A Super Swap and a Giveaway

Yesterday was the wonderful "magical product swap" hosted by Jessica from Mrs. Stanford's Class!  I just love these product swaps, and I'm always thrilled to have the opportunity to participate!

I reviewed one of Fern Smith's products and Fern reviewed one of mine!  Make sure you check out Fern's blog for tons of great tips and some awesome freebies!

I got to try out Fern's Halloween themed multiplication center games, and the kids and I loved them!  Pick them all up from her store for just $5!  

She tested out my scoot game called rounding robots!  It's one of my best selling products on TPT, and it is great practice for rounding to the nearest ten and/or hundred!  If you liked her review and want the chance to win your own copy of the game, enter below by Wednesday at midnight!  All you have to do to enter (and maybe win!) is follow my blog!

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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!

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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!

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!

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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!**

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!

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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!

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! 

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

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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!

Daily 5 - Chapter 5 & Monday Made It!

DAILY 5, CHAPTER 5

Check out my other Daily 5 posts by clicking here.

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!

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!

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!!

Sara from Fourth Grade Fanatics is giving away two $10 gift cards! One to TPT and one to Target! 

You can win a great mini unit (structures of a plant) from Polka Dots & Teaching Tots!

Chanty from The Teaching Bug is giving away a 6 pack of Scentos markers!

You can win a $25 Target gift card from Teacher-ific in 2nd Grade!

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

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?

What Luck!?!

I'm feeling very lucky and very blessed tonight!  Can you believe that I was given an award and I won 2 giveaways??  I can't either!!

First off, thanks so, so much to Amber from Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher (great gal, great blog...check her out) and Kayla from Primary Junction (stop by to see all of her great ideas)!  I won $25 worth of items from Amber's TPT store, and I'm excited to pick out what I want!  I won a one year subscription for my class to Samson's Classroom from Kayla's giveaway!

And, if you can believe it, there are even more giveaways going on now!  Click on the pictures to check them out!

Luna Interactive Projection Camera

HearAll Assessment Recorder        3 Units, 2 gift cards 

9 Products           Up to 21 products

Now go and enter, enter, enter so maybe you can win too!  Good luck if you do enter (or if you already have)!

Now, thank you so very much to Sara from Miss Elementary, Aimee from Pencils, Books, & Dirty Looks, and Colleen from Totally Terrific in Texas for giving me the Versatile Blogger Award!

There are 7 rules you're supposed to follow when you get this award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.

2. Include a link to their site.

3. Include the award image in your post.

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.

6. When nominating, include a link to their site.

7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated.

So I guess I'm on step 4...I'll try not to bore you!  I'm not very exciting!

7 Facts You Probably Don't Know About Me!

1 - I'm an only child, and believe it or not, I can not remember ever wanting a brother or sister when I was little...

2 - I am named after my grandmothers whom I love dearly!

3 - I'm much more of an introvert than an extrovert!  I'm good with working alone! {But I love blogging!  Does that make me more outgoing??}

4 - I honestly wish I wasn't so shy and quiet and was more outgoing (like my husband)!

5 - I love to cook and especially to bake!

6 - School was always extremely important to me!  I was the valedictorian of my graduating classes in high school and college with 4.0 gpa's and 2 of my 3 Praxis scores were in the top 10 - 15% of all scores!  {I should've had a little more fun, I think!}

7 - My husband and I have been married for 6 years (on July 8th) and together for 9!  I hope to be a mommy soon!  I'd love to have my own little one by the end of next year!

I don't share numbers 6 & 7 (the last part) often, so it's a little scary...that's number 3 coming out in me I guess...

So because I am exhausted and it's waaaay past my bedtime (yes, sad I know...) I'll be back soon to nominate 15 other bloggers for the award!  Hopefully I'll get that done in the morning, but we're having a heat wave with no rain in sight, so tomorrow will be spent on the boat and in the water!  It might be Sunday before I'm back! =)

Thanks again, Aimee, Colleen & Sara for the award!

P.S. Remember oo.com and how you all so graciously helped me get my project funded??  There are two great teachers out there who need your help now!  Could you please head over and vote for them!  I know they'll appreciate it as much as I did!


**Shawn left a link on my oo.com & donors choose post, and he needs your help getting his project funded!  Click on the link to get there! http://www.oo.com/safkids/detail/projectid/791196
**Jessica, who many of you probably know from her blog needs help getting her project funded too!  Click on the link to get there! http://www.oo.com/safkids/detail/projectid/757894
I'd love it, and I know they would too, if you could help these two teachers give their students a little more technology in their classes!  Head on over and vote!  And remember, you can vote every day!  Check out my post if you missed it and won't to know more about oo.com or donors choose!