Back to School Blog Hop (freebie)

Have your been following the Back to School Blog Hop?  If not be sure to jump in!  I don't have a lot of time to chime in here so I thought I would make up for it with a freebie!  It's amazing what free stuff can solve.  : )  So here is a How We Go To School graph pack.

Just click the picture to go grab it from my TpT store!

We are done with day 3 of kiddos and I have a good group so far.  They will have their challenges but overall sweet kids.

Be sure to hop into this great linky party to get some amazing back to school freebies and ideas!

That Time of Year (freebie)

Sorry I haven't blogged in a bit.  I've been crazy trying to get everything ready and it seems like everything takes much longer than it should.  Well, you know how it goes.  So I thought I'd share some of my progress so far.

Here is the area outside my door.  We each have one of these little benches that don't have real purpose.  I have my kids put their lunch boxes on it.  So I decided to spruce it up a bit.

I finished up my classroom wish list.

I am so excited to get a Smartboard this year!  When it was installed it was way too high so they lowered the board.  As you can see apparently there are two different colors of white used in my room.

So I devised a plan. A little better, right?  But that spot in the middle will be covered with my schedule once it gets printed and laminated.  I'll post it once I get it all together.

I got their lunch tags made.  I found some fairly cheap badges and clips at WalMart.  I made up the little  cards to go in them.  If you would like to use them, click on the picture below.  The background was from MyCuteGraphics.

Speaking of WalMart, have you seen all the things in the back to school section?  Do you know what I'm talking about?  All the goodies for 88₵?  I was fortunate to receive some awesome products free of charge from Craft Project Ideas.  Check out all the goodies in the picture.  Who doesn't love post its and cute pens?  I'm excited about the birthday certificates.  Now I just have to get them all filled out.  Be sure to go check out all the other goodies they have too!

Teacher Supply Caddy (freebie)

So I've been busy trying to get my room done, especially with all the painting.  One thing I did was get rid of my teacher desk area.  That meant I needed a new way to organize all my 'stuff'.  I've seen those little tool caddies all over the place.  I asked told hubby that I was taking the one from the garage.  I whipped up some little labels and got it all put together.  I think it turned out pretty cute especially since it was free!  And yes I had to put them in alphabetical order.  I sent this picture to my hubby and he commented on how many sharpies I had to have.  Please tell me I'm not the only one!

You can grab the labels in my TpT store or TN shop (I'll add it here when TN lets me upload again)!

Literally as soon as I finished this one of the other teachers got rid of this!

I am working on some different labels for this box.  I am going to use this at my teacher group table.  I already have scissors, crayons, erasers, markers, felt tip pens, pointers, and pencils.

What are your must have items for your teacher group area?  Be sure to include your email address as I might just be moved to thank you for your suggestions!

Making Progress and a FINALLY!

I've been going in after staff development this week to work on my painting project for an hour at a time.

These are my cubbies (minus the dividers) halfway through using actual paint.

Here is another shelf completely done using spray paint.

I should note that this is probably NOT the best plan.  I am tiny and cannot move the shelves that far, nor can I leave the shelves outside overnight.  So I am painting in my room...that is this big (you are literally seeing half of my room in this picture)...with no windows...well you have probably figured out the problem.  One of my coworkers walked in and about died.  We argued about whether or not is was a good thing that I could not smell the paint at that time.  Well....you get the idea.

So now there are two shelves done and 3 or 4 more.  But it's progress.

I'm REALLY excited about this next part.

I finally found SCENTOS markers!!!  These little (really kindof big) guys are the cutest.  Each one has a different scent!  They remind me of the Mr. Sketch markers I loved as a kid only way cuter!  The best part is that they were only 88¢ at Walmart!  I know!  I was beyond excited.  I may or may not have spent a lot of time digging through the bin to make sure I had one of every color.  Don't judge.  You know you would too.

I saw this idea over at Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade.  She had this great Spell It, Smell It freebie.  Head over and check it out.

I asked her if I could tweak it a bit and share with you.  So here is my version.

I have a variety of letter manipulatives in my word work area that the students can choose to use in the Build It section.  Then use the Scentos markers to write it in the second section.  You can grab my version in my TpT store or my TN shop for FREE!

I'm also looking forward to using these to mark the tops of their papers.  It will make it that much more fun!!

Enjoy!

Product Swap

My partner is Vera over at Bedford Love and Teaching.  

She is was busy lady but has a great blog!  

She sent me over her Eat your Veggies! A Fruit and Vegetable Unit.  This unit has 43 pages of great activities to match the theme.  It includes: a memory game, fruits and vegetables sort, roll and graph, number hunt, vocabulary cards, and a find your fruit game.

*I took pictures of my own kiddos using these materials but my camera isn't cooperating...grrr*

*Instead here are some snippets from her unit.  Please note these are not complete pictures, just enough to entice you!*

The memory match works on matching the picture to the correct word.  I love that you can differentiate with this if needed.  Simply print two sets of foods to do a beginning matchings game (which my 2 year old loved) or do the picture to word match (which my 4 year old adored)!

 The sorting include more cute graphic fruits and veggies.  Then there are 6 different sorting sheets to choose from and a blank sorting sheet to add your own headings.  Another great activity that is easy to differentiate.

The roll and graph activity includes a fruit key/graph and a veggie key/graph.  It also has a survey tool to work on tally marks!

 The number hunt is one of my favorites.  I do love these graphics!  The numbers 0 - 10 are represented in this three part match up.  I can think of so many other ways to use these!  There is also a little worksheet that you can use as an assessment or work check to this center.

The vocabulary cards are simple and perfect for a number of activities.  You could add them to a themed word wall, writing station or science wall.  I could also see these used for alphabetical order activities and even a whole class pocket chart sort!

The find the sight word game is a great idea!  Students go around the room to find words to write next to the corresponding fruit on their sheet!

This unit is definitely worth the $3 asking price!  

Please go share some love with Vera.  Be sure to follow her blog, Bedford Love and Teaching, and her TpT store.  Don't forget to add her Eat Your Veggies unit to your wishlist now!!

You can head over and check out her review of my The Crayon Box That Talked color words unit!