TPT Seller Challenge {Makeover Madness}

So there's a challenge out there that's happening. I'm sure you've heard of it.

Presenting TPT Seller Challenge…

This week, it has REALLY opened my eyes to my older items I have stocked up in my TPT store. I mean… they needed some lovin' BAD. SO, I made some changes ASAP.

This week's focus… Makeover Madness!!

I chose to update 6 different products as a start because of this challenge. Boy, were those products rough!! They needed some loving baaaaaaaad.

 My first product to update was actually my FIRST ever product on TPT - my Wanted Poster. It was made in Word, had no cover, and no color. I was a newbie!! Now, it's got a bit of ZING to it.

The next product I wanted to make over was the cover of my very first set of Word Wall Letters and Numbers. Now, this set doesn't have any words or anything - it's just the headers. I didn't like the drab cover, so I added some ZING to it! 

My Monster Themed Coupon Set actually had a font in it that wouldn't print so prettily. SO, therefore, I changed the fonts to some of my very favorite KG fonts! I also updated the cover colors & monsters to be more fun! 

The Student Alphabet Book… oh joy. This was something I created when I was working on getting my Masters. I wasn't sure where I'd be placed as in what grade I'd work in, so I essentially created it if I were to teach younger kiddos! It's a GREAT pack to help students with alphabet recognition and to work on writing words. I didn't like the drab brown, so I updated it with a FUN green and added new fonts! SOO much happier with the way it looks now! 

This baby was one of my most favorite packs I'd ever created. I love my Making Words pack. What a better way to give students practice with spelling and vocabulary than using a product that's FUN and pretty all at the same time? I changed up the cover colors, added some unique digital papers, and said BAM. All done!!

I just have to say… what an AWESOME idea this product was when I decided to make it. Do you have a word wall in your classroom? I wasn't required to have one my first year teaching, so I didn't because I knew I wouldn't keep up with it. Therefore, the Student Word Wall Booklet was born. A great way to keep students engaged with their writing. They don't know a word? Put it in the book! Need to know the word again? Look it up in the book!! LOVE this thing. I also love that it's like a REAL word wall book instead of the yucky yellow pack it was before.

AHHHH I am in LOVE with this challenge. I think that YOU should link up with it! It's all over Instagram, too! You know, #tptsellerchallenge

Don't forget to add the following to your IG accounts, too!

#iteachtoo #iteachthird #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #teacherspayteachers

*all the FAB-U-LOUS hashtags on Instagram to connect you to friends*

Thanks to the gals behind TPT Seller Challenge for hosting this AWESOME link up. You gals are what's making me stay motivated this summer ;)

Monday Made It: Week 3

Time to join Mrs. Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for the Monday Made It linky! 

I participated this last summer and absolutely loved how motivated it made me. I got things done that I never thought I would!

This summer I needed to do quite a bit of work organizing the files on my computer AND organizing the files in my "real life." So, I'm starting this week and hope it'll continue into the rest of the summer.

My first Monday Made It is my Font & Clipart Binder. There are quite a few people out there that have done something like this (Sara from Smiling in Second Grade and Katie from Teacher to the Core are just a few) and I REALLY needed a way to organize my files on my computer, so I did something very similar!

This is my cover. I used some of my clipart & fonts I had to make it! Cool, huh?? :)

Fonts are arranged by creator & then each font name is typed in THAT font. For example, the font Elephants in Cherry Trees is typed in that font face. It makes it easy to flip through and find the fonts that I'm looking for!

Then, my clipart is arranged by artist. The name is on the left side of the page and then I have 6 sets listed on each page. It printed a bit bigger than I thought it would, but it makes seeing the clipart that much easier!

Some artists, I have clipart that is individual and NOT part of sets. So, those I put the "stock" picture of it and then labeled it below - just like I did with Jessica Weible above! 

I also, for each artist that I have clipart from, printed out the digital paper pages. This makes it MUCH easier when looking for the perfect paper for a project that I work on!

I printed EVERY single artist's/creator's things I have on my computer and it's all in this one binder! It's got a spine that matches the cover so when it's sitting on a shelf in my craft room, I can reach over, flip to the page I need, and then put it right back.

It's BEAUTIFUL and I am in love with it! How do you keep your files straight??

Number two is a PDF file I created of a multiplication activity for sale on TPT. I am in LOVE with the clipart used... thanks to the beautiful creation by Krista Wallden (Creative Clips)!

This baby was a labor of my love (oh man, was I OCD about the watermelon seeds!!) and I am SO happy with how it turned out. My students continuously needed help with multiplication, so what better way to incorporate multiplication with some delicious watermelon!

The pack comes with student directions AND teacher directions. This is to help when you put this activity in a math center or have it as a group activity! 

The cards are very simple and easy to read - count the seeds on the left and multiply by the seeds on the right. The answer key coordinates right alongside the cards. There's a full sheet answer key and half sheet (pictured above) to help save on paper if you'd like.

This pack also makes a fun "write the room" activity, which is how we used it in our classroom. I hung up the cards throughout the room and students walked from spot to spot trying to find the cards in order. Working on those numerical order skills, too! :)

That's all I've got for ya this week! Next week, it's going to be tough since we're in the midst of a move - we move into our new house on Sunday and I have NOTHING packed!! But, I'll try my best to bring you some goodies :) if not, check out Tara's linky anyway!!

See y'all soon!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday to Me!

In a celebration of my birthday, I'm throwing a FLASH SALE in my TPT store this weekend only! Starting NOW until Sunday at midnight, everything in my store (that isn't already free) is 20% off! Click the link below to be taken to my store!

My TPT Store

HURRY HURRY!!

The Magical Product Swap Link Up!

Time to link up with Mrs. Jessica Stanford from Mrs. Stanford's Class for her Magical Product Swap!

I was paired with the ultra fantastic Jen Sykes from Hello Mrs. Sykes!

Now, first of all - if you are NOT following Jen, you are missing out like no other. First things first, go follow NOW. You will not not not regret it, I promise!
She's full of great ideas like her post that I continuously read about what you can do with google.. FOR FREE. Since I am getting my Master's in Classroom Technology, I love love love reading about technology and well, Mrs. Sykes is full of some great ideas.
I also really enjoyed her post about classroom management, specifically using music in the classroom. While this is an old post, it's still a goodie! She talks about a variety of uses for music and how to integrate them into different academic areas throughout the day. I love using music in my classroom, so I'm really glad she wrote a post all about this! 
Of course, these two posts are not the ONLY two that I love. She's full of kindness, great ideas, activities, and great freebies! Love love love her & her blog.
Anyways... Jen allowed me the opportunity to review one product of my choice from her TPT store and I chose to review her "Context Clues - Task Cards, Scoot, Assessment" since I had never played the game Scoot before!

Now, if that is not one of the CUTEST covers... I don't know what is. I love love love the animals on the front.. especially that elephant! If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with elephants ;)

In the pack, Jen includes the directions of how to use the set. She first talks about ways to use this activity as a differentiated task throughout the classroom. It can be used for early finishers, those who may need extra practice, a review for standardized testing, or even the game, Scoot! As I said above, I'd never heard of the game Scoot! before, so I wanted to learn more about it.

For people like me, Jen includes the directions for Scoot! below the basic description of the 24 task cards. I enjoy the fact that she provided a Scoot! answer sheet so that you, as the teacher, can collect this sheet if you so choose to gain a basic understanding of where your students might be before you begin a unit, where they are during the unit, or where they are after. This gives you an idea of if you need to review or if you can continue on to the next subject - love it!

After the direction page are 12 pages worth of task cards. I love, I mean LOVE, that she made the task cards large enough for students to be able to write on or do whatever they needed to with them rather than make them smaller like I do. This gives students space to work things out, cross things off, write things, etc.

Now, in a typical classroom, I would laminate these cards for durability. Since I am not in the classroom, I have not laminated them yet. But, the reasoning behind this is that I could have my students use dry erase markers and then have my new group of students use the SAME cards the next year with dry erase markers again, all without having to print out new cards or do any extra cutting.

By the way, the cutting for these cards was SUPER SUPER easy - 5 quick cuts per page with my paper cutter and I was done. I loved it.

Anyways... the cards are so simple to read, fun with the animals on the sides, but educational - of course!

If you read through them, you'll see that one of the words on each card is bold and underlined. This is the word that students are to choose the word (or words) from A, B, C or D that would BEST replace the word that is underlined and bolded using context clues.

I know my 2nd graders during my internship last year constantly had a hard time trying to figure out what words meant because they didn't understand what context clues were, so I designed several lessons to work around this. My students would have benefited GREATLY from this activity, as it is, again, fun AND educational!

Again, Jen provides a Scoot! answer sheet should you want to play Scoot! in the classroom, which is as cute as ever with the animals at the top. After this is an answer key for you, as the teacher, or for a volunteer or for even the students to self-check themselves once they have answered all questions.

At the end, Jen includes this mini, but ultra-powerful, assessment for you as the teacher to gain an understanding of where your students are in terms of understanding and utilizing context clues. I really like this assessment because students can complete this in a short time, but it's a good tool for you as a teacher to see which students need a little extra time spent with context clues while others may be able to move on to the next topic.

Finally, we've got Jen's credit page! 

I am so, so impressed with Jen's work and always have been and I hope that you are, too! I wish that I truly had a classroom to be able to use this product in, but I do know that when I do get my classroom, this will be one product that will be utilized like CRAZY!!
If you want to check out any of Jen's other products, click the links below to be taken to her Teachers Pay Teachers Store or her Teacher's Notebook Store.
Hello Mrs. Sykes' Teachers Pay Teachers Store
Hello Mrs. Sykes' Teacher's Notebook Store
And again... make sure to follower her! You will NOT NOT NOT regret it!!
Also, check out her blog to see what product of mine she chose to review! :) WAIT!!!!  To wrap this review up... Jen came up with the AMAZING idea to give ONE person the chance to win ANY item of their choosing from both of our stores - that's two items to ONE winner!! How cool, huh!? Enter away below! :) a Rafflecopter giveaway
Click the button at the top of this post to be taken to Jessica's blog to check out all the other great products that were swapped!

Have a good day, y'all!

Spring Cleaning Sale!

Hey y'all! Quick little post between getting ready and my scrapbooking class this morning!

Loads and loads of teachers are having a Spring Cleaning Sale in their TPT stores! I am included in this list!

Thank you for the button, Krista!

My ENTIRE store is 20% off - if you've had your eye on some kind of product, such as the ones listed below, now is the time to go ahead and stock up!! (Blogger will not allow me to upload pictures... they come in upside down!! So, links are provided below to some products - click them to check them out!)

Landform Poster Pack & Activities Unit

Graphic Organizers Pack

Mitten Themed Noun, Adjective, and Verb Sort

FREEBIE: Wanted Poster

Have a great day, y'all!