Why Hello There & Who Might You Be?!?

     I'm Katy, wife to Pete, mom to Noah & Camryn, teacher to 18 2nd graders, sister, daughter, friend, and, oh yes.....the author of this little blog.  It's been a while--a little over an 8 month-long while in fact!  I have contemplated deleting this blog because I already have so much to keep up with {I also have a family blog and a teacher website that I maintain} and there just isn't much leftover time in my day.  However, I found myself going back to this blog tonight because I was using an idea that I had posted about at about this same time last year to use in my classroom (Holiday "Eye"-deas).  So, I figured that, since this is more of my crafting/classroom ideas blog, I would update with some of my latest craft projects :)
   
     Here goes...

I made this "B" sign for my sister Jen as a birthday gift.  I had made a "W" sign for my other sister for her birthday earlier this year and Jen mentioned wanting one for her special day, so I made her one with a little bit of a twist.

For Mother's Day, I made both of my sisters a family chalkboard.  I am kinda obsessed with chalkboard art and lettering right now.  I just love the style!  Found these cute blank chalkboards at Michael's and just couldn't pass them up!  My sisters both have them displayed in their homes and they look so cute & personalized :)

I can't really take credit for this craftiness right here because this is what Camryn made for Pete for Father's Day.  She may have the craft gene like her mama ;)

I have also gotten into making mesh wreaths over the past month (which I also posted on my fb page), but if you are interested, the two I have made so far look like this:

     I am hoping not to take such a long hiatus this time around, especially because I've made this a more general crafting blog and not solely for use in classrooms!  Happy crafting!

happy hearts day!

     I have been seeing some amazingly cute Valentine's Day arts & crafts popping up on my Pinterest page lately and it is so hard to pick which ones to create!  Seriously, there is some major crafty talent in this world.  While I'm going to let my kids pick which valentines goodies they want to make for their classmates, I went ahead and made their Valentine cards using some super cute graphics via the super awesome Eighteen 25 craft blog.  The sisters that created that blog truly post some of the neatest DIY projects!  These are the valentines that my kids will be passing out to their friends:

     I love them!  And the valentines ;)  Also on Pinterest, I found a great Hearts Day printable with the chorus to a song that my mom & grandma used to sing to me when I was little:

     I printed it out and placed in a 5 x 7 gold, glittery frame and it adds some cute Valentine's Day sparkle to our bar area.  Easy, peasy. 

     Once the kids decide on which Valentine's Day craft they want to make, I will add some pictures!  Happy LOVE month!

New Year, New Changes!

     Happy 2014!  I am going to be more regular with my blogging this year, so be ready for lots of crafting projects, thoughts, and ideas!  I have changed up this little blog a bit from one primarily focused on teaching to one mostly about being creative.  While I am a teacher, I wanted to expand to ways of being crafty in more than just the classroom, but in any area of your life {home decor, organizational tools, backyard, travel, etc.}
     My first post of the new year is about wooden letters.  I found this cute idea on Pinterest:

     I thought it would be a great gift idea and headed to Hobby Lobby!  I found this exact cross and, while on that row, also saw some wooden letters that I figured I could do something similar.  I like to test out my designs before giving it to anyone, so here's how my copycat turned out...

     I liked it :), so I decided to make one for my mom and sister for their birthdays!

     Not quite as *perfect* as the original, but my mom & sister loved them and I may have gotten some requests for future birthday gifts from other family members ;) I'm also thinking that these would be cute with polka dots, paisley, stripes....I'm sure I'll be practicing some more designs soon!  

Happy crafting!

Holiday "Eye"-deas!

     The 2nd quarter has arrived and I, for one, am LOVING it!  My kids & I are in a routine, the weather is getting cooler {less humid anyway!}, and the holidays are right around the corner!!  I am a huge fan of all things Halloween, Fall, and Christmas and I enjoy finding ways to incorporate these themes into our learning.   Luckily, there are some pretty AmAzInG teacher bloggers out there who post lots of fantastic ideas to use with your students!  I've been scouring and felt that this one idea in particular just had to be shared.  Check it out below…
     My favorite new *idea* I have started using in our classroom is the "Eye" Like What I See behavior incentive packet created by Katie Knight at Teacher To The Core.  It is precious and is perfect to introduce this month with the goofy, monster-like faces!  Basically, I put up a small "Eye" Like What I See poster on my front white board and, each time the students do something to blow me away/go above and beyond, they earn a smiley face.  10 smiley faces = class reward :)  In addition, I also purchased a small glass jar from Hobby Lobby, filled it with googly eyes, and added a small chalkboard label that says, "All eyes on YOU!".  At the end of each day, the table that has been the most well-behaved gets to keep the jar on their table for the next school day, earns a point for their Class Dojo monster, and their table gets to go first for all of the activities on the following school day.  This incentive program goes hand in hand with the current behavior management program that I use and doesn't take a lot of extra class time or materials to implement.  It has been a great motivator for my students to really work as a team and try their best each day.  It's funny how a little jar of googly eyes can work for 7 & 8-year olds :)  Here are a few pics of the materials that Katie includes in her packet…did I mention it's FrEe on TpT?!?  She rocks!!!

     I'm going to stick with this little program for the 2nd quarter and then change it up in the 3rd quarter when my students come back in January.  Gotta keep 'em on their toes!  Happy teaching!

Poof! It's October!

     I seriously can't believe it's already October!  I am officially in the eighth week of school and I can say that I do feel like my class is "in the groove" now!  Something about October is truly magical…the changing weather, the beautiful fall colors, and the fact that 25 little people finally have our daily routine down is such a great feeling!
     Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of pictures to post this time {I keep forgetting to take pictures of everything!}, but I can say that I am enjoying teaching 2nd grade.  Of course, with every new endeavor there are growing pains and I'm living and learning, but I am proud of my students' progress!  We have begun Daily 5 with Read to Self and the kids have already made it to 18 minutes, 12 seconds!!!  I am so impressed.  Next week, I will introduce Read to Someone and they are pumped about it.  When it's time for Daily 5, the students cheer…what a WoNdErFuL sound to hear!  Now that the students are able to do Read to Self independently, I have started pulling small groups.  I feel that my small groups are very focused, but I have not been using the CAFE forms yet.  With all that comes with a new grade, I just haven't had the time or energy to begin another NEW thing.  I am recording the data from the students' small group work, but just using my own format.
     Speaking of CAFE, I am LOVING the portable CAFE board that I made over the summer.  I use it each week when we are learning our reading strategies.  I choose a student to write down the strategy on a sentence strip and add it to the board, where we reference it daily during our reading time.  It is such a great visual way to keep track of all the strategies we're learning and using.  Definitely something I will keep and continue to use throughout my teaching!
     So, on to the LIST of things that I want plan to do in the next few weeks….

• incorporate more anchor charts into math lessons
• introduce the remainder of our workstations {the students are currently doing computer, library, listening, art & writing…I still need to intro science, math, and iPods!!!}
• begin using the CAFE forms and pensieve

     I am excited to say that we've started celebrating our "Celebrities of the Week" and the students are working hard to be chosen!  I only choose students who follow our class rules and fill buckets, so it is very honorable to be picked.  They are rockstars!!!

     Now that our classroom and all things 2nd grade are under control, I will be posting more often!  Thanks for your patience and I hope your school year is also off to a great start!

Ready or Not!!!

     I go back to school in exactly 1 week.  Yes, you heard me….ONE week!!!  This summer flew by so fast.  I have so enjoyed the slow & relaxed pace of summer vacation, but at the same time, I am ready to be back to a routine again.  NOT so excited about grading papers on a regular basis, but I *think* I have prepared myself for all things 2nd grade!  Our 2nd grade team met today and I am very excited to work with this group of women.  They are excited about teaching and are all inspiring educators.  I am a very blessed girl!!
     This year will be different for me not only because I'll be teaching a new grade level, but because my children will not be attending the same school with me anymore.  We made the decision to move them to a Catholic school at the end of last year and this will be the first time that they will not be just a hallway away from me :( Pete & I prayed and prayed about this decision and I truly do feel that we are doing what is best for our kids, but it is still going to be hard for me to not just be able to peep in and check on them whenever I want.  It will all work out and I know that God will give me the strength to handle being away from my children during the school day and be the best teacher I can be while I'm at my school.
     So, in preparation for back to school, I have been getting materials ready for my future 2nd graders! I have made their daily folders using a template from April at A Modern Teacher.  She has some amazing ideas and products for student organization!

     In addition, I FiNaLlY read The Cafe Book by the Sisters.  I have been doing the Daily 5 in my classroom for the past 2 years, but had never integrated the CAFE system.  After reading it, I am PUMPED about working more closely one-on-one and in small groups with my students.  It is written in such teacher-friendly language and I love how it is very explicit in how to implement it in your classroom.  The only unfortunate thing was that the sisters highly recommend having a bulletin board to display the reading strategies that are being taught and I had already set up my classroom, bulletin boards and all.  So, after brainstorming with another teacher friend/CAFE buddy, I decided to do a portable CAFE bulletin board.  I used a black project display board, some pennant border, and some {freebie!} CAFE signs from TpT (there are a ton of free CAFE signs & strategy cards with many different themes available).  This is the outcome:

     I am happy with it and I actually like the portability of the board because I don't always teach in the same area of my classroom.  I can't wait to put it into action with my 2nd graders!!

     I also uploaded a new product to my TpT store!  I wanted a fresh look for my weekly newsletters, so I created this newsletter template to match the color theme of my classroom this year.  What do you think?  I like that it is simple, includes the weekly homework (to cut down on copies), and has a modern teacher twist with the dotted apples and chevron!

     So, this will most likely be my last post of the summer…I'll be back next time as an official 2nd grade teacher!  I'm off to enjoy the rest of my *free* days :)

  

Favorite Pins Friday!!

     I love Pinterest.  It has become quite the obsession for me & many of my friends!!  I am linking up with Cara from The First Grade Parade to bring you my favorite pins from this past week.  {You can link up on her blog to share your fabulous finds, too!}  So, the way it works is simple…just post your favorite pins with a link back to the original poster (not back to Pinterest) and, while this is a teaching blog, the pins do not necessarily have to be teacher-related!  Because we know we do not always follow the lesson plan, right?!?  So, here goes…

I am loving this management idea from Teaching is a work of HEART!!.  Each student has a clothespin with his/her name or number and clips it on the library basket when he/she picks a book.  When it's time to return the book, the student looks for his/her clothespin so that he/she will return the book back into the proper basket.  Genius!!!

So, I'm on a serious budget these days.  Aren't we all?!?  I am definitely guilty of spending a little too much money in my classroom and it's nice to find a *free* way to reward your students for great behavior!  Thanks to Peace, Love, and First Grade, you can use these adorable freebie reward coupons to give to your students :)

"Is it time for lunch yet??"  I'm pretty sure every teacher {and parent for that matter!} has heard these words from their kids!  These clock displays with important times during the school day are perfect not only to let students know when daily activities will happen, but it also reinforces clock reading skills.  Thanks to Christi from Ms. Fultz's Corner!

And on to some non-teacher related pins…

I'm a Louisiana girl through and through and I'm in LOVE with this tee from Bourbon & Boots.  You might see me in this very soon!

Shoe addicts everywhere NEED this little poster :) Thanks Style-Delights: Humor In Life!

So now that both of my kids are into sports and getting LOTS of t-shirts from the different events, I thought this was a perfect way to make use of their tees once they have outgrown them {especially since I do NOT sew!!!}  Love this idea from Fabulous Home Blog!

Happy pinning y'all and happy Friday (although it's summer for us teachers and EVERY day is Friday :)