TpT Seller Challenge: Make Over Madness!

There have been many blogging and TpT hiatuses over the last few months. I love being a mom, and baby A is worth the reprieve from the computer. However, the #TpTSellerChallenge taking over social media, may just be the kick in the rear jump start I needed to get things going again.

The first challenge is to make over something currently in your TpT store (to read more on the challenge and join in please read this post from The Peppy Zesty Teacherista). I first started in 2012-2013 during my first year of teaching. Boy have I not only come a long way in my teaching since then, but thankful, my design techniques have grown too.

I'm a wee bit ashamed to show you one of my most pinned items: Common Prefix & Suffix Flipbooks.

Scary isn't it? Back when I started freebies seemed to be more of an after thought. Why invest in them if they are free? Well, they are a great advertising opportunity and I missed out greatly over the years with this one. I'm surprised it's been pinned so well seeing as 1) there was no cover page, 2) no advertising to bring people back to my store for related products 3) worst of all-- Comic Sans was used in part of this product. Eeek. My font addicted heart cannot believe I had that in a product!

Now...

So much better!
1) A cover that goes with other related products on the same topic. Crisp & clean.
2) I have pictures and links going to related products.
3). Best of all---better and easier to read fonts!

To see it yourself and download.. please click here or on the picture.

The to-do list is long, and I'm not sure how fast baby girl will let me get to it all, but this is the first step in the right direction to giving things a bit of a facelift!

Be sure to check out even more by visiting the link up here.

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Five for Friday.. Freebies & Fun First: Recess Relay!

Only 15 school days left... and this last week couldn't have gone slower. The weather was a little wacky, last week's schedule was crazy, and testing is over so the kids are checked out and ready to go. Even amid the craziness plenty of fun was had!

Today was AWESOME. One of the 4th grade teachers is big in the country Relay for Life. She and her mother headed a group to bring the relay to my school. Couldn't have went better.

All week, student bought feet for a quarter each and they were placed around the school. In just a week, 4th and 5th graders had accumulated over 1,300 feet... over $600! Crazy!

This afternoon, we moved and grooved around the walking track around the playground. Music was blaring. Students had decorated luminaries that were placed around the track.

Survivors, including two of my family members were asked to come and join in. (My niece is a 5th grader and they walked the track with her throughout the afternoon.)

The two winning homerooms (one for each grade) were able to have their homeroom teacher "sumo wrestle" our principal. It was hilarious. {And the teachers won!}

Also during this time, there were six stations for the students to work through and learn about cancer preventing activities. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome afternoon.

 Some of my BBB's and I got together to figure out how to survive the craziness of the end of the school year. If you haven't hopped yet, please do so! There are still chances to win $25 gift certificates... and everyone can scoop up 14 freebies, including a decimal game I created!

I learned about a new app earlier this week. I'm blessed to work in a 1:1 district. This app is going to be revolutionary for a paperless classroom. Click here or the picture below to check it out. I cannot wait for our student iPads to be updated this week so we can get at it. So excited!

Giveaways galore! Tis the season for celebrating. Be sure to check out the following giveaways for more chances at terrific teaching materials and gift certificates!

I didn't have a picture to post.. but my best friend had her little girl and I got to meet her this week. She is a total doll!! My best friend is also a new hire for our district! Those kinders are going to be so blessed!!

Cheers to the weekend friends!

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Surviving Spring & Welcome to Summer Blog Hop & Freebie!

We are in the final countdown of the school year {19.5 days, not that I'm counting...}

It's also that time of the year when it starts getting crazy. Schedule changes = crazy kids. Crazy kiddos on top of altered schedules = crazy teacher. This past week was full: a home room day, music practice/ spring program, water festival field trip, and an arbor day presentation. By the end of the week I had several students asking when things would go back to normal; I couldn't have agreed with them more! Although we had a fun week, it was exhausting.

Spring fever has most definitely hit my classroom. After talking to several of my BBBs, it seems to be a rampant fever that has spread across the country. We've come together to share a few survival tips, freebies, and giveaways (TPT Gift Certificates or a Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener) along the way to help us all survive until the end of the school year!

Now, I know that food isn't always allowed in schools as a reward. We don't have those restrictions yet... so I'm going to hold an ice cream day for one of my classes. This group was a struggling group at the beginning of the year and have come so far. I want to be able to reward this group while throwing in some review too. {If your school doesn't allow food, maybe your students would still enjoy some summery treat fun in activities you use.}

I created a pack of math and ELA centers with an ice cream theme. If you use an ABC countdown to the end of the school year, this pack could be utilized on an "I is for ice cream day" too. Activities include: Scoops of Synonyms, Dishin' Up Decimals, Equivalent Fraction Sundaes, Parts of Speech Push-Ups, Sentence Shake Up, and Colorful Cones Place Value Scoot.

You can check out the full pack by clicking here or on the pictures below.

The freebie I'm sharing with you comes from this pack. It's a decimal game that can be played with partners or small groups to work with decimals. Students are asked to round or distinguish between odd or even numbers in a certain place value. I hope that you can use this game in your math centers this spring!

After entering my code below in the Rafflecopter, be sure to visit Michele to continue the blog hop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, be sure to catch more motivating ideas and link up your own at Joanne's Student Motivation Saturdays linky! Just a few more weeks friends and sweet summer time will be here... we can make it!

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Winter Synonym Freebie!

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. Usually summers are super hot, winters super cold. I like those seasons that are happy mediums. Cold fronts, winds, and colder-than-I-like temperatures have me thinking ahead to winter and I'm trying to get a jump start on skills to work on/review after the holidays. 

Here is a little freebie to review synonyms. There are 2 sets for the same nine words. Students build snowmen to put the synonyms into groups of three. One set of snowmen are made from different sized snowballs {easier} the other from snowballs of the same size {easier}. Click the picture to download from TPT!

Don't forget to enter for your chance to win one of three TPT gift certificates!! Click to picture for your chance to win!

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Freebie, Sale, & Celebrating

Not to toot my own horn or anything but, it's my birthday! {whoot, whoot!}

So to celebrate I've got a couple of things going on...

First, thanks to some inspiration earlier this week, (I'm Lovin Lit) I bought myself an early gift and have been tinkering with it a bit. As a result I have a small batch of frames made up to share with all of you!

Click the picture to go to TPT to download. Just be kind, leave feedback please & thank you! :)

These frames can be used for personal or commercial use. Each of the three designs has both a thick and thin frame, as well as a white or transparent fill. They are currently a freebie in my store at least through the weekend, but I'm kind of attached to my first frame creation, so get them while you can for free :)

Whilst your there I'm having a sale through Sunday at both my TPT and TN stores. So if you've been waiting for a sale there is one going on now!

Thanks for helping me celebrate!! Have a wonderful day!

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Mentor Text, Daily Deal, 100th Post Celebration

Happy Monday! I hope everyone is having a good day so far and that the stresses that Mondays hold, the end of the year frenzy, and testing times aren't wearing anyone down too much today. I'm here with a hodge-podge of a post, so bear with me please! :)

First up, one of my absolute favorite linkys happened yesterday over at Collaboration Cuties: Mentor Text Link, Science Edition. I knew just the book that I wanted to share, but I left it at school. Rather than journey back up to the building I opted to wait a day. Without further adieu:

If you know me real well, I have a dweeby/corny sense of humor. I couldn't help myself on the one word :)

I have several students who love nonfiction books. This is one book that is picked up quite often. National Geographic has such wonderful pictures and the book is chock full of information that is presented in an interesting way.

 When there is text in this book, it is short snippets, that is presented in an eye catching way. The book is definitely not text heavy, so students aren't afraid to read about the pictures that they see.

Speaking of pictures...this book if full of beautiful photographs. Most of which cover two page spreads, like this... interesting yet terrifying:

It's not so bad until...

There is a whole sea of red. Eek!

At any rate though, it is an interesting read even if it's just a book student's pick up for fun. 

Next up, today only my multiplication madness centers are $1.80 at Teacher's Notebook. I won a daily deal, so if your needing any materials for this year or next, today's the day to check them out!

This is my 100th post! Whoot! I wasn't sure I'd stick with blogging or have enough to say to actually keep this little project up for 10 posts let alone 100. To celebrate, here is a worksheet that come from a packet of fact and opinion activities that I'm currently working on, and hope to finish up before schools out.

 You can download this from TPT or TN.

Last, but certainly not least, the amazing Megan from I Teach, What's Your Super Power & A Bird in Hand Designs (um.. check out the beauty that surrounds my blog... she is fantastic!) Well, she is celebrating 700 Followers! Be sure to check out her blog where she is celebrating for 3 days and giving away some of her favorite things. You don't want to miss out!

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Workshop Wednesday: Writing Bingo

Quick post tonight {I cannot wait until the two classes I'm taking are over. Homework overload!!} I had to take a brain break to join up with one of my blogging buddies, Jessica, for her wonderful Workshop Wednesday!

The activity I'm going to share with you can be used at anytime of the year with various topics: Writing Bingo. I used this during one of my practicums when discussing the ideas trait. Even as an undergrad I had heard more than one student complain that they had nothing to write about. In steps this activity.

Basically, student's work to fill out 8 of the boxes using prompts that I gave. For this example, it's about the first days of school. The center is a free space where students can jot down ideas on a topic of their choice. It was called Writing Bingo, because my practicum partner and I had the student's say "bingo" when they had a designated number of ideas in each box. We gave them a small incentive for doing so.

{Please don't judge the document... it's never been beautified. This was created before my obsession with fonts and clipart. I just wanted you to get the just of it.} You can click to download it if you would like.

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Happy Birthday TBA! {Freebie Loaded Post!}

I'm helping to celebrate Teaching Blog Addicts 2nd Birthday with a post full of my freebies to date. I am currently a K-5 special education teacher, so hopefully, no matter the grade level, you can find a freebie here to take! I've linked up to both TPT and TN so you can download from either one. Be sure to check back at TBA where hundreds of freebies are being posted in celebration!

Assessment sheets for alphabet

Download at TPT and TN

Game for short A and short A nonsense words game. If you'd like the rest of the vowel, I've got a pack for sale as well. 

Download on TPT or TN

I used this game during Valentine's Day for long and short nonsense words but they could be used any time of the year!

Download on TPT or TN 

A hidden numbers activity for numbers through 20.

Download on TPT or TN

Foldables for common prefixes and suffixes

Download on TPT or TN

Rounding coloring activity to the nearest 10,000. 

Download on TPT or TN 

QR book summary that could be used for students in grades 3-12. Fun activity and a different way to give a book report/summary.

Download on TPT or TN

4th grade Math Standards that can be printed on labels to place on folders or binders for organization.

Download on TPT or TN

4th grade Reading Standards that can be printed on labels to place on folders or binders for organization.

Download on TPT or TN 

4th grade reading standard shorthand that can be printed on labels to place on folders or binders for organization.

Download on TPT or TN 

4th grade math standard shorthand that can be printed on labels to place on folders or binders for organization.

Download on TPT or TN 

Hundreds of goodies are already linked up. Click the button at the top to see more.  Be sure to link up and help TBA celebrate!!

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