TPT Purchases are fun!!

I very much enjoyed the TPT sale this year.  I was worried when school was getting close to starting, and then did start, that the sale was never going to happen.  I had made my wishlist early and was ready for it, hopeful it would arrive soon!  I went to town buying things.  But of course I then saw Farley's instagram where she had a thing called Big Border Mega Bundle and I was hooked.

I quickly looked it up and decided it was totally worth it!! I have been searching for borders and attempting (and failing) to create my own.  I LOVE this product.  There are so many items in the packet. If you want only a portion she has smaller packets too.  Here is the link to the Big Border MEGA Bundle.  Seriously. Do it!

Anyway, I got to creating this weekend.  At first I attempted to put like 5 of the cutest borders, headers, page dividers in my one document.... It didnt work.  So I simplified. One maybe two things per paper! ha.  I dont know how I am going to choose each time I need a border.  A much better issue than the one I was having before.  I made a couple things but decided I should at least share one!

Here is my handout to go in the students reader's notebooks for Read to Self and Read to Someone.  It might be a little not useful for every, what is the word I am looking for. I dont know, but it might not work for everyone, but if it works for you feel free!  Reading Handout Freebie

Units of Time Matching Game

This week we have started our math unit on time.  Our last chapter was quite boring in depth, so I wanted to make this new chapter more fun.  We were able to go to the computer lab one day and play time math games.  For the most part the kids enjoyed it, even though for a few it was 'boring' still.

Anyway, we have been talking about units of time such as minutes, seconds, hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc.  I wanted to do something other than look at the chart the entire lesson, so I made these flash cards to use in a matching game.  I placed the cards on the floor and had students come up one by one to choose to cards and see if they matched.  It honestly took a lot longer than I thought it would because they did not watch carefully enough to see what cards had been looked at.  BUT they loved it!  They later asked if it could join our May Do list to practice on their own.  OF COURSE!!!! I said.  Now it is a race to see who can get to it first.

Another fabulous use:  I had a student who was really struggling with these concepts.  She is ESL and struggles with this vocabulary.  I printed off an extra set for her to take home and practice.  I made sure to label them so she knew which ones matched so she could study properly.  She enjoyed it and her mother was very pleased.

It brought me such joy that hopefully it will you as well.  I am very new to selling/offering things on TPT so please let me know if something is wrong with it!  Get your freebie here

new blog with freebie

I decided to start this new blog so I have a specific place to blog about my teaching adventures, creations, ideas, and thoughts.  I have so far LOVED the blogging community and have already learned a great deal about teaching and found some wonderful resources for my classroom.


Just a little bit about me:  I graduated from college in December 2011 with a BS in Elementary Education with Middle School endorsements in Math and Language Arts. I am definitely an upper elementary person :) The rest of the year I was subbing and learned a great deal about what I want and need in my classroom from those experiences.  Next year I will be teaching 4th grade..... in THAILAND!! I am so excited about this new adventure.  The hubby and I will be leaving in July for at least 2 years there.  It will be interesting to see how different and similar the school will be. It is based off of American schooling so I assume things will be somewhat similar.  And thankfully, the kids all know English so I will be able to teach in English!


Ok, I think that covers enough about me.  Oh one more thing, my blog name.  I am OBSESSED with stickers and stamps.  I already have quite the collection of stamps and stickers and I havent even had my own classroom yet.  I may enjoy them just slightly more than the kiddos!  Hopefully they love stamps and stickers in Thailand too or I am in BIG trouble. 

Anyway, during the summer I hope to continue to find some amazing resources.  I have loved all of the free things that I have found.  I wanted to share one of things that I have made recently.  I know that spelling is something that all students need to work on.  So I created this resource that should be versatile for all grade levels.  I plan on doing this as a center or game and laminating it so it can be reused. Its called Scramble the Letters and requires a pair of students.  It asks the students to choose a spelling word and try to find other words within the word.  For example, if my word was 'scramble'  I can find 'ram, scam, crab, lamb' and many, many other words within just the one word.



Hopefully you enjoy this and hopefully I uploaded it correctly!  Here it is:  Scramble the Letters!!


What do you think?  Any advice to new teachers or new bloggers? I hope this is something I can keep up!