*Free* Photo Name Tags

Alright folks, this is my last freebie of the summer! I love to use photo name tags on my students’ cubbies, especially at the beginning of the year. It really helps out those students who don’t yet recognize their own name. I created these ones to go with my theme. There is room for a small picture and their name as well at the bottom. Click HERE for free dog theme photo name tags.

I’ve also recently uploaded a few new themes...

The Other Themes ($2 each):

Click HERE for  bee theme name tags

Click HERE for owl theme name tags

Click HERE for butterfly name tags

Click HERE for jungle name tags

Click HERE for polka dot name tags

Click HERE for gray and Yellow name tags

Click HERE for bright name tags

Click HERE for animal print name tags

Click HERE for beach name tags

The winner of a complete theme from my other post is... Betsy!

Congrats! Please email me at Rachelle.Ruark@gmail.com and let me know which set you prefer!

I’ve been hard at work getting ready for this coming year. This week I finished my Dismissal clip chart which you can check out HERE. 

 I love this system because now when parents send in notes changing their child's dismissal I can just move their clip to the new dismissal and avoid any mix-ups or "oops! I forgot" moments at the end of the day!

I'll be back tomorrow with more about behavior management :)

Back To School Bash Winner!

We have our winner! And it is...

Congratulations Rebecca! We’ll be emailing you your prizes real soon!!

In other news, I’ve gone from 200 to almost 500 followers in the last week… if you are new, WELCOME! I hope you’ll look around and keep up with me and my crazy kindergarten adventures :)

Check back tomorrow for my LAST Monday freebie of the summer!

Tell Me More!

I’m joining AmyLemons for this adorable linky party. Here’s everything you ever did not  want to know about me.

    1. I was obsessed with the Little Mermaid growing up. OBSESSED. My entire room looked like her movie had exploded. Little mermaid curtains, Little mermaid bed sheets, Little mermaid movie posters, Little mermaid walls with re-positionable stickers…. If it existed, I had it! I had the steel drum player at my wedding play “Under the Sea” as a nod to this childhood obsession. 

   2.    My dream job growing up was a Vegas Show Girl. I thought they were the BEST. They got to dance around all day in their bikinis, high heels and feather boas! Too bad I never got tall enough for it. Don’t even get me started on how disappointed I was to miss out on the I Teach K conference in Vegas this year. 

  3.    I was a competitive dancer most of my life. Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, Tahitian, Hip Hop, you name it, I did it. I even started college as a Dance Major. Thankfully my mom didn’t run around the studio screaming her head off like these girls:

  4.    I am obsessed, OBSESSED with the British Royal Family. With the Diamond Jubilee AND the Olympics this year... you can imagine I’m in a bit of heaven. 

  5.    I have two dogs whom I love to the ends of this earth. One is a huge black Lab, the other a little white Pomeranian. They are pretty much opposites in every way. I love them so much I got Nikki at Melonheadz to draw them for me so I could plaster them all over my classroom. 

  6.    I’m an Eagles fan by marriage, and I nearly froze my tushy off at my first ever Eagles game. It was snowing that night... SNOWING. 

  7.    I’m a Michigan girl at heart, living in a Floridian world. But I make the best of it! I love the beach, Disney World, and NO WINTER!!

  8.    I am the oldest, and shortest of 3. 

  9.    I can’t sleep unless: 1. I’m wearing a tank top and not a tee shirt that is going to bunch up and annoy me, 2. My hair is up and not going to annoy me, 3. The fan is on. 

     

1    10.   I hate seafood... except fish. Go figure, right? 

I’ll be back tomorrow with our Giveaway Winner!! Stay tuned....

In Pictures & In Words: Chapter 10

This week’s chapter was all about tone. You know…. Don’t use that tone with me! (I know I can’t be the only one that heard that as a child!) In other words, this chapter was full of techniques for how illustrators convey emotion.

Technique 34: Crafting Tone with Background Color

Background color may impact the tone of an illustration.

These pictures are from “Zin! Zin! A violin” and what is interesting is that as the introduce each new instrument, the background color changes, giving you a sense of the emotion each instrument evokes with it’s sound.

Technique 35: Crafting Tone with Size

The size of objects in a picture impacts tone.

This picture is from “The Paper Bag Princess” which I’ve talked about before. You really get the feeling that the dragon is large and intimidating. It gives you the feeling that Elizabeth not even as large as his head, but also gives you the impression that he is so large the rest of him can’t fit on the page!

Technique 35: Crafting Tone with Space

The Physical distance between animals, people, and objects affects tone.

The space in this picture from “Tacky the Penguin” clearly gives you the feeling that Tacky is VERY different from his friends.

Likewise, this picture from “Alexander and the No Good, Very Bad Day” leaves you feeling that Alexander is quite isolated from his brothers.

Technique 37: Crafting Tone with Shape and Texture

Pictures drawn with sharp, pointed lines, edges, and angles evoke a different response than those drawin with softer, more rounded lines and edges.

This picture is from “Tuff Fluff” Normally, the very large teddy bear would be seen as intimidating (see technique 35) But his rounded edges, and soft stuffing spilling out of the seams leave you feeling that he is a “giant teddy bear” so to speak.... not threatening at all.

Technique 38: Accentuating or Exaggerating Features to Impact Tone

Accentuating or exaggerating a particular feature of an animal, person, or object can affect the tone of the picture.

This is the cover art for the story I just mentioned, “Tuff Fluff” just look at those ears! Gives you the feeling they are going to play a key role in the story doesn’t it?

Technique 39: Using Whimsical Detail to Lighten the Tone

Whimsical detail lightens the tone in illustrations.

I have to go back to Tacky with this one. Just about everything about him is whimsical… the Hawaiian shirt, the cannon balling into the sea in an inner tube instead of diving, his tuna fish sandwiches…

Because let’s face it, this is a story about penguins being hunted by bad guys. Without these whimsical details it might be rather frightening.  

Don’t forget, my Back to School Bash ends tonight at midnight! If you haven’t entered make sure you do for the chance to win a plethora of awesome resources!!

Summer Bucket List: Classroom Curtains

If you remember from my bucket list post, I wasn’t interested in making curtains for my windows (there are six of them and they are HUGE) but rather to cover up cluttered shelves, like this:

This was a fairly straight forward project. I ordered fabric I liked (surprise! It’s blue, green and puppies!!) and measured the height and width of my shelves. 

Then I cut the fabric to be about two inches taller than the book shelf, so I could fold it over an inch and make a pocket for a curtain rod; and a few inches wider on each side so that I could bunch it on the rod. 

Then all I needed to do was break out my trusty heat-n-bond, which I previously used on my bunting banner, and iron on a hem and a pocket for the rod. 

I folded over the top and used the heat n bond to create a pocket down the entire length of the curtain for the curtain rod to slide through

And TA-DA! Instant clutter cover!! 

Bucket List Progress: 

1. Supply Storage
2. Pendant Banner
3. Curtains
4. Brownie Points Magnetic Board
5. Spend time at the Pool/Beach 
6. Finish TPT Units – Back To School, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving,

 Christmas, Winter, Valentine's, Spring,  Alphabet Wake Up 

Work,Numbers & Shapes Wake Up Work, request for stamping 

centers unit

7. Crate Seats for Guided Reading
8. Listening Center Seats & Storage
9. Sight Word Sticks
10. Door Wreath

11. Little Books - Aug/Sept, Oct/Nov, Dec/Jan. Feb/Mar, Apr/May, 

Jun/Jul

12. Pocket Charts - Aug/Sept, Oct/Nov, Dec/Jan. Feb/Mar,

Apr/May, Jun/Jul

I do have one more surprise project up my sleeve, but pretty much all that is left is my listening center seats and TPT stuff. The TPT stuff I will continue to work on throughout the fall, but these last few weeks of summer I am much more focused on relaxing and soaking up the sun, than sitting in front of my computer all day. Can I get an AMEN!