Fabulous Freebie Friday !

I love the site Teaching Blog Addict. They have excellent posts, and lots of linky parties. Today I stumbled upon their Fab Freebie Fridays, where teacher-bloggers share a freebie every Friday. I will be participating most Fridays, as I love to share freebies. In fact, if you follow my TPT store you will be updated when I post a freebie or a product. Right now I have 15 freebies (more to come) in my store. Please leave some feedback if you like the freebie and become a follower :)

Anywho, I wanted to feature my Friday freebie right here for my blog followers as well.  You can download it at my TPT store here. Please take the time to browse the rest of the store as well !

My freebie this week is one that nearly ALL teachers will benefit from. It is my blue polka dot classroom labels set (click on this link for a direct link). There are 30 pre-written labels for everything from various centers, to student desk labels, to essential question header labels, and more! Even if you find you can only use some of the labels, it is still worth checking out. They will work in just about any classroom theme.

You can also share this freebie on Pinterest!

Enjoy, and thank you for your support! I am about 30 followers away from a BIG giveaway! yay!

-Kristin
 

10 Weekly Finds

As mentioned earlier, I am going to post 10 finds from blog or TPT stores that I like. I am not going to do a top 10 though I decided, as there are so many great finds . Basically, this is just a way for people to be aware of some of the items I've found and liked, and for you to maybe get a mention!  If you want to let your blog buddies know about this "10 finds" link, please do so...I am more likely to give shout outs to those who follow my blog, just because I am more likely to be aware of your store and items. :) However, not all items are from followers. Be sure to check out the bottom of this post for my newest product.

So, in no particular order : here are weekly finds you may want to check out!


Compound Words Stuck Together Activity from Teaching With Laughter - A really cute activity to supplement your compound words lesson. It has a peanut butter and jelly theme.

Multiplication Board Games Bundle from Fun Games for Learning - A set of teacher-created multiplication games for  a good price. This seller also had addition, subtraction, and divison games. Good for centers and more. Cute designs too.



Backyard BBQ ELAR and Math activities from First Grade with Mrs. Snowden - An adorable BBQ themed activity bundle for both ELA and Math at a great price, that is jam packed with activities for various things including synonyms, antonyms, graphing, telling time, word wall, and sentences.

Class Rules Poster Set FREEBIE!- from  Extra Special Teaching  - A great FREE set of rules signs for your classroom, with cute visual clip art to remind your students of your expectations.

Fall Themed Morning Work Pack (common core aligned) from Kroger's Kindergarten-  20 pages of morning work sheets focusing on common core aligned math, reading, and writing skills.

"Ocean Life" themed parts of speech signs- from The Peanut Gallery - These are adorable and priced right!

Pig Themed Back to School Bundle- from 2nd Grade Pig Pen - I love pigs, so I love this  bundle of back-to-school goodies all with a cute pink and green pig theme. It is 44 pages long, and includes lots of templates and forms. 

Free Colorful Work Stations Signs from  Mrs. Standford's Class- free and perfect for centers!

Johnny Appleseed Thematic Unit   - It is 65 pages, well priced, and has tons of cute items in it including KWL charts, science lessons, drawing activities, lessons, anchor charts, and more

Pretty Frames - cheap, cute, whimsical frames to use in your teacher-created products

classroom reward certificates

For a little self-promotion- I really like and will be putting to use my new classroom reward certificates bundle..my store is growing. I now have over twenty items and more items to come, so check it out!

My newest TPT Items, discounts, cheapies, borders for use on your materials, and what's to come on this blog!

  

Hello Blog buddies. I will soon be posting lots of new helpful and fun posts. I plan on doing a weekly wrap up of my top 10 teacher made finds from around the web and linking to them. I will be browsing other teacher blogs and Pinterest to do so. Please follow my blog, so I will know about and be able to follow yours. In doing so, some of your products might be in the weekly top 10 and linked to! I will be posting my first weekly top 10 within the next few days, so be on the lookout!

Unfortunately, I have not been able to blog as much as I'd like the past few days because I have been hard at work on a few products for my TPT store.  As I always do, I will be having a 15% off sale for the first 3 days of these products. I recommend you follow my TPT store, because I frequently post new items that are for all various grade levels and topics, and you will be able to see when I list new items- which will always be 15% off the first few days.  By the way, I permanently lowered my Behavior Management packet price by $2 and it is 15% off so grab it now!

hippo themed border pack

I apologize for the blurriness.. I am waiting on a battery for my other laptop and will upload better images then. My newest products are: 

BORDERS- colorful polka dot borders. or diagonal stripe  or Hippo themed borders(diagonal and hippos only .png). I am going to begin posting lots more of these. However, my first set has 9 designs saved in jpg. and png. and is great for all the materials you create! Plus, they're affordable!

Animal ABC cards - a complete set of nearly 4" by 3" upper and lower case cards with cute cartoon animals that begin with the corresponding letter. There is also a few free clip arts and symbols to cut out. These are perfect for letter/sound recognition, flash cards, bulletin board decorations, signs, posters, and much more!! CUTE and cheap !
 

2 font; printable bulletin board letters, numbers and symbols set- pretty blue

Includes 2 different font sets of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Also, a free clip art page. Print, cut, laminate. Never buy die-cuts again ! Perfect for bulletin boards, posters, and signs.

The Top 10 Essential Teacher Materials

When I first began teaching, I spent tons of money on odds and ends, especially stocking up at the beginning of the year. Half of those items I rarely used, and some of those items I still did not have enough of. It is important for teachers beginning their career to know what is most important to stock up on at those beginning of the school year sales, and for when their school system lets them order materials. We have to be good at budgeting and getting what is most important. Below are what I found to be my top 10 most needed things throughout the school year. I work at a school that, unfortunately, does not have have an abundance of these items. I plan on asking for donations of some of these items from parents at the beginning of the year. Staples, Office Depot, and Office Max always have great deals on many essentials (we're talking a penny), so check ads (available online too) and shop every week at the start of the school year. I am also curious if others find that my essentials list is similar to theirs, and what other teachers found they needed most, so please post in the comments section with suggestions for all the teachers out there.

       

The Essentials Top 10

10.) glue sticks

9.) pencil sharpeners

8.) staplers                                                           

7.) crayons

6.)scissors

5.) dry erase markers

4.) tissues

3.) copy paper

2.) pencils

1.) hand sanitizer 

You can never have too much hand sanitizer!

So, does my top 10 list look similar to yours? I'd love to know!

Classroom Design From All Over

I have seen many various types of classrooms; small, large, dark, bright, cluttered, uber-organized, welcoming, cold, trailers, old, new, dirty, clean. Just for fun, and maybe even some tips I thought I'd post some pictures of various classrooms from all over the country and world for a different perspective. What does your dream classroom entail?

third world nation's classroom
credit: creative commons from abdulrahman

Classroom in Jakarta. Lots of students in that class!
credit: creative commons from Shanghaidaddy