Summer Inspiration Linky - Week 4

I have a few teacher friends who are back to school already this week - some of them even with kiddos!

I report next week, and kids start two weeks from today. Yep, it's crunch time. My focus this week is on planning my entire first week, down to every activity I want to use with my students. I know I'm not alone in wanting to have lots of ways to build a classroom community and get kids learning classroom routines and expectations. Therefore, that's the focus of this week's linky party!

This week's focus is Back to School activities, units, procedures, expectations, guides, etc. - all for grades 3-5 - start choosing what you'll use with your students the first week of school! 

Check back throughout the week for products that are added to the linky. I hope you'll be inspired to cross off your summer to-do list! :) 

Link as many of your products and/or blog posts as you'd like. If they're FREE, be sure to list that in the title. 

Favorite Pins Friday, a Bundle, an Award, a Freebie, and 20GB of free cloud storage?

This is going to be a loooong post. Stick with me, please! Favorite Pins Friday, a bundle I'm SUPER excited about, an award, a freebie, AND 20GB of free cloud storage!

Favorite Pins Friday!

Today I'm linking up with Cara from The First Grade Parade for Favorite Pins Friday!

Here are some of my favorite pins from this week. Yep, I totally subscribe to this belief:

If you choose to link up, here's the only rule:  please make sure to link back to the ORIGINAL poster and not to Pinterest. :)  

Here are some of my favorites from the week:

Favorite TEACHING related pins

I absolutely love this post from Kim on her blog, Let Me Start by Saying. It's for her kids, but it absolutely has a place in my classroom, too!

This is an AMAZING idea from Reagan at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits! I am in love. Reagan's system for morning work makes me miss 2nd grade. I just need to find a way to make this work for 4th graders... I'm only teaching math, science, and social studies, so it has to be filled with that content. I start school in a few weeks and my to-do list is already a mile long, so I don't see it happening for the beginning of THIS year. Maybe mid-year? Or next year? If anyone has great 4th grade ideas for adapting this, let me know!

Seriously. In love.

My favorite FOOD pins

We bought an ice cream maker this summer. It has been getting a LOT of use...at least twice per week! We've been using nonfat Greek yogurt, nonfat sweetened condensed milk, and fresh fruit to make all sorts of DELICIOUS frozen Greek yogurt. We are addicted! But we don't want to get stuck in a rut, so I've been pinning other ideas..

This yummy-looking berry sorbet from Martha Stewart:

This simple base recipe for vanilla ice cream. We can't WAIT to make it and add Heath bars, or Reese's cups, or pumpkin pie filling, or... Yep, we have an ice cream problem in our house. ;)

My favorite SCHOOL SUPPLY pins

Erasable pens. Seriously. Just do it. I pinned it, I bought them, and I'm in love. I am finicky about pens, and these are phenomenal. Perfect for my teacher planner, so I don't have to keep scribbling out changed meeting times.

Magazine files. Miss A's Kindergarten let us know that Target is ALREADY putting out back to school items. This was the first place I saw it, but lots of folks are pinning, blogging, and Facebooking about their Target Dollar Spot finds!

Favorite JUST BECAUSE pin

This idea is just brilliant, even for big fingers.

If you want to see what else I'm pinning, come follow me on Pinterest!

If you'd like to link up, go visit Cara's blog!

A Bundle

My "Find Someone Who" activities have been selling like hotcakes in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, so I decided to bundle them!

When you buy the bundle, you get all of my grades 3-5 Find Someone Who math activities - for life! When I add new versions, you can re-download the bundle with the newest editions included. Every time I add a new edition, the price will go up, so the earlier you buy the bundle, the better deal you get. The bundle itself is 30% off the regular listed price. Don't miss out! I have several more versions in editing stages, so the price will increase soon. Click now to see it in my TpT store!

An Award

Wow! This week I was nominated twice for the Liebster Award! Thanks, Erin (Mrs. Beattie's Classroom) and Lisa (Grade 4 Buzz), for the nominations!

To accept the nomination, I must:

1. Link back to the blogs that nominated me

2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers

3. Answer the questions posted for me by my nominators

4. Share 11 random facts about myself

5. Create 11 questions for my nominees

6. Contact my nominees and let them know I nominated them

I am nominating Katie from Rock and Teach, Renee from Growing a Teacher, Mary Kate from Windy City Learning, Sarah from Write on Fourth Grade, and Carla from Comprehension Connection. You know you've spent too long drafting a blog post when several people you nominated have received the award in the meantime. :) Chalk it up to great minds think alike.

I'm going to answer questions 1-5 from Erin, and 6-11 from Lisa. :)

1. In my career, I am most proud of sticking with it during a really rough first two years. It was unbelievably trying, and I persevered. I wouldn't be the teacher I am today without those experiences!

2. Outside of the classroom, my favorite thing to do is relax with my family and friends. I don't truly stop and do just one thing very often, so when I do, I appreciate it completely. 

3. My favorite place to travel is San Diego, CA. It's beachy, calm, cool, and close to Disneyland. :)

4. If I could change one thing about myself, it would be my horrid habit of multi-tasking. I wish I could shut it all down and just concentrate on one thing fully. While I'm working on this blog post, I'm also working on another, organizing pin boards, listening to a TV show, and checking emails. It's an illness.

5. In my classroom, I rely most on my SMART board/document camera/laptop combo. I've had them since my second year of teaching, and I just can't imagine life without them. The one or two days that I've had technology mishaps in the past 10 years have really challenged me!

6. My favorite thing about summer is the pace of life. I feel like I have time to breathe and enjoy things.

7. Besides my technology, my most-used resource is Teachers Pay Teachers. I LOVE using ideas from other teachers, and spend more than I should.

8. If a movie was made about my life, I'd like Candice Cameron or Elisabeth Shue to play me. I've been told I look like each of them, and I enjoy watching them as actresses, so why not?

9. If I wasn't a teacher, I'd love to be a curriculum writer. (Isn't that really the other side of a teacher?) Some days, I wish I had a full-time curriculum specialist to design my lessons, so I could focus on the delivery and reaching all kids. Other days, I wish I was that full-time specialist, so I could help another teacher have time to teach all of his/her kids. 

10. I started blogging because I love expanding my network of teachers and fellow learners. I love to learn, and learning from teachers is the best!

11. I think people would be surprised to learn that I've graduated from college three times - once with a business degree, once for education, and once with my master's degree.

11 Random Facts About Me:

1. I have lived in MN, AZ, and FL.

2. I celebrate a milestone birthday in a few months. Eek.

3. I love Crystal Light and Diet Mt. Dew. A little too much.

4. My sister and I revisit our boy band love whenever we can. NKOTB and friends this weekend, Backstreet Boys in the fall, and Justin Timberlake in December. The men in our lives just roll their eyes. ;)

5. I love TV. I DVR way too many shows, and don't keep up with most of them. But some days, a few hours vegging with comfort TV is just what the doctor ordered.

6. I love books. I own too many books. I was reminded of this when we moved earlier this summer.

7. In a perfect world, I would be perfectly organized. This isn't a perfect world, and I'm never organized to my liking.

8. I tend to start too many projects at once. I'm a starter. I LOVE the feeling of finishing a project, but I love starting new ones more.

9. I have a slight addiction to office and school supplies. I'm on a buying freeze right now, outside of the essentials. I hope it lasts.

10. I don't like coffee - never have.

11. I hate clothes shopping and love new clothes. Great combination.

Questions for My Nominees

1. Which is your favorite subject to teach?

2. How long have you been teaching?

3. How often do you go to the movies? What's the best movie you've seen lately?

4. What are your top 3 must-haves for a new school year?

5. What is your favorite children's book?

6. What is your favorite grown-up book?

7. What is your favorite TV program?

8. What is your biggest strength as a teacher?

9. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

10. What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?

11. Where do you hope to travel in the next 5 years?

Phew! That was a BIG post! Thanks for sticking with me! If you made it this far, here's a quick freebie for you. The link will only stay live until Saturday, July 13, so grab it while you can! :)

Be sure to follow my TpT store to see when this becomes available for sale! 

It was available as a flash freebie for one day only.

FREE 20GB of Cloud Storage - Really?

Yep, you read that correctly. I know many of you use Dropbox. Have you filled your free space yet? I have, so I wanted a place to store more - and to backup the ultra-important files again. I found copy.com this spring, and I am thrilled with it! It works just like Dropbox, but comes with more free storage. You START with 15GB (or 20GB if you sign up with a referral link, like this one) - and can earn an UNLIMITED amount of add-on storage for free. You get 5GB of storage every time someone signs up with your link! That's a great deal! Go check it out - you won't be sorry!

Summer Inspiration - A Linky Party - Week Two!

Last week, I hosted a linky party for Math Task Cards. If you didn't get a chance to check them out, be sure to go visit them after you finish reading (and linking up) here!

It's now July 8, and many teachers are gearing up for a return to school. Three more weeks of vacation for me - and I know I'm not the earliest one to return!

Once again, here's one way to get focused and organized. Each week in July (and maybe August? We'll see how I do once school starts for me. Ha.), I'll be setting up a themed linky party on Monday to help you focus on one item or idea that you'd like to accomplish in the week ahead. My hope is that you'll be inspired by things you see here and get things ready for the first weeks of school, week by week!

This week's focus is language arts task cards for grades 3 through 5 - easy to print, cut, laminate, and go! 

Check back throughout the week for products that are added to the linky. I hope you'll be inspired to cross off your summer to-do list! :) 

Don't forget to check all the great grades 3-5 math task cards linked up last week!

Link as many of your products as you'd like - and if you want to post this linky party on your blog for others to link up, please grab the link and do so! The more, the merrier!

Next week, be ready to link up novel studies or units for grades 3-5!

get the InLinkz code

Summer Inspiration - A Linky Party!

This morning I was reading blogs over on Bloglovin'. (Are you there yet? I'm lovin' it, and the way I can sort blogs into groups!) I came across a linky party that I totally wanted to join. Only one problem - it was geared toward K-2 teachers. I asked Linda over at Primary Inspiration if she would mind if I took the idea and adapted it. She graciously gave her blessing. :)

When I realized today was July 1 (eek!), I mildly panicked. We go back to school in four weeks. Four. Weeks. I'm not too thrilled about that. My summer has flown by this year! I have been pinning and wish-listing items all summer long. There's a time and place for brainstorming and gathering ideas, but it's time to get cracking on those lists!

Here's one way to get focused and organized. Each week in July (and maybe August? We'll see how I do once school starts for me. Ha.), I'll be setting up a themed linky party on Monday to help you focus on one item or idea that you'd like to accomplish in the week ahead. My hope is that you'll be inspired by things you see here and get things ready for the first weeks of school, week by week!

This week's focus is math task cards for grades 3 through 5 - easy to print, cut, laminate, and go! (If you're looking for K-2, head to Primary Possibilities to join in the fun there.)

Check back throughout the week for products that are added to the linky. I hope you'll be inspired to cross off your summer to-do list! :) 

get the InLinkz code

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!

Anticipating April

I'm linking up with Jessica at Literacy Spark. The concept is simple: What do you anticipate in the month ahead?

Looking forward to... I am looking forward to my boyfriend returning home! He has been out of town for two weeks, and I miss him! Life is so much richer with him around.

Dreading... State testing. Enough said.

Hoping to accomplish... I would like to post at least 4 more task card sets into my TpT store, as well as a bundle of my fonts. It's so challenging to take my drafts and turn them into full, polished products - and I love it!

Go link up...it's a quick one!

Tried it Tuesday - Task Cards

My new love this year is task cards. They're so versatile, and give students an opportunity to practice the skills they need.

In our classroom, we use task cards in so many different ways:

* to review before a unit test
* as a reward for completed work
* as a learning station
* as part of math rotations
* for extra practice at home or in class (Parents love when these come home - especially with answers provided! I usually shrink them down to save paper.)
* as part of various cooperative learning structures (Quiz-Quiz-Trade, Fan n Pick, Inside-Outside Circle, etc.)
* to play Scoot or variations of Scott
* for test prep
* to print out and have students use in math journals

The list goes on. You get the idea.

My first introduction to task cards this year was through awesome teacher blogs, and I purchased several sets on TpT. I found so many fabulous sellers! Some of my favorites are Teaching with a Mountain View, Math Mojo, Jennifer Findley, Kristin Kennedy, and Rachel Lynette. If you haven't visited any of them, you're in for a treat!

My kids love the variety, and I love that they're aligned to Common Core!

Once I became a seller on TpT, I decided to start making task card sets of my own. While I love each set I've purchased, I always find I need to tweak something here or there. I've posted two sets that meet all of my own class's needs:

- self-checking (answer on each card)
- Common Core aligned to a specific standard
- adaptable for a variety of uses
- various sizes, so I can send them home, and use them in quite a few different ways
- a wide variety of concepts within one standard (so I can give repeated, varied practice to students who need it)

I don't want this to be a commercial for my task card sets, so I'm not posting a link here. If you want to find them, you can visit my TpT store easily enough. :) Here are two pictures, just to give you a taste.

 

I have big plans for my summer - lots and lots of task cards sets to be made. I hope next year's kids love them as much as this year's kids (and I) do.

I can't wait to see what everyone else has tried this week! If you haven't done it yet, go link up!

April Currently

With the flip of a calendar page, it's already April! It's just past midnight on April 2, and I'm already well past the 300th person to join in on this month's currently linky. Wow! I'm going to follow the rule of 3 and check out at least 3 other folks' posts - but I'd love to read them all!

Here is mine. Be sure to go link up if you haven't yet.

Listening: These days I'm loving JT's new album. It's great music to keep me moving.

Loving: The school year is winding down! This year's group has been especially challenging, so I'm looking forward to some down time to recharge. We have some fun things planned for the last 6 weeks, so it will fly past!

Thinking: I should be sleeping! I got my second wind, and need to just put things away and go to sleep. The dangers of being home alone while the dear boyfriend is out of town...

Wanting: I love springtime. I don't love that springtime in Phoenix often means 90 degree temperatures. I want my 80s - at least for a few weeks. It's too soon for SPF and sweaty after-school duties!

Needing: I need some motivation to stay after school once or twice a week and start purging/organizing. I've somehow accumulated a lot of STUFF this year, and it needs to find a home. Preferably not all in my classroom...

Advice: Since I'm pretty new to selling/blogging/etc., I don't really have any advice. Instead, my advice is personal in nature. I think it speaks for itself.


I hope everyone has a great April! I know for many, April means testing season, and that is always stressful. May you find peace through this time of year. :)

Gorgeous New Design + Dropbox + Tried it Tuesday

Design!

First of all, I have to thank Megan for the wonderful blog design! Please go visit her at A Bird in Hand Blog Design. Isn't it beautiful?! I told her some of my favorite things, and she had this done, lickety split! Easier than you could ever believe.

Thanks, Megan!

Dropbox

Next up - Dropbox. Have you used Dropbox? If you haven't, you must. It's a life-changer. Truly. Our server at school had a period of time where it was very unreliable, so I stopped using it. Flash drives filled too quickly, so I bought an external hard drive. I used to carry that thing back and forth between school and home. Every day. And then last summer, one of the connector pieces broke. I nearly died. Everything was on that little piece of storage, and I hadn't backed it up recently. Silly, I know. Fortunately, my boyfriend's wonderful dad helped recover all of my files, so all was not lost. However, I had a huge wake-up call. I needed something durable, reliable, and easy to use wherever I happened to be.

Enter Dropbox. I can access it from my school computers, home computer, iPad - and there's even an app for phones! It's reliable storage for my files. (Don't you just love The Cloud?!) I don't have to worry about having my hard drive with me. My files just exist in the right place. Always. 

If you haven't signed up, you need to do it. There's nothing to lose. Give it a try. Paid subscriptions are available if you need a lot of storage, but free storage is plentiful (and able to expand with referrals).

If you'd like some bonus storage (500MB) and would like to help me out, too, please use this link to sign up. You won't regret it! Free Dropbox Account - just click here for bonus storage! 


Tried it Tuesday Linky

Since Dropbox is something new I tried this year, I'm linking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for her first Tried it Tuesday linky party!

Go see what everyone else is trying this Tuesday!

Currently in March

March?! Where has the school year gone? We just finished our third quarter yesterday, and grades were due by 5pm. So hard to believe that the year is ending so soon! Anyone else get heart palpitations thinking about the gigantic to-do list that comes with ending a school year??

Here is my "Currently" for March. There has been a lot going on around here this month.

Listening to Ocean's 13. There is something about the Ocean's movies that is comforting to me. Maybe it's the music, the action, or the eye candy...

Loving my new MacBook Air! I got a great deal on it a few weeks back. My personal laptop was almost 10 years old, and my school laptop is a giant, slow brick, so I'm super excited to have this pretty, fast, functional machine!

Thinking about a nap. There's been a lot going on at home and school, and I haven't exactly been getting a lot of good, restful sleep. Today is about trying to catch up on some of that. I see a nap in my near future this afternoon.

Wanting to finish reading a book. I started The Perks of being a Wallflower last night. I'm about 2/3 done, and want to finish it today. Then I can see the movie.

Needing to clean the house. We had a minor rodent problem in our house. :( While I'm 99.9% sure they're gone, we now have to disinfect every. single. item. and every. single. surface. in our house. Ugh. The master bedroom, closet, and bathroom were done immediately, as was the kitchen. Now on to the rest of the house so we can actually "live" in it again.

Like - diet Coke (but I prefer Cherry Coke Zero).

Love - Disneyland! (I worked at Walt Disney World for 5 years after college, but Disneyland is MUCH closer to home now and much more cost effective to visit. I think a summer trip is in order this year.)

Hate - disaster areas (see 2/3 of my house right now. Again, ugh.)

That's it for this month's currently! Can't wait to see what everyone else has to share!

Currently in July

Okay, it's now Monday. I know three posts in a few hours isn't following blog rules, but hey - when the internet is sorta cooperating, you go with it...

Listening - Yes, I'm in AZ. It is crazy hot right now (as I know it is practically everywhere else in the country!). It is too hot to even go swimming - the pool water feels like bath water!

Loving - Sleeping in. I'm a night owl at heart, but I don't have the luxury during the school year to stay up late. So my summer nights are late nights!

Thinking - Our house is a work in progress. I can't seem to get a complete vision for what I want - and so things go unfinished, which makes me NUTS!

Wanting - Ohhhh, am I ever excited for my Amazon order! I just ordered several series of books for my classroom. I've read the first in each, but can't wait to read each series before I put them in my classroom library! Ender's Game, The Amulet, The Sisters Eight, The City of Ember, plus some new markers and gel pens for me!

Needing - We spent the day deep cleaning, and oooh my back is sore. I need a massage. Stat.

Reads - One of my favorite read alouds is The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. Students love the story - and it helps to keep 9/11 a current topic - without getting in the gruesome details that aren't mine to share with 9-year-olds...

The Book Whisperer. Need I say more? If you haven't read it - read it! I read it near the end of the school year, and in the few short weeks I had left with my kids, I was able to turn things around in our classroom. I love reading - and want my kids to love it, too!

I can't wait to see what everyone is up to this month!

-Dawn