Winners from last week's post: Tiffani O'Quest Mugurussa, Valerie from Georgia Grown Kinders, Kristen Baumgartner-Poindexter, Karen Miraglia-Stamp, and Patty Rutenbar. Ladies, I've emailed you all (from Punchtab), so let me know if you don't receive a message! (schoolsupplyaddict@gmail.com) | | About Grade: 1st Grade
Location: Groveland, FL
Blogging for: 8 months
Teaching for: 17 years
Other Grades Taught: 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, & her National Board Cert.! | Links | What do you like best about the grade you teach? Least?
"First graders are lots of fun! They are super sweet! They make me smile with their eagerness to learn! Teaching first is one of the hardest grades to teach because everything is about the proper foundation. That makes it tougher."
What are your strengths as a teacher? Weaknesses?
"I am incredibly creative and relational. My students love the resources that I make for them, and their parents really like me too! :) Sometimes, because I am so wrapped up in creating things...I can forget small details." :(
If you could change only one thing about your classroom, what would it be? (more room is obvious... haha) "I wish I had more storage containers for my intermediate level books that I can't use right now because I'm back in first."
How much time do you spend planning? How often?
"I spend about 20 hrs. per week in creating resources, cutting, laminating and or planning for the week ahead."
What's the one part of your job that you dislike the most?
"It's hard when the demands on my time are for things that I do not enjoy...pointless meetings, etc."
How do you see your role of "teacher" changing in the next 5 years?
"I think that common core is going to really change how students learn...especially in K and 1. Teachers have to be flexible and willing to adapt and change with the new demands on our profession. In our state we not only have to adapt to the new standards, but also to a new teacher evaluation system and performance based pay. It's a very stressful time for a lot of educators."
If you had the chance to add a certification (or skill) to your list of credentials, what would it be? "I would add a Reading Endorsement, and a Gifted Certificate."
If you weren't in education, what would you be doing?
"I would be Eponine in the Broadway Revival of Les Mis!" :)
Favorite Quote:
"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
Morning person or night owl?
"Night Owl" How do you keep your sanity? Or do you?
"Coffee and quick two day trips to ANYWHERE with my sweet husband, Chris."
The most valuable piece of teacher advice I've received...
"Your happiness in the workplace is contingent on you. Find a way to be happy no matter what. " :)
Some of Tamara's Products I like:
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|  Fables, Morals, & Planes! Oh My! $$$
|  Close Reading: Chick & Duckling $$$
| Giveaway Time!
I hope you all have enjoyed getting to know Tamara! She's become a great blog buddy. Now it's time for a giveaway. 2 winners will receive Tamara's Marvelous Morning Work and my Umbrella Clipart Set! All you need to do is enter via the PunchTab box below. The giveaway will end tonight (Monday) at midnight (Pacific time), so be sure to enter before then! Good luck! I'll announce the winners in next week's post.
Winners from last week: Siraya Gloudemans, Laura Martin, & Amy Swan! | | About: Grade: 2nd
Location: Villa Hills, Kentucky
Blogging for: about 9 months
Teaching for: 4 years
Other grades taught: K | Links: | What do you like best about the grade you teach? Least?
"I love that I can joke with these students and hold conversations with them. I have taught them how to be responsible and know that their efforts directly correlate with their success. Second grade is a grade that still can have tons of fun while starting to learn challenging reading standards."
What are your strengths as a teacher? Weaknesses?
Strengths: organization, technology, differentiation {Daily 5 really helps all of those strengths}
Weaknesses: worrier, huge procrastinator, not the best with documentation
What has been your most embarrassing teacher moment?
"One day, my Kindergarten students were doing their morning work and singing 'This Old Man' over and over and over again. I was SO tired of hearing it, so I asked them to quiet down.
Well, they didn't stop singing (of course) and I had one little boy in my class (everyone has that one little guy) who decided to start screaming the song at the top of his lungs.
Boy: "This old man, he played one, he played........"
Me: (fed up with the screaming song, turned around to scream boy's name and ask him to hush, but when I turned around to scream "{NAME}", I turned around and screamed.....) KNICK KNACK!!!
Instead of saying the boy's name, I finished his song for him at the top of my lungs. My teaching assistant and I lost it and I was mortified to say the least."
If you could change only one thing about your classroom, what would it be? (more room is obvious... haha)
"I really miss my bean shaped table from my Kindergarten room! I really wish I had more space to meet in small group. I'm usually meeting up with groups on the floor and sometimes teaching outfits don't do so well on the floor." "Also, I'd love revamp my room using School Girl's Style's inspiration." How much time do you spend planning? How often?
"Since I am a TPT seller, I always tie my products into my classroom lesson plans, so I spend about and hour or two a day planning lessons, plus an EXTRA hour or two creating those products!"
"My friends tease me saying that I am always stuck to my laptop... which may be true!"
What's the one part of your job that you dislike the most?
"I dislike that teaching has become very focused on the state/national assessment. We aren't supposed to "teach to the test", but we are finding that it is expected for these students to be prepared for these standardized tests before they even get into the 'testing grades'."
How do you see your role as a "teacher" changing in the next 5 years?
"I believe that my innovation and creativity will grow over the next few years even more than it has already. With technology on the rise and expectations higher and higher because of our new teaching evaluation system, being a "boring" teacher just isn't acceptable anymore! I am currently practicing brand new teaching strategies in the classroom and I don't believe that I'll ever be satisfied settling for what I did the year before. I'll always be improving and changing."
If you had the chance to add a certification (or skill) to your list of credentials, what would it be?
"I actually have a certification in Gifted and Talented and absolutely love it, but they are cutting all sorts of funds for that. So if G/T goes out the window, I would love to add Spanish to my list. I adore my Spanish speaking students and wish I could be more helpful with Spanish families."
If you weren't in education, what would you be doing?
"If I wasn't a teacher, I'd be a wedding/party planner in a big city."
Favorite Quote:
"Be who you are because those who mind don't matter and those that matter, don't mind."
-Dr. Seuss
Morning person or night owl?
"Night Owl!"
How do you keep your sanity? Or do you?
"My sanity is kept by four things: working out, white wine, friends, reading."
The most valuable piece of teacher advice I've received...
"What they taught you in college will NEVER fully prepare you for what you will find in the classroom."
"This still holds true after four years of teaching."
Some of Jessica's Products I like:
 St. Patrick's Day #/word match FREE
|  FindSomeone who.. icebreaker FREE
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|  Monthly Journal Prompts $$$
|  St. Patricks' Day Reading Comp. $$$
| Giveaway Time!
I hope you all have enjoyed getting to meet Jessica a little more! We are definitely going to meet up at some point because she's also a Kentucky girl! :)
Now it's time for a giveaway. 1 winner will receive the two prizes below. All you need to do is enter via the PunchTab box below. The giveaway will end tonight (Monday) at midnight (Pacific time), so be sure to enter before then! Good luck! I'll announce the winner in next week's post.
I. am. so. excited. For the past 6 weeks, I've slowly been working on this ginormous set. It's taken a lot of work and at one point (uploading stage) it nearly drove me over the edge. That's pretty much why I haven't written a blog post in the past week (although I did post a few things in the Facebook page). So without anymore rambling, I'd like to introduce the newest member/s of the graphics family... the MEGA Alphabet Bundle. I can assure you that the term "MEGA" is used appropriately here. The file was so darn big that I had to split it into two downloads on TPT. Here's a peek at each of the sets... Sooooo.... what do ya think? I've already been using a lot of them throughout the year for my own class, so I hope you can do the same! :) You can find the links to my TPT shop below.
So, as a little celebration for finally finishing this set, I'm hosting a little giveaway. It's easy. There are two packs, so we'll do two separate contests. Feel free to enter both!
| | <<< Giveaway #1 Enter for a chance to win sets A-M! | | | <<< Giveaway #2 Enter for a chance to win sets N-Z! | Good luck! I'm leaving it up for a week so you'll have plenty of time to enter. :)
I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Thank you ALL so much for being patient with me while I've been MIA to finish this project.
P.S. Like the new blog design? I'll be posting about that soon. :)
Happy Sunday everyone! I've been busy making a lot of new graphics recently. Most have been requests, but a couple are ones that I've wanted to tackle for a while (like those cute monsters). I know a lot of you are currently searching for Halloween related materials and even some election stuff.... soooo let's do a little giveaway! You can click on each image to see it on TPT for more details.
To enter, just follow the entry requirements in the boxes below each set of graphics. If you're reading this from an RSS reader, then you might actually have to visit the blog to be able to do this. :)
Giveaway #1 (Halloween Bundle) | Jack-o-Lanterns | Monsters | Haunted Houses | Spiders | Giveaway #2 (Election Bundle) | Election | 3 Branches of Government | Patriotic Frames | There will be one winner in each giveaway set. I'll announce the winner on Tuesday. :) Good luck!
Today is an eclectic post. There's a little bit of everything in this one.... so let's get to it. First, the best part. A giveaway. Do you know Erica Bohrer? Of course you do. She teaches first grade, is a mom to some fur children, has 2 Scholastic books, and creates some amazing materials. She's a celebrity in 'Teacher Blogland.' We decided to team up and bring you a great giveaway. I'll dub it... The Word Wall Makeover Kit Giveaway. | | I posted my new Fry Mega Pack a few weeks ago and it's doing really well! You can read about it and see everything included in this post (lots of screenshots & photos. Or you can check it out and read reviews on TPT. I've been wanting to do a giveaway with it and Erica's new word wall labels match perfectly! You can check those out on TPT. So, the giveaway. The winner gets both of these products. Use them how you like, but they're perfect for anyone needing to give their word wall a little TLC. You can also implement a sight word program with my pack or supplement your existing one. Both packs combined equal a whopping 623 pages! And guess what? Everything is in black and white. Throw some colored cardstock in the printer and have at it! Use colors that match your room design! Ok. Ready to enter? There's a PunchTab form below! You know that Rafflecopter thing that a lot of people have? Same concept, but you can actually win other things too... just for visiting sites (see that little red ribbon?). I'm close to a Starbucks card. By entering, you won't be signing up for PunchTab. You're just entering the giveaway. I don't think I've even received emails from them, so it's nice to not be stalked. :) | Ok, on to equally as important, but less exciting things....  My room setup page has gotten almost 500,000 hits. Seriously. I keep adding rooms to it, so if you have a great post with awesome photos, then let me know by pressing that 'contact me' button in the sidebar! I can add you! I know a lot of people are going back to school this week or next, so hopefully you've been able to find some inspiration and peek into some beautiful rooms. It's this 'teaching blog frenzy' just so cool!? How did I ever manage without being able to blog stalk and get so many great ideas from people like Erica, Katie, Deanna, Cara, Abby, Kristen, etc.?
| I've been stalking... Here's a wrap sheet of the posts I've enjoyed stalking in the last couple of days: - Cara's new room... I can't wait to see when she's done!
- Reagan's Room... Holy smokes. It's fancy ya'll.
- The Magical Product Swap.... you and another teacher swap items. I can't wait to participate!
- Made It Monday... I need an intervention. So many ideas!
- Teacher Toolbox... I need to make this. If only I had access to buy one that didn't cost $80. Seriously. I looked. $80. And shipping one over here isn't any better.
- Maree's Graphics... I went on a binge the other day. She had a sale and I may or may not have bought 20 sets.
- and JJ Heller's boat song... I love her music and have three of her albums. We saw her perform at our previous church. She is so sweet and completely adorable. I've watched the boat song at least ten times this week. Love.
| Games Anyone? I love, love, love incorporating games into my lessons and centers. It's just so fun! This past year I used a lot of board games with my EFL students because there is just so much you can do with them... spelling, photo identification, grammar, vocabulary, reviews, etc. I created a large set and am able to quickly create cards for it, but I also wanted a smaller version that could be played in about 10 minutes. And... voila! This little guy came into existence. You can download two black and white versions for free. Just click the link down there to the right. I make copies onto colored paper and laminate. I have already posted some more related items on TPT, but have several more planned out and in the works. Mini Game Boards: Colorful (12 boards in fun colors)See on: TPT TNCommon Core Board Game Pack: Kinder. Math (10 games)See on : TPT TN | | Fun with Fans  Thank you to everyone who participated in my Facebook Fan giveaway! There were 105 comments and there are now 284 fans! Wowza! We will do it again at 400, so get ready.
If you want to be part of giveaways, take part in discussions, and stay on top of announcements from here, then it's easy to join the page. Just hit 'like' in the sidebar. See? Over there to the right?
It's a lot easier for me to post quick little things rather than writing whole posts about them. I give away a lot of things this way... I post a question, you leave a comment, I pick a winner. Easy peasy.
Plus, there are some other great freebie notifications and sales that get posted there. Someone told me about a flash $1.00 sale on Facebook and I went and got four ginormous units... for $4.00.
Ok, I'm done. Happy Thursday!
Short post today! I hope everyone is doing well! I have just a few things today and then I'm heading off for a little mini vacay.  Some of you are heading back to school very soon... can you believe Summer is almost over!? Where has the time gone? I have these 'My first day...' writing prompts if you need them! I always have my kids draw a picture and write about their first day. I've included PreK-5th and you can choose from plain or dotted lines. I don't know any 5th graders that use dotted lines, but just in case. :) Get them for FREE on TPT.
|  Got a sweet tooth? I can't wait to use this candy calendar soon! I just uploaded it today. It's only $1.50 in my TPT shop. Also, the first person to correctly guess my favorite candy (on the Facebook page) will win a copy! It's definitely not licorice... eww.
|  If you're interested in an awesome giveaway, head on over to Swimming Into Second. She's doing a 10 day giveaway... very cool. I never win anything, buy maybe you can. :)
|  That's it for a few days! I'm off to France for a wine trip with some girlfriends!
Sounds fancy right? Don't be deceived. Everything is close over here, so it's like driving from Kentucky to Georgia.... except there will be a lot of wine and French speaking involved.
Have a great week!
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Hi everyone! It's been a while! I'm excited to be back and in the swing of things again. Just let me tell you... I've been a bizzay girl. I was on vacation for almost 3 WEEKS and it was amazing. My sister got married, we had a ton of family in, there may have been a traumatizing spray tan incident, and I got some precious time in with the crazy nephews and some friends.
Also, on a more career-related note: I applied to grad school. Yikes. I found this awesome program (at my alma mater... UK!) a week before I left and scrambled to get all of my stuff together.... and study for/take the GRE. Yes. Two weeks of studying=no blogging. I think most normal people take time to think about these kinds of decisions and plan for plenty of time to study, write essays, etc. Didn't work out that way. It's an online program and would be perfect to do while I'm over here. I'd like to be a little more efficient and try to get the bulk of my Masters out of the way during our last year here. Anyone have experience with online programs? Like it? Hate it? Should I start drinking now?
Anyway, home for us is Kentucky, so it was H.O.T. We lived in Phoenix for three years (still have our house there) and it was much worse than anything Phoenix ever threw at us. Terrible. I forgot that it was possible for my knees and elbows to sweat. Gross. Hope the heat wave is over for any of you experiencing it! B
The wedding girls!!! I'm to the left of the gorgeous bride (my sista).
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Me & the Hubs in the Photo Booth
| Onto some blogging things. Omiword (as Babbling Abby would say). I'm blown away you all. Katie, from Queen of the FIrst Grade Jungle, did a little Sunday Safari over here on The School Supply Addict and I got a ton of hits, emails, messages, followers, etc. Thank you so much Katie! I think we might have to meet up when I move back... she's a Kentucky girl too! :) Also, I've gotten an overwhelming amount of hits from some Pinterest link... anyone know how to find out which one!? I've only pinned a few things from my own site, so that means someone else did it. That's awesome! Thanks to whoever you are! It's a link that's directing people to my 'Room Setup' page. It's a good little collection of links and ideas for setting up your room, which many of you are already doing or are having nightmares about right now. Check it Out for some great ideas!
Thanks Katie!
| | Anyway, just thought I'd drop a little post and let you know I'm still around! I have a long list of things I'm working on right now, but I did just post something that I'm totally in love with...
Lowercase Letters
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Uppercase Letters
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Lower & Uppercase Letters
| Maree Truelove is one of my absolute favorite graphic artists, so I snagged a TON (like 21 sets) from her sale she had going on. I think it ends today. These little popsicles were one. Aren't they precious!? My previous classrooms were beach themed. Even though I don't have a big ole classroom to decorate now, I'm saving these puppies for when we move back home. :) The 28-page pack includes three sets (lowercase, uppercase, and both). I also made a cute little matching sign to go with. Some previews are above. You can grab it from my TPT shop for 2 bucks, but.... I'll pick 1 winner... leave a comment for doing each of the following (each is one entry): - Follow my TPT shop
- Like The School Supply Addict of Facebook
- Follow on Twitter
- Comment and tell me what your favorite flavor of popsicle is... mine are those 'Real Fruit' bars... strawberry. Oh, Yum!
Entries close on Sunday, the 15th, at midnight. I'll announce the winner on Monday morning! :) Winners will receive... | My Popsicle Alphabet Pack | Candy Graphics by Maree Truelove
(Commercial Use) | Popsicle Graphics by Maree Truelove (Commercial Use) |
My blog reading list is out of control. I've got to check in on all of you lovely ladies (and guys)! I've seen some posts that mention a trip to VEGAS?!?!? Sounds amazing. I am so excited about moving back next year, not only because we'll be closer to family, but because I'll be closer to some of you and be able to shop at Target, Michael's, and Hobby Lobby. Trust me, I still managed to do some damage on this recent trip. The hubby had to fly back to Geneva early, so I loaded him up with cardstock, laminating pouches, and some other goodies. I'm a nut.
Thanks for all of the amazing support. It makes me just love doing this all the more. I'll be doing some serious blog-stalking tomorrow and linking up more amazing resources on here!
| I know I'm not the only one that enjoys using movies at least once a quarter. It's a great way to mix it up a bit... and a good excuse to make your room smell like popcorn.
My EFL students recently watched 'Night at the Museum.' It's super hard trying to find a movie to use (here in Geneva) that is appropriate for my kids. A lot of the movies I thought would be great wound up being filled with too many 'American' idioms or language interactions that were too complicated for them to comprehend. It seriously took me about two hours to find the perfect one. Plus, we just did a unit on 'history', so it was great!
I've had some movie review sheets stored on my computer for the past few years, but wound up revamping them into one big pack a couple of months ago. I wanted to try it out first before I posted it on TPT. Glad I did! I wound up making a few changes and adding a couple more pages. My kids did such a great job and really seemed to enjoy drawing & writing in the pack... all three of my classes. Seriously. Beginners (7-8 years old), Intermediate (9-11 year olds), and advanced (teenagers). I just adapted the amount of writing I expected of each class and it worked like a charm. They were able to tell me loads about the movie after it was finished and summaries aren't their strong suit.
So... here's my Movie Review Pack if your interested! 9 different pages that you can use with any movie! You can mix and match to make a pack that's perfect for your class. Yay!!! | What's included? There are sections that cover all of these...
-characters
-setting
-plot (beginning, middle, end)
-conflict & solution
-important vocabulary words
-designing a movie poster
-alternate ending
-connections to other movies, books, & self
-plot(flow map)
-favorite scene
-movie rating
-favorite character & character traits
-movie theater themed page to write a summary
-students create a movie quiz
You'll receive a .zip file that contains 2 pdf files... one in color and one in bw (easy on the wallet)
.... and it's only $1.50
| First two people to leave a comment (with email) will receive a free copy! Hope everyone has a great week! So glad it's almost Summer! So ready to not be pasty white anymore. I do have photos of my kids using the pack, so I'll add those tomorrow... it's way past my bedtime.
Some of you have been to Farley's blog before... Oh' Boy 4th Grade. She always does this cool 'Currently...' linky party and I've finally decided to get in on it. Pretty fun! That girl has always got a funny story to tell. I love it. Go check out her blog and link up if you haven't already! A Teeny Tiny Teacher has an amazing giveaway going on right now. I REALLLLLLY want one of these things for my class. It would be a great tool to use in with my EFL/ESL kiddos. It's called the 'Hear All Assessment Recorder' and basically you can record your student groups (or just one). Pretty cool! I'd love to use it to listen to my students read and practice sight/vocabulary words. I just can't seem to get enough one-on-one time with them. | | Anyway, head on over to A Teeny Tiny Teacher to find out how you can enter to win this. Entries are due by Friday, the 18th. Hurry! Hope everyone is excited about Summer! We don't end until June 27th, but it's still close. I'm so happy that Summer is almost here! I've really missed wearing open-toed shoes and was excited to put the Winter coats away. So over cold weather. Have a great week!
Woohoo! This PunchTab thing is pretty cool. There were 17 entries for the giveaway ($15 worth of products in my TPT store) and the WINNER is....
Congratulations Crystal! I sent you an email. Just let me know which products ($15 worth) you want via a comment on this post. Thanks to everyone who entered! I'll be having another giveaway soon.
This past weekend we went camping in Annecy, France. Besides imagining there was a serial killer on the loose, large animals running about, and a grill thief, we had a great time. I forgot how creepy every noise is when your zipped up in a (literal) plastic bag. It was a pretty flawless trip and the setting was amazing.
I just added a new product to my TPT store today. I've had something similar in my files for a while, but decided to revamp it because I need something for my EFL students. It's a printables pack for 2D shapes. Pretty basic. I've included 3 different versions so you can pick and choose which sets would work for you (color, black & white, or outline). You won't have to use your whole color ink cartridge if you don't want. :)
 66 pages, 3 versions (color, black & white, and outline) |  2 posters with shapes and names. This one shown has 15 common shapes. The second has 11 extra shapes.  Match word to shape |  26 signs to use around your room. They're 5x8 inches. Print in color, print on colored paper, or back with scrapbook paper to match your decor.  Match shape to word | | I hope you're enjoying the new site. Although I haven't been posting much, I have been adding a ton of content. So many of you have such great ideas and items. Check out a few of these pages if you are searching for some great resources from amazing teachers. If you have a resource you'd like me to add to the site, let me know! Have a great week everyone!
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