Whooo's Having a Teacher Appreciation SALE???

Although our school celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week early, I am so happy to be able to share my appreciation for you with a huge sale all over Teachers Pay Teachers.  All items in my store are 28% off, when you use code TAD13, and you can click the graphic below (courtesy of Megan at Teaching Superpower) to go directly to my store!

The sale is just in time for me to show off my newest products for you, as well:

I'm so excited to be able to finally be able to use my undergraduate degree in graphic design and minor in art to offer you exciting new digital classroom decor sets...

Introducing: The Chevron Classroom Digital Stationery Set!

I'll be working on more classroom decor sets soon, but be sure to stop by and pick up a bargain or two to treat yourself this week.  Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Testing FREEBIES!

I've read so many blog posts lately about testing anxiety, and I'm feeling it, too.  I hate to think our kiddos feel it, though, so I have a couple of freebies for you to give your class. Actually, the way I used these is, I made a deal with third grade teachers, asking them to have their students sign one card each in return for having all the second graders sign one card each.  Then we exchanged cards, so all the second and third graders will receive a card on the first day of testing, wishing each other good luck on their respective tests (they're different, in SC, from second to third grade).  You could even do that school-wide - I just couldn't coordinate all that, myself!

Click on any of the images below to go to the Google Docs FREE download of all three cards.  I left the center one "generic" for use for any test.

If you and your students are feeling the testing season stress, let me know how you're handling it at your school...I'm always looking for new ideas!

Good luck to every teacher and every student during this crazy accountability season,

Currently Prioritizing and a WINNER!

Oh, me, oh my, it's May???

This school year has literally flown right past me!  I need another nine weeks grading period to finish all the plans I had for my kiddos!  Really, we've covered just about everything in reading and writing, but the 'rithmatic?  Not quite there yet, and we're feeling the test anxiety about taking the MAP testing next week...After a slam, bam review, I have to squeeze in at least one game of circles and stars (awesome game to introduce multiplication), get on board the rounding train, and throw in some geometry.  Now how am I going to do that in four days, plus go on an extended-day field trip?  No idea...if y'all have some, lay 'em on me!

I am happy to announce that Heidi at In That Room is the winner of my Fab Forty Giveaway.  She has won four products from my TPT store.  Congratulations, Heidi!

May Day (well, really the first day of any month) means Farley's Currently Linky Party, so here are my currents:

I can hear my girls watching Victorious in the den, as I write, and although I am loving that there are only 21 days of school left, because I'm wanting to go to the beach, I'm also hating it, as you can see by the fact that I am needing more time before testing...talk about confusion!

I LOVE it that Farley added a summer bucket list this month.  It really made me think about what I want to do this summer, and to prioritize my time.  Usually, I work and take classes all summer, every summer.  I take my laptop to the pool.  I read stuff like Fountas & Pinnell at the lake and Debbie Diller on the beach.  This morning, I had the best talk with my assistant principal, though, and he reminded me that I'll never have these years back with my girlies, and that it really is okay to put my own children ahead of other people's.  That's the hardest part about being a teacher...I want to "save the world", "fix everything and everybody", and be perfect at everything I do every day in my classroom.  That's all great, except that my own family doesn't get the best, or fixed, or saved or perfection.  Y'all know what I'm talking about.  We give everything we have to the kiddos in our classes, happily, expectantly, constantly.  It's what we do.  It's why we teach.  But I have to thank Mr. Craig for reminding me that I am allowed to love those people who live at my house even more than those people who "live" in my class.  A good lesson...

Tech Tuesday Tips Weekly Linky Party

So I thought I knew a little something about technology, and would add a tech tips page to my blog, right?  It seems that no one less than a computer programming genius can get around the pages posting issue, so I'll be hosting a Tech Tuesday Tips Link-Up for now (oh well, at least I can still share a little knowledge with you, and hopefully, more tech-savvy bloggers will link up to share theirs, too)!

Today's Tech Tips from me are:
1.  Visit Megan from:
 You might already know Megan's main blog, but her "Blog, Baby, Blog" site is FULL of helpful blogging tips.  She is super-powered!

2.  Check out this list of free apps to use in your classroom.  I have it pinned, but the link is to the original website.  you can check out my Pinterest Boards here for TONS of ideas.  My"It's Elementary, Dear" board is for pretty much anything related to school, but I also have math, science, and social studies boards separate from this one...not sure why, it just seemed easier at the time.

 3.  Kids L.O.V.E. technology, so incorporate it whenever you can!  If you have laptops for each child, you are SO ahead of the ballgame.  If not, maybe you have a laptop lab, a mobile laptop cart, or some other way to get enough laptops in your room for at least partners to use.  You'll need that to be most effective.  I have four laptops for kids to use, and my personal ipad, so I often take my class to our "mini-lab", which is basically a room full of old laptops.  That said, you need to lay down the LAW about technology rules:
     A.  Keep to the "Ask Three Before Me" rule you probably already use in your classroom.  Kids go NUTS when they're using technology of any kind, and even though they may have computers at home, you'll be a raving, and possibly raging, lunatic trying to help everybody at once.
     B.  Use 4x4 inch sticky notes as "I need help" signals.  Put a sticky note beside each computer.  The notes should stay there unless the user needs you.  Then, if the three before you can't help the user, the note can be stuck upside down (so it really sticks up) on the top corner of the back of the screen.  You can choose whether or not to have your students write the problem they're having on the note, but my rule is, wait quietly and patiently after sticking your note up, and DO NOT CALL ME!  I'll get to you ASAP.  Meanwhile, minimize the "problem program" and work on another site you know how to use, like Brainpop, Accelerated Reader, www.thinkcentral.com, or anything you've already trained your kids on how to do.
     C.  Use your laptop and Promethean board, Polyvision board, Show Me on your ipad, or Smartboard to walk the kids through every single step.  This can be hard in my case, because I have Windows 7, and the kids have Windows 1, maybe (I made that up, but it's an OLD version).  Really, I just show them what my screen looks like, and point out where the differences are, so they know what to do on their laptops.  This is only really a problem in using PowerPoint, etc., for the children to publish their work via multi-media applications.

4.  Use Microsoft Publisher to make almost anything!  I read so many bloggers talk about how they use PowerPoint to create their documents, and, yes, I like it for some things, but it is SO much easier for me to use Publisher!  I can make anything in half the time, and as far as having to flip pages around in PowerPoint, it's totally not necessary in Publisher.  Just rotate your text box left 90 degrees to have some pages in portrait, and others in landscape.  Simply said, I start out in landscape, in most cases.  If I want a page to print in portrait, I insert a full page sized textbox, click on the Drawing Tools tab at the top, click on Rotate, near the right, and choose "Rotate Left 90".  Then, everything I do is sideways on the page, but that doesn't bother me, because I don't have to fool with opening two different documents at once to insert pages of different orientations.  You can also save anything as a picture, so go ahead and create those Teachers Pay Teachers preview pages right there, too.  Save the page as a picture, and viola, it's your preview!  No more cutting and pasting from program to program to get your preview.  I promise next week, I'll make my whole Tech Tip Post on using Publisher for TONS of details, screenshots, and more!

Go ahead and link up with your tech tips...we can all learn from each other that way, and I know I can learn WAY more from you than you can from me!

Five for Friday: Fab Forty Fantastic Followers

First, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for their Five for Friday Linky Party...

This week, I spent three days in Charleston, SC on a field trip with my beautiful fifth grader Callie,

one day in the classroom, and one day out for an unused snow day (gotta love livin' in the south).  We saw at least five thousand amazing things, but I'll just share five with you:

Beautiful St. Michael's Church, the oldest in Charleston

Two Meeting Street Inn...my favorite scene from the horse & buggy ride

The Angel Oak tree...the oldest living thing east of the Mississippi River

Crocs everywhere...thank goodness for ZOOM lense!

Magnolia Plantation - I was surprised by the English Tudor architectural style!

I'm super-excited to have forty fabulous followers!  I'm having a four-day contest to celebrate you, my loyal, fantastic, fabulous followers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway





Click here to choose your prizes...email me to tell me which items you want, and I'll make it happen!


Good Luck, My Friends, and follow my store for more!

Let's Get Acquainted with Tried It Tuesday

It's time for Tried it Tuesday, which is brand new to me!

So, this Tuesday, I'm tyring two things:
1. Tried it Tuesday (ha!) and
2. Really, I tried to add tabs across the top of my blog.  I am forever trying to improve it, and although one of the tabs is "Techie Tips", I have tried and tried to get my tech post to only show up on that tab, but can't do it for the life of me!  I have searched all over google, bing, and yahoo for how to make a post "stick" to the right page, but all I can find is about making "static" pages, which is not what I'm after.  This Tuesday's tried and failed...anybody know how to fix that???

I have had so much fun with  Latoya's Flying Into First linkies, and I do spend much more than half my time in my classroom, so I definitely have some favorite spots to share with you:

1.  This is my little corner of the room, but, as you can probably see, it's where I do all my small group teaching.  I gave up my traditional desk, for a writing station, but still use the drawers for storing  not-too-often-used items.  This area, though, is my favorite, and houses most of my leveled reading materials, learning games, and my binders,etc.  It's cutesied up with the junk-hiding fabric hot-glued to the table, and has pretty organizers in and on the bookshelves.

2.  My Reading Station is great!  When it actually looks like this, I know no one's been reading, but, the kids love the chairs, and the colored book bins separate my leveled "free reading" and baggy book books.  Each bin has a laminated label, on which I can write kids' names, and change them whenever I need to.

 3.  These are the math station and writing station.  I think math is probably the kids' favorite, because it's where all the hand-on manipulative materials and math games are, and gives them room to play with a partner.  I also have a few math reminders glued to the walls back there, to help them with strategizing and post station instructions and choices on the bulletin board.  I like the writing, because there are exemplary texts there, and some reminders for how to write, what to write about, how to revise and edit, and some literary craft reminders.

 The "bucket" stools get moved all around all the time, and are made from used and empty wax buckets (like paint buckets, but free from having the school floors waxed).  I spray painted them with that Krylon plastic paint, upholstered the seats with foam and fabric, and then finished them off with coordinating ribbon.


Happy Wednesday!

How to Get Free Clip Art, Legally!

My first techie tip for you is how to find free clip art online that you can use for your classroom, your TPT shop, Etsy shop, Teachers Notebook shop, or just for fun!

First, don't just go to google and enter the search words "free clip art".  What appears usually isn't free, is copyrighted, or will cost you a membership fee for the free artwork.  That seems fair, because someone has spent his time creating the art, but you're a teacher, right?  So I have some great resources for you that truly are FREE!
  Every single thing on this site is free, and there are thousands of clips from which to choose!  They have recently opened a sister site, which features artwork for sale, but the search on the original site is extensive, and almost endless!

Not everything here is free, but there is a lot from which to choose!



Again, not all free, but often free borders, etc. to jazz up your work!

KPM Doodles has a few freebies, but even when not free, she almost always offers buy 2, get 1 free, so I've listed her here, as well.  Her items are sold as collections, and are just adorable!


Have fun creating,