Amazing Holiday & DIY classroom ornaments- Just saying!

Hey there! Again it's taking me way too long to post.  It's not because posting has not been on my mind but quite the opposite.  I have been so involved in our school's craft fair and now I'm on to obsessive over my classroom observation.  I have no idea why I thought it would be a great to schedule both within 7 days (actually withing 5 days) but apparently I am a glutton for punishment.  I guess maybe I could go for the sympathy vote??? Who knows.

Anyway- during this whole craft fair process I have become acquainted with so many cute ideas to do in the classroom.  I would LOVE to do all of these but being a travelling teacher I rarely have time for one craft a year.

The first little nugget I found is something that I am actually doing in my daughters classroom on Friday (yes can I squeeze one more thing in??)

Hand print snowman   

In an ideal world I would LOVE to do this! A variation would be to use magnets- Just something a little different.  

Bottlecap snowman

This cutie pie is made with dried glue! 

Glue snowman

Keeping this one a large photo because shortening it would not do it justice! 

snowman keys

All of these are so adorable and fairly easy to make.  I love being able to have students bring in items from home to make their craft.  It just shows them that a craft can be made from anything.  They don't have to make a special trip to the local big box store to make something cool.  

PS- As far as my awesome holiday- I HAVE to share that I have been starting to use Ebates and have been getting back $ hand over fist! Seriously.  Just got back $20. on my last shopping order.   Here is my referral link if you are interested.  Takes 10 seconds to sign up and you can shop at all your normal stores.  

Sign up for Ebates here!

Book Sale! A great opportunity to increase your classroom library! FREE SHIPPING!

Hello! I am so excited that I found this deal! Thrift Books is offering a buy 3 get one free Back to School sale. So you buy 3 books.  If the three books are from the same seller (very easy to do- you'll see once you check it out) then you get .50 off each additional book.

1st book= full price (I say full price but it is really inexpensive)
2nd book- Same seller- .50 off
3rd book- same seller- .50 off
4th book- FREE!

That is an awesome deal- Just saying!

This is not a book club or anything like that.  Just a really decent site that gets you great books at a low price.   I have been using them for two years now to purchase books for my Kindergarten students I work with and they are always prompt with delivery.

click here to go to site

Shhhh! Another Teacher's Pay Teacher's Sale!

WOW! Can you believe it? For the first time EVER Teacher's Pay Teacher's is offering a second opportunity to get quality merchandise at a discount price.  

My store will be on sale for 20% plus the additional 10% TPT is offering!!! Not a bad deal if I do say so myself! 

I have many literacy items available in my store.  Here are a few of my favorites! 

click here

Very cool journal pages with pre-made prompts for the first month of school. A great way to get to know your students as well as assess their writing capabilities.    

click here

I need to work on this cover- haven't fallen in love with it yet but the inside is amazing! Teach your students how to expand their writing one sentence at a time.  Work with them to add information now will result in less time consuming conferences later.   

click here

My most pinned item! Love this as a center activity. 

  Keep posted I will be creating more of these during the school year! 

~~~~~Here are a few hidden gems~~~~

click here

Who doesn't love Edward??

click here

Perfect for Spring- Get a jump start NOW while it's on SALE! 

click here
Leo Lionni's Birthday is in May! Get it now at a discount! 

click here
Another awesome treasure.  Comes complete with book suggestions and a discount place to buy them!

Check out all these and more at my Teacher's Pay Teacher's store! 

Please remember that for everything you purchase you can get TPT points.  Just click on MY TPT then MY PURCHASES.  There will be a list of every item you have downloaded.  Next to each item will say provide feedback.  Give positive feedback for that item and you will get points that you can use towards future purchases.  I save my points for the sales because you get more bang for the buck! 

Cute classroom crafts for the teacher!

Trolling the Internet this week looking for some adorable Back to School teacher crafts to share with my cooperating teachers! Way too many ideas out there to choose from but I did come across some great ones!

 Add some duct tape to mini binder clips and you take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. 

What a great birthday idea.  Something you can prep ahead of time and put them away.  I am not sure about giving students that much candy but maybe a pencil sharpener, erasers, pencil and hey- maybe their own personal clips from above photo!

I have seen this done before! What a great way to know EXACTLY where your kids are.  Also something you can grab quick during a fire drill if you have some excitement in the room right beforehand.  

OMG how simple of an idea can save so much time! LOVE this! I remember always having a LINE of kids waiting to be seen during writing time.  Most of the time they would end up fooling around and getting themselves into trouble.  What a great way to get them to keep working! I would add some more suggestions on what they can do in the meantime though- sketch a snapshot of a scene in their story, re=read to see if there are any missing words., etc..

I am completely doing this with my little pirates and princesses! Eric Carl's Very hungry Caterpillar! 

Oh WOW! What an amazing find- Change a garage sale find into a classroom treasure! I don't know about you but I would definitely duck tape this bad boy! 

I've always wanted a chair like this! Maybe I will make one for my daughter's teacher.  

OOOHH I like this! Can make it to fit any theme too! 

Ok I better run now! Getting ready for camping in the outer banks! I will post another blog entry once I get settled! Be sure to follow me on Blogluvin and google +.