DOLLAR DEALS TODAY ONLY!!! :)


Hi everyone!!!! How are you all doing?? Well, I am starting my 2nd week of spring break so I thought I'd join in with all the fun today!!! The DOLLAR SALE is back!! Several Indiana Teachers have joined in to offer some of our BEST SELLERS for ONE DOLLAR TODAY ONLY!!! Below you will find the 5 products in my store that are $1.00 today ONLY! The rest of my store is 20% off through tomorrow! The 5 dollar items will also be 20% off tomorrow! Click on the product pictures to go to the exact page in my store! THEN, check out ALL OF THE OTHER DOLLAR DEALS at the bottom of the post!!! There are tons of AMAZING products that I'm definitely purchasing today!
End of the Year Certificates!!!

Pre and Post Test for testing Reading Skills at the end of the year!

Genre Posters with Matching Book Bin Labels!

3 of a Time- Fractional Times Card Game!! My kids BEG TO PLAY! :)

SCOOT! 1st/3rd Person Point of View!

Thanks for stopping by!! Happy SHOPPING!!! :)

Spring Cleaning Sale!!! :)

Who is ready for the REAL Spring to show up?!? ME, ME, ME!!! Here in the midwest, like many other places, has barely seen a hint of spring since it came in last week! :) So why not try to kick it in gear with a little SPRING CLEANING!!! 

Click the picture below to head over to my store where my ENTIRE store is 20% off through Monday, March 31st!
***Don't forget to clean out your Wish List AND leave feedback on previous purchases so that you can use those TPT credits toward your new purchases!!!! So you can get the 20% discount PLUS a little extra money to pay toward your next purchases!! WIN, WIN! 

Here are a couple of my latest products that I'm sooo excited for which area 20% off!!!! :)
To find more sales, look below and click on the pictures to go straight to their stores where you can also get up to 20% off!!!!!! 

Thanks so much for joining us in our SPRING CLEANING!!!!!!! 




Indiana Bloggers and a Giveaway!!!

Hi guys!! 2 days until SPRING BREAK!!!! Not that I'm excited or anything! :) I am just so excited to read a book for pleasure more than anything!! I am teaching intersession which means 4 half days, but that's it! Those 4 days are going to fund part of my trip to Vegas this summer for the first ever Teachers Pay Teachers Conference!! I CAN NOT WAIT!!! I'm going to be rooming with 2 awesome and amazing 2nd grade teachers that I've met through blogging and instagram! Speaking of which, one of them is having a FABULOUS GIVEAWAY going on NOW!!! Sarah over at A Rocky Top Teacher is celebrating her beautiful, new blog design with a giveaway! There are TONS of wonderful prizes from other blogging friends!! One of the prizes is my new NOTHING BUT TIME Unit!!!! So make sure to stop by her blog for a chance to win!! :) Click on the picture below to head over there!
So on top of this wonderful giveaway, I am getting ready to meet around 50 TEACHER BLOGGERS at our Indiana Meet-up this weekend!!! I can not wait!!! I love meeting new people who share in the same passion of teaching! It's sure to be a fantastic time!! Such a great way to start of my spring break!

I also plan on blogging about picture books that are perfect for teaching theme along with some FREEBIES so make sure to check in during the next 2 weeks!! YAY!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!!! :)

Nothing But TIME!!! A Unit on ALL things TIME!

Hey guys!!! How is everyone doing?? Well, I'm sooooooo, I mean sooooooo excited to tell you all about my new TIME Unit filled with 190 pages of jam packed, ORIGINAL, fun and learning!!! You'll find TEACHING IDEAS, PHOTOS, ORGANIZATIONAL TIPS, TEACHER DIRECTIONS, MATERIALS, PRE AND POST TESTS, 10 DIFFERENTIATED CENTERS, ANSWER KEYS, RESPONSE KEYS, DIRECTION CARDS FOR STUDENTS, AND MUCH MORE!!! This UNIT was made to reach a wide range of academic levels with so many ways to differentiate already made and ready to go!!! My 2nd graders have been working hard on getting stronger with time by using all of these new activities! So here's a little bit about it! :) OHH, don't forget to read all the way through!! ;)
The whole idea to do a unit on time had first to do with our 36 minutes extended days that are covering our snow days. The great part is we won't have to make them up at the end of the year. It is a pretty long day, but I actually really enjoy those last 36 minutes!! It's nice to just be able to teach for that time! No evaluations, no set requirements, just what's best for your kids! AND...every day for the past 2 weeks, at least one student of mine has commented on how much fun they are having! :) I have to say that makes my heart melt and gives me chills! It's so nice to hear those words! 

Back to the time! My kids this year and previous years have always seemed to struggle with the concept of time. Heck, I think many of us struggle with that sometimes too! haha Not necessarily telling the time, but time in general. I may be one of those people who are late if I can be. :) I really try not to be, but I seem to always get tons of things done right before I need to leave! I work best under pressure! ;) ANYWAY...I wanted to break down time so we could build it back up with a solid foundation! I don't want my kids just memorizing and not completely understanding. SO...this is how my unit came alive! 




The first thing I did was look in our Everyday Math book and standards to make sure I knew the key elements of time needed to be mastered, exposed, etc. I looked at K-3 standards, but K doesn't have a time standard. However, there are several centers and activities they could do too. From this, I created a Pre and Post Test to assess their knowledge at the beginning and end of the unit. 
 Answer Keys are included.

Next, I tried to think of when my kids struggle and what they do at those times. 

Hand Confusion!!! 

How many of you have kids who ONLY use the hours to tell the time meaning 1:15 is 1:3 or 1:30. Some of my kids want to use the numbers they see for both. So we started out the unit with all things to do with hour hands and minute hands. We used hand cutouts where we added the times that each "talked" to along with BrainPop Jr. to talk about the parts of the clock (mostly review for my 2nd graders). We did a chant, used a hula hoop, pretzel sticks and hours and minutes! 

 Once we learned all about the clock and hands (all ideas and printables are included in the set), we moved into a few of the centers that directly went with those concepts along with understanding time as in schedules and the dates. Some of my kids have a very hard time writing and/or saying the date. So in the beginning of this unit, I introduce these centers in accordance with the centers having to do with the hands on the clock. 


My Hand Confusion!!! center in the picture above is a FREEBIE in my TPT store to give you a little taste of the unit!!! It's one of my favorites!!! Click HERE to download it now! :)

These centers cover all the foundational parts to telling time. The In a New York Minute! is a game that addressed just the minute hand to get them to do this routinely without troubles! The times for that center are to the 5 minutes. I've always noticed that the counting by 5s around the clock isn't the hard part. It's doing it when they have to look at both hands. So the intent was to have both hands on there but to isolate what they were looking for to practice this mistake they make often. :) There are 2 levels where one set has the flower petals with the 5 minute intervals shown for extra guidance. The 2nd level has clocks without this so your students who don't need as much guidance can use those. It's fast paced so it was winner from the beginning! hah The greatest part about all of these centers is that the materials can be used for several different things such as a Write the Room, flashcard type style, or simply using them to teach different times with. The options go on and on!!! 

Fractional Times, Time Relationships, Elapsed Time

After practicing and playing with these centers, we moved into fractional times on the clock. Since 1st and 2nd graders both have to be able to tell to the hour and half hour plus in 2nd the quarters and 5 minutes, I wanted to really work on this concept. We just finished fractions so this blended perfectly!!
For my class this year, I needed to do a day or two for each fractional part. I waited to add the "quarter to" time for when I felt the individual groups were ready for it so it didn't confuse them. This way I could move at their pace so if a group was ready quickly, I pulled them in a small group while the others were working on the centers to teach the "quarter to" concept. 

After all of the teaching lessons are complete, we put ALL of the centers to use!!! Then during center times, I can start pulling small groups of students or individual students to work on specific areas if I see they need it. 

(Every page is not showing since it's 190 pages...Didn't want to bore you! :)

This is just a glimpse into this HUMONGOUS 190 PAGE TIME UNIT!!! Make sure to stop by my TPT store to check out the Nothing But TIME!!! A UNIT on ALL things TIME!

Thanks so much for stopping by and learning more about my TIME Unit!!!

Velcro...Making Life Easier since 1948

We're back!!!!!

It's that time again!!! I'm joining over 180 amazing bloggers to share with you some BRIGHT ideas!! If you joined us last time, it was incredible!! I picked up so many ideas and have already implemented some of those ideas in my classroom! So this makes me even more excited for this one! 

How many of you seem to have walls, desks, cubbies, etc. that don't seem to be able to hold ANYTHING?!? I mean I have tried everything you can think of to keep things attached to my walls, kids' desks, and their cubbies with them all usually failing! I don't know if it's the classroom temperature or what, but it can get quite time consuming having to reapply everything! 

Step in...VELCRO!!!

Who would have thought that something invented in 1948 would still be rocking it in 2014?!? Well, it's true!! I know you're probably all thinking...yes, I use velcro, but it is a little sticky sometimes, hard to get off, and/or leaves residue. Here is the new found, GLORIOUS, velcro!!
I randomly came upon these one day while I was shopping in the supply aisles of Walmart, figure that! I can't stay away from those aisles anywhere! These were actually on the clearance end so I thought, why not try them! I am soooooo glad I did!!! Now I use them for my kids' desk name tags, jobs, and other posters on the walls!! IT DOESN'T COME OFF!!!! THE KIDS CAN'T PEEL THEM OFF! AND...THEY ARE REUSABLE!! That's right!! REUSABLE! 

DESK NAME TAGS

I use 2 of the poster velcro squares for each name tag, and put the circles on the actual name tag. This has made it so EASY to move kids around, add new students, and switch out old name tags with new ones. NO MORE kids peeling off the tape, coloring on the tape/contact paper, and basically destroying them! haha Now, there are still the few that seem to find a way to make one not work, but out of 23 kids and 3 switch outs to new name tags, that has only happened maybe 3 times the whole year!! WAY BETTER than before!

STUDENT JOBS

If you're like me, I have to really prioritize and organize how I use my wall space in my classroom since I don't have much of it. So, to help keep some wall space open, I decided to utilize the student cubbies to their fullest!! Above their cubbies, I have used the Removable Velcro to make it SUPER QUICK AND EASY to rotate jobs each week or however you do it! I simply move them down one. The velcro works like a CHARM!! I have used the normal velcro on this just due to the size of the space to attach to! This has helped in three ways: reminding my kids of their jobs daily, keeping my room organized, and utilizing the space well. 

STUDENT SELF EVALUATION SYSTEM

Here my kids "park their cars" under their levels of understanding! All of their cars have the velcro coins on the backs, and I used the rectangular strips on the side of the book shelf. This way it is super easy and quick for the kids to move their cars daily. This has been a life saver and space saver as well!

ANCHOR CHARTS/POSTERS/MATERIALS

This isn't the best picture, but the South poster is up with the velcro as well as the others around my room! I use this velcro for anything that's going to be up the whole year! It has stayed ALL YEAR!! Not a budge! The things that I had taped using packing tape before I found this velcro, has fallen or had to be pushed back up several times which usually means me getting a chair to do it! So this has definitely helped out! Since it's REUSABLE, it's easy to just transfer the velcro coins to the next material you want to hang! 

THANK YOU so much for taking the time to stop by!!!! I hope you were able to go away with some new ideas!! :) 

Now, are you ready for some science fun?!? I know my kids LOVE science! So head on over to Miss V's Busy Bees to find out how cardboard and play-doh transform into a hands-on science project!!  Click on the picture below to learn all about it!!! 
Alternatively, if you'd rather hop around to specific posts, you can peruse through the over 180 bright ideas below!! They are divided into two groups: k-2 and 3 and up! Happy hopping!!!!