Currently July

July already?!? Where did June go?

I have seen these ‘Currently’ posts around the blog world for a while now. So, after becoming a new Farley follower I finally decided to jump on board.

Here goes…

Listening- Ugh! It’s pouring down rain! Forecast calls for rain all day today and tomorrow. Guess my outdoor 4th of July plans are blown. What do we do now?
Loving- I have really enjoyed spending my summer free time reading. I don’t get to read much during the school year, so I am catching up now. The past few weeks I have plopped myself down on the couch around 4:00 with my book and don’t get up until 6:00 to start dinner. Sometimes I go right back to reading after dinner, too!
Thinking- My July calendar is pretty packed. I’ve got one of my best friend’s weddings, a 3 day teacher forum, and a 2 day workshop.
Wanting- Summer needs to slow down! July will fly by with my busy schedule and we go back for preplanning August 1st. L
Needing- My to-do list is rather long… but I rather blog than check things off right now.
Tips, Tricks or Hints- All things are possible if you believe…. just a quote I try to think about often.

That’s all for now! On to that to-do list I guess.

 

Filling My Time

At the end of the day when my husband comes home and asks what I did today, I often think WHAT did I accomplish? WHAT did I do with my valuable time off? I manage to fill my summer days keeping busy. Between laundry, cleaning, playing with the puppy, or reading the latest Mary Kay Andrews book, I often find myself in my office. I’m either making banners & things on my Cricut or sitting behind the computer. Either way, I am constantly doing something!

After I finished scanning all the files I brought home from my classroom, I moved on to my next tech-savvy project.  I started using my old iPhone and iPod in my classroom toward the end of last year. Well, I found this fabulous idea of Pinterest… convert your listening center tapes to MP3s! Here is the link to the original idea. So, I ordered an AGPTEK USB Cassette Converter off of Amazon earlier this month. It is so easy to use! The only con is that you have to listen to the story while it is recording. (I usually blog-stalk on my phone during that time).

(Here is my recording studio/ office.)

 

I LOVE how Molly at Lucky to be in First has her iPod listening centers set up. If you are thinking of converting your tapes check out her post about ditching the tapes and moving to MP3s.

 

I have also been creating a few new Common Core items! I don’t know about y’all, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE chevron! I have created a few chevron themed items for my TPT store. Check them out:

 

 

 

 

And here are a few other items I have created recently:

(click the picture to visit my TPT store)

 

End of the Year Gifts and Fun

I can't believe I only have a few days left with my kiddos! This year has flown by, although these last few days seem to be crawling. I started putting together my students' end of the year gifts. I decided to keep it simple, yet cute, this year.

I stopped by my local dollar store and purchases green and blue cups and crazy straws. Last night I wrote all my students' names on the cups.

Inside the cups I will put the straws and my 'Summer Survival Kit'. I was able to pick up a few items for the survival kit from the dollar store, but I still need to get the candy.

I plan to put the survival kit in a bag, tie the adorable label on top, and stick it in the cup.

 Click on the picture above or here to get the Summer Survival Kit tag for FREE!

What else have I been up to? I just picked out the awards I am going to give each child. We have our Awards Day next week. My school makes it into a big celebration. All of 2nd grade will go to the cafeteria, sing a song (Diamonds - Kidz Bop Version), watch a slide show of pictures from the year, and finally receive a few specialty awards [Honor Roll, Math Superstars, and Million Minutes]. Then, everybody, including parents, head back to the classroom. I give out my classroom awards while the parents look at the students writing (aka our Authors and Artist celebration). Yes, that's a lot for one morning!

Anyways, I snazzied up my awards from last year. For the next three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) they will be on sale at my TPT store! Get your set now! The set includes 31 different awards with 2 versions of each award. Usually they are $3, but they will be 15% off! Click the picture below to check them out.