phenom farfaria and a GIVEAWAY.

Y'all. Be ready to be rocked. A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to explore and review a new story time, reading app, FarFaria, and I'm not lying when I say the app is as magical as the name.

Don't you feel like you should sing that name aloud whilst waltzing in the clouds with Prince Phillip? Yeah. Me and Aurora agree. But let's get down to business, shall we? FarFaria is a story time app that provides over 750 engaging and entertaining children's stories for ages 2 to 9, with five new stories added each week! It's purpose is to develop a passion for reading in children - could there BE a better purpose for an app?

Upon opening the app, you are immediately directed to the app's home page which highlights some recommended and favorite texts for you to browse.

You can choose to scroll through the home page and select a text or choose to "explore" which will direct you to this magic kingdom of a page:

Every category from "Mt. Make Believe" to "Genius Jungle" contains a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts including classic fables, Bible stories, biographies, and fantasies, all leveled so you and your kids can know how challenging the story will be! I'm sorry, but an app that already has the stories leveled FOR you? Sign. Me. Up.

Once you have selected a category and text, your kids have the option to read the text independently or have the story read aloud to them.

Now, when I say they can have the story read aloud, I don't mean in some computerized robotic voice. These read alouds are full of expression, emotion, and are so engaging that even I couldn't exit one of the stories without finishing it! The narrators are incredible!

As I start to get ready for my bitty babies, I think we will be spending most of our time exploring "Preschool Playground" and "Sing Along City"!

"Preschool Playground" is full of vocabulary and story books all about animals, colors, numbers (in Spanish, French, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, and Korean no less), holidays, seasons, shapes, community helpers, and transportation. "Sing Along City" has fabulous sing alongs (shocking, I know) of all of the classics - Old MacDonald, If You're Happy and You Know It, Jingle Bells, The Wheels on the Bus, and more! Gracious! These people thought of everything!

Now let's get down to the logistics. FarFaria can be downloaded to your iPad, iPhone, and Android device! You can try FarFaria for free by clicking here and enjoy reading one story every day for free! Unlimited access to all 750+ stories starts at $4.99 per month - a small price to pay for an abundance of leveled, fiction and non-fiction texts!

But do you want some really GREAT news? The kind folks at FarFaria are offering a FREE 3 month subscription to FarFaria to one of my readers! Want to be that lucky guy or gal? Then leave me a comment WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS (only one entry per person)! The drawing will close at midnight on Thursday, August 21. I will announce the lucky winner right here on Friday, the 22nd! So comment away, people!

In the meantime, check out FarFaria on:

Facebook

Twitter

and

Pinterest

Or visit their website (www.farfaria.com) for more information!

Leave me a comment with your EMAIL ADDRESS to be entered into the drawing for a FREE 3 month subscription now!

it's baaaaack.

Y'all. How in the WORLD is it already August?!

I mean, come on. Well, at least TPT is making this harsh realization a bit easier to swallow by throwing their annual Back to School Sale!

That's right, sisters, my entire store will be 20% off for the next two days! So shop away, dear ones! Be sure to enter the promo code "BTS14" to save up to 28%!

This is a super time to snag my 2014-2015 Curriculum Planning Calendar in Moroccan Tile, Polka Dot, or Chevron!

Or, do a bit of personal life planning with my 2014-2015 August to August Calendar and Planner!

So after weeping for a moment that August is upon us, head on over to TPT and shop your sorrows away!

2014-2015 august to august calendar.

It's mid-July, sisters, and you better believe it's my favorite time of year. Not because it's summertime and my alarm is off indefinitely.  Not because my fluffy waist is lovingly embraced by the elasticity only Nike Tempo shorts can provide for the next two months. No, not even because the Real Housewives of New Jersey are now clogging my DVR with endless marathons and reunions. Nope, mid-July equals new.calendar.time. (You might remember me mentioning this last year.) That's right, my new planner brings me joy that not even the combined effects of Christmas, birthday, anniversary, and the last day of school can bring. Sad? Maybe. #sorrynotsorry

So without further ado, I give you the 2014-2015 August to August Calendar and Planner. Your calendar/planner comes with: a fabulously bold cover page...

...2014 and 2015 yearly overviews...

...monthly overviews for August 2014 through August 2015...

...weekly agenda pages...

...and a plethora of notes pages for your jotting pleasure!

What does that give you all together? This, my friends. Glorious this:

I am re-using the Martha Stewart binder from Staples that I used last year, but decided to go with these tabs from Container Store for my monthly/notes dividers.

I'm simply loving the month and week overviews that include a place to plan meals for each day!

So get planning, ladies! There are dinners, teas, meetings, and parties to be had! Get going! Head on over to my TPT shop to grab your very own August to August calendar for the next school year!

And while you're in a planning frenzy, you might as well get your curriculum mapped out for the upcoming year as well!

Happy planning, patriots!

2014-2015 curriculum calendario.

Field day. Portfolios. End-of-the-year gifts. Cleaning out. Report cards. Man alive, what a whirlwind the past two months have been! I don't care if you teach third grade, eighth grade, preschool, or yoga, the last month or two of the year can only be described as exceptionally controlled chaos. But we made it! Our last day was Wednesday and I've been working on a plethora (oh yes, a plethora) of goodies for y'all ever since. Get excited.

After you've taken a breath or two, caught up on your favorite Bravo drama, and absorbed a bit of Vitamin D, you *might* be ready to start planning for next year! No? Not ready? Well go ahead and download my curriculum planner now and don't worry about completing it until August. Deal? Deal.

{Polka Dot 2014-2015 Curriculum Planning Calendar}

For the past two years, I've created this curriculum calendar to help me map out my curricular plans for the entire year, and oh what a life-saver it's been! By taking the time over the summer (or early fall) months to map out what skills you want to teach and when, it makes weekly planning a breeze!

Each month's pages contain headers for all content areas and the 2014-2015 dates are already included for you!

But the true beauty of this document? Everything is COMPLETELY EDITABLE! What the what?! So, if you teach middle or high school and don't teach these core content areas, no problem! Change the "reading" header to "geometry" or "statistics" or {I cringe} "calculus". You can change absolutely any and all text you see on these pages. Oh, happy planning.

For the 2014-2015 Curriculum Planning Calendar, I updated the cover page...

...and went with a polka dot theme for all of the August 2014 to June 2015 month headers:

Not a polka dot girl? No problem, pals. I also created a chevron and Moroccan trellis theme for you fashionistas!

{Chevron 2014-2015 Curriculum Planning Calendar}

{Moroccan Trellis 2014-2015 Curriculum Planning Calendar}

All Curriculum Planning Calendars are Power Point documents which make them easy breezy to edit and customize. The documents also lists two fonts from {www.kevinandamanda.com} that will make your document look exactly like mine once downloaded and installed!

So even if you're bound and determined not to leave the couch for a few more months, go ahead and head on over to my TPT shop and download a 2014-2015 Curriculum Planning Calendar!

Polka Dot 2014-2015 Curriculum Planning Calendar

Chevron 2014-2015 Curriculum Planning Calendar

Moroccan Trellis 2014-2015 Curriculum Planning Calendar

The first two gal (or guy) pals that leave a comment and their email below will receive a FREE copy of the Curriculum Planning Calendar of their choice!

Happy planning, y'all. And, of course, h-a-p-p-y s-u-m-m-e-r. You earned it.

a december classroom tour.

As we are two short weeks away from the conclusion of the fall semester, I thought now would be the completely logical time to give y'all the grand tour of my, now, not-so-new preschool classroom! I'm just going to give y'all the brief overview today, then I will be back to give you more specific looks at certain areas of the room to show y'all some tips and tricks I've discovered for the wee ones.

Let's get started! Here is our classroom door...

...with our daily schedule and weekly lesson plan posted!

Each morning, the kids "sign-in" for the day by placing their picture on the schoolhouse - this not gives the kids' ownership over their own attendance, but it also gives them ample opportunity to see their name in print! Above our sign-in board, I have door hangers that detail all of the places we might be throughout the day (playground, chapel, music, etc.). These are posted on our classroom door any time we leave the room.

For my 2 year olds, we have cubbies in the room where we store the little ones' diaper bags, lunch boxes, etc. so we aren't constantly running out into the hallway to grab things. The kids are responsible for finding their cubby each morning and placing their bags, lunches, and lovies inside! More name recognition practice!

Here's our helper chart for both ages:

The largest bulletin board features the kids' birthdays, the alphabet, and a place to display the two year olds' work:

The kids LOVE finding their birthday cake!

Our calendar board is super simple and streamlined - we don't want those baby eyes getting distracted!

As for centers, we have the Writing/Cutting Center:

The Home Center:

The Blocks and Car Centers:

And then, a shelf of wooden blocks, Legos, connectors, shape and color games, etc.

All of that put together...

As for my storage space, I am SO lucky to have tons of drawer and cabinet space!

And since there are two teachers trying to work in this space, I kind of went on label overload (shocking) so that we wouldn't have to constantly ask each other, "Where's the....?". I labeled where each type of game belongs...

...what is stored in each drawer...

...and where all of the various paint supplies are stored. Overkill? Yes. A more streamlined day? Absolutely.

And remember all of that sorting I did over the summer with the year's curriculum? Those monthly curriculum binders made the jump to the counter for easier access alongside our tubs for storing items to be filed, copied, and used throughout the week:

So, there you have it! Looks a little different then my class of firsties, but I love every inch of it...even more when it's full of wobbly toddlers and preschoolers!

Anyone else care to share their classroom now that we're almost halfway through the year? :)