Fitness on the 31st

Every month I am writing a post about fitness!  I shared before that in the past 6 months I have started a new work out called Kaia.  {You can read about my description of it HERE}

My favorite thing about Kaia is it is women only and is centered around positivity and encouragement.  I just got married so for a whole month I didn't go to a Kaia Klass!  Between the week of, wedding day, honeymoon, coming home and nesting, and then being nervous of the first day going back... a whole month passed.  I felt nervous to go back because the workouts PUSH you and I was worried I would be super out of shape!  I went back this week, and I'm not kidding, it felt INCREDIBLE to get my body moving again and to feel healthy and strong.  I picked up right were I left off, and my Koaches were encouraging me the whole time!

A lot of our workouts include using a handbag for additional weight.  I shared this on my Instagram earlier this week but OMG how cute is this watermelon handbag from class?!?!  

I worked REALLY hard before the wedding to eat really healthy and incorporate as many healthy meals as I could.  "Maybe" I fell off the wagon and have been eating quesadillas for the past two weeks.  #notkidding  Now it is time for me to get back on the health train!  Several of my friends have tried the Whole30 challenge, and I am contemplating doing it!!  

My girlfriend has an amazing food blog, One Classy Dish, and she has a TON of Whole30 Recipes!  I am so intimidated by cooking, but with her photos and clear directions I seriously think it might be possible for me!!!

This week my goals are:

1.  Go to a Kaia Klass 4x (it's summer break, I can do it!)

2.  Cook 2 Whole30 Meals

3.  SLEEP!!!

I will let you know if I held to it!  

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#create2educate with Michaels... A Crafting Contest!

I have an IMPORTANT announcement!  Michaels is having a back to school crafting contest!  The contest is being held on Instagram and you have a chance to win a $50 Michaels gift card!  

Here are the rules:

1.  The contest is held from August 1- August 15th on Instagram.  A winner will be chosen EACH day, and entries are UNLIMITED!

2. When you post you photo you MUST use the hashtags #create2educate and #sweepstakes

3.  You must tag @MichaelsStores in your caption.

Here are a couple of details about the contest:

1.  Anyone can participate, you don't have to have a teacher.

2.  In order to have YOUR entry shared on Michaels' website, you must give them permission.  To do this go to Michaels' Instragram, and click on the link on their profile.  That will lead you to the webpage to give them permission to share your photo. (the link is not live yet, but this will be the link: Michaels.com/Create2Educate)

I am getting my crafting on today to be ready for the contest starting August 1st!  Here are some of the supplies that I picked up today!

Come follow me on Instagram to see what I will be crafting!

@ApplesAndAbcs

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{Bundled} Bear Counter and Linking Cube Math Centers

I have some exciting news... I decided to BUNDLE my Bear Counter and Linking Cube Math Centers to help save some money when spending to go back to school!  Both units have the same centers (10 in all), but you could use them with either the bears or cubes.  I like having repetitive centers in the beginning of the year.  The kids are being introduced to SO MANY new things, it is helpful to have a center that you can teach once, and then they can use it all week long.  Having both of those centers, would give you two weeks of familiar math activities for them to be practicing, while you do those back to school assessments. ;)

This is the linking cube part of the math bundle...

For the first center they can look at the card on the mat, and place that same number of blocks onto it.

Sorting is a simple activity, and most math curriculum starts with sorting.  This is a fun activity to accompany your math curriculum and it involves manipulating the blocks!

Clip and Count: the students count the blocks and clip the correct number.

Adding on: this is a more difficult task for some of the new kinders, they have to look at the number on the card, count the blocks that are ALREADY printed on it, and then add more blocks to equal the number.

Count and write: the students LOVE using these plastic pockets to write, erase, and rewrite on!

I blogged about my Bear Counter Centers the other day, so for picture and details you can read about that HERE!

If you want more information, head to my TpT Store to look at the bundle!  I hope you are having a wonderful summer!!!!  

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Bear Counter Math Centers

Kids LOVE using manipulatives during math time and I LOVE teaching with them.  I had a ton of these math bear counters in my room, but didn't have any extra activities to use them with.  I created this Bear Counter Math Center pack to utilize the math manipulatives that you hopefully already have in your classroom.

The Bear Counter Math Centers pack contains 5 math centers for you to use in your classroom.  Each center has a colored math center and is accompanied with a recording sheet for your to assess their learning.

The first math center is to practice sorting colors.  Entering Kindergarten, this should be a skill that the students already have mastered, but it is good to review to build confidence and make sure that all of the students have this skill.

Next the students can practice counting and representing that number with the same number of objects.  The students look at the number on the card and place that many bears around it.

Here is a "Count and Clip" activity.  The students count the bears on the card, and clip the correct number.  You could also laminate them, and have the students circle the number with a dry erase marker.

 This is my favorite center, it is challenging for those advanced thinkers in the beginning of the year.  The students look at the number on the card and ADD ON to represent that number with the bears.

You can see that there is the number 9 printed on the card but only 8 light blue bears printed on it.  The students will ADD one more bear to display 9 bears total.

The students write the number under each group of bears.  I placed the mat inside the clear, plastic pocket so the students can erase and play again!

Here is the whole bear counter unit at a glance!  Head to my TpT Store for more details!

And just for fun, here is a picture of Hercules helping me take photos of the bears! ;)

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Getting Ready to go Back to School!

I can't believe that the beginning of the school year is just around the corner!  That means it is time for us crazy devoted teachers to start preparing for going back to school!  One of my favorite parts of going back to school, is taking a first day of school photo of all of my students.  Here are two of my favorite options that I have done in the past....

This Hello, My Name is Sign I found at Target last summer.  I had each student write their name and pose for a picture!

Another year we used this K DIY Craft that I made to hold on the first day of kindergarten!

I am brainstorming to think of another cute idea for this year!  I will be sure to post it once I can decide what I want to do for sure.  Besides getting ready for that first day photo, we need to start getting ready to lesson plan!

And so me and my girls at Freebielicious have teamed up with Educents with some instant downloads for you! Loaded with great products for back to school including book studies, craftivities, classroom prep, and content materials for back to school!  With 23 instant downloads... you have to check it out!  

My product included will surely be loved by your students!  In this pack, the students can practice writing, tracing, coloring, finding, and modeling numbers 1-20!

For a limited time it is $29.99 from Educents which is 68% off!  Twenty-three products for your kinder and first grade classrooms and over 1200 pages of materials from some of your favorite teachers!  It's a bundle you are sure to LOVE!

Take a moment to take a peek at some of the other teachers featured in this bundle - what that have going on for back to school and what they are featuring in this deal too!

An InLinkz Link-up

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VEGAS GIVEAWAY!!! #FOMO

Vegas week is here!!!!!!!!!!  Today some of my best friends are presenting at the Teacher's Pay Teachers Conference, and I couldn't be more proud of them!  I am currently just getting back from my honeymoon, so I wasn't able to go this year.  (Is anyone else at home having major FOMO over all of the Instagram photos!?!?

The gals from Freebielicious have a booth at the conference (#115) and are having TONS of giveaways at the booth!  If you are in Vegas, make sure you stop by to win some goodies!  I wish I was there to meet you too...that will have to wait until next year!

In honor of celebrating Vegas Week, I am having a little giveaway on my Facebook page!  Head on over to win my Back to School Assessment Pack!  One is school themed, and the other is owl themed!

To win a FREE copy, head to my Facebook to enter!  Make sure you "like" my page to participate! :)

I haven't received my photos from our photographer yet, but here is my favorite wedding photo so far....

Happy Friday!

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Fitness on the First: Non-Scale Victories!

I am obsessed with numbers.  Any type.  But specifically numbers that cause me to be critical with myself.  For the past 2 months I have been doing Kaia (read about my first blog post on it HERE!)  It is a full body workout, for WOMEN, that includes cardio (minimal running, yesssss!), strength, interval training...and at the end of the day it TONES YOU UP! 

Here is a little note that welcomed us last week to class...

One thing that I have been learning through Kaia is the concept of non-scale victories.  This means, I don't measure my progress, worth, or success through numbers on the scale.  This is almost impossible, but I am learning!!!  

Here are some of my non-scale victories:

1.  I can now touch my toes from a standing position.  This might not sound like a big deal, but this is the first time in my life that I have EVER been able to do this!  Kaia has increased my flexibility, and this is a HUGE victory in my book!

2.  I did my first double under.  This means when jump roping, I jumped up once, and the rope went under me 2x!!!  Of course, the first time I did it, I screamed out of excitement and that made me get tangled up... but after that I was able to do it again!

3.  I beat my fitness test times.  Here is a picture of a 6 week boot camp record sheet,  at the 1st, 3rd, and 6th week we did a fitness test.  Basically the main thing to notice is that my numbers went up!!  (except the mile time ;)

4.  I started cooking.  One of my goals was to cook dinner 1x a week, and last week I did it 2x!!!! Chicken and different sides.  This is my breakfast one morning, please ignore the plastic fork...our wedding is just around the corner, so hopefully we will get silverware! ha!

I am in Orange County, but there are Kaia gyms all over.  If you are around, come try it out with me... you get the first week for free!!!

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