Must Have Monday!

Do you have certain items that you use in your classroom that you absolutely LOVE?  I would love to hear about them!  These are a few of my favorite things.

Heidi Songs- Oh, my word!  I can't say enough about these songs.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!  I started using them about 5 years ago and I immediately noticed a HUGE increase in my student's ability to read and spell the sight words.

I LOVE my Zune!  It makes it so easy to organize and play all of my music that we use in the classroom.

Flair pens!  Oh, my goodness!  I love these things! 

A lot of you have asked about the lettering on my charts.  One of the secrets is these Project Popperz!  Abby introduced me to these about a year ago and I am in love.  :)   They are super hard to find right now though.  I originally bought mine at Walmart and they have HOT colors like hot pink, lime and turquoise in addition to the traditional colors.

   

This is a Silhouette Cameo and y'all can I just say that I am in LOVE with this machine!  Seriously!  The possibilities are endless when you have some pretty scrapbook paper or vinyl and this machine.  :) 

Children's Books...just like shoes!  It doesn't matter how many you have you always want more!

And Sonic Coke!  There are some days when I just can't make it without one!  :)

Be sure to hop on over to Blog Hoppin' to link up with us and share your must haves!

First Week of School, Year Long Plan, and Back 2 school purchases

Click HERE to download the coloring sheets.

Click HERE to check out my Best Selling Back to School unit. 

This unit has over 150 pages of FUN Math and Literacy activities. 

Click HERE to download,  What Do Scientists Do?

Many of you have asked which order I do my units in.  Here's my yearlong plan.

Click HERE for a printable version of the yearlong plan.

I'm a little late linking up because of the first week of school.  

Here are some of the things I purchased!

Back to School Sale

 
It's the most fabulous time of the year:  The TpT Back to School Sale!  I'm having a sale and so are a lot of my friends!   Everything in my store is 20% off and don't forget to use coupon code: BTS12 for an extra 10% off.  Wow!  That's a HUGE savings  so now is the time to stock up!

Many of you have asked a lot of questions about the pictures I posted of my classroom.  I will get to them I promise!  I'm getting ready for Open House tomorrow and the first day of school on Monday!  

P.S.  A big thank you to my friend, Amy Lemons for making the cutie patootie sale sign for us!

My Teeny Tiny Classroom

My new classroom is teeny tiny!  It is a 25x25 square but I think it turned out really cute!

I still have a few more things to add but here is my room in pictures.

Below is a close up view of some of the library bins.  You can see the library in the back of my room in the picture above.  It is located under the cubbies.  

They haven't finished hooking up the Smart board yet.  :(

I will add more pictures soon!

Coming up tomorrow....  Due to popular request, my yearly planning calendar for when I teach my units.  

If you already have my Guided Reading resource you will want to go to TPT and download the new Reading Strategy bookmarks that I added to the unit.  Just go to your My Purchases Tab and click on the unit to download the bookmarks!

Cameo Linky Party and Giveaway!

This is a Silhouette Cameo and y'all can I just say that I am in LOVE with this machine!  Seriously!

How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.

1.  It is much smaller than my other machine (you know the one)  and a lot more lightweight.

2.  The program is super easy to use.   My friends will tell you that I am not techy at all!  

So if I can use this machine you can bet that it is easy!

3.  NO CARTRIDGES!  Did you hear me?  I'm yelling because I am so stinkin' excited about this part!

I don't have to spend $80.  on a cartridge that has one set of alphabet letters.  This machine lets me use the clipart that is already on my computer.  Did I mention I'm in love??

All I needed for my projects was vinyl and transfer paper.  

Here's my machine getting ready to cut the vinyl.

Using transfer paper....

The pink letters didn't show up well enough so I removed it and started over with black.

(SUPER EASY to remove if you want to remove it)

 Here is my finished Tote for Writer's Workshop.  I'm going to use it 

to hold all of the supplies I need for my conferring with my kids.

I will just carry it from place to place as I meet with my students.

Pick a stick.... I'm going to add popcorn words on these for the kids to read at a center.

This is my Kiss Your Brain container.

I stopped at Wal-Mart today to buy the kisses and I ate way too many!

Note to self:  STAY OUT of the Kiss Your Brain jar.  These are for the kids NOT you.  :)

close up....

Hand Sanitizer with initials.  I'm going to make these as gifts for the teachers at my school.

Super cute and it will be super easy with my new Cameo.

If you would like to see some other projects for school, you can check them out over at Blog Hoppin. Some of my sweet friends have made some SUPER cute stuff and I'm totally going to steal some of their ideas!  

 If you have a Cameo and you want to link up with your project we would love it.

If you want to WIN (Yes, WIN) a Cameo make sure you sign up over there too!

If you don't win... don't worry!  You can get an awesome educator discount.  Click below for more information.

Good Luck!  I hope you win!

P.S.  I will be back tomorrow with pictures of my new teeny, tiny classroom.

Colorful Cats Unit Finally Posted

Hi Y'all!  Many of you have been asking me about the Pete the Cat unit.  Sadly, the publishers decided that they didn't want teachers creating units to go with their book anymore so I created a new unit and added a ton of new stuff!

 This unit will complement any unit on colors and will also go along with any cat themed stories you like to read with your students.

Here's a brief list of some of the things that are included in the unit.
*Three Reading Response sheets that can be used for any story
*Two Shared Reading Books with matching blackline emergent readers
* Colorful Cat glyph with directions and blackline patterns, data recording sheets, Glyph book, writing sheets & more!
* Mixed up sentences to go with the cat glyph
* Rainbow Milk Science Experiment with directions and recording sheets
* Four math games and activities
All of these activities are aligned with the Common Core and can be differentiated to meet the needs of your students.
Click on the cover page to check it out.  This unit will be on sale until Midnight tomorrow night.

Product Swap

Hi Friends,
I was asked to participate in a really neat exchange.  It's called The Magical Product Swap!
What is a product swap you ask?
It's where teachers team up with each other and swap products, try them out and write a review.
I have been teamed up with Jessica Stanford and the product I am reviewing is her Behavior Management System.

This resource has many wonderful components to it.
1) Behavior Clip Management System that doesn't just focus on negative behavior.
Hallelujah!   This system allows students to move up based on their positive behavior.
I love this because I think it is so important to focus on the positive and teach children that they should always try their very best.
2)  Students each have a card that gets punched when they end the day on Great Day,  Role Model or Excellent Student.  There is also a school to home connection sheet to help keep parents informed about her their child is doing.

3)  Reward coupons with different types of rewards the students can earn with their completed punch card.  Some of the rewards include lunch with the teacher, 10 minutes of computer time, etc;

Also included in the resource is a Voice Level chart so that you can let the students know which voice level is appropriate for the current activity that is taking place in your classroom.

In my school we use Positive Discipline so I don't have this type of behavior system in my classroom.
However, if you teach in a school that requires you to use some type of system then I would urge you to please consider this one.  I love that it also provides a focus on positive behavior and has a parent component as well.    
You can check out this entire resource by clicking on the picture above.


If you don't already follow this cutie patootie's blog then you need to click below and follow her.  She is way too cute for words!

P.S.  For those of you who have been waiting on the Colorful Cats unit to be posted it will be posted this evening.  :)   I just have a few more things to add to it.  Have a great week, friends!!