Thankful for Teaching!!!

As a teacher , you will more likely have a day when you wonder if this is the job for you!!

You will have those days when you are on the verge of quitting. You are frustrated from having so many things to do.

• You have forms to turn in to the office.
•  You have parent phone call to return. 
• You have a behavior problem that needs your immediate attention. 
• You know that how and when you reply to each task is important. 
• But how can you possible do it all ? 

About two weeks ago I was feeling the same way of so many people in education. Just very overwhelmed. I was on the phone that morning about 6 am with my mom. I was complaining about my frustrations and she said something like this , "April  you choose this career." Well that really stuck in my head on the way to work , so while driving and praying on my way to school.

I prayed and talked to God to show me my reason to be there doing what I was because I was really struggling with my career choice that week.

 Well he sure did show me. Bright and early that morning I was complimented by our Assistant Principal for handle a child during a behavior issue and it made me really look at what I was doing , was not going unseen. We sometimes feel like we are alone when we are in those room with our 26 little friends that no one knows what we are going through but they see and I mean everyone. So later on that same day at dismissal bell .
My little friend that I struggle with daily was extra hyper and on the ball by the end of the day. My student had ran down the hall and wrapped his arms around both my legs and hugged me so tight and he looked up at my face and said " I love you Miss April "

So that day God spoke to me through my job , showing me why I was there. Just remember how much you do for your students and how much you mean to them and it all seems worth it!! God has called me to be a teacher and I will be all that I can be and you let yourself be all that you can be. Let Him use you. Like I am letting him use me!!!

I created a Freebie for being Thankful for Teaching !!
I have posted over 100 item in my store.
I have one freebie downloads with over 10,000.
I am back and really liking the blogging I am hoping to get better and learn more.

I want to talk about my freebie. I made a Christmas Roll and Cover  and Color Math Center Activity.
I used the cutest Clip art from Kristi Walden  I  just love the little trees.

I made a cute Roll and Cover game. Kai loved using the dice and playing . !!  Kai is a five year old Kindergarten student, he loves these roll and cover and the coloring ones. We used regular dice and we used some wipe off , wipe on ones I  had. We also used from my eraser storage cute emoji erasers as the covers for the game. He used some smiley faces for counters to add the dice together on the ones he didnt know. I love that he loved to figure out the  math problems. Click here to get the Freebie in my TPT store !!! April Chauvin's ABC 123 Classroom 

Teacher Made Kid Approved !!!

Hello I started this blog many years ago but never really could get it started!! I came across Teachers Pay Teachers and was like so intrigued with it and so I created some items and was like "oh I have stuff to post already". I really enjoyed making things for my classroom. The first time I sold an item I was so excited and each month it would get better and better, and the more I would make the better it was!!!

• I was sick a lot and Then I was struggling to be able to make things, I was diagnosed with Lupus and COPD and quit smoking!!! I have been smoke free for five years on Sept 17th Actually I got sick first for a few months, then I had a very sick child. So many things happened and then Dad got sick !! I was feeling horrible and needed to start taking care of myself but it seemed like I was always making sure someone else was okay. I have learned if I dont take of me first , I wont be around to help others. So I have been taking care of me and I am starting to feel so much more like the old April.

• After losing my dad this year a new perspective of life and how short it is came across me and we need to put family first and spend and do as much as you can with your love ones. You never know when it will be your last. 
• Well my first life saving strategies for teachers : Find something you love to do !! 
• Besides Teach!! 
• Examples (Reading, bowling, dancing, camping, making shirts, creating teacher items) 

      1. Find that ONE thing you love to do and do it with all your heart !!!!! 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Morning-Brain-Busters-Bell-Ringers-Morning-Work-Math-ELA-OCT-3501011

• Mine is creating worksheets, and center items and decorating things. I have been working on stuff again for the past few weeks and it has felt so good!! 
• I even have my grandson involved , and now we are spending more quality time together and I get to do what I love and its TEACH him !!! 
• I don't get the pleasure of being his Kindergarten Teacher at school , and he has a great one!! I get the pleasure of being his teacher after hours!!! 
• He is loving these Brain Busters Morning Work!!! I joke about my products being TEACHER MADE BUT KID APPROVED !!!!! 
• He begs me for certain sheets now , and his favorite sight words , he loves to write sentences and wants to do the "Say the Word" " Spell the Word" "Trace the word" " Color the Word". Sight words all the time. It is so cute when he does it , he says it, spells it, then he traces and colors. He is into everything has to be a different colors!! These are some of the different things I have done!!! 
•  Kindergarten Morning Brain Busters- Bell Ringers / Morning Work / Math & ELA OCT
• Kindergarten Morning Brain Busters- Bell Ringers / Morning Work / Math & ELA One Little Mouse - Print And Go Reading Street Unit 4 Week 3 Eureka Math Assessment First Grade Module 1 Topic D

New freebie! Just in time for the Mardi Gras season. I hope you all enjoy. Thank you for being you. :)

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mardi-Gras-Carnival-Roll-and-Cover-Roll-and-Color-Freebie--3015005

There's a SALE!

Cute Winter Freebie

Relaxing on my time off, Getting Alot done. I am working on some new projects, and part of the listing is an emergent reader.  Please take a look at it for Free at my TPT store

Good Morning,

FREEBIE
January Calendar 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/January-Winter-Calendar-Pieces-484160



Very Cute and comes with header.
Head on over to my store and check this freebie out

GRINCH WEEK !!!

We had Grinch Day on Friday !!!! Everything we did all week included the Grinch We watched the movie , read the story and made a Grinch We discussed the before and and after of how the Grinch's personality change and his heart grew Friday we had Grinch punch , Whooville pudding and everything GREEN, GREEN, GREEN !!!!!!!!!!!!
 

ABC 123 Kindergarten : HELP !!!! Classroom Issue

ABC 123 Kindergarten : HELP !!!! Classroom Issue: Our district just told us we have to removed our carpet out of all classrooms. I have a huge colored square carpet that sits 30 kids. They a...

HELP !!!! Classroom Issue

Our district just told us we have to removed our carpet out of all classrooms. I have a huge colored square carpet that sits 30 kids. They are colored with red, purple, blue, green, and orange, which matches my table colors and the kids chair pockets. I have to come up with something to put down on the floor to keep the kids in their own spot. So they have their space. I am looking for any ideas, suggestions, anything and if so please send pictures for ideas. They are saying we may get rubber mat, but. I am not sure about that. I thought about putting each kid something down on the floor with contact paper, or using coloring tape.

 HELP , I have to do this right away.

Thanks for any ideas, and thought because I know with all our teaching heads together someone will be able to help me come up with a new thing to do.

FREEBIE - Check it out !!!!

Good Morning,


 Enjoy this FREEBIE  Please use the link below to try out the game, my students love the I have , who has games. Thanks to Creative clips for her cute free clip art.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-have-Who-has-Numbers-1-30-Christmas-Freebie-974700

I would like to share my MORNING BRAIN BUSTERS worksheets. I have created a packet of worksheets that have a back and front page ELA and MATH. I am now working on Unit 2. These are aligned with the Reading Street Series, they only follow the same letters and sight words that are introduced. But these can be used in any classroom. It is all following the common core.

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Morning-Brain-Busters-Common-Core-Aligned-Morning-Work-960171





Please follow to get more great activities.

I'm so Excited

It worked and I was able to make a post. Wow thank goodness its Friday. I also have my Compass Formal observation done!! Now I can concentrate and plan for activities for the holidays. I love teaching at this time of year so many great things to do and share with kindergarten students. Well please check out my stuff, I will be working on more new items this weekend. trying to get Unit 2 done of my Morning Brain Busters.

Coming Back

I have been away for a long time with family issues, and then couldnt get into the right blog account. I am hoping this post goes to the right place.

Easter Bunnies and Freebie

Well I have made today my day for things to try and get back to normal. My daughter is home from the hospital, so that is a lot of 2 hours trips there and 2 more back home every other day. Now I can get to blogging. I would like to post a picture of the kids EASTER BASKETS from last year, they are so cute and we are getting ready to start making them. I am going to take pictures this time of each part and post how to make them. My classroom has been doing a lot with Dr. Seuss week, and teaching 3D shapes.

Tomorrow we are having an edible 3D shape party, thanks to a co -worker and pinterest for great ideas.

Also please check out another freebie on TPT of sample sheets in my DOLCH words packet.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Freebie-Sample-Dolch-Sight-word-Worksheets

 

 

 







Crazy

WOW!! Things have been crazy since coming back from Mardi Gras break, I am still running back and forth with my daughter in the hospital, but yeah good news, she is improving and doing so much better, BEWARE OF MEDCINE- her first doctor had her on too much medicine and it was doing more harm than good, making her more depressed and angry. SO of course I am switching doctors, but also grateful for the one she has in the hopsital right now.

Back to school , I have decided to work on another masters degree, I have one in early childhood, but I want to learn more about psychology) to help prevent things like what happened to my daughter, I would like to catch it before it turns into a suicide attempt. I started this semster taking two night classes and I am loving them, I am learning things that help when her doctors speak to me, I have heard the terminology and can understand a little of what is going on. I had my first test online last night and made an "A" so proud of myself with everything going on.

Well as for as myself I joined the Girls On the Run team at school to help out as a coach. I am just getting into the gym myself so I thought this would help motivate me. I know I am rampling on tonight, but I have to VENT somewhere. I am not a good runner, I was a smoker but on September 17,  2012 I quit, so that make 5 months smoke free. I am hoping that will help with my running , now if I could just start to lose weight, but with the stress in my life I feel that is such a hard task, but that is my goal this week , and it is to just try. I guess I better post are I will wind up writing a book tonight LOL-

Well tomorrow is going to a bad stormy day for us, so it will be inside and gloomy for my kindergarteners, I need to think of some fun inside things to do for tomorrow. Any ideas please send them my way

Freebie

I just added a new freebie to my TPT store, please be sure to check it out here

Happy Valentine's Day

Well even though we are off of school for Mardi Gras break, I would still love to send out a Happy Valentine's Day to everyone I will be traveling to see my daughter today while she is still in the hospital for Valentine's Day. Thanks to everyone for the prayers especially when you dont even know what is going on. You guys are the best. I love how teachers stick together. My daughter is a 15 year old beautiful teenager that let bullys get the best of her, and tried to end her life. She is getting the help she needs and is now learning to stand up for herself. If I can say anything about what I have learned through all of this, as teachers and mothers we need to stop the teasing and picking on each other while they are young, I see it in kindergarten. This way when they are teenagers they dont have to go through what my family is going through. I also finished my Dolch sight words set, you can check it at here at my store http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Dolch-Pre-Primer-Sight-Word-Packet

Mardi Gras

First I would like to thank you out there that has been saying prayers for my family and my daughter. I been driving back and forth to the hospital every other day. The hospital is 2 hours away from my home. We are on Mardi Gras break so this week is easier to not have to work all day and then drive after work like I have been doing.  I would like to share what I did with my students last week.

We had to teach Louisiana, Mardi Gras, and Valentines all before the holidays. So Friday was a little crazy, we were exchanging our Valentine's . Celebrating the letter Hh, Dd, and Rr with Hot Dogs and Relish . And last decorating King Cakes. Our local stores make the small ones for us to purchase and the children put the icing and sprinkles and decorate while playing Mardi Gras music in the classroom they kids just loved it.

Here are some pictures of some of the king cakes.

As you can see they were huge king cakes that they kids had to take home in zip lock bags.
Well I am almost finished working on my DOLCH SIGH WORD PACKET , please follow me so you can see when it comes out.


You can also visit my TPT store at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Abc123kindergarten

SIght Words

HELLO EVERYONE I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT WEEK. I HAVE BEEN GOING BACK AND FORTH TO SEE MY YOUNGEST DAUGHTER IN THE HOSPITAL, SHE IS SICK RIGHT NOW AND WILL THERE FOR AWHILE. SO WITH TEACHING , PARENTING , AND TRYING TO BLOG AND KEEP UP WITH MAKING THINGS. LIFE IS QUITE DIFFICULT. I AM TRYING TO LEARN TO DO THIS BLOGGING RIGHT TO ATTRACT THE RIGHT PEOPLE.  I AM HOPING TO EARN ENOUGH MONEY TO HELP PAY FOR TONS OF MEDICAL BILLS THAT ARE GOING TO START ROLLING IN. I MADE A SET OF SIGHT WORD WORKSHEETS, I REALLY LIKE THEM I USE THEM IN MY CLASSROOM AND THE KIDS DO WELL, SO I AM PUTTING THREE FREE ONES IN HOPE TO ATTRACT PEOPLE TO COME BACK AND PURCHASE THE SETS.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sample-set-of-Pre-primer-sight-words

 

Hello everyone out there in the blogging world. Sorry I have been gone a little while, I have had some personal family issues to take care of. Even though I am still dealing with them. I wanted to try and get back started with this blog. I am still learning so much.

So much is going on in my classroom right now. We are learning about Louisiana, Mardi Gras, Valentine's all in the last two weeks.
We are off all next week for Mardi Gras break , I am so excited, it is a much needed vacation. So I hope to post some pictures of some of the things we are doing.

I have also finished one of my sight word packets, I did the words that follow the basal we are using but I will add more dolch words to the packet. If anyone needs any special words and I can add those also. Please stop back by for a look.

February Calendar

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I have really taken it easy this weekend. I usually go to my classroom and do extra work to stay ahead. But this weekend I have stayed home and worked from home. We have parent teacher conferences coming up and I am making my schedule. You know a teachers job is never done. I will post pictures tomorrow but My class has been using Karen Jones and Deanna Jump's Snowmen units and I added a little of my own things. We built our snowmen and then we used a How to: four square writing sheet. Tomorrow we will work on putting the writing together into a story. We have read tons of Snowmen stories.
Its so easy to order from amazon. I love using them for purchasing my books.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/February-Calendar-Pieces-2013





So here is my freebie for February calendar pieces, they will only be free for a few days.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/February-Calendar-Pieces-2013

Well school has started back full force. Worked on report cards all weekend. Now that's done I can start to have some fun. I am posting a freebie of January calendar pieces for those that are still looking and just getting back to school.



I hope you like the freebie. Please follow my blog and store so you wont miss out on more.

Well heading to bed to ready for a week of Winter activities. This is so fun for us in Louisiana, because down here we never have snow and we all love to teach about it.