Alphabet Letter Exchange Show & Tell

This morning I'm linking with Barb over at Ruby Slippers Blog Design to show some 2013 Alphabet Exchange photos and to tell you how the exchange is going for 2014.

These first photos are from Kathy in Virginia.

This close up photo shows a few of the letters better. H is for hat, Y is for yellow pom-poms, W is for water (I think it had ocean animal stickers on it.), S if for snake, and I loved the A is for astronaut! It was so cute! I think it came from Alabama.

Packaging up their Y's to be mailed

Just look at these excited little ones! Aren't they adorable? I love the little ones holding their envelopes high!

Photo from Kara in Tennessee

Thanks for the photos Kara & Kathy! And now for the TELL part of show & tell.

The Alphabet Exchange is FULL for 2014- 208 teachers from 38 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

You can still sign up to be on the WAIT LIST, though. It seems every year that a few teachers need to back out before the project gets started and I've been able to include a few more people. Click HERE for the wait list form. Group and letter assignments will be out within the next 2 weeks.

Thanks again to Barb for hosting this linky each week. Be sure to check it out and maybe link up too!

Thanks to Krista from Creative Clips for the cute hanging frames I found on TPT.

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Name BINGO with Avery Labels

Helping our students get to know each other is a high Back-to-School priority for all of us. Even though 16 of my 20 students were with me in first grade last year, I need to do some getting to know you activities so the 4 new students can feel like they belong in the class too. To help them out, on the first day of school one of the things we'll do is make and play Name BINGO.

I did this last time I taught 2nd grade and the kids loved it! Who wouldn't, right? It's their own names, it's a game, there might be stickers or M&M's as prizes...  You get the idea. I've seen ideas in books and things where kids write names in the bingo squares, but some of my students have very messy handwriting or will spell a name or two slightly wrong even though they're copying it. Wouldn't that be the case everywhere? Hopefully it's not just me. So instead of having the kids writing the names, I put them on Avery labels. I use the labels where there are 30 per sheet (#5163) and put two names on each label so it looks like this

That way I can cut the three columns of stickers apart and give one to each student and they'll have all 20 names. I'll also cut each column of stickers up the middle (between the two names) so that each name is on its own small sticker. A little hint: only cut up thru the top of the last sticker so the column doesn't get cut in two pieces- they're easier to pass out way. Like this

I also make one sheet of stickers with the word FREE instead of names. I cut these apart and give each student one "free" sticker.

Here's a bingo card you can grab by clicking on it. 

I let students put the name stickers and the "free" sticker in whichever squares they choose. You could, of course, have them put "free" in the middle if you prefer. In the empty squares they can write in their own name (so it's on the card twice) and 3 other names. It'll look something like this when they're finished.

For more first day of school activities check out these other bloggers I've linked up with for their K-12 ideas. 

Thanks to Mackenzie from Brownbag Academics for organizing this!

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Christmas in July Sales

Everything in my TPT and Teacher's Notebook stores is 20% today through July 27. If you're a Teachers Notebook shopper, you can get double rewards during this time too. It's a great time to shop!

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Alphabet Letter Exchange- only a few openings left!

I know I posted that there weren't many spaces left, but I mean it this time. My intention was to stop the sign-ups so there would be 7 groups but I accidentally let the sign-ups flow over so I added an 8th group.
Now there really are only 7 spots left in the Alphabet Letter Exchange! So far 201 teachers participating from 37 states and 2 Canadian provinces. Sign up now so you won't miss out!

Click {HERE} for information on the project and the sign-up form.

UPDATE 7/29/14:

The Alphabet Exchange is FULL for 2014- 208 teachers from 38 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

You can still sign up to be on the WAIT LIST, though. It seems every year that a few teachers need to back out before the project gets started and I've been able to include a few more people. Click HERE for the wait list form. Group and letter assignments will be out within the next 2 weeks.

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Stitch Fix Show & Tell

Hey there! I'm linking up again with Barb from Ruby Slippers Blog Design for her Show & Tell linky.

Today I'm sharing my Stitch Fix with you. If you haven't heard of it, it's a simple way to have someone else choose clothes for you based on a detailed profile you complete when you sign-up. It costs $20, but that was credited toward the item I chose to buy.

When the box arrived Saturday I opened it right up!

 Inside were two cute tops. I loved the color of this one. It's actually more peachy than these pictures show. I really liked it one me, but it was too sheer for school.

 So I tried on this one. I love, love, love the color! And I really liked the way it looked on too (I'm just to self-conscious to show picture of me wearing them... hence the hangers). I never thought I'd like that type of neck line, but I really did. That's the reason for trying Stitch Fix- I was hoping I'd get some styles I might not choose for myself but would like once I tried them. And it worked!

These was a beautiful mint green infinity scarf

And this cardigan sweater that I fell in love with! Our budget is a little tight right now, but I was determined to keep one item and I knew this was the one before I even tried it on.

I took this picture of the back because I love the knot and the style it gives the sweater.

Cardigans are one of my favorite things to wear! The layers are good for the weather here.

If you're thinking of trying Stitch Fix, here's a referral code you can use that gives me a $25 credit, if you'd be so kind.   http://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3790629

I'm so glad I tried Stitch Fix! It was so easy! When you sign up you're assigned a personal consultant who chooses clothes based a detailed profile you fill out and your pinterest board, if you have one. It's amazing how well Pamela did in choosing clothes that were just my style. My next box is set to arrive mid-August. Woohoo!

P.S. Check out this giveaway! Just click on the image.

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Fly Guy is Informational Text!

Yes, Fly Guy can be informational text! Thank you Tedd Arnold!

Today linking up with Barb from Ruby Slippers Blog Designs to show and tell about the book I found. (By the way, Barb's responsible for my blog rejuvenation. Did you notice the changes? New fonts, sidebar, background, and signature. I just love it! Thanks, Barb!)

I found this book in a local book store last week and HAD to buy it. I just had too. As you may know, my first graders are looping up to 2nd grade with me and we're starting off with an ocean unit. So how perfect is this?

When I told my class we'd be starting off learning about ocean animals, one of the boys said, "Are we going to have shark books?" Yes, sweetie, we are. He's going to be so excited. The only problem is that I may wish I had about 10 copies of this book. It's going to be a huge hit with my class!

To go along with the book I created a shark word search based on the vocabulary from the book. You can grab it as a freebie by clicking on the picture.

Did you look at the words? One of them is "dentricles." Dentricles are what make a shark's skin rough. did you know that? I'll admit that I didn't. They say that you learn something new every day. I guess that's my something new.
There are two other Fly Guy Presents books on Space and Dinosaurs. Hmmm... my wish list is getting longer...

Enjoy the word search! If you download it, I'd really like it if you'd leave a comment below. That kind of thing just makes a girl happy, you know?

Till next time,

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Alphabet Exchange Information

Thank you to everyone who has signed up so far. As of today there are 190+ teachers in the exchange from 37 states and 2 Canadian provinces. I'll have group and letter assignments out in early August.

For anyone who hasn't signed up yet, but wants to:

The next 10 people who sign up will definitely be included in a group. Since the groups need to be 26 teachers each, everyone who signs up after the next 10 people will be placed on a waiting list. I will try to monitor the form so that it will state when it is a sign up for the waiting list instead a guaranteed spot in the exchange.

Thanks so much!

UPDATE 7/29/14:

The Alphabet Exchange is FULL for 2014- 208 teachers from 38 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

You can still sign up to be on the WAIT LIST, though. It seems every year that a few teachers need to back out before the project gets started and I've been able to include a few more people. Click HERE for the wait list form. Group and letter assignments will be out within the next 2 weeks.

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A Wonderful Summer Afternoon

Today I'm linking up with Barb over at Ruby Slippers for Show & Tell Tuesday where you can share whatever you would like to. I love that! Show and tell was so much fun when I was in school. Next year I'm going to make a point of leaving time for it again. My kiddos need that public speaking experience so much. This morning I intended to share my newest activity pack about the soft & hard sounds of G. But I had such a wonderful summer afternoon that I decided to share that instead and save the activity pack for later.

One of my very favorite summer activities is going to farmer's market on Wednesday afternoon. It's about a 15 mile drive inland to wine country but it's a beautiful drive, I love the fresh veggies, there's a small independent book store I love, and my favorite deli where I bought myself a sandwich and mango iced tea for lunch. Today I stopped along the way coming home and took some pictures to share with you.

I've been buying peaches at this stand for about 13 years, since way back when my husband worked at that winery.

Fred's peaches are the best! They're a staple of my summer breakfasts!

The beautiful drive is a large part of why these afternoons are so fun. It's was a relaxing drive with the Eagles playing on my stereo. Here are some photos of the tree-lined road through horse farms and some of the vineyard covered hills along the way. I figured it was finally time to stop and take some pictures.

I'm looking forward to eating these too! I actually had an apricot already- YUM!

Just click on the show & tell image above to share your show & tell.

Thanks for sharing my afternoon with me!

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Chevron Binder Covers

Happy Tuesday! At least it is here (and wherever you are too I hope!). It's warm and sunny and we're going to Chile's for dinner. Yummm!

Today's been a fairly lazy day just trimming some plants in the yard and relaxing. The other day I had some fun designing binder covers to help me get organized next year. I love the chevron pattern, as you can tell. And I had some fun with the new set of frames and papers I bought recently. 

Do you use binders to organize? I haven't always, but now find them helpful for some things. I really like a binder for my lesson plans. I keep my whole class plans on my desk and my reading group and ELD plans on the shelf by my back table.

Here's what they look like and you can pick them up here if you want to, or just click on the green cover. They're editable for your own subject needs too.

It's a very short post for today. Just thought I'd share my newest creation. Have a wonderful day!

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