WOW!  I just can't believe that the end of summer is HERE!!!!  I am officially back to work as of tomorrow :(  I am looking forward to seeing my new class of Kinders though - I am always so curious to see what they are going to be like!  Am I going to have a "Golden Year" or a not so shiny one???  I am a bit nervous about the amount of energy I will be using over the next few weeks!  Thankfuly my husband is also a teacher (High School so this is not as tough of a month for him!!!)  so he understands the pressures  I am under at this time!!!  Did I mention that two of my boys are also football players - one Varsity!!!  one for our local "Little League" football team so I have practice 6 days a week to contend with also!!  WOW!!!

In honor of BTS for me and many others, Linda from Primary Instirations is having a Back to School Linky party!  Many of us have linked up our FAVORITE back to school ideas to make the transition easier for us and the kiddos!  Head on over to her blog here to see what has been posted - I posted a few of my favorites over there as well...
My Complete Dolch Word Cards Set
This set gives you all 220 words in super cute Polka Dot theme!  Great for word walls, flash cards, Daily 5...

I have also added my super cute Polka Dot Classroom Schedule Cards and Job Chart - I LOVE Polka Dots in  my classroom :)

Finally, I added my Monkey Theme Teacher Resource and Organized Binder - I can't believe how many of these products I have sold!!  It is my BEST SELLER!!!  I'm very excited about that - I love the Monkey in my classroom and it makes me so happy that other people do as well!!

What are some of your favorite Back to School things to use in your classroom???  Leave me a comment so we can share!!!
Enjoy your day!!

Back to School Sale!!!

Hi All!
I'm super excited to announce that TPT is having a ONE DAY Back to School sale today only!!!  Head on over to my store to select any of my products for 20 % off!!!  WOW!!!
Did you know you can get the ENTIRE set of Dolch Word cards for only $7.60!!!  It originally valued at over $12!!!  You can pick up my matching word wall headers for FREE too!! WOW!!!!

Also, the bundled A to Z Letter Recognition set is valued at $8 and is on sale for $4.60!  That's just about HALF OFF!!!

Finally, my store had LOTS of adorable Monkey Themed resources for free and on sale today!!  I LOVE my monkey classroom and the kids do too!!!

Head on over to my TPT store at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kinderland-Kuties for some great back to school reasources!!!
Happy Shopping!!!

Cooking up a Great Giveaway!

So I have linked up with Carla at the Comprehension Collection site for her HUGE giveaway!  You can enter her raffle to win a tremendous amount of prizes!  They all look super cool and exciting J  I have donated an item from my store to help her out.  If you haven’t seen it yet – go ahead and check her out!

http://www.comprehensionconnection.net

My giveaway of a $25 TPT certificate ends tomorrow!!!  Make sure you visit this link to enter :)

On a side note, I have been putting SO much time and energy already into preparing my room for the KinderKids this year!  I am really working my Monkey Theme and so many things are turning out ADORABLE!!!!    I am so excited to share with you very soon when I do my “Classroom Reveal!!!”

The reason I chose Monkeys as my theme was simple, when I first started teaching Kindergarten (after moving from 2^nd) I just had baby boy #3 whose nickname was Monkey.  (Very appropriately named by the way – he truly thinks the entire house is his own personal jungle gym!!!)  In order to keep this teacher-mom from bursting into tears at the thought of going back to work, I decided to bring a bit of MY monkey to school with me!  The theme just stuck – now I have a monkey classroom that I adore!  My kiddos love getting me cute monkey stuffed animals, monkey pens or paper, anything monkey on it they are so excited to give me!  I even had a kiddo find a pack of Choco-Banana candies with monkeys on it!!!  So much fun J

What type of theme do you use in your classroom???  How do you go about incorporating it into your teaching??? I would LOVE to hear from you!!!

Thanks for “hanging” around with me today!!!

Here is my sweet Monkey Boy on his third birthday!  I just love him to bits!!!  Don't let that precious smile deceive you though...  :)

Meet the Teacher (Linky)

Hi Everyone!  My name is Hilary and this is my FIRST Linky Party!!!  I’m super excited and a bit nervous – Here I go!!!

I am an (almost) 40 year old wife, mother, teacher and brand new blogger in Southeast Michigan!!!  This is my 14^th (wow that sounds strange!!!) year of teaching and my 4^th in Kindergarten.  I taught 2^nd grade prior to heading over to Kinderland.  I love my job and am looking forward to starting the year with my new Kinder-babes soon!

I married my super-dooper husband (who is also a teacher!!!) 12 amazing years ago!  He is a wonderful friend, father and husband and I am truly blessed to call him my own!  I have 4 amazing children – Bubba is 17 and a SENIOR in High School (sniff-sniff), a ten year old PipSqueak, an almost 4 (in October) Monkey and finally my almost 2 (again in October) Sassy Girl!  Yes, I have quite the age gap between my children but God has blessed me over and over again so I am truly grateful for what he has given me!!  3 boys and the baby is a girl –I LOVE being a mom!!!

I have really enjoyed starting my blog and my TPT store this summer.  It’s been a super fun experience and I am looking forward to watching them both grow and develop over the coming months!!  Stop by often as I would LOVE to hear comments, suggestions and anything else you might have J

 Here I am with my sweet hubby, Bubba, PipSqueak, Monkey Boy and my Sassy Girl!!  I am so blessed to have such an amazing family!  They sure do keep me busy but young!!!

All my loves and I on vacation last year!!

Q & A Session –

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS…

Hmmmm – I have lots!!!  Other than my family (did I mention how cute my kids are!!)  I love Sharpe markers, fun gel pens, primary/rainbow colors, Harry Potter books, taking pictures – LOTS of pictures, baseball (Go Tigers!!!), football (Go Lions!!), Target and Kohls, So You Think You Can Dance, anything Green and White, and all things Irish!!!!!

IF YOU WEREN’T A TEACHER WHAT WOULD YOU BE??

A Wedding Coordinator!!!  I totally picture myself like Jennifer Lopez in that movie – awesome emergency apron and all!!!  Falling for Matthew McConaughy helps too!!

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU.

Loyal, spirited, exuberant

  FINISH THE SENTENCE, "________,  SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!"

                             Is it June ALREADY…  said NO teacher ever!!!

Q: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE {DEAD OR ALIVE} TO THE PARTY. WHO ARE YOU INVITING?

My grandparents – I am always talking about all 4 of them to my children and I would love for them to see how amazing they were!!  Of course I would have to include Ryan Gosling (ohhh laaa laaa!!!) and Julie Bowen (Modern Family – I just LOVE her!!!)

Q: IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?

Controlled Chaos!!

 Q:YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER. WHAT IS IT?

 I thought teaching WAS a superpower!!!

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

So many Dr. Seuss ones!!!

**Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.

** A person’s a person no matter how small.

**To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world. (My favorite!)

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? 

Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler  

Q: ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?

Definitely a Night Owl!!!

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCE THAT YOU'VE CREATED IN YOUR TPT SHOP?

I’m still just starting out so I don’t have much – I’m working on a Sight Word packet that is AWESOME!!!!  However I think for now, my favorite is the Ato Z Letter Recognition Mixed Practice Set.  My Kinders LOVE This activity and they really get a chance to practice lots of skills with one activity!

 Q: SHARE SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU! 

I was born on my Mom’s birthday!!!  It’s super special to me to be able to share such a special day with such a special lady!!  I LOVE my Momma!!!

Special thanks to Stephanie from Falling into First for setting this all up!  How fun and I have now done my FIRST Linky!!!  Yeah me :)

Super Exciting Back To School Sale!!!

I am so excited to share Super Exciting news with you!!!  I am having my FIRST EVER TTP sale!!!  TPT is having their annual Back to School Blast Off Sale and I am participating!!!  Everything in my store will be on sale for %20 off!!  I have a ton of new things that I will be adding so make sure you check in often to see what you need!!  I will also be making special Back to School Bundles just for this sale!!

To celebrate this amazing news, I am having a giveaway raffle!  I am giving one lucky person a $25 TPT gift certificate to be spent online!!!  Enter the giveaway through the Rafflecopter below!  Good luck and Happy Shopping!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pondering More Followers!!

I’m so amazed at the amount of teachers who are giving away great prizes for following their blog!!!  I wonder if that would work for me??  What do you do to get more followers on your blog site??  Hmmmm…  Something to ponder!  I was just saying today how much I love blogging and writing about what I am doing but I feel like my blogs go off into space!!!   I kinda like to compare it to a message in a bottle – where it goes and who gets it no one knows!!!!

If you do read my blog, feel free to leave me a comment or two.  It is very inspiring to realize that there are people out there who like what I have to sayJ

Speaking of great giveaways…Melanie from the Teachers Lounge is doing a $50 TPT giveaway!!!  $50!!!!  Here is the link to her blog if you want to enter J  Good luck if you do!!

Wishing you great success in everything you do,

Hi again Bloogland!!!  How is everyone doing today???  I am hoping you are having a fantastic summer relaxing, refreshing and reenergizing yourself J  What is the best thing you have done so far???  Leave me a comment and let me know your best vacation spot, your favorite way to relax or simply your favorite thing to do over your summer break.

I have been busy this week perfecting and finalizing my Monkey Themed Teacher Binder!  This is the mother load of all organizational binders J  It includes lesson plan templates, seating chart examples, parent forms, student forms, class lists, you name it, I probably have it!  (If I don’t feel free to let me know J

 I have the binder set listed on TPT and am so excited to share it with you!  You can see it here!  Feel free to check out my store while you are there – it is growing pretty quickly!!  I am hopeful that I will be able to post a few more Binder designs by tomorrow – wish me luck!!!

Here is the link to my TPT page!!
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the last few moments of summer (sniff sniff)!!

Very Exciting News!!

Very Exciting!!! 

Kaitlyn from Smiles and Sunshine is having a giveaway!!!  Head over to her blog here  to enter too!!  She is giving away Amazon, TPT and Target gift cards!!  WOW!!!

Good Luck and make sure to follow my blog and leave some comments!!!

Enjoy,

Here is another Sight Word Activity Pack - Bingo Dotter pages!!!  Check them out here :)

Check them out on my TPT store here!!

I’ve been super busy this summer – can you tell!!!  Actually most of the things I have been posting are what my Kinder-team and I used last year.  I am just tweaking and updating them to make them completely awesome for everyone to use!!

I am adding one of my favs that I created last year.  It is the Pre-Primer Sight Word Activity Packet!  I used the Dolch words and created these totally awesome activities for the kiddos to use.  There are lots of ways to incorporate these into your own classroom.  They can be used for morning work, homework, or extra practice.  I liked printing these onto cardstock, laminating them and using them as a Daily 5 Word Work station!!  You can’t get much easier than that for authentic and engaging practice.

Click here to grab these from my TPT store!

Once my Kinders practiced these once or twice, there was really no instruction or explaining to do with the pages.  My Kinders knew exactly what to do and what was expected of them right away!! 

I am working on making these pages with the other Dolch lists so be on the lookout for those too!!!  I hope to get them up and posted before the weekend comes J

Don’t forget to visit my TPT store at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kinderland-Kuties and leave me some feedback!  I love sharing my ideas and resources with you all J

Enjoy,

Here is an adorable number poster set.  I hang these posters in the “dead” space below my whiteboard (I promise to show pictures when I am back in the classroom!!!).  The kids use these every day and they are sooo super cute aren’t they???  I love the way the picture representations turned out.  I thought about adding more things like dice, tally marks, playing cards but I worried that it would be too much – what do you think???  Leave me a comment and I might make a new set is there is enough interest!

I like to print these in color ink using thick cardstock.  I then laminate them and cut them out to ensure durability.  Super easy to prepare and they will be around for many years to come!!

I hope you find them as useful as I did!!

Enjoy,

Click here to link to my TPT page and theNumber Signs!!

I am so excited about posting some of my favorite classroom decorations and posters onto Teachers Pay Teachers!!  I have just opened my first store and I could not be more thrilled to be sharing these things with the world.  I have worked very hard on all of these activities and I have an ENORMOUS list of things that I still want to work on.  I can now see and really understand how addicting blogging and creating for the classroom really is.  Here are some of the things that I have posted today.  I am truly hopeful that I can also post this on Pinterest for all of my friends to follow – wish me luck!!!

Here are some pictures of my Monkey Business Clip Chart!  Isn’t is so super cute!!!  I love using this in my classroom and my sweet Kinders do a great job responding to it.  If I have a Kinder who needs a few too many reminders then they will clip down.  L  Each time my Kinder clips down, they have different consequences.  1^st time is their warning.  2^nd time we choose a consequence and the third clip down, I need to contact parents either by phone call or by note.  I really love it when the Kinders clip up for making great choices.   I am ALWAYS looking for ways they can clip up providing them with some great positive reinforcement.  They enjoy the knowledge that they are moving up and I enjoy the fact that it is so easy breezy to maintain.  

At the end of each day, my Kinders will color in a square from their calendar – shown here –

The parents have gotten a letter home at the beginning of the year really explaining what each color is for so there really is no confusion for them!  See 0 easy breezy just the way I like it cause who has time or energy to write a letter/note/behavior chart for each student???  Not this teacher!!!

Anywho – I hope you like the clip chart – feel free to visit my TPT store to pick up your copy!!  Clink on the link here!!!  Enjoy!!

Welcome!!

WOW!  I can't believe I am finally doing this!!!  Welcome to Kinderland Kuties - my new blog where I will post everything I can about Kindergarten!!!  I love teaching Kindergarten and am so excited to share the enthusiasm and experiences we share with you all.  Stay tuned and learn along with us!!

Enjoy!!