"What's in my Cart?" Link Up!

Hello everyone! I am home here in North Carolina for another snow day! On the one hand I get to work on my blog and my TpT products, but on the other hand it really messes up my structured schedule and plans in my classroom. Do you ever feel torn like that?

Well today I am linking up with Stephanie over at Mrs. D's Corner. She had a fabulous idea to share what is in our carts for the TpT sale this week! If you are like me you have tons of items in your wishlist all the time! I'd like to show you some products that are in my wishlist and are taking the trip to my cart this Wednesday! They are wonderful products that you are going to want to snatch up! So let's get started!

If you teach 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade you have to grab this product from Mrs. D's Corner! It is Theodor Seuss Geisel's biography created in a lapbook style. I love this! And here is what is great about it! 1) It has color photos to help you create it step by step with your kids. 2) It is geared towards the older children. 3) It gets you away from the usual coloring pages and little kids stuff that we tend to do for Dr. Seuss' birthday. This is for the big kids. I love it! (I know I already said this, but I do!)

If you are looking for clip art Glitter Meets Glue just released the most adorable Easter Candy clip art ever! And how can you resist the glitter! I just love it! She also has some other wonderful sets that you just can't resist! (Trust me, I know!)

I can't get enough clip art! I found this clip art artist recently named Classroom Doodle Diva and her work is starting to fill up my wishlist and cart. I love this dice so much! What great clip art to use for a math product! It is the most adorable set! Check her out!

Simply Skilled in Second makes awesome flip flap books! Her most recent is for Healthy Teeth! If you have never tried any of her flip flap books you need to. She also has a video showing how they work. The kids really enjoy creating them. They are a lot of fun!

Do you have a Teacher Hero?

It's sale time and I am always excited when this time rolls around! The theme for this sale is "Teachers are Heroes". I know for me personally, I have had many teachers from kindergarten all the way through grad school that I would consider my hero. They were fabulous teachers and I loved them! I am thankful that I got to know them and have them in my life. I hope that my students will look back and feel that way about me when they are older. So since we are talking about heroes, here are some great teachers participating in the sale this week. Check out their stores! And remember, they are their student's heroes!

An InLinkz Link-up

Valentine Exchange!

Last December, I participated in a Gingerbread Man Exchange so I jumped at the chance to participate in the Valentine Exchange hosted by PAWSitively Teaching.

My 2nd graders had a blast decorating their hearts and mailing them off. As the Valentines came in we placed them on our bulletin board and learned about each school, city, and state. What a great learning experience for my 2nd graders! 

Here is the picture of all the Valentines we have received! We have received all but two and I have left a space in the corner for the last two that we hope will arrive this week.

Here are the Valentines we mailed off. The kids loved decorating their Valentines and the envelopes they traveled in.

And here we are making our Valentines! I don't usually break out the glitter except at Christmas, but...well...here we are...glitter and all! They did come out cute!

1,000 Followers Freebie!!!

I am so excited that I have reached 1,000 followers on Teachers Pay Teachers! 

To celebrate I have a new freebie just for the occasion. 

This math scroll is an idea I cooked up years ago to help my students practice writing their numbers 1 to 1,000. The kids loved it and I have continued with the tradition every year that I have taught 2nd grade and a few years when I taught some high 1st grade classes.

The freebie includes complete directions and photographs to help your students create their own scrolls.

Thank you for coming by and helping me celebrate! Enjoy your freebie!

Using Your Google Calendar to Stay Organized

I've always considered myself a pretty organized person even when I was a little girl. I think my mom would agree with me on that! I try to keep my ducks in a row. That's just how I am. As teachers, we always have those little and big ducks we need to keep in a row. Sometimes it is a little hard for some teachers to do that more than others.

I worked with a wonderful teacher for many years. He made everyone in the school laugh. He was awesome! But his 'ducks' were anything but in a row! Actually, that would make me laugh too! If all the teachers had two weeks to turn in a form to the principal and that form was due at noon on Friday, well, you would see him flying down the hall at 11:59. The form would be in his hand, his shirt flying out behind him, and he would slide right into the office like he was sliding into a base at a baseball game. I expected to hear the principal yell out, "you're out!" but she never did. (She didn't have a sense of humor.) Anyways, here was me watching and wondering why he never remembered. But I knew. He didn't remember because he didn't have anything to remind him.

We all need some sort of way to keep track. To keep those ducks in a row. I assume that everyone knows all about the Google calendar or that they know how to use it, but since I have shown it to a number of people who have asked me, I know that there are many that don't. Last year a fellow teacher made a comment that I never forget anything. Guess what? I do forget! But here is my secret to why I look like I don't.

All you need is a gmail account. If you don't have one it's free. I have a gmail account with my school system and my own personal one as well. Every gmail account has it's own calendar app. This calendar app is going to do the work for you. I love it! It's easy and it's reliable!

Play around with your calendar. You may find some settings or features that work for you that I don't need or use. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

For more technology tips, check out this weekly linky by clicking the picture below.

Today was the 100th Day of School

Today was the 100th day of school. It is my all-time favorite day of the school year! To say I am exhausted would be an understatement! The kids wore me out and I didn't even get to do everything that I had planned for today. I overplanned...I always overplan. Here are a ton of pictures from today. The kids loved it!

It has been a yearly tradition to have my class create '100th Day' t-shirts. This was my 15th year.

 This year I made a cookie snack for my kids. I had half of these kids in kindergarten and wanted to give them a different snack than the one I made before. They loved it! 
Look for the snack tags here.

 Here are the '100th Day' bookmarks I made for them.

 The Hershey Kiss Game is a popular favorite! Take 100 Hershey Kisses and number them 1-100. I place them all around the classroom when my kids are out of the room at PE class.  When they come back they find the Kisses! The rule is that they can only touch one at a time. They have to put the Hershey Kiss on the 100's chart before they go and find another Kiss.

 The kids loved cutting out their ice cream and counting by 10's. They came out so cute! 
If you would like to see the product this came from click here.

 My early finishers worked on assorted activity sheets while they waited. Check them out here.

 One of the highlights of the day was the number chain that is included in my 100th Day Product. I decided to print on bright colored paper and let the children choose. I really love how they came out! 

 Roll to 100 Game

Play with 2-3 players and a 100s chart for each player. Use 1 die for a slow game or 2 dice for a quicker game. Roll the dice and fill in the amount of numbers rolled. The first person to reach 100 first wins. I also have a version of the game where the numbers are already there and the children color as they go.

 Here are the 100 chart puzzles. I printed assorted puzzles from 1-1,000 and then cut them out for each child. My higher level students received a more difficult puzzle while my strugglers received an easier one.

 Last, but not least, our 100th day projects!

Now do you see why I am exhausted? But I loved it! :o)