TPT Seller Challenge Week 3: Make Your Masterpiece

I’m finally getting around to completing Week 3’s challenge hosted by  Third in Hollywood, Teach Create Motivate, Sparkling in Second, and Peppy Zesty Teacherista!  This week we were asked to create a new product for our TPT Store or finish one we have already started.  This was the perfect challenge to complete some items that I started but never got around to finishing.

My school doesn’t have an established program to practice and reinforce handwriting, and quite frankly, we don’t have the time. However, I do think that teaching and practicing neat handwriting is important in the younger grades especially for those who REALLY struggle with it (you know the ones I’m talkin’ about) I will be using my handwriting practice pack to help my students improve their handwriting this year.

The pages can be used for morning work, homework, or even made into a booklet since there is a cover included!

I have also included BOTH D’Nealian style and Ball and Stick style since I know that some districts require practice of certain handwriting formations. 

It is 50% off right now, and will be until Friday so head to my TPT Store to check it out!

TPT Seller Challenge: Week 2

I’m back with the weekly TPT Challenge organized by Sparkling in Second, Third in Hollywood, Teach Create Motivate, and Peppy Zesty Teacherista. Week 2's challenge was to blog about your dreams for your TPT store. My goal for the summer was to grow my TPT store, blog, etc… This challenge came along at the perfect time for me!

While they are FINALLY getting a little bit smaller, my goal is to eventually pay off all of my student loans. We would be much happier without these large payments each month and I'd really love to be able to pay them off and start saving the money for other fun things.

Another dream I have for my TpT is to continue to network and make new friends. I have made a few friends just through instagram and the Nashville Teacher/Blogger Meetup!  Unfortunately, I have not been able to attend the TpT conferences in Las Vegas to meet more teacher friends– but I made a promise to myself that I WILL get there next summer! I learn the most by chatting with/meetins/following fabulous teachers that have the same aspirations as I do than I could by any professional development course or book!

While my husband and I have yet to start our own little family, it is something that we would like to do soon! We all know how much precious time and energy teaching requires every day. My dream is that I will be able to eventually work part-time or even stay at home so I can dedicate my time and energy to my future family and a steady TPT income would make this dream possible!

We’ve got some BIG dreams here! With summers off, having a boat or a nice pool would be a wonderful use of our time. They would also be fabulous to have for when we do start our family.

Have you linked up yet?

What are your dreams for TpT?

TPT Seller Challenge: Week 1

Its been a long time since I’ve given this poor little blog some love, so I am very excited to be participating in this TPT Seller Challenge hosted by Emily from Third in Hollywood, Ashley from Teach Create Motivate, Jen from Sparkling in Second and Amber from Peppy Zesty Teacherista!

The first challenge is MAKEOVER MADNESS! This week is all about updating an old product to make it better! 

I decided to makeover my Common Core Standard Labels for Organization! Doesn’t everyone love a makeover?

These sets include labels to organize file folders by Common Core Standards. 

I have labels for Kindergarten and First Grade for both Math and Reading Standards

I’d love to give away a set to some of my readers this week, so if you are interested just leave a comment below with your email and which set you would like and you just might find a little surprise in your inbox!

Click here to visit my TPT store! See you next week!

Teacher Wish List Linky

I know for sure that I am not the only one, but let me tell you that I have never been so excited for summer break!  While I cant wait for the end of the year, I am getting excited to start all over again in the fall (please tell me I’m not alone) so, I am linking up with Megan from Mrs. Wheeler’s First Grade to tell you all about what is on my classroom wish list for the fall.

I am moving to a brand new school in August, and I have no clue what will be provided for me and what won’t, so I’m sure that my list will be a lot longer in the fall. That being said, here are a few things that I know I won’t be able to live without:

# 1 Flair Pens aka the BEST pen ever

These pens are bright and they write smooth and they just make everything so pretty!

#2 Reusable Dry Erase Pockets

These things are awesome! They are very durable and we are able to save a ton of paper just by using these for our recording sheets at reading centers. 

#3 Ticonderoga Pencils

The World’s Best Pencil …‘nuff said!

 #4 Magentic Tens Frames

I already have a few of these that I use for my small math groups, but in a perfect world I would love to have a class set- because well,  they are amazing! 

I'd love to see what you're wishing for! Head on over to Megan's linky party to check it out!

EGGcellent Fact Families

I love spring and it's a great time to add in some fun hands-on and interactive activities to get students moving. I created an egg hunt for my kids to do outside to review and reinforce fact families before Easter! {Of course, you can do this with any type of review questions, but for my students, I made up fact family problems}

Each egg had a group of numbers inside that made a fact family.  

My kids were broken into “teams” and each team had 12 eggs to find. They also had their own color to hunt for {this really helps with over competitive egg hunters}.

We did our hunt on the playground, but you could also do this in your classroom. Once their team found their 12 colored eggs, they came to me to get their recording sheet and they got to work!

The students solved their fact families on their recording sheet.  If you would like to try this idea with your students, you can download a copy of our recording sheet! 

 

Happy Easter Everyone!

Ya'll this is EPIC!

I wanted to do a quick post and link up with Tech with Jen for "Don't Worry Be Appy" Monday to tell you all about an app that I found and how I use it in my classroom! The app is called Epic! and currently I am using it on the ipad that I have in my listening center.

Epic! is a book streaming service that gives my students instant access to thousands of high quality, recognizable titles to choose from- its like Netflix for books! My students love the ability to choose books to read that they are interested in annddddd Epic! offers a huge selection of titles with audio that reads texts aloud, which makes it perfect for my beginning readers!

My kids especially love the nonfiction texts! My favorite part is that you can select books to download and save. Once the texts are downloaded, they stay on your device and can be read even when there is no wireless internet available!

Currently, Epic! can be used on iOS devices and on any web browser - and best of all, Epic! offers a free version of the app for teachers. You can sign up for a free account here!

(I was not paid or compensated in any way to write this blog post, I just really like this app and use it in my own classroom!)

I would love to hear if any of you are using this wonderful app in your classrooms and your great ideas for it!

Click here to head to the link up to see more "app-y" posts!

Snow Day Catch Up!

There is no day better than a snow day to catch up on some blogging! We had President’s Day off and we have had snow days ever since. My laundry and cleaning is almost caught up on and I am starting to catch a little bit of cabin fever! Although, truth be told I have LOVED just hanging out in my comfy clothes and just spending time with my husband this week!

I didn’t get a chance to post a picture of the valentines that I made for my class last week so here it is!  Better late than never – am I right??

 

I used the google eye rings that I found in the party section of Target and the monster clipart from KPM Doodles to make them! And I just stuck the rings on using large glue dots…easy peezy! I think they turned out great for doing them at10 o'clock the night before! I have posted the cards here for free just in case anyone wants them…for NEXT year of course!!

Last week, we worked on homophones in language. We read the book, "Dear/Deer" and we watched the Brainpop Jr. video on homophones to introduce the skill.

My kids loved homophones and although they thought that they were super fun, many of them seemed to really struggle with choosing the correct homophone to complete a sentence…I mean they sound the same so without visual cues, they had a hard time! It reminded me of this...

So, I whipped up some worksheets and activities that included the words AND the pictures to help my low babies and they seemed to catch right on -YAY!!! Here are a few examples:

cut & paste printable from my Homophones Activity Pack

another printable from my Homophone Activity Pack

My kids loved these! We used dab markers for the one worksheet, but you could just as easily use crayons!

If you think your students would benefit from these activities, go check out my Homophone Activity Pack that was designed with K-2 in mind!

Stay warm friends!