Yet Another Great Blog

A Linky Party and Giveaway to celebrate great blogs. Be sure to go and add your blog to the list.

Great New Resource

I have seen several people post about Teacher Tipster and I've watched a bit of it. There are some great ideas and resources for all teachers. Here is the link to his website to get printables and watch videos. He also has a facebook page that you can like.

Yet Another Giveaway

Ms. Patterson over at Pocketful of Kinders is hosting a giveaway to celebrate 60 followers in one week. How does she do it? Go check out her site and enter to win.

Be sure to check out her blog on "Ways to Know You Are a Teacher". I'm sure we can all relate.

Another Great Giveaway

Head on over to Kindergarten Kraziness to win her Miss Bindergarten unit for free.

I Love Target!!

I kept seeing all the great things people were finding at Target but when I went last week I didn't find that much. I even checked the other Target store in the area. These are some of the things that I got last week.

Today, however, I went in search of the mini dry erase erasers and found a newly stocked GOLD mine! I was so excited. My wonderful husband is such an enabler to my addiction that he kept throwing things into my basket and finding more. I now have pointers, dry erase markers, sentence strips and erasers for every kid in the room. I also found dry erase boards with handwriting lines already on them. One of my favorite finds (thanks to my husband) were the signs to show the kids what you are expecting (line up here, listen, eyes on my, quiet, etc).

More Giveaway Fun

Welcome to Kinderglynn is giving away a $10 gift card for the new TBA store.

Don't miss out!

Giveaways are always fun!

Check out this giveaway but hurry it ends Thursday night.

Erica's Elementary Excitement!!

You can win a $50 Lakeshore Gift Card and a $25 Target Gift Card. Great way to start your school year.

While you are there, check out her great ideas as well.

Check out TBAs new store

Teaching Blog Addict has opened a store. Go check it out!

New ideas

So as I was traveling across the country, I was coming up with new ideas for my kids. One thing I realized this past year is that they had trouble with tens frames. I noticed that many of them would still count even if the frame was full. I was trying to come up with a way for them to get some automatic recognition for numbers and tens frames so I came up with a couple ideas. Tens frames

My first thought is to use the mats for number identification using counters and then a small ring for the final counter to circle the number. I'm also thinking this will work with addition and subtraction. Using objects instead of counters as well as laminating them and using dry erase markers or putting them on a cookie sheet and using magnets, the possibilities are endless!

Day 6

What a crazy day. We weren't able to spend any time with Justin until about 2:45 this afternoon. Long story but needless to say we still had a good time. I went to the Lakeshore store and did a little shopping and got some new ideas. Then off to the base in search of the tshirt that I had wanted but didn't get and still can't get. The only shop that had the shirt was closed and won't open at all tomorrow(Maybe next time). I did manage to find a Proud Mom shirt, hat, pin and lanyard set though and the girls got proud sister shirts. We killed a little more time at the mall and then picked up Justin and Miranda to go to an early dinner. Another great meal at Chuy's and this time Justin got to enjoy it as well. Back to the base again because this time Justin wanted to buy his Honor Flight t-shirt. Tom ended up buying the very last one they had (after Justin got his)so we are going to share it. We have just so thoroughly enjoyed sitting and talking to him that I just can't describe it. Tomorrow we will be meeting up with him at about 7:30 am to go to church and then brunch or something before we take off for Biloxi. I am so impressed with the wonderful young man that he has become in 8 weeks. He was pretty good before but now... WOW. He is finally an adult. I will say that every now and then though I see that little boy sneak in, mostly when he's hugging me like there's no tomorrow. But now he stands tall, sits tall and walks tall and is proud of who he has become.

Day 5

Well, needless to say it was a very long day. We got on base around 6:30 this morning after stopping for breakfast tacos along the way. We walked around the parade grounds and looked at the planes before meeting up with Justin's mom, step dad, brother and half sister. We got seats early before the buses started pulling up and unloading and watched them practice and run thru the ceremony. We watched the flights march over the bridge to the field before marching on to the field. After the ceremony, Miranda ran and tapped Justin out so that he could move. We followed Justin and his flight over to have their picture taken for getting Honor Flight and took our own pictures. Then we drove over to the ballfield so that we could walk to his dorm for Open House. We got to see all the beds, lockers, latrine, etc. So funny to watch a messy teenager turn into a responsible, meticulous man in such a short amount of time. We left while other families came in to view the dorms and waited in our air conditioned car. Justin's first request was for a Big Mac from McDonald's since he had looked at the golden arches thru the fence for the past 8 1/2 weeks. After lunch we went to the mall so that he and Miranda could finally get a phone plan and new phones. The whole gang went to the food court since most of them wanted ice cream and sat for a bit. Let me just say, it is extremely difficult to find seating for 10 people anywhere. Most of the day we just relaxed and hung out just noticing all the changes we've seen in him. We ended our day with just the 6 of us going our for Chinese food at a great new restaurant. I think Nicole and Miranda were giving the waiter all the free entertainment he could handle with their seat dancing. I told him to feel free to post the video on Youtube. lol We left Justin back at the base a little before 7 so that he could go pick up his uniform from the dry cleaners. Another good day with him. Tomorrow his mother is picking up Miranda and taking the 2 of them out to breakfast before we all meet up later. Me, well, I'm heading to Lakeshore to buy school stuff. You just can't take the teacher out of me especially on vacation.

Day 4

Today was a long but very eventful day. We woke up at 4:30 am and got ready for our day. Amazingly, we were all quick to get ready and out of bed. I guess the adrenaline was pumping. We got to the base about 6:15. We sat thru a briefing about all the dos and don'ts of the base. What our airman could and could not do? He can't walk and drink, can't stand and eat, no PDA, etc, etc. Following the briefing we were all released and basically ran to get a spot on the street for the Airman's run. We stood there for about an hour waiting for them but it was all good. This morning it was overcast and there was a breeze which made it pleasant. We were able to spot Justin on the first pass and he saw us as well. He even looked over and smiled. It was easy to spot us since we had made lime green shirts (Nicole's idea). On his second pass I was able to snap a photo. Following the run we made the quick dash for the stands to get a seat. Now mind you we had a 2 1/2 hour wait til the coin ceremony but I had read that in order to have a seat you must get there early. Luckily we did, because there were a lot of people standing behind the lines and in the sun. When the airmen marched in each flight had a designated spot on the mat. Justin's flight was announced along with the fact that they made Honor Flight, meaning they had scored the most total points over the 8.5 weeks. This is a nice surprise as it comes with a town pass on Sunday. At the end of the ceremony, families were released to find their Airmen. In order for the Airmen to move they must be "tapped out". This basically means that someone needs to touch them, hug them, shake their hand. We stood there looking at him and teasing him but not touching him. It was killing him and me so I finally broke and gave him a great big hug. We spent the rest of the day hanging out on the base, mostly the BX food court where he could eat and it was air conditioned. We finally took him to the ballfield a little before 7pm so that he could find a wingman and walk back to the dorms. Apparently they are not allowed to walk anywhere alone. Tomorrow is graduation. He will be wearing his 3 ribbons that he has earned. He has a town pass for the next 3 days but has to report back to the dorm each night. More tomorrow about graduation

Day 3

We left this morning in search of the best way to get to the base from here. We ended up finding which ways NOT to go. lol We did do some exploring though including Tom showing us the hotel he stayed in years ago when he came to see his ex. Interestingly enough, we think we saw Justin's flight out back practicing. We got a little excited thinking about getting to see him tomorrow. When we left there we went to the mall nearby and did a little shopping. We found some cool stores that we don't have back home and bought some shirts. After the mall, we went to a mexican restaurant that I had read about on Yelp. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as good as last night's restaurant. Still it was interesting with great service and low prices. After lunch we headed downtown to the Riverwalk. Walked around the mall down there then back to the car to head back to the hotel. No purchases made there since most of it was a giant tourist trap but at least it was air conditioned. Back to the hotel for the night. Tomorrow we will be leaving here no later than 6am for the 7 am debriefing followed by the Airman's run and then the coin ceremony. Hopefully I will be able to get some good pics and upload them on here. More tomorrow.

Day 2

I didn't get to post last night so I figured I would post before I take off exploring today. We drove all day and arrived yesterday afternoon. We stopped at a beautiful rest area here in Texas for a picnic lunch along the way. After arriving yesterday we brought up all the luggage and took a small break. I was checking out my Urban Spoon app and found that there was a Tex Mex restaurant with rave reviews nearby. It turns out that it's a chain but the food and service was absolutely awesome. I've attached a couple photos of it. It's called Chuy's and boy was it yummy. Tom has been talking about Carne guisada for 10 years but we can never find anywhere in Florida that even knows what it is. Tom and I got the carne guisada tacos with the fresh made flour tortillas and all I can say is YUM!! Even Kimmie asked for a bite and decided she like them. She's dying to try out another place today and order it. For those who may not know, she's not a big lover of beef so this is quite an accomplishment. After dinner, the girls came back and went swimming. Today we are off on new adventures....

Day 1

We made it to Biloxi, MS, halfway to San Antonio. We were on the road for about 11 hours counting pit stops. I actually drove half of that which is amazing for me because I hate driving on the highway. We are all a little slap happy and are now resting at the hotel for the night. Justin called us as we were going into Mobile, AL. Our call was broken up by his phone shutting off every couple minutes. We did get some basic info from him though. He told us that his flight got Warrior Flight and they are up for Honor Flight. This is a big accomplishment especially when you consider the fact that just a couple weeks ago they were in trouble for not doing things right. Glad to know they got their act together. Tomorrow will be another long day of driving but at least we will reach our final destination of San Antonio.

Traveling

Well, my family is leaving for San Antonio tomorrow morning for our son's graduation from Air Force Basic Training. I'm sure during that long trip, I will have plenty of time to develop some new ideas to post. I may even post some of our trip on here. Stay tuned...you never know what I will come up with.

Testing this out

One of the stations my kids enjoy is making words with the letter tiles. You can use the plastic letter tiles. Before I was able to find those though, I went to Home Depot and bought a sheet of one inch ceramic tiles. I wrote the capital letter on one side and the lowercase letter on the other. The kids would use the cards to match the letters to make the word. As the year progressed they stopped using the cards and started writing sight words and then sentences with the letter tiles. Here is a sample of some of my letter tile cards...

Just Starting Out

So this is how I will be spending my summer vacation, stalking all the awesome blogs out there and looking for great ideas. My team members and I have spent countless hours during our first week of summer vacation checking out new ideas on other peoples' blogs and decided it would be fun to create our own where we share the ideas that we find. More will follow tomorrow.