TPT Seller Challenge Week 2

This is now officially more than I blogged all of last year! I am hopeful that this is a new trend. My goal for this blog is to post once a week for the rest of this year.  I know that this weeks challenge was about our dreams for TPT but I thought I would include this one for my blog too, since I really do enjoy the networking and learning that comes from reading others blogs and blogging myself. And now that I put my goal out there hopefully that will help keep me on track!

But back to the challenge..... here are my TPT goals:

So #1 and #2 - We just bought a new house...so the extra income I make with TPT will help to offset our new higher costs, the work that needs to be done on the house to make it a home and hopefully still allow us to take some family vacations.

#3 - I love the way that TPT helps me to be a better teacher on a daily basis. The resources that I find are amazing and I love reading everyone's blogs and learn so much.

#4 - I really have been so blessed in my life by so many people and TPT allows me to pay some of that forward. As I continue to build up my shop and my blog I hope I can do even more of that.

Thanks so much for reading and stay tuned.....not only am I moving my home but I am also moving to a new classroom this summer so there will be lots of posts about setting up and organizing my new room. 

Thank you to all the great bloggers that organized this challenge! Be sure to check them out!

                                               

Blowing Off the Dust and Makeover Madness

Well I have decided it is time to blow the dust off of this little old blog of mine! I just looked and can't believe that the last time I posted it was 2013...WHAT! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN??? I guess I just have been uninspired, which is why when I saw the TPT Seller Challenge I knew I had to join!

When I saw the first challenge was the makeover of a TPT product there was no question it would be my Apple Math and Literacy Activities.  This was my very first product and I gave the cover an update a year or so ago but I was still not happy with it. I have gotten tons of great new clip art so it was time to go to work. I had no idea that it would take me over a week and would lead to adding more activities to the pack, updating all of the clip art,  adding color and black and white versions of almost everything, and redoing the preview for TPT as well! Whew it was A LOT of work but TOTALLY worth it! I just love how it turned out!

And I am impressed that I remembered how to blog! Now my new challenge is to keep blogging! I think I can.... I think I can.... I think I can!!!! On to this weeks challenge!

Thanks to  The Peppy Zesty Teacherista, Third In Hollywood, Sparkling In Second and Teach Create Motivate for such a great challenge!

Classroom DIY

Hey everyone! Sorry I have been absent for sooooo long, the summer has been a roller coaster around here and it left me totally uninspired! But now with school getting ready to start I think I am starting to get my groove back...at least I hope! 

So I thought I would start with some of the projects I have been working on in my classroom lately. 

I had this red bookshelf  and it just didn't go with my classroom color scheme, which is black and white with teal, lime green and purple accents. So I thought hmmm...why not get some chalkboard paint!

 And voila much better already! It took 2 coats to cover the red.

When it was dry I added all of my writing center containers.

 And last but not least I added chalk of course!

I only bought one small container of chalkboard paint from Home Depot. It was only $10! I looked at Michaels and they had the same container for $20!?! I had about half of it left after this shelf. Now I can't stop looking for more things in my room to paint!  So stay tuned for lots more classroom DIY!

I have also been busy setting up a Facebook page to go along with my blog. I would love it if you would like my page. I am working on adding a fan freebie tab where I will be posting lots of freebies for my Facebook fans!

Finally a Five for Friday

I'm finally linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday!  I just couldn't seem to get a Friday post together during the school year.....BUT I am FINALLY on summer break!! At least the rumor is that this was my first full week of summer break. If you read my five random things below you will see why it is just a rumor!!   

1

Well I did have a little break last weekend. My mom and I got my hubby and my dad a NASCAR driving experience. So we all went to Illinois for the weekend to the Chicagoland Speedway so they could drive fast! It was fun and we made a detour to one of my favorite stores IKEA!

2

Then Monday came....you know the first official day of summer break, but not really because we had to be back at school for an all day in-service on our new reading workshop model for literacy next year.  The in-service was actually really good and I am glad I have the rest of the summer to review all of the information and plan what my literacy block will look like.

3

Tuesday I actually had the day off!!! Yay!  I might have stayed in my pajamas all day...maybe....and I might have taken a nap too!

4

Wednesday my break was over! I had to be back at school for our summer school meeting and summer school classroom set up.  Which really meant I had to move a bunch of stuff from my classroom to a different building for summer school. That is because when I got to my summer school classroom there were no books in the reading boxes for summer school.  I thought it might be kind of tough to teach reading review/enrichment to kindergartners without books.  Hence the moving of  what felt like half my classroom!

5

I'll end with some good news from the week......I finally got my new laptop!!!!! Yup that is what I am writing this post on right now! I am so excited!! I spent tonight moving all of my clip art and files from my old computer to this one, but it is sooooo worth the effort! I will soon be creating some new products and freebies for you!

On another note....my  fellow WI bloggy buddy Erin at It's Owl Good in Kindergarten is having her 100 follower giveaway this week...so fly on over and enter. 3 people will win items from some great bloggers! We are also in the process of  planning a WI blogger meet up so stay tuned!

And lastly I am jumping on the Bloglovin bandwagon.  Don't forget to transfer all of your blogs to bloglovin so you can continue to follow all of your favorite bloggers when Google Reader goes away on July 1st. It was super easy to do.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Currently

Whoa...it can't possibly be time for the June Currently!  It seems like just yesterday that I missed the May Currently!  Well even though I am beyond busy and overwhelmed I couldn't let 2 months go by with out participating in Farley's linky! So without further delay here is my Currently! 

Listening: My hubby has decided that it is time to introduce our kiddos to Star Wars so we are starting with the 4th or 1st movie depending on how you number them!  My 10 year old loves it....my 6 year old is not so sure!

Loving:  I am so glad that summer is almost here and I will get to spend some more time with my kiddos....only 9 days to go! (We won't talk about the fact that I am teaching summer school)

Thinking: My summer to-do list is LONG but I can't wait to get started...hoping I will be motivated to get it done.

Wanting: To get our house on the market SOON so we can hopefully sell it and move over the summer. Our kiddos go to school about 25 minutes from where we live now so it will be great to FINALLY live in the same community they go to school in!

Needing:  More hours in the day.....I still have report cards, volunteer gifts, a slide show and more to get done!! AHHHH!

3 Vacay Essentials: Books to read just for fun...because who has time to do that during the school year???, My iPad so I can blog stalk of course and my flip flops because I live in Wisconsin and our time in flip flops is short so you have to make the most of it! 

Hoping to be back soon to tell you the story of my field trip debacle from last week and to share a cute beachy themed art project (from the same field trip).

Teachers Care for Oklahoma

Hey everyone!  I know it has been a long time but....I forget how crazy busy May is both at school and at home! I promise I will have more to share soon...as we are not done with school until June 13th and then I start teaching summer school on June 20th!  But for now I had to share about all of the wonderful things going on to help the victims of the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma!  

First up some wonderful TpT sellers have teamed up to create Teachers Care for Oklahoma! They are offering 4 different bundles of products. Each bundle is worth well over $100.00 and you can purchase each one for only $25.00!  All of the money raised from these bundles is going directly to the teachers at the 2 elementary schools that were destroyed during the tornado.  Click on the links below to take you to the product pages for each bundle, there you will  be able to see all of the amazing resources that are included!

K-2 Bundle 1
K-2 Bundle 2
3-6 Bundle 1 with Clip Art
3-6 Bundle 2 with Clip Art

Next up there were even more TpT sellers (including me) who wanted to do something to help.....so MANY TpT stores are having sales on Monday and donating all of the profits to the American Red Cross for the Moore, Oklahoma tornado victims or other charities that are on the ground helping with the relief effort. You can click here to go to my TpT store, all of the profits from my store on Monday will be sent to The American Red Cross! Donna over at Math Coach's Corner is hosting the linky with all the stores that are participating, so go check it out and get some great stuff and help out Moore,Oklahoma in the process!! Together we can make a difference!

Hope everyone is having a great end to their school year! And if you are already done.....I am REALLY jealous!!!

Mother's Day, The Sale and a Giveaway

Oh my word....I swear I really have been meaning to be better about blogging but, I have just been overwhelmed and busy, busy lately! Sorry I have been neglecting all of my blogging buddies!

But I thought I would share the projects we made for Mother's day, just in case anyone is as big a procrastinator as I am!

These are super easy, quick, cute, and cheap! They are pint sized mason jars from Walmart.  We use the Walmart ones because they are completely plain with no printing embossed on them.  Acrylic paint from Michael's.  I got the Martha Stewart brand this year because it was made for glass and it washed right off the kids fingers.  I also got ribbon and cut it into 18 inch sections and then tied it on the jar and put a few drops of hot glue to make sure the ribbon didn't slip off.

The kids dip their fingers in the yellow paint and dabbed the centers of the flowers on. Then they dip their fingers in another color and make the petals on the flowers. I do this one on one with the kids. I got 21 done in about an hour (we won't talk about all the interruptions I had while I did it!) 

While I worked on the painting the kids were working on the coupon book that went inside the jars. I found it on TpT here. It was free and really cute! It was supposed to be a cupcake but there was no way it would fit in the jar so I just used the coupon part and stapled it to green construction paper.

Of course I have also been busy getting ready for the big TpT Teacher Appreciation Sale happening today and tomorrow!  My wishlist is really long and I can't wait to shop and get some great new stuff! I finished my Summer Skill Pack just in time to post it for the sale!  You can click on the picture below to check it out!  It has a journal for writing, a sight word game, a math facts game and leveled book lists to help parents find books at their child's reading level in their local library. 

And because I feel so bad for neglecting you I will be giving away a copy FREE to someone who comments on this post!  I will pick the winner tomorrow night by random number! Feel free to Pin It as well! I'd love you forever!

Hope everyone is having a great Teacher Appreciation Week! I had a great free dinner at Applebee's tonight with my kinder daughter!