It's Teacher Week '13! Let's Talk About Me Monday!

Blog Hoppin'

Talking about Kimmie!  This should be interesting!  LOL!  Well, here are some things that you find fun about me!  Let me see how many numbers I'll need!

1.  I'm getting ready to begin my 20th year as a teacher!  I've taught 2nd grade and 1st grade and for the last 11 years, I've been in Kindergarten!  It's the best grade ever!

 My TpT Store



 

 

2.  My hubby Jim and I have been married for 30 years!  Our anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks and that will mark our 31st anniversary!  Wow!  He's a wonderful man and we spend lots of time together!  We have two smart, beautiful girls and we're so proud of them! AND we have another member of our sweet family!  It's Gigi!  She's our chubby little beagle!

Sweet Little Gigi! Who could resist that face?

www.spinning.com

3.  I teach SPINNING!  I love to Spin (indoor bike, high intensity aerobic exercise! - Not to be confused with weaving or spinning yarn! LOL!)  I've been a Spinning Instructor for about 14 years!  I also teach Pilates, YogaFit and HydroRider, which is Spinning in the deep water pool.  I love to exercise and I like to make it fun for others!  I do resistance training, I run a little and take all kinds of exercise classes at the Health Plex near where I live in Cincinnati! 

  

    

   

4.  I love to cook!  I think I'm a chef!  I've been a vegan for almost 16 years!  It seems like forever and I'm so glad!  It's definitely a life choice and most of the time it's easy and simple.  It's a little tricky when we have to travel, but it's getting easier as restaurants become more interested in offering healthy low fat veggie choices!
 

 

 www.vegnv.com

I think this is so true!!www.gopantone.com

 

 

 

5., 6., 7., & 8.  This summer my husband and I went to Las Vegas so that I could present at the I Teach K! Conference!  That was awesome!  I met some really fun teachers!  It was lots of fun!  One of the summer highlights! 

Debbie

 Deedee

Deanna

I also elbowed my way up to meet Kim Adsit, Kimberly Jordano and Kathleen Pederson!

Thanks girls!

Here's a photo of the Blogger Meet Up 2013! 

Where are you?  Do you see yourself? Can you find me? (Middle, about 3 from the right!)

 

 

9.  After the conference in Las Vegas, Jim and I took a little vacation for the first time in about 20 years!  We've been kind of busy with work and the girls and giving all our money to The University of Cincinnati!  Finally, we were able to spend some time together and enjoy Palm Springs, CA, the Grand Canyon and the area all around Sedona, AZ!

 

 

                                           

 Palm Springs, CA

 

 

 

 The Grand Canyon!  So Beautiful!

 

 Sedona, AZ   A Gorgeous Area!



10.  Tomatoes!  We are growing lots and lots and LOTS of tomatoes!  We have 32 tomato plants and the tomatoes are starting to get ripe!  There's nothing like a Cincinnati tomato and we wait all summer for them to ripen!  We grow many, many varieties and I love them all!  Brandywine, Grape,  Roma, Cherry, Black Cherry, Big Boy, Better Boy and Early Girl are some of our favorites! Need a few?  Come over!

 



 

 I could go on and on!  That's a lot of Kimmie info!  Tomorrow is another day and another fun blog post coming up! 

I love doing these Linky Party Activities! I learn so much about FABULOUS bloggers and the GREAT ideas that they have and the WONDERFUL places they go!

Blog Hoppin'

Thanks for taking the time to read all this! If I think of something else I'll add it later!
Have a great week!

 

Friday Linky Party- Five For Friday!

Doodle Bugs

I love doing the Linky Party thing!  It's always fun to see what everyone is doing and to gain inspiration and motivation! 

So, here we go!

1. I've been shopping!!  I've been to lots of Dollar Hollers to pick up some cheap inexpensive and fun Center stuff!  Yahoo!  I think it's fun to shop for creative and colorful Center activities!  I found these blue baskets and I'm going to use them to store (and air dry) watercolor paint brushes!  The index cards come in packs of 4 colors, perfect for ABC and sight word practice.  The clock is to show when we go to Centers and I know, "Who" will love the owl stickers!

 

2.  I've been working on the Kindergarten Common Core Curriculum and I've posted it as a TpT Freebie and a Facebook Fan Freebie too!  The standards are put into a monthly format over the school year to help align our lessons to the Common Core!  Did I mention that it's a FREEBIE?

 

 

Kindergarten Common Core Curriculum

Facebook Fan Page

 

 

3.  Reading and Reviewing and Revisiting!  I love to take a look and reread those books that are so important to the beginning of the school year!  Then I also try to find something new to read, either a short article or a piece by another teacher author.  Here are a few of the books that I like to revisit before school starts and that I've already started rereading!

 



The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson  

 

Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller

 

Guided Reading: First Good Teaching For All Children by Fountas and Pinnell

 

 

4.  I work on my school daily schedule!  Here's an outline of what I start with and then I add and tweak what I need to each week because in Kindergarten we just have to be flexible!

 

 

Schedule for the Beginning of the Year

Daily Schedule: Here is a general schedule for our classroom. We’ll add on activities as we go, but this will give you a framework for our busy days!

8:05-8:15 Attendance, Lunch Count, Pledge

8:15-8:30 Handwriting Without Tears

8:30-10:00 Calendar/Songs/Phonemic Awareness

Reading/Making Meaning/Phonics

Reading Activities/Interactive Writing

Science/Social Studies

10:00-10:45 Math Investigations

10:45-11:20 Specials

Mon. – Music Tues. – P.E Wed. – Tech Tools Thurs. – Art Fri. - Music

 (Library on Thursdays at 10:15)

11:25-11:35 Clean Up/Ready for Lunch/Mystery Box

11:35-12:25 Lunch/Recess

12:30-12:50 Teacher Read/SSR/Guided Reading

12:50-1:30 Writer’s Workshop

1:30-2:05 Centers/Guided Reading

2:05-2:15 Clean Up/Pack Up/Ready to Go

2:25-2:30 Dismissal
 

5.  I try to spend a little time relaxing!  It's nice to be home, following my own schedule and routine!  It's nice to take time to plan and create some delicious food for myself and my sweet hubby!  Every weekend I look forward to spending time with my smart, beautiful girls!  We're having a Waffle Breakfast this weekend!  You are welcome to join us for good food, good fun and great conversation!

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this post!  I love to link up with new friends and old friends!

Have a great week!  See you soon!

Thanks Doodle Bugs!

 

I would love for you to follow me!  That way we can be connected! 
Kimmie!
 



One of the Most Fun Stores Around!

I just didn't know.  I saw others blogging about it but I wasn't sure.  Then, the new DOLLAR GENERAL opened in my neighborhood!  Now, I'm all about it!  What a great place to find fun, fantastic and affordable classroom stuff!  The games, the materials, the storage containers and all the other things that you can find there makes the trip worth your time! 

Look at all these great bargains that I picked up!

I'm thinking that I'll use this to track the increase in reading stamina this year!  I can also use it to show how many total minutes that we've read over the week or month!  Love it!

 

 Every year, I always buy a new set of ABC cards.  I just like to have a new set that is clean and cute and colorful!  These clothes clips are great for a sorting game or for building finger strength.  We can use them to pick up and sort foam letters or numbers.  The finger lights are very popular right now, so I know my kiddies are going to love them!

 

I was so excited to find those orange ice trays!  The label says that it's a flower, but we all know it's really a Chicka Chicka tree!  LOL!  I'm going to laminate some of the Bingo cards so that they'll last longer and then cut and laminate individual squares for the calling cards.  Those ocean stampers are going to be perfect to use during my Ocean Unit!  They'll be great story starters, begining and ending

letter activities or a middle vowel sound sorting game!  Lots of ideas keep swimming into my head!

These cute little clipboards were too sweet to resist!  I have some old clipboards like these, but they are plain white and I think it's time to update and add these cutie pie ones to my Centers!  I actually purchased 6 clipboards.  I always try to purchase Center materials in sets of 6 because then I'm sure I have enough for every kiddie to have their own item or material to work with at that time!

 

Wow!  What a fun and productive shopping trip today!  I'm getting excited to get back to school in a few weeks!  It will be here before I know it!

Have a great week!  You deserve it!
Kimmie!

Back From The SDE Conference and Looking Forward To A Great Year!

Wow!  What a wonderful trip!  The things that I learned, the new friends that I met and the sessions that I attended made the SDE - I Teach K! Conference an overall AWESOME experience! 

I want to share the Kindergarten Common Core Curriculum Map that I created for my own classroom!  You can download the text version on my Facebook Fan Page, right after you click the "Like" button! If you've already clicked the "Like" button, then just choose the Freebie or Freebies that you want and download.  You can also pick up the more colorful version as a Freebie on my TpT Store!  Clicking the link to the right will take you right there!

Kindergarten Common Core Curriculum Freebie

Facebook Fan Page Freebie

Kimmie's Kindergarten on Pinterest

I'm glad to be home after being gone!  I have so many new ideas that I want to put together for the beginning of the new school year! 

Here's hoping you have a great start if you've gone back this week! 
Thanks for following my blog! 
Have a wonderful week! 
Kimmie!

What A Great Conference!

There are so many wonderful presenters here at the I Teach K! Conference here in Las Vegas!
I've already attended so many interesting and informative sessions!  I had a chance to meet some exciting presenters and I'm looking forward to the next few days!

One of the nicest and most valuable parts of any conference is the opportunity to hear about new ideas!  I love learning about the ways we all work to help our kiddies to learn and to grow emotionally while we have them in our classrooms! 

I'll keep you posted on some of the great things I'm learning here in Las Vegas!

Think about me tomorrow when it's my turn to present, Keeping Kindergarteners Engaged All Day Long!  Send those positive thoughts my way!

Thanks for visiting my blog!  I appreciate all that you do for our kiddies!
Have a great week!

Kimmie

Link Up With The Sunday Smorgasbord!

 What a fun idea that my friend Michelle posted on her blog

Fabulous In First!

I've linked a Sunday post about bread baking, chicken clucking, recipe writing randomness on my post!

I hope you enjoy this fun Sunday throwback to April!

 

 

I've been so busy with getting ready for the I Teach K! Conference coming up next week that I haven't been posting as much!  That's going to change because I want to share as much as I can next week about what's happening out in Vegas!

Thanks for visiting!  Thanks for following!  Thanks for signing up for Bloglovin!  Thanks for going to my Facebook Fan Page and hitting the LIKE button!  I appreciate it and I love hearing from you!

Have a great week!
Kimmie!

This Giveaway Has Ended! We'll Do Another One Soon!

Hi Everyone!

Thanks so much for following and for entering this Bloglovin Giveaway!  I love hearing from you and I hope you enjoy what's happening in my little room of the world! 

Check the Rafflecopter Poster below for the winning names!  I've sent you an email!  Congratulations!

I'm working very hard to get ready for the upcoming SDE I Teach K! Conference in Vegas! 

I'm so looking forward to meeting new friends and seeing those friends who we connect with on Facebook and Blogger and now Bloglovin!  I've also added Twitter and Instagram and you can find me there!

I appreciate all of you, your unique talents, individual perspectives and thoughtful positive responses on all that you do!

Have a wonderful week!