Hopping from K to 2!

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Back To School TPT Giveaway!

Let the countdown for school begin! I can’t think of a better way to start the year off but with a $10 TPT gift card to help you get the resources you need to make your life a bit easier. Follow the blog hop for more than 25 chances to win a gift card!

Even if you don’t win, a great way to get FREE (or at least a discount) is to leave feedback on all your TpT resources you have already bought. It’s really easy! See below:

Here’s a fun bulletin board/poster idea I keep up all year. I used the cardboard backing of an easel pad for durability and covered it with black paper. You can grab the 'APP'solutely Awesome Class sign and squares for your own bulletin board for free by clicking here! I just printed off a mail sign from google.

With the big sale around the corner, I thought I'd share some of my most popular items from my store.

It's never to early to get ready for the year!

Click to check out the following:

Label It!- great for K/1 to practice

the skill of labeling all year long.

There are 2 more editions.

Editable Labels Ultimate Edition -More than 180 editable labels for your class. You can label everything!

Math Editable Labels for Manipulatives- Get your math Manipulatives organizied.

Dr. S. Inspired Decor- If you are a fan of

Dr. Seuss, you'll love this whimsical

and fun decor with lots of EDITABLE items like labels, jobs, signs and so much more

Polar Express- One of my favorite units- everything you need for Polar Express Day and holiday themed activities for the month of December

Octoberfest for Kids- themed books,

activities, and engaging printables for all of October.

I thought I'd also highlight my last labor of love- a new bundle that's great for teaching Map Skills, Communities, and US Symbols. Perfect for second or third grade!

Here’s where the fun begins- click below for several opportunities to win the gift card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click here for another chance to win a $10 TpT gift card!

Monday, August 15, 2016

Back to School Blog Hop

I am teaming up with 50 fabulous teacherpreneurs to share some tried and true classroom management and organizational strategies that work in our classrooms. Please be sure to hop to each participating blog and enter the giveaway to win one of two great prizes-a $50 TpT Gift Card and classroom resources from over 30 teacher authors. Best of luck!!

Just a few more weeks until our school year is in full swing and if there’s one thing that I love is a simple trick that helps make my life easier! So, I’m here to share one with you.

Tip#1 We’ve all been there, a few months into the school year- your classroom is working like a fine tuned machine. Everyone knows the expectations, what day each of the specials are and how everything runs in your classroom and then it happens! Just as the dismissal bell is about to ring, in walks your principal with… yes, your new student! Who, as luck would have it, is SO excited to start school tomorrow! Your head begins to swirl with all the things you need to get ready for him/her and you think of all the important notices you’ve given to the kids or sent home to parents with how you do dismissal, your HW policy/expectation, the classroom word list, the special bookmarks you gave the kids for the library, your special schedule, and any other important notice you sent home since school started. UGGH! You know you’ll forget something important. But wait, insert this simple trick and you will thank me.

Next to my mailboxes, I keep 2 extra magnetic pockets (they are from Lakeshore) and every time I hand out an important notice or something I expect my kids to keep in their desk, I slip a copy of it in the magnetic pocket.

So, I’m ready at a moment’s notice for that new kid- they may not have a desk yet, but they will have all the important notices! If you are lucky enough not to get an extra body mid-year, the packet it great to use next year as a reminder of the notices that need to go out throughout the year.

Tip#2 Another tip that helps save time is to keep a bin on top of my mailboxes for Extra Handouts. If a kid loses a HW sheet or needs an extra copy, they know where to find it.

Tip#3: We use number cards in a lot of our math games and well, kids aren't the best with keeping track of their cards. Although we use small trays to keep our cards in, inevitably I find a few stranglers after we clean up. So this last tip is quite simple and saves SO much time! I put a small sticker (the incentive stickers work great) on each card and on the bag/container that it belongs in and you'll always know where the card belongs.

Tip#4: My last tip is to always have something for the kids to do when they walk in the room on the first day. I find having something to do helps the kids who might be a bit nervous and allows the teacher to do all their first day of school 'stuff'! If you haven't already grabbed my Welcome to Our Class FREEBIE, click here. Enjoy your first day!

Enter below to win a $50 TpT gift certificate and a chance to win My All About Me Book and check out the product giveaway!

Get to know your students and have students learn more about their friends through this All About Me Book!

Here are some other fabulous giveaways!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click here to head to the next blog!

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

August Pick Three Linky

I’m joining up with Marissa from the Inspired Owl's Corner, Lisa from PAWSitively Teaching, and Ashley from Just Reed! for August's Pick 3 Linky. Come join the fun in finding some fabulous ideas to get us ready for the new school year.

The first one for me is a must have! I'm a font-a-holic and love to create activities with all different types of fonts. Many years ago, comic sans was the fun font, but today- it’s limitless. Enjoy these fonts for your class!

Click here for original pin.

This second idea is a wonderful bulletin board that would make any child feel welcome entering your class. I love the message and the colors too!

Click here for original pin.

This last two finds are all about great books for going back to school. The first pin has some of my favorite back to school books. The second is known as the Netflix of children's books and if you don’t know about already, you should definitely check it out! Did I mention it's FREE for educators and the kids love to listen and read the books.

Click here for original pin.

Click here for original pin.
Have a great start to school!

An InLinkz Link-up

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Back to School Giveaway and FREEBIE!

Getting ready to go back to school? Enjoy a few back to school FREEBIES, ideas, favorite back to school must haves, and enter a giveaway for a $10 TPT gift card!

When school approaches, I scour the local dollar stores to collect bins, bins, and more bins for the classroom. I find I use them for everything! Some ideas are turn in bins for work, scrap bins for the artsy days, and to hold our library books since it’s one less item in their desk.
I also love to plan out my week with a bin to hold the work for each day of the week. Did you know that you can order from the Dollar Store online and they deliver it to your local store? So easy!

For my book bins, I love to label them. If you’re looking for some great labels, check out the Editable Labes in my TPTstore. Here’s a sample of some of the labels in my Ultimate Edition.

Additional themed and solid color

labels as available as well.

I also create custom labels- just ask!

When students enter on the first day, I find it helpful to have a coloring sheet or something for kids to do while I’m collecting supplies.

Enjoy these FREE Welcome to Our Class Coloring Sheets.

There are sheets for Pre-K through Third Grade and a generic Welcome to Our Class!

My favorite back to school item:

Paper-mate Mechanical Pencils with 1.3 lead

Seriously a game- changer for those who hate goinbg through pencils at a ridiculous rate. They are always sharp and kids never want to lose their fancy pencil!