Then & Now Linky Party

Let me first say that Teachers Pay Teachers has been such a wonderful resource for me. I have met several wonderful designers, I’ve used several great products from other designers, and I have been able to share my own teaching ideas with others.

I started my TpT journey over a year ago and I thought back to the earliest products that I created. Several did not have cover pages at all (what was I thinking? hey, I didn’t know better!) There were very few graphics as well, but I did spend a lot of time thinking about the needs of the teacher and the students. Now, I make sure my products have colorful cover pages, graphics throughout, and I think I am more thorough when it comes to explaining the various activities in my products.

In thinking about my growth as a TpT seller, I decided to host a linky party called Then & Now to compare our earliest products to our latest products.

Here is my Then & Now comparison:

If you’d like, link up with me and think back to some of the first products that you created for TpT. Then, compare them to the products you are creating now.

Here’s what you gotta do: Right-click and save the graphic below. Then open your favorite graphic editor and input your information. For the "then" item, it should be a product that you added to your store during your first months of selling on TpT. Likewise, your "now" item should be a product you've added to your store in recent months. Add your Then and Now graphic to a blog post and talk about it! After you complete your blog post, come back and add the link to your blog post so that we can read about your products then and now.

Hopefully this will be a fun trip down memory lane!

Grab the graphic above and don’t forget to come back and share your link below!

New Year…Clean Slate

I finally got my January bulletin board up for my classroom. I googled “January bulletin board ideas" because I am so lacking when it comes to thinking of ideas for my boards. I found this picture originally.

I have no idea where it’s from, so if you know I’d love to give due credit. Anyway, I liked this idea but I wanted to make it a little cuter. Also, I wanted it to be more personal to my students.

I gave my students construction paper to “create” themselves. They had a blast cutting out hair, eyes, ears, etc. Then we talked about what a new year’s resolution was. We brainstormed a few goals that they might want to achieve for the remainder of the school year. Each student wrote their goal on black construction paper. After helping them paste it all together and adding each student’s name, this was the end result…

I think it turned out really well. I even added myself to the board along with my goal for the rest of the year. Now, I have to start looking for ideas for next month’s board!

Friday Flash Freebie-Bingo

Happy new year! It’s been a while for me so, why not start with a flash freebie?

If you’ve ever visited my TpT store, you know that I have a collection of Bingo games. The Bingo games that I create allow the students to create their own cards by cutting and pasting. So today’s Friday Flash Freebie will be a giveaway of one the Bingo games in my store.

        

Using the InLinkz tool below, make sure to leave a working email address along with the name of the Bingo game you would like from my store. Don’t forget either one of these, because I won’t be able to send it to you! If you are not sure how to use the InLinkz tool, read this previous post here to help you. Please don't leave a comment in the blog post comment area if you are attempting to enter the flash freebie. Please use InLinkz.

The flash freebie will be available from 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM Central Time. Click here to visit my store so that you can choose a Bingo game. Enjoy!

BAZINGA! Game + Freebie!

Happy Thursday everyone! I've been getting my things in order to return back to work from maternity leave…eeek! Today I’m kinda of combining the Monday Made-It linky that I used to see around blog land with my own Pin Up Thursdays.

This week while on Pinterest, I saw this pin

If you aren’t familiar with the term “bazinga”, then you must not watch the Big Bang Theory! I accidently started watching this show because I kept the tv on after watching the Steve Harvey show. I think it originally comes on CBS, but I digress…

One of the characters on the show says “bazinga” all of the time, so that’s where the term comes from. The above pin was originally found on Simplifying Radicals. She uses this game in her upper grade classroom to review. I thought this was a great idea, but since I love technology, I decided to create a powerpoint that I would like to share with you.

 

Feel free to edit it however you like.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8O7ekIyf_04YVphQTFla29NcnM

My kids LOVE to play review games in the classroom, so I’m glad to add this to my arsenal of games. I plan on introducing it next week. I also like this game because it can be applied to any content area.

Well, that’s my spill for the day! Enjoy your afternoon.

Cyber Monday + Tuesday Sale!

Has your Thanksgiving turkey been digested yet? Have you recovered from your black Friday shopping? Hopefully, the answer is yes because I huge sale is taking place on Teachers Pay Teachers starting tomorrow!

Teachers Pay Teachers is running a cyber Monday sale starting tomorrow, and it will extend to Tuesday as well. With TPT’s discount and my own discount, you can get everything in my store for 28% off! WOW!

Here are some of my latest products that you’re going to want to put in your basket!

Christmas Frenzy is a large collection of center activities, worksheets, and crafts for your classroom. At almost 200 pages and more than 20 activities, you’ll have more than enough for your students to do. I’ve discounted this product until October 30th. So if you grab it tomorrow or Tuesday, it will be even cheaper! I’m so excited about this product for my classroom, so I know you’ll enjoy it! View Christmas Frenzy here.

If you have checked out the other Bingo games in my store, then you will be happy to have Christmas Bingo. In the same style as the other Bingo products, students will create their own Bingo cards using Christmas words. View Christmas Bingo here.

Animal ABC Order is a fun way for your students to practice putting words in alphabetical order. For some reason, this is a tricky skill for students. This is an exciting way to help them learn. View Animal ABC Order here.

I linked up with the 3AM Teacher, who is organizing a list of all of the wonderful people who will be having sales. Here they are below!

 

I’ve been busy pinning away on Pinterest lately. I created a collaborative board called Shameless Promotions where you are free to pin anything to promote your store, blog, giveaway, or anything related to you! You can view and follow the board here, and if you’d like to be added to the board just email me at mrsmcla@gmail.com with your Pinterest url. Have a happy Sunday evening, and see you tomorrow for the sales!

Saturday Flash Freebie

Ok, so I totally missed yesterday’s Friday flash freebie (mommy brain), so I’m doing it today! Today I’ll be giving away my newest product, Ten Frame Frenzy

For those of you who teach Common Core, especially first grade, you know that they really push base 10. This year we have used ten frames a lot, so I thought that I would design some activities that would help my students.

To get this item, use the inLinkz tool below. During the last flash freebie, someone wasn’t sure what to do so here’s a little step-by-step:

First, Click the button that says “Add your link”.

Once you click the button, this will appear. I only need your email, so you can choose not to put a URL and name. No one will see this information but me. Click the button that says “Submit Link” and that’s it! The flash freebie will be available from 6:10-7:10 PM CST so get your entry in!

Have a great Saturday evening!

Houston, We Have A Winner!/Pin Up Thursdays

Welcome back everyone. Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway. I took a short break, but I’m excited to get back to blogging. I especially thank everyone who provided advice for my little one. I will definitely take everyone’s thoughtful words with me as I go on this crazy journey called parenthood!

The winners of the giveaway are Michaelyn and April. They will receive all of the items that I add to my store for the rest of this year! Congrats!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now for Pin-Up Thursdays! Here’s what I’ve found this week…

I like this graphing idea for eye color. Of course you can use it and do so many other things…hair color, etc. It’s so visual which is great for students.

This is another graphic activity that I found. I can see this being used each day with a different question. Very simple, but perfect for students.

I had been looking for something for my advanced students during RTI and I plan on using something like this when I get back. I hope this is not too complicated for them to use. On Fridays, I plan to have a fun day where they complete book reports with a partner. This seems like a good template to use.

Typically my students and I do our calendar each day using the Promethean Board, but this is a great way to cover those same skills.

What have you found on Pinterest this week. If you’d like to link up, use the graphic above and leave your blog link using the iLinkz tool or just leave a Pinterest link below using the iLinkz tool. See you tomorrow for the Friday Flash Freebie.