Summer Tip #1 from Ms. Kimpop

Hey everyone!

So school is officially out and I have been asked numerous times by parents on how they can help their children stay on track (academically) during the summer vacation. Honestly, I think it's important that children get to rest and have some fun... they have been working hard all year long but one thing that I highly recommend is to encourage kids to read~ especially encouraging leisure reading to keep their reading skills sharp.

So how do you do that?

Summer Tip #1
Encourage children to read!

1) Designate a time during the day to read with your child. You and your child can read your own books but sit together on the couch, the bed, or a bean bag on the floor and read together. After reading, have a quick discussion about what you read about.

2) Motivate your child to read. Maybe your child doesn't like to read and a little incentive is needed. Make reading fun. Set a goal with your child. Think of a realistic number of book that you expect your child to read by the end of summer or by the end of the week. Set a goal and once the goal is met, reward your child. Maybe every book read is a ice cream date with you? Think of something that will make reading fun for him/her!

3) Go visit a bookstore with your child. Bookstores can be fun especially one like barnes & nobles because they have a special children's section. Have your child pick out a couple of books to scan and check out. At the end of the bookstore visit, buy a couple of books that your child liked and bring them home to read!

Okay, I hope these reading tips help you encourage your child to read this summer. Let's get their noses buried in some good books.

For third graders (students entering 3rd grade this September) there are some series of books that I can recommend. Series of books are great because if your child likes one book out of the series, you can purchase MORE books from the same series.

Some series I'd like to recommend are...

Horrible Harry Series 

Really fun especially for children who like fantasy...

My personal favorite!!! 

The Magic Tree House series is really an excellent series with loads of real facts for students to learn. 

Make-it-yourself Summer Treat (so simple!!)

Hi everyone! I haven't blogged in awhile. It's been busy trying to wrap up the school year and clean up and store away our classroom. Only 3 more school days until New York City public schools are out for the summer.

In celebration of the start of summer, here is a REALLY simple make-it-yourself ice cream recipe that you can EASILY make with your children, nieces, nephews, & any little person in your life!

Ingredients
-  half & half (1 cup) you can use milk for a lighter option
-vanilla extract (1 teaspoon)
-sugar (1 tablespoon)

1) Combine the following ingredients and pour into a pint size bag (preferably with a zipper- I find these to be more sturdy.. you can also DOUBLE bag the pint size bag for extra security)

2) In a gallon size bag, combine ice (fill up to 3/4 of gallon size bag) and a 1/3 cup salt (preferably kosher salt... the bigger the granules the better for the treat!).

3) Place the pint size bag into the gallon size bag (try to place the pint size bag in between the ice so that it's nicely covered) and zip it up. You can double bag the gallon size bag too!

4) Okay, here is the fun part! Have your little people shake the gallon size bag up and down for about 5 minutes. If he/she gets tired you can help to shake the bag.

5) After 5 minutes of shaking, remove the pint size bag from the gallon size and you should see that the mixture has turned into an ice cream mixture!! If it's not as firm as you'd like you can place it back in the bag and shake some more.

6) Add some sprinkles and fudge into your ice cream bag for some extra fun!!

Here is a link to my instagram of when I made this in class with my kiddies. :)

Happy shaking & the start of summer!!

And the Winner is...

First off, a BIG thank you to those who signed up for my first giveaway!!!!
You really encouraged me with your comments and just letting me you're here with me  ;)
so thank you!!!

1) Joan (as always for your continued love & support for what I do & love)
2) Stardusx (I will do a post soon on a book list I recommend for 3rd grade)
3) Atabanana29 (please tell your girls I said hi and I truly appreciate you ladies checking out my blog)

So what I did was put your names into a class list at www.classdojo.com
(which is a GREAT website for all teachers... it's basically a site where you can upload your class list and each student becomes an avatar or a cute little monster..)
then using the website, you can award students for positive behavior or take away points for negative behavior.. there is also a nifty RANDOM STUDENT button where the site will go through your class list and pick a student at random.

That is exactly what I did.. see first I created a brand new class list on my classdojo account and those who signed up for my giveaway became a cute little monster... as seen below...

Then I simply clicked on the "RANDOM" student button to pick a name at random and the winner is.....

So congratulations stardusx!!! 

Please comment below with an email I can reach you so I can get the books to you ASAP. 

Have a great week everyone and thanks again for participating in my first giveaway!

XOXO,

Ms. Kimpop

First Giveaway!

Hi everyone! 

If you're reading this post, you're in for a real treat! 

I had some brand new books lying around the classroom so I've decided to do my very first giveaway. 

I will be giving away a collection of children's books (pictured below). 

The last book which is a book from the Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne,
is one of my favs! 

All books are paper back (& BRAND NEW) and I will ship it to a shipping address you provide me (free of charge). 

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is:

1) Comment on this post and tell me how you started reading my blog or stumbled upon this post! 

3) Live in the states (for shipping purposes).

The winner will be chosen at random and I will update this post with the winner. 

Give away ends Monday May 27th 12:00AM Eastern Time.

A Penny Goes a Long Way

Today I went to Michael's craft store with my good friend Christine.
Michael's is definitely one of my most favorite stores in the whole wide world.
I can spend HOURS in there.
I always like to check out the clearance section of stores like Michael's & Target because in the past, I've found some treasures there.

Today, in the clearance section of Michael's, I came across some Dr. Seuss letter papers (50 count to be exact pictured below).

I always like having a pack of these in the classroom in case I have to type of a letter to the parents or send home a notice!

Anyways, it was time to pay and I handed this pack over to the cashier and asked,
"Can I have a price check?" She scanned the pack and on the screen I saw, ".01" not sure why but I stood there waiting for a different price. I don't think I've EVER bought anything for $.01.
After the cashier said, "a penny" then it registered that this pack of paper was on clearance for A PENNY!
Right away I told her that I would take another one (one for me and one for my good friend Christine).
This completes the story of the BEST deal/bargain of my life.

So, have you ever bought anything for a penny?