Monday Made it... My First One!

Hey everyone,
I hope you all are having a great summer and are enjoying some much needed rest and relaxation.  I am so excited to be linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for my first ever...

I have seen so many cute frames for the first day of school pictures and wanted to make one for my 2nd graders.  When I was at the store getting all of the supplies... I forgot to get letters to say "First day", so instead I ran to Walmart and got a little oval piece of wood and painted chalkboard pain on it.  Now I can write "First day" and "Last day" on there!  I'm so excited.  Here is how my frame turned out...

And my little Paisley wanted to model what it will look like when someone is behind it... of course a child will be slightly larger ;)...

The next thing I've been working on is our 2nd grade FISH Books...

What is a FISH Book?  I'm so glad you asked.  A FISH Book is a school-home communication book.  I have seen many other teachers use the acronym FISH (which stands for Family Involvement Starts Here... cute right?) for their communication binders... but binders seemed a little bulky and we didn't want to overload it with too much info.  So we created our own school-home communication book... and they are pretty cute...

Inside we have a place for our students to do a daily reflection of something they've learned that day (Monday-Thursday) and at the bottom is a place for parents to write notes to us and visa-versa.  On the other page we have the Special for the day, their behavior for the day, and a place for them to fill in their reading log each day.  There is also a place for parents to initial next to the reading log so we can be sure they check their behavior and reading log each night.  We have been using this for the past few years and just LOVE it!

Last up on my Monday Made It are these babies... my Lock Smocks.  Here are the ones I had to send out today...

(Please ignore the mess of Paisley's stuff in the corner... those are her Christmas PJs poking out :) )

I have been working like a mad woman to keep up with all of these Lock Smock orders!  But I wont complain!  I'm so happy that people are loving them!

Head on over to 4th Grade Frolics to see more great projects!

Enjoy!

Preparing for school...

Hey everyone,

It is already July, can you believe it?  We are starting school in just over a month!  Where did summer go?

To start getting ready for the school year, I've made a few resources to make your life easier... Who doesn't love that, right? :)  The first is a Classroom Emergency Procedures Handbook.  This handbook has basic classroom and school information, procedures for each emergency drill, and can be easily filled in by you for your classroom.  I have written out the basic steps for emergency drills and things like that, all you have to do is fill in the blanks for your specific classroom.  This is a great tool to have in your sub binder or sub tub (whichever you have).  I can't wait to get mine in my sub tub!  I am going to feel so much better knowing that any substitute that comes in my room will be better prepared for an emergency.

Click HERE to check this out in my TPT shop!

You can see everything that is included in this emergency procedures handbook.  

It comes with a few different covers, so you can pick the one you like best or the one that matches your classroom! :)

To help me be prepared for each lesson, I have created some 2nd grade Common Core student friendly learning targets!  Right now I just have Math done, but ELA is on the way!  These learning targets are not just the standards written over again.  Instead, I have taken each standard and broken them down for individual lessons and in student friendly language.  For example, 2.OA.1 says "I can use addition and subtraction to solve one- and two-step word problems."  Well, I don't know about you, but when I start the year I don't teach addition and subtraction or one and two step word problems in the same lesson.  So I have taken that learning target and broken it down into seven different learning targets!  And they are super cute!  Each domain is a different chevron color and they have adorable owls on them, made by the fabulous Crystal from The Library Fox.  I'm so excited to use these this year.  Check these out in my TPT shop HERE.

How cute are these owls!!

Each domain is a different color and has a different owl on it so you can easily organize them.  They also come in grayscale!

Here are a couple of examples for what my student friendly learning targets look like...

 

And the standard number is written at the end of the learning target so you will know exactly which standard it addresses!

That's all I have so far... But keep watching for 2nd grade Common Core student friendly ELA learning targets.  :)

Enjoy!

Blog Hunt!

Hey everyone,
Don't forget to follow your favorite blogs on Bloglovin'!  If you set up a bloglovin' account, you should have been able to import your favorite blogs.  Remember, to follow my blog, just click the cute button that looks like this:

It is located on the left side of the page.

If you were unable to import your favorite blogs, don't panic... Just go on a Blog Hunt!

Laura Candler is hosting a little linky to make sure you don't lose track of your favorite blogs!  I'm sure you'll find a few new favorites too!

This link up is for elementary education blogs.  If you want to link up, please download and read the directions first.  You'll find a link in the Corkboard Connections blog post.

July Currently

Hey everyone,

I can't believe tomorrow is already the first day of July!  This summer is already flying by.  I'm excited about linking up with Farley's, at Oh Boy 4th Grade, July Currently.

So this I started taking classes online for my Master's.  Oh my goodness, I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I had no idea how much work it was going to be.  I feel like I have no time to do anything I enjoy anymore.  Between Master's homework and Lock Smock orders (I'm not complaining about those though! :) ) I feel like I have no time.  I would love to be able to hang out in our pool... or spend some time doodling... or even cleaning the house.  My amazing husband has been so great this year (well he's always so great, but especially this year).  He has had to deal with a stressed out wife that is always doing work, poor guy.  I thought this summer I would have so much extra time to catch up on all the things I haven't been able to do this year and maybe even get some time do paint some furniture or doodle... nope!  I'm taking classes over the summer and the homework has consumed most of my days.  URG!

Anyways, I just keep telling myself, the more classes I take now the sooner I'll be done.  And man I can't wait to be done!

On another note... I have been dying to get Adobe Illustrator but it is so darn expensive.  Does anyone know a program that is like Adobe Illustrator but not as expensive?  I got a wonderful program on my old computer but it wouldn't let me color images or anything, it just fixed the lines up.  I want to be able to draw a picture and scan it, then fix it up in some kind of program.  I'd love any suggestions as to what program I should use... or if anyone knows how to get a discount on Illustrator, I'd be open to that too ;).

If you want to link up with Farley's Currently blog, or see what other bloggers are currently up to just click the picture below.

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer so far!  It is going by so quickly, so don't forget to stop and enjoy it!

My First Donors Choose Project!

Hey everyone,

I recently started my first Donors Choose project and I'm really excited about it.  I am trying to get a kidney shaped table for my students to use in our classroom.  You can read more about my project HERE.

Currently my students and I have small groups on the floor in our carpet area.

Our school is a high poverty school, and most (if not all) of our furniture is hand-me-down from other schools or things we've purchased on our own.  I would love to be able to start the new school year with a new place for small group instruction.  

If you want to help out, you can donate HERE.  Today (June 30) is the last day to use the code INSPIRE and your donation will be matched!  Thank you all!  You have no idea how much this means to me and how much it will mean to my students!

Thanks!

Bloglovin' Blog Hop!

Hey everyone,
I'm sure you have all heard the news by now... Google Reader will be going away starting July 1.  What does this mean?  Well, it means that all of my wonderful followers on Google Reader will *POOF* disappear!  :(  It also means you will no longer be able to follow your favorite blogs on Google Reader.  So how are you going to keep up with the latest happenings of your favorite bloggers!?!?!

Enter...

Click this picture below to hop on over to Tori's Teacher Tips and follow the easy steps to get started with Bloglovin'.

To follow my blog on Bloglovin', click this button...

You can either click the button above... or click that same button located over there ------------------->

When you follow my blog on Bloglovin' you will have a chance to win an item from my TPT shop!  All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me you are following me on Bloglovin'.  That's it!  Once you leave a comment, you will be entered for a chance to win an item of your choice from my TPT shop!

Want to win more stuff?.... I thought so...

Hop on over to Tori's Teacher Tips and scroll all the way to the bottom.  You'll find links to follow all of your favorite blogs on Bloglovin'.  Many of these wonderful ladies are having giveaways for their Bloglovin' followers, so be sure you follow them!

Enjoy!

The School Supply Addict's 4,000 Follower Celebration Day 2!

Hey everyone,

If you didn't already know, The School Supply Addict is having a 4,000 Follower Celebration!  Yesterday's winners got some AMAZING products from some awesome teachers.  I'm so excited to be a part of the Day 2 giveaways today.  If you haven't entered today for Day 2, be sure to head over to The School Supply Addict and enter the giveaways!

Head on over to The School Supply Addict and enter for your chance to win more amazing products and check out the great deals going on today for her 4,000 Follower Celebration.

Here is what is going on for Day 2...

You can enter for the chance to win your choice of products from these amazing teachers...

And enter for a chance to win this bundle of awesome products from more amazing teachers...

Don't miss out on this great celebration!  Hop on over to The School Supply Addict to check it out!

Enjoy!