Tuesday, August 27, 2013

September!

September is right around the corner! Now is a great time to pick up my packet of September Morning Work. It's packed with great math and literacy activities for September. I use Houghton Mifflin at my school so the literacy activities are loosely aligned with that but it can be used with any program. Stop by and take a look!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Flash Freebie!!!

As promised, here is today's flash freebie! From 6-7 pm today I'll be giving away the newest item in my store. It's Picture Me in First Grade:


This great back to school activity includes a picture frame for students to draw or paint a self portrait and an All About Me sheet for them to write about themselves and their favorite things. I'm doing this one next week and I hope to have it ready for a back to school display for our parent night on Wednesday.

I'm also super excited to do this again at the end of the year. I love seeing how much the children have changed--in their likes and their abilities. The handwriting alone is always so different. I'll send the beginning and end of the year papers and drawings home at the end of the year but I'll keep copies for their portfolios. I'm thinking I'll bind them somehow but I'll cross that bridge in May!

Enjoy!

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Quick Post!

Just a quick post...it's been a busy back to school week! It's great to be back with the kids. I have a fantastic class this year! Check back tomorrow for Flash Freebie News!!!

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Ready for Back to School! (maybe)

Monday is the big day! The kids and I all go back to school. The room is ready, there is a mountain of supplies waiting by the door and all of the summer homework is done! I'm all planned for the first week but, of course, you never can tell until you really get in there and get to know the kids. I have a lot of activities planned thanks to some back to school shopping at Teachers pay Teachers! I may or may not use them all but I feel better knowing that I have them, just in case!

We just got back from an impromptu trip to Virginia where we surprised my mom for her 75th birthday! She had no idea we were coming. I told her that she would be getting something for her birthday but not to have dinner. When we pulled up to her street I called her and told asked if anything had been delivered. We put her presents on her porch, knocked and ran around the side of the house. It was great! She was completely surprised! It was a whirlwind trip...just one night...but so much fun!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Back to School Sale!

Wow! What a crazy week. It's work week for me and I'm exhausted! On top of that, TpT just announced it's Back to School Sale! If you happen to have anything wish listed, now is the time to buy it! Everything in my store will be 28% off!


Don't forget the promo code: BTS13. Enjoy!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Zebra Curtains!

Well not much of a post but I did get into my room for about an hour today and I got a little (very little) work done. I was at Walmart and I found these fantastic Zebra Curtains!! Perfect for my jungle room and less than $5.00 each! I took them in today with curtain rods intending to hang them. I opened the curtain rods and they attached with HUGE screws! I'll admit that push pin things pretty freely to my walls but this was a bit much even for me! I was about to give up when inspiration hit! 3M Command tape! I LOVE Command hooks and I always have tons of the adhesive left over so I used that on the back of the curtain rod mount and voila! the curtains are up!


I'm short one curtain rod so it's back to Walmart tomorrow but I love the way the curtains look. For now, though, it's time to get ready for tomorrow--work week! My days of staying up until 2am are sadly over...for now!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Flash Freebie!!

It's been a fantastic summer and it's hard to believe it has come to an end! I start workweek on Monday so to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of another great school year I'm having a flash freebie! From now until midnight I'm offering my Pick-A-Problem subtraction game for FREE! This is a great game for the beginning of second grade. I used it at the very end of first, once we had learned how to subtract two-digit numbers. There's no borrowing so it's a pretty independent center or it can be used as a morning work game or for early finishers. Click the picture to head to my store and download it.


Enjoy and be sure to follow me for upcoming sales and flash freebies!

Happy New School Year!!

Jennifer

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Final Fling!

Our final summer fling was a trip to Baltimore. I grew up around DC and spent summers at camp around the Chesapeake so Inner Harbor was always a favorite spot for us. My kids, however, are native North Carolinians so they hadn't been. We will definitely have to go back in the near future. There was just way too much to do for one day--but we did as much as we could!

I've always loved the Inner Harbor boat tour but we were too late for that so we did the next best thing. Water Taxi!

We taxied our way to the National Aquarium. I had to pick myself off of the floor when I saw the admission but in the end it was definitely worth it. The aquarium spirals up through the building and then down the middle. It's hard to explain but it was fascinating.


Next stop: Science Museum! Normally we wouldn't have splurged for this but we have a membership at a planetarium at home and we were able to use it to get into the science museum for free! There was a neat exhibit on Newton and everything was very hands on--my favorite kind of museum!


Our final stop was Ripley's Mirror Maze. It was amazing! Probably the most fun we had all day. We laughed and laughed and laughed! I tried to take pictures in there but it really didn't work!

It was a jam packed day but we had a blast! We'll definitely be back soon!





Monday, August 5, 2013

Classroom Set Up--Day 2!


I spent about 7 hours today getting ready and putting the room together. I feel like I really got a lot done. Of course it helps that I'm in a modular and there was no one else there with me. (So no chatting!)

My starting point. In the back corner you can see my fantastic helper for the day!




I always put the rug out first. It's kind of the anchor for the room and everything else fits around it.


I have 17 desks for next year. It looks kind of plain right now but I'm planning on putting border on the cabinets and sprucing things up a bit.


This is the pile of stuff that I need to figure out something to do with. The sad part is that I don't have the order I placed at the end of last year yet! The closet (the closed door in this picture) and the cabinets are all the storage I have so I have to make the most of it. I'm not sure how to do that yet but I'll figure it out. Of course, the most important thing in this picture is the Diet Lemonade from Chick-Fil-A. Absolutely necessary for all room set up!


This pocket chart is going to be my "I'm Through" chart. It has a list of activities for early finishers. The blue things on the desks are from Really Good Stuff. They are pencil/eraser/name tag holders. I had them last year but I had tables and they didn't fit so I'm excited to try them out this year. 

So what's waiting for me next is to put away all my new supplies and start decorating the room. I'm going with a jungle theme this year (surprise!) and I'm making jungle labels and a job chart, etc. I'll be sure to post pictures!

Sunday, August 4, 2013

The 3am Teacher


Wow, I just spent a ton of time over at The 3am Teacher. I can't believe how much I learned ! (and how much I still have to learn!) It's a fantastic resource. I really love the Tickle Me Tech tutorial for making beautiful cover pages. Now I have some work to do on my covers!


Saturday, August 3, 2013

Welcome Darryl!!

Yesterday we were happy to welcome a new addition to our family. It's Darryl!

We finally took the long promised trip to the SPCA to pick out a cat. We visited five cat rooms and found Darryl in the "free range kitten room." These were kittens too big to be in the crates and ready to explore. Darryl is four months old. He was sleeping when we found him. That would explain how we were tricked into thinking he was calm! He's sleeping about three hours at a stretch and purring loudly and constantly. Of course, after the three hours he wants to PLAY! He's lucky he's so cute! He's currently living in our bedroom until we formally introduce him to Larry, our dog, tomorrow.

Poor Larry. He's feeling a little lonely right now. Here's hoping tomorrow goes well!

We took Darryl (by the way, Larry and Darryl are the names they had at the shelter!) to the vet and everything checked out. The kids love him! Ok, we all do!





Welcome Home, Darryl!!!