"A Little Super Hero Extravaganza!!"

This is just a little "Super Hero Extravaganza" for my daughter's new classroom!  I just thought I'd share a few of the things I'd been working on for her.  I love Pinterest, but sometimes it can be a really, really bad thing, if ya know what I mean, lol.  My daughter is going to be teaching Pre-K this year and she has been very busy finding things on Pinterest she'd like to decorate her room with.  She finds it and then asks mom to create it!!  So, I've been a little busy making stuff for her the past week or so and just thought I'd show you a few of "super heroes" I've created. 

First up, is her door sign.  I don't know who originally had this idea, but it's adorable!!  All Kaele has to do is tie a yellow ribbon in the top right-hand corners!  Then, it will be complete!

Next up, the name plates for their little lockers!!  I also made smaller ones for her to use for other things in the classroom!!!

 This little jobber is her newsletter template!  I'm going to make a couple more different choices for her to use over the course of the school year!  But, this will get her started!

And last, I made her some postcards to invite her little ones to "Meet and Greet with Mrs. Smith"!  I still have her Center rotation cards to make yet, but I'm getting really close to having everything caught up!!  Yeah!!

I hope you enjoyed a little peek at our "Super Hero Extravaganza"!!!  Have a great night!

Vacation and Grandbabies!!!

Hi y'all!
I know this is a teaching blog, but sometimes it's just fun to share family!   

My son and his wife just returned from their vacation up in Chetek, Wisconsin.  My husband and I have been discussing about going up to Wisconsin in the near future to try out the four-wheeler trails.  They look so fun!!  Any recommendations???  I know some of you live in that area, so what do you think??

Any who, I thought I'd share a few pictures of my adorable little babies!  Who doesn't love seeing pictures of little ones?!  So, sit back and enjoy!

This cool little dude is Wesson!  He is going to be a first grader this next school year and the oldest of all of my grandbabies!  Not so much a baby anymore! 

 This is him last year on Father's Day!                             This handsome little guy is Wyatt!  He's 3 and always a happy little guy!!

 Wyatt a year ago on Father's Day!  Love the expression!!          And, this little cutie pie is Willow! 

 Lovin' the swing at the cabin!  Look at that smile!!  Love it!

New Blog Design!! Whoo! Hoo!

Hi everyone, I am so very excited about my new blog design!! Dani (Crayonbox Learning) did an amazing job and was fantastic to work with!! Just click on the above link to get to her blog. My adorable clip art is from Mel Lloyd (Graphics from the Pond)! Mel was a dear and helped me out when I wasn't sure what to do!! I can't say enough about how great these two girls were in helping me!! They both answered a bunch of questions and were always willing to answer! Thank you Dani and Mel! You're both the best!! I also got a little facelift on my Facebook page and over at my TPT store!! I hope you'll take a minute to check it all out! 

Throw Back Science Post!!

This year we tried to do science experiments 3 afternoons a week!  To say the kids were always asking if it was science time would be an understatement!  They loved science!!!  

So, tonight I thought I'd share a little on our egg science!!  Now, these experiments were done in April, so please forgive me for not posting on my blog sooner.  I did post them on my school facebook page, so they didn't really happen today.  This is the post I shared with my parents!!  Hope you're able to grab a few ideas to use with your little ones this next school year!!

Today we traveled outside to perform our science experiments with eggs!  It was so much fun and these little people could hardly wait for the day to be half over, so we could go outside and see what would happen with our eggs.  Yes, we used real fresh eggs!  No, they were not hard boiled.  Needless to say, we had a few little egg white and yolk spills, but no biggie!  Too much fun!

I think their favorite experiment was the one involving inertia.  To perform this experiment we filled a glass cup with water, put a tin pie plate on top of the glass.  Then, we put a toilet paper roll on the pie tin right above the glass.  On the tippy top of the toilet paper roll we put a fresh egg.  Finally, you hit the side of the tin pie plate with your hand.  The plate slide off and the toilet paper roll holds the egg in the air for just a moment and then drops into the glass of water.  The first time Mrs. McLaren hit the tin, the egg did not fall into the glass.  However, the next time it did.  Cheers from all the little people!!  Yeah!

The pictures where you see the green paper plate was another really cool experiment.  For this one all you need is a paper plate, an egg and an empty water bottle.  Crack the egg onto the paper plate.  Gently place the water bottle right over the yolk.  Squeeze the water bottle and suck the yolk up into the bottle.  So cool!!!

The last group of pictures shows the little cowpokes trying to break the eggs by squeezing them.  If you put your hand around an egg and squeeze it will not break.  If you hold the egg by your index finger and thumb with one on the top and one on the bottom and squeeze, again it will not break.  Amazing!

We have one experiment we are going to have to try again.  It didn't work out today.  You need a glass jar (we tried it with plastic), a piece of paper to burn, a lighter or matches and an egg.  The egg needs to be a little fatter than the opening on the jar.  You light the paper on fire, drop it into the jar and place the egg up and down on the jar.  The heat is supposed to soften the membrane of the egg to allow it to drop down into the jar.  We were not successful today, but we will be trying again!!   

Hope you enjoy our pictures and maybe try some of these fun "eggy" experiments at home with your little ones!!

Christmas in July Sale!!

Hi everyone,
Wanted to let you know I'm having a little "Christmas in July Sale" over at my TPT store.  I'd love for you to check it out!!  The sale will run from July 14th through the 17th.  Happy shopping!!

Flash Freebie!!

Hi y'all,
I wanted to let you know about a "huge" Flash Freebie Day(s) being hosted by Briana Beverly over at "Sun, Sand and Second Grade"!  Briana has two days of fantastic freebies planned for y'all.  The fun will begin at 8:00 A.M. Eastern Time on Monday, July 13th and end at 10:30 P.M. on Tuesday evening, July 14th!!!  I hope you will hop over to her blog throughout the day and again on Tuesday to grab up all of these goodies!!!  I can't wait!! 

On Tuesday, my little product will be "freebie flashing" from 9:30-10:00 A.M.  Here's a sneak peek of what you'll be getting, if you hop over to my TPT Store!  It's my "Wild About Animals Research Packet"!! 

 There are instructions on how you might choose to use the research packet, a list of 49 different animals and the research pages for each, plus blank copies of the research pages, just in case you have an animal you'd like your little ones to study that wasn't included in the packet!

 I've also included the Common Core Standards for Kindergarten and 1st grade.  Many of the 2nd grade standards are also covered, as well as some 3rd grade.  Below are a few pictures of the research pages along with a student sample about alligators done by one of my kindergarteners!! Who doesn't just love the way a kindergartener thinks!!

 For the upper grades, you might want to change the research pages to "Creature Features"!  Below are the pages in this part of the research packet.  First, I give an explanation for the feature, then there is a student page where they fill in the information about their creature's feature and draw an illustration of their creature.  I've included a couple of samples of the writing parts done by a first grade.  I found I wanted to change these pages after we did this activity, so the illustrations are not included.  So, sorry!!

Well, I hope y'all will hop over to "Sun, Sand and Second Grade" to see all of the flash freebies!!  Remember, this will only be on Monday and Tuesday, July 13th and 14th!!  What a fun way to start to get ready for the new school year!!