Monday Made It 7/28

Spent the last week in Project Lead the Way training and random time in my classroom.  I don't know about you, but I tend to kind of start lots of little fires.  And the room never really looks like I've made any progress!  That is pretty frustrating!  So, I don't have much to share this week.

I do have one thing I'm pretty excited about that I created for my Parent Orientation this week.  I love trying to find fun and new ways to share the Ins & Outs of 3rd grade.  I really wanted to make a Prezi.  Alas, I just never got around to it.  I settled for revamping my Powerpoint presentation.

I thought an ABCs of 3rd Grade would be super fun!  I used lots of my favorite clips from Melonheadz (LOVE HER!) in the corners to jazz it up.  Here's a sneak peak at "A".
I thought this would be a great way to organize the information I want my parents to have.

To try to keep it all as "paperless" as possible, my whole slideshow will be put on a Padlet to be referred to any time of the year from my class website.  Wouldn't a QR code be the perfect way for my parents to grab it???  If I get some extra time this week, maybe I'll make some business cards with the QR code.  What do you think?  Have you ever done that?  Oh!  And here's a little peak at some of the other slides!


Well, that's it for me this week.  I've put together a version for you, if you think if will help with your upcoming Welcome/Open House!  I've dropped in a few "suggested" titles for each page, but they are TOTALLY editable.  Use the word that works best for you!  I also h ave some blanks included in case you need to add a few extra slides to introduce yourself or whatever.  Heck....you could put your room number in the Black bubble and make a Welcome sign for your door with it!  

Knowing what crunch time feels like, I've marked it down 50% until Tuesday night!  
Click HERE to hop over to my store for the listing.

Have a great week, y'all!  My first teacher day is TOMORROW!!!  Waah!  Where did the summer go?  Oh well, can't wait to meet my 22 new kiddoes though!!





2

Blue Green Focus Wall Pennant Idea

It's official!  Summer seems to have barely started and yet its winding down!  I'm in training this week for Project Lead the Way.  Anyone out there familiar with it?  We'll see!  I'll be the Master Teacher for grades 3-5 at our school, so I guess I better learn all about it, huh??  My mind will be on my classroom and this weeks wonderful Monday Made It posts for when I get home!
Thanks, as always, to sweet Tara for this wonderful sharing event!  Yet another week of no Made-Its for home.  I really should.......

We were allowed back in our classroom this week.  I was super excited to see that not only did they install the MUCH anticipated new touch Promethian boards, but they painted the wall behind it.  Imagine that!  A pop of color in my room!  And it's PERFECT for me!
I didn't actually MAKE this one, but I'm super excited about it!


I wanted to tackle those bulletin boards this week.  Something about having some cute stuff on the walls makes you feel like you're making progress....even when there is a freaking mess everywhere else!!

The bulletin board on the left is the same size as the only board I used to have up front, so I just recycled that same fabric.  I had Math on that side of the room last year, but I need more room for Math.  So.....Reading Focus Wall it is!

I really wanted to switch the style of my pennant banners and came up with this one.  Y'all......I'm in love!  It takes up less space, I'm still not having to make the letters even (since I put right up at the top), and I still get that POP that I want!  
I didn't get very far on my Math Focus Wall yet because I'm still rolling that large space around in my head.  My clean slate is ready to go though!  And LOOKS better than that cork!
My Facebook friends really LOVED my new banners, so I decided to add them to my Blue & Green Classroom Decoration Bundle......and to the smaller set of Editable Labels, Desk Plates & Banners.

If you HAVE it already....go back and download the updates in time for school!

Click on the picture of the product you have so you can get it!

Last but not least, I've been working on getting ahead and having some multiplication task cards ready once CRUNCH time happens pretty soon!  Hoping to front-load some things before we REALLY hit it hard!  I love all these little cowboy clips, so they became a set I can use anytime.
 I'm planning to blog more about them later, but I'll just share the covers for now.  I know you have a lot of pages to visit!   These three new additions are 20% off in interested!

 






That's it for me!  Have a great week, y'all!


5

Two 4 Tuesday 7/15

Super excited that Teaching Tribune is keeping the fun going!


#1
To help get your classroom prep going, I'm putting in my latest Classroom Helpers set.  I created it in Black & White so that it can be a staple in any classroom.
Classroom Helpers Set: Black Polka & Multiple Student Cards

Included:
14 Job Display Cards
-Door
-Lights
-Messenger
-Sub
-Sweeper
-Line Leader
-Trash
-Teacher’s Assistant
-Librarian
-Board Helper
-Snacks
-Tech Assistant
-Lunch Helper
-Caboose
2 Blank Display Cards to Write your Own Jobs

Five Student Name Cards to Choose From
-Red Apples
-4 Boys/4 Girls
-Birds…(Matching my Aqua, Lime & Orange Classroom Set
-Owls…(Matching my Turquoise & Lime Owls Set)
-Numbered Cards 1-28 (Highlighted in Aqua, Lime, Pink, Purple) to match your student’s classroom number

#2
I've made a lot of decor items for the classroom this summer, but I think this one is just a cutie!
This set can be used strictly as a Red & Black classroom set.  All of the labels are Red, Black & Gray, so they stand alone to label your bins, make name tags, etc.
If you are looking to switch up your classroom, you need to check it set out!
 The Desk Plates can also be used as a stand-alone color scheme, or you can use the plates with cute little Pirates or the funky skulls and pirate ship.
You also have two sizes of banners to create your door display or bulletin boards!

ALL are editable
ALL come in a choice of chalkboard or while centers.

There you have it!  My Two For Tuesday deals!
Take a closer look by clicking the links below!





0

Owl Classroom Decor Idea

Hi friends!  Missed Monday Made It last week!  I've been MAKING stuff, but I just didn't have any blog time.  I didn't even get to read the wonderful posts!  I need to do double duty this week, for sure.

But first.......
I hope you will pop into my Facebook page tomorrow (or the next few days) and  join in for this great event to kick off your school year prep.  About 20+ bloggy friends have joined together to hop from Facebook page to Facebook page giving away samples for you to download.  Mine...is a full item you won't want to miss!  If you've never checked out my store, I hope you'll check out my freebie to see the kinds of task cards that I love creating for my kiddoes!  Head over and like my page today, so that you'll get the reminders next time you cruise Facebook!  Click HERE or my Facebook tab at the top of my page!

Now....for the good stuff!

Once again...a big thanks to Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for having such a great blog and treating other teachers so wonderfully all YEAR that we can look forward to Mondays all summer!!

If you ARE one of my Facebook friends, you know that I've been really having fun making some different classroom items for my TPT store.  Stuff that I would like if I had more than one classroom to decorate.  I get these colors or clip art pieces that grow on me and I just have to find more ways to use them!  Over the last few weeks I've been working on these little sets because of the precious Owls Melonheadz clip art I purchased last spring.  My daughter's sorority mascot is an Owl so now I look for Frogs AND Owls wherever I go.  So, if my sweet daughter had a classroom, I think she'd love these!
All of the Editable Labels, Desk Plates, and Banners sets I've been making are pretty similar.
They all have desk plates in two sizes-2 to a page and 4 to a page.  I love the chalkboard look, but I know that for printing purposes, I have to pick and choose when I use that.   So, I've made my sets have both, since it would be hard for me to pick and choose.  All my desk plates also have slides with and without clip art---because, well......I guess I just like options and I figure other teachers do, too!!

Just like all the options above, I've done the same with the labels.  They come 4 to a page and 8 to a page.

I'm pretty much addicted to banners.  They are just easier to me than buying letters.  They cap off any door or bulletin board.  PLUS, I don't have to see if I've lined up the letter right....the ribbon just swags for me!  I've made these in two sizes, too.  3 banners to a page, and 1 to a page.
I just love how they turned out.  If you're an owl fan like my sweet daughter, head over to my store and get a closer look by clicking HERE!

I ALSO made some Classroom Schedule Cards to match them!  I have a variety of colors in my store for the schedule cards, but I decided to make one to match this set perfectly with the sweet owls.   You can get a closer look at that one HERE.
I had been making classroom sets out the wazoo and it occured to me........I had ALOT of blue and green!  So, I branched out and made a primary set of Editable Labels, Desk Plates, and Banners that is HUGE!!!!  I kept playing with color combinations and just couldn't STOP!  The end result was a huge set that any classroom with primary colors really have a variety going on.  For the purposes of sharing, I clustered them to present this way.
 They all come in a plain desk plate, a desk plate with an apple, and a desk plate with a cute Scrappy Kid.  AND the choice of chalkboard and white center.


Banners are included, too....but I left them off here as this post is getting pretty long!!!

So that was my creative outlet just to have fun playing with clip art and digital papers.  It was time to get down to business and go back to MY classroom.

Classroom jobs have been on my brain for a while.  I haven't had classroom jobs for about 3 years.  I always did them in Boy/Girl pairs and rotated them together.  That helped them remind each other and keep each other in check.  The trouble was that I always ended up having either more boys or more girls.  Thus, either the girls or the boys had jobs more than the other.

It has been VERY successful having table Captains.   They collect the papers, pass things out, check to see if names are on all the papers, etc.  I am planning to keep doing THAT for sure.  If you've never considered it...DO!!

That said, I decided to return to classroom jobs.  I think I will keep it small though.  When my captains turn in work, they come to me.  I think I'd prefer to have an assistant do that.  Let me continue prepping for the transition to the next lesson while they handle those kind of tasks.  Kids always want to be the messenger, so I thought that would be a good job to have.  Since we are a digital 1:1 school, when trouble pops up....I can't get to kids quickly enough!  Having a Tech Assistant is just the ticket.  And frankly, they often know how to fix a problem quicker than I do!  That's just a few to start, so I whipped up some cards to display in my room.

The black and white is perfect for my classroom!  I'll be using numbers next to the jobs to rotate each week, I think.  That system is great and won't require me to remove labels or get GooGone out to get sharpie off the labels to reuse.  Knowing that others don't do that, I made a few extra pages so others could use them, too.  Threw in my cute birds that match my Aqua, Lime & Orange Classroom pieces, a page of my newest Owls, and a page of Apples since, well.....apples are just a school teacher thing that ALWAYS works with ANY theme!  Then, I made two more pages with just some cute little kids.  I might just have to use them!!  If you are in need of revamping your Classroom Helpers Chart, click over and take a look HERE!

That's it for this week!  I"m heading back into the classroom to start setting up THIS WEEK!  AAH!  Hoping to be very efficient in doing this!!  

Don't forget to get my Freebie on my Facebook page in the next few days!!  It's a good one!!









3

Two For Tuesday #6

July is just zooming along!  How many of you are knee deep in prep?  I'm not sure I ever got OUT of prep!  I have two things that will help with your math prep if you are is IN to task cards as I am!!

#1



I'm super excited about this task card set.  I love having some challenging activities on hand, or some extras that I can pull for small groups.  I hit that with this one.
I love this set!  Kids have to problem-solve to find the value of a number using only CERTAIN units.  In this example, the student might use place value blocks to solve.  

 This example shows how a student might have a higher understanding of value and can link the digits together to determine value.
I also made a Black & White version, so it can be copied on your school printer with pretty colored paper!  I sometimes like to have multiple copies of a center, and this is certainly an ink saving way to do that.  I've also seen task cards printed out and glued to the center of a large sheet of paper.  Small groups work together outside the task card to solve.  These puzzlers would be a great activity for that, too!
I have made four different kinds of tasks.  So, you could bundle 6 like cards together, pull a small group, and do this one way together.  I've included a small group answer document just for that purpose.  Now, you have 4 mini-lessons ready to differentiate with your students!!

#2


I'd like to get my kids started with some of the basic concepts of multiplication pretty early.  I think this set will be a great way to do that!

Student will use the card and the answer document to create their own arrays.  I wanted to save time and force my students to create rows and columns accurately by creating an answer document that will ensure success.  In this example, the student might solve by using repeated addition.
A student who is a little further along might be ready to write the array with a multiplication sentence.  This is the first in my series of a "Round-up of Multiplication" activities that I'm working on. Stay tuned for more!  Find out right away by following my Facebook page and following my TpT Store!

These two little gems are half price until 9pm CST tonight!  Here are the links if you want to grab these up today!

Place Value Puzzlers

Quick Draw...Arrays!

See you next week!!

3