Blog - Pencils to Pigtails

Classroom Tour – Easy Ways to Organize Your Classroom

August 16, 2018

Hi friends,

Don’t you just love seeing other classrooms? Our principal really encourages us to throw out (or donate) things we don’t use anymore. Having a clutter free classroom is essential for student success and your sanity! A couple of years ago I got rid of SO MUCH stuff in my room that all of my coworkers felt sure I was leaving my school. It wasn’t the case, but once you get started decluttering, it will become a little contagious!

I started watching my kids. I noticed that they hardly played with a kitchen set during indoor recess so I donated it to a local church in need of one. I sent a stuffed animal home with every single child! I had bought those thinking they would be good book buddies but I realized they were just taking up valuable learning real estate. You get the picture. Get rid of things your students no longer need or use.

My principal had us walk around and vote on each others classrooms for a variety of awards from most colorful, to most inviting, to most organized. There were lots of winners. She gave out $5 Sonic gift cards but it was so nice to see what other rooms in the building look like. We just don’t have time to see them all!

I receive more questions and compliments on this area of my room than any thing else I’ve done. I took all of my center activities out of their original boxes, put them in coordinating bins from the Dollar Tree and slapped my Editable B & W labels on them. (You can find them in my TPT store by clicking on the picture above.)

This picture was taken after I’ve used them for over a year and I still love this set up. It makes it so easy for me to find the activity I’m looking for.

I bought these little supply boxes for 48 cents a piece at Walmart. You’ve got to love that price. They are sturdy, last a whole year in the classroom, and then I send them home with each student at the end of the year. Each child puts a box of crayons, a pair of scissors, and 2 glue sticks in his or her box. I put each student’s name on them and then we place them in these red organizers I found on Amazon. Later in the year, I can use the other side of the organizers for whatever I need the kids to have access to. We have always shared our supplies with the whole table, but I grew so tired of some students peeling crayons or chewing on them. Others would purposefully break their pencils. You don’t have to worry about this when they have individual supplies!

Ignore those supplies behind my table! Still sorting!

The 2 pictures above show you my work area. The longer I’ve taught, the smaller and smaller “my area” has gotten. I ditched the desk a few years back and keep my teaching materials in that dresser with the red polka-dot fabric. My assistant hot glued the yellow fabric underneath the table to cover up any messes that might occur there. I love this set up. I can pull a group of kids to my table, test them with ESGI or work with my small groups there on reading or math activities. It just makes so much more sense to have a kidney table then it does to have a desk.

(By the way, I wrote my students a “love letter”. You can download it for free in my TPT store by clicking the photo above!)

Speaking of ESGI, it has made a huge difference in the way I organize my assessments and communicate with my parents. It is super user-friendly. I am still meeting with the students to test them one-on-one which I love, but I can immediately print out individualized parent letters and even flash cards for the items they miss. The folks at ESGI are so sweet and helpful. Right now you can get a free 60 day trial and gain full access to all of ESGI’s features. You don’t have to input credit card information to try it which is huge for people who are worried about forgetting to cancel something. If you decide to purchase it, you will get $40 off with the code “pigtails”. Use that code now to sign up for the free trial by clicking here. You will also be entered to win one of ten free $50 Amazon gift cards or one lucky winner will win a $500 gift card! Oh the things I could purchase with that! Click on the ESGI screen below to head over and grab your free trial!

If you want to learn more about how I use this assessment software in my classroom, type ESGI in the search box and you will find a recent blog post about it!

Can you tell I have a thing for collecting vintage chairs yet? My mom is so good at recovering them with a cute fabric and the kids love them! The biggest change here is that I moved 4 computers spread out across 2 of these tables onto 1. We gained so much room! I loved this easy change!

See the little table and chairs? I grabbed those at Hobby Lobby. When I started teaching 11 years ago, my sister Heidi suggested that I stick with primary colors. I have NEVER regretted that decision. It makes my classroom colorful, I can ALWAYS find the totes, name tags, supplies, etc I need, and I have never gotten tired of this color scheme. I know there have been some adorable themed classrooms on Pinterest lately but make sure you pick something that will last!

I LOVE this new reading corner. My friend Michelle was moving to third grade and graciously donated this to my classroom. I have a few puppets here that my students can use to read a book with. I am planning to fill out a Donor’s Choose request for a comfy bean bag chair for that area on the right.

This is one popular area during indoor recess. My sister donated this Lego table to my classroom a couple of years ago. Everyone loves it. The center holds Legos. (Notice how the primary colors work perfectly with my classroom “theme”!) I put an inexpensive rug on this train table to spruce it up. When I was studying what my kids played with the most, I realized a train table, Lego table, blocks, and a dollhouse were at the top of the list for kindergarten!

I have 19 students this year. We have 5 kids at each table except for one.

This is a view of my 2 Interactive centers, my white board, and my rug. I filled out a Donor’s Choose request for this beautiful rug a few years ago and it was funded. We love it! If you have not read about my Interactive centers, click on the photo above to watch a two-minute video preview. They are lifesavers in the classroom!

They help us stay so organized and we love having centers where my young k kids work independently giving me valuable time to meet with my small groups!

I REALLY love my little library area. I spray-painted this display shelf red and like how cheerful it makes my room look. I prefer having my books organized in baskets by author/theme.

I often tell students to sit on the “ABC” rug if we are going to watch short videos or dance with Go Noodle.

I was so sad when I had to take my Curious George off the wall in the corner of this classroom. Do you remember him? Our former art teacher, Mrs. Soozie, had surprised me with him and a fabulous tree. Unfortunately the fire marshall was not a fan of the materials. 🙁 Some of my kids were in tears when I took him off the wall!

Here’s a view from the reading corner looking towards the door. I’m not happy with those cubbies on the right. I just haven’t figured out exactly what I want to do with them yet. See the “legos” above my cabinets? My sister had made those with wrapping paper and cardboard boxes for one of her son’s birthday parties and I’ve kept them there for years. It would be hard for me to store anything up there and I like the way they look. 🙂

We are so fortunate to have these beautiful cabinets to hold our supplies. Believe me, I have been in some tiny rooms with no storage and 23 5th grade students. I feel grateful everyday when I walk into this large classroom with so much storage!

This is an example of what a completed and semi-completed math ring tower would look like. Since it is August, my students haven’t started building their “zoos” yet. Click on the photo above to watch a 2 minute preview about the “Zookeeper’s Math Ring”. It is a unique math system that I came up with that teaches students their math facts for the entire year. You will love it!

I like to hang our objectives from these rulers and pencils I grabbed in the Dollar Spot at Target. I created these when we switched to the new TN standards. I wanted to use a kid-friendly “I Can” statement at the top, a colorful picture, and the detailed and complete “teacher version” of the standard at the bottom in a small print. We love these. Grab them for your classroom by clicking on any of the photos above. I have them for math and ELA for kindergarten and first grade Common Core or TN standards and I’m about to add the Kindergarten Science standards for TN teachers or teachers using NGSS later this week!

My friend Michelle also gave me this “Star Student” rug and this great idea. In the morning, I look for a student who came in quietly, was helpful to others, and finished their morning work. That person gets to sit on this place right in front of my reading chair on the rug and be the line leader. It really helps with morning routines!

Do you know about my obsession with folder tasks? I LOVE them! When I moved from teaching 5th grade to kindergarten, I had another teacher give me a box of them. I LOVE using them so much that I’ve created hundreds of folder tasks you can find in my store. Guess what? You can grab the tub labels above and a free folder game by clicking on the photo above!

If you sign up for my newsletter from this blog, I will also email you a free CVC words folder game and a freebie once a month!

This is the game you receive for free when you sign up for my newsletter!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of my classroom and that is has inspired you to get organized!

Happy Teaching and Mommy-ing this week friends!

Say Goodbye to Wasted Bulletin Boards – My Interactive Writing & Math Centers

August 8, 2018

Hi friends!

Are you right in the middle of setting up your classroom? I really worked on a complete classroom makeover a couple of years ago. It has made my life so much easier! You can actually view a video about an easy way to organize your room by clicking the photo below. I was completely honored when TPT featured this video in a newsletter that is distributed worldwide. Seems we all need tips for keeping our classroom organized!

The other thing major thing I’ve done and I discuss it in the video mentioned above is create 2 Interactive Centers. I have 2 bulletin boards on each side of my white board. I placed a table in front of each, 2 chairs, and colorful drawers beside each table. **If you don’t have colorful drawers, consider using a box with hanging file folders. (You can click on the photos below to see my Interactive Writing or Interactive Math Centers on TPT!)

This gives you an idea of what it looked like while I was setting the center up.

On one board I tried sheet protectors to hold my choices. This is what it looked like when I first set it up.

The thing that makes the Interactive Centers different from anything you’ve purchase on TPT is that students have a CHOICE of what they want to work on. They beg to go to the centers because having a choice is so important to them. Even kindergarten students can work independently at these centers because COLORED EXAMPLES (or B&W Examples) are included for every single activity. Your students no longer have to interrupt your small group time to ask you how to complete something. They simply look at the example on the board. They also no longer interrupt your time to say, “I’M DONE! WHAT DO I DO NOW???” If they finish one of their activities, they simply move on to another. You may have bigger bulletin boards and can offer students even more options. I like to give my kindergarten students 4 choices. I put 2 sheets they may need for reference on the bottom row and I hang the supplies they will need from a ribbon that is strung across the bottom of the board. Clothespins make it so easy to change these out as needed plus it just looks adorable!

As the year went on , I decided the board was a little too busy. I removed the ribbon on the edges of the sheet protectors and made it much easier to replace the activities. Instead of labeling the page protectors with words like “journal” or “book cover” that I was constantly having to change out, I simply added a 1,2,3, or 4 pencil. All of these labels, the bulletin board title, and the numbered pencils come with the resource on TPT!

Students look at the choices and go to the corresponding numbered drawer. If I want to do option one, I look in drawer number one. If I choose option 2, I look in drawer number two for my supplies.

Keep in mind that this is just a SAMPLE of the possible options on my board in August. There are many different Options included in my Interactive Writing Center on TPT. For this example, option one is labeling. Students will find labeling sheets in the drawer and a colored (or B & W) sample on the bulletin board.

Option 2 is the Class Journal. We LOVE our class journals so much! At the end of each month we staple all of the pages together, add the author page, and cover page and place the journals in our class library. Students LOVE to check those out from the library. The pages get progressively more difficult as the year goes on. I’ve also included a journal appropriate for preschool through kindergarten students and a separate class journal for first through second grade students.

Option 3 is that students can design a book cover. They love this one!

In this example, students will design a lunch note for option 4. If they aren’t sure what to do, they can simply look at the colored (or B & W) example on my bulletin board.

Again, this is just an example. I love that the resource on TPT has writing practice for every major holiday, poetry practice, and ways to respond to texts.

Let’s move on to the Interactive Math Center. I really love the way this turned out. I spent an entire year working on this center for you. I decided to decorate some clipboards with wrappping paper. It was such an inexpensive way to redo these boring old clipboards. The clipboards are also even easier to change out than the page protectors I used on my Interactive Writing Center.

In August when I start using my centers, I will only give kids 2 options. This is an example of how it might look at first.

The bottom row has a reference sheet to use as needed. If students choose option 1, they will be putting the shape puzzles together.

Option 2 is to sort flat shapes.

Of course in the writing center you will need to make copies but I love that the math center has lots of reusable activities, from sorting to puzzles to clip cards! Let me share some other examples of how your board may look.

There are so many cute activities included. You simply change out the activities and samples on the board to go along with what your students are working on!

Please let me know if you’ve tried my Interactive Centers. I would love to hear about your experience!

Happy Teaching & Mommy-ing this week friends!

The Mother’s Day Tea was a Success!

May 11, 2018

Hi friends,

Back again to share with you how the Mother’s Day Tea went. I am pretty sure that it was the most meaningful and touching thing I’ve EVER planned as a teacher. Let me start at the beginning.

If you haven’t read my first post about planning this event, click below:

Mother’s Day Tea – A Unique Way to Celebrate Your Students and their Moms!

If you want to plan a tea for your students, you can grab the resource by clicking on this product cover:

Most of the moms were able to attend the tea. I asked our vice principal and reading specialist to stand in for the 2 that weren’t able to.

The morning of the tea we gathered around before the moms arrived and really spent some time thinking about our mothers. I enjoyed explaining the sacrifices moms make on a daily basis for their children. You could see the light bulbs as the students began to realize how much their mothers do for them. I told the kids that they would come up one at a time during the tea to finish the sentence “I love my mom because…”. They were so excited to do that. I also explained to them that when each mom arrived, they would meet them at the door with their hat and beaded necklace. They were told to lead them to their seat and help push the chair in. Each child was to take their mom’s order and make sure their mom “paid” for it. (See menu below!)

We also practiced singing a couple of songs (Skinnamarinky-dinky-dink… & the song from Barney “I love you, you love me….”). The kids helped me set the tablecloths out and put the hats on the chairs.

AND THEN I had my assistant take them outside to play for about 30 minutes while I finished setting up. I told them to be careful outside because I had asked for them to be sent in their “Sunday Best”. (See post linked earlier.) If you plan one, you will definitely need to enlist some help from a couple of people. -Preferably not the moms so you can surprise them!

I was so happy with the way the room looked! I grabbed 4 plastic tablecloths from Walmart and I collect teacups so it was no problem to find those. I put a cupcake inside each teacup and added silver sprinkles. We put some of the crafts the kids made and the menu they colored on the table. I’m so glad I did that because it gave the mothers something to look at as we got everyone seated. If you don’t want to mess with hot tea or the cupcakes in the teacups, just grab some cute paper cups and serve cold sweet tea. 🙂

I hung the Tea Time Banner up beside our cubbies. (Included in the resource!)

Another assistant helped me cut up some fruit and boil the water for tea. I bought an electric tea kettle about a month ago and that worked perfectly!

See the little animal pitchers? The kids were instructed to come tell us if their mom wanted hot tea so we could safely carry it to them, but the little animals were at each table and the children loved pouring cream in for their moms.

When everything was ready, the kids answered the door one at a time. It was so sweet to see the mom’s faces when they were presented with a hat and necklace!

I loved this picture of one of my students pushing his mom’s chair in. Just like we practiced!

The kids had a lot of fun trying on the hats themselves!

We set up a little photo backdrop using the banner in the resource on TPT. While the moms started eating, I took pictures of each mother and her child.

When the moms finished their tea and food, the kids came up to sing their songs and walk up one at a time and tell why they loved their mom. They said things like, “I love my mom because she tucks me in at night.” or “I love my mom because she loves me.” It was really sweet to hear their thoughts and I was proud of how they spoke with confidence.

Finally, I read the book “I’ll Love You Forever”. The kids were in charge of saying the verse, “I’ll love you forever. I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be,” on each page. When I closed the book I looked out to see many of the moms crying. It was a tear jerker!

It did take me quite a bit of time to prepare it all but I was able to save the decorations to use next year and now that I’ve made the resource I can use it again and again. You will be able to reuse it each year too as it is an EDITABLE resource!

I didn’t have to buy too much since I already had most of the materials and I just baked the cupcakes at home. I drink hot tea all day every day so I already had plenty of tea bags. 🙂

It was so worth it to me for the kids to make such sweet memories with their moms. The moms were such troopers wearing their hats and necklaces with pride. 🙂 I could tell that the moms felt very loved and that was the main goal. I definitely plan on doing this every year from now on!

What about you? Have you ever tried a Mother’s Day Tea with your students? Let me know in the comments.

Happy Teaching and Mommy-ing this week friends!

Mother’s Day Tea – A Unique Way to Celebrate Students and their Moms

May 6, 2018

Hi Sweet Friends,

I just posted a product that I’m so excited to share with you!

You can click the product cover above to grab one in my TPT store.

(Side note: Make sure you are following me on TPT! My products are always posted at 1/2 off for the first 24 hours. That is a huge discount! When you “follow” someone, their resources will show up on the homepage for you and you will be the first to know when they post new products and freebies! To follow me, click this link! : Pencils to Pigtails on TPT )

Okay – on to the good stuff. I decided to host a Mother’s Day Tea for the parents of my students this year. I LOVE tea parties. My dad is from Canada so drinking hot tea is a family tradition. If you know me, you know I ALWAYS have a hot tea in my hand (usually in a YETI cup).

My grandma left each of her granddaughters a specific and unique teacup in her will. Over the years, I’ve collected dozens of bone china teacups. I love them so much that we had a “Tea for Two” party when Aniston turned 2. (More details on that in another blog post!)

When I presented at the Alabama Kindergarten Conference, I sat in one of Palma Lindsay’s sessions. (She is the one sitting on the right side of me in the picture below.) She had created the sweetest hats with her students. They were so adorable that I vowed to myself I would make those with my kids and wrote in all capital letters “MAKE MOTHER’S DAY HATS” across my May calendar.

When May arrived I decided the hats and my love for tea parties needed to come together into one memorable event for the mothers in my class.

We just finished our portfolios so it was the perfect time for my students to work on this and get a little much-needed crafting time. The kids loved coloring the invitations & RSVPs in the resource. They are the cutest little teapots and teacups.

There is a cupcake option too. Did I mention that the resource is EDITABLE? I included detailed instructions to make it super simple!

We are planning to have cupcakes, fresh fruit, and hot & cold tea. I wanted to keep it simple and as inexpensive as possible. The cupcakes will be placed inside of teacups to make them extra cute. (After the party I will post some more pics!)

The menus were prepped. Each student will serve their mother, grandmother, etc.

Did you notice the PRICE of each item? So sweet!

We sent home a list with details (also included & editable!)

While we waited for the RSVPs to return we got very busy creating the hats!

Aren’t these hats adorable? We just HAD to have a tea so the moms can model them!

To visit Palma’s blog and read her detailed instructions, go here:

KFundamentals Mother’s Day Hats by Palma Lindsay

Basically, you will cut 2 sheets of 24″ by 24″ butcher paper for each student. We used lots of pinks, purples, whites, and blues.

I made a mixture of about 60% glue and 40% water in a big bowl.

One at a time, I called each student over. They wrote their name in the middle of the bottom sheet. We flipped it over and they painted the top of that sheet with the glue mixture.

Then we laid the “top” sheet on the glue. We placed both sheets over an upside-down bowl. Then we put a bowl slightly larger over the top. (Just make sure you have two “nesting” bowls before you begin.)

I let the students roll the sides up however they wanted. Some of them left the hats big and others rolled them up really tightly. I love how unique each one is.

You can then carefully remove the bowls and it will stay in that position. Just set it aside to dry and you are finished! You could let the students decorate the hats. We simply added a tissue paper flower to each one. They are so excited to give these to their moms!

The whole process really didn’t take too long and luckily I had the rest of them working on a time-consuming fine-motor activity. 😉 They had the tiniest beads to make Mother’s Day necklaces. They loved doing this and stayed very busy while I worked with each student on his or her hat.

My assistant kept the necklaces organized by writing the child’s name on a strip of paper and attaching the strip to the necklace until they are ready to give them to their moms. She hung them on a bulletin board that we are in the process of changing.

You will find a few other fun activities in the resource. The kids enjoyed creating these Mother’s Day cards. We are planning to set them behind each place setting.

We used the banner to make a photo backdrop. Later we added these photos to the “frames” in the resource.

We already have these hanging in the hallway along with a handprint craft. I love the way those turned out.

As a mom, I know keepsake crafts are especially loved if they fold up flat! 😉 We completed these “All About My Mom” printables too. There are alternative versions in the resource in case you have a grandmother or other person attending the tea. I LOVE seeing what my students say about their moms. I have always thought it was cute to hear how old the kids think their moms are. I usually get answers ranging from 11 to 100!

I love this one. My mom is so… JOYFUL!

I am gearing myself up to try and host a Mother’s Day tea for my family too. What are your Mother’s Day traditions? Let me know in the comments!

UPDATE: Click the picture below to read how everything turned out!

Happy Mommy-ing & Teaching this week friends!

Saving Myself 400 Hours a Year with ESGI

April 9, 2018

Hi Sweet Friends!

I am so excited to share a product with you that has literally changed my life.

Hands up if you have assessments all over the place in your classroom! I tried to use data folders, BOY assessments, EOY assessments, report cards, progress reports, pretests, posttests… does it ever end???

The biggest problem for me is that I had paperwork everywhere! I wanted to simplify my life, ditch all of those stacks of paper, and bid a fond farewell to the school’s copier. Who has time to run to that printer anyways?

I recently presented at SDE’s Alabama Kindergarten Conference. I had an absolute blast and it was such an honor to present alongside some of my favorite educational bloggers. I had heard about ESGI but didn’t really understand what it was or how it could help me.

Bloggers from L to R beside me: Palma from KFUNdamentals, Mary from Sharing Kindergarten, Katie from Little Kinder Warriors, and Kim Adsit from Kindergals

Do you see those lovely ladies on each end? Rochelle and Kristen were so helpful in showing me how to implement ESGI in my classroom.

Honestly, the best way to understand how much time and energy ESGI will save you is by clicking through the link below and signing up for a free trial. There is absolutely no risk with the trial. If you decide to purchase the product, you will get $40 off each teacher’s license using my promo code “Pigtails”. I fell in love with the product immediately and showed it to my administrators.

My advice: register for a free trial, use it for a month or two so you can see and understand how necessary it is, and then show it to your administrators! The code will also help save $ when your school or district purchases!

ESGI Saved My Life – “Pigtails” Link

Let me share some of my favorite features with you!

• The biggest one is that ALL of my assessments are now online and I no longer have stacks and stacks of paper. At this time, there are over 700 pre-loaded assessments and it is growing. You will find assessments aligned to your standards, on your student’s level, and that go along with whatever you are teaching. I love that some of my favorite bloggers have FREE pre-loaded assessments for me to use. I can also CREATE my own assessment and it’s easy-peasy to do! Goodbye paper! Hello beautiful organized website!

• I can quickly log on and see my students’ individual progress and our progress as a whole. If you look at the picture above, I can easily see how many of my students have mastered each of these objectives. This is an easy way for me to plan ahead. Then I can look at an individual student and see what he or she specifically needs to work on. Where is he struggling? What skills does he excel in?

In the picture below, I clicked on the tab labeled “Phonemic Awareness”. I can use these tests, add other pre-made tests, or create my own!

• I love the way my data is stored. I am still assessing students one-on-one which I really appreciate. However, my data is immediately viewable in charts. I can quickly see what areas we need to work on. I can also choose to only test the student on the questions she previously missed. How many times have we wasted time and re-assessed students who have previously mastered the skill just because it’s hard to keep up with it all?

Isn’t that beautiful? I can simply test “incorrect” items. I love that!

This rhyming test was created by my friend Palma from KFUNdamentals!

• I can immediately print flash cards and a parent letter based on each student’s needs. No more filling out individual progress reports, checking boxes for what a student knows or doesn’t know, looking back through previous tests, etc. An editable parent letter is created for me along with a set of flash cards that my students can use. How great is that?!?!

I edited the name on this student and changed it to my daughter’s name to protect the student. You can see the individualized letter. It tells the parents exactly what the student missed and what she answered correctly. I can also print flash cards to go along with this letter.

Seriously! How great is that? I send them home on cardstock and let the parents cut them out. My parents and students LOVE these!

• I can schedule parent teacher conferences using the simple template and preloaded student names. They can be personalized in English or Spanish. This alone saves me so much time!

Make sure to use the promo code “Pigtails” to save yourself lots of money! It is already entered for you if you want to head straight to the website and check it out. Just click here:

ESGI Saved My Life – “Pigtails” Link

Have you used ESGI in your classroom? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Teaching and Mommy-ing this week friends!

You Were the First – An Open Letter to My Firstborn Child

March 19, 2018

There is something so special about being the first child. I was the fourth child in my family so don’t let this post offend you. I am simply pointing out what makes the first baby special. Look for a blog post soon about the next child in our family. Happy reading!:)

My Darling Aniston,

I feel so strange today. Today, you turn 4 years old. I.can.not.believe.it.

I remember thinking it was pretty weird how people got emotional about time passing by. Everyone tells you the same thing, “Cherish these days because they go by fast!”. I never fully understood how right they were until now. (Let’s be honest – in that blur of early days at home as a new mother, some of the days dragged by.)

Now I know exactly what they meant. They were warning me to cherish these moments because you will be wishing you could relive them later. Just wait until I write a blog post when you start driving, graduate high school, or get married. Let’s not talk about that.

YOU WERE OUR FIRST BABY. There is something so special about being the first. Let me try to put it into words.

I know it doesn’t happen for everyone like this. It probably doesn’t happen for most like this, but I prayed for you to be created. A couple of years after your Dad and I got married, I would lay in the dark and whisper prayers to God that I would become a mother (and if possible, could I ask for a girl?).

When you came along, I just had a feeling that I was pregnant. I felt completely at peace and full of joy. The fact that I could feel you moving inside of me was like a little secret just between the two of us. We waited to find out your gender until you were born, but I had a feeling all along that you were going to be my daughter.

I had a pretty easy pregnancy. I wasn’t sick and because YOU WERE THE FIRST baby, I could go home and put my feet up when needed. I was busy with lots of things but decided to stop with most of my after school activities to spend time thinking and planning for you.

We decorated our gender neutral nursery with all of the beautiful things my mom (Grandma) made just for you because YOU WERE THE FIRST. We talked about you, installed the carseat, packed our hospital bags, and we were ready… or so we thought.

I was in labor for many hours and at some point screamed at your dad that I was NEVER having another baby. (I changed my mind later because God has a way of making you forget about the pain.)

Everyone was crying in the delivery room and your dad yelled, “It’s a boy!”. I couldn’t see anything but just knew he was wrong. I knew I was going to have a little girl. Apparently he was confused by the umbilical cord. 😉

Later that day, your dad said he wouldn’t trade you for a million boys and I knew you had already completely stolen his heart. Those first few days in the hospital were so special to us. I can’t tell you how many times I caught your dad staring at you with the most content smile on his face.

And so my dear, let me begin…

YOU WERE THE FIRST to show us what is is like to have parental instincts. We had a little trouble getting you to breastfeed because you didn’t want to latch at first. Later that night I was completely exhausted and in a pretty deep sleep. The nurses had taken you to the nursery for a few hours so I could get some rest. All of a sudden, I popped up around 1 AM, called the nursery, and told them you were ready to eat. The nurse told me I could go back to sleep and they would bring you to me later. I insisted you be brought down and you immediately started drinking away happily. I tried to rouse Dustin in my excitement that I had my first parental instinct from across the hospital!

Since then there have been other strange ways that parental instincts have kicked in. I remember a friend watching in amazement as you tripped and fell and I was able to throw my arm backwards and catch you without even looking. A few months ago, I walked out of the church service and down to the classrooms when I felt something wasn’t right. Sure enough you were crying because you had fallen down and hurt yourself. Those are just a few examples of how we are forever connected.

YOU WERE THE FIRST to keep me up all night. I stared at you for hours completely sure that something disastrous was about to happen the first week or so we were home from the hospital. I called my sister (a surgeon) to tell her that you had been throwing up only to learn that it was a spit-up. Any time you made the slightest peep, I picked you up trying to soothe you and actually just caused you to really wake up from your sleep. I changed your diaper EVERY time the line turned slightly blue, again causing you to wake up from your much-needed sleep. I refused to let you “cry-it-out” worried you would feel abandoned. (Eventually when you were about 15 months old, I finally let you cry one night and from then on you have slept like a champ.) We are figuring out this mother/ daughter thing together and it is perfectly imperfect.

Every now and then, you walk down to our room in the middle of the night and spend the rest of the evening with your arm around me and my arm around you… just the way you like it. We both don’t sleep too good like that, but it is so worth it to cuddle with you.

YOU WERE THE FIRST to show us what it is like to relive your childhood. All of a sudden the birds are fascinating, running water from the tap is exciting, pots and pans make a fun sound when hit with a wooden spoon, and a car ride can soothe you and wash your worries away. The lights on the Christmas tree are magical, fireworks are much too loud, scooting down stairs on your bottom is the most exciting thing ever, and blocks are made for stacking into tall towers. Every holiday is the best day ever now. All because of you.

YOU WERE THE FIRST to flip our world upside-down. I was pretty independent and had bought my grandparents’ house before your dad and I were married. I was used to taking showers whenever I wanted and planning week-long vacations without a care in the world. Even if I plan a night away now, I spend the majority of my time thinking about you. There are rough days and exhausting days, but the relationship I’m building with you is so worth it!

YOU WERE THE FIRST to remind us that our money, resources, and FOOD are no longer just ours. I remember the day I drove through Chick-fil-a and all of a sudden heard a voice coming from the back say, “Fry-fry peeeeez!” (french fry please!). My mouth dropped open and I turned around with horror. “Did I just hear what I think I heard?” Then again, “Fry-fry peeeez!” There was no mistaking it. My one-year-old who was facing backwards in her car seat watching a video somehow realized I was about to get french fries. My food was never my food again. From then on, the Starbucks baristas never understood why I was trying to whisper my order to them. 🙂

YOU WERE THE FIRST to dance with your daddy. He loves dancing with you…. so much that it has become a nightly ritual to dance to one song every night before bed. Every time he has given you a bath (that would be most of your baths) he cranks up some music on his phone and you 2 (now 3) have the best time.

YOU WERE THE FIRST baby to travel with us. I learned how to switch you to my Solly wrap, fold up the stroller with a quick yank, and pack a carry-on bag with various toys & snacks to keep you busy on 8 hour flights. (I’ll go ahead and publicly apologize to the man you cried “PEE-a-boo!” to for hours upon hours.) We delighted in seeing you in your little tutu bathing suit at the beach. NOBODY ever looked cuter in a pair of gigantic sunglasses than you, my dear.

YOU WERE THE FIRST to show us how valuable our family members and close friends would be in raising you. Help was just a phone call away and I needed it. When I am teaching kindergarten, I rest easy knowing that Aunt Heidi & Grandma are showering you with love and attention. So many people play such a huge role in your life and raising you to be the lovely woman you will become. Our family came together when you started your patching journey and covered you with support. I will be forever grateful for the role they have played in your precious life.

I could go on and on…

YOU WERE THE FIRST to give us a glimpse of God’s miracles. I stand in amazement at His ability to knit you together in my womb. (Psalm 139:13-18)

YOU WERE THE FIRST to show us what it is like for your heart to walk around outside of your body.

YOU WERE THE FIRST to make me giggle when you came out in your own choice of clothes and covered in Mommy’s lipstick.

YOU WERE THE FIRST to make me feel prouder then I have ever felt before. That first dance recital brought me to tears.

YOU WERE THE FIRST to pick strawberries with me, have tea parties with all of your stuffed animals present, snuggle under a teepee, pretend a weeping willow tree was our clubhouse, go on treasure hunts with, read books with, and so many more precious memories.

YOU WERE THE FIRST to welcome your new baby sister… and later UNwelcome your sister wondering aloud if she could go back in my belly or back to the hospital for a while. There has never been anything better than seeing you become her little teacher and her best friend. She adores you and imitates every movement you make. I am soaking all of that up.

YOU WERE THE FIRST to demonstrate that the days are long but the years are oh-so short.

And now when your face crumbles and you say, “I never hold you anymore, Mommy” just remember… YOU WERE THE FIRST and nobody can ever change that.

Winter Games 2018 – Celebrating the Olympics in the Classroom

February 14, 2018

Hi Sweet Friends!

I never really think of February being a busy month in the classroom but it definitely is! Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, the Olympics this year, & President’s Day. Phew!

We have had an absolute blast studying the Olympics this year! The Winter Games only come around once every 4 years so it is definitely worth following the games along with your students.

I like to begin our unit with a quick read of this class book.

After we read through the book, I give a pair of students a page with the text only and we illustrate our own class book. They LOVE to do this. It drives home the illustrator’s role and builds a deeper understanding of the material.

The class book and ALL of the activities seen here are included in my TPT resource. You can find it by clicking the cover below.

I love to put word wall cards up for my students to reference as needed and the cards usually spark a discussion.

It can get a little confusing but we discuss how there are 7 categories with 15 varied disciplines across the sports.

Those 3 minute recaps are fascinating to watch each day. We found a couple of good YouTube videos to watch. They loved seeing the athletes actually perform. One thing included that I haven’t taken pictures of yet is the research project. Students are currently completing a project with their families. They choose an Olympian and do a little bit of research about the person. They are to be prepared to share by the end of the week. This is a colored sample I included to show the students my expectations.

We didn’t do this one but you could also ask students to fill out this sheet where they choose what sport they would compete in.

We made headbands to wear one day. The kids love wearing headbands to lunch. They are super simple when you staple them to a sentence strip. My students kept telling me they felt like kings and queens in these. 🙂 I told my students to color pictures of their favorite sports and attach them to the strip around the headband. You can see a few of them got quite creative!

I also created an “ice rink” for my students to skate the figures from our dollhouse around in. They had so much fun with this! The trick was to laminate the sheet and lay it in the bottom of a casserole dish. I filled it about half full and stuck it in the freezer. Later I went back, added another layer, and put it back in the freezer again. I let them play with this during indoor recess. They skated those dolls around until they were soaked!

We also created salt dough medals. I went into a little more detail in a recent post about Christmas ornaments so I won’t go into it too much but basically we mixed 1 cup of salt with 2 cups of flour. We added 1 cup of water and kneaded it until it felt somewhere between cookie dough and play dough.

I used a pickle jar to form the circles. We laid them on a pan and labeled the “medals” with a dry-erase marker.

The kids were able to come up and design their own medals. (Before we started this project, we spent time looking at all of the past designs of the Olympic medals and how unique they are.)

Don’t forget to poke a hole through the top with a straw. You will need this later to hang the medals around your little athletes’ necks! Instead of baking these, I’m just going to let them dry until they get hard.

I’m planning to let the kids paint these tomorrow with bronze, silver, or gold paint. We will string these around their necks and the students will also be wearing these “laurel wreath crowns”.

My students are so excited that they will look like Moana on Friday! 😉

The torch was an easy craft I let my students complete during snack time.

I almost forgot to share this fun game with you! Hide the Torch (or medal) is such a fun way to practice sight words. My students have been begging me to play this game with them every day. We discuss the words as I add them to the pocket chart. The students turn around and I place several torches behind various words. The student chooses a word to read and is then able to flip it over and see if one of the torches is behind it. I usually give each child a piece of candy and the winners get to grab something out of the prize box. They LOVE it!

You can play this one with sight words, doubles, or doubles plus one. All of those options are available in the resource on TPT!

I’ve sent home the parent letter that is also included and we are looking forward to an EDUCATIONAL celebration Friday as we count medals, enjoy fun snacks, and complete other activities in the resource. I know my little athletes will enjoy receiving their very own personalized certificate!

How are you celebrating the Winter Games with your students? Let me know in the comments! Click on any of these covers to grab your resource!

Looking forward to President’s Day? Click here!
Pencils to Pigtails Blog – Happy Birthday George Washington!

How about some St. Patrick’s Day fun?
Pencils to Pigtails Blog – St. Patrick’s Day Twirlers

Happy Teaching & Mommy-ing this week friends!

5 Unique Ways to Enjoy the Snow with Toddlers

January 19, 2018

We have had an ENTIRE WEEK off of school from the snow and ice here in middle TN. Some years we hardly see snow, so it’s always an exciting event. Aniston had long before decided that she would be making snow angels and catching snowflakes on her tongue. I adore this picture of the girls holding hands while Aniston tried to explain to her how to catch snowflakes on her tongue. (Plus my mom made those adorable hats!)

My friend Liz had texted me with some quick ideas of fun & easy activities to keep young children busy. I wanted to share them with you!

Snow Marbles – We loved the way these turned out and they were very simple to make. We blew balloons up with air then released them. Next we filled them up with water and added some food coloring to each one. We set them outside overnight to make “snow marbles”. I think if we had cheaper balloons we would have been able to make them much bigger.

Opening the balloons was really exciting. Aniston was really proud of how they turned out.

2. Snow Painting – I am seriously in love with the way our snow paintings turned out. First, we mixed up four different bowls of salt with food coloring and laid a few sheets of cardstock on top of some baking sheets. (Any light colored paper should work.)

Then I broke the news to Aniston that we would be “painting with snow”. I loved her reaction!

We gathered up a big bowl of snow and ran back inside. I told Aniston to sprinkle snow on the paper and then sprinkle with colored salt.

She was so excited! It kept her busy for quite some time while Heidi was napping. 🙂

You can see how it is starting to look very pretty now. After the snow melted, it left behind some beautiful colors.

Is it weird that I want to frame these and hang them in her room? They would bring back such good memories!

(As you can see we used sea salt and I liked the texture it left behind. Any salt should work fine.)

3. Snow Coloring – I also let Aniston use an eye dropper to “paint” the snow. This was a great fine motor activity for her. She really had to concentrate to pick up the various shades of food coloring mixed with water and drop it in the snow.

4. Snow Volcano – If you read my post about Johnny Appleseed, you know we did something very similar by making an apple volcano. This time we pushed together a pile of snow. Then we placed a cup about half full of baking soda down in the middle. I had also added a few drops of food coloring so it would have a pretty color. I let Aniston pour vinegar over it and she was delighted to see it erupt.

She has begged to do this again! I just need to make it to the store to get some more vinegar.

5. Snow Cream – A good snow day is not complete without snow cream. Because of Heidi’s milk/egg gallery, I gave the girls vanilla soymilk, chocolate syrup, and sugar and let them go to town creating their own recipe. They had a blast.

Of course we made time for sledding, snuggling, and lots of popcorn. I hope you are enjoying Winter as much as we are.

Heidi LOVES to say “cheese!” now. She is more adorable than ever at this age!

I’ll leave you with some pictures I took outside around our house.

It’s just a short (icy) walk to Grandma’s house.

We are in the process of updating our house. New paint, shutters, and a paved driveway are just a few of the ways we’ve been fixing things up.

Happy Teaching and Mommy-ing this week friends!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Primary Grades

January 13, 2018

Hands up if you love studying Martin Luther King, Jr. with your students! I LOVE teaching my KINDERGARTENERS all about him.

I’ve heard teachers say that 5 year olds aren’t old enough to understand the Civil Rights Movement but I strongly disagree. In fact, I KNOW for a fact that’s not true.

I always start by gathering my students in a circle on the carpet. I tell them that we are going to learn about someone very important. We will learn about a man who changed the course of history. I share with them that some people think they are too little to understand what they will learn today, but I know differently.

We do a couple of Scholastic weekly readers. I don’t discuss his death. We do discuss how white people used to sit on the front of a bus and black people were told to sit on the back. We also talk about how children went to different schools and even drank from different water fountains. They are so passionate about the injustice of it all. They scream out, “That’s not fair!” and “God made us all the same!” It’s adorable & the perfect reminder of why I became a teacher.

This year I created a new resource that will teach your students all about MLK, Jr. I’ve included class books which will help them gain a strong understanding of this important man. You can grab it on TPT by clicking on one of the covers below.

The world wall cards & real-life photos are perfect to help you start a discussion with your students.

I LOVE how passionate my students get. We roll up our sleeves and look at all of the BEAUTIFUL skin tones in our classroom. We talk about how wonderful it is that we can all go to school together now. We discuss how brave MLK was to stand up for what he believes in. It always gives me chills.

We used pieces from the resource to make a few meaningful crafts. In the first picture in this post, you see the child pressing her finger in some paint (an ink pad would work great too). We strategically laid out the name sheet beside either a heart or dove on each child’s work area. Students were told to go around and write their name somewhere on every person’s sheet. When they finished, I let the students get out puzzles and called them over a couple at a time. I showed them how they would go around to every paper and put their fingerprint beside their name on the key & then about 5 times on each picture.

I can’t believe how beautiful these are! We added a couple of different quotes on the sides (in the resource!).

One of my students exclaimed, “The different colors represent the different colors of our skin.” I could have cried. Okay, I did a little. 🙂

They were so proud of these. We also made these adorable earth crafts. We started by painting the earths. While those dried, the students took their time coloring & cutting out their “dolls”. I loved how these turned out too.

I also used many of these pieces in the resource to talk with my Parent English Class about MLK, Jr. Most of them did not know what he was famous for. We had a GREAT discussion.

If you aren’t into the time-consuming crafts, there are some simple ones included as well – just click the picture below to see this resource in my TPT store.

I hope you enjoy this resource as much as my students and I did. It’s never too early to help your students understand that every skin tone is a beautiful one.

Happy Teaching & Mommy-ing this week friends!

New Year’s Resolutions with Young Children

January 11, 2018

We’ve had such a great week together following our longer than usual Christmas break. While I DID cry because I had to leave the girls, I was thrilled to see my students. If you teach kindergarten, you know there is something magical about the way the students are able to focus better & already have routines in place when you return in January.

We jumped right in setting New Year’s Resolutions. My kids really enjoyed setting kindness resolutions. You can grab the product here:

I was pleased with how the class book helped them understand what a resolution was & how the resource helped them brainstorm and set clear academic and kindness resolutions.

We made these easy party hats which are included & started by choosing 3 ways we could be kind this year (later we did the same with academic goals).

I loved how the little boy above wanted to help his dad pop popcorn this year. 🙂

It’s not the neatest handwriting, but they completed these without help and I was very proud of their ideas.

Later they chose the most important of the 3 and wrote a complete sentence. I let them use pieces to decorate a large sheet of paper and we used a toilet paper roll dipped in paint to create fireworks. 🙂 (See photo.) They loved doing this!

The kids are so excited to help their friends reach their kindness resolutions. We could have made these a TAD neater but I let the students really take ownership of them. How do you celebrate New Year’s with your children or students?