Thanksgivings Past

As most of you prepare for that traditional classroom Thanksgiving Feast, my thoughts turn to my 7 years of feasting, which led me to take a trip back in time through my old classroom pictures.  I thought I would share some of those pictures with all of you (embarrassing as they may be)!

We start our journey in 2001, when I was a young Student Teacher! 

My apologies for the bad picture quality (before my days of digital photography)

Then, on to my very first Kindergarten class in 2002 (pay no attention to the bare classroom)!

My first feast experience (60 Pilgrims & Indians together - WOW)

My 2003 Crew ~ getting a little better with the outfit design!

My 2004 Table Design (notice the cute little pilgrim hat napkin rings) :)

2005 ~ I finally got the Pilgrim Costume down!  Yay!

3 Little Pilgrims

2006 Feast

My last class before having my own Lil' Pilgrim!

Me as a Pregnant Pilgrim with our own Queen Bee!

Don't shoot me for posting this picture, Mrs. Huskey, we look pretty cute!  :)

So, I wish all of you out there the best of luck as you prepare for your classroom Thanksgiving Feasts!  Even though I'm not teaching right now, I fully intend on making a Pilgrim or Indian costume for my Little Man this Thanksgiving!

Organize It Tuesday!

Being organized is a difficult task.  One minute everything is in its place, and then in a blink of an eye you cannot find your desk.  One of the hardest things for me to keep organized in my classroom is my learning centers.  I have found a wonderful way to keep everything in its place, and give students some of the responsibility!  I created center cards for each area.  I took pictures of how I wanted the centers to look at clean up time.  I put them in a file folder, laminated the folders, and placed them in the corresponding centers.  At clean up time, students pull out the cards and check to make sure things are put away correctly!  This has been FABULOUS for my classroom!  If you have trouble with students putting things away correctly, creating task cards for them to use may be the answer to your troubles!  Happy Organizing! :)

Thanksgiving FREE Printable Unit

Do you teach toddlers, Pre-K, or Kindergarten?  If so, this unit is for you!  I compiled lots of ideas from around the web & from when I taught Kindergarten to bring you this 32-page Thanksgiving unit including crafts, math, books, snacks, & more!

To learn more about this unit, and download your FREE copy, click the picture below!

Enjoy!!!

Salute to Soliders

I just wanted to share an awesome activity that I found last year from Mrs. Jump's Class. I thought it would be fun so I had my creative assistant draw this up and my kids all constructed their own solider to salute last year. I just pulled this project out to do for next 

Thursday. I love these types of activities because everyone's is different. I love Mrs. Jump's website- it is so helpful! Here is a picture from last years class of soldiers.

Wonderful Wednesday Crafts {Under Cover Turkeys}

Hello, all!  I'm sure that everyone is starting their Thanksgiving lesson plans, so here is an activity that you may want to do with your "Little Turkeys" this year!


For several years, I did a Family Turkey Project with my kiddos around Thanksgiving.  The families had to work together to decorate a turkey & then I displayed them in the hallway!  So, why not make it into an UNDER COVER TURKEY Family Project!  It could be like an FBI project where the kids have to design a disguise for their turkey so that it doesn't become Thanksgiving Dinner!

Thank you to Miss Renee's Kindergarten Pond for the "Turkeys in Disguise" idea!  

I made an UNDER COVER TURKEY activity including the turkey template and the parent letter!  

It can be yours today for only $1.00!  Get yours today & start disguising those turkeys!!

Click HERE to purchase this activity!!!

Organize it Tuesdays!

As an elementary teacher, I have a lot of music that I use in the classroom.  Keeping music organized can be difficult!  When I started teaching, I used Cd's.  I would have to pre-load what I needed, then change out Cd's when I needed a new song.  This was NO fun.  I no longer have problems with finding the music I need!  I am so THANKFUL for my ipod!  Ipods are great for organizing classroom music.  After I got all my music on my computer, I was able to create play lists on my ipod.  I have a play list for Calendar Songs-which include weather, days of the week, months of the year, etc.  I have songs sorted by themes and subjects.  I have a play list for transitions, alphabet, and fun songs.  This is a quick way to get music.  Everything is organized, simple to use, and easy to find. My assistant loves it, because she can find things too!  If you do not use an ipod in your classroom, Christmas is right around the corner-add it to your list!

Organize it Tuesday!

Hey friends!  Hope everyone is having a fabulous week so far!  It is hard to believe October is almost over! As for getting organized this week, I am going to follow up with my notebooks.  I am glad to hear you all like this idea!  I LOVE my notebooks!  They make planning so much easier.  I am including some pictures of one of my notebooks this week.  Lets talk about the "guts" of the notebook.  I had to go through my files and get rid of some stuff.  All teachers are guilty of hanging on to way too many things.  I found that I had multiple copies of different items.  I also found that some things had been filed in the wrong folder (easy to do when using a filing cabinet that is FULL-LOL!)!  So, I went through all my materials, keeping only one master copy of each item.  I marked my masters with a yellow highlighter.  When you copy, the yellow does not show up.  Great way of keeping up with the originals!  After I weeding through my paper work, I then organized them, hole punched and placed in the appropriate notebook.  If I had a project that I made an example of I placed it in front of the papers need to create the project.  The notebook is divided on the inside by letter and theme.  There are so many options to use with this organization technique.  We would love to hear if you use notebooks to organize your materials, and how you do it!  Enjoy the picture!

                     Front Cover of "H" Book

Spine of "H" Book (just labeled with a sharpie)

                Inside tabs for letter "H" book