Five for Friday Randomness!

Well Happy FRIDAY!!!! Happy 3 DAY weekend!!!! So in true end of year teacher style I am going to say I have been superbly busy! I mean duh right?! I am going to try to squeeze a complete five in tonight but may only make it to 3-4 haha....

First off a FREEBIE!! I made these little tags this week for our admin team. It was educational bosses week! Once again, SO easy!! 

1.Go buy you some Burt's Bees products. 

2.Download and print these tags.

3.Attach

4. Smile and feel good you just made someone have a future smile too! 

Click here to download

So a few weeks ago I posted about starting a BIP. You can read about that here if you missed it. Ok, talk about glorious! This has worked like a charm! My BIP's I have had LOVE LOVE being a mini me. And let's just say I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a mini me also that can handle it! I can't wait until I can start this from like week 1 of the next year. 

The BIP today helped check off work due, filed papers, handed out reward coupons and walked  around answering questions  for me! 

The key is hand picking "randomly drawing their name from a hat" ;) oh ya'll know what I am talking about...BIP is not supposed to be more work for the teacher haha...

Our baby chickadees hatched again this year!!! We had like 17!! *hanging head in shame* I didn't do a good job this year of taking pictures and documenting their journey as I normally do (I am superbly busy remember?!) I did snap this one though as I had the kids come pet them. 

So I bought these wonderful word strip cards the other day on TPT from Tara West. 

 I was wondering how to organize them for easy access next year in guided reading and came across an empty plastic container. It happens to be the kind I normally use for magnetic letters but took out some of the dividers and it fit the strips perfectly! I then added some labels and WAH-LAH!

So I went through this banner phase...not sure why, but felt very crafty and these were so simple to make I gave in to the urge. I am one of those people who will pin things all day long but then never get the motivation to really go back and DIY. 

I made this one for Easter and hung it on the mantel in the living room.

We also had this empty frame that just sat around taking up space aka drives me nuts!!

So I decided to make the banner and put it inside for our guest room. You may not be able to tell with the horrible lighting but the guest room is gray/yellow themed. I painted the letters yellow.  

Well lookie there! I made it to 5! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and THANK YOU to all those who serve and have served our country! I know we focus a lot on how it is an extra day off school, but tend to forget or overlook the real reason we actually have off. 

Have a BLESSED weekend!!

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:13

Teacher Appreciation Freebie

Just a quick post today to share the teacher appreciation gift I made for the upcoming week. Really simple and not to pricey!

1. Go buy some nail polish

2. Download these free tags

3. Snip some ribbon

4. DONE!

I mean can it get any easier?

The answer is no! lol

 

Click HERE for tags!

Have a BLESSED and appreciated week ahead!

"And don't forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God." Hebrews 13:16

Are you a BIP?

Happy Friday friends!

So it's May 1st and the last day of school, so some think...I'm just the messenger but sorry little friends we still have 5 weeks of learning left! We are too legit to quit! At least as of May 1st! Got to motivate to keep straight!

 So hubs and I got to be VIPS to a concert for our favorite band The Classic Crime. We got to meet them, hang out a bit, talk, take pictures- all the fun stuff you know special treatment bahaha. Soo it got me thinking (as usual when I was supposed to be sleeping or focused on my workout) what if I had a VIP? or actually a BIP? Someone that got recognized each week for possessing certain character traits we have discussed in school. So BIP was born!

Basically each week on Friday if the student has not received any marks and has done their best all week they will write their name on a piece of paper to go into the BIP drawing. Once chosen, they will come in the following Monday and be lavished with all kinds of "all access" perks.

Some of those perks include:
-BIP badge- so everyone, everywhere knows to roll out the red carpet ;)
-fancy-fied desk
-box full of my special writing utensils at their disposal
-automatic teacher helper
-pick a free day to have lunch in classroom
-visit office to be celebrated
-free pass to not complete morning work- they might have something else fun on their desk
-new pencil, bookmark, and sheet of stickers
-they get to use the tambourine to signal class
The list goes on and on....basically a "mini-me"
Instead of a boring, normal nameplate they will get their name written directly on the desk with dry erase....D-I-R-E-C-T-L-Y....I know,crazy right?! haha

(don't judge the lack of creativity on the desk decorating- I was in a hurry and do plan to make it really fancy once I have time to slow down a bit- I got some good ideas!)

They will get to be BIP all week long! Then the process starts all over again.
These last few weeks will let me try it out and see if it really works so I can start next year off putting it into place or let it simmer and then "BAM" (Emeril Lagasse reference) throw it out there like it's the best thing since sliced bread!

I suppose we will find out on Monday!
I also have a nifty teacher appreciation idea I will share (hopefully by Sunday) once I get it all finished! It will include a FREE download!!!
Until then...
Have a BLESSED night!!

"We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps." Proverbs 16:9

2-D, 3-D, Fractions OH MY!

Ok ya'll finally I am finished!!! If you follow me on Facebook then you have seen my posts about a new packet I have been working on tirelessly for the past few weeks. I thought there is no light at the end of the tunnel, I kept getting ideas (usually when I needed to be falling asleep or at the gym) and felt like it just wouldn't be complete until I added them. I literally started with one page and that was all I intended to do was one page, for an assessment for my kids. Then everything just got out of hand! haha...it is now 108 pages! I don't normally take a project like this on during the school year but once I got it in my head and started jotting ideas down I didn't want to wait. I also wanted to offer it in three packs incase someone didn't want a certain section (2-d, 3-D or fractions) however, in my haste tonight as I was adding a few last pages and details I went to save it separately and accidentally forgot to hit save to the new version....needless to say I saved the old one. I have not been able to figure out how to recover that particular file.... soooo I ended up with the pdf of the entire packet bundled. For now, that is what will be uploaded and if/when I figure out how to recover what I lost I will upload in three separate packets. Until then, I do hope ya'll find the bundle worthwhile! 

This is not even the half of it! (no fraction pun intended lol)

Click HERE to check it out!

But here is an overview of what is included:

2-D shapes:

-anchor charts for each shape (square,circle, rectangle, triangle, rhombus,trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon,octagon)

-Memory match

-Book of shapes (this also integrates some fractions)

-Matching shapes

-Identifying sides/vertices

-Assessment/independent practice

-Find,Tally,Graph

-Roll and Cover

-Connect 4 spin and cover

3-D shapes:

-anchor charts for each shape (sphere, cube, triangular prism, rectangular prism, pyramid,cone,cylinder)

-Memory Match

-Find, Tally, Graph

-Name match

-Assessment/independent practice

-Sorting 3-D

-Attributes charts

-Roll, Slide, Stack chart

-Connect 4 spin and cover

Fractions:

-anchor charts (whole,half, thirds, fourths)

-Memory Match

- Bingo

-Equal/Unequal activities

-Spin and Cover

-Roll and Cover

-Assessment/independent practice

-Color fractions

-Spin and Color

-Find, Tally, Graph

We only have to teach circle, rectangle, square, rhombus, triangle, and hexagon for 2-D shapes. But in the packet I included extra shapes for anyone that has to teach more. I also included thirds for the fraction section as well. We only teach halves and fourths. I really tried hard to make this as well rounded as possible making it easy for any grade level k-2 to possibly get the most use out of it. There may be certain pages you don't need if you don't teach that particular objective, however, it is included in case you do ever need it! 

Feel free to click the link under the picture and go check it out. Please leave any feedback you think would be beneficial and if you have any requests or ideas for something send them my way! 

I am just guessing and totally not counting the days ;) but I thought I over heard that summer is almost here...maybe....don't quote me....I'm totally guessing... 27 days......or something...but whose counting?!

It was recently my hubby's birthday and we took the day off and just enjoyed ourselves. We went to a movie in the middle of the day...best thing ever! We were the only ones in the theater! 

We also walked home with this...in preparation for the movie....he now lives in our office.

In case you weren't aware, the husband does Cosplay with our friend Robbie. It is actually pretty cool and funny at the same time. Their goal is to get to California for the big venture and get myself and Robbie's wife to dress up with them. 

Here is a picture of hubs...he is Winter Soldier from Captain America

 Robbie and Keanan (Robbie is Star-Lord)

Feel free to check out their Facebook page if your into that ;)

Well friends I hope something peaked your interest this post..I will return with more before those (totally oblivious to the end of the year) 27 days are up. I plan to be a busy little bee this summer with new products and ideas! 

Have a BLESSED Sunday!

"But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved." 

Acts of the Apostles 2:21

I felt this particular scripture was on my heart. I had a conversation today with my mother in law and have struggled with some things having to do with this verse. I have a very worried heart for others' eternity. One thing I struggled with is the day my grandma passed away a few months ago, while we were at the hospital I wanted to be able to ask her if she was still strong in her faith and still saved after all these years. I was not able to communicate with her about that so I asked my dad and he reassured me she was and knew exactly where she was headed. I felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted off of me and my heart. I have dealt with death in my short time on this earth but that was the first time is was directly in front of me and someone I was so close to. I just wanted to be sure she had still "called upon the LORD".  As I pray you do too!

Classroom Organization 2014-2015- Am I ready?!

Well the time is here! Monday is my first official day back with the little's! In the midst of getting everything ready I managed to take some pictures of my room this year. I will be adding more as the year goes on and we get more things on the wall!

Check out my library cards I made from a training over the summer. These will help manage your classroom library this year!

Check it out!

TPT Store

Well I am off to finish a million other things before this day is over and I wake up at 5:30!!

Have a BLESSED start of school!!!!

 “Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.” Deuteronomy 32:2

Teacher Week 13. My home away from home.

Linking up again with Blog Hoppin for day 2 of Teacher week. Let me first say that I have looked at sooo many other teacher's rooms and they are super duper cute! Sadly we are not allowed to hang things from the ceiling, no cute furniture that can collect dust or share "friends", nothing within 3 ft of the door way or 18 inches of the ceiling, no lamps or rugs, we can't decorate our door anymore either. That is why you might see some of my bulletin boards with just border, because we can not cover more than I think 80% of the walls with paper or fabric. :( so bare in mind I am working with constraints here :) also it is not done at all, I plan on posting again more pictures and organization tips when everything gets rolling.

Now please come see where I live 187 days of the year :)

Right when you walk into my room I have my filing cabinets, mailboxes, helper tags, bathroom passes etc. The posters are all my uplifting quotes I have found on Pinterest, etc... and I used to have them on my door but had to move them.

I use the bucket filling as a main part of my classroom management. I have had this for going on 4 years now so well before pinterest and just got lucky finding the cute cups at Target!

My word wall is on the cabinets and I went ahead and put the kinder sight words up. However, we also add content words throughout the year as well not just sight words! If the word lends itself to a picture we add that as well to help the understanding. 

This is where we will meet with the easel and smart board. We can't have cute rugs so I am going to have to use tape to place on the floor for boundary lines :). This is also my reading wall and where I will put important anchor charts to refer to daily.

My library area for the kiddos- I have the books on the left organized by reading level and the books on the right are my nonfiction, free choice reads

This is my calendar wall as well as where I keep track of team points and secret student.

This is all of my stuff- reading station templates, home readers, my books for certain curriculum concepts

Here is a closer look at the tubs and how I organized them: I have each subject area and then within that tub have categorized type of books so when I get ready to teach that concept there are some read a-louds already chosen.

My math area- please excuse the two colored fabric...I had to go buy more and the section from last year already faded :) This is where all my math anchor charts we create will go up. The red book shelf is my math stations as well as where I store manipulatives throughout the year for easy access.

The long table to the right is my writing station.

Writing wall and fabric of USA.

This is on my counter top where all my stuff is stored. I put things in there that I use daily with the kids (neat treats, clean desk awards, nurse passes, coupons, notes home, etc)

I hope you enjoyed the lil tour. Hopefully it sparked some ideas for you. Please don't hesitate to ask questions or request closer pictures :) I will post throughout the year too for ideas and tips!

"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29