The cool ocean breeze, the wind in your hair and the sun on your skin…I just LOVE the ocean.  I had the opportunity to teach Kindergarten on an island in the South Pacific for a year.  While it was an incredibly challenging year for me, I was blessed to be in one of the most beautiful places on earth.  The scuba diving was rated one of the top 10 most beautiful dives in the world!  I had always loved the ocean before that, but now that I’ve been able to swim with dolphins, sharks, colorful fish and amazing corral…I’m hooked!

I couldn’t help but create an Ocean/Beach Theme that I hope will help you and your students really “dive” into learning this next year!  This ocean theme is jam packed with everything you need to set up your classroom from calendar time to your job chart.  The best part???  It has EDITABLE pages  in Adobe Reader!   So you can type what you’d like, using the same fonts and backgrounds that are in the unit!

Here’s a preview of what’s inside:

Here’s a description of the pages you’ll find inside this ocean themed classroom set:

-Word Wall Title and ABC Word Wall cards (vowels in red, blank labels included)

-OCEAN (Organized Communication Every Achiever Needs) Newsletter Template

-Blank Ocean Bordered pages for letters and printables

-Ocean Name Tag with Skills

(Alphabet w/ pictures, numbers to 20, colors, left & right)

-Ocean Name Tags no skills (2 additional designs)

-“WHALE-come Back” Ocean Bunting (blank bunting included)

-Ocean Themed Months of the Year (2 blank labels included)

-Ocean Themed Calendar numbers 1-31

( No School, Happy Birthday, Field Trip, Holiday, 6 themeless cards included)

-Yesterday was… Today is… Tomorrow will be… Posters

-Days of the week with Polka dot border (5 blank matching labels included)

-Schedule/Subject Cards with clock and time slot

(Math, Spelling, Science, Language Arts, Reading, Reading Workshop, Writing, Writing Workshop, Recess, Social Studies, Spanish, Outside,      Handwriting, Clean-Up, Dismissal, Assembly, Special, Bible, Lunch, P.E. Centers, Workstations, 2 blanks with clock and time slots)

-Octopus Clock/Digital Slot

-WHALE Binders Poster

-WHALE Binders cover for student binders

-Teacher Binder cover and Weekly Schedule page and Planner

-Table Numbers (Large and Small Sizes)

-Numbers 1-20 Posters

-Centers Posters (Math, Reading, Writing, Listening, Science, Computer, Word Work)plus blanks

-“Ready for the Hall” Poem

-“WHALE-Come to ____Grade!” with whales to put students names on (Includes Grades Pre-k through 4)

-Boy’s and Girl’s Pass

-Behavior Bay Clip Chart

-Our School of Helpers Job Chart (Floor Patrol, Trash Patrol, Teacher’s Helper, Line Leader, Door Holder, Board Cleaner, Pencils, Gardener, Class Pet, Table Washer, Sink/Mirrors, Hall Monitor, Librarian, Lunch Helper, Bathroom Monitor, Substitute, Week Off, 3 blank branches)

BONUS!! Target has all of this great ocean accessories right now that would go FABULOUSLY with this theme.

I hope you have “Oceans of Fun” with this unit! Find this unit HERE.

Click the photo for the PDF download!

Teachers, I hope you feel more than appreciated this week!  As a gift and a personal thank-you for all that you do day in and day out for our children, I made this teacher chalkboard printable for you to enjoy (if you aren’t a teacher and would like to print it off for one feel free!).  This would be perfect in a frame for another teacher friend as well.

Don’t forget!  Today is the last day of the Teacher Appreciation Sale on TpT.  I’ve loaded up on so many fun things and I hope you can too.  We Appreciate YOU!!!

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Thanks to Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah for the fun graphic!

In case you haven’t heard there’s a HUGE sale going on at TpT May 7-8.  It’s a Teacher Appreciation Sale! (I can’t think of any better kind!!!)  My store will be 20% off and TpT is throwing in another 10% off on top of that! WAHOO!  Just use the code TAD13 when you check out.

Here are some of my units that will be on sale.  Click on any of them to head to my store!  YOU ARE APPRECIATED!

Hop on over to check out the sale!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!!!

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My mom and I in sunny Florida this Spring!

When I was in about 5th grade my mom decided to go back to school to get a college degree.  There she was, a mother of 5 (4 boys and me!), heading back to the college scene.  My mom studied hard, went to school, worked part-time and still took care of us kids in the evenings!

Looking back, I remember it as such a noble and heroic decision that my mom made.  She really wanted to have a full-time career to be able to help support all 5 of us kids financially in our education endeavors.  What’s more, is that she completed a four-year program in three years, going to school all summer every summer…  Just WOW!  Any guesses as to what she went back to school to become?  Yes, a teacher!

My mom is my HERO!  I know that her courage and amazing teaching abilities greatly influenced me to choose Elementary Education as a degree.  I am so proud of my mother, and I know she’s not the only mother out there who has shown courage, strength, passion, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness or self-control.

Moms everywhere need to know what amazing heroes they are to their children. My “Mom, You’re my Hero!” Mother’s Day Craftivity stemmed from my own mother’s heroism and I wanted to share it with you to pass on to your student’s moms as well.

In this Mother’s Day Craftivity, your students will engage in comparing “real-life heroes” with “super heroes”, writing what a hero mom looks like and does, and make their own hero mom to give as a gift to their mother!  I’ve also included writing pages for the spelling alternative “mum” and grandma, with generic pages as well to meet your students individual family needs.

Inside you’ll find:

– “Let’s Compare” Real-Life Heroes vs Super Heroes Venn Diagram

– “My Hero Mom” Can Has Is Brainstorm

– “My Hero Mom” Bubble Web

– “Mom, You’re My Hero” Craft Templates & Writing Prompts (includes Mom, Mum, Grandma and Generic)

(All writing prompts include Primary & Secondary lines)

I hope your students enjoy this fun-filled and encouraging Mother’s Day Craftivity!  You can purchase it by clicking here: Michaela Peterson’s TpT Store or by clicking on any of the craftivity photos above!

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!!!! (I love you Mom!)

I absolutely love Earth Day!  It is one of my favorite times of year.  From learning about recycling to digging in the dirt, Earth Day activities emphasize taking care of our earth.  My husband and I help run a community garden at our church and are big on sustainable living.  We LOVE to LOVE the Earth.

It’s even more exciting to get kids involved in caring for the earth and taking ownership of their little piece of it.  I wanted to create a unit that would engage kids with fun characters that explain some different aspects of caring for the earth.  It’s created around the 5 R’s!  I’m sure you’ve heard of the 3 R’s growing up (Recycle, Reduce, Reuse), but the 5 R’s adds 2 new R’s to the mix.

The 5 R’s include: Refuse(What you do not need), Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot (Compost)!

In this unit “Earth Day Fun with the 5 R’s Team” students will dive in to the 5 R’s with the 5 R’s Team.  Each mini-book features a different character that explores the 5 R’s on a level that children will enjoy and understand!

5 posters are also included with this set so that students can have visual reminders of each “R” and what they can do for each.

Students will bring their thoughts together in one place as they make their own 5 R’s mini-book to remind them about each R and what they can do for each to make a difference.

Did you know that the whole month of April is Earth month? Don’t feel like you can’t do these activities if you missed April 22.  Remember, you can study about how to take care of the earth every day of the year because “Every day can be Earth Day, when you care for the earth daily!”.

{Graphics for button provided by Mrs. Stanford, Creative Clips, Primary Paradise, and Mrs. Cupcake}

Hello Everyone!!  I will be throwing a 20% off Sale for Sunday, March 17th only, at my TpT Store.  Head on over to stock up on some things in your wish-list.  I’m linking up with Mrs. Wheeler who is also having a sale along with a lot of other teachers (she created the CUTE graphic for this giveaway too).  Head on over to her blog to see who else is having a sale!