It's my birthday giveaway!!

Woo!!! It's my birthday!!! I love, love , LOVE birthdays...especially mine! Last year, for my 30th, I went to the Keys...do you remember that??

OH! AND I went Skydiving! 

Check out THAT post ...my video is on it too!

Well, I have no clue where I'm at right now...or what I'm doing. But I'll be sure to fill you in on my Splash of Life blog when we get back!

BUT, I'm here for TWO reasons right now.

First one:

I'm having a sale on my Shop on the Blog!! Enter the code "birthday" to get your discount! 

Sale is good July 29th and 30th!

And the other one is a GIVEAWAY!!

My dear friend just opened up her own Etsy shop, H.e.m Originals. 

She has started with making these SUPER cute burlap bags. I love them!! And what's so great about them is that not only does she sew them, BUT, she creates ALL of her own stamps for the top section of the bags. She literally carves out the stamps, so each stamp is unique! They are stamps that she put on there herself. So cute! She has a few different kinds already.

AND, because I think they would make CUTE teacher bags, I've convinced her to do a giveaway to celebrate her grand opening.  She told me to pick my favorite one, but honestly, I can't decide between these two (she has more designs too!). SO, I'm just going to let YOU choose which one you want if you win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Keeping Spelling Throughout the Year Organized!

I've had some good responses to my organization posts!

My Common Core Statements

My Tasty Fact Quizzes

Math With a Deck of Cards 

and my monthly tubs and centers (this one is a favorite!)...

AND, I've had a few questions about how I organize and display my Spelling Throughout the Year packs. 

So, here's what I do.

First, I print up the word wall words (both spelling and sight words) and cut them out to shape.

Then I glue them to their specific color. I chose teal for sight words and yellow for spelling.

Then I run those sheets through the laminator, and cut out the words again, but just in rectangles this time.

Now here's how I organize it all.

I print up the table of content sheets and put them in front. I just like to see where the skills are so it's a quick flip in the binder.

Then I put all the weeks together. For example...here's what week 1 looks like. I put the student list page up front, and then I put all the other sheets behind it in the same sleeve.

 

Keeping it all together makes it super easy when it's time to copy off for the week...I just take out the plastic sleeve and head up to the office to make my copies!

I even keep the word wall cards in the same sleeve (yes, you'll need a bigger binder by the end of the year!)

It keeps going like that for the rest of the binder....

Now, how do I display them?? Well, that's really up to you and your preference...or what you have available in your class. Here are some examples of how I do it.

Both the Spelling and Sight Words in one pocket chart.

Or, you can do one set per pocket chart, since depending on which pack you have, the words can get pretty big.

OR, you can do no pocket chart and just tape or magnet them to your chalkboard!

If you're interested, I have 3 different grade levels.

1st Grade                            2nd Grade                                3rd Grade

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You can look for them at my 

TpT Store

TN Store

Shop on the Blog Store

P.s...make sure you come back tomorrow - I have a special surprise for you!!!

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Donors Choose: Fluency

One of the biggest things to me is fluency. I really do see it as the bridge that connects word recognition and reading comprehension. It can lead to higher vocabulary, which results in greater comprehension as well.

Well, when I went shopping at Lakeshore the other day, I saw SO many things I wanted to get for my classroom that would help with fluency...but I just couldn't get it all!

So, I came home and created a project on Donors Choose. I am SO excited and hopeful that I can get all these. Since my kids are lowersocio kids, I need to provide as much practice inside the classroom as I can.

Here are some of the things I am hoping to get:

It all has to do with fluency, from every angle - words, passages, and HEARING the fluency. 

For the next two days, any donation made to my project will be doubled! If you know anyone who is passionate about education, please pass this along, or if you know of anyone whose company or business makes donations periodically (tax write-off!), please feel free to pass my project along!

Click on the picture to see my classroom request:

To have your donation matched dollar for dollar, enter the match code INSPIRE on the payment screen. This awesome match offer lasts through July 29.

THANK YOU!!

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shopping spree!

Did you see my FB or instagram posts!? Then you know I've gone shopping.

Today was staples. Now, you might remember, I work at a title I school. So, a lot of my kids won't come with all the supplies I ask for. So, I try to get what I can before school.

Today was great though. I used like 4 coupons from my weekly staples ad (check online for yours!).

I got 20 composition books so I could do my phonics notebooks.

(available in all my stores - TPT, TN, or Shop on the Blog!)

and 20 spirals. These, I use for writing journals. But I also have a stack at school that are cut in half for math journals!

Yep...that was me, last year. 

I had to have a practice run at it, but then I achieved perfections! lol

(update! I was getting a lot of questions on what size blade I used, and hubs said it was a 12" blade, but that you don't need one that big. That just happens to be the size we had on it.)

I also had a 50% off coupon for dry erase markers...so I bought some for my white board, and then my centers.

I also stocked up on some gluesticks and crayons....because it's like they EAT them...does this happen in your room?? I mean, seriously!?! And this glue is probably good for like 1 week - haha!

annnnnd of course I stalked up on ink...I had a $15 off coupon, so why not?! 

AND I went to Target today...

I got more gluesticks and bottled glue...and a class set of 3 pronged folders for our poetry journals! Can't wait to show you those!

And my trip to Lakeshore? (if you follow my instagram, you saw that last week), I only bought TWO things...yep...that's right. I bought the big money because I needed the coins. I've had this box for a few years, but this year, my coins went missing...grrr....so I needed to get the box again because I use that ALL the time with my Numbers Every Day pack. 

And this isn't even HALF of my pile to take back to work with me....and people think teacher make enough money...they just don't' know how much of our own money we spend on our classrooms...

what have you bought so far?!

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Alphabet and Vocabulary Journals

I really like the interactive, student-created notebook and journals. You know that I have my Hands-On Dictionary and Phonics Notebook....

Well, I just finished two more notebooks...

The first one I did was an Alphabet Journal

If you follow my Instagram, then you saw this picture

A was all excited to be my model for the Alphabet Journal.

I like to bind the journal together, but you can glue the cover to a the front of a 3-pronged folder.

Inside are two pages practice sheets for the alphabet. 

*Tip - laminated them so the students can practice with dry erase markers!

Check it out!

TpT

Shop on the Blog

And then the other one I finished is a Vocabulary Journal.

I set it up the same way, with my binding machine.

For ease of flipping through the pages, I put the letters in stars at the top of the pages.

Here's what it looks like when it's finished...

The "Rate it!" is what they do AFTER they finish the entry on the word. They are rating how well they feel THEY know the word, and how comfortable they are using it.

Check it out!

TpT

Shop on the Blog

Now....I've been saying this, but now I PROMISE the next thing on my list is the 3rd Grade Spelling Throughout the Year!

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