Cyber Monday at Teachers Pay Teachers

Guess what!?!?!? Teachers Pay Teachers is having a HUGE Cyber Monday Sale! There are dozens of sellers, including myself, who are offering up to 20% off the price of their products. In addition, TeachersPayTeachers is offering an additional 10% off your total at checkout when you use the code "CMS28".

If you haven't visited TeachersPayTeachers before, you are missing out! It is a wonderful resource where teachers sell lesson plans and units they've made. It is a great timesaver and, if you decide to become a seller, an easy way to earn a little $$$ on the side. :0)

While most sales are running both today and tomorrow, the extra 10% off is good for tomorrow only. I would highly recommend loading up either your cart or wish list with the items you want and then making the actual purchase tomorrow. I have about 20 items on my wish list that are going to be mine at last!

Hope on over to my store and the rest of TeachersPayTeachers to save a bundle!

My Store

An Award!

I can't believe it! My blog was given an award! Thank you to Mrs. D. over at The Silver Lining in Teaching Blog for this....

Wahooooooo!!!! It definitely made my day. :0)

I checked and apparently, there are some things that an

esteemed award winner (hahaha!) such as myself must do!

First,  thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.

Thank you, Mrs. D!!!! Make sure you check out her blog here.

She has a bunch of truly terrific ideas for making learning fun.

Second, share 7 things about yourself.

#1    Never in a million years did I think that I would have a blog! I do, however, and I love it.

I've met so many nice people and learned so much through it.

#2     I just went back to teaching after being a stay-at-home mom for four years. I taught for 11 years before that. I've taught second grade, third grade, GT Resource, and now I'm working with third, fourth and fifth graders in our school's Advanced Academic Center. It is a wonderful position in an

absolutely fantastic school. I'm a very lucky girl!

#3    I once had to dress up like an eggplant for our local Halloween parade. I was a teenager. I had great legs back then, so I totally rocked it. Ahh, the good old days!

#4   I played the cowbell in George Mason University's Pep Band. Honestly, between the

eggplant thing and the cowbell, I'm amazed that I ever got a date.

#5   I'm a sucker for anything in those "As Seen on TV" advertisements.

#6    I love photography and lovingly refer to my Canon 50D as my third baby.

 If I could tuck it into a soft blanket at night, I probably would.

#7  Organization eludes me.

Third, pass this award on to fifteen recently discovered blogs. I love these blogs!

When my blog grows up, it wants to be just like them!!!!

Technology Rocks Seriously

2nd Grade Shenanigans

Oh Boy Fourth Grade

Ladybug's Teacher Files

Sunny Days in Second Grade

Teach Factory

Vintage Teacher

Minds in Bloom

The Lesson Cloud

Runde's Room

Teacher Tam's Educational Adventures

The Best of Teachers Pay Teachers

One Extra Degree

Lesson Plan SOS

The Teacher Wife

Happy surfing!

Fun with Photos

In the mood to have a little fun with your photos or blog button image? Click on over to LoonaPix where you can totally play around like I did. There are several different "frames" such as these that you can plug your image into to create cool effects. This would work with images such as I used of my blog button or even photos of people.  Actually, there are even more options for things to do with images of people than text images.

I haven't quite decided how to use these, but it sure was fun. Any ideas for how to use this in the classroom? Feel free to comment below with how you would use this crafty little tool!

I know that there are other sites out there that also allow you to play with images in this way. Which ones do you recommend?

A Fantastic Blog Find

One of the things I love about teaching is the sharing of ideas. You know how you get really excited about something you've come across or done and can't wait to share it with your teammates?  That's apparently the direction I am going with this blog. Whenever I stumble upon something great I can't wait to share it with someone. That someone is you!

Every now and then I allow my easily distracted mind to run wild when it comes to surfing blogs. You know how it goes…click on one of your favorite blogs which links to another equally wonderful blog which, in turn, links to yet another fabulous blog and suddenly, you are lost in cyberspace with 17 windows open in your browser bar.  I think it’s the blog surfer’s equivalent of the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff.

Anywhoo….  the other day I was happily surfing the internet and indulging my self-diagnosed ADD when I stumbled upon this gem of a blog Technology Rocks Seriously.

Oh…my….word!!!!! In addition to great ideas for lessons in the classroom, Shannon of  Technology Rocks Seriously has absolutely phenomenally super-cute printables that she shares for FREE! I don’t know about you, but since I’ve spent a ton of money getting my new classroom ready to go, FREE is about all I have left in my budget. :0)

These would be great to print and display in either your home or classroom.

How about this one?

Or this?

Click here to go to Technology Rocks Seriously to view these printables!

This one is my absolute favorite. Shannon suggests putting it in a frame and then writing on it with dry erase marker. What a terrific way to let a child in your class or a family member know that you were impressed by them. I know that I would love it!!!!

Click here to link to the "Fabulous" printable.

Have fun looking through Shannon's blog and please leave her a little love to let her know how much you liked her blog!

Happy International Literacy Day!

Happy International Literacy Day!!! Head on over the The Lesson Cloud to find lots of great posts with ideas for celebrating literacy in your classroom all year long. Also, if you scroll down the right hand column on The Lesson Cloud's homepage, you will see a section with tons and tons of freebies in all curriculum areas. Happy browsing!

Grab a soda, relax, and click on the image below to begin surfing the great ideas posted on The Lesson Cloud.

It's Friday, so it must be FREE!

It's "Free for All Friday" over at I'm Blog Hoppin's Teacher Week.  If you haven't seen this blog yet, it is amazing. You can find so many wonderful resources and teaching tips both on the blog and in the link-ups under each post. Happy Blog Hopping!

I am excited to add my freebie into the mix. It's a template for a blank ABC book. These can be used in any grade from K-6th. It makes a wonderful unit review or creative writing opportunity for your students. Use it however you wish!

Simply click  here to be taken to my TPT store where you can download it for free. If you have a chance to leave feedback under "feedback/reviews", I would appreciate it. Thanks!

I hope that everyone has a great weekend and stays safe in the hurricane.

FUN FREEBIES!!!!

Here are some wonderful freebies to help get your school year off to a stellar start! The Brain Bender freebie is one that I created and the others are from fellow sellers at www.teacherspayteachers.com.

If you haven’t been to this site yet, you are missing out!!! It is full fantastic resources that will make your year so much easier and so much fun!

On the site, sellers such as myself, upload teaching materials they’ve created. You can find lesson plans, units, teacher printables, sub plans, guided reading activities, math resources, etc. If you find something that you like, you can download it immediately after payment.

Even better, many of the resources are free. That’s right, FREE!!! Now that’s in anyone’s budget. :0)

All sellers are required to post at least one freebie as an example of their work. Since this is supposed to representative of the quality you get when buying from a seller, most freebies are excellent. Here are just a few.

September Brain Benders ~ Grades K-4th

Sight Word Stamp ~ Pre-K-1st

Literacy Worksheets for Any Book ~ 1st-5th

If you download one of the freebies, please leave the seller positive feedback under "ratings/feedback." It is a huge help to them! Thank you!

I'm on a roll!

I'm on a roll....a tootsie roll, that is! Look at what I found in Target's Dollar Spot just a few days ago. There are so many wonderful math games that you can play with dice. Wouldn't these be great for adding even more fun to the games? Just shake and roll! You might want to put felt on the table and have students roll the dice onto the felt. This would greatly reduce the odds that you'll need an Advil or two after math is done.

But wait! There's more! Target even has playing cards to match!

I hope your last week or so of summer is a great one!