SALE! SALE! SALE!

There is a big sale on Sunday for the big game! Before watching the Super Bowl on Sunday check out my store on Teachers Pay Teachers!

 

It's Been A Long Time Coming

 

Once again, here I am… updating my blog months later. I have been super busy, but needless to say I have really neglected my blog over the past few months. Well, let’s do a little catching-up!

August 2012: I started my fifth year teaching! This is the first year I did not have to move schools or classrooms. I thought setting up my classroom would be a lot easier this year, but boy was I wrong. Since I did not move I decided I needed to do a little redecorating. Yes, that was fun but time consuming.

My class is very sweet and we got off to a great start. I quickly learned with my state switching to Common Core that there is no time to play around. We get a lot done, and I do my best to make it fun.

October 2012: I took 3 days off at the beginning of October to get married! It was truly the happiest day of my life. I won’t bore you with wedding details since this is a classroom blog. I was excited to return to my kids with a new a name: Mrs. Shurbutt.

I will admit I was a little nervous about how my students would react to the name, I expected lots of giggles, but they were quite mature about it. One student did make the observation that my name was a compound word: ‘sure’ and ‘butt’. Some of my students still have not committed to calling me Mrs. Shurbutt, some still call me Ms. Stephan, and some even call me Mrs. S.

 

December 2012: We survived the first semester! I was beyond ready for winter break! Not to mention the day after we got out of school my husband and I left for Jamaica on our honeymoon.  Absolutely amazing!!

Of course throughout that time I did a lot of creating! I really enjoy making items for other teachers. Teachers Pay Teachers has become my hobby. There is just something about sitting in PJs creating resources for myself and others. I have a ton of Common Core items in my store for grades K-3. Don’t worry fourth and fifth grade teachers out there.. I will get to you too.

 

I would love to make something for you!! Please feel free to send me an email or comment on this post if there is something you’d like.  If you request it, and I do create it, your copy will be free! J  

 

Check out some of my newer products!

 

 

Common Core Galore!

Wow! It has been a long time since my last post!! Needless to say I have been busy, busy, busy! I have spent my summer moving into a new house with my fiance, going to the beach and to Nashville, working on wedding details, and creating new items! I still have a good bit on my to-do list, but I did not want to neglect my blog any longer.

Georgia is switching to Common Core this year and I have spent a lot of time getting familar with the new standards. After attending a math training early this summer I decided I needed to create some SNAZZY common core items. The first thing I wanted to make was fancy vocabulary cards for my math word wall. Once I posted these on TPT I recieved requests for matching Essential Questions posters and "I Can" statements! I had never recieved requests before.. but, boy did it feel great! So, EQs and I Cans were my next task. Both sets come with black and white full page posters and color half page posters. I also created ELA EQs and I am in the process of creating ELS I Cans.

Click on each title page to get your own set!

                                                    This is what the EQ posters look like in black & white and color.

Just a sample of my vocabulary cards! This set includes over 90 WORDS!

    

OH! And in case you have any first grade friends, I have created a set of 1st Grade Math Vocabulary cards too!

I am not done yet! I said I had been busy this summer and that was not a lie! I also have matching word wall sight words for Pre-Prime, Primer, and Kinder in my store, as well as, a set for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade!

That's all of my updates for now. Hopefully I will get ELA "I Can" statements up soon. I hope everybody has enjoyed/ is enjoying their summer!!

End of the Year Wrap Up!

I don't know about you, but I only have 21 more days of school!! Oh, it is bittersweet. I have really, really, enjoyed my kids this year and I will be sad to see them go. Summer brings free time... time for me to do some serious wedding planning (166 days to go!), play with my new Cricut, and hopefully purchase a house with my fiance. I know it will be a busy summer.

Well, to help prepare for the final days of school I have made some goodies I would love to share with you!

Summer Survival Kit Tags

At the end of the year I always give my students a small 'Summer Surival Kit'. Inside a small baggie I put: Sidewalk Chalk, Smarties, Pencil, and Tootsie Rolls. These little tags explain why each item is needed for summer survival. You can get these tags for FREE in my TPT store! Borders from this item is from Graphics From the Pond, check them out http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Graphics-From-The-Pond

End of the Year Awards

I created 31 one unique awards to give to students at the end of the year. They are something the students will cherish.

A Few of My Favorite Things Booklet

My students have been working hard on this booklet. They will be presenting it to their parents at Authors' and Artists' night. This is a great activity for students to write about their favorite things about their year.Some pictures they drew, some picture I printed from my camera. It was a great little yearbook! There is a cover page and last page for every grade level K-5

Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog. I appreciate all of my new followers. I hope to do better about updating my blog... I know I was a little MIA the past few weeks. Happy Sunday!

A bit of it all!

I've been busy, busy, busy... focusing on everything that I don't need to be working on. For example, I'm getting married in less than 7 months (wow!) and I should probably be selecting invitations or a baker, but instead I am happily typing this post. I have become addicted to TPT and have found myself spending a lot of time creating items. I really enjoy it! Well, have sold a few items on TPT and decided I would open a Teacher's Notebook store too (Click the link to check it out).

I played around with creating a banner for my Teacher's Notebook store, but I just can't seem to get it right. Any suggestions? What program do I use to create it?

Anyways....We started our fractions unit today and I am really excite about 2 units I purchased for TPT. One is a fractions book from Amy Lemons and another is a unit from The Teacher's Wife. Make sure you check them out - they are both excellent resources. These ladies inspired me to create a little fractions unit.

In the packet there are mini-anchor charts (numerator, denominator, halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, and whole), fraction cubes game (3 nets that make cubes..fractions, color, and shape) and corresponding worksheet, equal parts coloring activity, naming the number of equal parts activity, fractions of a set with colored goldfish activity, fractions mini-book (each page requires students to write the fractions identify the number of equal parts, and divide shapes into equal parts to show the fraction).

 I can't wait to play the game with the fractions cube, color cube, and shape cube. Students will roll all three, then find the shape on their paper and shade the fraction using the color they rolled.

You can get the unit on either site: TPT or Teacher's Notebook

A closer look....

One of my popular items has been my subtraction with regrouping posters! They were made a few months ago, and since then I have learned a lot about making classroom displays. My skills have grown! So, I decided to update these posters and make them a bit SNAZZY-ER! :) ha!

 Again, they are available in my TPT and Teacher's Notebook stores.

Can you tell I love From the Pond's borders? And congrats to Mel at From the Pond on her new arrival of her little boy!

I LOVE anchor charts! I created these Good Readers charts as a reminder for my students. I wanted something they could refer to and monitor their use of reading strategies.

I bet you can't guess where to get them.... TPT or Teacher's Notebook

Ok... last but not least. I created this types of nouns review pack. Great for identifying common, proper, and plurarl nouns.

TPT or Teacher's Notebook ... Please check it out.

In other news, my dad told me he sold our boat today. We've had it for 14 years!! I'm a bit sad that I would be able to go up to the lake and cruise around with him this summer, but I'm sure we will find something else to bond over.

Ok, ok.. that's all for now. I am tired and I should probably grade some papers... but I think I will go lay on the couch.

March is Coming!

March is next week! Really? Yup! I don't know about you, but I am READY for spring. It was 80 degrees in Georgia today... oh what a tease. Anyways, we had a long weekend (Friday and Monday off - yes!) so I used my time wisely and prepped for March's arrival.

I created a fun-filled St. Patrick's Day Literacy Pack! Here is what is included:

*Spring Writing Prompt
*Pot o' Gold writing prompt
*Letter to a leprechaun activity
*Rainbow acrostic poem
*Leprechaun & St. Patrick's Day word building
*16 St. Patrick's Day word cards
*ABC order activty
*Syllable sort
*How to catch a leprechaun writing

Click HERE is get it from my TPT store.

Speaking of TPT... I feel so blessed that my store has opened and if off to a great start! Thank you to all those who have purchased my items or even checked them out. Thanks to everybody for even reading this post... it you guys that keep me going creating!

Alrighty, it's dinner time! Have a great weekend!

Erin Stephan

Multiplication BINGO

Tomorrow we are playing Multiplication BINGO. I made 12 different BINGO boards for my kids to use. I am also going to give them a filled-in multiplication chart - since our lesson tomorrow is on how to use the multiplication chart. I'll pull a multiplication flash card from the stack (Facts 0-9) and let the kids find the answer using their chart. It should be fun! Grab your own set of cards in my TPT store!

Multiplication Memory

We started out multiplication and division unit today. I quickly whipped up this little memory game to toss in one of my math tubs. The kids will hoepfully enjoy playing Multiplication Memory. Click the link to get it from my TPT Store (only $0.50!).

Multiplication Memory

I plan on creating some more multiplication activities and posting pictures of our arrays we are making later this week. So, stay tuned for more multiplication fun!

Oh, Pretty Please! .... Persuasive Writing

Please, oh please! Facts, Examples, Reasons!Try to convince me!

Next week we are going to begin our persuasive writing unit. I love incorporating literature into my writing lessons, so I have a stash of favorite persuasive texts and have been brainstorming which to start with this year.
  I Wanna Iguana is my favorite! It is great for letter writing too. Just kill knock out two birds with one stone (wouldn't want to kill them that would be wrong) and write a persuasive letter.

Earrings is a cute persuasive book, especially for girls.

It is easy to relate how Charlie feel.

Everybody has just HAD to have something before.

  All Ike LaRue wants to return home to his owner and other comforts that come with being at home. Dear Mrs. LaRue is a humor story that children enjoy listening to an rereading. Another great book to use with letter writing and persuasive!

So.... I think I will start with reading Dear Mrs. LaRue to my class. To ease our way into persuasive writing we will write an interactive letter together. I am going to then have my class pick a side: is indoor recess or outside recess better? You'd be surprised how many of my kids love it when we stay inside. I think this is a good topic to start with.

I created this graphic organizer to help them with their brainstorming. Click the link to print a copy. Thanks to Scrappin Doodles for the fun purple background!

Properties of Addition

Last week I taught my little friends about the properties of addition. They caught on quickly, but I still created these posters for a little reminder. I also created a cut and paste that was pretty simple for the kids. Happy downloading!

Properties of Addition Posters

Properties of Addition Cut and Paste

Subtraction with Regrouping

This week I am teaching my snazzy second graders how to solve subtraction problems with regrouping. It is a scary and confusing task, but I feel confident that they will get it. Every year I teach my little ones this little poem: More on the top? Don't stop! More on the floor? Go to your neighbor and borrow 10 more! Number's the same? Zero's the game!

I just created these posters to remind them of the regrouping rules. I just put them in my brand new TPT Store. They are only $1 for all three!

Click here to download them for yourself!

Plural Nouns

You have probably seen that 'es' poster for nouns over at The Teacher's Wife. If you haven't go check it out. Along with learning when to add -es, we also learning when to change 'y to i and add es'. I made this poster to go along with the 'es' poster.

Click on the picture to download and print from Google Docs. Enjoy!

Colorful Crayons and a Trip to Space

 If you haven't discovered Pinterest you should check it out. This site is amazing and addicting. I consider myself a crafty person, so I am always looking for easy crafts to make for my classroom. I found this crayon letter craft on Pinterest. It was pretty easy. I started by making a template in Word. I  knew it would be hard to get the curves in the S perfect with crayons, so I looked for a thick, simple font and made an S using Word Art. Then I typed in my name, printed it out on cardstock and was ready to go. I lined up the crayons in the order I wanted, then laid them on the template. I cut the crayons to fit the template using an exacto knife. It was so easy that I made one of my teacher friend, Allison, too! Below is the link to the template in Google Documents.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HEll76NPno6hYdKL1aHkIRv7-rKAeYw-USfON9GIXtM/edit

Here is another Pinterest inspired project. I can't take credit for making this crayon wreath, Allison made it. It is super cute! I added the letter squares after she gave it to me. I made those in Publisher and printed them on cardstock. Crafters beware: if you make this wreath and hang it on your door, expect crayons to be pulled off. Every now and then I find a crayon missing when I arrive at school, but the hot glue gun makes it an easy fix.

 This is Allison and I on Character Day. She was the cat from If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, and I was the pig from If You Give a Pig a Pancake.

This is kinda random... it was nothing to do with crayons or Pinterest. We studied the moon recently, and we spent an entire day 'going to the moon'. The kids made helmets from paper bags, laid back in their chairs for Blast Off, and made the phases of the moon using Oreos. At the end of the day, when we arrived at the moon, the students put their astronaut on the moon. Here is the poster I painted that hung above the moon.

We Are Thanksful

Each year, around November, I pull out my giant turkey and have the students list what they are thankful for on construction paper feathers. Usually they include the number (example: 2 parents, 1 sister, 3 best friends) and add them up to get the total. Well, in math right now we are focusing on graphing and I was struggling with how to incorporate this activity into our unit. Whelp, I couldn't figure out a way. And then I had a light bulb moment! We were learning about commas in a series! Together we brainstormed the things that we are thankful for on the board, then the students wrote a sentence listing all the things they were thankful for on the feather. I love my turkey and I must say the kids did a great job with commas in their lists.