Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Your newsletters that is - did you read them??  My products were in BOTH the TpT and TN newsletters this weekend - oh my goodness!  I am beyond excited!  Just ask my husband, I think I scared him when I jumped on the couch Tom Cruise-style!

The Teachers Notebook newsletter featured my Summer Fun Activities and Centers.

And the TpT newsletter featured my Elements of a Friendly Letter Poster freebie!

I especially wanted to share how I use this poster in my classroom because we refer to it all. the. time. in my room.  My students practice writing letters throughout the year.  Every Friday we write in our Friday Journals to our parents (read more about that here).  My aunt also teaches second grade in California, so our students are pen-pals with each other.  They love it!  And I work really hard with my students on writing thank-you notes throughout the year for adults or students in the building who have helped us in some way.

Here is a picture of my writing anchor charts hanging in the back of my classroom.  The letter one is smack dab in the middle!

Some of my other posters are also available in my TpT store as well.

I'm also sharing my linking up with Classroom Freebies Manic Mondays

Go check out all the other freebies that are there and maybe even link up your own! 

Sales, Giveaways and a Tour!

I'm on my way to sunny Florida as you read this because I'm finally on break!  Since I am so excited to be on vacation, I thought I'd pass some happiness your way too!  Here's what is in store for this week:

1. Tour of my classroom

2. Giveaways with each post 

3. A {TpT} and {TN} sale!  

While I'm away, I thought I'd share different parts of my classroom with you.  I started blogging right after school started in the fall and didn't get a chance to share my room with all of you.  I will probably change it again before next year (I love to re-arrange!) so here are some pictures (and explanations) of how it looks now.

This is what you see when you walk in:

To your left...

And to your right...

This is a view looking towards the door...

And here is the back wall...

Yes, I have a HUGE classroom and I don't ever take that for granted!  Some of the upper grades in my school have much smaller rooms (and more kids).

I have a very open floor-plan this year because I have a kiddo who uses a wheelchair/crutches/walker.  I need there to be enough space for her to move about independently in the room.

I'm working on adding color to my room.  I like things to be bright and welcoming!  I also can't function if there is a mess, so my room is neat, neat, neat!  I've even trained my kids to be as obsessive compulsive and organized as me!

Speaking of organization...today's giveaway is My Blogging Calendar!  I created this to help me organize my blog posts and TpT/TN sales.  There's just so much to do and I always forgot when I get to my computer!

All you have to do to enter, is leave a comment.  Tell me anything!  The winner will be chosen when I return from vacation.

Come back soon to learn more about my classroom and to enter to win another giveaway!

Who Do I Love?

Lots of people!  Let's start with Teaching Blog Addict.  I get to "meet" new blogs, earn freebies and they have great links to all things pertaining to your grade level.  So awesome!  And now they have a TBA Fan Page Pinboard too!  Don't we all love Pinterest?!   Go check them out:

I also love Teacher 2 Teacher!  They are having a great link-up with tons of math freebies!  I created a freebie as part of my Money unit.

Go check it out and add your own freebie!

And I love Deb from Simply the Classroom for nominating me for this award!

There are a few rules for accepting this award:

1. Link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Pass the award onto 15 other lovely bloggers.

3. Follow the person who sent it to you :)

15 is a lot.  I'm going against the rules and choosing 5 instead!

1. 2nd Grade Pad

2. A is for Apple, B is for Blog

3. DillyDabbles

4. First Grade Frosting

5.  Marvelous Multiagers

Lastly, I love all the things I've been making for my own classroom!  I'm so glad that I discovered everyone's amazing clipart and how to make my own classroom materials!  Here are my long and short vowel sorts in action:

Find them over at {TpT} and {TN}

The mini chart is from the Target Dollar Spot of course!

RI - It's For Me!

Last week, we had a mini-week.  We were supposed to have vacation but lost due to Hurricane Irene.  So I came up with a mini-unit for the students to work on during our three days.  We researched our state!

First we brainstormed things we already knew about our state:

Then, we did our research and recorded our findings:

 We used many different books to find our information.

We even located our state on different maps!

Last, we put all our information into our All About My State booklets:

The finished product!

I was a little nervous about this project since it was very different than anything we've ever done before.  It was definitely a challenge for my little ones to do actual "research" but, boy, did they surprise me!  Not only did they do a really great job, but they loved it!

Up next:

Learning about American Symbols.  Click the picture to grab it over at TpT or here at TN.

Hopefully they enjoy this just as much!

I Love Money!

Just created a new unit on money!  I created some games and worksheets to help my students build their coin fluency.  It works well with any unit on money!

There are puzzles:

Flash cards/Memory match:

Posters:

And much more!

Check it out at my:

{TpT Store}

{TN Store}

Also, I have a question.  I just watched Charity Preston's Mini-Video course on TpT and I learned so much about the Seller's Forum.  However, I can't get to it!  Every time I click the link for the Seller's Forum, it brings me to the TpT homepage or to a TpT search for products about forums.  Umm...what?  How do I get to it?!?

It in the Cards

I wanted to add on to my Fluency packet last night and instead ended up creating a 36-page set of long and short vowel sorts!  It was a bit much to add onto my Fluency packet so I created The Long and Short of It.  It comes with flash cards, headings for sorting and recording sheets for the students to use.

Get it from my {Tpt Store}

Get it from my {Teacher's Notebook Store}

Here's a sample of my Sight Word Flash Cards too:

Get it from my {Tpt Store}

Get it from my {Teacher's Notebook Store}

I got the cute clipart for both from Graphics from the Pond and KPM Doodles!

And I got these cool fluency phrases from Abby over at Ms. Alley's 2nd Grade Class.

So my dilemma was how to store all my adorable new flash cards??  I want to be able to access them quickly during my guided reading groups.  I found these cute mini portfolios and bucket from Target.  The accordion files fit perfectly in the buckets.  And they're bright colors!

I cut out the "files" from one of them and it is just like a large, durable envelope.

I kept the files in this one to separate my vowel cards.

I LOVE them!  And there's a little extra room for cards that aren't in a portfolio:

All About My State Freebie

In my class, we have been doing the Flat Stanley project.  Learn about it {here}.  We also got some Flat Stanleys sent to us as well!  I really wanted to help my students learn about their state through this process. So this week, since we only have 3 days of school, I thought we would do a mini-unit on our little state, Rhode Island.  To help my students keep track of their research, I created a worksheet for them to record the information they find.  I'm sharing it as a freebie!  Click the picture to get it.

Then, I thought it would be fun to put all our information into a booklet that they could keep.  We'll send some with our Flat Stanleys too.

Check it out in my {TpT store} and my {Teachers Notebook Store}.

Oh, and speaking of my state, all of RI is on vacation this week except my district.  I'm not bitter or anything.

Grand Opening!! And another way to enter

Just opened up my Teachers Notebook shop!  To celebrate my grand opening and President's Day weekend, I'm having a 15% off sale!

And now you have another way to enter my 31 Giveaway.  Add my Teachers Notebook Shop to your favorites and leave me an additional comment on my giveaway post.