Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party {6/30}

I'm so happy Mrs. Reed from Flying Into First is back wih her Sunday Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party, it's one of my favorites!!!

Topic- Tic Tac Toe

How it Works:  Look at the graphic below.  It is a Tic Tac Toe board filled with different categories.  You will post about three of these categories but they have to make Tic Tac Toe.  For example, you can choose to write about 3 topics that go vertical, or 3 topics that go horizontal, or three topics that go diagonal. 

I'm going to go down, vertically on the right side.

Dream Vacation

A Hawaiian cruise.

My aunt did one a few years for her 25th wedding anniversary & said it was amazing & worth every penny. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, but then after hearing about everything she got to see on the cruise, I thought that sounded like a better plan. My husband & I would want to do everything that the islands offered and would have a hard time choosing just one island to go to, which is the beauty of the cruise you get to see them all. It looks so beautiful there, that crystal blue water just makes me want to dive in!!!

Books I'm Reading

I'm currently reading Nicholas Sparks The Best of Me and I plan on Reading The Witches by Roald Dahl after that. I loved that movie as a kid, but I've never read the book, so I figure it's time. 

Hobbies

• Reading...I love, love, love to read
• I love shopping...ok maybe that's an addiction not a hobby :)
• Blogging & creating...this is a new hobby & it's so addictive
• Now this one is going to sound weird, but I want to start collecting buttons. I've seen so many great projects with buttons & I figure why buy the buttons when every time I buy a shirt that has buttons, they always include an extra button. Plus there are some really cool looking buttons out there. But I've yet to start this, every time I see a button though I'm like "Oh that's right I need to get a container that I can start to put these buttons in." Then it doesn't happen. Maybe one day!

Since we're getting acquainted I'm having a 100+ followers giveaway starting Tuesday, be sure to stop by & check it out. I also have a Bloglovin giveaway going on right now, it ends Tuesday night, if you haven't checked it out yet, head on over.

Don't forget to link up with Mrs. Reed and Let's Get Acquainted!!!

100 Followers & Ten Pin Linky...Math Ideas

Before I get to my pins....I've reached 100 followers. When I got up this morning I was up to 103, watch out for a giveaway at the beginning of next week. If you're interested in donating to my giveaway check out my Five for Friday post, there's a google form there that you can fill out. I'm accepting any donations for the rest of the weekend, then I'll put everything together & host the giveaway at the beginning of the week. 

Now onto this great linky.

I'm linking up with Ashley from Just Reed again this week for her Ten Pin Linky, this week's theme is Math Idea Pins.

1.) Who doesn't love Play-Doh? I still love it & I'm in my late 20's. I use to play with my Kinders all the time, but here's a great use for it that involves math.



2.) This is an awesome math alternative to the classic game, "Guess Who" I love ideas where a familiar game can be converted to a learning game.



3.) Who doesn't love Legos? Again another great way to incorporate those everyday things that the kids love.



4.) I love, love, love this idea. I love it so much this is the 2nd time that I've posted it in a Pinterest linky party. I think it's so important for my students to know their facts & once they've mastered a fact they get to sign their name to the number that has been mastered. I feel like it gives them owenership as they see their name on more & more numbers.



5.) So many classrooms are print rich and the poor numbers get pushed to the wayside, when I saw this I thought what an awesome idea. In my room I would have a Boggle board & this Noggle board for my early finishers.



6.) Art & creative all rolled up into math, great idea!!!



7.) Another great way to incorporate art & creativity with math and area/perimeter.



8.) Love this idea for a daily number/morning work, especially with Common Core in place now.



9.) Love these...also great for getting the kiddos to practice that lovely Common Core standard of multi-step problems, before throwing it at them in a word problem.



10.) Absolutely love this idea for expanded form.

What did we seriously do before Pinterest? I just love all of the ideas that I can find now with Pinterest. What ideas have you found that you just love? Link up with Ashley at Just Reed and share them with us.

Five for Friday 6/28...Updates, 100 Followers, & Giveaways

I feel like so many things have happened this week & I have so much to share, so of course I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

And the saga continues with me trying to obtain a full time, teaching position. I received an e-mail Monday from the charter school, that I did a demo lesson at, that I didn't get the job. I figured I didn't, I knew deep down that it wasn't going to happen. However....that was merely the closing of a window & a door opened on Tuesday, when my district called me to interview for a special ed. position at our 3rd/4th grade building. My interview is Tuesday & my fingers are crossed, I'd love to stay in my district. Please send me some positive thoughts. I'm hoping that that day is a lucky day, because my interview is the same day as my 3 year wedding anniversary!!!

Everyone knows that Google Reader is about to make it's grand exit & the lovely ladies at Collaboration Cuties are hosting a fabulous giveaway linky for all of us that have made the switch to Bloglovin to reward those wonderful Bloglovin followers who have also made the switch. Here's the link to my giveaway, check it out & the other awesome giveaways. 

Our first trip, of the year, to the shore. Wednesday my husband had to go to a uniform store about 20 minutes from one of our favorite beach towns, so we made an impromptu trip to Ocean City, NJ. This is a pic of my little guy sitting on the boardwalk. He saw a lady in front of us sit down, while we were waiting in line to be seated at Manco & Manco's, so he thought he would sit down too. If you've ever been to OC & have eaten at Manco & Manco's (formerly known as Mack & Manco's), their pizza is actually the best pizza I've ever had. That's all they sell & that's what their famous for, literally the line was & always is, out the door onto the boardwalk. It was the first time my husband & I had ever eaten there & honestly I was a little skeptical. I thought how good could it really be? I was so wrong, it was amazing. 

My husband says I'm hoarding these tissue boxes. But I'm not, I promise. This year I tried to use some old baby wipe boxes as a part of a game, where the students had to reach in and draw out a card. However, it was an epic fail, even my little firsties had trouble getting their hand in the baby wipe box, so when I saw my first empty tissue box, I thought hmmmm....maybe their little hands would fit better in the top of the tissue box. I obviously haven't gotten around to decorating the outside yet though.

How would you repurpose these empty tissue boxes for your classroom? I would love to hear your ideas.

I'm so close to reaching 100 followers that it's time to start putting together a giveaway to thank all of my wonderful followers. If you're interested in donating please fill out the Google form below. Thank you so much for being a part of my giveaway, it's greatly appreciated.

What have you been up to this week? Link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching Five for Friday & let us know.

A Bloglovin Giveaway....My Very First One!!!

I'm sure by now your feed has been over run with all of the talk about Google Reader being caput in just a few days now. So here's a great incentive to come on over to Bloglovin....Giveaways!!! I'm hosting my very first giveaway & there are over 100 other wonderful bloggers hosting giveaways as a thank you for following us on Bloglovin. My Bloglovin button is on the right, it's just a click away to follow me! If you haven't joined yet click here to head on over, sign up & transferring all of the blogs you follow is super easy.

I'm offering choice of any 2 products from my Tpt store plus a $10 gift certificate to Tpt. I'm giving you up to 12 chances to enter towards my giveaway. I hope to see your name there and good luck!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out all of these bloggers who are also doing a bloglovin giveaway at their blog!  You have a chance to win at each blog!  If you'd like to do your own giveaway, grab our button for your post, link up, and then get the inlinkz code to insert into your post so that the link ups will also be visible on your blog.

The End is Near...Blog Hop & OMG I WON!!!

The countdown is on until Google Reader is no more, but have no fear Tori at Tori's Teacher Tips has a great tutorial on how to transfer all those fabulous blogs that you follow to Bloglovin PLUS she has set up a linky so you can easily follow those wonderful blogs on Bloglovin that you're currently reading on Google Reader, or you can find some new amazing blogs. Hop on over & check it out & make sure to add your Bloglovin link so we can easily follow you on Bloglovin.

And I won K-3 Connections: 100 Follower Giveaway, Prize Pack 1; winner's choice from 4 Fabulous Blogger's Tpt stores. I'm so excited I never win stuff like this. Click on the picture of the product I chose to check it out in the author's Tpt store & if you don't already follow their blog, click on their name to check out their awesome blog.

K-3 Connection (Choice of 2)

Hoots N' Hollers ($10 to store)

Whimsy Workshop (Clipart set)

Literacy Sparks (Choice)

Thank you so much for these great wins ladies. I can't wait to use them.

Picture Book Linky Party & Sharing a Giveaway

Today I'm linking up with DeAnne from First Grade and Fabulous for her Picture Book Linky Party. This week's theme Picture Books for the First Week of School. 

First up is First Day Jitters. I love this book for the first day of school. It's great for predictions. Everyone, myself included thinks the story is about a student. I think it's great for students to hear that they are not the only ones who are nervous on the first day of school.

Next is the book What if Everybody Did That? This is a great one when discussing rules and the need for rules. I used this one for the first time this year.

Last is The Kissing Hand. This is a great one for students who are just coming into school. It's reassuring that they will see their parents again. It's a sweet story & great for pre-school & Kinders.

Link up with First Grade and Fabulous and share what picture books you use at the beginning of the year. I know I'm always looking for new ones.

On a side note, stop over at the K-3 Connection for Ashley's 100 Follower Giveaway. It's the last day to enter for your chance at 2 great packs. I know this is a little late, but there's still time hurry!!!

Five for Friday...It's Summer (6/21)

I never thought this day would get here. It's finally FRIDAY!!! And I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday

School is finally out!!! My last day was Tuesday. Here's a shot of my room...the before was last Friday & the after was Tuesday & by the time I walked out of the room, the computer was in the closet & any supplies on my desk/table & my rolling cart were in my car. 

I am loving Ashley at Just Reed's Ten Pinky weekly summer linky. Last weeks theme was classroom decor & this week classroom management. I love all the ideas that I find on Pinterest & wonder what I did before Pinterest, so for me this linky is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G because I am finding so many more great ideas, to add to my ever growing boards. :) If you haven't checked out Ashley's linky make sure to head over to her blog to link up and share your great Pinterest finds.

On Wednesday, my first day of summer break, the hubby & I took our little guy to A Day out with Thomas & he got to take a ride on the train with Thomas pulling it, then we went for a longer ride on the local train. 

My boys were tired after a long day with Thomas. In my hubs defense he did work a 12 hour night shift before we left, so the sleep he got in the car was all he got. Anything for our little guy though.

I had 3 days off this week & now Monday I get to start summer camp. This summer I'm working as a teacher/counselor at a summer enrichment camp. So I get to keep doing lesson plans this summer. :( Not the most exciting thing, though we do get to go on some good field trips.

I unfortunately still have not heard from the school that I did a demo lesson at last Thursday. They said they would let us know by the end of this week, but today was their last day of school. So we'll see if I hear something at the beginning of the week. I was really hoping that this week's #5 would be an exciting announcement. Maybe next week.

Can't wait to read about what you've been up to this week. Link up with Doodle Bugs and let us know.

Remember to come and follow me on Bloglovin, there's a Bloglovin button on my sidebar.

Classroom Management: Ten Pin Linky

I'm linking up with Ashley from Just Reed again this week for her Ten Pin Weekly Summer Linky. This week's topic Classroom Management

1.) I love the Clip Chart method because it allows students to not only move down for poor choices but to move up for good choices. You can grab my polka dot one here.


2.) I love calling this the clip hall of fame, if students reach a certain color they get a jewel on their clip, after receiving so many jewels their clip moves to the clip hall of fame. I did something like this a few years ago. If a student reached purple (the top of the chart) then they got a star on the back of their clip. If they got 5 stars then I put a polka dot with their name on it on our "Spotting Great Behavior" board.


3.) This mini clip chart is perfect for those students that need the reminder when they are out of the room the clip chart is still in effective and they are still being held accountable for their behavior.


4.) Having a voice chart I think is such a great visual reminder for the students as to the appropriate place for their voices, depending on the activity. I created my own polka dot version, along with mini cards to put at specific centers. You can grab them here from this post, I also have a striped and a chevron version up for grabs.


5.) I think this is such a cute idea. Great for the end of the year craziness, but I think it's something nice to incorporate sporadically, so the kids never know when someone could be caught being crazy good.


6.) I definitely plan on doing this, even if I'm in a younger grade, because I think it will give them more ownership of their job/responsibility and it cuts down on the chaos of students not knowing what they are suppose to do because their job changes too frequently. I think I would have students apply for a job at the beginning of the year, then apply for a new job half way through the year to switch things up a little bit. And by having them acquire a new job mid-way through the year the student that held the job before them was obviously doing it long enough to become a little pro at it; therefore, they would be more than qualified in training the new person to complete the job.


7.) I love the warm fuzzies idea. One year while teaching kindergarten I used tickets for students to earn a reward from a prize box, but I love the warm fuzzies so much more, there's something....warm & fuzzy about them. For me these are an additional part to the clip chart. Students earn a certain number of warm fuzzies depending on what color they are on and they can also earn them throughout the day for showing good choices.


8.) Reward coupons...free to me rewards. What more is there to say? Who doesn't love a reward that doesn't cost them anything. Check out my post about my clip chart, it also has a set of individual free to me rewards, as well as a class set. Again, a freebie that can be scooped up in polka dot, chevron, or striped theme.


9.) This is amazing! Such a wonderful idea. This would have been so useful when I was teaching Kindergarten. If you teach at the younger grades you know what I'm talking about. Are we suppose to cut? Do we glue this on? Can we work with a partner? Can I use markers? This is a great visual to answer many of those questions.


10.) Love, LOVE, LoVe this idea. Check out the blog post for yourself, but I think it's a great idea towards those dread pencils and all the problems they bring to a class.

What ideas are you lovin' for classroom management?

Remember to follow me on Bloglovin'!!! I have a button on my sidebar. I have about 80 google followers, now I just need my wonderful followers to also follow me on Bloglovin. This sure does make it confusing when trying to have a follower giveaway. But I also don't want to see anyone left behind when Google Reader leaves us as of July 1st.

Hope to see everyone linking up with Ashley this summer.

P.S. I know it's Thursday and I did not do a Thursday Rave this week. I'm thinking I might post-pone it until the end of summer, unless I come across something this summer that is so wonderful I absolutely have to rave about it. There are so many great linky's happening this summer, I'm trying to keep them all straight so I remember to participate in as many as I can. 

Bloglovin...Here I Come!!!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Ok, I'm making the switch. It's official. I signed up for Bloglovin a few weeks ago, when I first saw chatter about it, but then didn't do much with it. But today there has been A LOT of Bloglovin chatter, so here I am claiming my blog with Bloglovin.

If you haven't yet made the switch from Google Reader to a new reader, check out Bloglovin.

Ok I'm off to create my groups for Bloglovin, so I can finally have some organization.

Make sure to follow me over there & make sure you switch over soon. I don't want to risk not seeing all of your fabulous posts.

ADDED: Ok so according to my Blogger dashboard I have 79 followers, but according to my Bloglovin records I have 37. I am so looking forward to hosting a 100 follower giveaway & according to Blogger I'm almost there, but what am I suppose to do if someone is only following me on Bloglovin? Is that possible to follow me on Bloglovin & it not show up on my Blogger dashboard count?

Please help any one with some Bloglovin, Blogger, blogging experience?!?

A little confused & frustrated now.

Monday Made It: Teacher Gift & Math Game

I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics again today for her Monday Made It linky party.

I have 2 made-its to share.

First, this classroom sign for my secret pal.

I kind of forgot to take a picture of it before I put it in the bag, so I had to quick take it out & unwrap it when I got to school so I could take a picture for you. This was inspired by Amber at Sparkles, Smiles, and Successful Students she had a sign like this from her Monday Made It last week. Thank you Amber you were a huge life-saver. I had no idea what I was going to give my secret pal as an end of the year gift, then I saw hers & I was like "Perfect." This cute little sign was actually pretty easy to make, I picked up a bifold board from WalMart & cut it apart down the middle, then painted it with acrylic paint, also from Wal-Mart, because they're under a $1 there for the little bottle. Added a little design to it and wrote her name with a paint pen, which was under $2. Then hot-glued ribbon to the top. Again, sorry for the bad picture, because you can't see that the ribbon is an orange ribbon with yellow polka dots on the top. Pretty simple and inexpensive and I'll most likely be making one for my room now too.

The second thing I'm sharing is my Addition and Subtraction Wars game. I shared this a few weeks ago for Manic Monday and complete forgot to share it here as well. So I'll give you the link and let you hop over to that post to check out this fun game for your math tubs. Click either picture of the game boards to jump to my post about this fun card game. Pssstt...this game is a freebie. Check out the post and you can scoop this game up from google docs.

One more freebie I want to mention, I'm dabbling in creating fonts, check out my Fonts page for some free fonts.

Wow! I think was one of the shortest posts I've ever done. I hope you were either inspired to create something or are able to use this game in your classroom. Thanks for stopping by. Remember to link up with 4th Grade Frolics and share what you've made.

Ten Pink Linky - Classroom Decor

Today I'm linking up with Ashley from Just Reed for her Ten Pink Linky. So many fabulous linky's this summer, it's so hard to keep up with them. :) But Ashley's is easy link up with your 10 favorite pinterest pins related to a given topic.  This week's topic is Classroom Decor! Make sure to leave a link back to YOUR Pinterest page so we can follow you.

1.) There are so many things I love about this room. It's bright & colorful & has polka-dots, Oh yeah!!!, but I love the objectives section that is taped off on the white board. The objectives are front & center & there's no missing them.


2.) Again I love this room. But for totally different reasons than the room above. The colors in this room are muted and soft and subdued. I love it, it's so mature. But check out the background on the computers. They are her chevron theme. I had a total "duh" moment the first time I saw this. Like "duh" digital paper as your background. I definitely want to do this in my classroom, if there are computers like this, but of course with polka dots.


3.) For a polka dot themed room, what is an easier way to make polka dots than to use paper plates, especially right now polka dots seem to be in. I've seen a lot of polka dot themed decorations at the dollar store this season.


4.) Such an easy way to see whose in the room and whose not and where they are. And what does this adorable kid tracker have....polka dots!!!


5.) Love this idea of having all the kids with a birthday in that month get in a picture together & hold up the date of their birthday. Super cute & adds more of a personal touch to the classroom.



6.) Using the back of a bookshelf to store center work or early finisher activities. This is great especially when space is at a premium in a small classroom or an overcrowded one.


7.) How cute is this Share Chair!?!


8.) Ever since I had my son my pregnancy brain seems to have not gone away, so having a place in the classroom for reminders, is a MUST. Just in case the kiddos forget to remind me.


9.) A great repurpose of binder clips & a great way to display a sign at a center that doesn't have a wall near it or at a group table.


10.) No need to track down kiddos who you think might not have put their name on their paper. Just attach to this wonderful sign. Love, love, love!

I have a little over 2500 pins on my Pinterest page, so I'm probably missing some great ideas. Check out me Pinterest page to see all of my pins.

Remember to link up with Ashley with your classroom decor pins and look for a new topic next week.

Five for Friday 6/14

It's that time again. FRIDAY!!!! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching again this week for Five for Friday. 

As some of you might have seen by my posts, I've recently purchased the iFont app for the iPad & have been a font, creating fool this last week. Here's one for you that I created last night.

And here are two previous posts that contain some font freebies for you. Click here for five font freebies. And this post contains one font freebie. Feel free to use my fonts for personal and commercial use, I just ask that you give credit back to my blog.

I've realized that I need to start keeping up with Polka Dot Palace's Facebook page. I've posted a question there, head on over there & leave me a comment about the question.

If you ready my Five for Friday last week, then you know I had a phone interview with a charter school. Well I got called back to come in & do a demo lesson. Yay!!! And to make it better I have a friend that works there & is sporadically on the interview committee, depending on her prep. So she told me what they were looking for in the lesson; making sure there was guided practice, independent practice, state your expectations, etc. etc. And that the interview she had sat in on before the principal acted as the student while the rest of the committee watched & took notes. Yeah well that didn't happen this time, I got to teach my lesson to an actual 1st grade class, which I would prefer; however, I was totally unprepared to teach a lesson to actual students. When the school called to set up the interview they didn't mention that it would be with real students. My mentor, at my current school, seems to think that it was a test from the principal to see how I would react. My friend said she had no idea that it was going to be like that & the classroom teacher had no idea we were coming either. So now I wait. I'm hoping by next Friday's Five for Friday that I'll have good news for you all, but I really don't know what to think at this point.

I started to pack up my classroom today. I have way too much stuff in this room. I share my room with another teacher; I use it in the morning and she uses it in the afternoon. We started to pull stuff off the walls, pack stuff up, & clean the closet. Yeah 99.9% of the stuff in that room is mine. So now I'm trying to pack it up & haul it out of there. If I get a full-time job over the summer, I don't want to have to come back to pack-up this room.

View from the door

View from my table

Only 2 more days of school. Wahoo!

Hope you're linking up with Doodle Bugs Five for Friday, so we can see what you've been up to this week.