Thankful Thursday

WOW!! I can't believe that it's been NINE MONTHS since my last post! I am hoping that I can get back to my original goal of at least two posts a month!! Since January is over, here is my first post for February!!

I'd like to take a quick look back on the month of January- We were scheduled to come to school 20 days in the month of January.  We ended up having multiple snow days and made it to school 15 days instead.  What I should have done on these days was make a new TPT product or two or clean my hot mess of a house.  What did I do instead? I became the newest fan of Game of Thrones.  Thanks to my snow days I started AND finished the entire series of GOT in the month of January.  Thats 67 episodes of a show in less than 31 days. Thats almost three full days of 2018 that I spent watching TV.  Do I feel bad? Maybe a little but probably not as bad as I should feel about that wasted time- I also got some laundry done while watching this new obsession.

Now that you know all about my January- lets really dig into this blog post and talk about something I'm thankful for.  I have been fortunate to have a very good support system for pretty much my entire life but especially with my career choice.  One of my supports is my hubby, Patrick.  His mom just so happens to be a teacher so he knows the basics on the ins and outs when it comes to what it is that I do.  He understands that I don't just work 7:30 to 3:30.  In the almost six years that we have been together, Patrick has supported my career 100%

Patrick has come in and stapled things to the wall, he's brought me countless lunches, and spent many hours cutting laminate.  On top of the hours, he has also stepped up to be a role model for my students. All my students know my husband as "Mr. Patrick".  I have a student this year that has really bonded with Patrick.  This student really struggled behaviorally at the beginning of the school year- he had a big transition by moving to this area.  I would tell him, "If you do this, I'll tell Mr. Patrick and he'll be so proud of you" and most of the time, whatever we were working on would get finished.  This student has gotten so close to Patrick that when he clips up on the clip chart, he says "Mr. Patrick will be so proud of me."  My husband has a pretty flexible schedule where we works every other two days or so- he also loves school pizza- you know that old school, rectangle pizza? Yeah, we both love it.  So anyway, Patrick decided last week to come and eat lunch on pizza day with this student.  So I told him on Thursday that if he made good choices, Mr. Patrick would come and eat lunch with him on Friday.  Of course, that was pretty much all it took to secure good behavior for two days! The student sat in between us in the cafeteria grinning and eating pizza.

This is just one example of how Patrick has been such a support for me and my classroom.  I know that I am so fortunate and lucky to have someone to stand beside me as I struggle and strive in this roller coaster career.  I leave you with this: "I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good teacher." Temple Grandin

My Favorite Things Friday!

So…. I have had this blog post typed up and ready to post on my laptop for three months!! Instead of retyping it, here it is in all it’s original glory:

I can't believe that its been two months since my last post! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with lots of family time- I know that my break was too short but great all the same.  With the new year in full swing, I thought I'd start a new series: FAVORITE THINGS FRIDAY!  Each week, I will do a post about one of my favorite things! Some may be all time favorite things and some may be just a favorite from the week I've had. 

So this week has been one of the longest 4 day weeks of the year! My week consisted of: a workday due to ice, a two hour delay, a math training, and a SIOP training. So this week my favorite thing was reconnecting.  I come from a relatively small town. (If you call a town with seven elementary schools small!) But most everyone knows everyone, and my small town is surrounded by small towns- so there’s a saying in Eastern North Carolina that if you see someone you know you must be east of 95. Well that statement held true this week when I went to a SIOP training and was sitting there staring at my high school Spanish teacher. SMALL WORLD, Y’ALL!

The whole morning I was thinking about how I’d describe myself if she didn't remember me- my boyfriend at the time was in the same class and got in trouble pretty much on purpose, I worked at Kevin’s all through high school, I was president of our FCCLA chapter my senior year, etc, etc.  But of course when we got to speak during an activity she remembered my instantly- but not by any of those things I mentioned above. Nope, she remembered that I was reading Lovely Bones one day in her class. One day, almost 11 years ago, I was reading a book in Spanish 2 and that teacher still remembers me. 

To me- this just spoke volumes about her!! I always loved her as a teacher and remember so many lessons that she taught- one even about the importance of sunscreen vs tanning lotions.  I truly hope that I can always remember my students and vice versa!

Me and Mrs. Carrie Dixon

P.S.  I just found out that she is her school's Teacher of the Year!!! Volumes y'all, volumes!

What Are You Thankful For?

I feel like I've been bitten by the blog bug!! [Finally, right?]  I couldn't wait to share! I was looking for a thanksgiving craft on Pinterest- one that didn't take too much prep, too much time, and was still super cute. AND I found one!! I took what I found and created a product to make it that much simpler for my young learners.

I stumbled across this here. And then I decided that I had to make it this year with my kiddos!!

I made two different templates: The thicker strips would be easier for your younger students whereas the thinner strips would be just fine for second grade and up.  After tracing the beginning of the sentence and filling in the blanks its time to cut!

Then you'll need to arrange the strips and staple them together at the top- you could also use glue if you leave drying time. [[I had to use several staples but you'll hide most of them with your leaf and vine]]

Once you staple them, then you'll need to gather the other ends and staple.  Finish up with the leaf and spiraling a piece for the vine.

You can find my templates for FREE here!

When You Can't Find it on TPT...

Have you ever searched Teachers Pay Teachers for something so specific and yet you find NOTHING? It doesn't happen often, but I have had this happen twice in my teaching career.  In fact, it's how I started selling on TPT- my first product was something that I couldn't find ANYWHERE so I decided to make it for myself and post it for others to use.

The second time I couldn't find something was when I was searching for a Blog Consent form.  As a new blogger, I knew that I needed to be able to post about my students and use pictures of them in my classroom with the work that we're doing.  Yet, when I was searching the internet for permission slips to send home- there was NOTHING.  So, true to form, I've made one!  For a limited time, you can click the picture to get the consent form for FREE!

Don't forget to leave feedback!

Red, White, and Blue with a side of cookies, too!

What a week it's been and it's only Wednesday (of a four day work week!!)! Yesterday, while most of the country was voting on our next president, our class was busy voting too!  We had a blast voting for our favorite type of cookie. I used three products that I found on TPT and one of them was FREE!

My students started their voting process on Monday by completing a voter's registration card- which I just couldn't help laminating after school to make it a little more enjoyable for them to come back to.

We also talked about vocabulary words associated with the election- we even talked about the candidates whom they had heard about at home.  On election day, we talked about how important it was to vote when you get old enough and did a little math to find out that my students won't be eligible to vote until 2032!! (That definitely made me feel old!)

Then it was FINALLY time to vote! I used this pack for the super cute (FREE) voting booth and had my students bring their IDs to vote :)

Of course they had to get the best part of voting: the famous 'I Voted' sticker

Once voting was over, we tallied up the votes and graphed them too!! [For the ballots, registration cards and much more, go here]]

What did you do for election day?

Thriving Thursday

I can't even believe I have almost made it through the first week of school! It's my first official year as Mrs. Kirkman and I'm about to accept the fact that I will probably get called Mrs. Curtain more than my actual name! ((Gotta love young learners)) With this new year and a new name have come many other changes: We have a new principal (I'm in my fourth year of teaching and on my fifth principal!), I am teaching with two new teachers, I am helping lead one of our school committees this year, and I'm in a new classroom with a new TA.  With all these new changes, I've decided to throw a sale on TPT! Feel free to check out my store and comment with any changes you've had this year and any of your back to school activities/must haves!

Meet Me Monday

Hey y'all!

For my first blog post, I wanted to do a Meet Me Monday about myself!

                           Me and my Mr. in CA!

A little about me:

I was born in Virginia but have grown up as a proud North Carolinian!
I graduated Magna Cum Laude from East Carolina University (Go Pirates!)
I taught first grade in Kinston, NC for two years.
I moved to Columbia, NC to live with my fiancé.
We got married October 10, 2015.
I teach Kindergarten now.
I admire Ron Clark and have met him twice thanks to being a NC Teaching Fellow. (Even ate dinner with him in a small group at Texas Roadhouse)
I enjoy spending time: *with my husband just laying around *with my two cocker spaniels (Charley & Samuel) * in the boat out on the river *with my feet in the sand

Check out my store, Pinterest, and Instagram!
And leave a comment at the bottom to tell me what future posts you'd like to see!