Friday Freebie and Summer Writing

*gasp* *pant* Excuse me while I pass out from almost over doing my exercising today lol. I'm working a half day this afternoon and then have a volunteer work party later, so I wanted to fit in my exercise this  morning, even if it meant getting up a little earlier. So worth it!

Anyway, I'll be in kindergarten today, and then that'll be my last sub job before summer vacation, woohoo!

I've started working on another packet, but just created this cute little summer writing prompt pack.

There's writing prompts about clouds, lemonade stands, and more! Plus a watermelon story/watermelon seed poster. The whole thing is only $1 at my TN store! If you're still in school it's perfect, or you can do this with your kids over the summer. Or grab it for next year!

See that watermelon background? I made it! I was so happy with it, I made another border and that's my freebie today.

Click it! It's all yours :)

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Schedules, Suck-ups, and a Scoopin' Math Pack

Ah kinder. Kinders are certainly an interesting breed lol. Seriously though, if you need a pick-me-up, they'll have one for you.

A little suck up cutie patootie came over to me. She smiled and said, "Yesterday you looked nice. Today are you so beautiful. And I just know that all the time you look good." And she walked away, leaving me grinning. Well I was dressed really stylin' today if I do say so myself. I had the layered look with a white cami and silver ruffled t-shirt on top and a jean jacket paired up with jeans and black boots. And my favorite pair of silver earrings.  Should have taken a picture!  I also was told that I was a good reader. Aww :)

Yesterday I talked about being organized. The teacher also had a few things that I loved. The kids today were all about the schedule! I love having a schedule and will write it on the board because I don't like walking around with lesson plans to check for the times.

I find that the kiddos love having a schedule posted because they know what is coming next, there are no surprises, it's a routine, and it feels familiar. Even if the kiddos are in kinder, they can have a schedule with words and pictures, even if there are no times posted.

I wanted to post something that was SUPER helpful to me yesterday. The teacher had a list of names with the kids' pics with them. I was able to memorize a few so that when they came in, I felt like I already knew them :)

She listed their names alphabetically by first name. This would be also great for writing if they want their friends' names.

Now on to my Scoopin' Math. I was inspired by a few classes I've been subbing for lately who are studying fractions, percents, and decimals. Some of those kiddos are not connecting the three together and so I decided to make a beginners pack, mainly focusing on 25, 50, 75, and 100 but I think I threw in a few thirds in there.

I included posters about what each are and 8 problems for each and a final activity/review  that combines all three topics.  And the theme is ice cream. I am in love with how it turned out.

Included:

• 8 fraction problems
• 8 decimal problems
• 8 percent problems
• 3 answer keys
• 3 posters
• 3 record sheets
• Match Up activity

It's at my TN store and I've listed it for $2 :)

As usual, I will giveaway some copies of my new pack. I'll give away to the first 3 that leave a comment with their e-mail!

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More Blogs, Clip Art, a New Unit, and a Question

It's a bit of a random post today!
First, I have some more blogs for you to check out!

Teresa of Confessions of a Teaching Junkie is first. I stumbled on her blog and I so love her Pinterest video. Got to find me some of those dots!

Next is Mr. B from Mr. B's Beach Brains. He just found out he'll be teaching in a teched out classroom. I'm interested in knowing what gadgets he has and what he'll come up with!

Elisabeth from Tales of an Elementary Teacher is next on my list. She's got some great ideas and I love the pics she's shared!  

So those are my newest finds. I'm always on the hunt!

Speaking of hunt, I was looking for a critter for my newest idea on a pack and couldn't find anything that suited my needs. So I decided to try my hand at making clip art. Now I'm no Michelle or KPM Doodles, that's for sure, but I was impressed with myself!

This was my first little guy. I needed a firefly and free handed this :)

A pirate scroll/map...I have pirate stuff in mind in the future.

I have no plans for this little dude yet but I thought he was kind of cute lol. 

Grab them if you want :) When I have more time I'll sit down and draw better things. I think I want to make cartoon people next!

The firefly in question is part of this new unit with parts of speech:

Nouns, verbs, and adjectives

I'm getting impressed with myself with this cover art and preview stuff too. Confidence for sure with how far I've come!

I'm giving this away to the first 3 who comment with their e-mails. It's also at my TN store. 

Lately I've been trying to figure out what people like the most at my store, so I can focus on more of those types of products, but they're kind of scattered.

Ok I'm super stoked that I figured out how to put this form in! Some of you are totally pros at it and are probably giggling at me, but that's ok. Better late than never in joining in this fun!




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This Post is Going to Explode in 3...2...1...

Brace yourself, it's a full post of tons of stuff today. You may need to grab a snack and a drink, if you haven't already!

So on Monday was the favorite/popular post, right? Well you guys blew my original popular post by several hundred more views. So my Bunny Hop freebie is my most popular now, woohoo! Thanks to all those that hopped over and to those that left me some loving. Now I don't feel so bad about posting the pics of me. In pjs and glasses.

I also found out Monday that I won a piece of jewelry from a friend who sells Cookie Lee jewelry. All I had to do was pick anything from her catalog, put the page number and she would draw names later. Well only 6 of us entered and her daughter drew my name!  It should be arriving any day and I'll take a pic of it when it gets here, but this is what it looks like:

Can't wait!

Now for April's Currently from Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade.

One of these days I'll get it bigger! Lol.

Link up if you haven't yet!

Still there? Ok, good! 1/2 way done :)

I've been tagged by Amy over at The Crazy Adventures of a University Grad.

Here Are The rules:

* Post these rules

* Answer the 10 questions that the tagger posted for you

* Create 10 questions of your own to ask the people that you're about to tag

* Tag 10 people and link them with your post (and let them know they've been tagged!)

And Amy's questions were:

1.  If you could live anywhere where would it be and why?

I would live in Europe because I have family over there, it's beautiful, and I love having fresh bread every morning.

2.  What is you favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon?

Stay in my pjs, blog, cuddle with my cat, and read my Kindle.

3.  What is the best book you've ever read and why?

That's a tough one...I've read a ton, but I think I'm going to have to go with Heaven is For  Real because it has special meaning to me and has a powerful message.

4.  What is your favorite classroom book and why?

 Daily 5 because it has so much info.

5.  What is your favorite non-teaching blog?

Skinnytaste, because she has amazing recipes that healthy but taste fabulous!

6.  If you could go away on vacation, where would you go?

Back to Hawaii. I had such a great and relaxing time there.

7. Which blogs do you stalk routinely?

Oh my word, I stalk a ton. No seriously, I have tons of blogs each day (if you're reading this, you probably are one of them!). Currently I'm stalking the newbie blogs, which I'll be giving a shout out tomorrow and Saturday because I have several. 

8. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

Literacy: reading and writing. I love reading what students write and to see how their thought processes go.

9.  What grade do you love teaching?

I adore 1st and 2nd grade :)

10.What is your favorite animal?

Tigers! And I've been fortunate enough to have held tiger cubs.

Ok, so now I have to think of 10 questions and 10 bloggers (who haven't been tagged yet).

I'm tagging:

Jamie at Thrills in 3rd Grade

Kelley at Buggy for Second Grade

Ms. Lou at Pencils With Pizazz

Becky at Teaching, Learning, Loving

Vicky at  Traditions, Laughter, and Happily Ever After

 Ms. Jessica at A Turn to Learn 

Corinna at Surfin' Through Second Grade

Stacy at 2nd Grade Paradise

Mr. Jones at First Upon a Time

Cortney at Once Upon  a Substitute

My questions for you:

1. If you could teach any grade, what would it be?

2. What is the one thing you couldn't live without in your classroom?

3. What's one thing you need in your classroom?

4. What's your favorite school lunch?

5. Do you have a favorite tv show?

6. Do you have writers's block as a blogger sometimes?

7. What talent you would like to be able to do? 

8. Who's your favorite musician/group right now?

9. Best teaching moment ever?

10. Any funny sayings or happenings that happened in your class this week yet?

Ok, I'll be contacting my tagging victims participants soon!  This long post is almost over! I have a unit in my store called "Catch a Sentence." I have correct sentences and incorrect sentences on butterflies. Students 'catch' the incorrect sentences that have misspellings, missing capitals, missing punctuation, or wrong word tense with a net (paper) and then record the sentences. Yay to the person that already bought one. Thank you!

At my TN store.

I'll give away a free copy to the first 5  that leave their e-mail address :) 

Whew. That's the end of that post. I think this is one of my longest ever!  Happy Wednesday to you!

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Rainy Day and a Rainy Day Pack

Most of my Spring Break has been raining. Like pouring down and one day we had wind gusts. *sigh* So it's no wonder that I've been inside most of the time, except to visit with my college buddy and to go grocery shopping.
I've been working on units and packs a lot. My couch is going to get an imprint of my behind getting a lot of use. So of course I rotate from couch to recliner, hahaha! No I am exercising too, so I get off every once in awhile :)

I was inspired by the rain to create a new unit. I think it's pretty cute! It's word families and the rain drops go with the umbrella (3 different word families) and the puddles go with the boots (2 word families) and the clouds go with the sun (2 word families).

7 word families!

It's available at my TN store which today is the last day for my sale!  

The first three that comment and leave their e-mail will get this for free :) Happy Saturday!

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Wednesday, TTCT, and a New Pack

I have taken my time off for Spring Break and put good use to it! I've been working on units/packs like a madwoman. I finished a counting change one (someone already bought one yay!) and think I finished another coin counting one last night.

Graphics by The 3AM Teacher

Students read the money amount and choose which letter has the correct word amount. I'm pleased that someone bought it already, but my whole store is on sale, so they got it for a steal!

Yesterday I went shopping for my adopted teacher from:

I was getting very emotional shopping. I wanted to buy everything for her! It was fun picking things out, thinking "Oh I hope she would like this!" or "Her kids would love this!"

Some of the loot :) I got some classroom staple like pencils and paper clips. I also got flash cards and all the books in the back are reproducible books for phonics, telling time, writing, and literacy stuff. The Clifford cds up front are spelling and the other is counting, though I know she may not have a computer, she can still use them in the future. I also burnt a cd with all the stuff from my TN store, so she now has a ton of math and literacy unit/games!

And then I thought, this is nice stuff for the classroom and the kids. But SHE needs stuff herself. So I bought:

The little polka dot box, she can put something in. The paisley print is a writing pad. And the photo frame and ribbon, I'm going to make into a post it note holder like the one Vicky from Traditions, Laughter and Happily Ever After made me in a giveaway:

Isn't it cute (this is zoomed in). She got the idea off of Pinterest somewhere. So I'll take scrapbook paper and ribbon and make the holder. I still might add more to the package, but I'm pretty happy with it so far!

I'm trying not to panic that today's the 1/2 way mark of Spring Break. Though next week there are conferences and rumor from other subs was that Monday and Friday next week cannot be taken off in conjunction with Spring Break or conferences. Really? I don't know. Maybe I'll have 2 weeks off lol.

I'm giving away my Counting Change pack to the first three comments that have e-mail with them.

Happy Wednesday!

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Lazy Sunday

I feel like it's a lazy Sunday but I've done some stuff. Like worked out and made lunch. That's worth something right? I had an idea last night for a new unit and silly me, forgot to write it down and now I can't remember. *sigh* Does this ever happen to you?

My hope is to complete some new stuff during Spring Break, but we'll see! I'm trying not to freak out, but a pack I was working on won't open and PowerPoint keeps shutting down. *sigh* Man I keep sighing a lot lol. WHEW! Crisis averted and I finished the pack.

Purses have coin amounts on them and students have to put that amount in coins on the purse and then record  what money they used.

I'm also working on another Lily math pack with quarters.  Seriously in love with the Lily graphics and the money graphics, courtesy The 3AM Teacher , Michelle!

Right now with my spring break sale going on, it's only 80 cents! Check it out and other items at my TN store.

I'll give a few away to the first 3 that comment with their e-mails :)  

If you ever want me to create something, let me know! Any ideas, suggestions, feedback, let me know!  Happy Sunday :)

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First Day of Spring Break and a Flower Match Up

Hello bloggy buddies! Isn't it a gloriously sunny beautiful day?  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and it's the first day of Spring Break!  I still can't believe it was snowing two days ago!

Last night after work, my mom and I had a little retail therapy :) We are fortunate (maybe unfortunate for my wallet) to live so close the Outlets here in Oregon. It was rated the number one attraction in Oregon (kind of sad considering our natural beauties of the ocean and mountains!)  First store we hit was Coach! And straight to the back where the 50% off clearance stuff is. I left with a purse that ended up being $50! Not shabby one bit! Loved the blue and the snakeskin look on the strap and sides.

Then we went to Guess Accessories but nothing  caught our eye. And we went to Van Heusen where I got a shirt for $5. And to Columbia, where my mom got stuff but I didn't. And then I got a cute shirt at Aeropostale for $5. Finally we went to Wilson Leather, who was having a huge liquidation sale and I got a $100 purse for $26!

I love it! It's got a zipper pocket on the back too.

My mom says that a woman can never have enough purses. She's right! It was good shopping with her and we only bought things on sale. And one of my besties from college wants to meet up sometime during spring break, so excited! We get together a few times a year to catch up, reminisce, and just chat and laugh. We can spend hours together and act like we haven't been separated at all! Don't you love friends like that?

Ok, on to some teaching stuff (guess I could have put percentages on sale stuff to be educational lol). I uploaded a new pack on my TN store. It's noun/verb/adjective flowers and bees. And bees have different words that the students have to move onto the flower that matches that word. So the bee with 'huge' on it would move to the adjective flower.

Bees with signs and bees with stars. 12 words for each category!

A record sheet for kiddos to write down their matches! And only $1!  And I've just put everything in my store on sale...til the 30th! Cheapest thing is 35 cents and the most expensive is $1.20! 

But like always when I upload a new product to my store, I am giving a few away. The first 3 commenters with their e-mails will get this flower match up free!

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Grumblings and Sweetness

O.M.G. Can we say that I'm soooo glad Monday is over? So I'm in a kinder class and my morning was fine. Then the sub next door and I went to switch kiddos for the day (dual program) and I get the growling kinder class. But first I had to go in the room and tell them to sit down first as they are running around the room. Then they get their backpacks and I said, "Now you can enter the classroom" and they came in.

They sat at the carpet and I had a little chat with them. Asked them what respectful and responsible kinders look like. And they told me. And I asked, "Are you looking like this?" And they said no. So then I took the bit of Whole Class Teaching with the smiley and sad face on the board and the reward they were working towards was a little bit of free time. Sadly, they never got it. I won't go into details, but let's just say I earned my money in full today lol.

Oh how I wish they would have been sweeter. But they weren't. Speaking of sweet, I made a Sweet Math game. Students put numbered jelly beans and/or candy into numbered jars. They have to use +, -, X, or /. It's great for all ages because the little ones can stick to + and - and the older kids can use the X and /.

I include blank jars and candy so you can write your own. And only one page of colored candy since I know many of you are restricted on color :) And there's a record sheet so kiddos write what number sentences they  made. 

This can be found at my TN store. But the first three commenters with their e-mails get it for free! Hope that helps someone elses Monday get better!

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Happy St. Patty's Day!

It's going to be a quick post! In honor of St. Patty's Day, I marked down my St. Patty's Day stuff off 15%, making them both under a dollar! Ends tomorrow! Just click the pic!

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