Fun FREEBIE!

So, I was looking at my book bin labels in my classroom the other day and realized how beat up and nasty they were---some where even missing completely! SO, I decided I needed make the CUTEST book bin labels possible...but my computer thought differently! My word processor locked up or froze about 17 times right when I would be in the middle of making them- and then it would completely erase my work! UGH!!! I was so annoyed today that I just about threw my computer out the window. So, after about 2 hours of messing with it i decided to uninstall the program and then reinstall it. IT WORKED! I was able to make the book bin labels and because of all my trouble I am going to make them a FREEBIE so others can enjoy what brought me STRESS ha! But, seriously ENJOY!!!!
Click the picture to download : )!

Love, Love, Love my JOB!

I had a very enjoyable little break with my sweet family. I really enjoy the time off I get to have with my babe, Jonah. He allows my brain to come back to reality and RELAX! I got to spend some great time with friends and family.... : ) ahhh..finally relaxed & rested!

I did miss my little kiddos back at school. They are so adorable and make me very happy! I've been working very hard on some "Winter" themed center/stations for them. I finally got them done tonight and I can't wait to get them laminated and ready for their stations!  I love the holiday season and so do the kids! It's very hard keeping them interested and engaged this time of year. I am hoping these activities can help! You can find the activities here: 

Winter Wonderland Literacy Activities <Click

I have been very pleased with how the blogging community has been treating me. You all are wonderful! Thank you for making me feel welcomed. 

Have a great night : )

Liebster Blog Award

Thank you to the The Price of Teaching for nominating me for the Liebster Award! The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It’s to show that new bloggers are appreciated and help spread the word about our blogs.

Here are the rules:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.

2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.

3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

4. Choose 11 other blogs with fewer than 200 followers to nominate and link them in your post.

5. You cannot “tag back” the other blog, but leave a comment on this post with the URL of your Liebster post so I can learn more about you & see who you nominate.

Here are the random things about me:

1. I am obsessed with Diet Mountain Dew!

2. I love shopping and fashion- but it's definitely been put on the back-burner since my little one was born. 

3. I have a miniature dachshund named Lyla, who I absolutely adore. 

4. I have a Kindergarten concentration, but turned down teaching it because I LOVE 2nd Grade!

5. I am a complete Apple geek and love all my Apple gadgets especially my MacBook Air!

6. I met my hubby while buying a cell phone at Verizon Wireless. : )

7. I am terrified of storms!

8. I completely despise going to the movie theater. 

9. I would rather have the TV off than on...I actually could go without ever watching TV. 

10. I've nicknamed myself "Wonder Woman" because I juggle A LOT with work, hubby, baby, blogging, etc"!

11. I love staying in my pajamas all day during my days "off". 

Here are my 11 questions for the blogs I nominate:

1. If you could chose one famous person to meet, who would it be and why?
Probably Steve Carell because he is absolutely hilarious!

2. What is your favorite smell?
My baby, when he is fresh out of the tub. 

3. Other than your computer, what do you hear right now?
My dog Lyla snoring. 

4. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?
A bigger house!

5. What is the top item on your Christmas list?
A new camera!

6. What do you do most when you are bored?
Dilly dally on the computer- like I am now. 

7. When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A teacher!

8. Do you have pets?
Yes, my dog Lyla. 

9. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
On my son's 1st birthday, he was cracking up so hard and it was making all of us laugh. 

10. What is your favorite children's book?
Goodnight Moon

11. If you could compete in any Olympic sport, what would it be?
Rhythmic Gymnastics because of the sparkly uniforms haha!


Here are my Liebster Blog Nominations:

1.Kilgore's Kindergarten Korner

2. Tiggerific 2nd Graders

3. Making Waves in Second Grade

4. Literacy Sundae

5. Grade 2 Happenings

6. Two Tacky Teachers

7. Exploring Third Grade

8. Confessions of a Teachaholic

9. 24-7 Teacher

10. Fun in K/1

11. Mrs. Graham's First Grade


Congrats to my 11 blogs! Here are your questions:

1. How much time (do you think) do you spend on your phone, computer, ipad, etc. a day?

2. What is your favorite holiday?

3. What is your favorite thing to do on a yucky Saturday afternoon?

4. Apple or PC?

5. What's your favorite restaurant?

6. Who is your favorite author?

7. What is your hobby?

8. What is your favorite color?

9. Who do you look up to?

10. Would you rather eat pizza for every meal or ice cream for every meal?

11. What kind of music do you listen to?

Thank you to the wonderful other people who nominated me as well. : )! 

GIVEAWAY- REMINDER

Friendly REMINDER***

Thankfulness : )

I've decided to link up A Year of Many Firsts to tell about what I am most thankful for. : )

Here is my momma and I! She is the best mom and friend a girl could EVER ask for!

Here is my daddy and I! I love him very much!

I am also thankful for all of my other family members who are not pictured : ) *my doggy Lyla included*

Next, I am thankful for my BEST friends. I am so blessed to have these women in my life. : )

I am sooooo thankful for my amazing students, beautiful school/classroom, teaching staff, and principal. I am so blessed to be a teacher at Claypool Elementary. I couldn't be happier. 

I am new to the blogging community, but so far I am really enjoying it! I can't wait to see what this journey brings me : )

Have a wonderful night*

Toodles*

*GIVEAWAY*

Here's my store link so you can pick your prize!!
TpT Store


Happy Following!

Currently...

I am linking up with Farley's Currently!

I am hoping to get some followers! I've decided the first 20 people to follow me will be entered into a drawing, and the winner will get to choose 3 items from my TpT store, for FREE! So, HAPPY FOLLOWING!!

Have a wonderful evening!!

Toodles*

SALE!

I am holding my first TpT sale! Come and check it out! 15% off everything in my store! Grab it up before it's gone! I recently added my Me on the Map unit as well as my Reward Coupons! The reward coupons are amazing! My kiddos have loved earning them, and I've saved money by not having to buy prizes for a prize box! 

Teacher's Pay Teacher's Store

Have a fantastic evening!

Toodles*

The Light of My Life

    I apologize for being MIA for the past week! I've been planning and preparing for my son's first birthday party! 
It was a lot of work, but it was well worth it-he deserves the world. He is the light of my life and to be able to celebrate his 1st year of life is truly a remarkable feeling. I love this little man so much! Here is a peek from his party yesterday!

Along with planning Jonah's birthday bash- I've been teaching my "Asking Questions" unit at school! The kids LOVE it! 
Some of the books I've used during this unit have been:

• Strega Nona (They really got into this book-one of my personal favorites)
• The Island of the Skog
• Charlie Anderson
• Big Al
• The Stranger
• The Three Pigs- Weisman

         

Asking Questions Packet- Click here to get it!

This is it thus far! I will post more this week! I use Making Meaning in my classroom, along with lessons I come up with. I am using a questioning unit right now that I made. It's posted in my TpT store. It's amazing and the kiddos love it. Check it out!

Have a wonderful MONDAY tomorrow...

Toodles : )

The Sweet Stuff

I sometimes need to redirect my frame of mind and focus on the good...I love my job so much and my students need me to be focused and happy. My goal is to be the best teacher for them this year, and that means not stressing out over the uncontrollable circumstances. I loved receiving this little gem today:

Love this! My kiddos are the sweetest little things! I get about 10 of these sweet notes a day : ), but some of them really make me smile- like this one. I am glad to know I am "budfool" in their eyes. Precious. 


Toodles*

Literacy Stations

I am basically in LOVE with literacy stations! : )!!!

We were told by our district we needed to start incorporating small group literacy stations and small group math stations into our curriculum. Many teachers were really stressing out about the change into our everyday schedules, mainly because the demands for us teachers are at times overwhelming, and the thought of adding more into our already crammed schedules is hard to hear! I GET IT.... fortunately for me...I had began literacy & math stations when I started teaching in my own classroom. Small group instruction is one of the most beneficial ways for children to learn, that's why I wanted to make stations a part of my classroom environment. My literacy/math station process took/takes a lot of preparation and planning, but the students LOVE them and they are very beneficial. I just posted some great visual aids for stations in a classroom on my store. Here is one slide-- 

Click Here for my store!

I plan on adding some more station/center ideas in posts to come, but for now I am off to watch ND win this game!

TOODLES!

Conferences!

Good evening! I am right in the middle of my parent teacher conferences. I love meeting the families and getting to know the children on more of a personal level! I am exhausted though! Just one more to go for the evening...Diet Mt. Dew has definitely been my best friend tonight! Once tomorrow is over...FALL BREAK! I am very excited to spend time with my baby and work on my products for my TpT store.

Diet MTN. DEW to the rescue!!







We just finished our Non-Fiction Unit. The notebook I created was a big success! The students LOVED taking ownership in their notebook. You can grab it for free in my store!
Non-Fiction Text Feature Notebook

Have a fabulous night!
Toodles!
Jamie

TpT

I am so excited! I just opened my TpT store and I already have 74 people who have downloaded my Non-Fiction Text Feature notebook! It's an awesome freebie, too! Right now, I know I don't have much of a following, (if any) on my blog. I am going to make it my goal to start marketing and advertising as much as possible to get my products out there. Check out my store! 

Taking the Plunge

I am thrilled to begin blogging! Let me introduce myself to you! My name is Jamie Kinsey. I am married to the man of my dreams. We got married 7-17-10. We were blessed with a little boy 11-8-11, His name is Jonah. Now, I have 2 amazing boys in my life. They bring me so much happiness. I am about to begin my 5th year (wow!) of teaching this coming August. Last year was my first year in 2nd grade, and I was gone for a fourth of the year because of my maternity leave. During the year, I discovered many amazing blogs, and they truly helped me have such a successful year. Honestly, last year was absolutely amazing my kiddos were great, but I am not going to tell you it was easy. I had a new baby at home, and I would still consider myself a "newly wed" plus all the demands of being a teacher...it was not easy. So, like I was saying, the blogs I discovered truly TRULY helped me last year. That's when I decided to start saving all the materials I was creating to share with others. One of my strengths is my creativity. I love to CREATE! I spent COUNTLESS hours creating many different funtivities ;) which aligned with the standards for my kiddos. I then set out to make a blog. Once I planned out what my blog would entail, I began.. and today is that day! 

I had the opportunity to participate in some professional development last week. I attended the All-Write conference. I was thrilled to hear Debbie Diller and Ruth Ayres speak! I was in teacher heaven! One of many things I took from this conference was the importance of expressing myself as a writer! So, here I am taking the plunge! I would truly appreciate comments and followers. 

(I am currently working on a Common Core notebook my kiddos will each get!- I am going to be linking a TpT store to my blog where you will be able to download many of my creations...I am new at this so patience is appreciated.)

Have a SUNNY day!