Thursday, July 31, 2014

Sale, sale sale!

One of my favorite times of year is when all of my wish listed Teachers Pay Teacher products go on sale. Next Monday and Tuesday, my whole store (and many, many others) will be on sale. Make sure you check it out.




Monday, July 28, 2014

Counting the Days with 10 Frames

I will admit it right now, I am not good at keeping track of the days of school. Don't get me wrong, I am an expert at the end of the year countdown, but I have never been good at counting how many days we have been there. I tried adding die cuts to a number line, but that was just too hard for me. I had to climb on chairs, tables, over cabinets and boards just to reach. So since it was more of a pain than anything, I just didn't do it. Then, I saw somewhere along the way a teacher had been using 10 frames. What a brilliant idea! I took some time and created a product that can be put up on a bulletin board, wall, door, board, or really anywhere you can fit it. The circles (one for each day) come in picture sets of 10, and match the season/time of year.



If you would like to see more, you can find this product on my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking HERE. I hope you are as excited about this!

                                                                                          


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a kid on their birthday?

After going to the I Teach K! conference in Vegas a few weeks ago, I had tons of new Internet resources to check out. I have been perusing many new blogs, and gathering ideas for my own class. I have been thinking about student birthdays a lot lately. Since I teach TK, all of my kids turn 5 between September 2nd and December 2nd. Sometimes a few kids have birthdays on the same day. In the past I had a birthday board with all of the cutesy cupcakes with the candles on them. Now that EVERY kid has a birthday within 3 months, those cutesy displays don't work anymore. I am still in the process of figuring out how to fix the birthday board.

At the end of the year I was fresh out of birthday crowns, so I decided that I would head to Lakeshore  (the only teacher supply store within 20 miles) to stock up on anything I needed for the upcoming year. Anything. Because I am only going once. That's it. Not 8 times like I did last summer. Anyway, I got there, and they only had 2(!) birthday crown options, and neither of them were cute. I almost settled for one, and decided that I would look elsewhere. That evening while spending too much time on Pinterest, I saw a post about making superhero capes. Suddenly a little light bulb above my head went on. Birthday capes!!!! The next day I forced my mom to go on an adventure with me to Joann's. We looked through tons of fabric, and I finally settled on sparkly fabric made of the same material as swimsuits.


I picked a silver, gold, and red polka dot fabric. And then a few different felts to make my designs. I decided that since all of my students will be turning 5, I would put the number and some sort of super hero-y shape on the backs. This is what I came up with. 


I figured the white thread made the numbers stand out, and I loved my lightning bolt and stars. I wasn't a fan of the red Xs. They looked a bit too pirate. So as I sewed, I decided to change those to two red lightning bolts. I love how they came out!


I am sure my students are going to love them! I can't wait to see the cute little munchkins running around in capes on their birthdays. 



Monday, July 14, 2014

Plan Book Love

I know it is only mid July, and I know what I am about to show you is a little on the pricey side, but I am in LOVE with my plan book. Three years ago I was given a plan book as a gift from a student as a end of the year gift. I know many of you are probably shaking your heads and saying "Wha, Wha, Whaaat? That is a terrible gift!" But you are wrong. This plan book is the Rolls Royce of teacher planners. The free Lakeshore plan book I had used for years prior does not hold a flame to my Erin Condren teacher planner.
Isn't it cute?!?!

Not only are there a ton of different covers to chose from, but you can also customize it with your name, school, grade, or whatever you want. The cover is a thick, durable, laminate. And the binding is made of a strong metal. 
 These are my books from the past two years (along with my new one). 


Inside of the planner, there are tabs for DATES (US holidays, important birthdays, etc.), ABSENT (a place to keep track of student absences), GRAPH (for your seating charts),  YEAR PLAN (long term planning), AUGUST - JULY (a two page monthly calendar), LESSONS (40 weeks for daily lesson planning), and CHECK LIST to keep track of assignments, etc.).


This is my August monthly calendar. where I can keep track of stuff I have to do, birthdays, and anything else I want. Do you see the cute stickers I made for peoples birthdays? Those can be made when you customize your planner. 

This is what the weekly lesson plan pages look like. 

This is what my first week of school looked like last year. 

Like I said before, I LOVE this planner. Even though the new school year is still 7 weeks away, I have already put in all of my dates and time. It is just too exciting not to. My planner came from ErinCondren.com. 



Friday, July 4, 2014

I teach K!


I am so incredibly excited that in less than one week I will be going to Las Vegas to not only attend, but also present at the 2014 I Teach K! National Conference! Currently, my presentation looks like this blog (pretty much blank). That being said, I should go work on my presentation now.