First Contest!

Since I've obtained so many new followers and a new month at hand, I thought I would show my thanks by throwing my first contest. It's more of a mini contest to be exact, but a contest nonetheless. Up for grabs is one (1) coupon good for one free box of Post Cereal of any kind. Good luck!

Post Cereal Giveaway

Pumpkin Project

I'm finally getting around to posting this. I've been awfully busy with work, graduate school and an upcoming move. Any how...For the month of October my kids had the task of creating a story book character of their choice with a pumpkin. The first year we did this, we opted for real pumpkins. This year (being wiser) the students used fake craft pumpkins. It allows you to view them a lot longer and also not have to send home or throw away soggy pumpkins. Though some of the "pumpkins" were not exactly what I had in mind when the project was assigned, others turned out really well. I took a few pictures of some the best ones in my class as well as a few from some of the other 2nd grade classess. Which is your favorite? I can't decide.

Cookie Election Ballot

For Social Studies we are gearing up for the upcoming presidential election. We (my 2nd grade team) are planning on having a mock election in honor of the event to help the students better understand the process. I have several ideas that I want to do with this. But my ideas always surpass my ability and time to do them. We have settled on having a cookie election. The candidates will most likely be chocolate chip and Oreo Cookies. Even though we already have some ballots to use that one of us purchased at the Dollar Tree, I thought it would be fun to make a cookie ballot. It's a simple check box ballot that students can use to vote for their favorite cookie. If you use it let me know how you like it.

GREAT SITE ALERT! Jeopardy Game

So I love playing learning games with my students. I'm always on the lookout for different games. I came across this great site called Super Teacher Tools that offers a FREE flash Jeopardy game that you can play online. You also have the option to download it to your computer. All you have to do is type your questions and answers into the form. You choose your own category and also if you want Final Jeopardy or not. It couldn't be easier to do. This game could be used across the board in your curriculum. I'm already thinking about using if for Science when we do the solar Scientific Method. This a great opportunity. Don't sleep on it!

Super Teacher Tools Flash Jeopardy Game



Dollar Deals - Star Student Chair Cover

I found these at Target in their dollar section for $1 each. It's like a chair pocket only with no pocket. It is simply for decoration. I plan to use it by letting the Student of the Week have it on their chair for that week until the next student is chosen. This is a cute and easy way to recognize the student for their accomplishments. I bought two. I was trying to get a girl and boy color. Even though I wasn't shopping for school supplies this was just a deal to good to pass up.

Report Card Freebies

I recently ran across a budget blog. It was discussing how to cut money for your budget (something I"m always interested in). Well she mentioned report card freebies. I was aware of a few rewards here and there such as a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut, but I did not realize there were so many others. For example a free Happy Meal at McDonalds for all A's or a free doughnut from Krispy Kreme for each A. View the full list by clicking here.

Tide Box Makeover Craft





From This                                                                                  To This!

 

Don't ask me how I came up with doing this. I don't know. I was crafting another box which I'll show you later. I had a can of spray paint and just decided to try something and see what happens. It turned out pretty well I think. I plan on using the box for knick knack objects or small sewing supplies maybe. I just used a small Tide box that was about to be thrown away. I spray painted the box a glossy black. After drying I used zebra duct tape to put around the

edges of the box and the box top.     Then I took a piece of zebra scrapbook paper left over from another project and glued it to the front. Last I glued some thin pink ribbon around the edges of the paper. I'm stuck on zebra print and hot pink right now. It is my absolute favorite right now.  It was a pretty simple project and turned out really well. This is my attempt at recycling and reusing . I love this little box. It makes me want to find some more boxes and make a set for my office slash craft room. If you try it, let me know what you come up with! I'd love to see your results.

File Folder Games

File Folder games are something that my students have always loved. I just happened upon the idea myself. However I have found them to be a bit expensive. I have ended up buying a book for for $20 only to find 3-4 out of the 15-20 of them useful for my class. That led me to design some of my own, specific for what I wanted and needed for my class. I wanted to focus on the skills we were covering and the ones they needed more practice on. I have always been a bit crafty so this wasn't to hard for me. The first ones turned out pretty good in my opinion. I have since improved them and fine tuned the style. After a while I decided to share and put many of them online. The response was so good I made games for other grade levels and also created a website for them. The website has them organized by grade level and by subject and they are all free to download and print. The website is www.filefolderfarm.com . Here is the latest file folder game that I created. Download the newest game Crayon Patterns.

 

 

Tropical Behavior Chart

I have been seeing so many creative behavior clip charts on pinterest and other blogs, I just had to create one of my own. I wanted it to go with my theme. Brainstorming what kind of shape I wanted, I finally setteled on a palm tree. The words on the chart say Super Student for purple, Ready to Learn for green, Make better Choices for yellow, Teacher's Choice for blue, and Parent Contact for Red. Students who get to purple, the best you can get, recieve a ticket. The tickets can be saved and later traded for treasure box prizes.

Pictures of my Classroom

Through all the chaos I was able to take a minute to take some pictures of my classroom. I kept the same theme from last year, my own little tropical island. I had to change rooms so it doesn't look the same as last year though. I hope I never have to change rooms again. That is way to much work! I did not enjoy spending part of my summer moving things and begging for help to move the heavy items. However, it is all done and I am happy with the results. Have a look for yourself and tell me what you think!

 

                                                            

                                  

 

 

 

Great Website - Make Coloring Pages out of Photos

So I found a great website called Dumpr that allows you to make any photograph into a coloring page. Wow! Think of the possibilities. Just click here and get started.

FREEBIE!!! Back to School Treat Bag Toppers

Just posted a freebie on TpT. I love giving my students a warm welcome when they first come to my class. I came up with some bag topper ideas. This is two of those ideas. The first picture is the one for sale for $1. The other picture shows the free item. All you have to do is fill a plastic zip bag with a treat and then fold over the bag topper and staple. You're done!
 

Click Here

Click Here

I haven't decided which one that I will use for my own class. I'm thinking I will do another with a tropical theme to match my room. It's still in the works though. My room is still unfinished so that is priority right now. Hopefully I will bte able to get to it and come up with one I'm happy with.

Dollar Deals: Magnetic Money

It's not a secret that I frequent dollar stores. There are always so many good deals to be had.  The Dollar Tree is one of my favorites. One of the reasons is they have new items often besides the regular items. And the other reason is because they have a teacher section. I can't tell you how many times I have found things there that you would pay double or triple the price in the teacher supply stores. Just recently (yesterday) I went in looking for wall borders. Unfortunately they didn't have anything that would work for what I was trying to do, but I did find another treasure.

They had packs of magnetic money for of course $1. They only had one pack of the coins so I was glad I was able to snap those up! These could have endless possiblilities. I'm thinking I will use these in a center during and after we work on our money topic. My wheels are turning right now trying to figure out some games to go with these!

Don't miss the Sale!

Teachers pay Teachers is having a Back to School Sale! The sale starts tomorrow August 12 until the 13th. This is a great chance to get some killer deals and some nice stuff for your classroom. Everything in my store will be on sale as well as many other stores. I have several things in my cart ready for purchase!

Honey Dew (To Do) List FREEBIE!!!

So I learned from a fellow teacher that picture frames make great dry erase boards. She has them mounted to her board and is using them to write her daily objectives on. She also inserted some fancy compuer paper to add a decorative touch. I believe she might have found the idea on pinterest.

 I took a look on there and found some other uses for it. One in paticular is as a to do list. You can mount it to your wall the same as your would hang a picture. Another use is a grocery list. I haven't gotten around to making one of those but I did make two very cute (if I do say so myself) to do lists. Click on the picture below to get your free copy. Included is two different sizes. Print and use the one best suited for your purpose. Hope you enjoy!

Dry Erase Board Makeover

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love dollar stores and thrift stores. The two are a teachers best friend. I was excited to find the dry erase boards that the Dollar Tree offers for one buck each. I thought this would be a cheap way to get a class set rather than paying $3-5 per board.

Well after using then sparingly throughout the year, they looked like they had been through World War III. Apparently the glue used does not keep the molding on that is all around them. Nearly all of them were coming apart. It leaves you with a sticky mess. I was pretty upset that my money would be down the drain.

Instead of throwing them away I wanted to come up with a way to make them work. Enter the old faithful duct tape. I found a really cute Hawaiian looking print that matches my tropical island theme that I'm going for again this year. It took the whole roll to about 8 of them. I think they turned out pretty cute. Tell me what you think?

Another option is to use dry erase contact paper over sturdy cardboard. This would work just as well.

Word Inventory for Reading Street

I'm taking classes this summer trying to complete my masters degree. After this class I only have three more to go! I'm so ready to be complete. It has be a long, hard road. The class I'm taking now is called Content Area Reading and Writing through the University of Texas at Arlington or UTA. It's a very affordable program. For one of my homework assignments I had to make a lesson plan to do with vocabulary. So I did it using our current Reading Street program. The activity I'm posting is a pre-learning activity where you assess what the student knows. The students rate how well they know the vocabulary words for the story "The Twin Club." This is the first story in the 2nd grade Reading Street Curriculum. Also included is a game to do with vocabulary words. You have to write the vocabulary words on clothespins. The students clip the word to the correct meaning.

Sewing 102 - Making a pillow

I'm continuing my sewing classes at Joann's. I took class 102 this time. We learned about reading a pattern and how to lay it out on the fabric. We did a simple pillow project. The pattern was one of those For Dummies type. This is the one we used below.

I've made pillows before and they're pretty easy and straightforward to make. I ended up making this one for my niece because I couldn't find any fabric I liked to match my room. Besides that I already have a ton of pillows on my bed. I don't realy need any more. I did it in a cute Tinkerbell fabric. What little girl doesn't like fairies? I think I'll save it to give as one of her gifts for her birthday next month. My little bop will be turning 3! You'd think she was 33 the way she acts. But you gotta love her!

Sewing Class Here I Come!

I went into Joann's the other day just to buy a tri-board for my classroom. I plan on making a board for my Writing and Math center. I was oh so good, only picking up just what I needed and not boatload of other things. :) That is so hard to do sometimes! Anyhow the lady at the checkout counter tells me they have special going on. A buy one get one free on all their classes.

I have been wanting to take some formal sewing training for ages. I never got to complete Home Economics in high school because of illness. So I jumped at the chance. Who doesn't like a sale? I ended up taking the Sewing 101 and 102 which covers the basics. I've already been to the first class. There was very little taught that I didn't know but it was a great refresher.

 In the next class we will be making a pillow. I also signed up for a more advanced class to make a shirt and a dress. Altogether the classes cost me $90 for four classes. Not to shabby I think.

New Sewing Machine for me!

So I went and bought a new sewing machine. I actually already had one but I've had my eye on the Project Runway model by Brother. It is computerized and has all the bells and whistles that my old Kenmore doesn't. I got an amazing deal on it! The cheapest I've found it is $150 at Walmart. That was still a little more than I wanted to pay. So I went to my old standby, eBay. I ended up paying $99 for it including shipping! You can't beat that with a stick.

FREE! St. Patrick's Day Writing Prompts

Here is a free writing prompt from my St. Patrick's Day writing prompts product I just put up on Teachers pay Teacher (TpT). Little know fact about St. Patrick. He was born in Britain and not Ireland! Well slap me silly and call me a leprechaun! 
St. Patricks Day Writing Prompt Sample