Happy Fall Y’All Blog Hop

Happy Fall Y’All! I am so excited to have linked up with Mrs. D’s Corner to bring you this great Fall inspired blog hop! And of course, I’ve included a “Fall” themed freebie for you! But first, take a look at some of my Fall favorites below!

Up first, here is what I am reading both in my classroom and at home this Fall. I love the book Awesome Autumn by Bruce Colestone. The pictures are actual photographs which captures the crisp feeling of the season. 

At home, I WILL be reading (looking at certain chapters, taking notes on) this fabulous book, The Reading Strategies Book, which offers ways to strengthen guided reading by providing ideas organized by each guided reading level. LOVE IT!

Here is what I’ll be wearing this Fall. Have you seen these NEW jean leggings from the Gap? They have an elastic waist and pockets in the back. They are very slimming and COMFORTABLE!! Perfect with a pair of boots or my Tieks! And on the weekend, I will be pulling out my fav Fall jacket - my good ole’ North Face. Comfy, cozy, and warm. I feel young in this jacket. Like a college kid again. Haha!

And, here is what I am making. Pulling out the “classroom” crock pot from the closet and making a sweet smelling batch of applesauce for my firsties. We write a how to and list the steps for making this delicious fall treat. I do the cutting of the apples but my friends get to stir it during the day. So very exciting! And the smell it emits brings classes far and wide to our door. I try to get all my kiddos to at least try it! Some ask for seconds and thirds. The pot is always scraped clean!
And at home, my favorite Fall meal because it is so easy and is ready when I get home from work AND because I can smell the goodness as soon as I open my front door - crock pot beef stew. I don’t really have a recipe for it. I just put in beef cubes, celery, carrots, potatoes and a seasoning pack from McCormick. Yum Yum!

And now, what you have been waiting for....your Fall Freebie! Here is a Fall emergent reader, “What Do you See in the Fall?”  This cute little reader is perfect for guided reading or whole group. It reinforces the sight words I and see, and in and uses color words to describe each item which of course is supported by a picture. I hope you and your class enjoy it!

Continue on your way by checking out how Crystal at The Balanced Teacher celebrates Fall! 

Oh Snap - It is Almost September!

Hello friends! Have you started the 2015-2016 school year yet? I don’t start until September 4th but I know many have already kicked off the year!

Below are some FREE resources from my store to get your year off to a great start!

Click on the pic above to get started early on your parent communication log! A must have in order to document both positive and negative communication with parents!

Don’t miss this reading log freebie! Click on the pic to get it!

Put this freebie next to your classroom door. Have your students repeat it with you before heading out into the hallway :)

 Frogs, bees, zebras, monkeys and puppies! Don’t miss these cute job charts! They are $3 and under! Click on the picture to head over to the listing.

Be sure to head on over to Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals for more great posts to get you ready for September! Click on the link below!

Make Your Own Dry Erase Erasers!

Hello friends! Guess what I JUST learned makes an excellent dry erase eraser? FELT. YES FELT. No more socks, no more tissues, no more sides of hands, no more pompoms hot glued to expos. Just plain old, 25 cents for a piece of felt!

After I found out this awesome new fact, I decided to plug it into pinterest. A pin can up showing the felt glued to foam blocks to make an eraser. Ohhhh, I thought! I want to make those. Alas, there was no link to follow once you clicked on the pic. Just a photo. So, I did not think this diddy up all by myself. I do not claim to be the mastermind behind this FABULOUS ideas. However, I will happily show you how I made my own class set of dry erase erasers for MADE IT MONDAY!!!!!!

Ok, I know you have all hit the dollar spot over at our favorite store Target! I just picked these up this week! They are there! 18 foam blocks for just $1. Maybe you have them already. I hope you can find them! 

Here is a picture of the felt section at the craft store I went to -- A.C. Moore. Who knew that there were so many to pick from? Why black? So it doesn’t get dirty! You could pick the leopard pattern if it goes with your class decor though! Go for it!

Next, you need the right glue! You want the felt to stick and adhere to the foam. I didn’t even chance it with Elmer’s. I didn’t want the felt to fall off or to start to slip so the littles would be tempted to pick at it. So, I went with the big bucks and got the glue that was sitting with the felt -- felt glue!

Just in case you are thinking, why does it say 40% off up there? Use your coupons! Actually, it is even cheaper, with your 15% teacher discount :) 

First, measure the felt onto the foam square and cut. Super easy. 

Second, I found that putting the glue on the foam and not directly onto the felt was easier. 

Next, spread around the glue with your finger tip making sure you reach the edges! Place the cut felt square on top and press. It’s glued!

Do three at a time to speed up the process :)

Finished product! Works GREAT:)

This is the felt THAT I HAD LEFT OVER! Um, I can make new ones for next year. I am going to GIVE each student their own eraser after I sharpie their class number on top.

This is my sticky finger after making 18 erasers! Hey, I’m a teacher of first grade! Totally used to it!

And there you have it! Easy peasy and cheap! They work great! And for pennies to make - you can’t go wrong! 

I hope these directions inspire you to make these great erasers! Have fun!

Pinterest Pick 3 - August

I love this idea! I actually made them and they were so easy! This link doesn’t go to a blog post on the directions. It just is an empty picture. I documented how I made them in my own blogpost. You can find it here: 

I did not think of this idea but am so excited, happy, glad, that I found this picture on pinterest :)

Have you seen this pic floating around Facebook? Gina Peluso thought of this great one! Perfect for storing sight words. The folder will close with some velcro for easy transport to and from school!

I need this in my life! Right now, my bulletin board letters are stuffed in a ziploc. No organization whats so ever! It takes me soooo long to get the letters I need to caption our hallway bulletin board! This would save me so much time! I could have a helper put the letters back for me into the correct spot! I asked my music obsessed hubby if he had one of these and he is not willing to part with any of them (stinker)! So, I am on the quest to locate one for little money!

Thank you for stopping by for this month’s Pinterest Pick 3! Did I give you some new projects to try? Good luck with them! Have a great start to the school year! I’ll see you on September 3rd :)


Check out other great ideas below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Back to School Giveaway!

Check out this amazing Back to School giveaway brought to you by the friends of I TEACH blogs! WoWzers! Does it look good to you? Do you want a chance to win an iPad 2, that cute case, a stylus pen, and an iTunes gift card to stock your new iPad with great apps?!?!?

Yes, you are yelling in excitement? Well then, head on over here to enter! Click the iTeach logo below for your chance to WIN WIN WIN!

We all LOVE iPads in our classroom! Have you heard of the EPIC app yet? Please don’t tell me you are still dragging out that tangled mess of headphones and putting a cassette tape into a tape recorder! No! This is 2015! The EPIC app can take the place of those tapes/cds and books!

Epic! Is FREE for educators! It offers thousands of books for students to read! The best part, there is a read aloud feature! Hip hip hooray! You can even track which books your students read and how far they go, all for FREE as a teacher!

If parents want the app for at home use, there is a fee for that.

On the top of my list when I return to school, is to upload this AMAZING FREE app to our iPads and log in as a teacher so I have INSTANT center that students will be sure to LOVE!

Best of luck to you on winning an iPad! Have a great start of the year!

Oh Snap...It’s Almost August!

Yikes! It is almost August! Are you ready to gear up for back to school? Well, I’ve got two deals for you today! Click on the pics below to head over to get your deal! 

Check out other great products from my blogging buddies at Teacher Deals and Teacher Steals!
Enjoy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Pompoms at the Dollar Tree

Look what I found at the Dollar Tree today! Perfect for hanging from my classroom ceiling! I have been wanting to make these for quite some time but didn’t have the patience. I’ve seen them all over Pinterest with the tutorials but just didn’t feel like gathering the supplies, folding, and fluffing. I figure for 50 cents, I can give it a try. Plus, so much easier! I can only hope that they come out looking like the ones in the picture above.

Below is a picture from Pinterest from The First Grade Parade. How cute do those pompoms look in that beautiful classroom?

I know some teachers are not allowed to hang ANYTHING from the ceiling due to fire code. Don’t worry, you can join in the pompom fun! Check out how this talented teacher used pompoms as an accent on this super amazing bulletin board! 

CLICK FOR PINTEREST LINK

Here are the 4 colors that they had in my Dollar Tree! Where were they in the store? They were in the summer section with the laui stuff. You know, the plastic pineapple cups, the coconut bra, the grass skirts, the plastic leis? In the front of the store where the seasonal stuff is!

And the directions....they look easy enough!

Looks like pretty thick layers to me. The little ribbon tie though seems weak. I may have to reinforce that!

And if the bigs ones were not cute enough - check out the little garland ones! And they have the matching, coordinating colors! Love!

I know I know...you want me to make one to show you! Believe me, I am busting to try it out too! But, I don’t head back to my classroom until September! So, we are both going to have to wait for the big reveal! I do hope that I can get a year out of them at least! Not expecting too much! 

So, if you are in the market for some ceiling pompoms, head on over to your local Dollar Tree to see they have them! I do hope they do! I know how wild goose chases feel! Best of luck in your pompom search!