Superhero Sighting

Hi Friends!

Hope you are having a fabulous week so far.  Its getting down to the wire for me and I've been working like a Wonder Woman here at my Superhero Headquarters trying to get everything ready for the new school year.  Since I am a first year teacher, I officially start on August 8th for some trainings and to begin setting up my room.  So, make sure you stay tuned by becoming a follower, if you aren't one already, so that you can stay up-to-date with the breaking news bulletins! Ha! I just finished putting together this bad boy and wanted to let y'all know that it is already in my TpT store for $1.50 if you are interested in snagging one up.  It matches perfectly with the "Hero Up!" Behavior Clip Chart and everything else that I have been featuring as freebies on my blog to go with my Superhero Theme and Bright Colors color scheme.

Here is a picture of what the finished product will look like:  Click on The Daily Planet to purchase or you can click on the frog pennant at the top of the page to hop on over to my TpT store.

 Note: I printed my set out BEFORE I changed out the camera...so the camera image that is on the one at my store is different, but for the sake of not wasting A TON of ink I settled for leaving mine as is.  The one on TpT is cuter though because the camera matches all the colors of my classroom! :( Oh well, one man's folly is another man's luck... so I hope you like it!

Monday Made It meets Harry Potter

Hi Friends!

Happy Monday!!! Can y'all believe how quickly time is flying... I feel like I just graduated and now I'm running around like a chicken without a head (true story!) because "by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes!" Back-to-School is literally just around the corner! So, I'm on hyper-speed as I scramble to get everything in order for my favorite part of the school year... decorating the classroom! I can't wait to get in there and get started, until then I am living vicariously through all of you lucky ladies who have already crossed the school threshold.  In the meantime, here is  a simple, yet oober cute and chic, Monday Made It! For all of you Harry Potter fans out there... I hope you enjoy my little project as much as I do!

Making Memories History: The idea, as is explained in the post where I first saw the image {pictured below} of the jar, is that each week you're supposed to sit together, as a class, and decide what activity was most important and memorable for that week.  Then, whatever the activity was (albeit a field trip, new skill/concept that was exciting and interesting, something new they learned or discovered, etc.) you jot it down on a paper, fold it and stick it into the jar.  Then, at the end of the school year {the last week} you can read a couple each day and remember the "good times".  I plan on using different colored paper to also help to trigger memories in addition to drawing a small freehand picture to go with our writing.  For example, if what they want to remember for the week of March 17th is the crazy Leprechaun that came to visit our classroom then I would write it down on green paper and draw a small picture or add a St. Patty's Day sticker. 

So, here is my take and background story for this projects existence... I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Harry Potter and whenever I can concoct some type of project to include in my classroom that holds true to the whimsy and magical world that is Hogwarts I dive in full throttle! Anywho, I've been racking my brain trying to re-create this little gem because I wanted it to look different (so I'm not Pete the copy Cat) and every time I glanced at this picture {above}, in my "Projects to Make Over the Summer for the Classroom" board on Pinterest, for some odd reason I always kept getting images of Dumbledore and the pensieve in my head.  So, I did what any teacher would do... I sat in front of my computer and made it happen! Here is what I came up with:

My Version

I don't know if any of you out there are fans of Nonni's Biscotti but I am a *HUGE* biscotti lover and had this jar lying around so I decided to use it, but you can use any plastic jar that you have handy.

Original Version

I couldn't trace the original creator of this fabulous idea on Pinterest so if you see this and know who it is then please leave a comment so that I can give credit where credit is due!

For those of you who are new to my blog and are wondering why I made it this way... I can explain! My school is doing a "Superhero" theme this year hence the SUPER pensieve and the background polka-dots are my classroom color scheme plus the pensieve holds liquid in it hence the "bubbles" Ha! I hope that some of you can find a use for this in your classrooms.  Enjoy!

Click Professor Dumbledore Rocks! to snag! Ha! :)

Happy Pinning!

Daily Action!: Word Work {Spelling Words Activity} FREEBIE!!!

Hi Friends!

NOTE:  Due to a lot of teachers infringing on copyrighted material, TpT has added an alert bulletin to anyone uploading new material to their respective stores.  Apparently they (TpT) have been receiving a lot of emails from "The Sisters", Whole Brain Teaching, etc. in regards to teachers using their copyrighted materials to sell products at their respective TpT stores.  Because of this, I have chosen to remove my Bucket Filler: Heart Pop freebie and my Daily Action freebie from my store. I will continue to provide you with many more ideas and products that I create but I will not be selling and/or giving away ANY materials that are not my own and/or that I do not have the commercial license for.  I hope that you can all understand why I have made this decision... now, on to my post:

Hope you're enjoying the last couple of weeks before we officially have to make our appearances at school.  I don't know about y'all but I've been super-duper-ooper-schmooper busy! I've been doing a lot of reading and shopping for back to school! I've gotten the best deals ever... including a class set {25} wide ruled spiral notebooks at a whopping $0.17 cents each!!! You heard right... and it was all thanks to Wal*Mart! The notebooks will be used for my Daily 5 Daily Action! Word Work station.  I have seen so many wonderful pinterest-ing ideas on Pinterest but a lot of the ideas that I have seen around the internet for Daily 5 Word Work are geared more towards Kinder and 1st Grade so I've been on a mission to find and/or come up with some alternatives of my own for my SUPER Second Graders.  There'll be more information on my Word Work station in another post, but for now... since y'all have been patiently waiting for my return after my short absence I have decided to include (as a freebie) my adaptation to the "rainbow" word ideas I've been seeing online.  You see, the way I see it, Crayola does a fabulous job of coming up with some downright wacky names for their markers (among other things) so I decided to go a little "above and beyond", if you will, with some of the ideas that have been created by other teachers and have incorporated Crayola along the way.  So, what I am saying is that this idea WAS NOT originally mine... I simply "re-invented" the wheel if you will.  So, I hope you and your students will enjoy these Daily Action "Rainbow" Word Work Activities.

While you're traipsing about at the local hot spots: Target, Wal*Mart, Michael's, etc.  grab a package of each of the following Crayola Marker packs (they're on sale at most places now for back to school): 

*Crayola Classic Colors
*Crayola 10 Assorted Colors
*Crayola Tropical Colors
*Crayola Bold Colors

Note: I will place 2 packages of each in the center, which is more than sufficient for 4-5 students working on Word Work... they can practice "sharing"! *wink, wink*  I know its hard to understand by looking at the sample below but the way I designed the freebie printables is basically 2 generic rainbow words (over the rainbow and superhero) which you can switch out at any time during the year when you notice that students are getting bored with the 4 seasonal (autumn, winter, spring, summer) ones that I included... you'll get the idea once you download the set and print it out.  So, don't think that you're going to have 8 packs of markers rolling around and getting lost in that center all at once because you won't! I'm simply suggesting that you purchase ALL of them now since they are on sale and so that you will have them on-hand when its time to switch out the "rainbow" sheet of your choosing.

This particular activity at the Word Work station will consist (at any given time) of:
* A print out of whichever rainbow worksheet you are using at the time
*2 packages of markers (read the top left corner of the worksheet for the ones that require anything other than the classic markers)
*2 dice (1 for each group of 2 students, I allow 4-5 students per Daily 5 Action station)
* Word Work folder, notebook, recording sheet, etc... whatever you decide to use in YOUR classroom.

Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think and especially if you have any ideas to re-invent the re-invention! Ha!

Here's a sample of 1 of the pages from the freebie! Enjoy! 

I finally finished and a Freebie!

Hi Friends,

I'm happy to say that I finally finished reading, The Daily 5.  What a fabulous book! I have a lot of ideas to share regarding the Daily 5...but I thought I would start by sharing some signs to go along with the five components of the Daily 5.  So, if you're interested... you can snag the freebie below! I tried to make the set match with my classroom color scheme, hence the aqua and pink background.  I also thought of a nifty name for it to tie it in with the Superhero theme that is invading my classroom... it is called, "Daily Action"! 

I am currently reading The CAFE Book and I hope to start getting some things ready for my classroom with that! I will also be creating some worksheets that you can stick in your lesson plan binder that will help you to incorporate both The Daily 5 and The Cafe Book together in the first days of school because I don't know about you, but I don't want to be lugging around BOTH books and flipping pages at school so I'll be making some cheat-sheets if you will... so be on the lookout for that!

In the meantime, here's a sample of the Daily Action, which you can snag by clicking on the Action! or you can click on the frog pennant at the top of the page to hop on over to my TpT store.

Hope you're having a fabulous weekend!

My Classroom

I am all kinds of excited today! I just went to have a look at my very first classroom! This is going to be an amazing year... I can't wait!  I have a lot of ideas brewing up my brain about how I want to decorate the space but to be honest, I like soo... many different things that its hard to choose.  For example, I've been debating whether or not I should do the bulletin boards with aqua paper or black.  THAT kind of not knowing, believe it or not, keeps me up all night! I'm a planner and a control freak! Aren't we all?! Ha! And this "not knowing" drives me bonkers... so I'm enlisting the help of all of you amazing teachers.  Aqua or black background for the bulletin boards?  I'm taking  a vote! Here are the pictures of my classroom to help you decide

P.S. I'm LOVIN' the butter-yellow wall color!!! It makes the room so bright and happy!

Hero Up!

I know I said I would do another giveaway when I reached 150 followers...but I just couldn't wait! I am too excited with how cute this turned out not to share it immediately! I know a lot of you "Super" Teachers out there have already been frantically busy starting to get everything prepared for the new school year...I know I have! So, I wanted to make sure that I gave y'all plenty of time to get this Behavior Clip Chart put together so that when you head on over to your favorite Teacher store you'd have it ready to be laminated.  So, if you're interested in purchasing my "Hero Up!" behavior clip chart then hop on over to my TpT store by clicking on the Frog bunting at the top of the page or by clicking this link to Hero Up!  I hope you enjoy my very first product that I am selling.

To commemorate my very first TpT product for sale... I will be giving 1 away; so, if you're interested here is what you have to do:

1. Follow My Blog: The Teaching Bug.
2. Follow My TpT store: Click on the Frog Bunting at the top of the page to "hop" over to my TpT store.
3. Blog about my Giveaway on YOUR blog {you can grab my button on the top right section of my blog}
4. Leave a comment below with your email address and tell me who YOUR favorite Superhero is! :)

Best of Luck!

Superhero-Themed Table Numbers

I'm on my way out, the husband is honking outside...but I wanted to make sure that I posted this freebie that I was working on last night for all of you "Superheroes" out there roaming the night sky! I hope you can get some use out of this in your classrooms.  I'll be posting how these look finished in a couple of days... I''m working on a couple of projects all at the same time.  But, in the meantime, here is the Table Number freebie that I created!  You can access it through the link below or simply click on the bunting with the frog at the top of the page to "hop" on over to my TpT store.

Click HERE to download it from my TpT store.  Enjoy! :)

Top 5 Must Have Picture Books

Hi Friends!

So there's this amazing Linky going around of the "Must Have Picture Books" {by the way, to join Lindsey's linky simply click HERE to link up and get the grab button code}.  I am a *HUGE* collector of children's books, especially picture books (yes, I have an addiction and the first step is admitting it! Ha!)... I have always had a love for books, which only became *worse* as I got older and decided to become a teacher...now I can't visit any store {especially Goodwill} without checking out their book selection and of course leaving with bags full a couple .  I am explaining this so that you understand just how difficult it was for me to choose only a couple of picture books to share with y'all.  I have seen a couple of posts from other teachers and wanted to try and share books that y'all have probably never heard of so that you can add them to your collection.  Everyone knows the classics... so, I decided to do a Top 5 of picture books that are *new* to many of you.  They are listed below (in no specific order) and I truly hope that you will like my list (if not love it) as much as I do:

1. 

You can't go wrong with, The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray, especially during the first week of school! This book is a necessity to add to your collection.  It was written by a teacher, and as a matter of fact, if you go to the author's website she even includes lessons and ideas on how to use this book in your classroom during the first week of school.  I plan on using this book during the first week of school to introduce the students to important staff members and places they need to know in the school.  The way I plan to use this book is to leave different "clues" with the staff around the school about the Gingerbread Man's whereabouts.  As the students go through the school, they will learn the faces of the staff members plus learn how to get around.  The tour ends when we "catch" the gingerbread man in our classroom! I plan on leaving him there with a plate of those Pepperidge Farm Gingerbread People cookies for them to enjoy!  If you would like to get your own copy of this book, you can order it HERE.

2.

My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza has to be one of my all-time favorites and every.single.time I read it to ANY class it becomes a class favorite, too!   This story is full of wit and humor... I absolutely love it.  I highly recommend this book.  It is great for teaching cause/effect, making predictions, teaching about predictable patterns,etc. and I'm sure you can use it for loads more! I kid you not, this book is A-MA-ZING!  If you are interested in purchasing it, you can do so HERE.

3.

You Can't Eat a Princess! by Gillian Rogerson was a real crowd pleaser when I read it aloud to my 2nd Graders during my Internship... I kid you not when I tell you that they were ALL mesmerized by this book.  I mean, I had NO idea what it was about when I bought it, but I fell in love with the cover and the title was just plain catchy! So, it came as no surprise to me that I would fall in love with Princess Spaghetti as she tries to teach the aliens (who kidnapped her father, King Cupcake) some manners! The book is hilarious and the illustrations are to die for! This book is great to teach about kindness and manners...though when I used it during my internship it was to teach about descriptive adjectives {and let me tell you now, this book is chalk-full of describing adjectives).  To order this book click HERE.

4.

Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies is a great story to teach Personification and/or rhyming patterns.  This book, that I am aware of, is only available as board book but if you click on this link HERE it is featured as a bargain-priced book so if you're a Prime member you can get it with free 2-day shipping.  This is a very charming book that is just *PERFECT* to use when you are doing a camping theme in the classroom.  It is truly a darling book and I know for a fact that your students would love it!

5.

I can absolutely, positively guarantee that Other Goose by J. Otto Seibold is definitely a book that you want to have in your possession as a teacher.  This book is amazing!!! It takes all of the classic Mother Goose stories and gives them a twist! This is a great book to use to teach about poetry, rhyming patterns, making comparisons and making text-to-text connections! Definitely need to add this one to your shopping cart! Click HERE to buy it! It is a pleasure to read aloud and to boot your student's will connect with it almost instantaneously.

I hope y'all found my list of books to be helpful; and if you have any questions regarding my list, the books or ideas on how to use them in your classrooms please do not hesitate to send me an email.

Happy Reading!

I am *To Infinity and BEYOND* Excited!

Breaking News Update!

I try not to double-post but I am so incredibly excited that I could not wait to let you all in on the news.  I found out that the official school-wide theme for the 2012-2013 school year at my school is going to be....

S U P E R H E R O E S!!!

 So now this means that, not only will I be blog-stalking, pinning and shopping for classroom stuff... now I will also be on the lookout for cute clipart and backgrounds to use for my classroom.  So, if you run into any cute clipart sets on the net, please leave a comment with the link so that I can check them out... the more things I find, the more I can create to share with all of you.  Its a win, win!

Speaking of clipart... I have my eyes on some stuff over at Scrappin' Doodles but I am not sure if there are any coupon codes available right now.  I know that I saw a coupon code on someones blog...but I can't recall which blog I saw it on so if you have seen any codes around in blogland please let me know so I can purchase the sets! Thanks! :)

I would also like to extend a very BIG BIG BIG "Thank You" from the bottom of my heart to...

Mrs. Reimann over at

and

Rie over at Hip, Hop, Hurray! Tales of the Reading Rascals

for giving me this award...

I am truly grateful and honored to receive it! You ladies rock!

Scentos Giveaway Winner Announced!

Hi Friends!

Thank you to all who participated in my Scentos Giveaway! And I would like to extend a very BIG Welcome to all of my new Peeps who have started following me recently... I do hope you'll stick around because this year promises to be very exciting and interesting.  I will host another giveaway when I hit the 150 follower mark so be on the lookout for that (more details about the giveaway will be provided when I get closer).

In the meantime...

 Congratulations

Lisa R. from

You won the set of 6 Scentos Markers Giveaway!  Please check your email Inbox for details. 

Monday Made It: Boggle with The Cat!

Hi Friends!

Hope you had an amazing weekend... I'm sure a lot of you took the time to spend it with your families {enjoy it while you still can because back-to-school is already creeping up on us... according to Staples, OfficeMax, Wal*Mart, Target, etc. of course}.  I've been pretty busy myself doing the same thing everyone else is doing, which includes: family, blog-stalking, pinterest, cinebistro, shopping for my classroom and pinterest (I mention it twice because I do more of that than anything else...ha!)  Speaking of Pinterest, I know that the Boggle board has been making appearances in everyone's classroom ever since Rebecca over at Create.Teach.Share came up with it! (Click on the link to see her version).  Anywho, while blogstalking I came across Mrs. Heeren's Happenings and absolutely fell in love with her FREE printable Boggle board letters (click on her link to get those) so I printed those babies out, laminated them with my Scotch Thermal Laminator {best thing invented since sliced bread! If you don't have one... you need one! Trust me!} and bazinga! (love, love, love Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory) and then put my Boggle board together.  Now, if you've read some of my previous posts... you are aware of my school dilemma. So, since I have no idea whatsoever what school-wide theme will be used for this upcoming school year I wanted to make a Boggle board that I would cherish and love for eons and eons to come.  I am a HUGE Dr. Seuss fan and when I first decided to create a Boggle board for my classroom all that kept popping into my head was this:

and then it hit me... Lightbulb! When you play Boggle you have to look left, right, up, down, frontways, sideways, backways and every which way... so what is more perfect than Dr. Seuss for a Boggle board I ask you?! So, here is my very first Monday Made it Project {I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for this awesome weekly Monday linky since I have been making tons of projects and plan to continue making more the rest of the summer for Back-to-School} for the 2012-2013 school year, it is my Boggle Board!

I plan on purchasing the Cat in the Hat bulletin board set (I only need the Cat though!) so that I can put him up next to the Boggle board and I will also be making a sign with the quote from Dr. Seuss! I think its going to be a HUGE hit in my classroom no matter what my theme is... you can't go wrong with The Cat!

I wanted to mention, that I passed 130 followers! I feel the love, I feel the love, I feel the love its really real! {Walkin' on Sunshine song}.  I have a Back-to-School Icebreaker that I created to sell on my TpT but since I'm so close to reaching 150 followers... I'm thinking that I will offer one as a giveaway (with the materials needed to do the activity... can't divulge the information just yet!) so I hope that y'all will continue following and let your friends know so that I can make it to the 150 mark and do the giveaway before July ends!

Also, do you remember my post about the Wooden Utensil Carrier... I promised that when it was finished I would share with you the finished product.  Well, here it is... can't you tell how much I love animal print?! I think that it came out awesome and I'm excited to see how it will look in my classroom Guided Reading table. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Front View

Side View

Happy Pinning and Creating!

TpT Grand Opening Freebie: Fill a Bucket with a Heart Pop!

Hi Friends!

Happy Saturday!!! :) So, I"ve been working diligently on getting things ready for my very first year... I have a lot of projects in the works so stay tuned.  For now, I wanted all of you to know that I opened up my TpT store... and I'm offering my very first "creation" as a Freebie! So head on over there and snag it pronto! You can click this link to get your copy of my Bucket Filler Heart Pop Cards, which can be used in your classroom  {inside those nifty library pockets or in any pail/bucket you create} to fill a friend's bucket when they do something kind and sweet! I hope you enjoy them!  In the future, you can click the frog bunting at the top of the page to 'hop' on over to my TpT store... it looks like this:

Here's a preview of the Heart Pop Card Bucket Filler:

P.S. I know that you are all *bursting at the seams* to know who won the giveaway... I will be revealing the winner Monday night! Once I contact the winner, you will have 2 days to respond to my email with your address or I will be forced to choose another winner so keep your eyes peeled!

Happy Classroom Decorating!

Scentos Bin Labels and a Giveaway even Dorothy & Toto would not hesitate to enter!

Hi Friends,

If you still have not entered the giveaway for the Scentos markers... you can do so HERE until 9pm tonight!

Here is the Scentos Bin Labels Freebie that I promised... aren't they just the cutest?!

I bought this cute paper basket at Target Dollar Spot to adhere the labels to.  Throughout the year they have different baskets but I particularly liked this one because of all of the different colored dots, which are the colors of some of the Scentos markers so I know they'll look great in here! :)

Here's what it looks like finished! Now all its missing are some Scentos markers!

Side 1:

Side 2:

When you print out the labels there are some side notes that I made on the margins of how I will be using the Scentos markers in my classroom.  In a nutshell, the markers will be used in place of a ":)" that one would draw on a paper of a student who did a "scent-sational" job on their assignment, work station activity, etc.  Hope y'all can find a use for this in your classroom... and remember that the Scentos manufacturers are still in the process of creating some new Scentos smells for 2013 and some other A-MA-ZING products as well so be on the lookout for those collectibles! I know I will be!

Also, in case y'all are not aware... my BBF {Bloggy Best Friend} Sarah over at:



 

is having a truly A-MA-ZING giveaway! One lucky guy or gal is going to win all of her current and future TpT stuff for FREE!!! How awesome is that?! So head on over to the Wonderful World of Oz, click your heels 3 times {for luck} and enter her giveaway!

Randomness and a Freebie!

First things first,  I would just like to say "thank you" from the bottom of my heart to all you amazing teachers out there who are now followers on my blog! I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to this upcoming year so that we can all connect and share ideas! :)

Next, there is a HUGE and I do mean *HUGE* giveaway happening over at EduKate & Inspire so make sure that you click on the image below to get in on the fun... a ton of teachers decided to share some of their packets with Kate and she is offering ALL OF THEM... Be.Still.My.Heart PLUS a $10 Target gift card to boot! I don't know about y'all but for me... $10 go a L-O-N-G way in the Target Dollar Spot so if you're interested click the image below and follow the giveaway rules on her blog to enter.  Best of luck to all of you... and to myself because let's face it, as a first year teacher... I'm going to need all of the resources I can get my hands on!





On to the freebie! I've seen a lot of ideas on Pinterest where teachers have taken those little clear gems that they sell at the Dollar Tree and have attached images to them and magnets to use in the classroom. Now, I don't know about y'all but that idea, to me, is Genius with a capital "G". In my school district we are not allowed to use the students' names for anything having to do with Behavior/Classroom Management so I created this little file for my classroom and thought that some of you might possibly get some use out of it. All you have to do is purchase the following materials, cut out the circle numbers on the file, modge podge them to the gems, attach the magnet and you're all set! I will be using mine with the magnetic behavior clip chart {also featured all over Pinterest} except mine will not use clothespin clips because I've got these handy-dandy number magnets! :) Note: More on my behavior "magnet" chart in a future post... but for now enjoy the freebie! The colors that I will use in my classroom for the upcoming school year will be black, white, watermelon pink and aqua so I thought it would be best to make the numbers using the aqua color versus the pink because you know how boys are and since I have no idea the ratio of boys to girls in my room it is just easier this way! Plus, aqua goes with just about ANY classroom decor and the cutest part is that when you attach the numbers I created to the gems it almost looks like aqua zebra print! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

Also, I don't know how many students y'all have in your classrooms... my classroom gets maxed out at 18... but just in case, I created the Magnetic Gem Numbers set to go to 30 just for you! Enjoy!

Materials Needed:
* Magnetic Gem Numbers Freebie {click the link above to download and print your copy}
*Magnetic Buttons with Foam Adhesive {I got mine at Walmart}
*Clear Accent Gems {I got mine at Dollar Tree}
*Modge Podge
*Foam brush {use to brush the Modge Podge}

Best of luck to all of you who entered my giveaway! Remember that the giveaway will run until Friday, July 13th at 9pm! "May the odds be ever in your favor"... Ha! Love The Hunger Games!!! (You can join the giveaway by scrolling down to the previous post)