Hello Friends! Oh my... It has been a LONG time since I have posted here! I guess I have been busy, but I can't think what I have been doing that has taken up so much of my time. It's amazing how each day can drift along and then all of sudden, you realize how much time has passed and you didn't even notice! One of my favorite units to teach is "Healthy Me." Little kids are always so interested in how their body works and although, I don't go into HUGE detail, we do have some lively discussions during this unit. We also discuss healthy habits such as hand washing, exercise, and sleeping. At the conclusion of this unit, all the healthy me pages are stapled inside a cute cover. This is a fun way for my kiddos to have a discussion about healthy habits with their families! If you are interested in my HEALTHY ME unit, click the image below.... Here is freebie for you to hang next to your sink to remind your kiddos to wash the germs away! Until next time! Blessings,

(ENGLISH) hi! make ur own nyan cat :o) I do not own the original concept of nyan cat! I was simply inspired :o) this isn't done yet, btw! I'm just posting it so my friends can mess with it. you can use this for whatever - I don't really care! have fun with it! twitter - https://twitter.com/nightshift_666 feel free to suggest features you want! - - - (JAPANESE) こんにちは！これは「ニャンキャット」メーカー！:o) 私はこの「ニャンキャット」の権利を何も持っていません、私は触発された！:o) まだ終えてません！私は友達と楽しむためにこれを投稿するいます！ 好きなように使えます私は気にしません！楽しんでね！ twitter - https://twitter.com/nightshift_666 どうぞ遠慮なく意見を言ってください！

Open When letter ideas perfect for your loved one who lives far away. What to put inside your open when letters. Open now, Open when you need to laugh.

I have had requests for some of my products in other languages. Well, Chantal sent me this translation in November, and I finally got it...

The above is the loft bed I had in mind. I drew it out so my friends daughter, Nova, could approve. The look of it changed a bit since this drawing but is mostly the same. There will be a dresser tucked under the right side, the steps will have drawers, and the left side will look like drawers but would actually be a door. That last part changed though because I wasn't sure how well they would take care of the door (my friends kids are a bit rough with doors, haha!).

Last week was finally our first week of school. It was great!! I was thinking about posting some of the cool things we did and realize...

Not sure what to do the first week of school in kindergarten and first grade? Here are some fun and simple ideas!

Hello sweet friends! I'm back today with an oldie, but goodie! I first shared this post two years ago as part of our Furniture Fixer Upper series! I'm going to share the links to my friends' fabulous furniture makeovers from this day at the bottom also! I scored this hutch at the thrift store for

Sharing our DIY budget kitchen updates. Affordable kitchen updates that will make a serious impact on a small budget!

A lap blanket for a special friend. Created in corner to corner crochet; inspired by Marimekko designs. This post includes my original C2C graphghan.

Hi friends! I'm super excited to share with you how I made graphing in Kindergarten fun and independent this year! Every year my kids find graphing super fun and engaging but teaching JK/SK (that’s Pre-K/K for my American friends) it was always hard to make this an independent centre. This year I found a solution that worked well! Here is how I taught it: Day 1: Learning Goals & Success Criteria First I introduce the learning goal "We are learning to make graphs". Then we start by talking about the first step in the success criteria: I know I can do this when I can make a question. I give them a few examples first then have the kids share and added their questions to a chart. Then I typed up the questions and laminated a couple copies to keep in our question folder so that the students can reference them if they need help coming up with a question. Day 2: Make a Question and Collect & Graph the Data On the second day, I introduce the rest of the success criteria I can collect and record data on my graph. Data=information Sidenote: I followed some of the kids around as they graphed the first couple of days and asked them questions like "What do you need to do first?" and "How do we record _____'s answer?" etc. to uncover some student thinking. I took pictures and notes as I followed along and then printed a couple out as exemplars for the success criteria "I can collect and record the data on my graph." I can answer questions about my graph using the words most, least and the same. Then we practiced making our graph. I was going to start with a concrete graph (in theory that might be better) but I have a higher group of kiddos than usual this year and I wanted to introduce the graphing papers that we they would be using at the graphing centre so I could open it that day. So I put this graphing paper up on the smart board and we went through the steps together. First we read the question together and I showed them how to trace the question. Then we picked three colours for the choices. We talked about we could do a small scribble with crayon to indicate our colour choices if copying colour words from the word wall was too tricky. I also told them that even if they can copy the colour word to do a small dash of the colour with crayon underneath to help them remember what is what. Then I modelled how to ask the question to each student in the class and add the data to the graph. At the end we talked about which colour was the most popular, least popular and if any were the same. I left out this paper with clipboard, pencils and crayons for the kids to try. Here is an example of a completed "What is your favourite colour?" page. I told the kids that if there were no colours that were the same they could either put an X or write "none". The kids also used these "Photo Class List"'s to keep track of who they've asked. As they asked their question and graphed their data, they crossed out the person they asked. On the third day we made our first concrete graph. First we reviewed that the first step was to make a question. I told them that the question we are going to answer and graph today is "What is your favourite animal?" I then quickly taped 5 different animal pictures around the room. Then I had the students move to the picture of their choice. Then we called 1 group at a time and graphed the kids on the carpet. We have the perfect carpet for this as our carpet is a grid! We had the person at the front hold the animal picture, took a picture with the iPad and showed the image on the SMARTBoard. Then we talked about which one was the most, the least and the same. Here is a sample of an favourite animal graph they could complete at centre time: On the fourth day we made another concrete graph. This time we graphed siblings in our class! We followed the same steps as favourite animal but I taped the signs for "sisters only", "brothers only", "brothers and sisters" and "no siblings" instead. The rest was the same as the third day :) On the fifth day we created our birthday graph! First I had some of my kiddos write the months of the year for me. Then I put them up on the bulletin board. Then I printed out a square picture of each of my kiddos and mounted it on black construction paper. Then we added the pictures during whole group math time and we talked about which month has the most birthdays, which month has the least birthdays and if any of the months have the same. Next time I would have the students write their birth date on a whiteboard and hold it in from of them when I take the picture so that I could easily get that information from this graph. I also used this graph on my graphing wall and put it under "I can answer questions about my graph using the words most, least and the same." Then I put a velcro dot on top of each column and the words most, least and same on a velcro strip underneath. This way, the kids can come and practice identifying which month has the most, which month has the least and which months are the same number of birthdays on the graphing wall. If you would like to try the pre-filled favourite animal graphing sheets click on the button below to download them for free :) All of the printables above can be found in my newest product, Graphing for Little Learners! You can click on the image below to check it out in my TPT store :) My kids are still loving graphing and it is a popular centre every day. How do you teach graphing in Kindergarten? I would love to hear your fun ideas!

It might not be Friday, but it IS a totally reasonable day to fill your screen with Friends. Why? Because 10 years ago today, Rachel, Ross, Phoebe, Joey, Monica, Chandler and Ugly Naked Guy bid us adieu. For real. That fateful last episode was a full decade ago. The only reasonable series finale anniversary gift is obviously a post dedicated to all of those fools, in the form of the strangest cast photos ever.

Hi, Teaching Friends! The ability to make ten is crucial to not just addition progress, but also to an understanding of place value. Help your students get stronger control of the combinations that total ten with this hidden addends puzzle. Happy Teaching! You Might Also Like:There is not enough time in a school day. Integration is hands ... Read More about Ten Again! Number Puzzle

This post is all about last minute costumes.Halloweekend is rapidly approaching! It’s the best time of the year to dress up as anyone you want to be. When October hits there are two types of people. You have those who plan out their Halloween costumes by strolling through Pinterest weeks in advance looking for the hottest

Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and their meanings. Teaching vocabulary consists of several things. 1. Expressing words through multiple meanings. Ex: fly (insect, something a bird can do, a way to travel in a airplane) 2. Giving students the tools they need to effectively communicate orally and in writing. 3. Kids need to be able to explain what words mean as well as understand what they mean. Research shows that students need to be exposed to words in multiple contexts in order for them to stick. Today I'll be sharing how I introduce new vocabulary words in my classroom. This post contains affiliate links. You can see my disclosure here. When introducing vocabulary I like to use the My Turn, Your Turn strategy. This comes from the book Word Nerds:Teaching All Students to Love Vocabulary. This model focuses on 6 things when introducing new vocabulary to students. 1. making predictions about the meaning 2. teaching parts of speech 3. give a kid friendly definition 4. discuss what they already know 5. use it in a sentence Here is an example of how it works. Teacher holds up a vocabulary card with the word bursting. •Teacher chants, “My turn, bursting. Your turn, _______.” •Students fill in the word bursting as they chant together. •Teacher claps the syllables as she slowly and carefully pronounces the word. •“My turn, BUR-STING, 2. Your turn, _________.” •They hold up the number of syllables with their fingers and say the number. • Teacher gives part of speech. • Discuss what you already know about the word. Turn and talk. • Use it in a sentence. Turn and talk. Example 2 •Teacher: All right, the next word for this week is My Turn, breathe, Your Turn, breathe. •Teacher: The word breathe has one syllable. Students clap and show with their fingers. •Teacher: The word breathe is a verb, so it is something that you can do. •Teacher: Ok boys and girls, what do we know about the word breathe? Turn and talk. • Teacher: Breathe is how air moves in and out of your mouth and nose-like an air tank. Model and have students do. •Let’s try it in a sentence, “I want to breathe some fresh air.” Can you try? Turn and talk. We repeat this process with each new word introduced and refer back to this method throughout the week. Once the kids have it down, I'll call on students to lead My Turn, Your Turn to review. I hope you can use this strategy in your classroom. If you are looking for more ways to to implement vocabulary into your classroom, you can check out this post about implementing vocabulary games into your classroom. You can also check out my vocabulary Pinterest board for more ideas.

Making Friends activity that teaches 6 keys to friendships (trustworthy, considerate, helpful, caring, good listener, forgiving). Students will listen to scenarios and decide which friendship trait they would use. Now includes a digital version for use with Google Slides for digital learning. Includes: ►Activity description including instructions/walk-through of activity, objectives, materials, guiding questions, SEL competencies, and ASCA standards. ►3 Pages of Friendship Scenarios ►2 game card options: less printing/ink smaller option and large colorful cutout key option. ►2 Pages listing the 6 keys to friendship with descriptions. ►Black and white version included. ►UPDATED: Now includes Google Classroom version, the link to access this resource on Google Drive and instructions for use is on page 20. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ⭐Recommended Resources⭐ ★ Forecast your Choices sorting activity ★ Walk in my sneakers empathy activity Check out my other KEYS products: ★ Keys to Conflict ★ Keys to Success ★ Keys to Stress Management ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ✨Let's follow each other on Social Media ✨ ❤️Click here to follow my TPT store to be updated about new products which are 50% off the first 24 hours posted! Heart and Mind Teaching on Pinterest Heart and Mind Teaching on Facebook Heart and Mind Teaching on Instagram Heart and Mind Teaching Website ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Copyright © Heart and Mind Teaching. If you have questions or problems please contact me: [email protected]

I warned you that I have been full of ideas lately so hear goes ANOTHER post with a NEW idea! And I will give credit because the basic idea for this came from my lovely new math friends at Kirby Middle School. As I was walking around and ideas were floating about various ways to ... Read more

I’ve been spending some serious amounts of time this summer leading conversations around the country focused on the integration of social studies and literacy. And for the last few years, I…

I knew this day would come… So, years ago when my friend Pastor Ben Cachiaras posted a blog sharing what he told his daughter when he dropped her off at college, I filed it away for when I had to do the same. This past week Lorrie and I left our oldest at college and […]

Ready to meet new friends? This one is for those of you who would like to broaden your social circle and meet like-minded people:

Six years ago I spent a summer in Washington DC. I shared a tiny one-room apartment with three other girls. One of them, Jessie, ended up becoming a good friend of mine, and after I went back to Denma

The past few months my students have been making feathers for a group mural. This idea was inspired by my friend and celebrity in the art community, Cassie Stephens! Head on over to her blog and check out her magical art teacher'n treasures at Cassie Stephen's Blog!! Her original inspo was international street artist, Kelsey Montague. Her inspiring murals challenge people to ask the question "What Lifts you" "What makes your heart Soar?" My students are going to be writing about their passions and inspirations that "lifts" them! I want each student that comes to my art class to feel as though they are walking out with wings on their back, so they can bravely rise up to their dreams with courage and passion! I want them to feel confident in themselves and know that the sky is the limit! First, students painted on watercolor paper with tempera paint using a value gradient of tints and shades using one color plus black on the left and white on the right. They had to blend the colors so thet the different shades did not look like stripes One group did primary and secondary colors red, orange, yellow, green blue, and violet. The next group would paint intermediate colors, red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red=violet Fourth and fifth graders used 9' by 24' paper and 3rd graders used smaller paper the next class, students then traced different shapes of feathers using white prisma color pencils and cut them out then they decorated them with unique lines and designs with white prisma color pencils My wonderful and extremely talented student teacher, Naz Kaya Erdal and I layed them out on three large sheets of black butcher paper until the feathers looked symmetrical. Once we finished the shape, we taped each feather down to the paper with painter's tape Then I hung that bad boy with TONS and tons and TONS of staples!! The next morning the kids were SO excited to find their feathers turned into GIANT wings!!! I hope the parents who come to visit will snap a pic in front of the wings and post to #ArtisFly and #riseupandsoar hashtags for social media!

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Having a printable Goal list is a straightforward tool to keep your objectives in clear view, promoting a sense of purpose and direction..

This is 10 exotic Amigurumi Zoo Animals FREE Crochet Patterns that's easy to follow and very beginner friendly! These patterns are perfect for every child and will be their best friend! I would recommend using a soft yarn so it will be as cosy as possible for the baby! Disclaimer This is a collection post

Hi awesome friends!! I'm back today sharing a third round of smalls for my booth! Smalls are the little things I need to help fill my booth, and honestly they are what pay my booth fee many months! These smaller makeovers are very simple, so they don't each need a post of their own, but