Creative Teaching Press Classroom Decor Giveaway!

This time of year, I always start to think about next year. Am I crazy?!

On our teacher work day today, I’ll be taking down things from this year and thinking about my classroom setup and classroom décor for next year… which is perfect, because I get to work with Creative Teaching Press this year!

Creative Teaching Press was founded by a teacher fifty years ago, and her creative ideas grew into a family-owned, teacher-managed business that aims to give teachers the supplementary materials they need to help students learn and feel comfortable at school… and as part of their 50th anniversary celebration, Creative Teaching Press is letting 33 bloggers EACH give away $50 in free classroom supplies!

Did I mention they really listen to teachers and make adorable things?

I’m not gonna lie- my classroom this year was pretty bland. As I’ve written, I had that new teacher feeling something fierce- and classroom décor fell by the wayside.

One of my goals for next year is to make my room more welcoming, calming, and organized- because I want my students to walk in the room relaxed and ready to learn. Since I teach fourth grade, I need something calming that still feels mature and not a bit “baby-ish” to my big kids.

The new  Chalk It Up! collection will be the perfect contrast to my stark white walls, and I’ll add in some of the blue, green, and turquoise I love using the Painted Palette collection.

I love how cohesive each collection is- makes it easy for teachers because the colors all match!
I plan on using similar bulletin board borders around my classroom for consistency. I love the idea of layering the borders together for a new look!  Check out a Solid Turquoise Wavy Border plus Chevron in Chalk border- I can absolutely see this on a bulletin board!

You can stick to one color and combine the collections, like this look with Chalk It Up! Dots on Chalkboard! Lime Border paired with a HexaFun Lime Green Mini Hexagons Border.

I think this is my favorite- an Ombré Turquoise Scallops Border from the Painted Palette collection with the Chalk It Up! Dotted Swirl Border. I love this pattern and how it looks hand drawn!

With 5 classes going in and out of my room and all the supplies that come with a science classroom, it’s so important to label things- so these Painted Palette Ombre Scalloped Labels in blue and in turquoise are going to be perfect, especially with the Chalk It Up! Chalkboard Labels.

See? So many cute classroom ideas!

I am also super excited to transform my functional-but-boring make-up work system to something a little more wow using these jumbo library pockets! They will fit a full size sheet of paper, which makes it so easy for me to keep track of it all!

You can enter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you’re feeling lucky, each CTP teacher blogger is posting about her favorite new products (and giving you more chances to win!) Next, Kayla at Top Dog Teaching shares how she combined the Creative Teaching Press Chalk It Up! collection with rainbow colors from the Painted Palette collection.

(She’s also doing a TED Talk about teaching soon, so she’s pretty awesome!)

Check out Top Dog Teaching here:

You Are Appreciated- Grab Box Giveaway!

Teachers, lots of people are using this week to say that they appreciate you, and it’s nice. But let me say this… I GET IT.

I know you get to school early or stay late on a regular basis. Or both.

I know you will spend nights lying in bed wishing there were something more you could do for that one kid.

I know you bring home a very full bag and feel at least a little guilty if you let it sit all night while you actually spend time with your family.

I know you will feel crushing defeat when your kids don’t get it, or a lesson falls apart- and yet, come back and try again the next day.

I know how the littlest moments of triumph make your day or your week.

I know a significant amount of your paychecks through the year will go towards something for your class.

I know you spend most of your TV time catching up on grading or cutting out laminated stuff.

I know you want to not worry about the tests, but you can’t help it.

I know you will spend at least part of your summer “off” scouring Pinterest for ways to make your classroom better next year, and then many unpaid hours actually making it happen.

I truly, truly get it.

As a teacher, you probably spend so much of your time doing things for the kids- but I’m teaming up with some other bloggers to do something nice for YOU.



I’m sending one lucky teacher a thank you “grab box” full of surprise goodies to help you make it to the end of the school year!



I’m including a flash drive of some of my favorite TpT resources, like my Reach for the Stars Fluency Folder, May Text Detectives- Find the Text Evidence  for 2nd grade and 3rd grade, and Nonsense Word Context Clues.



You’ll even get a hard copy of Summer Fun! A Multisyllabic Word Game for Prefixes- ready for your students to play!

There’s more! I’ll send the winner a $25 gift certificate to TpT  right away so you get to take advantage of the TeachersPayTeachers sale on Tuesday, May 5 and Wednesday, May 6!



Finally, I’ll fill the box with some of my favorite things that I know other teachers will LOVE. I’m keeping them mostly a surprise, but I’ll share a few hints (and you might catch a few more on Instagram, too!)

           

Getting excited yet? You can enter to win my grab box in the Rafflecopter below. (Sorry, I can only ship this one within the U.S. and Canada!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Even better? Enter for the chance to win a grab box of goodies from some other teacher friends here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Whether you win or not, THANK YOU for all that you do. I see your late-night grading, your hurried lunches, your creative plans, and your love for your students- and it makes me proud to share this profession with you!

Five for Friday- It’s Been Awhile!

What a week.

I am worn. out.

Here’s why:



1. We spent the weekend seeing two of our good friends (top right) get married! It was fun to get all dressed up and see people we hadn’t seen in years (like my old college roommate!)



2. Annnnd Monday morning, after about 10 hours of driving over the weekend, we got to start THIS.

On the plus side, I had my 10,000 steps for the day before lunch on Wednesday!



3. This week we brought out some ‘real’ science containers. It was amazing how much my kids were instantly excited- even by things as simple as water dyed with food coloring.



4. More things that get kids excited to learn?  The Titanic- and any copies of primary sources, like this newspaper set from The New York Times that I got last year! Even though I teach science and social studies this year, every teacher has an RTI/ Enrichment reading group- so I (thankfully) still get to teach reading, and I get to choose our resources (like Polar the Titanic Bear) to make it engaging without having to worry about giving them a grade.



5. I sat down and put all of the weird end-of-the-year stuff on my planning calendars, and holy wow. With all that we have going on and us alternating science/ social studies with A/B days, I have ten lessons left to teach each class. TEN.

Cray-zee-town.

I’ll admit- we’re getting to that point of the year where my kids are like family. And by like family, I mean they love each other and I love them to PIECES, but some of us are starting to drive each other a little crazy. But, that said, we’re also at the point of the year where I FINALLY feel like we’ve got a groove going… and I’m not ready to let go of these kids yet!

I just counted and I think we have 24 days left.

Anyone else feel this way? I’m simultaneously excited for summer but sad that my time with these kids is coming to an end. It is just TOO SOON!

How many days do you have left?

{ I linked up with Doodle Bugs Teaching here.}
{Note: This post contains affiliate links.}

Found the Gold! Freebie Hop

I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe St. Patrick’s Day has already come and gone! The members of A Spark of Inspiration have found the gold at the end of the St. Paddy’s day rainbow- and by gold, we mean FREEBIES!

Thanks to Sarah for sending you this way!

I’m sharing a little sample of a little-known pack in my store that’s actually one of my FAVORITES! Last year when I was teaching intervention, my kids would learn their short vowel sounds… and then the moment we learned about long vowel sounds, they forgot about the short vowels!

I designed a pack specifically for teaching long AND short vowel “o” sounds together- so students can practice deciding when to say each sound while decoding. You can try out a sample of it here!

          

Check it out by clicking here or on the image above!

Next, you’re headed to Megan from Mrs. Wheeler’s First Grade- where she’ll be sharing another freebie! Be sure you hop through before the leprechaun finds his gold again on the 21st!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Hope you enjoy our springy surprises!

EdExpo 2015 Top Ten

Last weekend, I had the awesome opportunity to work with EdMarket! Every year, they host an EdExpo full of hundreds of educational products.

This year, they invited about 50 bloggers to browse and give teachers’ perspectives!

Believe me when I say this room went on… and on… and on. It was a whirlwind, but I found some amazing things you’ll want for your classroom! I’ll share MY top ten with you soon, but all of the 2015 EdExpo bloggers compiled our Top Ten lists, and today I’m going to share them with you!

(Okay, to be fair- there were two ties. So there are actually TWELVE products!)

KAPLA Blocks from Kapla Tom’s Toys

I have to say- I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of companies aiming to give kids creative outlets and hands-on, play-based learning! These blocks are great in that they can be used simply- or, as you can see, used for some intensely innovative designs.

 

Cool Circuits from ScienceWiz

Electricity is always so fun to teach- but sometimes getting materials that are safe, fun, and durable can get to be very expensive. This set from Science Wiz teaches kids about circuits through puzzles, and the light-up factor makes them super engaging!

Circuit Sticker Books from Chibitronics

I was completely and totally in love with this set. The inventor took her love of paper crafting and combined it with her science and engineering passions, and came up with THIS. Using LED stickers (yes, STICKERS!)  and copper tape, kids can create nearly flat circuits. It was so unlike anything I’d ever seen, and so perfect for learning about electricity!

Pencil Grip series from The Pencil Grip

The wide array of grips this company had just blew me away. I loved seeing the different fun, squishy, sensory-friendly grips they had for every stage of writer!

Fiddle Focus Busy Fingers from Creative Educational Strategies & Services

If you’ve ever had a student who needs to fidget or has any kind of sensory needs, this is a thin foam block covered in four fabrics of different textures- perfect for velcro-ing under a student’s desk for a quiet, satisfying way to get the sensory wiggles out. (I’m super thrilled to be trying this out with some of my students already!)

Math Bands from Learn  In Style

Don’t you love finding a product created BY a teacher? These math bands help your students with skip-counting and multiplication. They simply start at the star and count around. Working on 7’s? Touch the star and then count 4 times to get to 7x4.

The F.U.N. Empty Number Line System from Learning Advantage

Have you ever struggled to get your students to connect one unit of math to the next? This open number line allows you to add to it through the year so students can see that 1/2 is the same as 0.5 and also the same as a visual fraction. I love that there are versions for different grade levels, too!

Education Kit from GoldiBlox

Known for making engineering girl-friendly, GoldieBlox makes a ton of innovative, creative kids’ toys with an engaging literacy component and LOTS of hands-on fun! The class set would be perfect for getting your kids creating and engineering- I would LOVE to have this in my science classroom!

Boinks Fidgets from Endless Possibilities, Inc.

You can see from the booth (and the host’s amazing earrings!) just how much FUN this company is. What I loved most were the fidgets (see the close-up top right). The woven plastic tube is sealed on both ends with a marble inside. I found myself fiddling with it the whole time we talked- without even thinking about it!

Say It! Game from FeliX Fun

I love games that you can explain quickly and get kids playing right away. This is a great game for building language skills- kids have to find a way to add their word in a sentence that adds on to the story the class is telling. My kids are already playing at indoor recess (and they don’t even realize they’re learning!)

The Reading Game

From the makers of Wordly Wise, a program for early vocabulary development. The game element keeps kids motivated, but the way this game fosters success with a few words at a time would make it especially powerful for those struggling readers in your room.

 

Touchtronic Letters (and Numbers) by Junior Learning

Have you ever wished iPad learning didn’t outright replace hands-on learning? These letters are an amazing way to do BOTH. These magnetic letters work hand-in-hand with the Touchtronic app, and as kids place the letters on the iPad screen, they can hear the sounds they make. Self-checking? Yes. Independent? Yes. Surprisingly affordable? YES!

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So, where can you find these awesome products? Many of them can be found in local teacher stores near you- especially those that are part of EdMarket. You can search HERE to find a teacher store near you – perfect for checking it out in person before you buy!

I am really grateful to EdMarket for letting me see some of the fantastic new products in education today, and I can’t wait to share more with you about my favorites!

Which product would you be most excited to try in YOUR classroom?