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a quick giveaway

I got this adorable box from The MAILBOX.
 
It was filled with some fun freebies that included...
 this ball.
 I wrote everyone's name on the ball and put a smiley face on each child's thumb. 
We passed the ball around and they had to read the name on the ball that was closest to their smiley face thumb. Then they had to pass the ball to that classmate. We had a lot of fun and learned how to read our friends' names at the same time.
The MAILBOX has been a great resource for teaching ideas for years. 
Check out their site and enter to win a free Gold membership. To enter leave me a comment about your new school year. {A book that you have read, how many students you have or an activity that you have done.} Please include your email address in your comment. I will pick 10 people that leave comments to win a free Gold membership to The MAILBOX tomorrow, August 31st at midnight. 
#BeTheDifference
Mrs. Bell

26 comments:

  1. I have 18 kids and I was their prek teacher last year! Now I get to be in Kindergarten this year!

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  2. My Green Bears are such cuties. We have 15 kinder-bears in our family. We have been in school since August 18th. I love this beach ball activity and think we'll try it this week while we are working on 'I can read my name.' What a great extension activity! Hardest part, here's my breakdown. 2 A's, 1 C, 2 G's, 5 J's, 1 K, 3 M's, and 1 Y. We are already having lessons on full ABC order with so many J's, including a Julian and a Juliana. We have had fun with quite a few name activities. For assessment purposes, I followed a Pinterest idea and have all of the letters for everybody's names on individual small post-it notes. These are on a poster board. Each child finds the letters for their name, including an upper-case and the rest in lower case. This will become a center once the assessment part is complete. They will practice making everyone's name. I would love a Gold Membership at kindergarten level. parenthed1@aol.com Thanks for the chance.

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  3. I have 21 kinder-kids and we recently read the book Hunter's Best Friend at School which is a story about how you can help your friend be his/her best self, esp. when he is a mischief maker.
    bcuanliu@gmail.com

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  4. I am starting my first year teaching kindergarten this year! I am so excited! Betty is reading the same book I will read on Tuesday, which is Hunter's Best Friend at School. Thanks for the chance!
    jenniferrabedeaux@gmail.com

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  5. Quite an international group for a small town school including children of families from Mexico, Yemen and Vietnam! 22 children in all

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  6. I'm excited to start the year with 22 kiddos, one being my beautiful niece! I can't wait to try out your Reader's Theatre pack that I purchased during the Tpt sale!
    christine.crimmins@has-k12.org

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  7. I have 22 children this year---my favorite beginning of year activity is to read First Day Jitter's--make a jitter snack and drink jitter juice!!!
    sreneestewart13@gmail.com

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  8. I've taught third grade for the past 10 years and this year I moved (by choice) to kindergarten. I am so excited! Wish me luck! We will start next week and I have 18 kids in my class. I plan to read a lot of "beginning of the year" books including Jake Starts School.
    I'm thankful for your blog, and many others, to help me on my kindergarten journey! Have a great year everyone!
    betsywalsh76@gmail.com

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  9. I have 26 kiddos this year and I am teaching 1st grade. A book that we have read that has helped us to start out the year was Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. It was a fun way to talk about our names and how they make us unique. Thank you for the fun ideas and the chance to win!
    katie.crowton@gmail.com

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  10. I have 26 kindergartners. I read Dinosaur Starts School. It's about a dinosaur who is scared to go to school. Thanks for the chance to win.
    Berry2006@juno.com

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  11. I have 23 kinder friends! We read The Little Engine that Could. We talked about we can do things if we try. We threw away the word "can't". That word is not allowed in our classroom. Everyone decided they wanted to be members of the "I Can!" club. Thanks for a chance to win! kteacherforlife@gmail.com

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  12. School starts on Wednesday. I love reading the book, First Day Jitters to my class.

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  13. I start school on Monday, but my 26 kids start on the 15th. I love all of the Pete the Cat books. I am going to do a pete the cat tour on the first day of school. Thanks for the chance to win!!!
    dakotasmom@verizon.net

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  14. I have a class of 20 kindergarteners. We are off to a great start. Last week I read the book, Can I Play Too?, by Mo Willems (who I love!). We had the best discussion on how to include everyone when we play. Kids come up with the greatest ideas!! Thanks!!
    abryant@stillwaterschools.com

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  15. I have 24 students this year. We are already on day 16. We are building stamina everyday!
    Jennifer
    loularkin@comcast.net

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  16. I have 17 students this year in my Kindergarten class. 4 of them do NOT know any of the letters in their name, and have never held a pencil! It's my job to teach these little guys how to read and write before the end of the year! Challenge accepted! A subscription to Mailbox might be a big help, though! Just sayin!

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    1. oops...forgot my email address...wigginsm3@duvalschools.org

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  17. What a fun activity! I have 20 kinders and we are rockin' in our school shoes with Pete the Cat! Have a great year! Thanks for the chance to win.
    alwayskindergarten@gmail.com

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  18. I've got 18 new kinders and all of them knew how to write their name the first day…a miracle! My email is kmorwitzer@gmail.com

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  19. We have 17 new kinders and we read "It's Hard to be Five" on the first day of school!

    cheriemae@gmail.com

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  20. We had staggered entry this week for our K kids. I met 4/5 each day (I feel like I'm living the movie "Groundhog Day" except no 2 days are alike. Tuesday all 22 return and it's off and running. Looking forward to rereading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom with them as we make our trees.
    Kimchaiken@gmail.com

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  21. I have 18 kinders this year. We've been in school for two weeks and read lots of books. I've changed schools and districts and honestly my groove is off. I am doing close reads this year and this last week was our driest week. We read Enemy Pie. Boy did they love that book! We've also read Pete the Cat books, I went walking, and The Goat in the Rug. We made a David puppet to go with our rules. And of corse we are doing lots of district assessments. Keday56@gmail.com

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  22. I have 19 kinders! I love reading First Day Jitters and Mrs. Bindergarten Goes to Kindergarten the first week of school.

    lydiamarieschaeffer@gmail.com

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  23. I love reading The Kissing Hand on the first day with my K4 classes. Right now I have 12 in the AM and 14 in the PM, but will probably gain a few more students in the coming weeks.

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  24. I am finally settling in as a second grade teacher! I was moved from K to 2nd two days before school starts. :) And I love the Mailbox!

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  25. Thanks for all your comments!
    This giveaway is over.

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