I guess I'll have a Columbus Day sale! Ha!

Wow!  Once you think the year has to be easier....it isn't!  We have been in PD, more Web 2.0 and  Blue Ribbon mode at my school, and I think think I have been basically treading water so far.  The Blue Ribbon visitation is this week and am pumped!  We have worked really hard to get our ducks in a row to showcase what a great school we have.  I KNOW we'll get it!

So, I plan to backtrack a bit over the next few weeks.  I've cleaned up the photos in my phone and will have to start over for the grand tour.  That is to come!

I'm about to get cranking on something for Monday Made It-just the incentive I need to get back in the groove of what makes me  happy!

In the meantime, TPT is having a sale!  So, I thought I'd take the few products I had time to put together on sale, too.  Don't forget to enter code: FB100K at checkout for 10% off including sale items.  I'm about to go shopping myself!

Be sure to stop in HERE and try my number of the day board.  It was worked great to do as morning work.  Now that we're starting multiplication, I plan to switch it out with some subtraction with regrouping and basic multiplication.  If you already bought the set, you'll get the updates for free!  Notice the border on my whiteboard?  Yep, its packing tape from the Dollar Spot at Target!  Easy, cheap, and quick clean-up!

My teacher friends always seem to comment about my Daily Schedule board.  Of course, I LOVE the green and gray, but the aqua and lime was my best seller.  I love how crisp and clean in turned out--plus it's easy for my old eyes to see from across the room.  I'll admit--it's my second attempt for that very reason!

See you Monday!  Can't wait to see what great things my fellow teachers have created!

Tech Tuesday!

Linking up again!

Being in a Digital 1:1 school, we were into it so quickly that it seemed like we would try this and that---and not everything would stick into our routine.  Except for one glorious thing......Symbaloo.

I will admit that I read about it the summer before, but I just didn't get the point.  Big deal-another place to place your bookmarks, right?  True!  I have found it to be very useful for the students in keeping them focused to the important place-the accepted places.
Here is an example of the page that my children will use-only it has tabs at the top for me to manage.  the kids only see the actual page.

This is the only bookmark my kids need!  They can get to every place I want them to with a click of the mouse.  I can easily add a link to this week's Scholastic News Interactive or a particular website.  Once we are done with that link, I will move it to the "Saved Tiles" tab for next year.

You might notice that two of my tabs are last names....they are my teammates!  It is so much easier for ONE of us to manage the Symbaloo for the grade.  Once a link is made, it can be easily copied to another teacher's page.  So you can COPY or MOVE.  How cool is that??

Last year, I created a "how-to" for a gathering of third grade teachers on how to set up your class Symbaloo.  I created the "how to" to be easy enough for the novice to follow so that newbies wouldn't shy away from this neat tool.  The website might be slightly different from when I developed this last winter, but it should be pretty close.  Pick the instructions HERE!

Hope you like it!

Monday Made it and more!

Has it been crunch time or what???

I know you're busy so let's get to it!
It's time for my Monday Made Its!

A Freebie!  I love my wall for I Can statements.

 

I turned out great!  You can grab this as a freebie at my TpT store here.

I have read all summer and ADORED the idea of using a Daily Number to practice skills frequently.  However, our district is a Digital 1:1 and are encouraged to reduce copies.  My solution is this!

It is all set to be laminated!  I noticed I was using waaaay too much colored ink, so I only put the green only in the header.  I think this really pops!  I have also made a few other header color options when putting it together for my TpT store.  I also made them so that I can use less and left the numbers off.

If you'd like this one, you can buy this one at my store later tonight!  Technical difficulties!  Ugh!

I am loving how my calendar looks displayed.  It's just perfect!  This is my first item that I've sold on TpT.  It's so cool to know folks like my stuff and are using it!  In case you missed it, it's here.

Well, I have in PD all week.  Hope I'm ready for next Monday.  First day with my 22 third graders!  Yee!

I have a Tech Tuesday Item ready for tomorrow!  Hope you like it!

Tuesday Panic!

Holy cow!  Can it already be Tuesday?  Visiting my folks at the beach starting tomorrow (poor me), come home Monday, then three days left before for Teacher work day!  Aaah!  Is it crazy that I don't want to have any set up work to do on Work Day?  This is the day I start hiding things, and I vowed not to do that this year.  Hoping my mini-VaCa will be some productive computer time, too.

I did get my special request done this afternoon.  I love how simple it is.  Super sharp and clean!  Who says you need fancy graphics!

Click on the picture to take you to my store if interested!  August 9th....take your time getting here!

I have a freebie on my site that turned out fabulous thanks to Pinterest Inspiration!  I have one for each cluster of tables.  The idea is that they will throw out their trash at the table rather than 20+ little bodies up and down.  AND not all of it getting in the trash.  I think this will be a great part of the Table Captain's job and a group effort at the end of each day.  I bought these bins at the Dollar Tree.

 Time to finish those chores I have been avoiding! See ya beach side soon!

Multi-Tasking

Definitely a day of multi-tasking!  Went into school today and hit the ADHD wall-so much to do that you want to just walk away!  Made a little progress.  Pictures to come tomorrow! I did get my Daily 5 section put up-I'll post that on TpT soon.  I can't wait to share one rather random Pinterest idea I used to deal with the light switch and air conditioner box (not that I can control it!).  It turned out great!  In all, I started many things and didn't quite finish as I would have liked.

Came home and was delighted to see all the visitors that stopped in today!  Linking up is fun!

I had a request on my TpT page for a tweak to my Classroom Daily Schedule and posting the options below.  I am ALL about the polka dots, but I'll admit that chevrons have worked its way into my heart, too.

Decisions, decisions!  Once my query is responded to, I'll be getting one of these versions out on my TpT store ASAP!  What do you think?  I'm liking #2 and #3.  The symmetrical OCD side of me leans to #2.  I don't know how to fix the layout in #3 to please my sense of order  (but I like the scale.)  You'd never know that to see my house at the moment!  How many teachers out there have put the laundry, dishes, floors on hold to do school prep?  Me!

Well, off to bed.  I'm taking the boy to school with me to do the tasks that are high!

My official first Made it Monday!

Woo hoo!  Yeah me!
I know it's not Monday YET, but I will be ready to link on Monday, right???
Seriously, it has been made-it-all-summer, but this will be my first time to link up with 4th Grade Frolics for her Made it Monday linky. For my friends who aren't blogging, you really need to at LEAST pop into her site for TONS of ideas and inspiration.  Some are free and some are links to TpT products.

 I made a really cute set of cards for my daily schedule.  I had a freebie that I HAD been using, but I wanted to be very matchy-match this year.  It was really cute.

Imagine this with a white letters.

Well...... it was too wide for my pocket chart, not sure what happened there.  AND you couldn't read the words from across the room.  Or my 40+ year old eyes couldn't read them.  Plus, I fell in love with the graphics that 4th Grade Frolics is using this year and wanted to match what she is selling with what I needed!

Back to the drawing board, and I've created these three themes.  One for me and two to share!

They turned out really cute!  I even bought the font so that I can share on Teacher Pay Teachers.  I know you are all at LEAST going to have your schedule displayed that first day, so here you go!  Hope you like it!  If it works for you but want a different color combination, leave me a comment and I will whip that together as soon as I can.

You can link up with my store and see the final product here!
Teacher Pay Teacher Store for me!

Finally!

I created this blog a YEAR ago with hopes of having a year long blog adding all my new ideas.  Little did I know.....as happens in teaching, times were a changin'!

With very little transition, we became a Digital 1:1 school system. Feet first y'all!  Lots of bumps in the road and much to learn-especially new curriculum in Reading, Math, Science, SS, and implementing Alabama College and Career Ready Standards (Common Core).  No time for much else this year.

Now, after a summer of relaxation, pinning, poolside time, and travel, I'm ready to take the plunge again.  Let's see if I succeed this go around!

"Who are you, woman?" said the blogosphere.  I'm a wife of almost 25 years, mother of a 20 and almost 18 year old, and a third grade teacher.  I began my career immersed in readiness skills,  teaching Kindergarten and later preschool and PreK while being a mostly stay-at-home mom.  At 40, it was time to return full time to the classroom.  Lucky girl that I am, I was hired to teach Kindergarten yet again at my children's school.  But that changed by end of summer to second grade.  It was quite the transition in thinking-they already knew how to read!  Seven years later, I will begin my sixth year teaching third grade.  I HEAR second is pretty perfect, and I did love it for my one year.  However, I have to say that third grade is pretty darn awesome!  I can do all the great art projects I did with my PreK(when there is time!) but just give them the patterns.  I hear cries of, "Can I add this? Is okay if I add that?"  Even better creations than what I could imagine.

So....what's with this being a "Frog Blog", you wonder.  Not sure how it started, I just like them.  They're cute, bright and happy.  As a result of this tiny like, students and families have filled my shelves and walls with more frogs than I could ever seek on my own.  So now I just display and receive them.  Plus, it just really appeals to the decor in a classroom.

 Above you will find a few displays of treasured "frog gifts".

What is to come......a Guided Math board freebie and a freebie that I'm using for my tables this year (not tables, just groups of desks together, but I CALL them a table)  :-)

Later Ya'll!