Currently September

So it's not technically September here but I've been reading the Currently linky for a long time so I thought I might as well try it out.  I am linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade.

Listening....to a thunderstorm.  It came on really fast and has been going on for over an hour now.  I do love the sound of rain.

Loving...an extra day at home.  That's right.  I will actually get to sleep on a Sunday without having a million things running through my head that I need to worry about for the next day.  Plus I get to hang out with my own kids for an extra day and with them you never know what will happen.

Thinking...about the lesson plans I should be doing rather than this : )

Wanting...my hubby to be back home.  He's off in Minnesota at a Rennaisance Faire.  He's a pirate in a band.  Yep, it's for real.

Needing...motivation to do the lesson plans that I am avoiding.  Including sub plans for Tuesday.  Yep, sub plans...after a three day weekend...in Kindergarten...on day 14 of school.  Thankfully I have an awesome sub to leave them with while I do a math training.

3 trips...Ireland, Australia, Africa...no real reasons behind any of them.  Just places I haven't been and seem like they would be neat to visit and say I have seen.

So that's me currently.  Hop over to Farley's to see what everyone else is up to.  And hopefully I will be back soon!

First Day of School

It's that stressful time of year.  Tomorrow is our first day back.  I get to meet everyone and run around like crazy all.day.long.  But it is so worth it.

I don't know about you but we will be reading Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes and watching the video.  We will also go on a scavenger hunt around our school to get to know where everything is that is Pete the Cat theme. 

With all of our Pete the Cat fun, I was so excited to find this freebie from Live Love Laugh Kindergarten.  It has a cute first day certificate and a hat for the kids to make!  I LOVE IT!!  Please go check it out.  You won't be disappointed!

Hopefully I will be back to share some more soon!  Enjoy your first days!

Book Talk Tuesday

So it's been a long time.  Hopefully I will get better about sharing on here this year.

Have you seen the link up over at Mrs. Jump's Class?  I LOVE finding new books so I have been watching this link up all summer.

I wanted to share one my favorite books to use.

Chalk by Bill Thomson is an amazing wordless picture book.  The quick version of the story is that a group of children find a bag of chalk at a playground.  When they start to draw with it, their chalk drawings become real.  It is a lot of fun until someone draws a dinosaur.  Then they get creative on how to get rid of it.  I enjoy talking about how these kids were really using their imaginations and problem solving skills.

The illustrations are breathtaking.  I use this book a lot when we do our in depth illustration study.  I love to show how Bill Thomson made the pictures look as real as possible.  

We talk about all of the details that are included in the picture (the background, the weather, etc.)  

I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the emotions shown through the pictures in this book.

If you have never seen this book, you should check it out.  You will not be disappointed.

What are your favorite children's books?