Reading Focus Wall FLASH FREEBIE

Hey all!

I've had a :::crazy::: busy day today!  I went into school early this morning to try to get work done before my kids woke up (we're talking 6 AM) and ended up in urgent care with my littlest little guy by 6 PM.  They say he just has a virus but what a day!  He's sleeping now so mommy's getting some work done since I can't cuddle anymore.

This morning I was pretty productive and I did get my focus wall DONE.  I'm WAAAAY excited.  I think all my Instagram followers can probably tell, right?  I decided to put it up as a FLASH FREEBIE so go ahead and grab it here!  It'll be a freebie until I go to bed...or if I fall asleep, it might be in the morning!

I'm going to be adding some Open House stuff and other classroom decor things this week so keep watching!  I've loved seeing all my new followers on Instagram!  Love it!  Come check out my TPT store for lots of freebies and some fun units!

Smile!
Caroline

Back To School...Beach to School GIVEAWAY!

Hi all!

I don't know about you but I'm already getting in the Back to School mode...  I blame Target!  Love that Dollar Spot...  I can neither confirm nor deny that I went to 3 Targets yesterday to go through the Dollar Spot.  Slightly embarrassed about that one but I did find the mini caddy I needed!

ANYWAY...I decided to look through my back to school stuff and since we're starting school on August 12 this year (Anyone else starting that early?) I looked through my little Beach to School unit I made last year.  While I liked it last year, I decided to give it a little face lift and then added a ton to it (so it was 35 pages and now it's 63!).  WHEW!  I'm SUPER excited about how it turned out and am really excited to use it next month with my new group of kiddos!

If you already purchased it, THANK YOU and please go download the new version.  Trust me.  Totally.  Worth.  It.  If you haven't purchased it yet, I have it on sale for $2.00 until Friday!  Woot, woot!  I love sales.  And as always, I would LOVE feedback!  Here are some pics of a few of the updated pages.

And since I'm so excited about my finds at Target, I'm going to give away two of these units to the first two people to comment what their must have back to school purchase is.  And....GO!

Smile!

Caroline

Teacher Finds You Can't Live Without and a GIVEAWAY

What teacher doesn't like a great back to school sale?  Well during my many travels during the last few weeks I have found some pretty awesome deals and cute as a little girl with pigtails things for any classroom.    Only a teacher would be found during her family vacation in a JoAnn Fabric store scouring the isles for great back to school items.   A couple of years ago I found the great stools for my reading table at JoAnn's

 

and returned this year to see if they had them again for my colleagues and THEY DID! 

You may have to order these gems from another store if you can't find them at your location because they are going super fast..............and don't forget to use your JoAnn teacher discount card when you shop. 

And ooohlala check these out

Also at JoAnn's :

Desk organization

I have to admit I am a bit of a postaholic, so when I saw these I had to have them. Seriously cute stuff, Just Sayin!

                                    Big Lots

A teacher can never have too many baskets.......Can they?

Endless possiblities for this magnetic dry erase board........Guided Reading, Stations, Word Work, etc.

 Composition notebooks can also be used for so many things in the classroom; in the past I have used them for reading response journals, math journals, station journals, you get the idea.  I've also heard other teachers say you can take them to a home store and have them cut in half.  Genius!!!!!

 

And don't forget Staples Teacher Appreciation Sale 2013

 

 

Free $15 iTunes® Card

via easy rebate

when you purchase $75 of HP ink

Valid August 11 - August 17

Sharpies  50 cents 

(FYI all staples don't have the same items on sale each week)

   

I was plesantly suprised the other day when the cashier handed me one of these great coupons. 

 

And the BEST back to school deal ever.......A GIVEAWAY

At the request of a colleague I just added bigger cards to my Stations or Centers Rotation Management Pack so I MUST GIVE ONE AWAY. 

 

 

 

 Leave a comment telling when your school starts back, make sure you are a follower and I will pick a winner before my next post. 

 

Alison

 

Summer Vacation is ALMOST over

Hey All!

It's Caroline.  :)

So I haven't been blogging since...May???  Oops...  Alison did a FANTASTIC job working on this blog over the last school year as I was learning how to do this blogging thing while working as  a full time teacher with a baby and an almost 3 year old!  Love my little boys!  Love my job!  Love blogging!   I've figured out I have to blog and work on the computer when everyone is asleep...(including the hubby).  If I don't, I get A LOT of help from my little guys.  Smile!

I've noticed a lot of emails and traffic coming through about my bulletin board post I did last year.  Welcome!  I loved that bulletin board!  Of course, I'm one of those people who likes to do something new every year.  So I've started on my newest bulletin board craftivity.  Too bad I can't get into school to work on it!  I LOVE the look of shiny, clean, waxed floors but I HATE waiting to get in!  Know the feeling?

Since people have been checking out my Firsties Wanted bulletin board craftivity...I'm doing a Flashback Friday on a Monday!  I'm on summer vacation, it works!  Haha!

Last year, I had the idea to do a bulletin board that looked like a "Help Wanted" sign.  I created one for first grade last year and recently added one for second grade and third grade, too!  Thanks to everyone who was interested in my work!  Love seeing those downloads!!!

I'll be back soon to share my COOL (hint, hint, hint) bulletin board for this year!  Hopefully the hallways floors will be waxed by then!  :::crossing fingers!:::

Classroom Tour and some FREEBIES!

WOW, getting back to school has been absolutely CR...A....ZY! I think I have finally caught my breath and I'm ready to share my classroom with you.  Come on in.......

FREEBIES FIRST....AFTER SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS AS SEEN BY THE DOOR. 

As you can see I use the
Rockin Behavior chart from Babbling Abby of the "Inspired Apple".   
I don't do a theme other than cordinating colors in my room, no apples, jungle animals, no super heros, etc. Boring I know, but I get tired of looking at things really quickly!  I would have the ENTIRE jungle wiped out by November!  (Poor monkeys ) 
To the  left  of my door is where I store all of my posters
for my poetry station and shared reading.  The poetry station is to the right , students use a
magnet on the back of the bookcase to hold the poetry posters. 

SIDEBAR and a CUTE STORY........This is a  picture of my daughters "behavior chart "she made for her class.   I was tooling around the house doing laundry the other day when I walked in to find her teaching class with her freshly made behavior chart taped to her wall.  Guess who was at the top of the chart?  Yes of course.....her...... but isn't she the teacher????

Last year I purchased Cara's and absolutely LOVE it!  I wanted my Calendar to mirror the Calendar Companion so it was easy for my kiddos to follow along.  SO.....I made this bright squiggle calendar to fill that order.  You can pick up your squiggle calendar here.

 

I love my guided reading area!!!! I have had this area just about everywhere in my room, but last December it found a permanant home snuggled in this corner.    Since I changed up the colors in my room this year I "had" to make new Reading Strategies posters. You can get your copy of them free here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you like the  chevron labels you can pick up your "Editable" copy here.  Did I say Editable? Matching station signs can be picked up here but are not editable.

The back of my room has a lot going on with three stations and a cart that I use to organize dry erase boards, reading journals, writing folders, and student clipboards that are used for unfinished work. I was in the process of making a writing "I Can" board when I found this one from "A Cupcake for the Teacher"  you can check it out here.  I also have use her math "I Can" board. 

That's it........the end of the tour......my corner...and that's all I have to say about that!!!  Forest Gump was on the other day, I couldn't resist. In a perfect world I would have a laptop at my guided reading table and I would use this for a station. What would you do with your classroom in a perfect world? Thank you for stopping by to check out my classroom!!!

 

~Alison~

Back to School Update, Watermelon, and a Birthday Sale!

Hey everyone, it’s Caroline!  Can I just tell you how CRAZY it’s been since school started?!  Moving rooms definitely threw me off.  I might be catching up now…  :::collapses on the ground:::

Honestly though, I’ve really enjoyed getting back in the swing of things.  I don’t remember back to school going by so quickly!  So far, my new kids are great!  They are picking up routines pretty quickly and I just LOVE my new behavior management chart.  I found inspiration on Pinterest  and found a super cute polka dot version from Teaming Up to Teach.  Here’s a picture of my clip chart (please ignore the Purell dispenser right next the door!)

My kids LOVE being able to clip up.  I added my note about the system and my clip chart sheet as freebies on Google Docs.  Hope it helps!  I’ve loved being able to keep in contact with the parents on a daily basis.  It’s made a big difference in my parent communication already (and hopefully curbed some not so great behavior). 

And my long promised Watermelon Unit is also on TPT!   Hooray!!!!

I’m so excited to share it with you!  So excited in fact that I put it on SALE!  That’s right, since my birthday is tomorrow; I’m having a birthday sale on my watermelon unit!  This is a weeklong unit (or more depending on how long you work on it) you can use with kindergarten or first grade.  It primarily contains literacy activities with a little art and graphing thrown in.  We are going watermelon crazy in my room this week and I will be sure to post some pictures of our work!  Big thanks to Nikki Casassa from MelonHeadz Doodles and Illustrations for the ADORABLE clip art I used in this unit.  She is SUPER to work with!

Back to School Bulletin Board

Hi bloggers!  It’s Caroline again.  If you’ve checked out our blog before, you might have noticed we’ve had a facelift!  Thanks Lisa at iCelebration!  So cute!

So in my spare time (cough cough) I thought of an activity to do with my kids and tie it into a cute back to school bulletin board.  I’m all about hallway bulletin boards.  I have a slight obsession with making them.  So, I decided I would do a newspaper background and a "Help Wanted" theme since I’m  on the look out for some new students.  Then I thought, “Wouldn’t a first grade application be cute?  Oh and they could make a little self portrait!”  So the wheels have been churning on this little project for a while. 

I finally got the first part of it up today in the hall!  Something is done! (ok, yes, I ran out of border on the bottom but it’s 99% done!)  Just don’t look in my classroom windows, please!

If you like the signs for the bulletin board, I made a Google Doc with them.  Click here to access them!  The Help Wanted sign is included in my Firsties Wanted!  Back to School Bulletin Board Craftivity Freebie on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Click on the picture to check it out!  If you would like this for another grade, just email me!

I just uploaded it to Teachers Pay Teachers.   Once my kids make this, I’ll either take their names off the board or tape their craftivity around it.  Depends on what I like!

Well, my room is still a mess but I have bulletin boards covered and bordered (is that a word?), so that makes me feel better.  At least you can focus on the walls and ignore all the mess on the floor, right?  I keep bouncing from one thing to another.  It will get done.  I know it will!  My next battle is where to put all the desks.  Sometimes I miss the tables I had in kindergarten!I’m also working on a back to school watermelon unit, so stay tuned!  I’m excited!

Teacher Finds

Teacher Finds

Ok, although I was on vacation last week I did have to stop by one; well maybe two Targets to visit teacher heaven, also known as “The Dollar Spot”.    It’s always fun to look around and easily identify every teacher that is scouring  "The Spot". 

ü  Organizers

ü  Stamp Pads

ü  Pencils

ü  Fun Desk Accessories

And two of my favorite finds during this trip……………………………………………..

A Star Student Chair Cover  and  these ....................

I have wanted these for my students dry erase boards FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Did I say MAGNETIC?

*****To make this trip even more fun I ran in the second Target for the second time at 9:58; I went back to  get Caroline some of my finds. Three trips to target in a day =Pure teacher craziness!!

~Alison

Just Getting Started

Ok, so while Caroline was busy last week getting this little blog started, my family and I were spending some much needed downtime at Sanibel Island in sunny Florida.  So, this is what I was looking at last week at this time…….

And this is what I got to look at today………...

Wow, did I have my work cut out for me.  Our rooms were all painted this summer so we had to take every stitch of cuteness off our walls, thus a lot more work ahead!  Although my room looks a lot better now, I still have a lot to do before my sweet new kiddos walk in the door. 

I am very grateful that after 18 years of marriage my husband knows that when it is back to school time that I am usually MIA for long periods of time, 12 hours today to be exact!    Although my husband understands my MIA status after all these years, my mom does not.  At the end of the day today my mom said to me, “So you are done now right?”..................................  Ahhh, no mom I’m just getting started!!!!!!  

~Alison