Snazzy In Second

Teacher Week: Who Am I!

It is time for Blog Hoppin's Teacher Week!

I love getting to know all the blogging teachers out there.

Here is a little bit about me:

#1: My sister, Lauren, is two years older than me. We didn't get along growing up, but we sure do love each other now! We do not look much alike (Yes, we have the same dad!) but we are similar in so many other ways. She gets me, I get her... we mesh well!

#2: My husband and I have almost been happily married for two years (October 5th). I love him (duh!). He makes me laugh, supports my crazy ventures, gives me guidance, and loves me.

#3: My bestie, Emily, and I have been friends since early high school. We lived together all 4 years of college... we were even in the same sorority. She gets me too! And, she is expecting a little boy in November!! I can't wait to spoil that little boy!

Ok, I have never admitted this before... but I take a lot of selfies with my dog. I am kind of obsessed with her. She is a year and a half old Goldendoodle. She is spunky and smart!

If you haven't shared a little about yourself you can link up with Blog Hoppin'.

Can't wait to share my classroom with you tomorrow.

Monday Made It {August 11th}

Depending on when you read this I am either welcoming or getting to know 25 second graders! Yup, it is back to school I go!
Not only and I anxious to meet my new students, I am also anxious to share what I have been busy making with you. Time to link up with 4thGrade Frolics for Monday Made It!

My first project is one my husband actually made. I suggested a few weeks ago that he should start drawing some clipart for me. Well, he finally finished his first set. Of course, I loved it, but I decided to share it with the world!

Click HERE to get these delicious cones!

"Our" yummy ice cream cone set is FREE, but only for today! Please go download it and leave us some feedback!
If y'all like it I will put him back to work on some more Snazzy Doodle clip art sets.

My second project is one I CANNOT wait to start using in my classroom. My co-workers (Susan and Natalie) shared an idea with me for student's assessing their own progress. From there I created the "Student Self-Assessment of Learning" pack. Basically, students rate how they feel about the topic your are teaching.

The options for set-up are endless! You can do cups & popsicle sticks like I did, a clip chart, magnetic cards, or individual cards for each student.

Get the CHEVRON pack HERE!

Get the POKA DOTS pack HERE!

Get the ANIMAL PRINT pack HERE!

My last project is one I will be using today! I made a new frame for a first day of school photo opp!

A very sweet parent (and coworker) made me a frame last year like this, but it got smashed when the cleaning people put my recycling bin on top of it this summer. :(
I loved the frame so much that I made one for my mentee as well!

Couldn't resist having my pup pose for a pic.

Happy first day to all my friends starting back this week!

Get Techy Tuesday {Favorite Apps}

The other week I shared my favorite websites to use in the classroom (see that post HERE). Now, I am excited to share some apps that I have used and recently discovered.

I have 11 apps to share... some are free and others are paid. Do look into the Apple Volume Purchase Program if you are interested in buying an app that your entire school can use!

Disclaimer: I found these apps on my iPad, so some may not be available for an iPod or iPhone if you use those in your classroom.

What are your favorite apps? Please share!

Monday Made It {August 4th}

Today is my third day of pre-planning, summer is officially over for me.

Before the school year gets me super busy I wanted to link up with 4thGrade Frolics for another Monday Made It!

I am mentoring a new teacher again this year, so I wanted to make something that I could give her when we met. I decided on a custom clipboard. I figured while I was making one for her I would make them for my grade level as well.

It was SUPER easy. I started by painting the sides to match the scrapbook paper I picked out.

Then, I traced the clipboard on the back of the scrapbook paper and Mod Podged it on! For my mentee I decided she needed a few extra goodies (notepad, pens, and stickies)!

Next project was one I did a few weeks ago. I planned a 'Craft Night' at my house with some of my teacher friends and wanted to have a little something for them. So, I found wine glass tumblers at the Dollar Tree and then use my Silhouette to cut out the phrase "I teach therefore I drink" in vinyl.

My last project was a Pinterest-Inspiration. I saw Simply Skilled in Second's picture of her math station storage and LOVED it!

I am big on differentiation, and wanted to be able to put the different seatwork assignments somewhere other than a table. I made some labels and Velcro'ed them onto the colored drawers. That way if I only have 4 station or 2 different seatwork assignments I can remove the extra labels.

Funny thing, Mrs. Lemons posted a picture on Instagram this weekend about her Michael's Create2Educate project... it was the same thing! Great minds think alike! Her drawers are white and she used bright labels, it is super cute you need to check it out.

Don't forget the TPT Blast Off Back to School Sale is today and tomorrow!

Check out my STORE! I am about to go empty my wish list into my cart!

Two Stars and a Wish {Getting to Know Everyone & Staying Organized}

It is almost time to go back to school! I am linking up with some fabulous teachers to share some great ideas in the Two Stars and a Wish blog hop.

The first week of school can be a little chaotic. There are supplies to sort, items to label, and 20+ little students to get to know. So, I wanted to share some things I do to make the first week fun and easy.

Getting to know your students is important. Knowing their likes and hobbies will allow you to engage them throughout the year.... if Little Johnny loves baseball he will enjoy solving baseball themed word problems in math.

One 'get to know you' activity that I love is NAME ART.

It is a minimum prep activity (love that too!).

All I do it type my students name in bubble letters using Power Point.

Print their names out and have them decorate the letters with things the love. While they are working on this you will have a few minutes to do those tedious first week tasks (you know- organizing 20 packs of paper so they fit in your cabinet). Then, when everyone is done have the students share their name art.

I like to hang their name art somewhere in the room.

You have gotten to know you students, not it is time for them to get to know you! I like to play a little game... 25 Facts About Your Teacher! I tell the students 25 facts about me, and when I am done I try to see if they can remember them all. I have played the 'game' several ways...

*Students can call out facts until you get to 25

*Students can work in pairs/groups to list as many as they can

*Students can list as many as they can on their own - see who can list the most

I created a Power Point that I use to share my facts. This ensures I won't forget a fact as I am introducing myself and allows me to quickly check off the facts that they can remember.
You can download this editable template HERE for FREE!!

My wish for this school year is to start off being organized and STAY organized!

The focus of my concern is all of my Essential Question and I Can statement posters!

I post these daily, for each subject. I store them in sheet protectors inside a binder. They often go from the board to the pocket inside the binder and not put away until it is busting at the seams. I've got them organized by standard, so I plan to pull all the EQs and I Cans for the next week on Friday and put away the last week's at the same time. I think having a set time will help me stay organized.

If you are interested in EQs and I Can statement posters for ELA, Reading, & Math [K-4] they can be found in my TPT store {HERE}.

I have enjoyed sharing some of my STAR ideas and my WISH for organization with you! If you liked my ideas please follow me on Bloglovin' and my TPT store.

For more STAR ideas from about 40 different bloggers browse the link-up below!

An InLinkzLink-up

Get Techy Tuesday {Favorite Website}

In two weeks I will be venturing out of my comfort zone a bit in order to change things up. This will be my fifth year teaching second grade and each year has come with some sort of change... transferring to EJ (my home away from home), common core standards, and becoming grade chair. So, to keep things interesting I made the decision at the end of last school year to switch to an 'Inspired Classroom' this year.

"What are you talking about?" you say. An Inspired Classroom moves the computers away from the perimeter of the room and put them at the students' desks. You can read more about Inspired Classrooms here. To accommodate this switch I am swapping my student desks for tables to allow for full collaboration. It is going to be quite the change, but I LOVE technology and this was an opportunity I could not resist.

So, I have been spending some of my summer figuring out how to incorporate more technology into my lessons. I thought I would "Get Techy" and share some of my favorite resources over the next few weeks.