Teaching: August 2012

Teacher Week- Day 2 & My Sewing Project

Technology Tip Tuesday

Okay, so I have pretty much been trying to think all day long about the best technology tip I have to share with you. One that maybe hasn't already been posted 100 times. I'll probably repeat. I'm sorry.

1. USE POWERPOINT. Seriously. I can't stress this enough. I get asked all the time what program I use to make things with & I think people are shocked to learn it's Powerpoint. I learned this the hard way. I used to basically pull my hair out over trying to position something in a word document. Powerpoint makes your life so much easier. I'm actually in the process of moving all items I created in a word document to Powerpoint so that I can edit them easily when necessary!

2. PIXLR EXPRESS. I love this site. I used to be a devoted Picnik user for editing pictures, like cropping and adding frames, but then they shut down. Pixlr express is now my new favorite site to do this on!

3. SAVE AS PICTURES. When making something with Powerpoint, always click File- Save as pictures.. this will save each slide as a .jpg and makes your life so much easier to create previews of a unit, or upload images to TpT & TN.

4. PicFrame & Label Box. These are 2 apps on my iphone that I use all.the.time. to put pictures together [like the one below] I definitely suggest purchasing them!

PicFrame

Label Box

Now, my sewing project I shared with you yesterday...

Ta-da!

I've had that ugly fabric, cut with scissors and safety pinned around a tension rod up for 2 years. 2 YEARS, folks. That's a long time! My mom is basically a sewing ninja, but I don't like to bother her to do this stuff for me. I am so excited that I have my own sewing machine and tackled my own project!

It's obviously too long, I guess I rounded up my measuring without realizing. I can still cut and hem it again though so no worries! I'm pretty proud of myself!

Teacher Week-- Day 1!

Must-haves Monday!

When thinking about my must haves, there are a million things I'm sure I could list, but I tried to think of what allows me to keep my sanity during the school day.

First things first, coffee. I'm one of those who is not awake until I have my coffee.

No, I don't go to starbucks every morning--I wish! But I hope to make it there more Friday mornings this year than last year.

Second things second, my lesson plan book. If I showed up to work one day without this, I would probably have a mini meltdown on the inside.

Click the photo to see my post on making your own planner--like this one!

Third things third, my Erin Condren planner. I would most definitely have a huge meltdown on the inside without this. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I need my own routines & schedules, just like my kiddos do!

Fourth things fourth, flairpens, crayola markers, and/or sharpies. I use a combination of these three on a daily basis. Every entry in my planner is color coded. i.e. lime green=meetings, pink=blog designs, etc.

Fifth things fifth, bins and containers. I am a a self-admitting bin hoarder. I buy bins as if I were a personal shopper and I was going to dress someone in them. Even when I buy new bins, I'm afraid to let the old ones go. It's a problem. I'm always keeping an eye out for a "perfect bin" for that "perfect organization" that keeps me from losing my mind every day!

What are your classroom Must Haves? If you haven't already, save the picture above and head over to blog hoppin to link up for Teacher Week!

P.S. I'm attempting my very FIRST sewing project on the sewing machine I got for my birthday. It's a classroom project so I hope to show it off soon!

Closing Teacher's Notebook

Thank you for answering my poll questions! I have decided to close my Teacher's Notebook store. There are a few items, and free items left in my store, but I will not be adding any of my new items to my store.

If this inconveniences any of my buyers, I apologize. I find that keeping up with 2 shops and selling blog designs is bit much for me. Especially as I am editing/updating all of my shop items.

If you are interested in still shopping my items, you will find all of them at Teachers Pay Teachers!

Thank you for understanding!

How to Add Fun to the Start of the School Year!

....with an air-cast walking boot! Yep. This is real.

I have a stress fracture in my ankle--from running.

I will be starting a school year with a robot leg. I feel like I have a toddler sitting on my foot. I'm sure this should make things really interesting. I can't get up and down from the carpet that well, and since I teach 3 & 4 year olds, that's where I like to be. Praise the Lord I have no "runners" in my class this year.

At least I don't have crutches with it.

And I only need to paint 5 toes instead of 10 toes.

And I got all of my classroom furniture moved BEFORE the boot. [not before the injury...]

Let me tell you, this thing is truly exhausting to walk around in. And my shoe selection is very limited to whatever shoe brings my right foot to the same height as my left one...

But if it rains, I'll only need 1 rain boot!

Have you ever had the pleasure of wearing one of these things? What tips can you offer me--I'm open to any suggestions!

Thank You, Help Me, & Pirate Numbers!

First off, thank you so much for all of the purchases you made from my TpT store during the sale! I can certainly say it was a success! :) I enjoyed making some purchases myself (and then found myself still making purchases on Tuesday after the sale had ended!)

Now, I need your help. Big time. Because I'm really indecisive, and these decisions will impact you as my TpT & TN buyers!

My first question, where do you shop more? TpT or TN? It's hard to keep up with both stores. I'm considering closing my TN store, unless you tell me other wise! Please take a second to answer these poll questions! :)

Where do you shop more?

Now, next question!

Should I close my TN shop?

Thank you for answering my poll questions! Now, on to sharing my Pirate Number cards with you! I had a request for these to match my Pirate Alphabet Cards, so I created cards with numbers 0-25 on them.

Click me to purchase on TpT!

I also updated my Pirate Alphabet Cards to match these (with font)

Click me to purchase on TpT!

There are a lot of my files in my TpT store that I plan on updating. I made a lot of items with word when I first started out and my OCD is kicking in. I want everything to look the same, with the same credits page and so on. So bear with me while I gradually update some items!

DJ Inkers License & Pet Unit

So way back here I posted about the pets unit that I created & then realized I couldn't sell it because it used all DJ Inkers clipart. Well, DJ Inkers now offers a license! [Someone PLEASE make sure that Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher knows this!]

I don't know if you know that or not, but now you do! I purchased my license this weekend and now I can finally post my Pets Unit on TpT!

[To save you from making the same mistake I did, if you want to sell items on TpT, then you need to purchase license #2!]

Here's my pretty license, now displayed at the bottom of my blog.

So, before TpT's back to school sale ends, I wanted to get my pets unit posted! I did some updating to the cover page and credits page, but other than that the activities pictured in my first post are still included.

Click here to purchase this item on TpT! It's included in the back to school sale for the rest of today, and in the sale I'm continuing tomorrow (aug. 14th) for 20% off!

TpT Back to School Sale & Birthday!

The TpT back to school sale kicks off today! Head over to my store to save up to 28% on all items priced over $1.00! August 12th & 13th!

Be sure to enter the code BTS12 to get that extra 10% off!

But wait! August 14th is my birthday, and I want to celebrate that too, right?! My items priced over $1.00 will be 20% off on August 14th! [This will be perfect, just in case you miss the sale!]

Create Your Own Lesson Plan Book

There are 3 things I'm certain of.

1. We have all seen this post/image in blog/pinterest land.

Creating your own lesson plan book! [click photo for original post]

2. We all added this idea to our to-do lists.

3. We were all in tears when we realized there was no template available for this idea.

There was one 1 thing I was uncertain of.

1. Can I make a template for this myself?

Well, I am now certain that I can do it. Because I did. I made my own lesson plan book. Do I love it? ABSOLUTELY! I feel like it's my baby. No more writing in everything, EVERY. WEEK. and drawing those lines EVERY. WEEK. Here's how it turned out.

Sorry for the horrible lighting in the pictures

All ready to be filled in!

First I created a template for my lesson plans on word & was sure to change my settings to legal size paper.

After some time of aligning, tweaking, and typing, it was time to print.

I had to babysit my printer through this process--maybe you won't have to. I then fed the paper back through the printer so that I could get double sided pages.

Next, I had to create my front cover & back cover. Legal size too!!

I purchased some legal size laminating pouches to use with my home laminator for my front and back cover.

All pieces ready to go to Staples!

Final step--drive 2.3 miles to your local Staples, Office Max, or Office Depot with all of your pages carefully placed on your lap & get your book binded for around $5 if you wait, or around $2 if you come back later!

I am seriously so in love with this thing! It turned out so much better than expected and will be such a time saver to not have to write in all the schedule info and lines every week.

NOW for the best news--you can buy a template for yourself! It's a word document so you can edit it, but I suggest googling and downloading the font "PlainPrint" so that the font does not show up funny!

When you purchase this template, you will also receive 3 editable cover options to choose from. Just edit and print your favorite one! Here are the options included:

Google and download the font "Champagne & Limousines" for the font used in the title pages. These too are editable to your preference, I just included my information to inspire you!

Here is a close up of the schedule template and the page I made to go right after my cover page.

No, we won't be eating snack right after lunch. That header up there also includes nap/quiet/bathroom

Sorry this post is super long! I just had a lot of detail and information to share with you!

Click here to purchase this kit/templates on TpT!

P.S. I will be participating in the TpT back to school sale, starting tomorrow! Go add this item to your wishlist now! :)

New Substitute Binder Themes!

I have been working on more themes for substitute binders. If you missed my first post, you can click here to check out the themes I posted the last time. Scroll down to see what's new and click the links under them to purchase each binder packet for $2.00! [The TN links are not active yet--they are having problems with the file up-loader!]

If you have any questions about them, or requests for a theme, just let me know!

Owl Theme

Purchase on TpT Purchase on TN

Frog Theme

Purchase on TpT Purchase on TN

School Theme

Purchase on TpT Purchase on TN

Apple Theme

Purchase on TpT Purchase on TN

Teacher Magnets

Welp--I took a week off from blogging. I spent some family vacation time in OBX this week without the internet. I hope you didn't miss me too much. But while I was gone, a special package came! I have been impatiently waiting to share this with you, but needed the actual item first!

Teacher Information Magnets!

I know you could really find that info if you wanted to, but hey, I don't need to broadcast it! :)

I saw someone do this last year, and I absolutely loved the idea. Then I remembered that *great* site I read about a lot. VistaPrint! I went to their website and sure enough, I found a *great* deal on "business card magnets"--I could get 25 of them for FREE!

I only have 10 students this year, so that is perfect! They offer lots of customizable options, which I played around with a lot. I finally decided that I just wanted to upload my own images to match the information packets I was sending home this year.

They got me at checkout when I found out that each uploaded image cost $3.47 but I was too in love with my design by that point. And hey--they were FREE to start!

I was pretty impressed with the quality too! Head over to VistaPrint now--hopefully you still have time to get your order in before your school year starts!

I hope my students' parents find this to be an easy way to keep track of my information and find it quick and easy when they need it!

Sticker Organization & Freebie

There are so many sticker organization ideas out there. I fell in love with Hadar's method last summer, but I don't think I have anywhere to hang such a thing. [Nor do I have that many stickers!!]

Here I am stealing Hadar's pictures again...

This summer I fell in love with this idea at Kinder- Craze

How ADORABLE is that box! She made it with scrapbook paper! It's a shoebox! This idea was my inspiration to finally take the plunge and organize my stickers. The fact that I also bought close to a gazillion stickers this summer also has something to do with it...

First things first. ORGANIZE YOUR STICKERS.

I decided to organize mine in a large note card box. [I guess that's what you call those things] It was black when when I bought it, but I spray painted it light blue.

I also created and laminated a small label for the front of my box. I used A-Z card guides. Guess what. They are BLANK on the back. PERFECT. I created labels for each section and laminated them onto the cards for even more durability.

And voila--sticker organization! You can easily simplify this project by not painting your box, not labeling your cards with large labels, and not laminating your cards. I love having them in this box. Now I can easily move them around to wherever I am working and have all my stickers available-- I might get one student to do back flips for a Hello Kitty sticker, meanwhile the other student could need some sport stickers.

If you want the labels I used, you can download them in a powerpoint for free on TpT. This way you can edit them to add what categories you need.

Download for [FREE] on TpT