Introducing The Primary Pack & Colorful Freebies!!

I am so excited and blessed to have the opportunity to work behind the scenes with the fabulous bloggers of The Primary Pack!  We are collaborating to bring you a rainbow of ideas!  Make sure you follow along to grab a bunch of colorful freebies, as well as enter our giveaway with $300 worth of prizes!

Hi! I'm Kristen blogging from Loving Teaching Inspiring. I am a Florida teacher who loves iced coffee, Target, and making list for EVERYTHING. Honestly, I think I spend more time making my to-do list than actually completing them. All of my experience, internships included, are in Kindergarten and First Grade. This could be why I am deathly afraid of intermediate grades. ((Insert nail biting here)) I'm currently teaching Kindergarten and I have to admit it's my favorite. Two minute attention spans and all!

 

I have been married to my high school sweetheart for just over 4 years. He is a teacher as well and is teaching in the same classroom we met in! We now have two beautiful little girls, Kylee (2 1/2) and Kenzi (8 months). Our life should honestly be a reality show...never ending chaos at the Lankford residence! Or as Kylee would say "probably" needs a reality show!!!
 

Click the picture to check out my AMAZING photographer Nicole!

My long term goal is to work at The University of South Florida (where I graduated) and be a supervisor for interns. I love having interns in my classroom!!! It's such a great opportunity for both the cooperating teacher (me) as well as the interns. Learning never stops!
 

Go Bulls!!

To celebrate our new collaborative adventure, The Primary Pack is hosting a giveaway with tons of fabulous prizes!

Enter the rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway AND here's my "colorful" freebie!  Just click on the image!

 

 Hop along to meet our other bright bloggers and to grab a rainbow of freebies!

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Florida Teacher Blog Hop

Hi Y'all! I'm so thrilled to introduce you to some fabulous Florida bloggers! Not only do you get to enjoy a "Mini-Digital Vacation" but you also get to grab some FREEBIES along the way!! So grab yourself a beachy drink (umbrella included) and be sure to enter to win our Bundles of Sunshine Giveaway!

You should know that I am a born & raised Florida girl with a drawer full of swimsuits to prove it! I grew up in Tampa, Florida and later moved to Riverview during my high school years. The best part of my location in Florida is how close it is to everything. I have a Super Target 5 minutes away (clearly very important), the beach 45 minutes away and downtown party fun 20 minutes away!

It's really hard to think of "cool" places to share with people. I know it should be easy since I grew up here but everything seems normal and typical to me. Haha! I guess I will just have to try my best to show off my town. Riverview is a small little town outside of Brandon...and Brandon is a small little town outside of Tampa. Confusing?!?! I know.

Kylee (on the left) with her BFF Brooklyn

Just a few months ago I discovered we have our own Manatee Viewing Center! Who knew??? It's right off a canal next to our Power Station. When the temperature goes below 68 degrees the manatees gather in the canal and you can walk out on the observation deck to see them! I took my daughter here for a play date when the temperature was NOT below 68 degrees. We didn't get to see any manatees but still had a blast walking down the tidal walkway through the mangroves. We will be going back over the holiday break!

Keeping with the nature theme I also love going to Lithia Springs Park. Doesn't this picture make you just want to jump right in?? The spring is absolutely amazing. The water is cold and fish are everywhere! This park also has picnic areas, playgrounds, trails and canoe/kayak areas. It's a hidden gem for sure. 

As I promised in the beginning of this post, we all have FREEBIES for you! Stop by each of our blogs for an activity or idea to use in your classroom. To grab my freebie just click the image below!

This freebie is the perfect way to welcome your new class! It's also a part of my Bright Chevron Classroom Decoration Bundle and guess what??? It's on sale for this weekend only!

The Florida teachers below have two fantastic giveaways for you! You can enter once from each one of our pages. All you have to do is follow my blog! Then hop around to all the blogs listed below, and be sure to follow them to get more entries. The more entries you have, the more likely you are to win! Each pack also includes a Starbucks gift card!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now rack up your entries and grab your freebies by learning more about our SUNNY state and following our fabulous teachers!

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Made It (July 14th 2014)

Well I hate to admit it but I'm am literally in the middle of way to many unfinished products! But I'm still linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics to share the few projects I did finish.

First up is my lost & found bucket! I was so tired of the constant "look what I found of the carpet Mrs.Lankford" while they hand me a random string or staple!

 Or even better "whose glue stick is this?!?!" as they shout across the classroom and make everyone off task! I bought the bucket at the dollar store and made these adorable labels to go with my classroom decorations. Easy as pie! If you want a FREE copy of these labels click here!

I've been working hard on some TPT products and I'm excited to share them with you. They are all made to match my bright chevron classroom theme. I made three sets of Fry's sight word card to use on my word wall through the year. I also made number posters for my math wall! If you like either of these products you can click the picture to follow the link to my TPT store!!

Last on my list is a "Made-It" by my hubby! I am not the cook around our household but while I was off work for maternity leave I had to take on this responsibility. I'm not a horrible cook but I am by no means up to par with my husband. Let's break this dish down...HOMEMADE everything! Fresh tortillas, enchilada sauce and even a jalapeno from our garden. I'm happy he is back in charge! Haha.

That's it for this week! Now I'm off to listen to hammering because we are replacing the stucco on our home and repainting.

I'll be happy when its over...

Monday Made It (July 7th 2014)

First things first...I've randomly picked a winner and the teacher toolkit labels from last weeks post goes too....

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations!!! If you didn't win you can still grab your copy here!

Now onto the new fun! I'm linking up with Tara at 4th grade frolics again for a new Monday Made it!!

This week I'm including a FREEBIE because....well because who doesn't love a freebie??

In my classroom I use the behavior chart where students can move their clips up or down. My highest color is PINK. In the past the only thing different about getting to pink was that my students were able to color two coins on their treasure box card instead of one. I wanted to add some more SPARKLE to getting on pink so I decided to make these desk signs. 

I don't know about your class but my kiddos are going to go BONKERS for these signs! These frames are from IKEA and are so cheap! They come in primary colors but I wanted pink so I got my leftover spray paint from last week.

The best part is they got to dry standing up! One coat and done...that works perfect for the impatient side of me. Next up I designed, printed and cut my signs. 

Then I taped the signs on both sides of the insert that came with the frames.

A little tip...don't forget the plastic wrap on the clear covers! Haha!

And ta-da my masterpiece is complete!! Well at least one of them!

If you want your own FREE copy you can go to my TPT store. Please leave some love!! I'm going to be making a lot of these signs for all types of behaviors. I'd love for you to comment so I can hear your ideas and thoughts! Thanks for stopping by! Happy Crafting!!

Bright Tip Tuesday #3

Whoa! Two posts in one day...it's getting crazy around here!

This weeks Bright Tip includes another freebie! As a Kindergarten teacher I always start the year off with students who can't write their name. This is a very important skill in the classroom & I wanted a simple way for all students to practice. I decided to make a student sign-in sheet and include this in my students morning routine.

I change this activity every nine weeks. The changes are as follows:

1st nine weeks: Students will only practice their first name. I start by allowing them to trace on top of their name that I have typed.

2nd nine weeks: Students will write their first name next to the name I typed.

3rd nine weeks: Students will write their first and last name after the name I typed.

4th nine weeks: Student will use a blank sheet to write their first and last name by themselves!!

I use the vertical sheet for the 1st and 2nd nine weeks.

I use the horizontal sheet for the 3rd and 4th nine weeks.

All you need to do is insert a text box to type in your class list! I copy these front to back to save on paper & attach them to a clipboard. I also choose a handwriting winner each day! You could even slide the copies into a clear plastic sleeve and use expo markers!


Enjoy :)

Happy Father's Day

Hi Friends!

In honor of Father's Day I wanted to share a simple yet ADORABLE freebie. Most of us aren't in school that close to Father's Day but it's still nice to make a gift a little early. I was on maternity leave this year and didn't get to use this in my class but I did make one for my fabulous husband!

All you have to do is click the picture to download your free copy. Enjoy!

I couldn't resist not sharing these cuties too!

Bright Tip Tuesday

So my favorite thing to find on Pinterest and teacher blogs has always been clever tricks. I like things that make life a little less hectic in the classroom. I've decided to share some of the ideas I use in my own classroom. I mean doesn't everyone want to make life easier??

I'd say my favorite tip so far is actually the easiest. We as teachers are ALWAYS receiving things from others. Sometimes they are physical items and other times just nice gestures. I also know that I really like LOVE little notes from people. That's when I decided to create an easy go to thank you card that I can grab and send away.

The best part is you can use these too! This is my first freebie EVER so please leave feedback so I can learn from the best!

Click the picture below to download your own copy.