Lock those apps & candy corn...

Hi friends!
It's day 2 and I've made it to sit down and blog... yay! I have been super busy with school & birthday parties & an upcoming wedding on Friday & my sister-in-law's baby shower on Saturday & you know, life! Phew! Still, I find such comfort in reading blogs, writing my own and, especially, reading comments.
Ok, ok, that's enough of that, on to the good stuff!
I found this pin floating around, clicked on it, followed the link and it made me SOOOO excited!

The link takes you to step by step directions on how to LOCK your ipad/ipod in a specific app! REALLY!? FINALLY!!! I thought of all of the times that I say, "We're playing this game today," only to find out that someone was taking pictures, playing Draw Free, etc., etc...
You can read the step by step directions by following this link OR keep reading...
1. Update your ipods/ipads with the new software, iOS 6
2. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility
3. Under the Learning section go to Guided Access
4. Switch Guided Access to ON
5. Set a password
6. You may want to Enable Screen Sleep, I did.
Now you have the settings all ready!
What's next?
1. Open the app you want to lock
2. Triple click the home button
3. Click START
4. Do a happy dance!
5. To get out of the locked screen, triple click the home button again
6. Enter password and click END
Things to know...
*Volume control is also locked during the locked  screen
*The home button will not work unless you triple click and enter password
*If you do not Enable Screen Sleep, you cannot put the device to "sleep"
*Sorry I didn't take pictures! I meant to and forgot!
Look at these kids...learning... having fun... staying engaged... where are the rest of them? lol. There are 3 kids missing from this group... lol.

They are playing TeachMe:Toddler. In case you haven't heard of the TeachMe games, look them up! They go all the way up to 2nd grade  and they are awesome! They track all of the questions asked and give little sticker prizes to the kids for each 3 questions they answer correctly. If they answer incorrectly, the app gives a reason why it is incorrect. For instance, she'll say, "Find the letter D" If they press B, she'll say, "That is the letter B, find the letter D," and so on. I am using the Toddler version right now because it goes over Letters, Letter Sounds, Numbers, Shapes and Colors. The Kindergarten version goes over Spelling, Addition, Subtraction and Sight Words; not where my students are at this point. I have some students on the Kindergarten version and that is the beauty of having the Guided Access on... they can't resort to the "easy" one! Everyone gets what they get and gets what they need! Oh and another thing about the Teach Me apps, you can lock the players as well so the kiddos cannot create new games/characters each time AND it allows up to 30 students to have their own game...30! I love that app...

I wanted to share another Pinterest inspired activity... CANDY CORN! Candy corn means everything Fall, don't you think? So the original pin had tissue paper squares but one of my kindergarten team members said that cutting all of those tissue paper squares was just too much! (I agree! We divide and prep materials for each of the 4 kindergarten classrooms so that was just too much work!)
Instead of using the tissue paper squares, we used ripped construction paper... look at how cute they are... 

Look at how messy that is!

They will still cut them out but I think they look adorable! I am kinda cringing looking at these pictures because everything looks so messy but it was a really fun activity and they cleaned it all up! lol.

Ok friends, adios! I'm going to work on my aunt's wedding gift =)

Currently & a Window

Hi Friends!
I have figured out why I'm such a blogging slacker... I have no plan! Well that and I try to see my nephew as often as possible and when that happens, I'm too tired to lift a finger! Still, I have no plan! I have set up a little schedule for myself and I'm ready to commit!
Here it goes...
First up? Currently!!
I love these things! I love to read other people's responses and I think it's funny when I see some that are similar or have the same answers, great minds think alike huh?

I am LOVING my new whiteboard... I have rearranged my classroom, set up things a little differently and have been using that baby every day! I am going to post the current state of my classroom soon. I can't tell you how exciting it is! Well, maybe some of you know already because you have one BUT there are only 2 on our campus: one in my classroom and one in a fourth grade classroom. That's it.
I am THINKING that I need to put another project up soon! I just got another one funded for some interactive games to go with the whiteboard but I'm not sure what to do next...
I am WANTING some new clothes because, well seriously, doesn't everybody? And if my husband tells me that I have plenty of clothes one more time... I'm gonna lose it!!!! lol.
I am NEEDING a day off of work, Monday off? Shortened Day? Something! We started earlier than ever this year and it is really taking a toll on my body.
BOOK: There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves because reading this to kindergarteners is just so much fun! They are so cute and silly when they hear silly stories, it's so fun to read to them.

Now it's your turn... link up! I'm a few days late on this one and there are already 289 people linked up! 289!! That's amazing!!! Way to go Farley! 
Next up?
I have to share with all of you my Fall Window. This is our first year making these and I think it is so cute! Now the picture doesn't do it too much justice but I swear it looks good up close. Each of the students chose the leaf shape that they wanted and sponge painted it with "Fall Colors" orange, yellow and red. We (myself and my student teacher) cut them out and put them onto the window as this display. I also wrote all of the students' names on their leaves so that they could all be a part of our classroom tree. To make the trunk and branches, I used a brown paper bag crumbled up and flattened out.
Here it is...

Ok friends, Happy Monday!

First Grade Common Core

Hi Friends!
Remember when I said I had a fever yesterday? Well, I still have one! So, I'm not going to work tomorrow... writing sub plans sucks right? I almost said forget it, I'll just go in! Writing sub plans is the worst! Luckily I'll have an awesome sub, she is the rockstar student teacher I've mentioned a few times... Anyway, on to First Grade Common Core...
A few weeks ago I posted about the Kindergarten Common Core Workbook and it is an awesome workbook!! I got it for free and I've been browsing it and bookmarking the pages I like. We haven't fully made the switch just yet but we will soon and I want to be as informed as possible! My first grade friends will appreciate this First Grade Common Core Workbook. It has over 500 pages worth of worksheets, activities and posters that will align exactly with the common core standards. How perfect is that?? Wait a minute, I almost forgot... it includes BOTH ELA and Math standards... BOTH! Easy peesy!

Check it out by clicking on the picture of the workbook and find out how you can snag your own...

Ok everybody, I'm off to rest, relax and watch New Girl!

Look at my new toy!

Hola amigos!
It's Monday, I had a long day! Really... long day... It was 110 degrees in my neck of the woods today. Well, my tip of the valley... it was so hot and since it was so hot we had to stay inside, ALL DAY! It was like a rainy day but worse! Anywho, I finally got the interactive whiteboard I've been dying for!! Wooo Hooo! I spent the ENTIRE day at school yesterday rearranging and fixing and playing and rearranging and fixing and playing. It was so exciting! My husband and my dad came to campus at 8am to help put it up (of course before the football games), I brought my own car because I knew I wanted to play all day.... Here was the process...

 My husband getting one last use of the old, non-magnetic, non-interactive whiteboard...

 There was some trouble figuring out how exactly to get it up and, more importantly, how to get it to stay on the walls. I have a portable classroom where the walls are fabric-type panels. Good thing my dad came with his toolbox and didn't rely in the screws given because they wouldn't have worked! AND, good thing the stud is centered exactly where I wanted it! Makes me and my OCD very happy!

 Notice how I had to take everything down? Well, turns out I didn't really have to...

 Alright, there it is! Isn't she a beauty? I had to also rearrange the seating arrangement so that the students aren't directly in front of the projector...

 I spent most of my day trying to figure out a way to get rid of this jumbled mess of cords and wires... I hate that!

 Goodbye old whiteboard! My dad and my husband left before this was put outside... Do you know who put it out there? ME! All by myself! And it was hot!

 Here's a full view, see the new seating arrangement?

 There is the final product... I used binder clips to clip all of the cords to the bookcase. The shelf is adjustable so I pulled it out a little to let the cords hang down from the back. Then I used the binder clips to attach the cord to the carpet. This is what it looked like yesterday, today I spent some more time fixin' it up but I didn't get any pictures of it yet. I think I might put a fabric little curtain to cover the bottom shelf. Yup, that's what I'm gonna do...

Soooo... now that I have this bad boy up, does anyone have any good tips on what to do with this thing?? lol. I've got some great ideas but I'm still at a loss on it's full capabilities... Anyone have a mimio or something like that? That's basically what this is. It's not the SmartBoard brand so I don't have the notebook software that comes with it but it's made of steel so it's magnetic and I can write on it with dry erase marker. Does anyone know if I can still use that software even without the brand whiteboard? This board has it's own software but I haven't figured out how to use it plus the software doesn't really wow me just yet...

I'll put up some more pics soon, right now I need to rest because I have a fever! Could it do with the boy who came to school today with an ice pack on his eye? Why, you ask? "Because my eye has mucus in it!" (boy rubs eye with hand and gives me a hug) Oh kindergarten!

Please let me know if you have any good tips! Be back tomorrow...