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Sunday, April 27, 2014

FarFaria! - A great giveaway!

I am so excited to tell you about a great new app I was given the opportunity to review! I was contacted by the people from FarFaria to try out their app and I love! It does not disappoint.


This app is a subscription app ($3.99 per month) that has over 600 illustrated children's books! Yep...you heard me right. 600+ books and over 5 are added EACH WEEK! I was given the opportunity to try it out with my daughter (5 in 2 weeks) and my classroom. They are both LOVING It! Here is are a few screenshots of some of the my favorite things about the app!

When you enter the FarFaria app you are shown the new stories added. All the books are beautifully illustrated!!!

 
You can also check out the world and choose a "theme" that you are interested in. (My daughter's favorite is Fairy Tale Falls. (See my shocked face!) She LOVES it!!!

 
When you choose a world, you can choose to view books by Most Popular, Reading Level, Newest, or A to Z. I also love that the books are leveled AND the students can choose whether they want to read it or have it read to them!
 
 
Here is a level 1 book that is an easy reader for Kindergarten students!
They also love this world. It is just songs that it sings to them!
 

 
This is one of Lilly's favorites. Can you tell why??? I love that it highlights as it reads to them.
 

 
Would you love a 3 month subscription? Well, lucky for you..I'm giving away 2!!!!!!! That's right! Two of my lucky readers will win a 3 month subscription to FarFaria! And since you are probably thinking.....school is almost out...I've already asked. You can wait and activate it in August or September when you start school. My subscription will end this summer and I've already requested my school buy me a year long subscription! Just enter below in the Rafflecopter!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, April 17, 2014

One of the hardest decisions.....

I am soon going to be faced with one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. I distinctly remember about 6 weeks after I had my daughter, calling my mom upset about whether to continue breastfeeding my daughter or not. I felt horrible but it was just too hard on us both. I remember her telling me...this is one of the MANY decisions you will have to make for her, Sarah. You just have to use your best judgment and do what you think is best for her.
Well, now it's time to make a decision that I'm really struggling with. You see. My first (and only) child turns 5 in 3 weeks. She will be entering Kindergarten. You know....the grade I teach. I teach in a really rural school with only 3 kindergarten classes. I will be taking her with me to school. I registered her on Monday and cried. Yup. Like a baby. While I am ready for her to be at my school, I am NOT ready for her to be at my school. You get that right? Here is my dilemma.
Do I place her in my classroom? I have prayed, and prayed, and prayed about this. For a year. I go back and forth. I've weighed my pros and cons.
Here they are:
PROS
She will be with me all day. I'll get to watch her grow and learn. I'll never had this chance again. I think I'm a pretty good teacher. I can tweak and guide her to make the best decisions this first year.
CONS
Will I be to hard on her? Will she be able to go from me being her mother to her teacher? Will it strain our relationship?

I know she would be excellent for another teacher. (BTW...I love both of my teaching partners.) She's so good at her preschool. I crack up when they go on and on about how sweet and perfect she is. Like any child...she's worse around us (her parents). She is a good girl. She just tests us and whines more around us.  She's not a leader. She's a follower by nature. She's smart. She's my life.

So, I would LOVE to hear your feedback. Have you ever had your child in class? How did it go? Do you regret it? What is your advice or experience?

Friday, April 11, 2014

Five for Friday and New Blog Design

I am finally linking up for Doodle Bug's Five for Friday Linky Party!
 
http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2014/04/five-for-friday-linky-party-april-11th.html
 
1
Can you guess where I am????? It is FINALLY my Spring Break and I am in the good ol' state of Florida.
 
 
2
 
Specifically in the Rosemary Beach/Santa Rosa area. I LOVE this area. It is so quaint and southern!
 
 
3
 
Speaking of Southern. I saw this on a tea towel in Seaside. I die. Love it.
 
 
4
 
We are working on long vowels, specifically long e using this unit. Anywho....the students were to read the word and draw a picture. My teaching partner brought a student's paper over cracking up! Funniest thing ever!
 
 
 
5
 
We are doing our Easter theme next week. We will be doing this craft I blogged about here. Is it an egg or a bunny? You can grab your free one here.
 

 
Okay...now on to the exciting news. Do you LOVE my new blog design??? I do. Parker created it for me and he was so wonderful to work with! He worked and worked until it was just what I wanted. I still have a few pages to update, but I am loving my new design! I'm thinking I feel a giveaway next week (after my vacation) to celebrate! Stay tuned!
 
 


Saturday, April 5, 2014

Spring, Spring Break, and Other Exciting News

We have been knee deep in Spring in the classroom. I created and finally upload my newest unit......

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spring-Literacy-and-Math-Centers-1189920

We finished up these literacy and math centers last week. They had a lot of fun! Here is a glimpse of what you get in this unit with 6 Literacy and 6 Math centers.

 Unscramble the Sight Word
 
Syllable Count 
 
ABC Order 


Digraph Write the Room

Also: Long Vowel/Short Vowel Sort & Rhyming
 
Greater Than or Less Than
 
Part-Part/Whole 

Ordering from Least to Greatest

Answer and Read Reviewing Different Skills
 
 Tally Count (I have no idea what is wrong with this picture.)
 
Also: Base Ten Counting
 
This unit is up in my TPT store and you can grab it here. I put it on sale through tonight so grab it at a discount!
 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spring-Literacy-and-Math-Centers-1189920
 
We are all loving this Spring-like weather we have had. I love these kiddos writings:
 

 
(Writing paper from here.)
 
We are FINALLY on Spring break. My little booty is headed to Florida on Tuesday. After this horrible winter, my toes are DYING to be in the sand. Even though I'll be gone I have something exciting going on. I'm getting a new blog design on Wednesday. I LOVE it!!!! I'm off to enjoy this day!