A "new" blog find, freebies and a giveaway!

I feel a little guilty right now, because I 'know' I should not be blogging---if you saw my dining room/living room, you'd agree I shouldn't.  Why?  Because I had a little moment of "end-of-summer-panic" last night, and decided I HAD to get busy working on my 'summer school project'.  That project is not at all exciting or fun---its a very 'un-creative' sorting out my files.  My plan is to create a better way of storing my "stuff", and make it easier for me to get things back in order.  All my manipulatives are beautifully labeled and stored (thanks to Shari Sloane and her motivating workshop at last year's ITeachK).  Now, its just my own personal thorn in my side---filing the paperwork and 'stuff'.

ANYWAY, I was just going to quickly pop on Pinterest (as if there is a way to do that), and one of the first nuggets to pop up linked me to Nicole Lanier's Kindergarten website here:  http://lanierlions.blog.spot.com/  .  I quickly found two fantastic freebies--two things I needed to overhaul in my own classroom.
 


Then, I started to roam through her site, and found this giveaway--and its so easy to enter (and painless), because its done through rafflecopter .  5 winners will be chosen, and winners get to choose one free thing from her TPT store!

I have my eye on her set of candyland cards--multiple kinds of cards, so that many different kinds of games can be played.  I know that this game has made its rounds this summer, and many people have designed cards for it.  The reason I love this particular set is that it is many sets in one (Letter Recognition, Letter Sounds, Sight Words, Numbers & Number Words, and CVC Words).

I have been using my own set of cards with my candyland game for the past two years.  But here is the catch--I use the candyland floor game set.

I got mine at Kohl's a year and a half ago---I actually looked for another one after Christmas (the first one was a great sale after the previous Christmas).  My kids LOVED to play this version (they liked the board game version, but this one was their favorite by far.  I LOVED this set, because it could be put down anywhere in the room, and didn't require a specific designated space. I used the cards that came with the set, and just added a label to each card with a sight word on it. 

 Sorry about this picture--I couldn't quickly set my hands on any pictures of this in my classroom, and I want to make sure I have PLENTY of time to work on my files. (ha ha ha)

Here is the link to Lanier's Lions giveaway---tell her I sent you! :) Lanier's Lions Giveaway



Now...back to work for me!

Liesl