Introducing...The Primary Pack!

I am so excited to have the opportunity to work behind the scenes with the fabulous bloggers of The Primary Pack!  We are collaborating to bring you a 'rainbow of ideas!'  Make sure you follow along to grab a bunch of 'colorful freebies,' as well as enter our giveaway with $300 worth of prizes!

Hi! I'm Jennifer blogging from Crayons & Cuties In Kindergarten! I am a Long Island (NY) kindergarten teacher who loves kids, giggles, family and fun!

It's really hard for me to pick a favorite color- I truly believe they all work together to make our world the wonderful and colorful place that it is!

 I originally went to school to be an Art Therapist!  I really wanted to be an Art Teacher but was told I would never find a job because they are so limited.  I  found a college that let me do a major in Art Therapy and a minor in Special Ed.  The Art Therapy became too clinical for my liking, so I decided to pursue the Special Education side.  I was awarded a Graduate Assistantship and completed my Masters in Education in a year!  Upon graduating I took a position as a teaching assistant to get my 'foot in the door!'  The following year I was hired as a K-1 Self-Contained Special Education teacher!  I taught in that class for 3 years and then asked for a transfer to regular education.

14 years later and I am still in the kindergarten classroom I got transferred to!
Come on in and take a look at my 'home away from home':

This was before my room was graced with 20 wonderful 4 & 5 year olds!

And my favorite part of the room...many years in the making...the 'book nook':

This 'storage bench' is actual 2 vertical bookshelves that I laid on their sides!  It frames my book nook, holds my manipulative bins and serves as a bench for reading!

This summer I made storage benches for my guided reading table.  I use them to store my centers and sensory tub contents- it also makes my room looks so cute and inviting! 

Now a bit more about me...

I have been married to my fabulous hubby for almost 6 years (our anniversary is on 10/11!). We met on a beach- on a day neither of us were 'looking for love' more than 12 years ago...and now live with our 2 sons in our 'beach park house' that is just a 7 min walk from a beach that has a playground on it!  It is the perfect place to raise our boys- we are on a cul-de-sac so the boys can ride bikes, write with chalk and play ball right in the front yard!

We spend our summers walking to the beach in the morning and end many a night running in the sand before bed!

This summer we surprised them with a trip to Disney World!  We woke them and told them they were going on a plane to see Mickey!  There are no words to describe seeing the 'Disney Magic' through a child's eyes...I will cherish those memories forever!

Those that really know me know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE to bake & decorate my boys fun and festive birthday cakes!  I am in the process of getting a very special doggie cake all set for my little one's 4th birthday party on Sunday!  Here are a few of my creations:

I have always created for my classroom but did not know about Teachers Pay Teachers, or the 'teaching blogging world,' until I was in a frantic search to find information about Readers Workshop back in August 2012.  My district was adopting it, but we were given little to no information.  Through Google and Pinterest searches I discovered TpT!  A few weeks later I started uploading my own creations!  Last November I finally joined the blogging world thanks to A LOT of help from Kourtney Payton of Mrs. Payton's Precious Kindergarteners!  Although we have never met in person we would chat via Facebook and she stayed up with me for HOURS last November to get me up and running!

My favorite thing to make are fun and engaging centers!  I want my kids to feel like they are playing, having fun and enjoying their time in my classroom- yet I know they are learning more and more with each passing day!
I can't wait to share all that I do, learn and explore with my kinders with your via The Primary Pack!

To celebrate our new collaborative adventure, The Primary Pack is hosting a giveaway with tons of fabulous prizes!

Enter the rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

AND here's my "colorful" freebie!  Just click on this image:

It will open up as a free download from my TPT store!

Feedback would be greatly appreciated!

It is only free for a limited time to celebrate the launch of The Primary Pack, so be sure to head there now!

Now don't forget to hop along to meet the other bright bloggers and to grab a 'rainbow of freebies!'

An InLinkz Link-up

Until next post,

Aaaaargh You Ready? It's Almost 'Talk Like A Pirate Day!'

'Aaaarrrgh' You Ready For A Fun Day?

September 19th is 'Talk Like A Pirate' Day!

Last year was the first time I had heard about this and only had 1 day 'notice,' so this year I was determined to plan out some fun stuff to do...

and then I found out I am scheduled for a day of professional development out of the classroom that day!

But, I am going to leave some fun 'treasures' for my substitute to do with my little pirates!

I pulled out my (limited collection of) pirate books:

This one I found as a fairly new release...

and there is a YouTube reading of it that is FABULOUS!

The narrator uses GREAT voices- far better than I could have done myself- and it is PERFECT for 'TALK' like a pirate day!!

I am going to show the kids this video on Thursday during snack to build anticipation for Friday- and especially since I don't want them to miss out on it!!!

Take a look at it here, or you can find it on YouTube by searching:

Pirate Pete's Talk Like A Pirate Narration & Characterizations

by Jonathan Mertz

My kiddos will start the day by making a pirate hat.

Simply color the hat, cut on the dotted line and staple to a sentence strip!

Our 'Word of the Week' this week is 'I,' so I made a quick foldable reader for them to practice writing in the word, and then reading.  I put dots under each word to assist with 1:1 correspondence and pointing while reading.

I also like to leave a little something extra for the sub, so I made a pirate themed cut, stack, staple, read activity.  They will be working with our 't' cut, stack, staple, read activity in centers this week, so they will be familiar with what is expected!

 

You can find all of these printables for free by clicking here!!

Although I show them in color, the free printables are only in black and white (I used colored ones as models for the sub to show my kids).

If you want to grab the graphics to make your own goodies, they are found in Krista Wallden's Pirate Combo Pack.

In addition to what I mentioned above, I have themed a lot of my lessons around 'pirates' for the day...

Our read aloud will be I Love My Pirate Papa and they will then use it as a springboard for Writers Workshop.  We are working on Interactive Writing, so my little 'mateys' will be labeling some pirate clip art I printed.  I will be laminating it and then attaching it to chart paper.

They will then use their 'independent writing time' to draw (and attempt to label) something a pirate has.  I will bind all the pages together to make a class book.

For math we are ending our shapes unit, so I made this review printable for them to use:

They had practiced using a paperclip/pencil spinner last week and it was quite successful- plus they really had fun with it!  

(this is not in the free printable pack, but you can try to save it as a picture/insert into a document)

And for snack time I have a package of 

for each of them, along with a little note and some pirate tattoos for them to take home to continue the celebration!

I didn't want to send the substitute over the edge, so I decided against a pirate craft for this year, but if you are searching for one, there are a ton of really cute ones on Pinterest!

Now I think we 'Aaarrrrgh' all ready for 'Talk Like A Pirate' Day!!!

If you are in search of some more pirate goodies, I just uploaded these two (virtually no prep) pirate 'treasures' to my TpT store that are perfect for literacy and math centers:

Want a chance to win one?

Leave me a blog post comment with a 'pirate' term/saying that you are going to teach your students!

I will select a winner on Monday night so that they have plenty of time to get it ready for Friday!

Don't forget to leave an email address and which pack (ELA or Math) you prefer!

I hope you found some fun pirate 'treasures' to share with all your 'mateys!'

Until next post,