School and the City

So you raided the Target Dollar Spot and stocked up on some blank books for your classroom. Now what? I love the blank books almost as much as my students do. I use them for almost every final draft writing project, and my students get so excited about "publishing" books. It truly increases motivation and engagement, and I always love the final products! First I created some blank, lined templates with lines of various sizes. (Why doesn't Target start making LINED books??) These can be used for anything and everything! With these templates, I usually pre-cut them for my students quickly with my paper cutter. It only takes a moment and cuts down on distractions. Want these templates delivered to your inbox for FREE? You got it!  Then I got excited and wanted to use blank books for ALL THE THINGS. My second graders needed some help with organizing their books and making them neat, so I created some templates. Here are a few templates that I have created an...

I got an exciting package recently - Oriental Trading! DID YOU KNOW... that Oriental Trading has an entire educational line called Learn 365? and that Oriental Trading's prices are really competitive, and cheaper than Amazon? I was so excited to discover Learn 365 this summer, and had to make some purchases that I think my students and I will love. First, I picked out some money dice. Counting and adding money is a big 2nd grade standard, and I'm always looking for more fun ways to keep my kids practicing. I thought these dice would be perfect for a math center - just roll, then add or subtract! Easy & engaging. money dice:  $4.49  on Oriental Trading Next, I picked out a box of 10-sided Dice in Dice . Yes, they're expensive, but I've had my eye on them for a while and I think it's a worthwhile investment for my classroom. With these dice, the opportunities are endless. I see myself using them for quick addition and subtraction fact practi...

Looking for an easy and fun back to school gift for students?  I found these glasses in the Target party section near the tassels and plates - 6 for $4! (If you don't have a Target convenient to you, here and here are some alternatives on Amazon.) I'm hosting the gift tags on Google Drive and am happy to share them with you: Join my newsletter & I'll send them for FREE! I promise I'll never spam you or share your email address.  Send me the editable gift tags!  We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered By Seva Enjoy!  Pin me:

Thank you SO VERY much for all of your compliments and kind words about my writing board. I love it too - It's one of my favorite parts of my classroom for three reasons: 1. It's pretty so that makes me happy. 2. It's so easy to hang papers. 3. I'm going on year three without changing out the board. Can I get an AMEN?! When I created this board, I hot glued pushpins to the back of clothespins. Then, I put hot glue on the back of the length of the clothespin before sticking it into and onto the board. They don't budge. They hold at least 30 papers throughout the year, no problemo. Yes, the hot glue will destroy the board when I try to pull them off... so I'm just not planning on doing that anytime soon! You know what they say... If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Many of you have been asking me how to make the pencil nametags. Keep reading: 1.   Click here to download this free clipart from Melonheadz. 2.  If y...

I did it! I survived my fourth year - and I can't believe it's already been that long. It may be a little late, but I loved my gifts for my students and room mom this year, so I thought I'd so you real quick! For my students, I bought the giant bubble wands from Walmart that lots of other teachers buy. It's a great deal! I download a free tag from A Little Red Bird Teaches   and ta-da, it was done! I did pitchers for my room moms again this year. This time, I filled them with Lifesavers and made the tag to match. You can download the editable tag here . If you're still in school, hang in there! You've got this!! Pin me!

I dropped a new beat recently... My sweet students REQUESTED a song to the tune of Stiches.  Ahem. I didn't know I was adding DJ  and songwriter to my job title, but it's cool. Click  here  to download a PDF of the lyrics. Click  here  for the music I use (on YouTube).  Click here for a video of my class singing the full song.  Are you looking for some point of view resources? If so, I've got some for you right here ! Think anchor charts, interactive notebook pages, and quick assessments... plus printable song lyrics. Enjoy... Pin me!

At the start of the year, I had a lot of students that struggled with putting ending punctuation in the correct spots.  They knew that they needed to use periods, but would put periods at the ends of lines or in seemingly random spots. I tried helping them by correcting their own writing, by having them read it outloud to try and find the natural stopping points. However, NO ONE enjoys reading their own writing. That's no fun!  My solution was to create my own paragraphs - missing the punctuation - to help my students determine where punctuation is needed.  I call it "punctuation puzzles" to make it sound more fun than it actually is, but there are a few ways that you can make it even more exciting: Who doesn't love food?! I used Skittles as periods, but you could use M&Ms, Cheerios, mini marshmallows.... the options are endless. Side Note - Macaroni noodles make great commas, apostrophes, and quotation marks! P...