Fun Summer Finds and Bloglovin

Hey friends.  I have been out doing some window shopping at a few of my favorite stores.  I haven't purchased anything yet...I usually wait until July.  In our county we usually get a little bit of money to use on our classroom called Florida Lead Money.  We have to keep receipts to verify what we have bought but are allowed to use any purchases we make over the summer (after July 1st).  I hate the wait because I am so afraid the items I want will be gone but I am getting better at self control, HA!
These are a few of the cute items, I want to go back for:

Beach Chairs from Walmart $4.97  How cute are these for a reading center?

Solar Lights from the Dollar Tree.  I would love to have
one on every table.  They have an on/off switch.  They
recharge in fluorescent, incandescent or sun light.
The overhead lights need to be off for them to light
up.  I know the little ones will want them on all day
so maybe a small piece of paper could cover the solar
panel when classroom lights are on.

Display at the Dollar Tree....they were going fast.

Target Summer Buckets Display (middle shelf).  Great to use for Big Books.
$14.99

Plastic Beach Basket...Another Big Book Holder from Target. $5.99

 This sweet little girl isn't for sale.  Meet CoCo...she got a new
red harness and I just had to show her off.  LOVE this dog.
I'll have to do a post about her one day, such a doll.

Last but not least, I have to talk about Bloglovin.  This has me a little worried.  I hope I have everything in place that needs to be done.  I have "claimed" my blog by using the tutorial I found on I Teach What's Your Superpower.  I also transferred over all of the blogs I follow from Google Connect.  Megan has another tutorial on that as well.  Ellizabeth at Kickin It in Kindergarten also has a nice little tutorial about claiming your blog.  Good Luck with the change.

 

 

 

 

Don't forget, please follow me on bloglovin.

 

Tammy

 

 

 

Monday Made It...Christmas in June?

With temperatures like this, sometimes staying inside in the air conditioning is a blessing.  Since I don't have a pool and baking on the beach just isn't my thing, Monday Made it is perfect for me.   

I'm linking up with  Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!  Okay don't judge but I am catching up on a lot of things this summer.  That includes Christmas projects that went undone!  In December we went to this sweet little Christmas store Santa's Claus-et in Gatlinburg.  They had lots of wreaths half price on their little porch  (rocking chairs and swings on the porch...so adorable).  

This German twig wreath caught my eye...I love anything primitive. 

 

I added the mini battery powered LED lights I found at CVS.   The rest of the "filler" items came from a primitive shop we found in Pigeon Forge.  My sweet husband agreed to leave late on our last day just so I could do a little shopping.  I was in heaven finding things for my wreath. Felt poinsettias, rusted jingle bells garland, old mini snowman hat (They actually cost more than the wreath).  Then I came home and found the burlap poinsettia at Kirklands for 75 cents, Score. 

 

 

Finished Project

 

I'm still deciding on a burlap bow at the top.  My daughter thinks it would be too much.  I can't wait to hang it up at Christmas.  It is a very large wreath, spans almost all the way across my door.  I didn't realize that when I grabbed it up at the store.  What do you think?

 

I'll be sharing some fun finds tomorrow from the Dollar Store and Walmart. Already spending money for the classroom.

 

How to Find that Font You Love!

Hey everyone, hope you are enjoying your summer.  I have been making more items for my classroom but really needed a D'Nealian font.  We use D'Nealian or Modern Manuscript in our district. Many of you tech savvy teachers out there probably already know this but if you love a font used in any document you can find out which one it is very easily.  Simply open the document and right click, when the small window opens click on document properties at the bottom.  When the next box opens click on the Fonts tab at the top.  It will tell you what fonts were used in that document.  Sorry for the poor photos but I just did a quick screen shot with my phone. 

Needless to say I found this out after I asked Christina (see below) about fonts she used.  Bless her for getting back with me so quickly.   I have used Young Reader font for many documents in my class but the upper case letters aren't formed correctly.  I'm so particular about what I use that it was driving me crazy to find something better. 


I emailed Christina from Bunting, Books and Bainbridge and asked her about a font she used.  She is so wonderful and shared her handwriting book with me that included a font very similar to D'Nealian.  Even better she is having a HUGE giveaway celebrating her 2nd year blog-a-versary.    Lots and lots of units have been donated so you could win a big haul.  Visit her blog by clicking below or on the links highlighted above. 

 

 

I hope this easy little font tip is something new you can use.  Enjoy!!

Informational Text Features All About Me Book

I have finally finished my Common Core aligned All About Me book.  My kiddos loved it at the end of the year.  As we all know our little ones love writing about themselves.  This book allows them to do just that, using Informational Text Features that we all are finding creative ways to teach. 

After introducing the book my students made a quick connection and were able to quickly identify the features in other non-fiction books.  Love that!

I have geared this book mainly to first and second grade. It could be used for kindergarten or third grade as well.  The time line page would have to be tweaked a bit but I can do that if anyone requests it.  I have it available for $3.00 at my Teacher's Notebook store or in my Teacher's Pay Teacher's Store.

 

 

 

I hope this is something that will make your teaching life easier.  The first three people to leave a comment telling me how you teach this concept to your little cherubs will get it for free.   Don't forget to leave me your email address.  Enjoy.

Another Project Finished

I wish I could say I finished this project in my first week off, but  this was done a while ago.  I just haven't posted the photo.  I was inspired by Cara's wall in her new house.  I just loved it and I had the perfect wall for it. 

I purchased everything at Hobby Lobby.  Love that store.  The best part of this project was that my husband and I were able to accomplish all of the measuring, hammering, and placement of pictures happily.  Ha!  You know exactly what I mean.  I love him dearly but when home projects happen,  it can bring out the worst in couples. 

That Family sign was about an inch off and I knew it would DRIVE me
Ka-razy....but he sweetly took it down re-measured and hung it again.  The rest of the frames were cake after that.   The wall color is Ralph Lauren Crab Apple.  We used Behr paint mixed at Home Depot.    I hope it inspires you to find a wall and decorate this summer. 

Summer Bucket List

Summer is officially here.  Well actually my last day was Thursday but I went in on Friday to do a lot of organizing and throwing away.  I am doing more and more of that every year.  Unfortunately,  I am never the teacher who is packed up and ready to leave the day of post planning.   I like to dust, scrub and cover everything in plastic so that the dust doesn't settle again by August. 

So my summer bucket list has already started.  First I organized my closet.  I threw out all of the shoe boxes that filled the floor and it looks like this:

2. I plan on making lots of these for my own sweet kiddos:

 

 

3.  We won't be traveling to any far away places but will stay close to home and visit Sea World's new Antarctica exhibit.  Love that Florida teachers get a free pass and the Florida Fun Card makes it affordable for our whole family.

 

 

4.  Then I plan on using my mani-pedi gift certificate from one of my little cherubs.   I love these two color from OPI....Barefoot in Barcelona and Lucky Lucky Lavender.

 

 

I know my summer may not sound exciting but I'm so thrilled to just be home and enjoying my quiet cup of coffee at 8ish in the morning instead of 6 AM.  The biggest plus is being at home with my own kids....best part of summer.

Teacher Appreciation Sale

I love a great sale! My entire store will be 20% off.   I have a bunch of clipart on my wishlist.  I can't wait to start creating new units.  Thank you to Krista for her adorable sale button. 

 

If you haven't seen my latest item.  It's my Word Family Sentence Scramble.  The reviews have been so positive. It includes 49 word families.  The download preview has a freebie attached.

 

 

 

Another fun unit that has been selling well on TPT is my Space Adventures in Literacy and Math with included Space Shuttle Craftivity

 

Have fun filling your shopping cart.  Happy Shopping.