Image Map

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Prize Pack Preview!

I can't thank Hope from Teaching with Hope enough for setting up this FABULOUS giveaway! Starting August 1st you can register to win one of these seven amazing prize packages! Check my blog on August 1st for details on how to enter. 

Here is a peek at the prize packs you could win:

Prize Pack #1 includes 18 products from TpT sellers, a handmade banner for your classroom fromMPaper Designs and a personalized teacher cup from Sugar Stitches Designs!



Prize Pack #2 includes 19 products from TpT sellers, a teacher planner from The Nifty Planner, and a  personalized teacher sign from Blended Creations Inc.


Prize Pack #3 includes 17 products from TpT sellers, a handmade classroom garland from MPaper Designs and a pencil door sign from Details in the Deisgn.


Prize Pack #4 includes 18 products from TpT sellers, a handmade classroom garland from MPaper Designs, and a personalized pencil door sign from Bows and Bells Hangers.


Prize Pack #5 includes 15 products from TpT sellers a personalized sign from MACInspired Crafts plus a personalized teacher block sign from Blended Creations Inc!


Prize Pack #6 includes products from 16 TpT sellers a personalized door sign from Cara's Southern Designs, and a personalized teacher cup from Mommy's Latte Fund!


Prize Pack #7 includes 16 products from TpT sellers, a teacher planner of your choice from Little Drop Designs, a personalized door sign from MACInspired Creations plus a personalized teacher cup from Mommy's Latte Fund!


I can't wait for August 1st!!!!

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Giveaway Update


I'm so excited about this fantastic giveaway! Starting August 1st 115 TpT stores are hosting a fabulous giveaway! Thank you Hope from Teaching With Hope for putting all of this together. We have partnered with shops from Etsy, and some education supply stores to host this giveaway. I have been checking Hope's Facebook page to see all of the goodies that are being added to the giveaway, and they are quite impressive. I'm sad that I can't enter! There will be different packages for different grade levels, so check my blog on August 1st for information on how to enter.


Wednesday, July 16, 2014

What Happens in Vegas...


First of all, thank you Deirdre from A Burst of First for setting up this fun Linky Party! TpT had their first conference in Vegas last Friday and it was in one word...AMAZING! There were over 600 teachers at this conference and it was truly fabulous! (Not to mention that a weekend in Vegas is always a good time!)



The fun began on my plane flight to Vegas. My husband and I were on a flight with a bunch of NBA players heading to their conference in Vegas! I'm not a big basketball fan, but when I saw a bunch of really tall men boarding the plane I knew that something was up. When we landed in Vegas the players were swarmed with people asking for autographs. It was crazy!

We arrived in Vegas a day before the conference so we could take in the sites, and eat some fabulous food! We ate at Mon Ami Gabi a great French Bistro at the Paris, and saw Le Reve at the Encore. It was fun spending a little quality time with my hubby before the conference.

On Friday the TpT fun began! It all started off with awesome keynote speakers, and I got to meet Paul! He is super nice, and I am so thankful for all he has done for TpT!


Throughout the day I went to a bunch of wonderful sessions and had so much fun meeting other bloggers, teacher authors, and sellers! I made a bunch of new friends, and learned so much. The TpT staff is incredible, and I am so proud to be a part of the TpT family! If you didn't go this year, you need to go next year!

Coming Soon: A Giveaway from Fabulous TPT stores with under 500 followers!

I just linked up with Hope from Teaching with Hope, and 78 other fabulous teachers from TpT for an awesome summer giveaway!



This giveaway will be happening in mid-August so keep reading my blog for more details! I will be giving away one of my best selling items, my Place Value Centers and Games Pack.


This pack includes 7 activities to enhance any place value unit. During these activities, students will practice the following math skills; expanded, standard, and word form, rounding, place value, and comparing and ordering numbers. Use these activities while teaching your unit to reinforce place value skills, and watch your students blossom! If you want this freebie, or any of the other 78 fabulous freebies offered during this giveaway keep reading our blogs for more details!

Monday, July 7, 2014

Teacher Tech "Know" Tuesday


I hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend. I really enjoyed spending all of that extra time with my family. My daughter handled the fireworks really well and slept right through them. My dog, on the other hand, was scared and spent most of the night in hiding.

This week I wanted to share a website that I absolutely love! I don't know if any of you have ever used the site Class Tools, if not you need to check it out. This site offers a whole bunch of tools that teachers can use to enhance lessons and strengthen classroom management. They have graphic organizers, a virtual random class picker you can use instead of picking equity sticks, Fakebook, an awesome countdown timer, and much more.

I have been using this site for the past three years, and the countdown timer has become an important tool in my classroom. I absolutely love this tool! Whenever my students are working on projects, centers, classwork, or during transitions I display this timer on my Promethean board.  This timer is great because it plays music, counts down, and changes color to let students know how much time they have left to complete their activities. There are a bunch of songs ready for you to use. I love using the Mission Impossible Theme Song for cleaning up and the classical music for classwork. The site will even let you upload your own songs! If you aren't using this site already, you should definitely check it out for the upcoming school year.

I hope you found this tip helpful! I will see you next Tuesday!



Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Teacher Tech "Know" Tuesday


I love using Word Clouds in the classroom with my students. For those of you who are not familiar with word clouds, they are images composed of words about a particular text or subject. They are great additions to projects and wonderful tools for applying vocabulary skills. You can use web based sites like Tagxedo, and Wordle to create word clouds if you use computers in your classroom. If you use tablets in the classroom, there is a great free word cloud app from ABCya.

At the beginning of the school year, I like my students to create word clouds that describe themselves. They use words that describe themselves while creating their word cloud. This is a great getting to know you activity for the students. You could do this project with any word cloud generator. However, I have my students use Tagxedo for this project. Tagxedo will let you upload your own photo to shape your word cloud. For this project, my students use a picture of themselves to shape their word cloud. The finished projects are pretty impressive and look like abstract art. The word cloud below is one that I created using a photo and Tagxedo.



How do you use word clouds in your classroom?