Who doesn't love a sale?!?! =)

I was a bit late in getting home tonight, but wanted to make sure that I sent out a quick message about the FANTASTIC sales going on over at TpT this Sunday and Monday, the 12th % 13th.  TONS of sellers are offering 20% off in honor of heading back to school, and TpT is offering an additional 10% off of sale prices.  This means that you have an opportunity to stock up on amazing great resources at great prices just in time for back to school!

Stop on by my TpT store, all items are 20% off already low prices!

Here are a few snapshots of some of my favorite products:

 Third Grade Interactive Calendar Math Pages

 

Swimming Into Subtraction: A Common Core Aligned Math Game

 Kicking Off a New School Year:  A Back to School Writing and Goal Setting Activity

Monster Mash Memory Game featuring Fry Sight Words 1-300!

I'm loading up my TpT cart tonight to get ahead of the game.

Happy Shopping! 

~Heather~

Giveaway and GREAT math resource!

Evening bloggy buddies!  Tonya over at Tonya's Treats for Teachers has two great things going on right now.  First up, she's SO CLOSE to reaching 500 followers!!  That's amazing! =)  So I'm hoping on board to help her reach her goal.  If you haven't stopped by to check her out you should definitely head over there as soon as you finish reading this post! ;)

If you don't already follow Tonya, I highly suggest you do!  She always offers such great tips and resources.  For her almost 500 followers giveaway any new followers will get their pick of her listening center or writing center task cards...pretty sweet huh?  An example of her great resources can be found in her post today.  She came across an amazing math literature resource I cannot wait to use in the classroom.  So, if you don't follow Tonya yet, go check her out! =)  And, if you already follow Tonya, drop her a comment and leave her some love! =)

~Heather~

Monday (almost didn't) Make It...and a FREEBIE!

Phew!  What a long day...our family is going through a very stressful time (mentioned in a previous post), and I have been keeping myself busy while I am home in the hopes of keeping my mind off things.  I had no idea how late it had gotten!  So, hopefully this post will be complete while it's still Monday!  I've have been printing, cutting, laminating, and cutting some more to get all of my common core standards/I Can statements finished.  I purchased a great set from Erin Morrison from www.talesfromroom112.blogspot.com.  She's great!  She even offers a customizable set where she'll work on your individual state's science and social studies as well...AWESOME!  You can check them out here.  I decided to put my display chart together using some black and white ribbon to match my new color scheme.  I love how it came out, although I need to figure out how exactly I want to attach each of the standard cards.  I was thinking Velcro circles, but I'm not sure I like how they line up, so I may have to try strips of Velcro.  I think it might make it easier to line things up.  Here's how it came out:

 

Even the bow looks good, which is a miracle in and of itself!  ;)  

I have also been busy creating many different materials to use with my students.  The first that I've been working on is a common core aligned math game focusing on subtracting fluently within 1,000.  It's called Swimming Into Subtraction, here's a sneak peak!

 It really took a while to get it just right, but I love it! =)  It includes four different sets of subtraction problems, all involving regrouping, the game board, recording sheet, instructions, and answer keys to assist students with checking their work after they have solved the problem.  It is going to make a great addition to my math workstations, and it will to yours as well! 

As mentioned, here's my latest freebie for my followers.  It is my set of binder pages for organizing my teacher binder for reader's workshop.  Here's a sample image:

 

You can download a copy here.  It's time for me to go to sleep...night! Or technically, I suppose it's morning! =)

~Heather~ 

MIA apology...

Wow, this past few weeks just hasn't gone the way that I'd anticipated.  Our family is dealing with a very stressful situation.  My father in law has been fighting hard, but is losing his battle with cancer.  I struggle to handle these types of things, as anyone does I'm sure.  I'm not sleeping well, and when I'm awake it's all I think about.  My husband is the type of person who tends to bottle things up, and is the complete opposite of me, so I'm keeping my thoughts to myself quite a bit.  Our boys know what's going on, but they are young still, so I don't think the gravity of the situation has set in for them yet. If you are a person who prays, our family, especially my mother in law and father in law, could really use them!  I know this is very personal, but I wanted to explain why I've been so sporadic lately with my posts.  I promise to work harder on getting them out from now on!
      Now, in school related news...I am the QUEEN of procrastination!  I have always been this way.  All through undergrad and grad school as well I would always put off assignments until I had the least amount of time left to complete them.  I tend to work well under pressure, so I've managed to deal with this quirk of mine.  When it comes to prepping for back to school, each summer I am at home reading new professional books for all the great new strategies and approaches I want to bring to my classroom and my teaching.  This summer has been no exception.  I started out with a very ambitious reading list, and while I haven't tackled the entire list, I have knocked a few books off of my to-read list.  I read Notebook Connections, and Notebook Know-How both by Aimee Buckner.  I absolutely loved them both.  I found them so practical, and so easy to bring right back to my classroom to enhance my teaching.  I am really looking forward to using so many of Aimee's strategies with my class.  I also read Guided Math.  I have to say I definitely thought the book was going to be different.  I think I was expecting a lot more in there to take right back to the classroom, and I found the book to be a lot of rationale and research behind teaching math through the small guided group work approach.  I am pretty sure I was only disappointed because I had done a lot of research on this approach on my own towards the end of the school year before this summer, and had already wrapped my head around many of the ideas presented in the book.  All that said, I did get some great ideas from reading it, so I was glad that I had it ion my list.  I'm looking forward to incorporating this approach to teaching with my math curriculum.
     Along with my procrastination, I also tend to get overly ambitious with what I put on my to-do list over the summer.  After school got out I needed to purchase a new rug for my classroom as ours was disgusting well worn.  I happened to come across a decent sized rug at Walmart for $20 that I decided I could live with would work well.  I don't have a picture of it yet, but it's a black and white rug.  Nothing in my classroom currently goes with black and white, so take a wild guess and try to figure out what I have spent my summer doing?  If you guessed redesigning my entire classroom decor then you are correct!  So, I'm going with a black, white, and teal color scheme, and I have been creating and purchasing things for my classroom to go with my new color scheme.  My husband's response to this was "Why do you have to change your room theme every couple years or so?"  (Picture him saying that with the most puzzled look on his face.)  ;)  I have managed to snag some good buys, and have a lot that I plan to share soon, so stay tuned! =)  And, if you made it this far with me I thank you, I actually found this to be theraputic in a way!  Also, I just realized that when I wasn't looking I reached over 50 followers!  You are all amazing, and I will have to think of something to do to thank you! ;)

~Heather~

Oh my poor neglected little blog...,a blog hop, and a FREEBIE!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted!  Well, I take that back, I can believe it, things have been crazy around here.  Silly me thinking that summer would arrive and I would have all the time in the world, especially for all of the reading I planned to do to prep for the upcoming school year.  My hubby keeps looking at the stacks of books that I "just had to have" yet are still sitting on the end table. So first, I have to apologize for not being more consistent over these past few weeks.  My older son has been playing on the Jimmy Fund All Stars team for the eleven year old division.  His team is not doing very well, but he personally is doing great, I'm so proud of him!  He's really starting to come into his own and I keep getting glimpses at the young adult he's going to be...<3
We recently returned from our vacation to Lake George, New York.  We had such a great time!  There are so many different things to see and do up there, we couldn't possibly fit it all in, but we definitely crammed what we could into our week stay.  Here are a few highlights:

Locked in the stocks at Fort William Henry...

Watching the ships in the harbor...

The amazing river view that we had right from our campsite...we were right along the river...so peaceful!

 Check out this AMAZING VIEW from up at Fort Ticonderoga!

A view of the fort...

And here is where I wish I could teach...lol  ;)  This was a cute little school house in Story Town at The Great Escape Six Flags in New York.  Talk about ideal class sizes right?  hee hee

I know I'm late getting in on this, but I wanted to join in the fun with Janis over at Grade Three is the Place for Me!

                                                               It's a Newbie Blog Hop!

 

So, here are my responses!

1.  I teach in central Massachusetts.

2.  I teach third grade and love it!

3.  I started teaching in 2006, and have wanted to be a teacher since I was in the second grade.

4.  I started blogging in March, and I am amazed at everything I have learned from all of you amazing educators in this short time!

5.  Blog Baby Blog was able to help me get rid of those nasty prove your not a robot code things lol.  I also plan to start using a blank calendar template to try to better organize my blog posts especially when school starts back up, summer insanity has shown me a need for this! ;) 

I have been working on trying to get some of the things on my to-do list crossed off so that I won't feel like there's a mad rush right before school starts back.  It's definitely been a slow process, but I will leave you with a sample of the pack I am working on finishing up right now.  I am creating a classroom library check out board for my classroom so I can keep better track of what books students are reading from the classroom library.  I am loving the black and white designed library card pockets that I purchased to make the board, and I've been working on creating the sign-out cards that will slip into them.  I designed them so I can print them back to back, and I just have to make up my mind about which design I want to use in my classroom this fall.

Click here for a sample for you to enjoy free! =)

I will do my best to get back to being regular with posts...I promise!

~Heather~

Sorry it's been a while, and a FREEBIE!

I feel bad that I haven't posted in a while.  Summer is definitely keeping our family busy!  On top of that we're prepping for our vacation next week, SUPER EXCITED!  We're going to be camping for a week near Lake George, New York, so blog posts next week are bound to be sparse as well.  So, to tie you over until then ;)  I'm posting this freebie!

Click on the picture to download your copy!

I've been spending a lot of time creating materials to go along with my new classroom color scheme, and wanted to share this with all of you.  Hopefully they will be of use to someone else as well! =)  I have also been working on organizing my reader's workshop binders, writer's workshop binders, classroom labels, etc. but I will post more about them in the future.  I hope everyone has a great rest of the week! =)  I'm off to get some new sandals for my son before our trip, and to do my best to resist all of the school supplies that are being put out already...cross your fingers and wish me luck!
~Heather~

I love the weekend and a FREEBIE!

I have been keeping very busy lately.  Between the 4th of July and keeping my boys busy, I haven't had much computer time.  Here are a few pics from this past week:

 Sparklers on the 4th...

 Happy hikers taking a break near the waterfall we visited...

Our own little slice of beauty close to home.  This is in the next town over from us where I grew up, and it is one of my all time favorite places.  Isn't it beautiful???

So, other than hiking and hanging out with two of my favorite little men, I've been reading my brains out (note to self, don't start more than one book at a time in the future...holy overload!) I've been creating away many different things for my classroom when we go back at the end of August.  I'd like to share one of them with you today.  (FREEBIE ALERT!!)  After seeing the amazing math boggle board on Pinterest by the amazing:

and reading Guided Math and deciding to implement and interactive calendar feature to my classroom this year (more coming on that in the near future, stay tuned!), I decided that I just had to have an interactive math "boggle" type board of my own.  Of course it had to be matchy-matchy (yes spell check, I know that's not a word, deal with it) with my new room color theme, so I made one of my own.  You can check out this freebie by clicking the picture below:

Enjoy! =)
~Heather~