Facebook Freebie!

Happy weekend, everyone!

I know that my summer is flying by. It's hard to believe teachers report back in 4 and a half weeks here. Eek!

To celebrate 100 followers on my Facebook fan page, I've set up a Facebook fan only freebie. Go check it out! Click this link to go get it. Just click the "Fans Only" tab under my cover photo on Facebook, and you're in!

This is a great Back to School - Getting to Know Your Teacher task card set.

Click to get your copy!

Don't miss out - this will only be a freebie until July 15!

Stay cool! 

I've also linked up with Erin for her Back to School Bonanza - go check out all the great things available for back to school time! 

Revised Sunday, June 30: Due to the previously posted freebie being uncomfortably close to another product listed for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers, I have changed the free card set that is available. Thank you for your understanding!

Throwback Thursday!

Okay, so I haven't been blogging long - or much - but there's one post I'd love to share with you today as part of Throwback Thursday. I'm linking up with Cara at the First Grade Parade - and wow, there's a bunch of great posts to see!

This was originally posted on April 15, 2013. I only had a few followers back then, and was really hoping to hear from people and get some input. I'm still in touch with my student teacher, so it's not too late to offer her advice. ;)

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This school year, I've purchased so many great resources on Teachers Pay Teachers! I know I'm not alone.

Some of my favorites are pictured here:

Task cards from Teaching with a Mountain View

Math Skills Scoot Bundle by Math Mojo

Assessment Posters & Forms by 3rd Grade Thoughts

Vocabulary Task Card Bundle by Rachel Lynette

I would love your input on the following. My student teacher has asked for advice, and I have shared what I do, but I don't experiment much. It made me wonder if other methods are better!

• Do you print in color or grayscale?
• At home, school, or even a copy store?
• Inkjet or laser printer?
• Do you laminate at home or school?
• Do you cut materials apart before and/or after laminating?
• Do you cut by hand, or do you have a favorite paper cutter or trimmer?

Please share your strategies and any specific products you use and love. We only have five weeks of school left, and I want to be sure to send her off with the best advice possible. :)

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Here is the one and only comment I received, from Courtney at Polka Dot Lesson Plans. I'd love for you to join in and share, too!

Dawn, I'm so glad you posed these questions because I've been thinking this same thing myself! In the last 2 months I've used up 2 whole color ink cartridges just printing goodies from TpT! 
Color or Grayscale? Color for games, task cards,and anything I plan to laminate and use again. Grayscale for anything I'm going to make copies of for the students. 
I do color printing at home and grayscale both at home and school. 
I have a small color ink jet printer/scanner that I use just for color printing and then a Brother grayscale laser printer for everything else. The laser printer has been a great investment. I print until my heart is content and have only replaced the cartridge roughly 5 times in 4 years. Because of that I'm so tempted to buy a laser color printer!
I laminate at home and I cut before I laminate. I have a Scotch Thermal laminator (from Wal Mart) that I love! 
I also use a fiskars paper cutter (from the scrapbook section) to cut most things. 
Sorry to have written you a book here...I didn't realize I had so much to say about copying and laminating! I'm anxious to hear what others have to say. 

July Goals

Wow. The switch over to Bloglovin has sure kept me busy this week! I want to be sure I keep up with all of the blogs I love - plus I've found so many great new ones! Don't miss out on the HUGE link-up of giveaways!

I'm linking up with Jess at I {Heart} Recess to share my goals for July. This summer is flying by MUCH too quickly. :/

Personal:  I need to work on getting 8 hours of sleep per night - no more, no less (within reason). My inner night owl comes out in the summertime, so I'm staying up late. I'm also adjusting to a new house (which gets a LOT of early morning sunlight) and working on settling down my brain from a lot that's happened the past 7 or 8 months. Most nights I'm sleeping about 4 hours, off and on - but when I get really tired, I catch up and sleep 12. Not a good cycle, especially since I'm back to school the end of July! Any advice for getting on a good sleep cycle? It has been so long, I don't remember how...

Family:  My parents, sister, brother-in-law, and my boyfriend and I all live within 5 miles of one another. Yet we sometimes go a week or more without all spending time together! A goal for July is to be sure to see them all at least once a week - for a family dinner. Do you live near your family? How do you spend time together?

Health:  We moved less than a month ago into a new house, and prior to that, had lots of problems at our old house, so we were eating out WAY too much. Not only is that not healthy, it isn't good for our wallets! We've done better the past two weeks, but need to cut it down a bit more. What are some of your favorite simple, summer recipes?

School:  At my school, each teammate is responsible for planning one subject area for the entire team. My subject is math (which I LOVE). Last year, we implemented common core for the first time. I learned so much from our successes and failures over the course of the year. Now it's time to map out next year, to be sure we have enough time to be sure students have deep understanding of concepts. How do you map out your year? Are there special tools, resources, or websites you use?

Blog/TpT:  Blogging is tough for me. I enjoy it, but I really struggle to make regular posts. I see so many fun linky parties that I get overwhelmed. I know I need to take baby steps, and just enjoy the process - not worry so much about others. I know I have a lot to share as I enter my tenth year of teaching. I also have about a billion and one ideas for TpT products, and I just can't keep up with all the ideas I have. I want to plan it out a bit, to help keep myself on track. How often do you blog and/or create products? Do you have a schedule, or just play it by ear?

Outside the Box:  At the new house we're renting, the owner has a small desert landscaped front yard and a nice-sized backyard that is partially desert landscaped and part grass. I haven't mowed a lawn since I was in high school, helping out my parents. I certainly have never had a mesquite tree that sheds an incredible amount of seed pods in the summer - let alone two of them. It is really fun (ha.) to rake and sweep up pods when it's 110 degrees, and bugs love the pods and crawl in and out of them. Eww. Luckily, my boyfriend doesn't mind yard work - but I can't let him have all the fun...can I? :) 

Pretty shade tree.
Source.

Lovely pods covering the ground - not so pretty.
Source

Be sure to link up and share your goals for July! Stay cool, my friends!

Bloglovin and My First Giveaway!

Hello fabulous followers!

By now, you have heard that Google Reader is going away on July 1. Nearly every blog I read is switching over to bloglovin, and many of them are having giveaways this week to entice folks to switch over. If you've already switched, this giveaway is a no-brainer! :)

To win extra entries, be sure to follow my page on Facebook (I post there much more frequently), follow me on Twitter, and/or follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store, too. 

If you have not yet switched to bloglovin, or are not following this blog through bloglovin, then there are a few easy steps to follow.  

You can go to the sidebar and click the button that says Follow this Blog with bloglovin.  Or, you can go into the Rafflecopter below and click the link in the first entry, and that will take you to this blog on bloglovin.

You will need to set up an account with bloglovin so that you can follow me.  Please be sure to leave your bloglovin username in the Rafflecopter entry.  Then, view this post on bloglovin and "like" it (you'll see a cute red heart once you've done this).

Once you've done all of this, please enter my very first giveaway!!  I will be picking 3 WINNERS and each winner will get their choice of two products from my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

Please be kind and let me know if my Rafflecopter and/or link-up isn't working. It's my first try at both. :)


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Claiming My Blog

Time to claim my blog on Blog Lovin!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin 

Go link up with Tori @ Tori's Teacher Tips if you'd like to help others find your blog on Blog Lovin!