Easter Sunday Sale

This Easter Sunday there is a group of Teachers Pay Teachers sellers who are throwing a sale in their stores, and I just so happen to be one of them! This is my first sale that I have been able to participate in since my store is fairly new, so I am super excited. All of my store items will be 20% off on Sunday until midnight. Here is a sneak peek at what you can get at a discounted price:

For all of you getting ready to study all about a farm...

My Farm Literacy Pack includes five farm themed centers.

My Farm Math Pack include five farm themed math centers. 

Barn Glyph

Here are items for the classroom... Pick them up while they're on sale so you'll have them for the beginning of the year. 

A-Z Letter Banner in D'Nealian style. Pictures are aligned with Saxon Phonics.

Chevron Number Line with numeral, name, base ten blocks, tally marks, and counters. 

R.I.S.E. Evidence Binder

Along with all of these items for sale, I also have some freebies up that you may want to grab while you're at it. There certainly isn't a better time to load up your shopping carts than now, and save! 

Excitement in Room 103

Our weekly theme next week is one that I have been anticipating since the beginning of school. We will begin our study of life cycles. Why am I so excited about this theme, you ask? Well, we get to experience life in many different ways, and it is a great learning experience that can't come from any book. Next week we are going to be getting our own chicken eggs that we are going to hatch in our classroom in an incubator, we will be planting small plants to observe, and we will get to the life cycle of a butterfly and ladybug. Needless to say, its going to be an exciting week in our kindergarten classes!

Today we received a surprise a few days early. We got our ladybugs, our ladybug habitat, and our caterpillars! The kiddos were so excited! We didn't get to do much with our caterpillars yet, other than observing them in the cup they arrived in, and that was enough to make my kids happy. 

The caterpillars were a hit, but the ladybugs were an even bigger hit because we got to do more with them. When we got the habitat out of the box, we read the instructions on how to prepare it for the ladybug larvae and then we got busy. First, we had to put a few drops of water in the habitat because we learned that ladybugs love humidity. 

We then had to transport the ladybug larvae from the tube they arrived in with their nutritious food. This was quite the task because there was a little piece of paper inside of the tube as well, not sure why, but nonetheless, those larvae were stuck to that paper and did not want to come off! 

It all worked out though, and we will be monitoring the progress of our temporary classroom pets the next week, or until they are ready to be released. Next up, our baby chicks and our plants! No better time to be a Kindergartener, or a Kindergarten teacher! :) 

Peep Senses- April Freebies Linky Party

I am linking up with Stacy Pearson from Teacher's Take-Out for the April Freebies Linky Party. If you are looking for some free activities that can be used in your classroom this month, be sure to check out the blog and grab a few of the free activities featured in the link up. Thanks, Stacy, for this awesome link party that provides some great free resources!

I am linking up my Peep Senses activity.

With Easter right around the corner, and my students' love for a little science integration and candy, I created an activity that involves it all. Here's how it goes...

What you will need:

• Peeps (the popular Easter marshmallow candy) You will need enough so that each student gets one of their own. I used the bunny shaped ones, but the chick shapes ones would work as well. 
• Peep Senses activity. You can download this freebie from my TpT store here.

We explored the properties of the outside and inside of a Peeps candy using four of our senses: sight, touch, smell, and (the favorite) taste. My students had a blast doing this activity, and since it ended in eating the candy, they were completely engaged the entire time. Check it out, and I hope you are able to use it in your classroom as well.

Liebster Award

This is the first chance that I have had to sit down and do a post since the amazing Blogger Meet Up Blog Hop. Thanks, again, to Holly Ehle from Mrs. Ehle's Kindergarten Connections for coordinating the event and for working with Amanda Pauley from Mrs. Pauley's Kindergarten to coordinate the blog hop. Thanks and a huge welcome to all of my new followers, and congrats to Angie Henry for winning all of the wonderful prizes in the giveaway!

Yesterday, I was awarded the Liebstar Award by Marissa from First Grade Stars. This award is given to up-and-coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers, and is a way to welcome us new bloggers into the blogging world. Since my blog is only a month old, I have yet to round up a ton of followers. I sure do appreciate all of you followers I do have though! Thanks, Marissa, for the award!

As a Liebster Award nominee, I must answer all of Marissa's questions and give 11 random facts about myself. I will end with five blog nominees of my own.

1. What grade do you teach? What grades have you taught? How long have you been teaching?

I am a first year Kindergarten teacher, and an overall first year teacher. 

2. Which book do you read to your class every year without fail?

Well, since this is my first year of teaching, I am going to pick a book that I have read this year and will continue to read from this point on. I read My New Teacher and Me by Al Yankovic this year and loved the message behind the book. Now I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing, Weird Al writes children's book? Yes, yes he does. And not just any children's books. They are actually really good! I highly recommend My New Teacher and Me because it is a lesson to students to be themselves and a lesson to the teacher to appreciate each students for who they are, and to maybe even believe their wild stories. 

3. If you weren't a teacher, what would you be doing?

I honestly can't imagine doing anything other than teaching, but since I do need to answer this question, I would have to say something in the veterinary field or a photographer. I am such an animal lover, and could easily find happiness working with animals; not to mention it could kinda be comparable to teaching my kindergarteners on some days. ;) I also really enjoy taking pictures. I have purchased a nice Nikon D40; however, have yet to learn anything about how to get the most out of using it. One of these days maybe I will find the time to learn...

4. What is one thing you are just dying to buy for your classroom?

Pool noodles! At the Blogger Meet Up, someone brought pool noodles to swap as their teacher tool and used them in the classroom as base ten blocks! Something so simple, in yet, I had never heard it before. I can't wait to go out and buy these to use with my kiddos. 

5. What's your non-teaching guilty pleasure? 

I am not sure if it would be considered a "guilty" pleasure, but I love going to the gym. At the end of the school day, there is nothing quite like the stress relief I get from going and pumping some good ole iron, or doing those darn planks. 

6. What is your favorite book that is not teaching related?

This is a hard question for me to answer because I have SO many favorites! Since I have too many to choose from, I will pick the book that I am currently reading (and loving!), Divergent.

7. What is one thing on your bucket list? 

My bucket list grows every day; however, the number one thing on the list right now is to swim with dolphins. 

8. What is your favorite restaurant?

My favorite restaurant right now is a local pizza and beer brewery in Columbus, IN called Zwanzigs. My favorite restaurant that can be found elsewhere is probably Qdoba. 

9. Who would play you in a movie about your life?

I would have to pick Jennifer Aniston for this one. I just love her. 

10. What's one thing you could eat every day?

Pizza. I could eat pizza every single day. I am going to miss it while I am in training until October for a fitness competition. 

11. What inspired you to start blogging? 

When I started the education program at my university, I started a blog that I intended on keeping up with about my journey to becoming a teacher called The "Law-ng Road to Teaching." I wanted it to be full of do's and don'ts that I learned in my practicum experiences as well as memorable moments. Needless to say, it didn't make it much farther than creating and saving the name for myself. When I was offered my teaching position, I started a blog called Miss Law's Kindercampers that went along with the camping classroom theme I have going on this year. The chaos of the beginning of the year completely took over my life, and the blog was left in the dust. While sitting at home on a week we had two snow days in a row, I decided I was going to find a hobby to help me get through the final weeks of my boyfriend training for his physique competition where he went to bed at 7 every night and I was left up with our puppy, bored out of my mind. I opened my computer, and voila! The design, and name makeover of my previously created blog, was born. 

Alright, now on with the 11 random facts about myself:

1. My secret talent is jump roping. I grew up on a jump rope team for six years where I jumped at the competitive level. This stuff is no joke people.

2. I am training for a fitness competition in October. 

3. I am OBSESSED with my golden retriever puppy son, Max. I can't help it. He is just so darn cute!

4. I want to have five kids in my future, but I will settle with no less than two. 

5. I hanged myself when I was one with the mini blinds cord. (There is a real reason there is a WARNING tag attached, Mom!)

6. I traveled to Europe when I was sixteen with my French teacher. I visited France, Monaco, and Italy.

7. Fall is my favorite season.

8. I am a huge Disney fanatic.

9. I love anything pumpkin scented, but don't ask me to eat anything pumpkin related.

10. I would love to take a cooking class. I really enjoy cooking when I have the time and I don't have to worry about how healthy it is.

11. I love music. My taste in music is all over the place, but that is just because I appreciate good music, regardless of what genre. 

I hope all of you have enjoyed getting to know me a little bit better. Now it is time for my nominees to do the same. Here are the rules:

1. Link back to my blog as the one who nominated you.

2. Nominate five blogs with fewer than 200 followers

3. Answer the questions I posted.

4. Share 11 random facts about yourself.

5. Contact your nominees to let them know they have been chosen. 

My five nominations are:

Check out these blogs! Enjoy!

Spring Blogger Meet Up Blog Hop

As I had posted in an earlier blog post, a couple weekends ago I was given the opportunity to meet up with other teacher bloggers from around the country. The weekend was full of inspiration and was a breath of fresh air to get me through until the end of the school year. Just what I needed!









At the blog meet up, Holly Ehle with Mrs. Ehle's Kindergarten Connections, the wonderful lady who coordinated it all, thought it would be a great idea for us to do a "teacher tool swap." The instructions were to bring our favorite teacher tool(s) all wrapped up and we would play a game to swap them with other teachers at the meet up.





I LOOOOOOOOVED my "tools" I received during this swap. I received a container similar to a Lysol wipes container that had been refurbished into an awesome container full of goodies. Inside I received some Crayola Pixie Dust crayons, a pack of gel pens, some bedazzled clothespins for organizing, and two other bigger, pretty paper clips. As soon as I got my tools, I began to think of ways they were going to be implemented into my classroom.

During writing time, I choose one student a day to be my "Writing Warrior." This is a student who, the day before, worked really hard on their writing, worked quietly, and produced a "share-worthy" piece of writing. The Writing Warrior got to use a special box full of special markers, pens, and crayons for writing time. The box that I had was getting pretty worn out, and the markers were all becoming used up. Pretty sure half of the crayons were eaten as well. This teacher tool worked out great to replace my old box, and gave my students a newfound interest in working hard during writing time. PERFECT TIMING!

Back to being at the blog meet up...

A ton of great companies donated items to be used as giveaways at our gathering. I was the first name drawn in the giveaway, and I won an item donated by Improv Electronics called a Boogie Board! Not one to be used at the beach, although I suppose it could be. A Boogie Board is a really cool LCD writing tablet that erases at the push of a button. Perfect for classroom use! I will admit, I have a classroom set of six iPads in my room in which we have an app called Doodlebuddy which is basically the same thing as Boogie Board; however, this is something new to my classroom, so you better believe my students will be super excited! I have yet to bring it in for them to use, but next week, it is happening. I can't wait. Here are the donated items that we received as gifts from generous donations...

  Vera Bradley (and yes, those are the newest prints!)

 SDE National Conference Tuition (Giveaway Item) and Erin Condren giftcard 

 Scentos Pens with ten different colors and scents in one!

The new Scentos markers that are yet to be released.

 Crayola 

Jamberry samples! (I had never used this prior to receiving these samples, and I AM HOOKED!)

Have I mentioned how wonderful the teacher blog meet up was? I have? Well, let me give you three more reasons as to why it was so wonderful and refreshing:

1.) Anytime you can meet up with other people who enjoy the same things you do, and know what you go through every day at work, is seriously so refreshing. I can talk to my boyfriend, Alex, all day long about my job and he doesn't fully understand what I am talking about. Its not because he doesn't want to understand, but since he is in a totally different line of work, it all comes out as gibberish to him. The ability to sit and talk, leisurely, about teacherly things was so nice. I especially enjoyed when I got to talk to other kindergarten teachers because they, quite simply, get the madness that is endured day in and day out. I love my job and wouldn't trade it for the world, but some days it feels like I am a zookeeper. You can't put a price on the connections I was able to make with the other teachers that day. Period.

2.) The ability to get new, fresh ideas from other educators via blogs was refreshing. Since this was a teacher blog meet up, we all were given the opportunity to let others know about our blogs. We each brought our own "business cards" with our name and blog link so that everyone could, on their own, explore the many wonderful resourceful blogs we each have. It opened up an array of exciting new ideas. The ideas I have gathered aren't just activities and lesson plans to be implemented into my classroom; I have also learned some great classroom management, time management, and organizational ideas as well. (Not to mention some decorating ideas.) I am constantly looking for ways to continue to grow as an educator, and it makes it so easy to just hop over to these blogs and learn. I love it!

3.) Friendships. Not only did I create new friendships with teachers from other states, I was also able to strengthen my friendships and build new ones with other educators in my district. I went on this trip with a fellow kindergarten teacher from my building, a third grade teacher from another elementary in the district, and the music lead teacher for our district. When you travel for an hour for an overnight trip, you're bound to get to know one another, and I really enjoyed my time with them. I also really enjoyed getting to know new teacher friends. I am a people person, you kinda have to be to be in the teaching business, and I enjoy meeting new people. I have new friendships walking away from the weekend, and have kept in contact with several of them ever since. I am excited for future meet ups to reconnect with all these wonderful people!

As I have referred to earlier, we had several companies donate items to be given to each person as either a gift for attending the blog meet up or as a giveaway prize. There is an opportunity for you, as a follower, to WIN ALL OF THESE PRIZES! Let me tell you from experience, you won't be disappointed. All you need to do in order to enter for the chance to win them is to go and check out the Primary Inspired blog and continue on through the blog hop. You will need to continue to hop through until you reach the blog with the giveaway. Good luck!

Click on the picture below to visit Primary Inspired and continue on with the blog hop.

Buggin' Out

This week our theme was Spring and Bugs/Insects. Yesterday we learned about who an entomologist is and what they do. We made an adorable entomologist and wrote about our favorite bug.

We finished the lesson by watching a video on entomology on wonderville.com. 

We also played a game on the University of Kentucky's (Go Wildcats!) Entomology Department website designed for kids. I showed a picture of an insect and we tried to guess what it was called. We then read a description of the insect. 

Next week our theme will be Easter, and I am really excited about the activities that I have planned!