our kinder teachers due to low class sizes. Of course, we all personally thought that 18 kids in a class was perfect, but, wishful thinking, ya know. ;) So we had to split up that class and we all added about 3 more kids apiece to sort of throw a wrench into the week.

The first week of kindergarten is EXHAUSTING! Any other kinder teachers agree? You have to repeat yourself a million times, teach them how to use everything from a glue stick to book baskets, and be as patient as possible with the sweet little friends. My kiddos this year love to talk... in the loudest voices possible... "inside voice" is going to be the key phrase for the year, I think.

I'll be back soon to share some of my beginning of the year activities!

Pinterest Linky Party!

Michelle over at Michelle's Math in the Middle is having a Pinterest linky party! Like many of you, I LOVE Pinterest! I have gotten so many fun decorating, baking, DIY, and classroom ideas that I am dying to try! It is so fun to search through all the fabulous ideas on there. Here's a link to mine if you want to check it out; and of course if you would like an invite, I'd be glad to send you one! Just leave your e-mail in the comments section. I got my invite from Lindsey over at her wonderful blog The Teacher Wife -- check her site out, too!

My Pinterest page (click the picture below):

pinterest.com/c8lino

Teacher Discount Days

Hey friends! I happened to be perusing Office Max today when I noticed a sign for their Teacher Day 2011, and it got me wondering if any other stores happened to be doing the same thing! I did a bit of research and was only able to find information for a few places, but if y'all know of any other stores that are doing the same thing, let me know and I'll add it to the list! Here goes, and remember, the dates vary for different states - the dates/times I'm listing are strictly for Arizona but you can at least (hopefully) use the info to find out when yours is happening!

Teacher Days 2011 & Info
1. Office Max (AZ: 7/31, 8/1) -- Free gift for the first 150 teachers, but every teacher will get a tote bag where everything you can fit inside will be 20% off!

2. Staples (AZ: 8/6, 9am-12pm) -- Free gift bag for the first 100 teachers; plus extra coupons. It didn't say anything about certain discounts off, however - they didn't last year, either. But still yay!

3. Big Lots (AZ: 8/13) -- Didn't say ANY info for what teachers can get, but just had the information for the day it was occurring! Have any of you been to the Big Lots teacher day in the past that can give us all some inside info? ;)

4. Lakeshore Learning -- Lakeshore is having a 20% off sale for most of their store until September 1st!

Okay, now this next thing has nothing to do with a teacher day, and it isn't even a store! But I saw a link about it on the Deals Plus website and HAD to share! Smilebox.com is offering all teachers a FREE Premium Club membership - it's normally worth $39.99! I checked it out and it is AWESOME. You can create photo slideshows, creative parent newsletters, overviews of your teaching units to share with parents at home so they can reinforce learning with their kids (LOVE this), scrapbooks, awards, yearbooks, and more. You just have to fill out a little application thing that proves you're actually a teacher and then they send you an invite. I can't wait to try it out!

That was all I was able to come up with to save money we all inevitably spend on our own classrooms every year... let me know if there are any others you know about so we can spread the word! :) I can't believe I even have to think about getting school stuff again! I go back officially in less than 2 weeks, where has the summer gone?!

Target dollar section... hurts so good!

Attention, everyone: the Target dollar section is pure evil. It calls to you and pulls you in... and resistance is futile. Seriously, have you guys seen the new stuff they have already put in there? A couple of years ago, I loved it when they started including teaching resources in the dollar spot. But hello, they have kept improving their quality of materials every year! They have a bunch of caddies, baskets, buckets, and organizers -- super cheap compared to the ones they have at the teaching stores. I also grabbed a few pointers there since my kiddos are obsessed with using them every year -- are your kids the same way? They LOVE using pointers around the room and beg me to let them use them, even during free choice time! Here are some of the cute ones they had:

I was surprised they actually had school stuff in there already... I didn't think they'd start getting any of that in until July. I've been finding myself thinking a lot about school already - I even had the "first day of school" dream already! I'm like, it's too early for that!! A teacher's work is never done, I suppose. I'm hoping to work on getting some more stuff in my TPT store as well as give out some free downloads here, so keep an eye out!

Join in the linky party....

So the fabulous blog Clutter Free Classroom is hosting a blog-stalking linky party, which I love, because now I can find even more amazing blogs to follow and snag awesome ideas from! You can check out the whole list at the link above. I haven't had my blog for very long, but hope to really get it going once school starts again this August and hopefully share as much with y'all as everyone else has done for me!

Happy Summer, everyone!!