Magnets, Magnets, Everywhere!

Wowza Friends! 

We have been making boo-coodles of magnets this week! 

Check out some of those really cute designs my partner Stacy - she's such a pro at designing super cute things.... 

Friday was my first day back at work. Waking up in the morning was NOT fun. I set about four alarms to make sure I was up on time....

And ended up waking up an hour BEFORE any of them went off. 

AWESOME-SAUCE

I spent most of last week working on my classroom (my kiddos were with their dad in the mountains....) 

I chose the World Traveler theme from School Girl Style. 

Here are a few pictures so you can see my progress. 

{I still have a LONG way to go....but it is getting there!!}

Day 1.... 

What have I done? 

  

 Day 2.....

Maybe I can do this...

Day 3....

I'm finally getting somewhere! :) 

Three days until open house. 

Think I can make it? 

:) 

Vegas..... Swag and Reflections

I am linking up with Mrs. Russell today over at Mrs. Russell's Room for some Vegas reflections! 

Overall - Vegas was a wonderful and humbling experience. I learned more about what it means to be part of the TpT family, laughed, cried, made new friends, and met some amazing people! 

Here are just a few things that keep replaying in my head ....

I need to keep doing my own thing. I tend to get very competitive and I can be very hard on myself when things aren't going so well. The reality is - I am a single mom, with a full time teaching job. My journey is different than others. My goals are different... I've done TpT for a very long time now - but after my divorce, I kicked it into high gear. My goals have been to keep my kids in the house they have grown up in, keep food on the table, pay the bills, and provide extras for my children {karate, ballet....} that I wouldn't be able to do on a teacher's salary. 

 So this should go without saying, but I need to remind myself. . . please don't think that I expect favors, or special treatment.... NOT the case... but just because I am super excited to meet someone - doesn't mean they are excited to meet me. We each have our own 'agenda'.... this played out very clearly during most of the Vegas trip. I have to keep this in mind as I proceed. 

I LOVED being part of the first TpT conference. 

But it was so overwhelming. 

So..... Very.... Overwhelming. 

I have a quirky personality. 

I am a dork. 

I am not a girly-girl.

I am SUPER sarcastic. 

All of these things make it hard for me to meet people and to be myself. 

I get very anxious and I am a people-pleaser. 

I WANT EVERYONE to like me.... but not everyone will.

This is hard for me to learn and remember without getting my feelings hurt. 

It has gotten better with age, but I am still {and always will be} a work in progress. 

Before I go....

Let's have a giveaway!

I got a LOT of AMAZING gifts while I was in Vegas. 

I can't possibly use it all, 

so I wanted to share! 

If you weren't able to go to Vegas.... 

or went and want more SWAG.... 

Enter below! 

And caring is sharing! ;)

{or is it sharing is caring?} 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Did You Know?

There are now 3 million teacher sellers on tpt! 

WHAT? 

I know - that kinda blew me away too... to celebrate they are having a HUGE sale!

{and so am I}

So head over to tpt and put some things into your cart! Don't forget to add the promo code TPT3 to claim your extra percentage off!

{and if you leave some feedback - you will credits... that can be put towards more tpt purchases!}

Thanks to Surfing Through Second for this Rosie poster - I adore Rosie...

I have added some fun stuff to my store after seeing Melonheadz new "Happy Birthday Doc" set :) 

{Dr. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-But-Isn't-Voldemort}

:)

:)

:)

Help! I have two kids that don't speak English!

I don't know if your school is anything like my school.... but if it is.... you've been loaded with new kids.... {not in a bad way - the more the merrier! AKA Job Security!}
We've been back at school for a week now and every time I head into the office, there are new families registering their children. Where are these kids coming from? Wowza! Hopefully it will settle down soon and we can go on with our normally scheduled program. 

Anywho..... during this influx of newbies - I got TWO new children.... They have only been in the United States for two or three weeks, and spent one week at another elementary school before moving to me. Sweetest things in the world! I am so happy they moved to our zone - BUT - the thought of the upcoming English test and these two children - sent me into a straight panic. 

So here is what I made to help all of us {kids, homeroom teachers, me....} out. 

I created some picture dictionaries using my massive amounts of melonheadz clip art..... I added word cards for those Level 1 kids (little to no English) ... and added a place for them to write the word in their native language. 

These are pictures of one of my students.... he cut out the picture, looked it up in the larger dictionary in his native language, found the English word in the dictionary and matched it to the English word card on the picture sheets. Then he glued them in and wrote the word (for this student ... in Korean) to help with the transfer of knowledge. 

I was so happy with the way they turned out I made a Spanish one and two basic English ones that could be used with beginning readers and Kinders. These would be a WONDERFUL resource for the regular education classroom - during those times when you know the content is WAY OVER the ELL's understanding, but don't want them sitting idle.... 

Here are links to the other picture dictionaries...

English/Spanish

English 

English {find it, write it}

I would like to add more school terms .... color words, shapes, school items.... but that probably won't happen until next month.  (and I have more money to buy clip art... hahahah!) 

And - yes - they are in color... no blackline masters....

My reasoning - the children are working on this with little scaffolding at first and then moving to more independence.... I wanted pictures that matched the real items so they would be able to decide what the picture was - without asking you or another student! The more realistic, the better for any ELL! 

Cyber Monday {and Tuesday}

so….

It's cyber Monday. :) 

I just finished leaving feedback on some prior tpt purchases (get free credit toward my next purchase!)

Filled up my cart…

I had 135 things on my wish list…

WOWZA. 

I went through and realized that I already had a lot of it - and most of the others were freebies that I wish listed … so I could locate them again in the future…

BUT

here is what I filled up my cart with: 

Here are a few links to the products I purchased as well. 

Polar Express for Big Kids - Primary Polka Dots

Holidays Around the World - Cloze Reading - Ashleigh

Holidays Around the World - {Chinese New Year too} - Tangled Up In Teaching

Santa's Confusing Christmas - Primary Polka Dots

My First Grade Helper - Michelle Oakes

My Second Grade Helper - Michelle Oakes

What did you pick up during the sale? 

Don't forget to add the code word - CYBER {all caps} for an extra percentage off! :) 

Before I go - I wanted to share a hilarious 'hey girl' picture I saw today… my friend at 4mula for fun made this little meme…. and I had to show y'all! 

AND

Don't forget to check out the Educents bundles! I am part of the American History bundle! Woohoo! :) 

The Night Before Thanksgiving

I can't even begin to express how much I needed this Thanksgiving break. 

Not wanted, 

not craved…

NEEDED…

too much on my mind :) 

I dropped my kids off to spend their Thanksgiving with their father and now I am sitting

*by myself* 

at the bookstore. Sad, but happy at the same time… such a conundrum. 

I have been working….working…working… on some Magic Tree House units.

I decided it would be a great idea to add an Interactive Notebook component to the latest unit - Christmas in Camelot. 

I will upload a page for you all to look at - please - 

I would love to hear your ideas and feedback! 

Ideally - I would like to add things like this to most of my units… my issue will be time…

I'll leave you with a picture of my workspace and a freebie… :)
ETA: click on the picture below and it will take you to my dropbox…
You can download the pdf from there! :) 

Night friends!

pure bliss.....

That's right peeps.... pure bliss....

FALL BREAK! :) 

1 day left on the big giveaway - have you entered yet? 

I have been updating and posting a few things this week. It's always easier to get it done when I have time off. Being a mom and a teacher can be tough some days! Heck, most days! But.... 

Here is what I've been working on so far. :) 

Journals - up for free for a few more hours! I know we are already into October.... but I couldn't resist making a cute journal pack to work on when we go back next week! 

 Nikki at Melonheadz finished up my Wild West peeps... aren't they cute! I love Nikki! Writing these non-fiction passages and comprehension questions.... not looking forward to it.... I have a few done, but it will be my fall break project.... {yay me}

Then, there is my costume confusion.... I love writing these inference ones! They are so much fun! {And my daughter loves testing them out for me when I'm almost finished...}

I uploaded my BIG 'ol BUNDLE of Famous Americans.... It is basically most of my Americans in one place. Please click on the picture to download the pdf preview... it is too large to upload to tpt. BUMMER. 

Last is a picture of my landforms posters and vocabulary pocket cards. I uploaded this one a while ago, but I finally got the previews finished. I am working on updating my landform pack to add the peninsula and bay...

Interactive Notebooks and Decorating Cookies...

So, as I have said before - my schedule seems to be forever changing...

A few weeks ago I started going to the middle school and pushing into a 7th grade life science class. 

Wow. 

I fully remember why I teach elementary...

:)

Cells - cytoplasm, nucleus, mitochondria, golgi complex... oy VAY!

They are working on an interactive notebook in the life science class - so I found some things for my beginning English speakers to add to their IN (Interactive Notebook) to help merge their ACCESS level with the classroom content.... They already did a great job of labeling the cell,  discussing the functions,  and coming up with some cute ways to remember the organelle's jobs.

 lysosome... like lysol for the cell...

pro - no (prokaryotic cell doesn't have a nucleus)...

Vacuole - vacuum - stores the extra food and water..

BUT - I downloaded this lovely poster set from Jennifer Findley. I didn't have anywhere to display my posters - so I got a little creative....

I changed my printer settings so that 6 printed to a page, and we used these inside our IN's!
We also studied the plant and animal cells... using her other plant and animal cell unit! :) 

As the culminating activity - the class made cell cookies! How cute are these? The green cookies are the plant cells and the red cookies are the animal cells! I had a great time helping and I loved watching the kids come up with different ways to represent the organelles! 

(But really - who doesn't like cookies!) 

 

<<< My classroom door.... :) I think I will put a new positive message every month. :) 

I've been busy....and pictures....

I couldn't find a planner I liked... so I made my own. :) The pages are in my tpt store - but that is all. The graphics are from Jenn Barrette {her graphics are on my blog :) }

So I have printed all these lovelies out and I am planning on binding them

{but I haven't yet}

 I redid my three roll - a - sentence centers - so if you have purchased these - please re-download! They are much cuter and easier to use! 

Below is a photo of my number crunchers unit - I wanted to have something to display for the kids to practice on too... and now that these are laminated they are easily erased for repeated practice! :) 

And last - this is one that I am *kinda* proud of - It's such a cute way to practice inference! 

{A BIG ccgps skill....}

And (connection time) it reminds me of The Jolly Postman book that I love using to teach community helpers and during fairy tales - it's such a cute book....

and - I think this cover is really precious! :)