Clearly, What Happens In Vegas Stays On Facebook! And We Have A Winner!

First, Our Sands Alive Sea Life Adventure Winner is...

Carolyn Winland!!!

The best part is that you can leave it out and it won't dry out!

I will mail that entire set off to you as soon as you email me your address.

Now, For Vegas:

I was so thrilled to be able to present FOUR sessions at an amazing national kindergarten conference called "I Teach K".  I truly think they should change the name to "I Love K" because I met so many teachers who were so passionate about kindergarten!  :)

I worked on sooooo many "make & takes" that filled my home with clutter.  I had 2 people helping me, but it was just so much stuff that it filled an entire extra large suitcase.  

There was an extra paper bag cut out just waiting to be turned into a gingerbread house, but I tucked it into my carry-on bag and turned it into a castle while waiting for my flight at the airport.  

If you round off the points on the roof,
and color it green, and color the draw bridge yellow,
you can create the city of OZ complete with
its yellow brick road.  :)

I took off from California and the flight was only 40 minutes.

Are those crop circles???  Hmmmm....

My room was fabulous!  Bigger than our first apartment!

At the Palazzo in the Venetian.  

One of our So Cal Bloggers.  

I went down to pick up my materials for I Teach K and I ran into Fran from Kindergarten Crayons.  

 

If you haven't already checked out her blog, you need to. 

I got to pick up my name tag and check out the room where I was to present to groups up to 250.  It looked so big!

Sooooo excited!

Last Minute Preparations:

I wanted my attendees to be able to touch and feel the huge hat we make for Mother's Day and I knew I would never get it on and airplane and through security, so I brought the supplies to make one in my hotel room.

Painting on the glue solution.

Molding the paper over my salad container.

Holding it all together until it dried with my Brighton belt.  

I used the container from my salad as a mold for the shape and mixed up the glue solution in my wine glass.  Hey, whatever works, right?

Then, I practiced my PowerPoint presentation by projecting it on the hotel wall.

This is what the hats look like once they are fully decorated. 

Day 1 of I Teach K:

The day was filled with amazing presenters.  I watched them all very carefully to see if I could reveal any secret tips about presenting.

Here is Calvie presenting on T.K.

I concluded that all presenters had 3 things in common:

1.  They all had a polyester dress that looked like it just popped out of the suitcase and jumped right into shape!  (Good thing I brought along, not one, but two polyester dresses.)

2.  They all wore a really, I'm talking REALLY, big necklace.  (Luckily, I brought a couple of big necklaces along.)

3.  And 3rd, they all had something I didn't have and didn't think I could ever get.  They all had a Southern accent.  (Oh well, 2 out of 3 isn't too bad, right?)

Here is DeeDee Wills.  She was also amazing.

That night, Heidi, from Heidisongs, and I got to meet "Rocking Dan Teaching Man" who came all the way from Australia for I Teach K!  He has a YouTube channel where he posts his educational songs which are tons of fun!  You can view his song about facts to ten, called "Friends of Ten" by clicking HERE.  

Heidi and Dan collaborated on a song/video together via the Internet.

Click right HERE and you will see his Facebook page.  Like it and you will get to see his new songs as soon as they are released.  

Heidi and I had a fun dinner out.  If you haven't checked out her amazing CDs & DVDs of songs that really teach, you really have to.  She is an amazing person, so talented, and she really knows what works with kids.  Look for her blog and Facebook.

Day 2 at I Teach K:

Day 2:  Ready to hit the workshops.

I continued to attend more amazing sessions and I kept my eye out for those polyester dresses an necklaces.  And, of course, I and to stop by the ESGI booth to visit with Elvis!

That night, ESGI took us out to dinner.  If you haven't already heard of ESGI, do yourself a favor and check them out at esgisoftware.comhttps://www.esgisoftware.com/ESGI/ to see what you have been missing.  Their web sight turns testing into a fun, efficient process that my students actually beg for.  It is fast, easy, customizable, and your students will beg to be tested.  The data you get from it will amaze you and the time it will save you is a gift.   Once you have used it, you'll never go back to the old way of assessing, recording, and preparing intervention.  This site does it all for you and it prints out parent letters in English or Spanish.  

Enjoy a FREE 60 day trial by clicking HERE.

AND... enjoy a $40 discount code by entering B2174 during check out.

How many kindergarten teachers can you fit in the backseat of a town car?

If you haven't checked out Jayne Gammon's blog yet, you must check it out today.

It's called Smart Kids and it's filled with great ideas and give-aways.

So what do kindergarten teachers do when they are out on the town in Vegas?  You guessed it, they hit the Target Dollar Spot!

Too much FUN!!!

... to be continued

See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)

Look At What Came In The Mail! I'm Giving One Away!

Can't Wait To Show My Students:

You can win this entire set.

They are going to LOVE this!

First, I'll be sharing this product with teachers who attend my session on July 9 at I Teach K called "It's A Great Day For Science!"  I'll be showing teachers how to integrate ELA and MATH into SCIENCE lessons so you don't have to skip science because you don't have time.  (You can still register for I Teach K and get 10% off by using the code Nat10.)

This is the dinosaur set.

This FUN product will help me teach so many things!  You can watch the short YouTube video by clicking HERE. 

The dinosaur set comes with all of these things!

Then, I will introduce this set to my class on the first week of school.  This will go perfectly on my Sensory Table and  will go beautifully with my 5 Senses unit.  (But we won't eat it!)

You can buy it in a kit like this one.

It will also go well with my "Solid, Liquid, and Gas" unit.  Is it a solid or a liquid?   I can almost pour it!  And is it really alive?  I have seen it move!  

This kit comes with all of these things!

Where I Found Sands Alive:

I discovered this amazing sensory activity product at JoAnn's crafts, but it's also available online.

It's on sale right now at JoAnns and you can use your teacher discount on sale items! 

You can also find it sold in bags without the tray and extra tools.

You can also find it by clicking HERE.  They also have a short video you can watch.

From the minute I touched it and discovered how soft and unusual it was I knew my students would be all over this!  

It's soft and feels different from anything else you have ever felt.

But best of all, it can sit out and it WON'T DRY OUT!!!  How many times have you had to throw away dried out Play-Doh?  Right?

Squeeze it to mold it into shapes.

Sands Alive is clean, it won't stick to your hands or carpet, and it feels GREAT!

Tons of FUN!

The Give-Away!  July 3-13:

So, I'm giving away the Sea Life Adventure Kit.  You can enter this Give-Away by entering on the Rafflecopter here or on my Kfundamentals Facebook page.

This Rafflecopter will begin on July 3 at 12:00 AM, 

so come on back and enter!

Click here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beginning July 3 at 12:00 AM, you can enter on Facebook.
 CLICK HERE TO SEE THE RAFFLECOPTER on Facebook.

The rafflecopter will pick a winner on Sunday, July 13.

GOOD LUCK!

I hope you are enjoying my "Classroom Set-up" tips.

See you all tomorrow with more!

Palma :)

4 Tips That Are Sure To Save You Time Every Week

Does Your Painting Center Get You Down?

Fear not, my 4 tips will transform your painting center into a "no-hassle" zone! 

Maybe is was a Picasso in the making!

Tip #1:

No more washing paint brushed every day!  Just get yourself some sponges and poke a hole in the center.  

You can cut rectangular sponges into squares.

I tried leaving the sponges as rectangles, but they kept knocking over the
paint cups they were next to.  Squares worked out best.  

Or use these cute ones I found at the 99 Cent Store.

The good new is that these are 4 for $1.00.
The bad news is that these are the only 4 colors they come in.

All you have to do is wet the sponge and place it over the brush handle.

So cute, and they last for a long time.

Pull the brush handle about 1/2 inch up while pressing down with your other hand on the wet sponge to hold the brush in place and keep the sponge from creeping up the brush handle as it dries.  

That's it!  The next morning, just slide the dry sponges off of the brushes and you are ready to paint.  

I like to color match the sponges to the paint colors since wet paint often gets on the sponges and you won't want to cross contaminate!  :)

Tip #2:

Line up your paint bottles in rainbow order. 

I don't know if they still make the Mickey Mouse paint sample cards,
but you can just use squares of colored construction paper.  

 Use Mickey Mouse paint sample cards (or just colored construction paper) to label where each bottle belongs.  

Looks like we have got a supple of every color right now.  

Then, as you are racing out the door to go to the bathroom office, you can glance at your paint rack, check out which paint bottle is missing, and then you can be sure to grab the right color of paint while you are at the supply room.  

Tip # 3:

This one is from my friend, Lauren, who has helped me so much!  She even worked at my booth at the So CA Kindergarten Conference last February.  She told me to line my paint cups with plastic sandwich bags before filling them.  Then, clean up is a breeze.  You just lift the bag out and toss it in the trash!  

Thank you, Lauren, for your cool tip!  

I also rub petroleum jelly on the tops of the concave paint cups.  This helps when I finally get around to cleaning the tops of the paint cups.  

You rub a thin layer of Vaseline on the colored, concave tops.

To be honest, since I have been using the wet sponges, I don't clean out the paint cups too often, but when I do, the Vaseline on the tops of the cups really helps a lot.

Tip # 4:

I cover my entire painting easel with a plastic table cloth.  I like the ones with the felt back the best.  I wait for them to go on sale for $1 - $2 and keep them in the closet until I need a new one.

You just have to slit the tablecloth to allow the clips to come through.  

One large rectangular table cloth is big enough to cover the easel and the paint trays.  I change them only about 4 times a year.  I wait until they look like this:

Holy paint bomb, Batman!  I'm sure glad you keep
extra plastic tablecloths in the closet for emergencies like this!

Well, really, this is what happened when I had a sub one day and the kids decided to paint the table cloth!  Yeah, we had a talk!  A long talk!  

Anyway, my old easel looks as good as new because I just keep changing the table cloth!  I love to match them to the seasons too, so keep your eyes peeled for seasonal plastic table cloths.

Hope these tips help to keep the painting center alive and well in your classroom. 

See you all tomorrow!

Palma :) 

Here is a Color Word FREEBIE you might like:

Click the image for the free download.

Click the image for the FREE download.

And here is our Color Pack that includes templates for creating tons of class books:

Click the image for more info.

Click the image for more info.

Run, Don't Walk to Target's Dollar Spot!!!

Never Hear, "I can't get the glue to come out!" again.

Here are my 3 best tips for managing white glue in the classroom, but read fast so you can get to Target and grab these adorable ketchup & mustard glue bottles and turn them into "clog-free" bottles.

You get 2 bottles for $1.00.

1.  No Clog Glue Bottles:

These bottles are the perfect size for little hands.  But I have a trick that will keep the tip from getting clogged with glue.  So read on!

FIRST:  You should coat the threads of the bottle with petroleum jelly (so you can always get the top off to re-fill the bottle), fill the bottle with white glue, and replace the cap.  

SECOND:  Pick up a package of brush rollers.  Not the self-gripping kind, but the ones that come with plastic pins like these:

These were $4.49 at Rite Aid.

I found these at Rite Aid.  You can use the rollers for painting or you can even pop them into your estimation jar, but the best part of this package of rollers is the little pack of plastic pins.

They fit perfectly in the little glue bottles.   When your students are ready to glue, all they have to do is give the plastic pin a little twist and pull it out.  I teach them to place the pin on their glue tray (see tip #3 below to find out what a glue tray is).  No more clogged bottles EVER!  :)

When they are done glueing, they just push the plastic pin back into the nozzle.

And the regular cap on these bottles can be snapped onto the base to create a loop.  If your tables get cluttered, you can hang the bottles on hooks attached below the tables or attached below a shelf in your classroom.  Just use the hooks with the sticky back.

2.  No Sticky Fingers When Gluing Tiny Pieces Together:

The Dollar Store usually has these little cube-shaped containers, but you can use any small air-tight container.  Fill it completely with a sponge.  I like the cube-shaped containers because I have lots of thick foam which I can easily cut into cubes that fit perfectly in these containers.

The popsicle molds hold 3 fat crayons or 6 small crayons in each section.
The small rectangular box holds broken and peeled blue crayons for use, on their sides, as background crayons.

Wet the sponge and place it in the container.

Add white glue to the top of the sponge and allow it to soak into the sponge.  

Cover the container.  

When your students need to glue a tiny piece of paper down, all they have to do is open the container, press the tiny piece on the gluey sponge, and it is ready to glue down on their project!

Each Friday, I open the containers and add a little water and more glue.

3.  The No-mess Glue Tray:

I got this idea from a colleague.

I collected plastic lids for each table.  

I like to put green lids at the green table, red lids at the red table, Etc.  :)

When the students need to use white glue, they squeeze a little puddle of glue onto the glue tray.

Using their pointer finger, they dab it into the glue and apply the glue to their project.  

Then, they scrape off any excess glue onto the edge of the glue tray and just rub their thumb on their pointer finger to rub off any residue.  That's it!  :)

Check out my:

FaCeBoOk:  Click Here to see my Facebook. (Tons of FREE ideas.)

PiNtErEsT:  Click Here to see my Pinterest Boards.  (Oh, the ideas on these boards!)

TeAcHeRs PaY tEaChErS:  Click Here to see my TPT Store (Did you say, "15 freebies?!")

I'll see you all tomorrow for more tips!

Palma ;)