Teaching Blog Addict ROCKS!!!

Ok, if you are a teacher and have not checked out Teaching Blog Addict, you are totally missing out! This is probably THE best resource for teachers of all grades. There are so many authors who are great teachers, bloggers, and have tons of wonderful ideas and resources. So, in short, don't be the last to join this great blog, click below and find out for yourself what fun TBA can be!!!

Child-Made Teacher Appreciation Gift

I bought all the items needed to make this gift at Dollar Tree. These bags came in a pack of 3 for $1! Which turned out perfect as my son has 3 teachers.

L painted the bags with a sponge brush and then I wrote each teacher's name with glitter glue.

 Inside is a decorative notepad set and some mints in a million dollar wrapper. So, for the note I attached, I just wrote "You are worth a million dollars to me."

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all you wonderful teachers and parents!!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHERE I LINK UP

Wishlist Wednesday: Crazy for First Grade

Introducing, this week's guest blogger... With over 2000 followers and a Teachers Pay Teachers store you will adore, it's Anna from Crazy for First Grade. Make sure you stop by her blog to check out all her wonderful first grade ideas!

Hey there, I'm Anna Brantley over at Crazy for First Grade. I was SO excited when Lori contacted me to be a Wishlist Wednesday guest blogger here! I'm currently the mom to an almost 3 year old son and a public school first grade teacher to 21 amazing students in Watkinsville, Georgia! It didn't take me long at all to know what was #1 on my classroom wishlist. Earlier this year, I went to a technology fair and discovered the SMART Table. I'm talking love at first sight, y'all!! The SMART Table is the very first multiuser/multitouch technology tool that allows groups of students to interact and work simultaneously on one surface. With around a $7,000 price tag {OUCH!}, I knew it was a wishlist item right away, but was still just thrilled to be able to play around with it for a little while!!!

So, what does a SMART Table do & why do I want one?? 

• Multiple students can interact with the SMART Table at the same time on the table’s multitouch screen surface. That's right, more than one finger at a time to manipulate objects!! 
•  It's perfect for an engaging learning center or small group activity. 
• It comes with eight awesome applications – Multiple Choice, Hot Spots, Paint, Media, Addition, Puzzle and more. Using the tool kit, you can customize & create activities by changing backgrounds, questions, and images. For example, you can create themed activities for any of the applications to match them to any SMART Notebook lesson activity or Senteo/Response question set. 
• You can find tons of free & ready to use SMART Table activities on SMART Exchange! I love that many of the activities involve categorizing and sorting. 
• You can use a Document Camera with the table. 
• It's portable, but can also be locked in place. 
• Last but not least, it's super FUN and a fabulous way to incorporate technology to meet the needs of your students. 

 Check it out for yourself!!

   

 Thanks again, Lori, for letting me share my wishlist item!!! 

Anna Brantley

Wishlist Wednesday: The Silver Lining

This week's guest blogger, Mrs. D has some great ideas on her blog. I love her thrifty finds and activities she does with her class. Please check out her blog and enjoy her post!


Hi, everyone!  I'm Mrs. D from The Silver Lining!  I am so excited to be a guest blogger today at Cachey Mama's Classroom. :)  {This is my first ever guest post on a blog!  Woohoo!}  So, here are my wishes {just a few!} for Wishlist Wednesday:

{1}

This is my fifth year teaching (all in first grade) and I have built a nice little classroom library.  I look for books all.the.time.  Especially in thrift stores.  I literally oooohhh and aaahh when I find books for $1.00 or less.  However, most of the books I find are classic story books, Disney stories, Dr. Seuss (which of course is fab!), and so on.  I always scour the shelves WISHING I could find some awesome *leveled* books.  So, that is the first wish on my Wish List.  I would love a leveled library to keep in my very own classroom! 

{2}

Have you heard of Teacher Tipster?  I'm sure you have!  If not, Google him NOW. Anyway, he introduced me to these:

They are called Talk Point Recorders.  They record up to 10 seconds of sound!  The possibilities are endless.  I soooo wish I had a set.  I would use them for spelling word practice, sentence dictation, math facts...anything! :)

And lastly...

{3)

I wish that all my students will have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!  There are so many kids in my classroom (and my school) that are dealing with difficulties in their home lives.  I hope they all have a safe and wonderful Christmas.

Happy Wednesday, everyone! :)

Wishlist Wednesday: Patience, Puppsters, and Pre-K

This week's guest post is from Jessica who is a beginner Pre-K blogger. Please take a moment to click on her blog and become a follower. She has some awesome photos of her classroom. Jessica also shares a lot of experiences with her first year of teaching Pre-K including some great tips. Enjoy!


Hi, this is Jessica Cobb from Patience, Pupsters, and Pre-K. Thank you so much to Cachey Mama for letting me be a guest blogger. I am a third year teacher, but a first year pre-k teacher. If you happen to make your way over to my blog please excuse the lack of updates. Pre-K has ended up being more challenging than I expected, and blogging, which is also new for me, has taken a bit of a back seat. I’ll try to do better!

Now, here are the things that I am DYING to have for my classroom. Anybody out there may feel free to donate. HA!

1. I desperately want an iPad 2 for my room. Honestly, it would be completely used for work. I already have a slew of my own Mac products to use for personal stuff. I can just think of SO many fabulous things I could do with one of those beauties in my room. The apps! The music! The centers! Portfolios! The possibilities are endless…

 

2. A guinea pig. In Georgia, we are required to have "something living for the children to care for" in the room. Initially I was completely opposed to the idea of a classroom pet other than fish, and my peace lily currently fulfils our “something living” requirement quite nicely. However, I discovered Petsmart’s Pets in the Classroom teacher grant that gives the money for a pet and habitat. Your choices, should you be approved, are for a guinea pig, hamsters, reptiles, or fish. Well reptiles are gross and they freak me out. Last year my second grade class had a bad experience with fish. I also had hamsters as a kid. Guinea pigs are new and exciting, and according to many other teachers online, they make excellent class pets. Just look at how adorable they are! I want. I want. I want. However, we are afraid that my beagle would also want, want, want. Obviously our guinea friend would have to come live at my house over long breaks and summer, and I'm not so sure it would survive in our house. So alas, we will continue to be a peace lily classroom :(

 

3. A reading loft. My classroom is quite limited on space, and we are required to have a lot of stuff. I wish I could have a reading loft to simply provide more space! I also think it would really encourage the kids to go to the reading and listening centers more often. I remember having a reading loft when I was in kindergarten, and we all thought that it was pretty much the greatest thing we’d ever seen.

There are obviously several other things that I could add, but for now those are the three biggies. What are some things you want for your classroom?