Surprised and Honored...

A couple of days ago I was contacted by Becky  from UCreate .    Becky does a weekly Teacher Feature on her blog and this week she chose to feature 3rd Grade's a Hoot. Are you kidding me?   I was very surprised and honored that she found me and decided to include me on her blog.  She let me know last night that my "Teacher Feature" would post this morning at 5am and to be honest I was so busy I didn't even get a chance to look at it until after school today.  I had a chance to look around her blog for a little while. Um...more like an hour to be exact.  She had me at the cute little owl on her header. Anyway it is an amazing blog.  I will definitely be pinning a ton of ideas for new crafts and must haves.  I especially loved these cute Jack o' Lantern Jars.   

Oh my cuteness! and guess who just got her first Cricut!  Yep, this girl right here.  So now, making these faces should be a snap. They will definitely be posted up on my "Mystery Reader" table in October.  I can't wait! This is just one of the many adorable ideas I spotted on UCreate.  You guys simply have to head over and show her some teacher love!  Toodles!

Manic Mondays

It was just another Manic Monday (whoa, whoa)!  Sorry I had to.  Anyway I always feel like Mondays are crazy.  New word wall words, new spelling words, new vocabulary words, a new story to picture walk and make predictions about, a new skill for grammar, and racing to finish so I can start a new math topic at 10:00 sharp.  I am exhausted and I'm sure my little thirdsters are all off in dreamland by now, but I wanted to share my Boggle bulletin board with you lovelies.  I saw Mrs. Rojas' board and just had to have one in my little room.  She is so sweet to share such amazing ideas and has them posted on her blog, "Create Teach Share".  I really thought the Boggle idea was fab and would be a great Work on Words activity.  I can't wait for my kiddoes to see it tomorrow!

I have really limited wall space left so I used the bottom of my classroom door.  You can get the letters and a recording sheet to go with the activity right HERE and check out her board.  It is super cute! 

Toodles ya'll!

My Top 10 Blogs

OMGoodness!  I am sooooo thrilled that someone gave me an award.  I can't even tell you how surprised I was when Janis over at Caffeinated Conclusions included me in her Top 10 list.  Now it's my turn and it is going to be a daunting task to narrow it down to 10 but here I go...

1.  First Grade Glitter and Giggles-


Marisa is my bestie.  We were first grade teammates for 5 years before I moved up to 3rd and now we are on opposite sides of the building (boo).  We are making it though and having fun chatting about blogging and pinning constantly.  So much fun having a BFF at work!

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There you have it.  My Top 10 and thanks again to Janis for nominating me.  You made me smile!  Toodles!

Decorating Frenzy

We are 5 days away from "Meet the Teacher" and my room is, dare I say it, almost ready.  I am sooooo stinkin happy with my room this year and the way everything came together.  I have been working 12 hour days to get everything in place.  I am revamping my discipline system and going with the Clip Chart this year.  Of course it had to go with our Superhero theme so I tweeked it a bit.  My Bucket Filler board is almost ready.  We are getting our class list on Monday.  So excited I can hardly stand it! Why is that like waiting on Christmas morning to me?  Anyway, I can add names to the buckets then. 
My "to do list" grows every waking moment, but slowly I am getting it done. 
I put together a Focus Wall to go along with our Journeys textbook for ELA and I think it turned out so cute thanks to my bestie (First Grade Glitter and Giggles) for making my adorable headers.  To quote Rachel Zoe, " I die" for owls.  The owl headers are available in her TPT store btw.  Also, a shout out to Clutter Free Classroom  for the Math Workshop board inspiration.  I changed mine up a bit, but the signs are super cute and will work perfectly for implementing Math Workstations.  I wanted to post a few pics just to show some of my faves in my room after my decorating frenzy.   More to come but here are the pics I have so far!



Scrap Happy Place Value Banner

So since I am going to be teaching thirdsters this year I'm getting a little higher in the place value realm.  I am seriously obsessed with banners right now so I decided to create a place value banner for my babies.  Easy peasy!   I just used scrapbook paper cut into triangles.  I printed out the wording in a cute font and drew a border around it. Cut them out and glued them to the triangles.   Then I stapled (I was out of double sided tape) the cute ribbon to the top.  You can't even see the staples so it worked out great.  Plus it folds up very easily.  My next goal is to create a "Gallon Man" out of scrapbook paper.  Here is a look at my newest banner!  Love it!  Oh the things that make this teacher happy!

Random Ramblings...

We are finally able to get into our classrooms this week.  I have been looking forward to this all summer!  Oh boy!   I must have forgotten that I left it looking like this...

Before having a mini panic attack I quickly hung up my new fabulous fabric banner (very simple to make) and displayed my new fancy framed print on my desk . 

I am obsessed with this print so I decided to add my own personal touch (polka dots of course) and make it my teaching mantra!  Love it!  I think this is going to be a great year. 

Ps- My Bestie and I are doing our first giveaway (100 followers Yay!) so head over to First Grade Glitter and Giggles for the details. 

Toodles!

Whoooo's your favorite author?

Obviously I have a small obsession with owls and it seems like many others do too.  A lovely fellow blogger asked me to create her a special sign and I think it turned out so cute so I wanted to share it with all my other owl lovers. 

I plan on highlighting an "Author of the Month" in my classroom and this will work perfectly. Just print a photo of the author and display it in the "frame".  Post a bio and display books by the featured author or even print out covers from their books to place around the bulletin board.   I included "author of the week" in case that works better for you.  I am so excited for this to find it's way into your classrooms!  Let me know what you think. 

Whoooo's your favorite author?

Gotta Love Etsy

In between Pinterest, blogging, creating for TpT, Facebook, and  Twitter ( boy I spend a lot of time on the internet) I can't forget about Etsy.  Look what I found ...

Perfect for me!  I love this Etsy store !  She also has fabric covered baskets in different prints that are reversible and would be perfect for the classroom! 

Reversible Seuss basket

Check out Baffin Bags to see all of her fabulous creations. 

Pirate Theme Signs... AARGH!

I had a request for some pirate signs so I created these today.   This set includes signs for  the 5, EEKK, I Pick, and 3 Ways to Read a Book.  So much fun to make! Here is a sneak peek! Next up...Pirate Cafe Signs. 

Click here to go to TpT page:

Pirate Themed Daily 5 Signs

Bucket Fillers Freebie

I am so excited to start the Bucket Filler program with my third graders this year.  I created some signs that will go perfectly with my motif (polka dots galore) and thought I would share.  Grab them here!  Also, hop on over to First Grade Brain and join in the Bucket Filler linky party.  I am still undecided on how I will display the buckets.  Maybe stick on hooks, or the shoe organizer method.  I would love to see some pics if there are any other ideas. 

I just got these buckets in the mail today from Oriental Trading Company.  I will post pics of my Bucket Bulletin Board as soon as I can get in my classroom. 

If you are using library pockets you can download these paper buckets to use with your freebie set!

Paper Buckets



Blog Days of Summer

Summer in Texas means triple digit temperatures everyday.  This makes spending hours posted up on the computer (with ice cold lemonade tea in hand) completely acceptable.  Right?  Absolutely! I love my summer schedule.  Wake up late, go to lunch (sushi today), work on computer, nap, go to the movies, blog and create (until my eyes can't stand it anymore), and eventually go to sleep. 
I did get a request for some Owl Daily 5 Signs so here is a preview.  I am working on some Leveled Book Bin labels (owl theme and superhero) as well as a Bucket Filler set so stay tuned...
Toodles!





Blog Mixer Linky Party

Yearn to Learn is havin a blog mixer linky party.   Let's do some serious blog stalking and highlight awesome teachers!  Here's what you do:
1.  Find a "New Kid on the Block" (someone who has only been blogging maybe 2months or less).
2.  Find a blogger in your same grade level.
3.  Find a blogger in a different grade level.
4.  Find and grab a super cute button. 


Here is my list:
1.  New Kid- The Sweet Life of 3rd Grade - looking forward to sharing ideas
2.  Same Grade Level-  Thoughts of a Third Grade Teacher
3.  Different grade level-  First Grade Parade- Fellow Texan and one of my fave blogs to visit
4.  Cute Button-  There are so many but I really love this one...

Daily 5 Signs

I have been feverishly working on this little set since the wee hours.  I can't wait to get in my classroom (which is in shambles since I had to move to a new room) and set everything up.  I can just see these on my bulletin board now! 

Daily 5 Signs

Preview...

I am so excited (and a little nervous) to begin The Daily 5 and Cafe in my class this year!  I am in the middle of reading both books this summer and taking breaks to create some stuff I know I will need to use on my bulletin boards.  I decided to do a set of Cafe Menu posters using superheroes, but I also have some super cute owl graphics (of course) and so I made a set using those as well.  Each set includes the 4 Cafe headers (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary).  I posted both in my TPT store.  Here is a preview for you.  Let me know what you think!
                                                                 Cafe Menu Posters

                                         

Score!!!!

I made a mad dash to Super Target tonight (I'm talking 9:50 and it closes at 10) just to see what I could find in the dollar bins!  Whew! I knew they had Seuss stuff not too long ago but I didn't expect any to be left.  So, I was psyched to find these cute little buckets!  I also scooped up a ton of alphabet stickers, some alphabet stamps, and my favorite are the sectioned round trays.  Those come in super handy for teaching money.  I just put a tray filled with coins on each table for students to share.  Easy for them to sort and put away.  The hunt is still on for 24 small buckets I can use for our Bucket Fillers!  Tomorrow I'm hitting up Ikea for magazine files we will use for Daily 5 book boxes.  It's a good thing I'm relaxing this summer and not thinking about school at all (detect the sarcasm)! Nah, I love it!  Toodles!