I definitely almost forgot it was time for my Currently post until I saw Farley's post on Instagram!!!  I blame it on #teachersonsummerbreakproblems hahaha!  Anyway, how did the first get here so fast?!?!  Wasn't it JUST June 1st?!?!  Here is my Currently July:

Listening: Shark Tank!  I love this show!  I love seeing all of the different ideas that people have.

Loving: Summer!!  That one was easy!

Thinking: I'm excited about Vegas!  But, like Farley said, I'm also a little nervous.  There are going to be A LOT of people there!  I'm still excited for the opportunity!  Please say hi to me if you see me!!  I'll have my Recipe for Teaching button and tote bag!

Wanting: I've done quite a bit of shopping for Vegas, however I want to do just a little more!  

Needing: So I participated in my first Twitter chat and whoaaaaaaaa!  I tried to keep up, but it was definitely a lot.  I need some more practice with Twitter!  I did add my Twitter button to my blog.  Are you on Twitter??  

All Star: I think I'm a pretty good baker!  I love baking cupcakes.  They are so fun to decorate!

Don't forget to join Farley for your Currently Post!!

And now for my next link-up!  

I'm also super excited to link-up again with Jennifer from A Dab of Glue Will Do for her Winner Wednesday!  I hope to meet her sometime next week in Vegas!!!!!!! 

Here is my product that I am giving away to one lucky winner!!!!  You can check it out in my TpT store by clicking the image.  Included in this pack are a variety of activities you can do with goldfish crackers.

I did the goldfish graph with my students and they LOVED it!!  Whenever we get to "eat our math," the lesson is for sure a big hit!

I did this lesson this past spring so we added the addition part to our graph.  I had them pick two colors from their graph to add together and write on the sentence strip.

And now is your chance to WIN this for FREE!!  Just enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance!  The giveaway will last today only and a winner will be announced Thursday.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

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Recipe for Teaching

So excited to FINALLY join Jayme from Teach Talk Inspire and Diana from My Day in K for their Tell All Tuesday linky party!!   This week we are sharing a Summer Flashback! My summer flashback is from a few years ago when my husband and I took a last minute trip to Niagara Falls.  I think we decided the week before to go!  #lastminutetripsarethebest  This was my first time visiting and we had a blast!  We were able to spend time on both the American and Canadian sides of the Falls.  Here are just a few pictures from our trip! We stayed in this cute little B&B. 

 This is the view of the Falls from the American side.

 This is from the Canadian side.  They light the Falls up at night and it is beautiful!  

We rode The Maid of the Mist.  Anyone else ever done this before?!?!  It is so fun, but you get SOAKED!!  I snapped this picture right before going into the Falls!!

We also went to the Bills vs. Redskins game!!  This was especially exciting for my husband, who is a Redskins fan.

We had the cutest afternoon tea at a restaurant in Canada!

So fun to "flashback" to that trip because it was such a fun time!!   Be sure to join the fun and link-up to share your Summer Flashback!!   

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Recipe for Teaching

I love children's picture books!!  That is why I am loving this linky party with The Kindergarten Connection and Kindergarten Planet!    Here is their schedule for the summer if you would like to join!   This week I am sharing all about books I like to use when teaching math.  Math is one of my favorite subjects to teach.  I LOVE using books to go along with my math lessons.  I think starting a math lesson with a picture book gets my students engaged and excited about what we are learning. Before I share some of my favorite books, if you aren't familiar with Stuart J. Murphy books, you MUST check them out!  He has SO many fabulous books that teach many different math concepts.*These images are right from his website.  Click any image to go to the site.  Here are just SOME of the books I like to use when teaching math:

Here are some descriptions of the books.

*Images are from Amazon and I have also provided links to Amazon for your convenience! 

If you were a Plus Sign and If you were a Minus Sign are great to use when teaching equations.  They both are cute stories that explain what you would do if you were a plus sign or a minus sign.  I love If you were a Minus Sign because we do subtraction bowling and this book talks about bowling.

The Shape of Things is a great book to use when teaching about shapes.  Students will see different pictures and the shapes that make up that picture. 

I like to use Monster Musical Chairs when teaching subtraction.  The monsters are playing musical chairs so a monster is subtracted away each time. 

Just Enough Carrots is one of my favorites to use for comparing amounts.  Little Rabbit and his mother are shopping in the grocery store for food and compare the different amounts.  The kids always love the page about buying worms!  ICK!

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons - I probably don't need to say much about this book because it's PETE THE CAT!!!!  My students LOVE Pete the Cat!!  If you aren't familiar with this book it is great for subtraction because Pete loses a button one by one throughout the story.  A favorite of my students for sure!

The Twelve Days of Kindergarten is great to read for a counting book at the beginning of the year.  You can probably tell by the title that it is set up like "The Twelve Days of Christmas."  Get your singing voice ready!

100th Day Worries is one of my favorite books to read on the 100th Day of School.  Jessica worries about everything and when her teacher tells the class they will be bringing in a collection of 100 objects for the 100th day of school she of course worries!  Will Jessica find a collection of 100 objects to bring in?!?!

Domino Addition is a great book to use when teaching addition.  I love using dominoes to help my students learn addition.  You can grab a domino freebie in one of my previous blog posts by clicking here.

I can't wait to check out the books that everyone in the linky party shared!!  What are some of your favorite books to use when teaching math?

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Recipe for Teaching

So I may or may not have started singing, "These are a few of my favorite apps" to my husband to the tune of "These are a few of my favorite things" as I was typing this post!!  And he then asked me if I was going to record it!!  Lucky for you, I'm just going to stick with typing this post!    Do you have an iPad in your classroom?  I'm lucky to have two iPads in my classroom and my school also has some iPad carts we can use.  I am always looking for new apps to use with my students so I figured I would share some of my favorites with you!  PS - All of the apps I am sharing with you are FREE!!!!!  *App Images are from iTunes and links are provided to iTunes for your convenience!

Story Creator is one of my favorite apps for creating books with my students.  You can insert your own pictures on the pages.  I've created books with my students about myself, books that match poems we are working on, or books that we create as a class.  The great part is that you can also record yourself or the students reading with this app! 

Do you use Rekenreks with your students?   Number Rack is a great virtual Rekenrek.  I love the hands on aspect of real Rekenreks, but this app allows you to change your instruction up a little.  It is still hands on, but in a different way because the kids move the beads by swiping them on the screen. 

QR codes are a fun way to add some technology to your lessons.  My students love QR codes!  If you have never used QR codes, they are super easy to create.  One of my favorite websites for creating QR codes is QRStuff.   Check out this QR code reader and scanner app by clicking here.  I have a fun QR code freebie in my TpT store you can check out by clicking the image below:

The Geoboard app is a great way for students to make shapes on the iPad.  If you use geoboards with your students, you can have your students show what they created on their geoboard using the app.  

Sock Puppets is a great way for your students to practice fluency.  They can record themselves reading in a puppet show type format.  Tons of fun and lots of learning at the same time!  

ABC Letter Tracing is a fun and simple way to have students practice letter formation.  This is great for one-on-one practice if you only have one iPad.  If you have multiple iPads in your classroom, this would be great for a literacy center at the beginning of the year.  

Real Dice Roll is a fun, virtual way of rolling dice.  You could use it when modeling games or have students combine dots when adding and then record on a dry erase board.  The possibilities are really endless with this one! 

My students love this Cinderella book app.  I love that this app reads the book to the students.  Kids can actually swipe across the pictures to make "magic ink" appear.  They love that feature!  

I used this ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard app to have my students type their favorite part of kindergarten this past year.  Then I took their picture and added it to what they typed.  I saved it as a screenshot to print.  They loved it!  There are also many other features to use in this app. 

10 Frame Fill is a great app to practice how many more to make 10, combinations of 10, and equations to make 10.  You have some choice in this app for how you want to display the information you present to your students which is nice. Hopefully I was able to share some new apps with you for you to use with your students!  What are some of your favorite iPad apps?    

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Recipe for Teaching