College & Career Week...

I've always shared my door decor for our college / career week...Generation Texas round these parts.  But I have to say that I think this year is by far my favorite!! I went round and round with ideas on what to do. My 1st grade team is hashtag obsessed. It all started with that Timberlake/Fallon video!  After that, we just couldn't stop.  #firstgrade #this #that.  It has become #quiteentertaining.  I combined that with the selfie craze to come up with our design. So cute.

I just set out my camera and called them one at a time to take a #selfie! They were hilarious!  Then they typed their name and what they wanted to be when they grow up.  I have GOT to save these pictures till 2025 Haha!!

Sarah's Elephants...Adorbs!

Holy cuteness. I just finished up a new classroom decor set and I am just lovin' it!

Ok, let me give you a little background first. Last year our first grade team received a new member. She was a veteran teacher and fit in right away.  I made the Birdies & Bunting set for her.  Well, a few weeks in to the year she was needed in a special needs classroom at our school and was excited to return to her passion.  At that point, we had a 1st grade class with no teacher!!! OMG!  I was so nervous about what we would do. Luckily Sarah, a brand new college graduate, had taken an aide position on our campus at the beginning of the year. She agreed to go take her certification tests and step into 1st grade immediately.  I was so thankful to have her.  But she didn't have the typical first year teacher experience.  Don't get me wrong it was hard tough challenging like all of our first years, but most importantly she didn't get to do all of the things that we get excited about doing in our first classroom. No choosing the theme, decorating the bulletin boards, or setting up the layout.  She basically moved into someone else's room.  I know that it never felt like "hers!"  She wasn't there at the beginning of the year for "Meet The Teacher Night." She didn't get to teach beginning of the year procedures. All of that, while trying to learn the 1st grade content.  I assured her, almost daily, that it would never be that hard again.  And she made it through...in one piece...and doing a great job.  Along the way, she also became a critical asset to our team. Of course she will miss that group, but we were so excited to celebrate the end of school and the completion of her first year of teaching. 

This summer we've been talking about her new room and how she wants to set up and decorate. We checked TPT, looked to Pinterest for a little inspiration, and discussed a handful of themes. While at a training a couple of weeks ago she said, "You know I've really always liked elephants!" And that was that.  I was so motivated. I was going to make exactly what she wanted. We were going to create a set fit for her. 

Now that the set is finished and printed I feel so much excitement for her.  I sent her a picture yesterday of her goodies ready to go.  I hope that it will help make for an amazing 2nd, 1st year of teaching!!

PS- Did I mention that I am IN LOVE with these darlin' elephants too?

Here are the sets added to my tpt...

Preppy Elephant Classroom Decorative Set

Preppy Elephant Classroom Numbers

Preppy Elephant Literacy Signs

(Graphics/Fonts By: Erin Bradley, Cara Carroll, Nina's Design Studio, JW Illustrations, DreamlikeMagic, Ms. Talley)

I will post pics of her classroom in a few weeks, once we get it all going.  Be back soon!

I "Mustache" you a question...

Who loves summertime...I do!!!  Sleeping in, catching up, family time, reflecting on the past year, and getting ready for the upcoming school year.  Also summer is a perfect time to give my blog and TPT store some TLC!

As I logged on, I noticed that I am 2 followers away from 1,000. Woohooo! That is so exciting.  I'll need to put together a sparkly little giveaway.  

A year ago, I shared this post with a picture of my door all decorated for college & career week.  This year I focused on career instead of college and I really wanted to figure out a way to incorporate my new obsession with mustaches. The result...

 

We took a picture of each student wearing a neon mustache and they wrote what they wanted to do/be when they grow up.  I loved the way that it turned out.  giggles

(Bright letters are from Frog Street Press)

For all of you owl lovers out there, check out my bff's door... at 3rd Grade's a Hoot! Too Cute!

Back soon with classroom photos, new products, and that 1,000 follower giveaway.

In the meantime, I'm working on setting up my blog in blog lovin.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I'm back...Plus Owl Punctuation

Well I took a little unintentional blog break! It has been a rough cold/flu season for both my classroom and home.  In my house alone, we had 5 cases of strep and 2 cases of the flu...and I only have 3 in my family. YUCK!  Anyhow, the point is I'm refreshed, moving forward, and ready to throw a little glitter....

Let's start with a fun product that I added to my TPT store.  In my classroom, we've been working on punctuation. I needed to re-vamp my punctuation anchor chart this year to match up to my owl decor.  Here is a picture of the final anchor chart.

(I can't find the original author of the punctuation statement. If it's yours, let me know so that I can give you credit!)

I've put together a poster pack which includes the 3 signs above, a punctuation definition poster, and the 3 sample sentences. Check it out...

Click HERE to head to my TPT store to grab your set!

I hope that everyone is doing well and looking forward to Spring as much as I am! Back soon with a freebie!

Silent Auction Basket

Our school's major fundraiser every year is our Fall Festival.  It's huge!! Our building is transformed into a family friendly Halloween celebration.  There are games, a haunted house, concessions, a pumpkin decorating contest, and my favorite...The Silent Auction!!!

Each class is in charge of providing a themed basket for the auction.  You can usually find a family fun night basket, cleaning basket, gift card basket, etc.. One of my favorite this year was "Keep Calm and Bake On!" Super cute theme, right? This year my firsties and I made a basket themed "We LOVE Reading!" Each student brought $5 OR an item for the basket. I am sooo happy with the way our basket turned out.  (I actually thought about bidding myself!) The most impressive part of our basket was the basket itself.  My room mom did an AMAZING job of painting it to match the theme.  I just fell in love and hated to see it go!!

We had about 10-12 books, a Barnes and Noble giftcard, a custom Dr. Seuss quote cup, a framed Keep Calm and Read On sign, Dr. Seuss socks, and a SkippyJon Jones notecard set.

Here is a shot of the back of the basket. Just fabulous!

I'll be back later this week with a freebie that I'm working on! Giggles...

Saving Space...

Just a quick stop by to share a space saving idea that was a great improvement to my classroom!! I use every square foot of my classroom as I'm sure MOST of you all do as well.  Reading area here, writer's workshop supplies there, oh and where shall I put listen to reading?...I'm blessed with a fairly large classroom, but there's one thing that was driving me bonkers! MY POCKET CHART STAND!!! I'd tried a mega stand from Lakeshore, a small garment rack from Walmart, and I just couldn't get all giggly over any of them. I think the pushing them around was the problem.  Then it hit me...put it in a place that was easily accessible and could be put away in a snap.  Taadaaa!!! I just attached it to the top of my white board with staples and used the little velcro to roll it up for storage. Now I'm certain I'm not the first to do this and I'm sure at some point this is what the velcro on the back was intended for, but it was new to me! And it's made my teaching life just a tad easier.

Have a great week!!



Posh Pencil Containers...

Well the first week has come and gone and I believe that I have recovered!! Following up the first week with a 3 day weekend is just perfection.  In my last bit of to-do's before school actually started, I decided to glitter up my classroom pencil containers.  I was so happy that Misty at 3rd Grade's a Hoot created a fab pencil freebie using the adorable pencil graphics from Melonheadz! I didn't want to purchase any new containers so I hunted around for a few that would fit my vision. I found a couple of decorative cans I had purchased at Michael's for my daughter's painting party.

The supplies...2 sheets 12x12 scrapbook paper, 2 medium plastic paint cans from Michael's, printed fab pencil freebie labels, scissors, and tape (not pictured)

I trimmed down the scrapbook paper to the height of the cans and glued the label.

I fit the paper to the inside of the can (you kind of have to shove it in there!) and attached a few pieces of tape inside.  My paper left a gap, but I just used some of the scrap that I had cut off to fill the space.

Tadaaa!! They are just what I wanted!

Check them out next to a few adorable classroom additions (I found them at a candy store in Destin!) that I found this summer...

Now on to week two!!! Sending gobs of glitter and giggles your way...

Aaarrre you ready for a giveaway?

I am so excited to be teamed up with 3rd Grade's a Hoot for a Pirate sized give-away!! We are celebrating her 1000th follower with a treasure full of pirate themed goodies!! Check out the loot...

From 3rd Grade's a Hoot:

Pirate Classroom Decorative Set

Pirate Behavior Clip Chart

Pirate Word Wall Labels

From 1st Grade Glitter & Giggles (me!)

Pirate Leveled Library Labels

Pirate Writing Process Sign Set

Pirate Writer's Eye Set

2 Winners will be chosen for this one! Contest ends Friday.

 Click here to visit her blog and enter to win!!!





A Year of Change & Birthday Cute!!

Well here we are, 2 days before the first day of school! It's such a year of change for me. I've mentioned in previous posts that this year we are diving in to the Daily 5. I'm also welcoming an all new team of teachers to my grade level this year. I am the only returning veteran. Although I will miss my previous team dearly, I have already fallen in love with my new girls! They are so much fun and such go getters! We are going to have a blast. And my final big change...I say this teary-eyed...my baby girl will begin Kindergarten on Monday!!! I thought I would be ok with this since we will be on the same hallway and closer than we've ever been, but apparently I'm going to be an emotional mess on Monday. You see as I walked out of my classroom late Friday after preparing my room for my firsties, I walked passed my daughter's kinder classroom.  They had a letter posted on the door to kinder parents about kissing them goodbye on the first day and it was signed Love, Your Big Kindergartener! Oh my, my eyes filled with tears immediately. Apparently, I'm not as strong as I thought!!

Now back to business!!! I want to share this super cute way that one of my teammates is displaying birthdays in her classroom.  I think that it is just adorable!!