It's my birthday sale & giveaway!

Hey everyone!
This week is my birthday! Woohoo! So I have decided to treat all of you with a sale at my TPT shop.  On August 28, all items in my shop will be 15% off.  But that's not all...

I'm also having a giveaway!  Two lucky winners will each win the item of their choice from my TPT shop.  You can enter my birthday giveaway below.  I will announce the winners on Saturday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To celebrate my birthday, I'm not just going to have one giveaway... I'm having two!  I will be giving away a Lock Smock to one lucky winner.  Enter below for your chance to win your very own Lock Smock!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enjoy!

Back to School Sale!

Hey everyone,
If you are like me, you have been loading up your TPT shopping cart with all kinds of goodies and waiting for the big TPT Back to School sale.  Well get ready, because it is just right around the corner!  This weekend (Aug. 18-19) you can get up to 28% off at my TeachersPayTeachers store, along with many, many other great shops!  I will be offering 20% off every product, PLUS if you use the code BTS13 at checkout, you can get an additional 10% off.

Thanks Krista Wallden for the cute button!

Happy shopping!!

Enjoy!

My Classroom...

Hey everyone,
I can't believe how much work it has been to get my classroom done!  I feel like I am in there 24/7 trying to get it finished.  Our Open House is right around the corner (Monday) and I am finally feeling a little bit better about how my classroom is coming together.  Here are some quick pictures of my progress!

My paintings are finally up in my classroom!

I'm so excited about how they turned out!  They fit perfectly above our reading area.  I love them!

Here is a collage of my classroom.  The top is our library/meeting area, the picture on the right is my teacher chair in our meeting area ( I LOVE how cozy it is... it is my favorite place to teach from because I can get down close to the kiddos and it makes me more relaxed :) ).  The picture at the bottom is my new teacher area (my teacher desk is not being used as a table for student computers and I will be working with kids in our round table)... the round table is just temporary until I get the kidney table!! Woo hoo!  And the last picture on the left is of the front of our classroom.

Most areas of my room are now cleaned off and ready to go... just have to add some small finishing touches and get all the kiddo's names on stuff.  I'm hoping I can do that in the few hours between our Opening Day and Open House.

I just wanted to update you all on the progress in my classroom.  I will definitely get some more (easier to see) pictures of my classroom and post them soon.  I know it is very bright and some people may think a little too bright, but I love that it is a bright, inviting, fun place to learn.

Enjoy!

Getting my classroom ready...

Hey everyone!

I cannot believe school for us starts one week from tomorrow?!?! I am so not ready for this.  I've been working in my classroom like crazy and it still looks like this...

I'm just a tad stressed out!  

Instead of focusing on the huge task of this mess of a room, I've been doing little projects to make my room cute... Haha I may need someone to come in and intervene.  Here is what I've done the last few days...

Made my new CUPS editing cups!! This will be where we keep the highlighters that students will use to edit.  The highlighters will match the cups (colors) so they'll easily remember where they go.  

Next...

A new library basket for my kiddos to take our books back to the library in.  I'm really mad that I didn't make the sign say "Library Book Basket"... Oh well.  I love bows, they just make everything cuter!

Look at what I scored yesterday!!!

I've been eyeing this old barber chair that one of my teammates has had for years. Yesterday she was wanting to throw it out so I snatched it up... Yea like I need MORE stuff in my room.  But what a fun place for students to read.  Just needs to be cutified and it'll be great!

I got some bulletin boards done the other day... And I am in love with tulle!  Last year I had black bulletin boards to help tone down the brightness in my room.  This year I'm just going all out with color. I was getting worried about the crazy colors and zebra... I was in tears the other day talking to my husband about all these cute rooms with themes and my room is just a hodgepodge of color.  Then one of my teammates pointed out that I have lots of green, pink, and blue with a touch of zebra... So that could be my "theme" colors.  That started making me feel better about my room.

And lastly... Look what I finally finished and am ready to hang up in my classroom...

I'm so excited to finally get these put up in my room!  Those Berenstain Bears took forever!  I'll be sure to post a picture when I've got them hanging up!

That's how my classroom cleaning is going so far... How's yours?  :). The beginning of the year stress is starting to hit me so I need to crack down today and get this room done... No more cute projects until its finished... Maybe...

Enjoy!

Getting ready for school!

Hey everyone!

I can't believe the first day of school for us is only 13 days away!  I am scrambling to get my room finished... I haven't even started thinking about my plans for the first day of school.  Man, I am a bit stresses out! 

This morning I wanted to share some resources that I've been working on the past few weeks...

First are my new bright chevron with cute owls math student friendly learning targets (I can... Statements) and ELA student friendly learning targets.

Here are the math learning targets for all 2nd grade math standards.  They are broken down to match your learning target for each lesson!

Here are the ELA learning targets for all 2nd grade ELA standards.  They are also broken down to match your learning target for each lesson!

I also wanted to share my latest project... Math vocabulary cards.  These vocabulary cards give students a picture and definition/explanation for all of the important math words in the 2nd grade standards.  These are aligned to the common core standards and perfect for you math wall!

Here are a couple of examples of what these math vocabulary cards look like...

I'm so glad that I have finally finished those sets.  I know these are going to be a huge time saver for me this year and I they'll do the same for you!

With all the work I still have left to do in my classroom I have been getting a bit overwhelmed... So what have I been doing to relax?  Painting! :) I have been working on some cute paintings to hang up above my reading area.  I got this idea from The Tattooed Teacher after seeing an Instagram picture of her paintings.  Mine aren't quite finished, but here they are so far...

I'm so excited to put them up in my classroom!  I didn't have any of my books to look at the characters at home, so I had to print off a blurry picture from the Internet.  I sketched the pictures first and then painted over my sketch.  I'm horrible at sizing pictures when I draw them so that would be why some of them seem kind of cut off.  But I like how they turned out... Kind of reminds me of our students school pictures! :)

I know this time of year is super stressful but remember to take some time to relax and enjoy the last bit of your summer!

Enjoy!

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!