And the lucky winner is...

Heather Nance!! Yeah Heather!! 

I hope she enjoys the gift card. Thank you to everyone who entered. Maybe Santa will bring you what you wanted. :)

One more day for the giveaway!

Who's ready for the weekend? I am!!! This was a rough week after being on vacation. Behavior was not exactly sparkling this week. It didn't help that we were trapped indoors for 3 days because of the non-stop rain. I've been hinting all week to my class that I needed a helper or an extra set of eyes to watch them. So, here's my visitor for Monday. 

I'm REALLY hoping my little friend will have some kind of positive influence on my firsties behavior. We'll see what happens. Enjoy your weekend! 

Remember that there's one more day to enter my giveaway for the $50 Kohl's gift card. Spread the word! :)

Lucky Me!!!

Yeah me!! I got a GREAT surprise when I checked my email this afternoon. I'm the lucky WINNER of this bad boy!! 

A BIG THANK YOU to Amanda Madden of Teaching Maddeness for hosting her AMAZING 1,000 Follower giveaway! She has 7 days of giveaways. I won Day #2!! There's still time to enter her AWESOME giveaway. Click on the picture below to check it out!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $50 gift card to Kohl's. It's been fun reading what people would buy if they won. Spread the word!! You could be a WINNER too!! :)

It's GIVEAWAY time!!!

Who loves an AWESOME giveaway?!? 

You better!! :)  

Even though Thanksgiving is over, I can still be thankful for you!! I am so thankful that there are so many amazing, creative, generous, and kind teachers out there in the blog world. You all have taught me so many things about blogging, teaching, and life!   

                   So, to say THANK YOU I'm having a giveaway!

Thanks to Kohl's, I'm giving away a $50 gift card to one lucky winner!! Who wants to do some shopping???

Kohl’s recently launched a tool in their toys department which allows shoppers to browse toys based on age. It makes shopping for age appropriate gifts for your kids, cousins, nieces, nephews and grandchildren a whole lot easier! 

**Click on the Kohl's image above to check out this great new website feature!**

The giveaway will end on Sunday, December 2nd. The lucky winner will be notified by email. Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Books, books, books and an upcoming giveaway!!

I've got it BAD, real B-A-D...a LOVE of books that is!!! Since I was little, I've always had my nose buried in books. Any free time I had, I was reading, going to the library, asking to go to a bookstore; I just needed my hands on books. Some of my favorite memories growing up were listening to books on 45s or snuggling in bed with my mom and listening to her read books to me. I am excited to share my love of books and reading with my students and my own two kids. When a student says they don't have a favorite book or that he doesn't like to read, I gladly accept the challenge of making that kid a lover of books too!

As an adult, I am still hooked on books. I LOVE my nook (I have 3!) which fits easily into my purse so I can take my reading with me. I can easily read 4 - 7 books each week depending on how much time I have. It's such a great feeling to tune everything else out and sink into a book. I am always getting involved with the story, thinking about the characters (a little too much sometimes...haha!), creating pictures in my mind of what I think the characters, places, surroundings look like...my imagination is always going when I'm reading a book.

Children's books are my weakness (well, one of them!). I'm always on the lookout for new books for the classroom. Whenever I'm reading blogs, I take note of blogger recommendations and am always pleased when I find a new discovery to bring back to the classroom. So, I thought I'd share some of my recent purchases. I'm sure you've seen some of these or even own them. Click on the pictures for more info.

Here goes:

So, YES I jumped on the Elf on the Shelf bandwagon! Last year I was kicking myself when I missed out on having our elf for home. I was determined to find my elf well ahead of time so I could share the fun with my family. I was so excited to get one this year, I got one for school too! I can't wait to start a new tradition at home with my own kids and do something fun with my students in December. I've done lots of shopping on TpT for Elf units to use in the classroom from some very creative teachers!! Pinterest has many ideas for your elf too. 

My students always enjoy Bad Kitty, so I couldn't pass up A Bad Kitty Christmas. Along with the usual naughtiness of Bad Kitty, it has a meaningful Christmas message to share with your students.

David is another student favorite. We like to see what trouble David gets into this time. I like reading David Shannon's author bio inside the back cover of his books. The kids like knowing that his David stories are based on him. We also like trying to find his white Westland terrier that he hinds in all his picture books.

All the Snowmen books are fun to read and have such colorful illustrations. Who knew that snowmen, or should I say snowpeople, are so busy at night?!

This next one is not a holiday story but it is so funny! My son wanted me to read this to him again and again. Such a cute story! I think I'm in the mood for a taco...

Onto another topic...

I'm having a BIG giveaway starting TOMORROW!!! Come back and check it out. You. Won't. Want. To. Miss. It.

Movement in My Classroom

With such a large class size and large amount of boys, taking a few moments for some kind of movement activity during the day is key for me. I try to incorporate movement when introducing new words to our Word Wall, reading poems together in a pocket chart, practicing spelling words, reading our Morning Message, doing phonics activities, during transitions, before or after testing, Friday Fun or just as a reward. There is such a positive response from all the kids in my class, that I know they need these little breaks just as much as I do. :)

There are a number of teachers on Teachers Pay Teachers who have created some great movement activities under various titles--Brain Breaks, Shake Breaks, Brain Gymnastics, etc. Check them out! You won't be disappointed.

Here's a video of one of my class' favorites--The Bazooka Bubblegum Song. My boys LOVED it as much as the girls! We always have fun moving along to this song. It's a great little workout too! ha!

Thanksgiving Break...WOOHOO!!

It's Thanksgiving Break!! I'm so thankful that we get this whole week off. I am going to de-stress, relax, and just enjoy my time off. I think I've earned the right to be lazy, sleep in, read smut, watch TV, etc. after these first few months of school. It feels so GOOD!!

One of my students gave me this cute little owl basket filled with my favorite candy--pretzel m&m's! YUM!! I've been nibbling each day. 

So the boy who gave me this is always full of surprises. He's a super smart boy with amazing, supportive parents. But he's also my one who I'm giving constant reminders to keep his hands off of other kids, to raise his hand instead of shouting out, walking in line, etc. I feel like I wear his name out each day. Haha! On one particular day that him and I were not seeing eye to eye, he was really pushing my buttons ALL. DAY. LONG. We were cleaning up to go home and he handed me a folded piece of paper. I set it on the table and went about cleaning up. I was curious as to what he gave me, so I opened the paper. Inside was a hand drawn picture of me and the boy, holding hands with the following words--
     
     Mrs. Tompkins is the best teacher. I love being in your class. 
     Thank you for being my teacher!

Really??? This from the same boy who I had to give lunch detention and miss recess in the same day??? My heart melted a little and I made sure I told him thanks and gave him a hug. He had a huge smile on his face and said, "You're welcome."

Even though I may have to "ride" some kids during the day, they still appreciate and like me. These little surprises make the craziness that happened earlier in the day disappear! I LOVE IT!