Hey there! I'm feeling like a slacker since I haven't posted anything since the last day of school- but hey, it is summer! I have been working at a summer camp for 4-8th graders learning about leadership skills and Texas history. It's a week long camp where the students come stay at the lodge and we travel in a charter bus all over Texas. It's awesome! There are 3 different camps- one is in Dallas/Fort Worth, one in Austin/ San Antonio and one in Houston/Galveston. I usually do the Houston camp but this summer I branched out and did the Austin camp, and wow was it fun! We traveled to the state capitol building where the kids got to meet their senator and representatives. We took a glass bottom boat tour on Spring Lake which is a natural spring fed lake- its BEAUTIFUL!!! We went to Natural Bridge Caverns and walked 180' underground and saw these gorgeous caverns, and then walked BACK UP 180'....whew. I wasn't sure if would make it! Haha.. But I really have just as much fun as the kids do. Highly recommend the camp! It's called Education in Action. :) 

Anywho, so while I've been off and being exceptionally lazy at home...I started playing around on my computer and decided I wanted to try to make something that I can use in my classroom and sell on TPT! I am super excited about the things I have been creating. It took a while to get the hang of making something, it is SO tedious, but now that I've been doing it for a few days...it's getting much easier! I'm in love with making things! Everything I have made so far is about the months of the year. I need to keep my creative juices flowing and start making other products- but I was just playing around with colors and fonts and fun stuff like that. So when I have more time, I will start making other things. For now, I have only one completed product but I couldn't wait to share! I have three others in the making, but it will be a while longer before I'm done. 

This product goes with my new theme for this coming school year. My teacher amiga Jennifer and I both LOVE the black look with pops of bright colors all around. It's a simple theme that hopefully will be more calming without all the hooplah of Dr. Seuss (I STILL LOVE DR. SEUSS!!) and other crazy themes. I want a sleek look that the students can feel comfortable around and well, who doesn't love bright colors? I'm already anxious to get into my new room and start planning and decorating- but I can def. wait another month or so..lol. But, like I was saying, this is more a simple look with not too much going on. This product will be FREE and you can get it HERE ! in TPT and I will be more than happy to change the blue background color and the pink banner color if anyone wants another color to fit their room. 

Calendar cards

This is what the product looks like! All the colors stay the same. There are Months of the Year posters to hang up and there are smaller versions that look exactly the same for calendar cards or for students to use. The posters I will hang up somewhere in my room as a reference for students. The calendar cards I will use on the calendar wall and use them for a song we sing during calendar time. This is my first year doing second grade, so I am not sure I will need these cards all year long, but they will definitely come in handy for the first semester! We shall see! :)

Well I am so thrilled to share my new product. I hope others like it too! Leave feedback on what you think- I will be updating and posting to TPT very soon! ;)

Font from http://www.kevinandamanda.com/

Teacher Talk Tuesday

Well school is over and it's summertime!! I've already enjoyed a few outings on the lake relaxing, getting some sun and practicing wakeboarding! My mind is still very much in teacher mode though and I guess it will never stop! I plan on making a few projects this summer for my new room and I can't wait to share them. But first, for my #teachertalktuesday, here are some thoughts from the last week of school:

We started inside for our Paper Airplane War!

Then we went outside for some real fun!



They were so excited!

 This was the last day I had with my students. It was a half day and I have literally packed up EVERYTHING in my room at this point, so I was tyring to scrounge up things to keep them entertained other than just drawing pictures. I didn't even have a computer to show them anything! SO- I decided what better way to end the year other than with a paper airplane war!!!!! Students are always wanting to make these bad boys, and of course, its not ok during the school year. But it is on the last day of school!!!! Haha, they were thrilled when I said I wanted them to make paper airplanes. A few boys in the room really knew how to make the "best ones", so all the ladies were headed over to them and asking if they would help make their airplane. It was precious. They all helped each other out and once they were all settled, we made two lines in the classroom. I counted down from 5 and let them throw them all around! Then, I realized this would be much more fun outside! I told them we would see who's airplane can go the FASTEST and the FARTHEST! They were jumping for joy at this point! We tip-toed down the hallway and to the fence outside, as quiet as we could be. Then, like we were on a battlefield, I screamed to ask if they were ready and they screamed back READY!!!!!! (it was so cute). I counted down again and we let 'em go! We did this twice, then I just let them throw them around and have fun. It was really perfect. Who would have thought paper was so exciting?! ;) I had a blast and I will miss these moments with this group of kids. I really had an amazing class this year and I already miss them so!


Another fun thing we did around the last day was a Spelling Bee! It was fun because these kiddos are so competitive! They all wanted to win so bad. They had such a great spirit too, if anyone got a word wrong, the whole class clapped for them and told them "good try"! I ended up doing a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Here are my cutie pies that won!

Monday Made It!

Today's Monday Made It is late but never fear there are 45 more minutes left on this Monday!  I started the day of  with our end of the year convocation.  After that my Kaitlyn and I went to get our toes and nails done.  We had a great time just the two of us.  It is rare I get time alone with the girls one on one so I really cherish the times that I do.

My favorite retired teacher Vicki came over to help me create my Monday Made It.  I want to
work on my writing center this year and decided to make cute clipboards for my students.  This is the end results after some scrapbook paper and mod podge!

Couldn't wait to take a picture the white on the black one is still drying!  Can't wait to get more clipboards and make one for each of my students!!!

Monday Made it!

I am really enjoying making my Monday Made It's currently focusing on organization.  With my classroom being in the process of getting packed and stored in my garage for my new classroom, I am feeling a bit lost.  So many emotions that go along with packing and moving.  Creating fun things for my classroom takes a little edge off.  I took the free TPT week day labels and again got my spray paint on.  I painted my white drawers black to make the colors stand out more!  After hours of searching for the font she used I pushed my OCD to the side and finished up my project! :)  I love it!!!

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Fun lesson around the end of the year

Hello world! We are going into our last week of school, hooray! (Not to mention my last week as a first grade teacher!!) This past week I had an offer from a friend to come and do a lesson with me for my kiddos! Um, yes please!!! Calling all the troops!! It turned out so stinking cute! 

She read them "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" by Laura Numeroff. Then she had pre-cut about 15 parts of the story on paper and the students had to put themselves in order of how it happened in the story. We put them in a circle and let them have at it! She prompted them a little but they had it together! 

Then after they lined up in the right order, they got to go decorate their own cookie! They get so happy when they have any kind of little snack! They added food coloring to their icing. Once it was mixed up nicely, they put it on their sugar cookie and topped it with chocolate chips! YUM! They had a blast and I had fun getting to watch them from the sidelines. These kiddos are too smart- and are SO ready for second grade. ;) I will miss their sweet faces so much next year! :'(  

Here's a few pictures from the afternoon! 

Thinking about who is going first!

After they got all lined up correctly!! TOO CUTE! 

Now some cookie decorating fun! 

And there's Ms. Terry!!

My first ever Monday Made It!!!!!

I keep seeing posts of different bloggers I follow talking about Monday Made It.  I am not sure what it is all about but I am enjoying the things they have made and decided I need Monday Made It as part of my routine.  I am sure I will not always complete it but I am at least going to attempt it!

Now, I know exactly what you are thinking....this lady is crazy it is time for summer!  Don't get me wrong I LOVE sumner and am looking forward to it very much!!  However, it never seems to fail as soon as I start making end of the year gifts I also start changing things in my room.  This year is especially different I am changing schools and grade levels!!!  This is very scary and exciting at the same time.  I am just super excited my blog partner and I am both starting our adventure in second grade together (even though we will be at different schools)!!!!

I am a very organized person however, this next year I am going to not only be organized but I am going to look good doing it!!  My goal is to change my room to black and bright colors no real theme just bright baskets and buckets.  I started out changing some things this year and I love the colors.  I have a ton of items on my to do list for the summer!!! Yikes!!  No fear there are a lot of Monday Made It's in my summer plans!

The first item I decided to make was a teacher toolbox.  I will admit I LOVE office supplies!  I began with a stack on 39 drawer organizer from Home Depot ($18).  There are smaller versions but I figure I may find new things and wish I had more room; bigger now to save I wish I would have later.  I then made some labels with the help of TPT (I couldn't live without it) that I laminated and placed in the drawers with double sided tape.  I wasn't thrilled about the gray color it came in so I ran out and bought some Krylon Fusion spray paint ($5) and got to work! Now you suppose to wait 7 days before using to ensure it is chip resistant but I had to put it all together and take a picture.  I am trying to use some willpower to not fill it up yet!

Here is the before picture.....

End product with a little paint, TPT, and excitement!!!