Can I get a....

Woot woot!

18 days people.

18 days until I am in Germany with my cute husband sipping lattes and reading like it's my job because I literally want to make relaxation my job this summer as I have pretty much forgotten what it feels like (with the exception of sitting in the steam room this past weekend after working out in California).

Pure bliss...

I feel like so much is going on in the next 18 days and I am going to be 12 kinds of busy. (totally stole that line from Babbling Abby...love her!)

I feel like I am in a race to complete my core paper and now that I can see the finish line I am just in an all out sprint to eek out every last drop of mental energy that I have left. I stayed up until about 1 AM doing work last night, then promptly got back out of bed after getting in so I could plan math for this week. Then, upon returning to my bed, I was awake for what felt like the entire night unable to sleep because visions of core papers were inundating my brain. So much for good night's sleep. Needless to say I am really tired today and wish that it was feasible to get in bed and go to sleep at 5:00. But, alas, I need to keep trucking away on my paper so that a really truly honest to goodness final copy actually materializes!

Fairy godmother....magic wand...where are you?

My mind is so focused on this giant culmination of all my hard work over the course of the past two years, I feel like I am in denial that it is almost the end of the school year. In two weeks, my kiddos will be leaving me and that just sounds bizarre. Not to mention that we have a field trip that I need to prep for, I have to assess, alphabetize and bind 43 alphabet books, make thank you gifts for parent volunteers, make sure I have taught every little thing I need to teach this year, and clean/organize/sort through my classroom and put the rest of my personal belongings back in storage before heading to Germany. Just writing this is making me even more tired.

Time for some food and maybe a teeny tiny nap before I get cracking on my paper once again. I think champagne is in order when I finally click send on the email to turn it in because it feels like a celebration!

California Love

Just keep writing....just keep writing...

I am currently in sunny California with my in-laws enjoying a break from the rain and a little writing/relaxation retreat. Yesterday I did a little shopping with my MIL and found a dress for the wedding that Mr. Sneaker and I will be attending in Amsterdam in July. Have you ever attended a wedding with a dress code in the form of a color scheme for the guests? We are being asked to wear beige, creme, and khaki tones for this wedding, so we were on a hunt for a dress that I can wear because out of all the many dresses that I currently own, none of them fit that description. Luckily Banana Republic had exactly what I needed with amazingly cute bronze heels to boot! After shopping, we met up with Mr. Sneaker's bf, his wife and their adorable baby who is Mr. Sneaker's godson for lunch, and I got my MIL totally hooked on Words with Friends. I am such a good teacher, she is currently kicking my butt! Then, I worked out at their club, relaxed in the steam room, and saw a rainbow! I heart California :0)

This morning we went over to Santa Clara University, where my FIL teaches and I did a few practice rounds of my core presentation for them. I cut down my presentation to approximately the right amount of time, but I am still working on getting it to come out right! Grr. Is it June 19th yet? I have been writing/typing/editing away since we got home because my final draft is due June 2nd and that is fast approaching. I am trying to make all the changes that my adviser recommended and then I need to do some final editing, check my references, read it over a gazillion times etc. etc., so I can be sure it is as good as it is going to get before I turn it in. Yikes! A paper that was two years in the making--craziness! Fortunately aside from practicing it until I have it down cold, the presentation is pretty much done, so between June 2nd when I turn the paper in and June 16th when I do my actual presentation, I won't have too much to worry about (besides teaching, saying goodbye to by soon to be firsties, and packing up my stuff).

I am so happy that tomorrow is a holiday and I can sleep in one more day!

Oh Hello....

I have noticed some new followers popping up this week.

Welcome to my world of Kindergarten, fitness, crazy busy schedules, and traveling.

For those of you who are new to Sneaker Teacher, let me catch you up...

I am coming up on the end of an entire school year spent away from my husband who is currently residing in Germany. We have been married almost 4 years, he spoils me, and I am whooping his butt on Words with Friends :0)

I lived in Germany last year and will be returning/reuniting with hubs in 23 days!!!

(that statement definitely deserves three exclamation points)

In bloggyland I am Mrs. Sneaker 

(a nickname very appropriate given the massive amounts of sneakers I have in various colors of the rainbow!), but I sign my bloggy comments KT because those are my initials and my name IRL is Katie. My mom always told me when I was growing up that I needed to marry someone with a last name that started with a T so I could be KT...Katie...KT...get it?

I have been teaching for 6 years including this year

1 year bilingual Head Start

3 years first grade

1 year SPED in Germany

1 year Kinder with two half day classes

Even though I lived in Germany for a year, I don't speak much German.

I can hold my own en español though.

I am currently finishing up my second year as a doctoral student (hence the crazy busy schedule bit and the living apart from my husband for the school year bit)

I heart reality TV, Starbucks lattes, chocolate, pedicures, books, sleeping, and my very cute husband.

If you are visiting for the first time or are a relatively new follower, leave me a comment so I can check out your blog too!

Apps

This week I downloaded a few apps on my iPad and tried them out with a few of my kiddos who just need a little extra TLC. I invited one kiddo in this morning before the official arrival time to play on my iPad and plan to do the same every day until school is out. I also brought Paddy (my iPad) to lunch and let another kiddo play a game with me when he was finished eating. I am all about free apps (and sometimes I am willing to shell out 99 cents) so I thought I would share some of the ones I like. Sometimes the free ones only give you a part of the game, so you end up having to buy the "real" version, but they are typically less than 3 dollars each....

And yes, it is sick that I video taped my iPad using my iPhone :0)

It's a whole new generation of BOB!

I love how kiddos can hear the sounds and hear them blended into words!

app name: BB Magic Lite-FREE

(I don't recommend the lite version because there isn't much to it)

This is the game my friends played today. It is great for vocabulary building and phoneme segmentation. Both boys really liked it and they really did a great job using the technology. 

app name: Word Magic

This is a fun one for kids who are working on fine motor and writing their letters. It makes one sound if they are on the dotted lines and makes a squeaky sound when they go off. As you can see in the video, I was able to model what happens when you don't stay on the line as I tried to hold my phone in one hand and trace with my right hand (I am not a righty, so it was not easy!)

app name: ABC Tracer

There is a free "lite" version, but it didn't include the whole alphabet, so I paid for the real one, but it was on sale. 

I also downloaded:

PBS Kids

Sight Words Lite (again doesn't have a lot to it)

ABC Phonics

KidsMathFun

Kindergarten

Count Magic

Math Series (fill in the missing number game)

I haven't played with all of them yet, but so far the ones I have played or used with kids have worked well!

Proud

I brought home my DIBELS scores to examine more closely tonight and I just came across something that literally just blew my mind.

I have talked about my sweet little Dianita before. Seriously the most adorable/precious/darling little thing on earth. Earlier this year, she was participating in our extended day and on our most recent DIBELS assessment she scored 129 on Nonsense Word Fluency....

one.twenty.nine

the benchmark for end of the year Kinder is 25. 

So.Proud.Of.Her!

I cannot wait to tell her mom tomorrow when she comes for the volunteer brunch. I could seriously cry right now thinking about sharing that moment with her mama. She outscored many of the kids who I consider my high kids (by a lot!). It's not that I don't consider her one of my high kids--I am always really pleased with the quality of her work and I know that she is incredibly bright, but there is just something about seeing that enormous number.

It is especially great because there was only one other student out of 42 that scored higher than she did and that girl entered Kinder already reading. Dianita did not and she struggled a bit, but clearly she blew the roof off of DIBELS and I just want her to stay in my class forever.

I am tempted to call her mom right now because I just can't wait, yet I want to do it in person because I want to see her smile when she hears the news. Go girl!

***

Today I introduced the "fly swatter game" for the first time and the kids LOVED it. I made a huge deal about how it's only a game for responsible students because I wouldn't put a fly swatter in the hands of just any old kid and tell them to slap something...that is a job for kids who can handle it...and handle it they did.

I have two kiddos come up in front of the white board and give each one a fly swatter. They have their backs to the words and when I say the word I want them to find, they can turn around and swat it. We incorporated our sight word songs into the game and sang the song for each word after it was swatted. 

I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of requests to play this game again because my firsties always loved it in a major way.

feels like my bday

I arrived home today to find a box from amazon and the special key in my mailbox signifying that I have a package. 

I heart getting mail and receiving packages, so getting not just one, but two in one day was a fantastic treat.

I feel like I have been buying stuff for my classroom left and right these days, but it's all of the good of the kiddies, so it is what it is.

In box #1 I got these...

Sunny posted about them a few days ago and when I saw that they are geared for grades K-2, I had to have them. I am a little disappointed that the pages are not actually in color like the pictures show, but I will definitely make copies of the pages rather than letting the kiddos use the originals so I guess that really doesn't matter. They can color the pictures in themselves. No biggie.

In box #2 I got these...

I am particularly excited because they both come with DVD's!

Tired of reading PD books? Watch the video!

I have only just browsed through them so far, but both books look like they have a lot to offer! I am excited to read them cover to cover this summer!

I also picked up these for our teen number practice lesson tomorrow...

And, I already divvied them up for table groups with exactly the same number of markers in each bag.

We have been working on drawing teen numbers by making groups of tens and then extras, so I thought using stampy markers would be an oh so fun way to practice that some more. The Teen Number video was a huge hit today and I think that it will really help my kiddos remember that teen numbers can be broken up into a ten group and then additional ones. They were seriously rockin' out and doing some funky moves to the hip hop beat.

Oh, and then there's this recent purchase from TJ Maxx (Can I get an amen for TJ Maxx?!) 

Love that place!

If there ever was a perfect mug for a Kindergarten teacher, this would be it. 

I just wish it was filled with steaming coffee right now :0)

PS. My lovely teaching partner has started a blog of her very own so please visit and give her some bloggy love! This would be the very same teaching partner that I spend much of my lunch time chatting with if that gives you any clue about how great she is!