End of the Year Madness and New Products!

Hello all!

The countdown to the end of the year is ON! My fourthies and I have already started our EOY Celebration with daily fun activities- outside reading, art projects, no shoes, etc. To make it super exciting, I even put the activities on sheets of paper inside balloons that we pop each day. They are loving it! Follow Cute in the Classroom on Instagram for pictures :)

To go along with our countdown, I created some fun products. Three of them are now available in my store and one is a FREEBIE! Love those.

Up first is our Autograph Book. It's a simple half-page book that you can print, cut, and staple. Exchanging autographs is another one of of our countdown activities that I am looking forward to!

PS- All of these products are created in black and white. We can't print in color at my school, so I'm keeping it simple and printer-friendly for the end of year ;) 

Next, I whipped up some Classroom Awards for my kiddos. Originally, I typed up my students names on them and personalized them to their specific talents. I can't wait to give them out as one of our countdown activities! For TPT, I left a space for you to write in a name, your signature (to look all fancy), and the date. This comes with 25 different categories!

Spelling Star, Fashionista, Great Leader- all kinds. Check it out if you're looking for an easy way to award your kids before the summer.

 

And finally, (drumroll please) a FREEBIE! As another one of our countdown activities, my students are going to write letters to next year's fourth graders about "How to Have a Sweet Year". I can't wait to see what they write! This freebie can be used in lots of ways though! Back to school, New Year's, End of the Year, etc. Go get it!

 

Wishing you a wonderful end of the year! Personally, I'm just trying to survive the month of May ;)

 

Yes, I'm Still Alive! What I've been up to and some test prep literacy centers.

Hello, world!

Sorry I have been completely AWOL lately. I've been a little busy surviving my first year of teaching!!

This teaching thing is no joke! There are so many "firsts" to take care of. Teaching everything for the first time, learning what I like and don't like, what works and doesn't work, what to do and what not to do...the list goes on and on.
Anywho, I've (obviously) had to take a step back from the blogging world to get used to all of the craziness that is teaching and still having a life (as much as possible, anyway). 

I am currently on Spring Break (woohoo!) so I am coming out of my crazy-teacher-cave to say hi and share a little bit of what I've been up to. 

It would take so many more posts to catch you up on all that my fourthies and I have done this year. There have been ups and there have been downs. There have been crying days and there have been proud days. So, I will save that all for a post at the end of the year with some advice for newbie teachers or even just a good laugh for more seasoned teachers. 

For a glimpse, however, you can check out my TPT store. Though I am not able at the time to create as many new products as I would like, I have been posting the products I create for my kiddos and my classroom throughout the year. 
Currently, I just posted something I have been working super hard on lately- my "Grammar is Great" Literacy Centers. A week after spring break, my fourthies are taking The Big Test. You know the one. To make our review week more hands-on, I worked up six centers for my kiddos and I to work on. These are cute sorting activities for everything from parts of speech to fragments and run-on's. 

So I am off to enjoy the last few days of my break and two more crazy months of school. And then I'll be back for good!
In the mean time, follow me on TPT and Pinterest, two of my favorite places :)

Much love,

TPT Back to School Sale 2013

Today and tomorrow my entire TPT store (along with many other sellers') is 20% off! And if you enter the promo code shown above, you can get an extra 8% off as well. Time to clean out that wish list you've had growing! Now quit reading and go shop! :)

Better Late than Never, Right?

Hello all! So it's been a few days! (again...) The husband and I had a great weekend in Dallas celebrating our first wedding anniversary! Thanks so much to everyone who left such nice comments and well wishes :)

My husband is just fun. Maybe it's why I married him, I don't know ;) But we had such a good time shopping, eating, shopping some more...( I told you it's my favorite sport). I finally got to visit the most glorious of all stores, Ikea. 

*Sigh* It was life-changing. And very crowded. We went on a Saturday afternoon. Not recommended. It was like furniture-Disneyworld-madness-get-me-out-of-here-oh-look-how-cute-and-cheap-that-is. Or at least that's how I would describe it. I didn't actually buy anything for my classroom (shocking, I know!) and instead got two new bookcases and pillows for my living room. They look awesome! And they were super cheap, of course. I made lots of "mental notes" about future classroom purchases, though ;)

Cool little shopping area we went to Saturday night

I also got to visit another one of my favorite places, Half-Price Books. Have you guys ever experienced this place? I love it! Heck, I just love books. But anywho. I was so excited to find some awesome chapter books for my class for just $1! Whaaaa? My poor husband. I am pushing 750 books in my classroom library...but he still bought me more. He's the best :) I ended up getting some much needed titles for fourth grade (or at least in my opinion), including Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Percy Jackson, and Series of Unfortunate Events. Score, right?! I was so excited. 

So it was a great weekend! I drooled over everything at Michael Kors, Pottery Barn, and Cotton On. My faves! And ate my weight in Olive Garden, Five Guys, and Einstein Bagels. Can you tell we don't make it to "the big city" much?? Haha. 

 

 So I am day late to Monday Made It, but for good reason! This week (among many other random little projects) I made this Voice Levels chart for my classroom. Don't you love those frames from Krista Wallden? I love her stuff. I put it up in my room yesterday but I forgot to take a picture. This is how I assembled it though! I made it nice and big so it could be seen from every corner of my room, and used some sticky tack to attach the arrow to the wall. So simple, right?

And, as you can see, it's up in my TPT store for just $1.00! So go grab it now!

I've also made some pricing changes on several of my products. For example, both of my Spring Writing Prompts packets are just a dollar and All About Earth Day and All About President's Day are down to $2.00. So snatch these up!

Well, I'm off to work on more school stuff and get ready for another workshop tomorrow. Have a great week and head over to Tara's to link up :)

Just for "funzies", the first three comment-ors that leave their email get this voice level chart for free :)

Throwback Thursday?

In celebration of 500 downloads of my very first TPT product and featured freebie, "If We Were Helen & Anne", I've given it a makeover! Just a pop of color, some improved backgrounds and fonts (it's amazing how your tastes change in just a matter of months), and voila!

This is my little way of saying thank you to all of my followers and customers! Love you guys!

If you haven't checked out this freebie, I definitely encourage you to! It's a fun, hands-on activity that helps your students understand more about what it was like for Helen Keller and her teacher. The activity challenges to students to partner up and attempt to get their partner to accomplish a task, such as clapping their hands or kicking their feet. It's simple, but students are amazed at how hard things become when you can't speak or see! It really made a difference with my second graders when we used it.

This is a sample of some of the task cards that are included:

 Look for even more updated products from me soon :)

Chevron Classroom Labels!

Hello all! Happy almost Friday! I don't know that I've mentioned it much (I'm waiting for the "big reveal" post), but I'm decorating my classroom in green, blue, brown and orange. 

During the "decor" process I've made a lot of classroom labels in those colors. 

I love love love the free chevron frames from Erin at I'm Lovin Lit. They are adorable and come in 12 different bright colors! You can find them in her TPT store here.

Just for funzies, as I like to say, I've posted three sets of labels in my TPT store. Classroom library genre labels and two sizes of numbers. You can get them right now for just $1 in my classroom colors! 

Or if you are a fan of the Cute in the Classroom Facebook Page, just comment on my post with your email and I'll send them to you for free! Woohoo!

Also, if you really like the labels I've done (pshh...) and I really like you (just kidding) I'll make you some in the colors of your choice. 

Woohoo! 

Hope you all are having a wonderful week of summer fun and relaxation. Mine has been a good combination of productivity and laziness, if that makes any sense at all :)

Back Again...With Something to Share! ;)

hello again

So I realize that a few weeks ago I said I was "back in the blog world", and yet...it's been forever again. Whoops! Well there are two very good reasons why I have been "awol" lately...

First of all, meet the newest member of our little family! Lewis is our new cocker spaniel baby. So I have been a "new parent" for the past week (pray for me...haha). Lots of walks, meeting people, vet visits, and potty training for us lately. 

Secondly...I have been working on something BIG. No, really. It's huge. For the past two weeks or so I have been completing an Opinion Writing Unit for my TPT store (and hopefully, future class). It's 28 pages long with 8 days worth of lessons, activities, and worksheets!

Y'all, I love this unit. This is what came out of my head...with no outside sources or ideas. And that's what I love about teaching. The natural creativity that I get to use every day. Right now, it is available in both of my stores for $10.00. However, I am working on making individual lessons and worksheets available from the unit for purchase as well. Look for those in the next week (or two or three...). 

Get the unit here or here!

So that's what I've been up to! Just want to say thank you to all that have supported me and encouraged me. I also ask that you pray for me as I continue the process of finding a school/classroom/home to begin my teaching journey. In the mean time, check out my stores for more from me :)

hannah

TPT 2-Day Sale! {Better Late Than Never}

Still working on getting my life together (of course), but Cute in the Classroom is participating in the TPT Teacher Appreciation 2 Day Sale! The sale is going on May 7 and May 8, so you still have time to score some awesome deals on products for your classroom! Head over to TPT to save up 28% off some amazing stuff, and checkout my store for some seriously low prices! Enjoy :)

hannah

Tuesday Tattles - New Stuff!

tuesday tattles

"My Persuasive Letter" Checklist" Freebie

A cute but simple checklist for students to self-assess their persuasive letters. Does it have a greeting, body, and closing? Did I include a strong opinion? Did I use strong words? Get it for free here!

"Learning About Light" Science Journal

I love this lesson. This packet introduces the concepts of visible light, the colors of the rainbow, photons, and light sources. It also includes the directions for completing the "indoor rainbow" experiment with your students. For this packet, I also included a teacher's guide with notes and ideas from my personal teaching experience with this unit. Check it out here!   

hannah