Markdown Monday!

I am excited to link up with Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations for their Markdown Monday linky party!  I just LOVE that they have this awesome linky every single week!!  If you have never heard of this linky, here's a quick run-down.  If you create activities and sell them online through sites like TPT and Teachers Notebook, you can choose whichever product or products you wish to mark down in price.  You also choose how much you mark them down for.  They will stay at this markdown price for the entire week, and it's a great way to stock up on your favorite sellers' activities!!  Make sure to click on the Markdown Monday picture at the end of this post to take you over to see who else has linked up this week!!

For my Markdown Monday this week, I am going to mark down EVERY SINGLE ONE of my Halloween-related activities!!  Each one is going to get marked down by $1.00, AND I am currently throwing a SALE!!!! Perfect reason to stock up on activities you can use for the last few weeks of this month, and stock up with activities you can use during the Halloween season next year!!

All you have to do is click on the picture below to hop on over to my TPT store.  Once there, use the Quick Find search box and type in 'Halloween'.  All of my Halloween-related activities will pop up, and you can check out their discounted prices.  Also, any activities I'm able to finish this week will be marked down too!!

I hope that you are able to find something you are able to use!!  Don't forget that my 100th product, that I posted yesterday, is a pretty sweet Write the Room FREEBIE that will fit perfectly into your room this time of year!!

What is your FAVORITE part about this season?  I LOVE the Fall, especially watching the leaves turn such beautifully gorgeous colors!!

Don't forget to go back over to Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations to see who else has linked up with their Markdown Monday linky party!!

Extreme Blog Makeover!

Welcome to my BRAND NEW blog!!!  I was lucky enough to have my blog completely redone by Designs by Kassie!!  Did she not do an AMAZING job!?!  I am totally in love with my blog's new look, and I just LOVE how it fits my theme!!  Have you seen the 'Pin Me' button she created??  It's a DRAGON!!!  :-)  It was an investment well spent!!

I am also celebrating a personal milestone!  Back in June, I set a goal for myself.  This morning, that goal was FINALLY achieved!!  

My original idea was to have 100 items posted in my TPT store by the end of the summer.  At the time, I had 75 items in my store.  I thought it'd be easy-peasy to get 25 items done over the summer months.  Wellll.........life happened and most of my summer was spent exactly as it should be, with family and friends!  :-)  So by the time school started up again, I had only been able to raise my total activities posted to 90.  Not too shabby, but still not the original goal. I wasn't able to meet my original deadline, but I have finally gotten 100 products listed in my TPT store!  I thought it fitting that the 100th product should be a FREEBIE for all of you wonderful folks who have inspired me to keep creating!!

This little freebie is a Write the Room activity created around smiley spiders.  This activity focuses on the numerals 1-10, the number words 1-10, and the colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, brown, and gray.

Each poster has a different number represented by a set of same-colored spiders.  The matching number words are also on the posters, done up with spider-web letters.

There are two different types of recording sheets.  The first type focuses on the numbers 1-10 and matching those numerals to a set.  

Students must identify the number and find the spider set that matches.  They then write the number word on the line next to the numeral, and color the numeral to match the color of the spiders.  There are two sheets, one for the numerals 1-5 and another for the numerals 6-10.  You could either use these to differentiate for students in your room, or copy them back to back and have the students work on all of the numbers. 

The next recording sheet has students reading the given color word and then finding the set of spiders that matches that color.

When students find the matching poster, they are to draw the amount of spiders in the set.  Since the black spider poster has ten spiders on it, students would draw ten black spiders in the box labeled with the black crayon.  You could also have them write the matching numeral inside the box, if you wish.

I hope that you enjoy this freebie, and that you help my celebrate this milestone!!  I am going to be throwing a SALE in my TPT store, where every single product will be listed at 10% OFF!!  Stock up on all your favorites!!  Check back tomorrow to see which products I mark down EVEN FURTHER!!!

Markdown Monday

Happy Monday!!  I know that many of you educators out there are enjoying this last day of holiday break before heading back to school for your first day tomorrow!  I also have friends who have already been back to school for an entire month!!  Not to mention the blogging friends I've made from Australia, who are getting read to wrap up their year in just a few short months!!  Makes your head spin a bit, doesn't it?

As for my, tomorrow marks my 4th day with students.  We had a three-day week last week and a four-day week this upcoming week, which is a good start at getting our kiddos used to the rules and routines of the classroom.  One of the main concepts we're introducing this week is Rhyming.  Since today is the Markdown Monday linky party hosted by Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations, I decided to markdown ALL of the rhyming activities in my TPT store by AT LEAST $1.00.  Not too shabby, eh??  

This activity full of practice pages has been marked down to just $2.00!!!

A Write the Room Rhyming marked down to $1.00!!!

This St. Patrick's Day-themed rhyming activity is also just $1.00!!  Grab it now to use in March!!

This fun rhyming activity is available for just $1.00 this week!!

My newest activity, which I am going to be putting at my Pocket Chart Center, is marked down this week to just $1.00!!!

I am also in the midst of several more rhyming activities, and I hope to get them added to my TPT store by mid-week.  They will also be marked down $1.00 off until next Monday!!  Don't forget to hop over to Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations to see who else has linked up for Markdown Monday and put some of their products on sale for the week!

BOOST SALE & Entry Conferences

Hump Day!!  I've been uber busy this week, as I'm sure so many of you are!!  I forgot my Book Talk Tuesday book, so that'll have to be a Book Talk Thursday!!  :-)  

DID YOU KNOW THERE IS A TPT BOOST SALE GOING ON RIGHT NOW?????  IT IS A ONE DAY ONLY SALE SO MAKE SURE YOU VISIT BEFORE MIDNIGHT!!!!!!!!!  USE PROMO CODE 'BOOST' FOR AN ADDITIONAL 8% OFF!!!!!!!

Tonight our school had our 'Cookie Social', which is an opportunity for students and families to visit the school and take a 'walking tour' where they can visit their classroom, the specialist classrooms, the cafeteria....pretty much anywhere they want to visit.  We hang out in our rooms and talk with any families that show up, show them around the room, and try to talk to them to see how comfortable they are with coming to school. I get a chance to see the personalities of my kiddos before they come to me ready to learn. No assessing or conferencing or anything like that, just a chance for students ad their families to visit school before they return for the year. Tomorrow is the first day of school for students in grades 1-12.  Early Childhood grades will have entry conferences with students and families.  Early Childhood students will start school next Tuesday.  Tomorrow I have a day full of entry conferences, which is always exciting yet a bit stressful too.  Exciting because I get to meet my incoming kinders and briefly assess them on some basic skills, yet stressful because there is always SO MUCH information to fit into the short time given for each conference.  I'm always afraid I'm going to forget something!!!  This year I made myself a check list to keep me on track!  Here is what I will be trying to fit into 20 minute entry conferences tomorrow.

 This is the front of my checklist....

And this is the back.  The lines are there just in case I forgot something.

Tomorrow I will share with you the different forms I made for parent/student information.  I can't wait for you to see my 'conference table', which is one of my kidney tables set up with all of the papers I need to go over.  It's pretty colorful!!  :-)  If you are back in school with your kiddos, I hope that you have a wonderful end of the week!!!

I had such a great time at the Cookie Social meeting new kids and visiting with former ones.  Does your school/grade level do anything similar?  Maybe an 'Ice Cream Social' or a 'Meet the Teacher Night'?

Bright Ideas Linky Party

Hi everyone!!  Did you just finish up your first week of school?  How did it go?  Are your littles back in school yet?  I am linking up today with Miss V's Busy Bees for her Bright Ideas linky party.  You really need to check out the rest of the ideas on this linky after you're done reading!!  :-)

I have spent my past week getting my classroom set up.  I am very, very grateful for having such an extended amount of time before we have to 'officially' return to school.  The first few days before the kiddos arrive are usually so filled with meetings and what not that it is hard to get anything done in the classroom.  I am incredibly lucky to have a principal who allows us to plan together as a team and get into the building to set up our classrooms, and I couldn't be more grateful.  On Tuesday, this is what I walked into.

 This is the view from the front door of my classroom.  The top picture shows the left side of my room, and the bottom picture shows the right side.  I decided to totally rearrange my classroom this year, so while having everything piled into the center of the room was trying at times, it was also perfect for moving things into the spots I wanted them.  Luckily for me, I had my nephew Mason to help me move furniture!!

My bright idea is one I saw on Pinterest.  I cannot find the Pin anywhere, which reminds me that I never finished my Pinterest Makeover.  Sigh.  Anywho, I'm sure it's a Pin you've seen.  I have also seen it on Facebook.  This bright idea is for hanging resources up on walls that are painted.  In other words, this is a safe way to hang things on your walls without getting in trouble for destroying them.  It involves using painter's tape, and/or hot glue.  First, you outline the space you need on the wall in painter's tape.  Then you either apply double-sided tape or hot glue ON TOP OF the painter's tape, and attach your resources.

This is a frame I made for my Word of the Day poster.  I applied the painter's tape to the wall after I measured it against the edges of the poster.  Then I put up double-sided tape, and attached the poster.  You have to be extra-sure when you line up the poster, because it's a pain to try and take down to readjust it. The double-sided tape will either stick to the painter's tape or the poster, but of course never just one or the other.  Also, when the painter's tape gets pulled off the wall it begins to curl and twist, which can make it tricky.  After I tried this method, I saw a FB post about a collection of 'Teacher Tips and Tricks', and when I read through them I saw this being done with hot glue in place of the double-sided tape, so of course I had to try that!!

I used the painter's tape to edge out my back chalkboard.  After I finished that, I applied hot glue right to the painter's tape and then applied my border.  It was only after I had already started that I realized the border I was using wasn't laminated and would therefore need to be trashed at the end of the year.  Ah well, I had already started so I kept going.  

While this is not an idea that I came up with, I wanted to share it with you for the linky today.  I had several teachers in my building say they had seen this trick on Pinterest or Facebook and were wondering if it worked or not.  As of Friday when I left, everything I had put up with the painter's tape was staying on the walls.  We'll see how long this lasts, but I was able to create several bulletin boards on my cinder-block walls using this trick.

The blue 'Math' board on the right of this picture was created using the blue painter's tape and double-sided tape trick.  I have since added more resources to this board and so far it has stayed up on the wall!!  (The yellow board next to it is attached to the wall, and most classrooms have at least 3 of these boards in their rooms.)  I also created my Job Wall board using painter's tape and hot glue, but for some reason I never took a picture of that one.  D'oh!!

Don't forget to hop back over to Miss V's Busy Bee's to see who else linked up to share their bright ideas.  Oh, and Miss V is sharing about how she uses Washi tape in her classroom.  I'm dying to try it in my room too, but I'm wondering if it leaves a residue on the walls when it's removed?  I chose the painter's tape because it is supposed to come off cleanly without leaving a residue or removing paint.  I would love to use Washi tape to section off my Word Wall, which is on my chalkboard this year.  Have any of you used Washi tape on chalkboards before?  Does it leave a residue after you remove it?  I don't think I would be allowed to leave it up on the board all summer long, due to classroom cleaning.  I would love to hear your advice on this, or on something I can use instead.  I thought of using painter's tape and then applying ribbon on top of it using hot glue, but that seems like a lot of work...  Would love to hear your thoughts!!!

SALE, SALE, SALE!!!

Tell me you've heard about the huge TPT sale that is going on RIGHT NOW??!!  Unless you've been under a rock (or are just now coming back from vacation....) you should know that TPT is having a HUGE Back to School sale!!  This is a super-wonderful opportunity to get all stocked up for the start of the school year!!  I have had my cart stocked for DAYS now, and was so excited to go buy it all!!!  Now I'm just waiting for everything to finish downloading so that I can get to creating!!  Is it bad that I'm contemplating spending even MORE money at TPT before the sale is over???.....

Anywho, here are  a few things you can pick up at my store.  Did you know my store is on sale for 28% OFF???!!!!  All you have to do is use the code BTS14 at checkout time to get 8% off of my already 20% off store!!  Pretty awesome!!!  

You can get all sorts of beginning of the year activities in my store that you can save big on during this sale!!

This is a super-fun Write the Room activity that your littles can work on to practice counting up a set of objects and matching it to a numeral.  This little gem focuses on the numbers 0-10 and is a great activity for your littles to work on independently while you meet with other students!!

This is a really awesome center activity that you can create for a center during your math rotations.  Or, if you're trying Guided Math this year, this can be a Math with Self or Math with Someone Else activity.  (We've been doing 'guided math' in our district for many years, but this year our kindergarten team is going to model it after the Daily 3 model created by those AMAZING sisters of the Daily 5 and Daily CAFE!!!)

I really like using Write the Room activities in my classroom, and my kinders really like them too!!  This is my newest product, a Write the Room for the very beginning of the year.  Students will need to use a response sheet and find the different school-related posters throughout the room.

The response sheets get copied back-to-back, and students use a clipboard to walk around the room searching for the posters containing the pictures that match the ones on their sheets.

These posters get placed around your room wherever you want to put them.  I try to space mine out around the room so my kinders can get a chance to get up an moving.  I also try to place one or two in a 'tricky' spot.  This usually makes the activity last longer because they have to search for the last one or two boxes on their page.  Once students find the matching picture, they have to look at the two choices inside the circles.  If you are having them ID the letters, they will need to write down the letter they see.  Vice versa if you're having them search for numbers.  I know that some littles aren't quite ready to copy from a model when they first get to school, so I included another version of the recording sheet.

For this version, they only have to color in the circle that contains the letter or number they are searching for.  Having two versions of the recording sheet means that I can differentiate for the needs of my littles and make sure that every kinder has a sheet they can work with.  This means that every kinder will be working during the rotation time.  When they are finished finding the letters/numbers, I have them sit down and color in the pictures.  They can use their clipboards to sit anywhere in the room <within reason> to color in.  They like getting the chance to work in different locations around the room.

There are plenty of other activities in my store, too!!  Stock up on things you'll need later on this school year while you can!!

 Make sure to head over to my store and check out my other products, then do a little more TPT shopping before checking out and using the code BTS14!!!  Happy Shopping!!!!

Markdown Monday

Happy Monday all!!  Are you headed back to school this week??  If so, I shall be thinking happy thoughts for you!!  :-)

Smily Apple designed by Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs.

Today I am linking up with Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations for their Markdown Monday linky party!!

In case you didn't know, this linky is all about marking down products in our TPT store and keeping them on sale for the entire week.  Last week I had an awesome bundle of Write the Room activities. This week I am going to be marking down other items...and you're in luck, because until Wednesday I am having a SALE!!!!

This is the week to stock up on items that can help make your transition back to school much easier and less stressful!!  Since I'm celebrating so many happy events, I'm putting THREE of my products at 50% off PLUS the 20% off Birthday Sale...so you will save 70% on these items!!!  CRAZY-TOWN!!!!!!

**Remember, these products are 70% off until midnight on Wednesday, July 23.  Then they will be 50% off until Friday, July 25th.**

First up, I have one of my favorite Write the Room center activities.  I really love Write the Room activities, because students can complete them independently AND they are able to get up and move around.  This activity focuses on the teen numbers, and students walk around the room identifying teen numbers as a group of ten and some more ones.

From now until Wednesday night, this activity is only ONE DOLLAR!!!!  WHAT?!?!? Yep, just $1.00.

Face graphics from Zpi-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs.

My next activity is the best-selling item in my store.  I use this when we start talking about story elements, and it helps my kinders to understand that certain characters fit best into certain settings, and vice versa.  

Until Wednesday, you can get this best-selling item for the super-low price of $1.20.  That's 70% OFF the original price!!  Thursday and Friday this product will be 50% off, and then will return to the regular list price.  However, it is at the top of my list for Product Makeovers and I will very soon be adding more to this activity.  Make sure you get your copy before the price goes up!!

Star smiley graphic from Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs.

Finally, I am marking a beginning of the year product down.  This is my All About the Alphabet packet, and it is what I am going to be using as homework this year.  I am also hard at work creating new practice pages to go with it, so make sure to grab yours at the amazingly low prices this week!!

Remember, until midnight on Wednesday you can get this for 70% off, which means you pay $1.40!!!  After midnight on Wednesday, the price changes to 50% off, which means you will still pay a low price of $1.75!!!!  This packet, so far, has 3 pages for each letter.  It's only going to grow as I create more ways to practice our ABCs!!  You can read my blog post about how I used this with my little friend Kelli by clicking {here}.

Don't forget to hop back over to Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations to see who else has linked up for Markdown Monday.  It really is a great time to start building up your resources for the school year!!  There are activities for all different grade levels in this linky, too, not just kindergarten!!  :-)

I'll be back later on tonight to post about linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made It, and I'll be sharing an activity that I'm working on to go along with Book Talk Tuesday tomorrow!!  Stay tuned!!

p.s. - All of the super-adorable smiley face graphics in my post today were designed by Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs, and you can find them all AND MANY MORE at her TPT store FOR FREE!!!!!  Just click on the button below to go over to her TPT store and check out all of the amazing clip art she offers!!