HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hi bloggers!  It's been awhile since we last talked.  This has been a very stressful school year for me.  I enjoy my students, don't get me wrong, but I have a few of them that are quite challenging.  For example, I have a little girl in my class that refuses to do anything I ask of her.  If I should ask her to line up for lunch she will just look at me and say "NO" fold her hands,  put on a pouty face and stand there.  Luckily the guidance counselor at my school has been helping me with this situation.  I also have a little boy that I feel is being neglected at home.  He comes to school in shorts and t-shirts when temperatures are 32 degrees outside.  He stays by himself at night (or so he says) and he isn't getting any food to eat at home.  I caught him trying to get into my students lunch boxes and eat their lunch.  So I am having all of my students keep their lunches behind my desk.  Have you ever had a challenging student in your classroom?  How did you deal with it?

I want to wish everyone a HAPPY and SAFE NEW YEAR!  Teachers around the world need to look out for each other, especially after the terrible tragedy in Newport.

Please keep an eye on my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  I'm going to be posting new Kindergarten materials.  I think these will be very resourceful to all teachers.

Thanks again to all of my followers out there.....you are awesome!

A Large Reminder: You are not super human

Hi Bloggers! I know it's been awhile since my last post. The past few weeks of this new school year have been very rocky. I have 22 students in my small Kindergarten room and my school keeps getting more students. I'm running out of places to put them....UUUG! I have some very sweet children, but they are very hyperactive. They constantly want to move, so I've been trying to add movement to all of my lessons. I've been having a difficult time with one particular student who refuses to do anything I ask of her. She actually looked at me and said..."I don't have to do what you say, your not my Mama". I've been a teacher for 7 years now (most of my years with 1st grade students) but I have to admit...I was floored when a 5 year old was this rude to me. Has this ever happened to you? How did you handle it? I've only been teaching Kindergarten for a little over a year, so I need some help here. I had this student sit in time out until she decided she was going to be respectful to me. Needless to say she was in time out for a large part of the day. How do I gain the respect of this little girl? So I've been spending my first few weeks of school constantly on my feet helping students, comforting students who are afraid of school, making sure students know how and what to do at school. Well, last Saturday I got a large reminder that I'm trying a little too hard to be super teacher. I was walking down my stairs getting ready to go to dinner with friends and WHAM...my calf muscle on my left leg went POP. Yes, I could actually hear it. I immediately fell to the ground in terrible pain. I chose not to go to the ER...didn't want to wait for HHHHOOOOUUUURRRSSS to see a doctor. So I cancelled dinner, got off my leg and put ice on it. I went to the doctor the next day and was told that my muscle didn't tear, but it was severely strained. So, I'm now wearing a walking boot for four weeks.

If you want to see pictures of my leg injury you can go to the Hugs For The Teacher facebook page.

The moral of my story is --- As the song says...Your only human, of flesh and blood your made.  You must take some time to relax.

I'll let you know how I'm doing as the weeks pass...I also have a great new freebie I'm going to share with everyone very soon.

Until Then...Stay healthy and remember to RELAX!

Amanda

Survey, Thank you, My Blog Nominations

I'm working on a wonderful treat for all of my blog buddies, but in order to complete my work I need to know a little information about how you teach.  Please vote in the survey on the right hand side of my blog.

I want to thank Mrs. Janelle from Mrs. Janelle's Kindergarten for the wonderful award!

I also want to welcome Mrs. Janelle to the Hugs For the Teacher crew.  Thanks for joining my blog.  Please go visit Mrs. Janelle's blog.  She has some really great teaching ideas.  Just click on the link below.

OK, so here are the rules for this award.....
1.  Thank the blogger who nominated you.....  Thank you Mrs. Janelle2.  Include a link to their blog..... Click on above link3.  Include award image in your post... See above4.  Give 7 random facts about yourself....See below5.  Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award6.  When nominating, include a link to their blog7.  Let other bloggers know they've been nominated
Now that we have the rules out of the way, let's get to the fun...
Seven Random Facts1.  I am from Texas, but I live in Tennessee.2.  My favorite flower is a rose.3.  I love to garden and plant flowers.4.  I grew up in the 80's.5.  My class theme is Spongebob Squarepants.6.  I received Teacher of the Year at my school last year.7.  I love to laugh and have fun.
OK bloggers - here are my nominations...congrats to all of these lucky bloggers.(click on blog buttons below to visit blogs)

Congrats to all of these wonderful blogs.

Please go to my survey (on the right hand side of this page) and vote.  On Friday you will see a preview of my wonderful treat along with some freebies.  Talk to you soon.

Until then...
Amanda

Migraines, Canker Soars, and American Pride

Hello Bloggers!  I appologize for being MIA today.  I spent my day suffering with a migraine headache.  Do you suffer from migraines?  I don't mind the pain so much while I'm home for the summer, but when I'm teaching the pain is unbearable.  I had a couple of days last year that I had to turn out the lights and teach in the dark because the light makes the pain much worse.  What do you do to control your migraines?  How do you deal with them while you are teaching?   The icing on my pain infested cake was when a canker soar showed up on the very end of my tongue.  Now it's painful to sit in the light and it's painful to eat....uuuuggggg!  But anywho, enough of my whining.  I want to wish everyone a...

I hope everyone has a safe and fun filled day.   I'm planning on going to a festival tomorrow.  I'm hoping the temperature won't be too hot.  I always enjoy going to festivals and looking at all of the crafts, trying out the food, etc.  Of course, the main thing I'm looking forward to...the fireworks!  What are your plans?

On to the trivia.....I would love to get to know all of my fellow bloggers out there and that's why I'm starting something called...TUESDAY TRIVIA  (cutsie picture to come later).  So on each Tuesday, I will post a question and I'd like for all of my blogging buddies to chime in with their opinions.

Here's your Tuesday Trivia question....

WHAT IS THE FUNNIEST THING A CHILD EVER TOLD YOU?

So here's my response...I had a Kindergarten student in my class this past year that LOVED to tell stories.  He told me that he was a secret rock star.  He said after school each day he pulls out his guitar and sings and dances for everyone.

OK...your turn

I'll see you on Friday for all of the fun freebies.

Until Then.....
Amanda

Freebies and an announcement

Hello to eveyone in blogland! Happy Friday!! I just love the summer - staying up and sleeping as late as you want, working in the garden - planting flowers and growing yummy veggies, spending time with family and friends. The one part of summer I don't like is extreme heat. It has been 100 degrees and hotter in Nashville this week. Very unpleasant. It hasn't rained in about a month, everything is brown and dead. So I haven't been able to work in my garden this week..booooo! On a lighter note, it's Friday, so you know what that means....

I am still working on my freebies, so I'm going to tell you about some wonderful freebies that two of my blogging buddies are offering...

The first freebie comes from our newest member - KinderKarla.  She is offering a free packet of sentence practice pages.  It's called - "Read It, Trace It".  This can be used in your writing center.  I used something similar to this in my centers last year.  Click on the button below to visit her blog and download the freebie...





This next freebie is actually a freebie rewind.  It comes from Tattling To the Teacher.  Laura Davis is a sweet teacher friend of mine that introduced me to blogging.  She has some wonderful teaching ideas, but you'll definitely want to grab this freebie...it's the perfect freebie for your math centers.  It's called "Strawberry Lemonaide".    Please click on the button below to learn more about this freebie.


Now for my big announcement....Hugs For the Teacher is going live on Facebook.  I'm still working on the finishing touches, but it's going to be great!  Visit on Tuesday for more info.  I'm also going to start something new on Tuesday - it's called...Trivia Tuesday.  I'm going to ask a question about a hot teaching topic and you can let your opinion be heard.   I really enjoy talking with other teachers, and this will be a great way to get to know everyone.  So please come back and visit on Tuesday.
Until then.....Amanda

Blog Award and Freebies

Hello Everyone!  I had a wonderful weekend spending time with my family at Centerhill Lake in Smithville,TN.  It's always fun to swim and catch up with family.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my e-mail this morning.  I received an e-mail from Mrs. Lundquist at Superlative Science, my newest follower, and she awarded me the "One Lovely Blog" award.

Thank you so much Mrs. Lundquist.  I've only been blogging for about a month now so this is a real honor.  The wonderful thing about this award is I get to share it with my blogging buddies...so I'd like to share this award with the following blogs.   

 

Once you receive the award you must follow 3 rules.  

1.  Follow the person that gave you the award

2.  Link back to the person that gave you the award

3.  Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers 

Since I missed Fun Freebie Friday, I'm going to give you my freebies today.  Don't worry, there will be more freebies on Friday.  So with that said...here are today's freebies...

I am working on a new set of Sight Word Readers - covering words:  I, am, the, little...so I'm giving you a free sight words reader from Set #2.  This reader is in Times New Roman Font.  If you would like to purchase the readers in D'nealian font they are for sale at my TPT store...for a very low price.  So, here ya go...

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_xwv2arfxcYYjNpX0J0RlhrYU0/edit

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_xwv2arfxcYbFZqZ1B1WGZsam8/edit

I have received two e-mails from bloggers interested in my school rules posters.  I originally posted these at my TPT store, but noticed that they are not linked correctly, so I'm going to take these posters off of my store and post this freebie on my blog instead.  So here are my "School Rules" posters.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_xwv2arfxcYZkllTVlOSV9LZFk/edit

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_xwv2arfxcYUjlxVjktYkdxWlE/edit

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_xwv2arfxcYSFhpQ3BacEJhc2s/edit


I have one more freebie I want to share with you.  I taught first grade for 5 years.  After many parents continuously asked my how their student felt about reading, math, etc.  I created a progress chart that I sent home weekly with my students.  The parent was to sign it and return it.  This chart can be used in other grade levels or for other things.  So here's my weekly progress chart from me to you....

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10rzokTRnuLDD-yfX1EsFgvVnzrSE1QIsSaAWqO6ycjw/edit

Before I leave I want to thank Lauren from Teacher Mom of 3.  She introduced me to Google Docs.  This has helped me a lot.  I also want to thank Heather from Heather's Heart for offering to help me upload my freebies.  I'm so thankful to have some great blogging buddies.

More freebies to come on Friday

Until next time....
Amanda

I am now the proud owner of a 13" Mac Book Air

Hi everyone!  I received my new Mac yesterday.  I got a Mac Book Air.  I absolutely love it.  It's so amazing.  My last laptop was an IBM Thinkpad...it was very old and very slow.  It had problems logging on to the internet, and never had enough memory to download things.  The moment I got my Mac and turned it on, it logged my on to the internet...no problems.  I love the size and the weight.  It's perfect if I ever need to bring it to school for anything.  I've always wanted one of these computers...this is a dream come true for me.  I can't wait to create teaching projects on this amazing piece of equipment.  Thanks for all of the advice.  Check back on Friday for another freebie.

Until next time...

Amanda