Re-Work It and Oh, Boy! New Stuff!

 

I'm linking up with Mel at the Frogspot again for her Re-Work It Wednesday linky.  Last week I shared my "Thanksgiving on Thursday" unit.  You can read that post here.  I finally got the updated version posted at my TpT store so be sure to head over there to check it out!

 

Instead of one of my products, I have decided to re-work my classroom.  I've been teaching in this room for 7 years and I am growing a bit tired of the view.  I'm a BIG follower of Pinterest and I've seen some UBER-CUTE classrooms that are color-coordinated.  So I'm taking the plunge. 

 

 

I'm starting with the color scheme.  I recently came across this color combination and fell in love with it: Red and Turquoise!

I found some great decor at Oriental Trading.  Here I have some red chevron chinese lanterns, turquoise polka dot fans, red striped and polka dot pennant banners, turquoise striped and polka dot pennant banners, and red tissue balls.

I also plan to make some curtains that will compliment this new scheme.

 

 

Now here is the biggie!  I'm changing over to tables instead of indvidual desks!

I found these 30"x60" work tables at School Outfitters for an incredible price.  A single student desk is half the price of these tables and these will seat up to 6!

 

Now, I teach 2nd grade, so there are a lot of supplies that come along with the students.  In addition to text books, we also have art boxes, rulers, pencils, glue, scissors, folders, notebooks . . . You know what I'm saying.  I spotted a  great solution on Pinterest: 

Each table would get its own bookshelf.  These I found at Walmart.com and they come in 4 different colors.  I'm thinking about getting them in white to go along with my color scheme better but I think black will hide the dirt better.  What do you think?

 

These shelves will hold all of the books and bins of the students sitting at that table.  Every day, there will be a "Table Manager" who will be in charge of handing out books or other supplies.  I'm even considering giving each bookshelf its own pencil sharpener.  These from Classroom Friendly Supplies would work perfectly!

 

  I still plan on keeping my rainbow-colored supply bins for the tops of the tables.  These have been such a time-saver.  Students don't need to dig through their desks to get an important supply and everything is communal.

 

 

So that's it!  I'll be posting photos of the new set-up once I get it done!  Perhaps I'll even get the walls painted . . . . Hhmmmmmmmmmm?!?!?!

 

  

 

And of course I made a few purchases from TpT's Teacher Appreciation Sale.  I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin to share what I bought!

 

First, I bought Leanne Prince's My Plant Observation Journal {and other activties}.  This will go perfect with my gardening unit.  I just wish I had found it sooner! I could have used it this year! 

 

 

Next, I bought The Teacher's Cauldron's Second Grade Common Core Bundle. This bundle includes a Common Core gradebook and statements.  This is an amazing set and I hope it will streamline my lesson planning!

  

  

 

Third, I visited Charity Preston's store and picked up her Pacing Guides.   The Common Core can be daunting, at times.  I hope this ELA pacing guide will keep me on track next year! 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I just COULDN'T leave without getting something from Melonheadz!  I've had my eye on these for awhile and the prices were just too good to resist!

 

Link back up with Frog Spot and Blog Hoppin to share your great ideas!

 

~Stacy

 

TpT Sale and HELP ME!!!

 

As a part of Teacher's Appreciation Week, Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing a sale on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 7 & 8!  Use the above promo code to get 10% off your purchases.  If individual shops are also having sales, you could get up to 28% off!  That is a an incredible deal, as many of the products there are amazingly priced already.

 

I am offering 20% off the items in my store for both days.  So click on the link to the right to head over to TpT to check out my products.

 

 

Have you ever had one of those days, where you just want to shoot your computer?  Well, today was my day.  I've noticed that my blog page has not been displaying the "Follow Me" button, or the people following me for about 10-12 days.  I thought something was fishy becuase my number of people following me has completely stalled lately even though my page views are through the roof!  After some research, I've heard that Google is no longer going to be using Google Friend Connect anymore but ALL of the blogs I follow still have these buttons available.

 

 

Is there anyone out there who knows what this problem may be and if I can fix it? 

Your help will be much appreciated!

 

~Stacy

Re-Work It Wednesday Linky

 

I'm linking up with Mel over at From the Pond for her new linky "Re-Work It Wednesday".  I think this is a really cool idea!  With all the new changes with Common Core, many teachers are going to to want to rework their products to meet the standards.

 

I've been doing just that!

 

Last fall, I posted my "Thanksgiving on Thursday" unit.

It was very popular.  But I started to look at it through Common Core eyes and I wanted to make it correlate by adding new activities and seeing if my current activities are in the Common Core. 

So even though I not finished with it, yet, I wanted to share with you the changes that are on the way!

As you can see, I updated the graphics using Melonheadz "Happy Thanksgiving" set. 

 

 

 With the new graphics, I was able to provide a color and black and white version to save on printing costs.

 

I also aligned each activity, and added a few new ones, to the Common Core.  These are only a few of the aligned activities and they are now aligned to the 3rd and 4th grade ELA standards.

 

As I said above, I don't have this update finished and posted yet, but I do hope to get it done before the end of the month.  If you have already purchased this item from my TpT store, when I get the new one posted, I will send out a notification to download your own updated copy.

 

Next on the list is my "Officer Buckle and Gloria" and "A Chair for My Mother".

So that's it!  Be sure to head over to Mel's and link up to share your latest re-work!

~Stacy

Garden Writing Freebie (Take It and Make It Linky)

 

Cynthia over at the 2nd Grade Pad has gotten her Thursday Take and Make rolling and I just had to share this project that my students and I were working on this week.

 

With Spring rolling in, (sort of) I have had gardening on the brain!  This is my first year starting a garden at our new house (we've been there 3 years already) and the weather just hasn't been cooperating to break ground.  First, it was still too frozen and lately it's been rainy. 

 

So I decided to supplement my need for gardening with WRITING about gardening!  My students wrote persuasive letters to their parents about why they should plant a garden this year.  The kids came up with some great arguments for a garden and did an AWESOME job writing their letters.  We even addressed and stamped letters that will be delivered to their parents! (Sorry, I don't have any pics, the writing process is kind of hard to capture in a photo)

 

BUT I do have . . .

this!

 

Just click on the image and you can get your very own set of graphic organizers to implement a similar letter-writing activity.

If it's gardening you're interested in, you may want to check out these two great children's books to use to implement your lessons. 

 

As a final wrap-up to the unit, I had the students "plant" their own green bean seeds to take home and plant in the gardens they start with their families.

 

All you need is a clear, plastic cup, a strip of black paper, some paper towels and a green bean seed (or any seed of your choosing)

 

Hopefully, in a couple weeks, we'll have some seedling sprouting!

 

So be sure to head back to the 2nd Grade Pad to link up, share and check out other great freebies!

 

~Stacy

S'More Swap!

 

Today I'm trying out a Product Swap with AMC over at Looking from Third to Fourth. 

Her ADORABLE product is called

I found this item after to Easter but it was just too darn cute to pass up.  Oh, and did I mention it is completely FREE?!?

My class was learning about perimeter and area.  So I started by taping various shapes onto my classroom floor.  I divided the class into pairs and had them determine the perimeter and area of each shape.  They also needed to demonstrate how they found each measurement.

The next day I had the students get out their 1 inch foam squares.  They used these to determine the perimeter and area of three pieces of contruction paper. 

 

 

I made these different shapes by just cutting random sized pieces of contruction paper.  Just make sure you measure them by inches so the 1 inch foam squares fit pefectly on the piece.  I also color coordinated them so the next time I pull these out, I know what pieces go where.

 

And finally on the last day, I pulled out AMC's Bella the Easter Bunny Activity.  The students had a great time pretending to be the Easter Bunny and finding the perimeter and area of each house.

 

 

They also did an AWESOME job of writing their answers in complete sentences!  (Something that we have been working on, and working on, and working on this year!)

 

This one says "House number four has the greatest perimeter because it has 28."

PERFECT!

 

 So needless to say, AMC's Easter Math: Find Perimeter and Area activity was the BEST accompaniment to my math lessons.  Be sure to hop on over to her TpT store and grab your own copy of this incredible freebie! 

 

 

~Stacy

 

 

 

 

 

Get Acquainted and Giveaway Results

I'm linking up with Latoya at Flying into First for her weekly "Get Acquainted Linky".

This week's topic:

Skittles Game

Here is the code:

Red- Favorite Ice Cream Flavor

Orange- Favorite Memory from College

Yellow- Favorite Sports Team

Green- Favorite Fast Food Place

Purple- Wild Card(Tell anything about yourself)

 

 

Red - My favorite ice cream flavor would have to COFFEE!

 

I treat myself to a pint of this whenever I've had a bad day. 

 

Orange - My favorite memory from college is watching my friend Gary running around all the hallways, climbing on counters, jumping on funiture while blasting "Time for Me to Fly" by reo speedwagon.  I came home from class to be greeeted by this HILARIOUS performance and it has stuck with me ever since!

 

Yellow -It's a perfect coincidence that this topic landed on yellow because I am a Packer fan through-and-through!

My husband is from Wisconsin so it's practically on his birth certificate, but I've been a fan since i was a kid.  You gotta love the underdog, right?

 

Green - I'm with Latoya . . . Wendy's BABY!

 

If I have my pick of where we go out to dinner on Firday nights, it's always WENDYS!  My meal of choice is the Spicy Chicken Sandwich!

 

Purple - At 33 years old, I am FINALLY getting braces!  I've had very crooked teeth for a long time but never had the time, money or ambition to get it taken care of.  But now at least the ball is rolling.  My most recent visit was to do the molding trays.  THAT was an experience.  I hope to hear soon if I can get the Invisalign or I need to go with traditionals.  C'mon INVISALIGN!

 

 

 

AND NOW . . . My Giveaway Results!

Well, I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed.  It was my first giveaway and I got three, that's right THREE whole responses!  I'm reminded of a Ryan Gosling "Hey Girl"!  Wow, he's yummy!

Since that was the number of freebies I was going to give away, all three ladies get to choose a Cootie Catcher from my TpT Store!

So Carrie, Cindy and Brooke I will be e-mailing you soon to find out which Cootie Catcher you would like emailed to you!  Thank you for entering!

 

~ Stacy

 

Dollar Tree Finds and a Giveaway!

So a few weeks ago, Krista Walden over at the Creative Chalkboard wrote a post about a great find at her local Dollar Tree.

These are some adorable tagboard coasters that look like sandwich ingredients!  As soon as I saw these, I just HAD to have my own.  So this past weekend, I ventured (childless, it was wonderful) to my own local DT and lo, and behold . . . I found them and nearly cleaned the store completely out!  I still haven't decided how I'm going to use the 10 (yes, ten, I'm a bit of an "over-doer") sets I picked up but Krista came up with some great ways to use these in the classroom.  I'll give that list a great picking over and get it rolled out.

 

While there, I found these perfect sandwich containers that will not only serve as storage but can also be used in a cute part of whatever game I come up with!

 

I also found these uber-cute silicone coin purses that I knew would have a useful purpose in my classroom but I still haven't nailed down what.  Of course, money games came immediately came to mind.  But, I thought that my wonderful blogging community would have some other great ideas on how to utilize these!

 

Here comes the GIVEAWAY part:  Share your idea in the comments section and I'll draw three names for a Winner's Choice of one of my popular "Cootie Catchers" at my TpT store.  Your choice may be for items priced $1.75-$5.00.

Drawing will be on Friday, April 19.

 

Be sure to leave a comment to share your ideas for your chance at some free stuff!

 

~Stacy