Warm Welcome

Summer is coming a quick close...

I spent all day Friday unpacking 3 pallets (yes, 3!) of boxes, none of which is school curriculum. How did I acquire so much "stuff" in 8 short years? Discussion about that later.

I am excited to start this new school year for all of the usual reasons: super clean classrooms, organized everything, new beautiful crayons, cute new B2S clothes ;), and this year my school is welcoming 8 (yes, 8!) new staff members! Yippee!

I get to meet with all of them this week to answer any questions they have about our school. Where do staff eat? How do we travel from place to place in the school? Where do we go for fire drills? How does the end of the day work? Where is recess? Where do I park? Do we have bells that tell us recess is over? What time does the building open? How do I do the alarm code (I don't know that one... I am too scared to do it by myself!)?

I remember how all of these questions, and more, were swirling around in my head when I moved to my new schools over the past 8 years. So, I am looking forward to answering any and all questions that I can!

I also wanted all of these fabulous new teachers to feel welcomed at our school. So I thought and thought about what I love most about my classroom... and a few years ago a parent from one of my classes gave me a framed inspirational quote. It was bright and cute and I just love it... all these years later! So that inspired me to do the same for our new teachers...and this is what I ended up with:

Oh. EM. geeeee! They turned out better than I imagined in my happy teacher brain :) I just can not WAIT to give these to our new teachers!

I got the frames fro $1.99 each at a local store... I intended to buy $1.00 frames, but the only ones I could find (after going to 3 stores) were just too cheap looking, and the stand part on the back was super flimsy. But still, $16 for 8 gifts, is pretty darn good in my book!

I made these posters into my newest TPT product--with 20 super cute, inspirational, classroom friendly quotes that I am sure you will love!

Click the pictures to head to my TPT store--each pack is only $3! Currently only the Bright Polka-Dot pack has the 4 x 6 posters included, but by the end of the week all packs will include that 4 x 6 size!

Check out the beautiful sunset I watched with my husband and we traveled back from Gossip Island, Canada (via ferry) last night. It was the LONGEST lasting sunset I have ever seen... beautiful, to say the least!

Dreaming

I am slightly tardy to the TPTSellerChallenge Week 2: Dare to Dream

My nightly dreams had been about my dog...

Last week was a rough week in the Helm house. Our 13 year old Great Dane, Malone, went to Heaven to be with my Dad. This was such a hard decision for my husband and I to make, but we know it was the right decision for Maloney. 

His big-dog hips just weren't the same anymore, and sadly, his falls were becoming more frequent and scary. Tuesday night he couldn't walk at all when we took him outside to go potty. Wednesday seemed better, but then out of no where he fell hard on his chest and hit his chin... then nearly fell backwards when trying to go up the front steps. Thankfully my husband and I were right behind him and caught him. 

Malone is a big, looks-deep-in-your-eyes, old man. We couldn't stand the thought of him falling when we weren't there to rescue him, help him up, and comfort him. We couldn't stand the thought of him being in pain from breaking something during a fall and needing emergency care. 

Our amazing vet who comes out to our house agreed (after months of trying back-end strengthening meds... acupuncture...rest) that it was probably time. 

I miss my buddy, my shadow, my sweet companion. Selfishly I had hoped Malone would make it one more summer...I know he is in Heaven with my dad, loving every minute!

Photo Credit: Caveness Photography, WA

My TPT dreams...

TPT B2S14 Sale!

The Back to School 2014 TPT sale is just around the corner! Enjoy unto 28% off at most stores Aug. 4 - 5th!

My store is ready. Everything in my store will be on sale. My wishlist/cart are full of great products made by amazing teachers! 

I. AM. READY.

Are you???!!!

Check out some of my favorite Back 2 School products from my store: *click the picture to go to my store...add it to your cart and wait patiently for Aug 4th *

1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade Beginning of the year Math Assessments (3rd grade version is brand new!)

Open House forms--get organized quickly & collect information from families easily with the included forms and ideas. 

Chevron Classroom decor--I have this set up in my classroom and LOVE IT! I get compliments all the time!

Calendar Math Yearlong Student Workbooks--This is my absolute favorite product that I've created so far! I use it at least 3 days a week all year long!

Daily Schedule Cards 

Grammar Posters

One huge tip I can give you to get ready for this sale is to go back into your previous purchases and make sure to click the "provide feedback" button. Each time you provide feedback you earn TPT credit to spend on future purchases. You can save a lot of money doing this!

Happy shopping!!!

Calendar Math

One of my most favorite parts of the day is Calendar Math. 

I feel like we hit so many math skills in such a short amount of time {usually less than 15 minutes}! The kids are interacting with different activities, we are choral counting and solving, sharing strategies, making up problems to solve using today's number, and just having fun! 

A few years ago I created Calendar Math Journals to help me use our Calendar Math time as a way to collect data on my kiddos. Each student was given his or her very own monthly Journal and every few days we completed a page or two together.

For example, Monday we do Calendar Math on the floor in front of our Calendar. Tuesday, and Wednesday we do Calendar using our Journals. Thursday we are back to the floor. And Friday we do another Journal page. 

On the days when we are working in our Journals, I have our Student of the Week flip the calendar pieces, complete any writing on the hundreds chart, number line, tally marks, straws, money... so we are ready to go the next time we do Calendar on the floor. 

By the end of the year it is my goal that most of my students can complete the activity pages on their own. 

It got to be quite the task running monthly Journals, so I changed it up last year and tried Trimester Calendar Math Journals! This worked out amazingly!!

Here is how I set up my Trimester Journals:

Trimester One: Sept, Oct, Nov activity pages + cover, 100s chart, tally recorder, weather graph {one per month}, "Things I noticed about ___" {one per month}, and the reference page with months of the year, days of the week, skip counting info...

Trimester Two: December, Jan, Feb, March...etc.

Trimester Three: April, May, June...etc.

I double side when copying and staple three times along the top for durability. Very rarely do I have to restaple Journals. My students keep them in their "Unfinished Work" folders for safe keeping in their desks. I collect them only when I want to collect some data--most of the time I collect about 5 at a time to cut down on the pile. I also collect Journals before Fall and Spring Conferences, or before meeting with parents for other meetings throughout the year... just to show them a more clear picture of what we are doing in 2nd grade math and to show them what we did last month... how we have grown, and give them a glimpse into our future! {My kiddos love "looking into the future" especially when something looks hard! They can't wait to get there!}

Each Trimester Journal ends up being about 15 pages {front and back}. And remember... that lasts us 3-4 months! I say that is paper-well-spent!

I love our Calendar Math Journals! This is one of my top selling TPT items and since I am moving up to 3rd grade I will be working on a version that is more specific to 3rd grade skills!

 Here are some pictures of what my Teacher Journal looks like... when we complete our Journal pages together I have my copy under the Document Camera and each of my students has his or her copy out in front of them. I give them time to do the work independently before I call on students to help me fill in the answers in my Journal. For some problems {like the Shopping Problem} we decide on the item, price... or for the clock I tell them the time I want them to show... and then they get to work independently.

How do you do Calendar Math in your classroom? 

Vowel Posters

Happy Friday! Oh, this weekend couldn't have come soon enough! My husband was out of town for three days this week on a fishing trip for work... why doesn't teaching come with perks like that?! :) Oh right, we get every holiday off... and summer... :) But I still missed him, and it made the week seem so much longer!

Well, all of my reading stations are allllllmost up and running. 

We have been doing RTS, RTSo, LTR, and Work on Writing... we have spent some extra time on these four rotations because that RTSo station is just so hard to keep at a whisper level.  And I am determined to make stations work this year... so I am putting in my time to set expectations!

As I began introducing the Word Work station this week I realized I needed some vowel posters. Most of my 2nd graders know their vowel "lickety-split!" as one of my sweet little girls would say.

But for the few who are still working on this, I felt posters would be helpful.

I couldn't quite find the ones I wanted on TPT, so I created my own!

Click on the pictures or {here} to download your free copy!

What do you think? Helpful?

Year Long Plan + Grammar Posters

Happy Friday! Our weather is swiftly changing back to typical Washington summer weather with rain and thunderstorms expected this weekend. Oh well, my plants will love it :)

I am trying my best not to think about it too much, but my summer is quickly coming to an end. I have started going to bed on time, getting up before 7, and planning out my year. 

Since I am working toward my National Boards Certification I have a few extra things to get ready before school begins. One is an updated yearlong curriculum map. 

So I have been working on that for the past week and I am actually VERY excited about it! I am meeting with my 2nd grade teammate next Thursday to share it with her and make any necessary changes. I somehow managed to fit in EVERY SINGLE 2nd grade standard! Even Science and Social Studies! This may seem silly, but we always find ourselves struggling to fit it all in...holidays, days off, conferences, sick days, Professional Development, mandated assessments...

But this year is going to be different! I am so hopeful that if we have a plan, work hard, stick to it, and have fun then we really can get through every single standard in a meaningful and engaging way. I will share my yearlong plan with you all next week after I meet with my teammate :)

One part of the plan includes the phonics and grammar skills we will teach each trimester. Our reading curriculum includes wonderful Phonics posters, but nothing for grammar. This leaves us creating posters throughout the year. Although I love creating these posters with my students and they love recreating them in their ELA journals as a work on writing activity, I felt like having colorful, engaging, student friendly posters was something we would all benefit from!  

Plus, I love the thought of grabbing a poster to use as my visual for students as we learn about and review these sometimes difficult grammar skills. My ultimate hope is that my 2nd graders will see these posters over and over and will use them as references...and maybe, just maybe, remember what a possessive noun is, or present tense, past tense, compound words... We expect a lot from our young little kiddos, why not give them visual reminders to help support their thinking and learning!

So I got to work!! I even woke up early this morning, when my husband left for work, to finish them! I was that excited! Here they are!! Click the pictures to go to my TPT store for some additional information and preview pictures!

What do you think? Do you see some grammar skills in their that you teach?!

Pinterest Crazy, Freebie, and Cheapie {is that a word?!}

This summer I have become even more addicted to Pinterest...is that possible?! I love the creativity of people and how it sparks my own creativity!

So last week we celebrated a birthday in my family... a 21st birthday in fact! In my family birthdays are like big potluck dinners! Everyone signs up to bring something and we agree to meet at one of our homes at a certain time as close to the actual birthday as we can!

This year I wanted to go for a theme. So I searched and searched Pinterest until I found super cute watermelon cookies...ricecrispies... and drinks! EEEK!! YUUUUMMM!!

The "seeds" are chocolate chips! Next time I would use mini chips I think...

I uploaded two new products to my TPT store this weekend. 

One FREEBIE 

Editable Binder Covers, to match my new BIGGIE product Classroom Basics--Bright Chevron

{click the image above for your free download!}

The second product I finally uploaded kind of got put on the back burner! I finished editing it in June and just got sidetracked with my Classroom Basics product.

But I am very excited about this Calendar Craft or Gift product... and it is cheap, cheap, cheap! 

{my cheapie} lol

New Product Roll-Out Promotion!

It's Sunday, my birthday time!!! 9:04!! {LOL, my birthday is September 4th, 9/04/??} and I have a huge new product to share with you!

I am so excited about this product, mostly because it took me the better part of July to finish and perfect! I am just IN LOVE WITH THIS! 

I have done my research...there are a lot of beautiful classroom decor packages out there, but they included a lot of extra stuff that I just don't need in my classroom. So I decided I would make a Classroom Basics classroom decor package. Click the images below to be taken to my store for more information!

PRODUCT ROLL-OUT PROMOTION!

Be one of the first 3 people to: 

1."Like" me on Facebook (see my button in the top right corner of this blog, the "f" button)

2. Leave me a comment in this post with your Facebook name and email address! 

And I will send you the entire package for FREE!!!!!!

Good luck!

Five for Friday {Link up!)

This is my first link up in a few months and it looks to be a fun one!

This is my first full week off...well, I had a  Science Committee meeting yesterday, so I guess next week will officially be my first full week off :) But any-whoo!

1. I had time to change my last name...legally! I was really dreading going to the DMV, but I had had had to get this done for two reasons: first, I can't change my banking information until I have a new ID; second, I am flying to Tennessee in August and my ticket is in my new married name :) So I walked in ready to deal with rude employees when I saw big signs all over the office stating: Our Promise: Friendly service every time. I did a silent pfffffft! in my head. I have never had a pleasant experience here. But this time was different. I ended up talking with three different workers there throughout my 45 minute visit and every single one was so friendly! They congratulated me on my recent marriage, they smiled, they answered my questions like they actually cared... overall, it was a great experience!

2. I had time to order wedding photos!! 

One of the very thoughtful moms in my classroom bought me a little wedding photo album. It has slots for 130 photos and I thought "That's PLENTY of room!" Uhhhhh, nope! I sent her an email last night asking where she got it from so I could go pick up another album...or two :)

3. I have spent some quality time with my dog and kitty.

They like to keep me company while I work on my computer :)

4. My best friend flew in on Monday! YAY! She lived in San Diego but comes home every summer for a few weeks! Today we are having a girls day :) Nails, movie, then photo frame shopping! Did you know that Hobby Lobby's frames are always 50% off?! Yippee!!

5. I finished another freebie for my TPT store! One of my most popular freebies is my Force and Motion Vocab cards. Sticking with the science genre, here are my Organisms and Life Cycles Vocab Cards & Posters!  Enjoy!

It's going on sale tomorrow!!!

I started getting together a reading fluency center for my kiddos over this wonderful Thanksgiving Break and I just kept adding, and adding, and adding to it!  

I ended up with a product I am so proud of! Check it out! I think you will love it...especially because it is 28% off Monday and Tuesday (11/26 & 11/27)!!!

The cover + a Table of Contents (NF text features!)

Example of one slide (fold in half for student's booklet)

10 popular and funny songs and poems included!

I added 5 ELA activity pages, too!

Here is the example of ELA activity #1: Tune into Interesting Words.

I will be printing, copying, and stapling my books together tomorrow at school. I think I will wait until the first December day of school to introduce them to my students though :)  Kind of like radio stations switching over to Christmas music before Thanksgiving... I just can't start with Christmas-themed stuff in my classroom until our calendar reads DECEMBER. 

When do you start with Christmas-themed activities in your classroom??