Monday, July 30, 2012

Giveaway Winners and Repurposing

We have winners!  


Congratulations to Yvonnee and Tori!  You will each receive a copy of "The Worst Best School Year Ever" and an assortment of stickers.  Check your email, ladies!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
This week I have another super simple Monday Made-It!  I'm all about repurposing when I can...why buy something new when I already have something perfectly useful?  So, when I needed something to wrangle all of those tickets (earned for good behavior at our school) and box tops, I knew I had something perfect on hand!

Birchbox  boxes are really quite sturdy, so I knew that it could be just the thing I needed!  I just had to fix it up a bit to work with my class theme!  And that was really easily done!  {P.S.  I love Birchbox!  If you want to check it out and/or sign up click here!}

First, I measured and drew a rectangle on the lid (as centered as possible) and cut that out for the opening.  Then I grabbed some of my tie dye duck tape to match our retro theme and started covering the top of the box and what's seen of the bottom!

Finally, I used some scrapbooking rub-on letters (similar to these) and ribbon to label each box!

We take our tickets to the office every Friday, and it will be really easy for my kids to carry this ticket box down without losing any tickets because it is so sturdy and the lid is very well-fitting!

That's my simple but useful Monday Made-It for this week!  Maybe it will get you thinking about something you have laying around that you can use in a different way!

Congratulations again to the winners of my giveaway!

Saturday, July 28, 2012

It's My Blog's Birthday!

One year ago today I published my first post on my little ole blog!  I didn't keep up with it so well during the school year, but I think I might have the hang of it now!  Hopefully!  I plan to keep up with my posting a little better this time around!

Now it's time to celebrate!  

It's my birthday, but you get the presents!


I have reached 250 followers, and my blog is one year old!  So to celebrate I'm throwing a sale in my TPT store and in my TN shop for 15% off this weekend only, July 28th - July 29th!

I'm also giving ALL of my followers a birthday gift!  You can pick any one of my scoot games listed below, and I'll email it to you for free!  You can see all of my games and more details and pictures in my TN shop or in my TPT store!

Just leave me a comment with your email address and the item you'd like BEFORE MIDNIGHT on Sunday the 29th!  I'll have all of the items emailed by Wednesday, August 1st!

Scoot: Identifying Nouns

Scoot: Rounding Robots

Scoot: Adjectives

And finally, I'm giving away some items to make going back to school a little more fun!  2 winners will each receive a copy of Barbara Robinson's chapter book "The Worst Best School Year Ever" (you know how I love those crazy Herdman's) and 7 packs of stickers (various shapes, sizes, and themes)!
Source

You've just got one easy entry using rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So, do you have any blogging tips to help me keep it up after school starts?  

I'm going to have A LOT going on!

**Both giveaways are now closed!  Thanks to everyone who entered!**

Thursday, July 26, 2012

And The Winners Are...

My giveaway is over...Thank you to everyone who entered, commented, pinned, and blogged about it!  Make sure you stay tuned even if you didn't win, because you have more chances to get my mega pack and other scoot games!  But more about that later!  First our winners...


Congratulations to...

The Fabulous First Place Winner: Allie E.
&
The Super Second Place Winner: Lacie B.

Allie, from The Gypsy Teacher, won for pinning one of my new products!  Check her out on pinterest - click on her pin below!
Allie, you'll be getting the Scoot Parts of Speech Mega Pack from me soon!


Lacie, from Polka Dots & Pencils, won for commenting on my blog post!
Lacie, I'll be emailing you soon so be picking your prizes!  Remember, you can choose 2 individual games or one combo pack!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now, if you didn't win, don't fret!  There are more chances to win some of my scoot games!


April, from The Idea Backpack, is having a 300 follower giveaway, and you could win my parts of speech mega pack or one of my combo packs!  Enter before midnight on Monday!

And coincidentally, Allie, from The Gypsy Teacher, who won my mega pack is preparing for a giveaway too!  Keep an eye out for it because from her giveaway you could win any two of my individual scoot games! 

Finally, stick with me over the next few days because I have some celebrating to do! I have reached 250 followers {yay!} and my blog's birthday is coming up!  My first post was July 28th of last year, so you'll be seeing a little giveaway for ALL of my great followers soon!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Where has the time gone?

My goodness it's already Wednesday!  Have you entered my giveaway?  It ends at midnight, so enter now if you haven't!  I can't believe how fast this week has been flying by!  It has been way past terrific!

I haven't been around much because I've been working in my room EVERY day...ugh!  I had so much stuff to unpack, and I'm still not finished!  I can navigate my room now which is an improvement!  The first thing I did was arrange my furniture so I would have a path.  I did a little decorative stuff just to make it a little bit of a happier place to be.  And I've finally started really unpacking.  That's gonna take a while!  I haven't taken many pictures yet, so I'll be back with those!

It's going to be a great year!!

Remember to check back soon for classroom photos, but for now go enter my giveaway


Monday, July 23, 2012

Flash Giveaway!

I've been busy!  Haven't we all, though??  School will be back in session before we know it, so I've been working in my classroom...Honestly it doesn't look like I have accomplished much, but I can move around my room now!!  I set up all of the computers, my table, and the students' desks.  Now I just have to unpack some of my boxes and move them off of the window sill.  So I'm back at it today!  Hopefully I can get my goodies together that we bought last Thursday and snap some pictures to share too!  As of now there still in the other teacher's car!


I've been working on finishing up and uploading all of my parts of speech scoot games to my stores too!  Well I think I finally have them all up and ready!  So to celebrate I'm having a flash giveaway!  One person will win my scoot game mega pack which includes all 6 parts of speech games, and one person can choose either the noun combo pack or any two individual scoot games!  Just enter using the rafflecopter widget at the bottom of this post!  Hurry!  This giveaway will end at midnight on Wednesday!

Classifying Nouns
TPT     TN 

Identifying Nouns
TPT     TN

Noun Combo Pack
TPT     TN

Verbs
TPT     TN

Pronouns
TPT     TN

Adjectives
TPT     TN  

Adverbs
TPT     TN

Parts of Speech Mega Pack
TPT     TN


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Linking Up, Giving Away, & Scooting into Grammar

I went in to my classroom today to check things out and tackle a bit of the mess!  Well, first things first...let's just be honest...I had NO CLUE where to start!  Secondly, my floors still need a couple coats of wax so I can't set things up just yet.  So I went about the business of running my errands - Lowe's to get my teacher toolbox {yay! =)} and Wal-mart for groceries (yuck...).  Does anybody else hate grocery shopping as much as I do??  Then I went to my mom and dad's house to paint her new home office for her!  That should be a nice surprise when she gets home from her training this week!

Tomorrow we are off to buy some goodies for our classroom (if we can track down the principal for a p.o.)!  Another third grade teacher and I are going.  We still don't know who we'll be working with this year since one of us retired {we hated to see her go, but we're trying to come to terms =)}, but we'll have some goodies for whoever joins us!  Hopefully I can share what we find with you guys tomorrow or Friday!

Now, on to some blogging business!


Whooo Loves Fonts?

Michele from Run! Miss Nelson's Got The Camera is having a favorite font linky party!  Here are my favorite fonts (from Kevin & Amanda - find their button in my sidebar).  Jen from Hello Literacy has a lot of great fonts too!  I really like Hello Firstie, and she has some new fonts since I last looked!  Check them all out in her sidebar!

Giveaways

First off, Cassandra is hosting a giveaway and I'm pleased to be a part of it!
Stop by for a chance to win $10 worth of items in my TPT store {and others}!  You have 6 days to enter!


Ends in about an hour!  Hurry, hurry, hurry!

Ends on July 20th at midnight

You have 4 days to enter to win some GREAT prizes!


More ELA Scoot Games


Now...I need your help!  Again...I've finished up a few more parts of speech scoot games, and I need some proofreaders!  I have games covering pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs.  If you're willing to proofread a game, look over it carefully for any mistakes, and email me your thoughts, suggestions, and corrections that should be made, I'll give you the finished version for free!  I'll need you to please look over it tomorrow, and email me your thoughts by tomorrow night!  {These games will be part of a giveaway soon!  Keep an eye out for which blog you should be following if you aren't already!}




The first three people to comment and leave their email address will get one of my scoot games.  Remember to tell me which game you want to proofread.  I'll give away one of each!  


And go enter those giveaways!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Daily 5 - Chapter 5 & Monday Made It!

DAILY 5, CHAPTER 5


Well, I'm a tiny bit behind the book study because of all the birthday festivities...I think I have fished more in the past week than I did all last summer, but that's what he wanted to do!  I'm back now, and I'll catch up this week!  Today, I'm linking up with Mechele from Barrow's Hodgepodge and Melissa from Dilly Dabbles who co-hosted this chapter!

DillyDabbles

Chapter 5 is all about Read to Someone and Listen to Reading!  I love the quote at the beginning of the chapter!  I think it implicates so, so much for my read-alouds!  How can I define a purpose while still keeping read-alouds enjoyable?

Read to Someone


In my reading group, I have done partner reading in the past.  However it hasn't been a consistent part of our routine.  We read our weekly story with partners once a week and not every week.  The kids love it though, and they always asked to do it!  I assigned partners (randomly, but I had veto power) to help things run more smoothly.  However, with the sisters' strategies, the I-chart, and all of the modeling included in daily 5, I'm hoping I won't have to do that this year!  In fact, the sisters say "...explicit teaching and practice will lead to engaged and productive partnerships instead of chaos." (pg. 61)  If I can will myself to let them choose their own partners, then I know they'll love it even more!

There are 6 important days of step-by-step lessons that give students the skills to successfully participate in read to someone.  All the while you and your kids are working on building stamina in read to someone!

Listen to Reading

Listening to fluent reading is something that I have also done in the past.  Once a week, usually on Monday, we listened to our basal story for the week and followed along in our text books as a class.  Everyone did this together, not in centers or small groups.  The thing that bothers me about the CD's that are provided is that it dings when it moves to a new page, and some of my kiddos just listen for that ding and don't really follow along at all.  Again, I'm hoping with the sisters' help and the routines, strategies, and modeling it won't be a big problem this year!

I will definitely need some more supplies for listen to reading!  I have a couple of computers in the room and an iPod.  But I'm thinking I'll need a few more listening devices, headphones, and maybe a headphone splitter or two!  I love their idea of each child having his or her own headphones that are labeled and kept in a baggie in their book box.  I don't need too many more books on tape/cd.  As I mentioned, our reading series comes with CD's for all of our stories.  A special ed teacher of 30+ years is moving to the middle school and she gave us boxes of books on tape, and I also had a donors choose project funded this summer so I'll be getting Junie B. Jones books on CD soon!  Donors Choose is a terrific place to get things like this that you need for your classroom!  Listening center materials will be my next project!  And remember to look at oo.com for your project if it's technology based, and share it with us so we can vote for it!

There are four days of focus lessons to successfully introduce "listen to reading".

Don't miss this giveaway!


Since we're talking about Daily 5, there is a little something I wanted to share with you that I think could be great for word work (which I'll be blogging about Wednesday)!  I have a set of Hot Dots multiplication practice cards that I absolutely love!  Students can practice independently, and it's easy to do!  By pressing the answers with the included pen they are told if their answer is correct or incorrect...that's it!  They have a lot of sets for all grade levels and all subjects too!  I saw some homophone cards (and lots of others) that could be great for word work!

The best part is...right now you have a chance to win 2 sets and a pen for your very own!  Just head over to Denise's blog to enter!



MONDAY MADE IT!

Now I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for my Monday Made it!


This week I have a really simple project that I decided to do while walking through Wal-mart the other day.  I think it will be a great way to build a strong classroom community though!  

I found a simple wooden picture frame like this at the store. 

I had some of this at home.

I painted the frame, and we'll change pictures out all year long and I can write on the frame to tell about the picture or our class!  {Excuse my writing...ugh...}  Now, I think I've told you before that I'll be having many of the same kids this year in 3rd grade that I had the first year I taught in kindergarten!  I'm so beyond excited!!  So when they come into our room for the first time, they'll see a picture of them and/or their friends {my kindergarten kiddos}!  I think it will be a great way to make our room seem more like home from the very beginning!
All Dressed up for Halloween =)
I wonder if they'll remember!

P.S.  I'm using these to write!  I got them at Jo-Ann's and love them!!  They are supposed to work on chalkboards and white boards and even windows!  I've only tried them on chalk so far.  I erased it pretty easily with a wet paper towel and my hands didn't get messy!!  Yay!  The down side?  They're a little pricey...

I'm thinking I might add a classroom job to my list - photographer.  They'd use our class camera at different times during the week to take pictures.  I don't want it to be a distraction though.  Has anyone else assigned a job like this?  Do you use a class picture frame?  I have two this year...hopefully I can keep the pictures updated!

Now, don't forget to link up your Monday Made It or your Daily 5, Chapter 5 post!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Target Goodies & Terrific Giveaways

This has been a busy, busy week!  I told you before that my hubby's birthday was Wednesday so I've been baking and made him the dinner he wanted for his special day!  {Don't forget to download your birthday postcard freebies!}  He opened most of his gifts from me and the gift from his parents on his birthday, and yesterday we visited my mom (who just got back in town) and dad, and he opened his gifts from them and the rest from me!
All the smoke from the candles cracks me up!

I FINALLY surprised him!
My big gift for him was the new iPhone 4s and a lifeproof case!

His favorite gift from my mom - a new dirt bike helmet!

Target Goodies

{From the Dollar Spot, of course!}

Unfortunately {or maybe fortunately =)} my closest target is well over an hour away, so I'm not there often, and I can't run out to grab all of the great things everyone blogs about...BUT, my mom was working out of town this week and I sent her to the dollar spot!  As she browsed I asked question after question about the things she told me they had so I could make my choices!  Yes, I have the best mother ever! 

So this is what I ended up with...2 cute paper trays, 4 pocket charts (no plans for most of them...but they were only $1), 3 - 5 minute Quick Quizzes for multiplication, and 7 great chapter books!  I'm so excited about the chapter books!  There's a variety of classic titles that my readers will love!  The Quick Quizzes will be used for math centers or fast finishers.  I will either laminate them or the kiddos will put them into the DIY Dry Erase Boards I made! 


Terrific Giveaways Going on Now

{Some are ending soon!  Hurry on over to enter!}

Teacher Created Resources is having a back to school giveaway where you could win an iPad!!





Dana from Fun in 1st Grade is giving away a custom May Book {love} and some items from great bloggers!

I Teach. What's Your Super Power?
Megan is giving away a lot of great items, just click on her button!

Check back soon {hopefully =)} for my thoughts on The Daily 5, Chapter 5 (I'm a little behind...)!  And I'll soon be in need of some more proof readers for my other "parts of speech" scoot games!  Be on the lookout if you're interested in a free copy!  

What great finds have you come across at Target (or anywhere else) for the coming school year?

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Birthday Baking, A Freebie, & ELA Scoot

My hubby's birthday is coming up...tomorrow!  Ahhh!  And I'm blogging instead of getting things ready...gosh...

I'm baking a scrumptious dessert bar today and a red velvet cake tomorrow for him, and chicken enchiladas were requested for his birthday dinner!  These dessert bars (whose name I won't mention) are sinfully delicious...I'd hate to think how many calories they have!  I found them on pinterest along with the "lighter" chicken enchilada recipe!  Click the pictures below to go to those pins!

The dessert bar is super easy to make!  The enchiladas take a little more time and prep, but they are so worth it!  I thought I'd bring you along today while I make Kyle's brownies!

You only need a few ingredients!

Preheat your oven and prepare your brownie mix and cookie dough!  I'm using boxed today to save some time, but you could use your own recipe too!

Layer!  Cookie Dough - Oreos - Brownie Mix  (You'll notice I made a double batch...now Kyle can take some brownies to work with him!)

  



Bake and Enjoy!  Yum!!


Be sure you check out the original blog post I pinned for the full recipe and her amusing explanation of the name!  Check out those enchiladas too!  So good!!  I can't wait for dinner tomorrow! =)

I'm linking up with Michele from Miss Nelson's Got The Camera for her "Make it, Bake it, Sew it, Grow it" giveaway!

Now, to help celebrate the birthdays in your classroom, enjoy these freebie postcards!  Everyone loves getting mail, right?  Just click on the picture to download your own copy or get it for free from my TN shop or TPT store!

And finally, I'm working on scoot games for the parts of speech.  I'm finished with a noun combo set (2 games) and a verb game!  The first three people to comment and agree to proofread one of my games will get to keep the finished version for free!  All you have to do is email me back with comments, questions, suggestions, or any concerns with the game!  I definitely want to produce a quality product so I need your help!  So, if you want to be my editor for the day (or for 15 minutes!) comment on this post, and tell me which game you'd like to look over (identifying nouns, common vs. proper & singular vs. plural nouns, or verbs) and your email address!  I'll give one of each game to the first person to request it to proofread for me!  Remember, if you ask for one of my games you agree to proofread it for me!  =)


So, do you have any special ways that you celebrate birthdays at home or at school?