Celebrating with a giveaway!!

Hello all my 4th grade friends! I am slowly closing down this blog and slowly establishing my kindergarten blog and I am so excited to have 25 followers on my new blog! To celebrate reaching 25 followers I am doing a giveaway and you have a chance to win TWO items of your choice from my TPT store!!! Head on over to my Kindergarten blog (by clicking on the picture) to see what's going on and what you have to do to enter (It's really painless I promise)

ONLINE Thirty-One Party!!!!! Join the Fun!!!

Hello all!! I am so excited I am hosting an ONLINE Thirty-One party!! It closes 1 week from today on Wednesday the 20th (the websites says it closes on the 13th but that's incorrect I promise it is open until the 20th!). 

There are all sorts of super cute bags, purses, lunch boxes, and organizational tools!! I have what I call the Ultimate Teacher Bag but they call it the Organizing Utility Tote (pictured below) but it is the PERFECT teacher bag! Lots of pockets, plenty of room for books, pens, markers, all sorts of goodies!! 

If you want to place an order follow these simple was steps

1. Click on the picture of the bag below (or go to www.mythirtyone.com/Afox)

2. Click on "MY PARTIES" (You can also browse through the catalog from this page too)

3. Then find my name - Cindy Foreman - and click where it says "SHOP NOW" 

4. VERY IMPORTANT if you place an order make sure that you choose to have your order shipped directly to you otherwise it will be sent to me and I'll have to send it to you and it will take longer for you to get your stuff. 

Also if you order please leave me a comment and tell me what you ordered!! I love to know what everyone likes (and that way if for some reason your order comes to me I can get it to you)

Graphics??? Where do I get them?? HELP!!!

I see so many cute things on Teachers Pay Teachers and I have a ton of ideas I want to create and put in my store but I don't know where to buy graphics and pictures and all that to make them with. I know all you great ladies have awesome stuff that you put out there do can someone please tell me where to find graphics???

My first giveaway!!!

Hello all, as I have mentioned, next year I am leaving 4th grade and returning to my first love... Kindergarten! I have created a brand new Kindergarten blog called "Krazy Kindergarten Teacher"

SOOOOOO to introduce everyone to my new Kindergarten blog I am having my very first giveaway!!

Head on over to my new Kinder Bloggy home (just click on the picture) to see the details!!
See y'all over there!

New Blogger give away!!

Hey all, I am posting this on my 4th grade blog since this is for a new upper grades blogger! Every New Beginning is having a great giveaway for a Target gift card!! She is new to the bloggy world so head on over and show her some love!! Click on the picture below to check it out!!

My new bloggy home!!!

Hello all!! As I mentioned in my post on the 15th I am going to be moving from 4th grade back to Kindergarten next school year. Since we are only 13 days away from the end of our year I wanted to create a fresh new blog to go along with my fresh new grade level assignment! I couldn't be happier to be returning to Kindergarten after spending 2 wonderful years in 4th grade. I didn't realize how much I have missed teaching kindergarten! I guess deep down I am a kindergarten teacher at heart and not even 2 years of teaching 4th grade has been able to change that.

Anyway I want to invite all my followers to come on over to my new bloggy home at THE KRAZY KINDERGARTEN TEACHER I look forward to seeing you all there!!

Change is a good thing!

I am SO excited!! Today is my birthday and I got the BEST birthday present! I was offered a position at a very nice school just down the road from my current school! I am SUPER excited BUT I will need to change the name of my blog to Fun in KINDERGARTEN!!! I am going BACK to teaching Kindergarten!!! I taught Kindergarten for 8 years before I moved to 4th grade and I am excited and not just a little bit, but a LOT freaked out to be going back! BUT I am so excited to have the opportunity to teach at the school I am transferring to. It is an AWESOME school with an AMAZING principal!!!

I interviewed on Friday for a possible 4th grade position and the principal told me that at the time the 4th grade teacher was on medical leave and she wasn't sure if she was coming back or not. She was very complimentary to me and she was very interested in hiring me and she said she really hoped she would have a position to offer me in near future. She called me tonight and told me that she had a teacher come in to her today and tell her that she was leaving and that she wanted to offer me that position and then she told me it was KINDERGARTEN!! She said she immediately thought of me because of my experience teaching kindergarten and my National Board certification in early childhood and she wanted to offer me the position! She said that if she has an upper grade position open up that she would move me up if I want.

I am SO excited but so nervous about going back to kinder! I mean it was my passion, I love teaching kids to read and I feel like I was at my best when I was teaching kindergarten. Ever since my interview on Friday I have been praying that God would lead me down the right path and maybe He wants me back with the little ones. Oh boy, He definitely thinks I am strong LOL Moving up was easy, moving back down is going to be a challenge but I am always ready for a challenge!

Ok sooooo if any of you know of any great Kindergarten blogs please please please share them with me!! I will be looking for all sorts of ideas since I'll be a "newbie" again

Homework Woes

OK, as we wind down this school year (only 18 schools days left) it is time to reflect on the year and start thinking about things I want to do differently and/or better next year. Considering this is the end of my 2nd year in 4th grade I still have quite a bit to reflect on but I feel like the area that I just can't figure out is homework. Actually checking homework to be specific. I have no problem assigning the homework its just finding an easy and quick way to check it and see who has their's completed and who doesn't.

I have had the kids turn it in daily and weekly but turning it in just doesn't seem to be working for me. I would like to figure out a routine to establish first thing in the morning that allows me to quickly do a homework check and then move on with the day. Also one of our "social Development" grades is "Completes homework" so I need to have a system that allows me to keep track long term.

Sooooo Here's what I am thinking - and I would LOVE some feedback or ideas.
1 - Get a small notebook
2 - Print off a weekly class list spread sheet with a daily column each for Spelling, Vocab, and Math
3 - Set up the routine that when the students enter the classroom in the morning they unpack and put their homework on their desk
4 - as they write their new homework assignment in their agenda I can walk around and check off who has their homework and who doesn't.

This sounds simple in writing but will it actually work? Please share how you check your homework I would love to have some ideas for next year!

Please vote for me (starting 5/14)

I was so surprised when I opened my email today and found out that little ole me had been nominated for the 2012 Fascination Award for Elementary Teacher Blogs. I was nominated because of my post back around Valentine's Day title "Feeling a little better" (click on it if you want to read that post).

Anyway, I am SO excited that I was nominated!! If I win I get a $100 restaurant gift card! Voting opens on May 14th (the day before my birthday) so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote for me! You can use the button above!

Field Day 2012

Today we had our annual 3rd - 5th grade Field Day. Our theme this year was the Olympics. Each class chose a country to represent and then we designed banners and flags and "uniforms" to go with our country. We chose Egypt and my class decided they wanted to be The Mysterious Mummies of Egypt! LOL! So I enlisted the help of my extremely talented and artistic son (something he did NOT get from me LOL) to help us out. He made us 2 banners and he drew a picture of a mummy that I then copied onto iron on transfer printer paper and ironed on to our shirts. Here are a couple pictures of our finished products:

This is a close up of the kids' shirts - my baby drew that picture!

Here is my very talented and artistic son holding one of the shirts, standing in front of the banners my class made for him. His birthday is Tuesday so we had a surprise "Thank You/Happy Birthday" party for him yesterday

Not a very flattering picture of me, but this is my shirt, and my son had one just like it

Today was the big day and the kids were so excited! We always have an opening ceremony that includes a parade of classes and gives the judges a chance to see all the costumes and banners the classes have made and at the end of the day they choose a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner. The winners are judged on their costumes and creativity but also on their sportsmanship and their respect for each other and the other teams. I am very proud to say that my class won 3rd place out of all the 3rd - 5th grade classes (about 22 classes) Here are some pictures of our parade "gear" and some of the kids participating in the activities

2 of my little mummies holding the Sphinx

The flag of Egypt

a scene from Egypt including the pyramids and some camels

my mummies

more of my little mummies

more of my little mummies

My son is awesome! He let us drape him up in linen cloth like a mummy!

Me and my baby boy!

Getting ready for the parade

my group with all their banners

my son doesn't give us time to pose, he just starts snapping pictures LOL

Now we're ready! 

Scooter races

cone/ball race - hopping on 1 foot

Belly Ball

My son has a heart as big as the Egyptian Pyramids - this young lady is a 4th grader from another class and none of the kids would be her partner for belly ball so my son stepped in there and was her partner - he encouraged her all the way! I am SO proud of the young man he has become.

Here they are coming around to the end of the course

getting ready for the foot races

Lets go girls!

There goes the boys!

bat relay

Literature Circles

Since we are all finished with state testing I have been trying to figure out what is the best use of time for my reading block. We are currently reading "Hoot" as a class and we have been doing class novels all year long. So I thought I would try something new and do literature circles. I have never done them before but I thought that since we have sort of been doing them all year long as a class that maybe it was time to let the kids try it on their own as well. SO I found some great resources on Teachers Pay Teachers for literature circles (sorry the link is on my school computer) and I made a folder for each group and let them choose their book and explained to them the expectations. They were so excited! They did so well choosing their jobs for the week and figuring out how many pages they needed to read each day to meet the goal of finishing the book buy the set date, and they started reading.  I am thinking, if this goes as well as it did today, this may be something I begin to implement every year after our state testing. Below are some pictures of my kiddos in their literature circles. Since this is all new to me if you have any advice for literature circles please share!

Walk Like An Egyptian...

I have been absolutely MIA lately I have been so busy taking care of my sweet daddy and I set up a family blog to keep family and friends from out of town updated on my dad and posting pictures from our visits. I haven't had much to post either because it has been testing time here in Florida but now I'm back...

Well one of the best times of year is upon us my school does an annual Field Day and every year it is a big deal! Every year we have a theme and each class comes up with a team uniform and cheers and other team building and class spirit things. Then we have Opening Ceremonies where we have a parade and the classes are judged on class spirit and sportsmanship and the kids just have a blast with it! They even have trophies for the classes with the most spirit and creativity. 

My school has only been open for 6 years and each year the themes get better and better. The first couple years it was just colors. Last year each class in the school chose a different college and we used their colors and mascot to define our team. This year our theme is the Summer Olympics and each class in the school had to choose a country that was participating in the 2012 Summer Olympics and my class chose Egypt! We have spent a few days discussing our team name, our uniform and our banners. The kids have all made an Egyptian Flag to carry during the opening ceremonies (just like the real Olympics). The kids have decided that they want our team name to be "The Mysterious Mummies of Egypt" and they want to dress like mummies LOL They are too funny! So I had to figure out a way to make them look like mummies and still have them able to participate in the sporting events that are the main focus of field day. So I got white t-shirts and tie dyed them tan to give them an old look. We weren't done yet...

We enlisted my son (the soon to be art major) to come and help us draw up 2 banners, one with the pyramids of Egypt and the other with the Sphinx. We set up 3 stations and had the students volunteer for a "committee" we had a flag committee, a shirt committee, and a banner committee.

The Flag Committee was in charge of creating a large Egyptian flag banner that we can carry in front of our class for the opening ceremonies

The Shirt Committee was in charge of cutting up the tie dyed shirts to make them look "mummie-ish"

The Banner Committee was working with my son Garrett to create our banners. While Garrett drew the scenes for us the banner committee wrote out each of their classmates' names in hieroglyphics!

The kids are so excited for Field Day on Friday and they have decided that they are also going to use toilet paper to add to the mummy look LOL I can't wait to take and post pictures of them all decked out! Below are some pictures of them working in the committees

Making our Mummy shirts

Having fun cutting up shirts

Flag committee hard at work

Writing a classmate's name in heiroglyphics

Hard at work on the flag

Garrett busy working on our banner

Putting the final touches on the flag