Swap 'Til You Drop

Hi everyone! I’m totally excited to share with you about the product swap some of my amazing bloggy friends did! Ok, so it’s simple, we paired up, swapped products, and then tested the products out! It was so fun because not only did we get to use products from some amazing sellers, we now get to share about them here with all of you!

I was paired up with Sarah from A Sunny Day in First Grade. The thing I just LOVE about Sarah’s products is they are all so kid-friendly. The kiddos love them and are always so engaged. A few weeks back we used Sarah’s Penguin Pack and it was a huge hit! It includes a penguin craft and some other adorable printables. Being that it is still a full blown winter here in Rhode Island, a penguin craft was perfect to use with the K-1 class I was in for. I wish I had some pictures of the penguins, but my iPhone always seems to die on me at the most convenient times! L Regardless, they were adorable! You can check out Sarah’s blog for pics of how adorable her students’ penguins came out!

Now that we have entered March, I am in St. Patrick’s Day mode though. The students always seem to love this holiday, and so do I! This is why I was so excited when Sarah also shared her St. Patrick’s Day Math Pack and Over the Rainbow Games with me! We will be testing them out this week and I cannot wait! I will certainly be back to share some pictures of these products in action! Until then, I have to share all about what’s inside of these two packs! Also, even better, you can WIN them below! Be sure to check out the Rafflecopter below for your chance to get these amazing products for your class!

Over the Rainbow St. Patrick's Day Math Games & Activities 

Sarah's Over the Rainbow St. Patrick's Day Math Games & Activities has kid-friendly, engaging activities for this fun week of school! The games and activities are perfectly aligned with the Common Core too! Can't beat that! ;-) One of my favorite games in the pack is her Over the Rainbow game you see there in the bottom left corner of the image above. The students must roll two dice and make a 2 digit number, then put that number on the correct cloud depending on whether it is greater or less than 30! Don't you just love that?! It's perfect! I really love the number puzzles in this pack too! Sarah has included both color and black and white options so it will be great to laminate the colored set for centers, and have the students color, cut, and build the black and white set.  

St. Patrick's Day Math Madness - 15 Ready To Go Math Pages!

 This product is just as simple as it sounds. After the hectic weekend I have had, this product is just what I needed. Not only do I love this product, but I know the students will too. Take a look above at what's inside! Lots o' Common Core! ;-) The printables have simple directions, adorable clipart, and are perfect for what the kiddos need to be working on for math. I can't wait to test these babies out this week!

Now, here are the details for the giveaways!

1. Start anywhere on the map below.

2. Stop by each blog and read about the products swapped between each set of bloggers.

3. Enter to win the resources that are featured by each blog pair. Each pair of bloggers has the same raffle, so you only have to enter on 1 of the two blogs. While you are are each blog, if you are not already a follower, show some love and sign on to follow! 

4. The raffles are open until midnight March 15th.

Enter to WIN our products on the Rafflecopter below! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beach, New Product, and Paint Swatches, OH MY!!!!

Hi everyone! It is already May tomorrow! So excited! Warmer weather has hit Rhode Island! I LOVE it! I mean it is nothing compared to you lucky southerners! I have been watching the weather and hearing all about your 80 degree temperatures and sunny days! Either way, I have been trying to get some work done on new TpT products without missing out on the sun, so I went down to the beach and worked outside this morning! I didn’t have to substitute today! (I guess that’s one perk of being a sub!) It was beautiful! It was just nice to be outside! I feel like I can be on the computer working on blogging and TpT for hours and I lose track of time and the nice days! So, I am glad I was able to get in the sun! Check out the pic I took of the beach!

 

 

I view TpT as another job! It is a lot of work, but I really love doing it so I guess that is what matters! I like it even better when I get to work at the beach! Who can complain about that?!

 

Well anyways, I have funny story to share with all of you! So, I walk into Home Depot a few weeks back and start grabbing paint swatches for an activity with my after school students. The Behr paint guy comes over and says, “Hi, you must be doing A LOT of painting at home with all of those.” Well, yea that was embarrassing!!! Here I am at Home Depot grabbing free paint swatches to save some money but took an amount that was obviously a lot (whoops!). The guy laughed when I said I would put some back. Either way, I end up telling him what they are for and that I teach and whatnot. The man says to me that he loves the fact that they are used for school. He tells me that they are discontinuing a lot of the paint, therefore, in a few weeks he would have paint swatches that would just be thrown away. I said I would gladly take them so he took my number to call me when they would be getting rid of them. WELLLLLL, when I went to pick them up today there were 4 huge boxes of paint swatches! They were so heavy I needed the Home Depot employees to load them in my car (pathetic, I know!). While I am SOOO grateful, there are more paint swatches than I know what to do with?!?! Take a look at what I got today!!!! I find it really funny actually!!!

 

 

 

I have 4 huge boxes that are all this full! I have a feeling it is going to take a while to use them all! Haha!

After finally hauling those boxes into the house with some help from my brother, I was able to post my newest product that I have been working on for 2 months! Boy was that a long 2 months! It was such a relief to know it was done and posted! It is nonfiction reading comprehension passages about animals! It includes multiple choice comprehension questions, graphic organizers, and various ways to use the passages! My students have really enjoyed them so I am very confident other kiddos will too! Below are some pictures!

 

 

 

 

Click HERE for more details about this product!

 

Thanks everyone for stopping by! Time for dinner! All this writing has me starved!!! ;-) Talk to you all soon!

New Common Core Product & Updates for You! ;-)

Click the picture to get your own copy
from my TpT store!

       Hi everyone! Sorry about being MIA for the past few weeks, but I have been working hard on new TpT products, applying for jobs (yes, I will tell you all about it!) and enjoying the sunshine we have had here in Rhode Island. I can't express to you how much I appreciate the heat after the winter we had this year! Yesterday was 70 degrees and today was 62! A-MEN! I am so looking forward to summer! Well, as I said I have been working on new TpT products and my newest one is there on the left. It is a new, fun multiplication game that I made up. The students love it! Here is what they have said about it...

“I love Ka-Pow! You never know who is going to win so it is exciting!”

“Multiplication is so fun now!”

OR, my favorite....

 

“Miss Parker can we stay in for recess and play Ka-Pow?!”

       I am really excited that the students enjoyed it so much! I will be creating an addition and subtraction version this week, as well. Check back for the update on when it will be ready!

 

       Besides this game, I have been working non-stop (well pretty much anyways) on my new nonfiction product that will be ready in about a week! It has lots of fun nonfiction passages and activities to use with them. Being that the Common Core is so focused on nonfiction, I am happy I put the time and effort into this product. I know it will be useful and the students have loved the ones we used so far. It is targeted towards grades 2 and 3. I can't wait for you all to see it.

 

       As promised, I want to quickly tell you about my job that I am applying for. Ok, well a district by me is going to full day kindergarten so there are 4 openings! Yes, 4! I am so thrilled that it even came up on School Spring. The teaching jobs in RI are very hard to come by! Therefore, I am pretty much praying, crossing my fingers, and wishing as much as possible. Haha! I keep telling myself that whatever is meant to be will be so to not stress so much. Still, it is hard! I will keep you posted if I hear anything!

 

       Oh, and one last thing just for fun. Yesterday, one of the little girls came up to me and said she drew a picture of me. While I have gotten plenty of them and they are all uniquely special, this one was so well done! She got down to every little detail! I figured I share it! So, what do you think? Do you see the resemblance? Hehe! ;-)

Thanks everyone for stopping by! Talk to you all again soon!

Spring Has Sprung...FINALLY! FREEBIE!!!!!

       YES, FINALLY!!!! Spring is here! Rhode Island has been slammed with snow this year so I am so glad it is just about over (well, hopefully). Since I didn't substitute today, I figured why not make a new product! Being that it was beautiful today, I probably should have done something outside, but oh well! I am happy I completed a new product!

 

       So, there it is! COMMON CORE aligned addition and subtraction pack! This product is the spring version of my Christmas, Valentine's Day, and St. Patrick's Day packs. It is available in my TpT store.
 

Click HERE to read more about what is inside!

 

       Also, I just wanted to remind everyone about my giveaway that is currently going on. If you are the winner you will get to choose ANY product you want from my store! Whatever your little heart desires! ;-) You can enter below (on the post right before this one).

 

       Well, I hope everyone is getting through their week! Just think two more days and then the weekend! Thank you for stopping by! Best of luck to you in the giveaway! Crossing my fingers for you all! ;-)

SPRING SALE & Common Core Math! 3D Shapes FUN!

     

     SPRING SALE IS HERE!!! Alright spring is right around the corner so let’s start it off right with a little spring cleaning. Time to clean out your carts and make room for all the new and wonderful products I have seen on TpT lately. I am going to be doing some spring cleaning myself. I have had some awesome products on my wishlist for a while now! But, anywhooo, my store entire store is 10% off for 2 days only (March 18^th & 19^th)! That brings some of my items to under $2!

 

Click HERE to see my products!

 

     Also, I wanted to give you a little sneak peek into this coming week. I will be having a giveaway later this week. I won’t tell you what product is in the giveaway just yet, but I am really excited about it! Check back later this week for more details.

 

 

     Ok, and as I continue to ramble on, I would like to show you a few pics from math today. 3-D SHAPES! So, I have been subbing for this one teacher frequently so she lets me do a lesson of my own here and there. It is great! For today, we learned about 3-D shapes in a whole new way! They LOVED it!!! (Thankfully, this lesson was allowed because none of the students had allergies! Yay! ) Check out the pictures of our lesson today!

 

 

Here are two of the students working hard on using the food to count the faces, edges and vertices! They did so well! I mean, maybe the fact that they knew they could eat the food after was a huge incentive! ;-)

 

    

 

 

We used cheese balls to represent spheres, Hershey’s chocolate for rectangular prisms, Starburst for cubes, marshmallows for cylinders, and Bugles for cones.

 

     We also used this cute poem that I found on Pinterest. The students were a little curious why the soda was called “soda pop”. Being in RI, we don’t refer to soda as pop, but oh well! Overall, a great subbing day!

    

      Ok, well dinner time for me! Thanks for stopping by everyone!!! Hopefully, see you back here later this week for the giveaway! ;-)

SUPER SIGHT WORDS - Common Core & FREEBIE

  Phew! Finally! I just finished my Super Sight Words packs (1 pack uses DOLCH PRIMER list & other DOLCH FIRST GRADE list). I have been using these activities and games with the students in my after school program and they have really loved them! It is great to see how engaged they are while they are learning. Below are a few pictures from what's inside.

 

The bundled set of these packs is also ready! Yay!

 

 

  

Also, I wanted to let everyone know about my former cooperating teacher who I completed my student teaching with. She has recently joined TpT and has some really awesome products! My favorite one is her “Word Detectives” reading strategy product. It is a very engaging version of guess the covered word. I have seen this product in action, and let’s just say, the students LOVED it! The students were so excited and eager to participate! I encourage you to try her FREEBIE below in your classroom.

Thanks for stopping by! Back to school tomorrow! ;-)

St. Patrick's Day FREEBIE! Common Core

It is FREEBIE time! This week has flown by! (As do all the weeks lately!) Either way, I decided to do a freebie for Freebie Friday and this is what I came up with. If you liked the Valentine’s Day and Xmas version of this freebie then you will enjoy this one too! I have been told that my other two versions of this product worked great for morning work and afternoon fillers. Check it out HERE! Thank you for stopping by! Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Reading Comprehension Time! COMMON CORE of course ;-)

I know! I know! I have been M.I.A. for the past week. But, I haven’t forgotten any of you. I have been working on my newest product. This one was hard work. A LOT of hard work! But that is fine because now it is all done. Finally! Spring is Here - Original Stories for Reading Comprehension Practice COMMON CORE ALIGNED. As much as this product was time consuming, I am proud of this one. I have been focusing solely on holiday products that I almost lost sight of one of the most important things we teach our students. READING! Ahh the holidays and celebrations suck you right in don't they!?! Now, it feels great to have a TpT product that is useable for my buyers for more than just the length of a holiday or celebration. So, be sure to check it out.

Anyways, now as much as I was working really hard on that product, I have been doing other things with my time. Things like relaxing, sleeping in late, taking my time drinking my morning coffee, and oh yea, staying up late catching up on my DVR. Yup, I am on school vacation. Who would think a 23 year old could get so tired. Oh, but I do! After this lazy week though so far, I feel well rested!

Well, now that I have spent ALL of my morning blogging and pinning, I guess I need to do something more productive like.....going to get my nails done. ;-) Haha! Thanks everyone for stopping by!!! Check back soon for a St. Patrick’s Day freebie similar to my Christmas and Valentine’s Day edition freebies!

St. Patrick's Day Product is READY!!! COMMON CORE

St. Patrick’s Day is coming! It is already the middle of February, and as we all know, February just flies by! I figured I better get started on a new product for St. Paddy’s Day before I blink and March is here. So, today I finished up “St. Patrick’s Day Math Fun!” This St. Patrick's Day themed math game and center activity is perfect for your little kindergarteners. In the game your students must fill their pots (ten frames) with ten gold coins. Students take turns spinning the spinner and adding and subtracting gold coins from their pots. The winner is the first person to fill his/her pot with ten gold coins. (CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4)(CCSS.Math.Content.K.OA.A.1) In the part-part-whole math center activity, students decompose numbers and record each decomposition by drawing or writing an equation on the recording sheet afterwards. (CCSS.Math.Content.K.OA.A.3) You can feel confident that your students are not only working towards the standard, but having fun too! Click on the picture to find out more information!

Winter Storm Nemo, New TpT Product, & Valentine's Day SALE!!!

MY POWER IS BACK ON!!! I have been trapped in the house for two days with no electricity! Can you say blogging withdrawals!?! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate electricity now! Winter storm Nemo really wasn’t kidding. At first I was thinking it can’t be that bad, but once that snow started coming down I knew Rhode Island was not going to forget this one! We got 20” of snow! Yes, 20 inches! Not to mention the snow drifts that are about 3 feet high! Thank goodness my boyfriend was willing to do the shoveling because while I offered to help, both of us knew I would be more in the way than any help! So, I helped myself to some hot coca and took some pictures of all the snow! Here are some of the pictures!

The cars are not getting out for a while!!!

I must say the snow does look pretty! (All 20" of it!)

Backyard BBQ anyone?!

Check out the mounds of snow! Unbelievable!

Well, while I was stuck without electricity, I decided to catch up on some of the reading I told myself I would get to. I spent a lot of time reading some great Lucy Calkins books and a Richard Allington book I bought a few months back. I was able to get some great reading ideas and just have some peace and quiet......then ZING, the power! Books went away and I got back to my latest TpT resource! (I can’t help it, I am addicted!) So, after lots of hours playing catch up on all the time I couldn’t work on my product this weekend, my "Pirate Math Games & Center Fun" product is D-O-N-E! This new product is aligned with the COMMON CORE and is stacked with fun activities! I swear you will want to play these games too! So, here it is! Check it out below!

Also, some more GREAT news! With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I want to be sure everyone is all stocked up for their little kiddos. Therefore, both of my Valentine’s Day products will be 15% off today through Thursday! Be sure to check those products out along with my Valentine’s Day Addition & Subtraction FREEBIE! Happy shopping!!!

Kayla

Bargain Shopping & Valentine's Day FREEBIE!!!

Hi bloggers! I have a few things to share with you tonight! First of all, I am SOOO excited about my newest bargains. As you know, I have started my new after school job and I just love it! I have been working with my students on sight word recognition in isolation and in context. Well, I figured that since this is an after school program and these students are already tired, I have to make this program as fun and engaging as possible. So, I went out to the Dollar Tree and did some digging around. I ended up finding these party platter dishes that I am using to represent the water. You are probably wondering why I didn’t just use a piece of blue construction paper; I didn’t use that because this platter is a great way to hold the fish and the cards. The center, normally used for a dipping sauce, comfortably holds the playing cards. As for the fish, I got those for .50 cents at Michael's. Yes, 36 Dr. Seuss fish for only .50 cents! Even though they are a little big for the party platter, they still work! And lastly, the fishing poles are just wooden dowels I had my dad cut up and sand the ends for me. I hot glued magnets to the fish and the ends of the poles and viola, new sight word game! All in all, the total cost $4! I can’t wait to try this game out with my students!

Also, on my Dollar Tree bargain hunt, I found these HUGE fly swatters! Yes, they are large! I probably should have placed an object next to them so you could see exactly how big they are. Roughly, the net portion is just about the size of a piece of paper. Now, these fly swatters will surely be a hit with my students. I will use them for the swatting sight word game I have planned for the next coming weeks. I can’t wait for the students to see these! I am not sure though, I might actually be more excited about the swatters than my students will be. I will definitely post some pictures when we play!

Now, lastly, I am so excited to announce that I have created a brand new FREEBIE! This freebie is the Valentine’s Day version of my “Addition & Subtraction at the North Pole” product. In the “Valentine’s Day Addition & Subtraction” packet, your students will use addition and subtraction to solve word problems, figure out the secret message on the valentine, help Zoey deliver her valentines, color a valentine penguin by number, and finally, play the box of chocolate addition game! I am really hoping you check it out! Please feel free to contact me with any questions!! Also, as always, your feedback is appreciated! ;-) Thanks for stopping by!

YAY! My 1st GIVEAWAY!!! ;-)

Yay! It's my first giveaway! I am really excited for this and I hope you are too! Being that I have been blogging for a few months now and have a few items up on TpT, I figured why not?!? This will be my chance to meet a few new blogging friends and find out about some great blogs out there too! So, here we go! All you have to do is be one of the first 3 people to follow my TpT store and leave a comment on this post with the item you want! (Don’t forget your email too!) I am offering 3 items, and you can choose the one you want! The 3 choices are right below! ;-) Click the pictures to find out more info on each one!

This is my newest product! It is perfect for the big SUPERBOWL game coming up! In this telling time game, students race to the end zone and try to rack up the points! This COMMON CORE aligned game is perfect for your students!

This COMMON CORE aligned product is great for your little kindergarteners! In this Valentine’s Day game, your students have to be the first to fill up their wheelbarrows with ten valentines. But, oh no, watch out for the cat who will snatch your valentines right up! Also, this product includes a worksheet and color by number activity too!

This product is one of my best sellers! Cookie Ten Frames! This COMMON CORE aligned product includes 3 worksheets that are perfect for helping your students practice and visualize the facts of 10. Also, this product includes larger ten frames that are used for the fun, fast-paced game!

So, everyone check it out! I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Woohoo! It's the 100th Day of School....well almost! :-)

Hi everyone! New product time! It’s just about that time for the 100th day of school! Can you believe it?! More than halfway there already! I know you are all screaming out loud with excitement! I am looking forward to warmer days and days off too, but overall, I love subbing so I am in no rush just yet for the end of the year! Either way, I decided that since the 100th day is such a big celebration in early childhood classrooms, I better make a new product! (I really do think I like making these products wayyyyyy too much!) So, I made “Woohoo, It’s the 100th Day of School!” This product is aligned with the COMMON CORE standards and includes 5 games, a puzzle, and an original song! It is a great way to add some more fun to your 100th day of school! So, head over to my store and check it out! Thx!

Click HERE to grab your copy of this product!

Valentine's Day Delivery - COMMON CORE ALIGNED

Valentine's Day is right around the corner! Just about a month away already! Therefore, I decided what better way to spend my Saturday than to make a new TpT product! (Some may think I am crazy for wanting to do this on my day off, but I love it!) In my new product called "Valentine's Day Delivery", I made a cute file folder game and a couple worksheets. The game and worksheets are perfect for your little kindergarteners! In the game your students must fill their wheelbarrows with 10 valentines. Students take turns spinning the spinner and adding and subtracting valentines from their wheelbarrows. The winner is the first person to fill his/her wheelbarrow with 10 valentines. In one worksheet, students look at the number shown and draw that many valentines in the box. (Numbers 1-10) The other worksheet is a color by number activity, one for boys and one for girls!

Included in this packet is a colored game board, a game board without the background, and lastly, the black and white version. Playing pieces are colored or b & w, as well. This product is perfect for a math center or small group activity! The worksheets allow students to work independently, as well. It is aligned with the Common Core Standards for kindergarten. You can feel confident that your students are not only working towards the standard, but having fun as well! I mean, what kindergartener doesn’t love games, drawing and coloring?!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. My email is kaylaparker989@yahoo.com. Thank you for stopping by!

Click HERE to grab your copy of the Valentine's Day Delivery product!

Shooting for the stars in 2013! My OUTER SPACE unit is complete!!!

Hi everyone! First post of 2013! Where has the time gone?! I just realized my last post was December 8th! Time really does fly by! But, I guess I wasn't just lounging around for the past three weeks or so. I have been working really hard on putting my first thematic unit on TPT. I just finished and it feels oh so good!!! It is the best feeling to have a new resource on TPT. (I am sure everyone knows what I mean!) This is the prettier version of the unit I taught for my student teaching. My students LOVED my outer space unit I taught them. I went all out for it! I made an astronaut costume to show the students the parts of a space suit, I bought actual meteorites and let the students hold them, we set off rockets, and much more. Overall, it was a great experience! I think that is probably why I enjoyed making this resource so much. It brought back all the memories of student teaching. I sure miss those kiddos!!!

Anyways, as I said, my outer space unit is complete and it is a big one alright. It is a whopping 169 pages. Yup, that's right, 169 pages! It took me a long time, but it is one resource I am extremely proud of!!! Check it out!

Click HERE to grab your copy of this unit!

Fa La La La La FREEBIE!

Yay! It is officially Christmas time! My favorite time of the year! Being that this is the season for giving, I decided to make a FREEBIE to give away for the holidays! In the “Addition & Subtraction at the North Pole” packet, your students will use addition and subtraction to solve word problems, figure out a secret message from Santa, help the gingerbread cookies find their way back home, color a reindeer by number, and finally, play The Great Candy Cane Race. I love this FREEBIE and I hope you do too! Also, please leave some feedback for me if you don’t mind. I appreciate you checking out my blog and please check back for more teaching resources! Happy teaching everyone!

Click HERE to get your copy of this FREEBIE!
Thank you for downloading!