Fun, Free, and a bit Fancy!

There are so many creative people in this world! I am amazed everyday by the works of art that I see all around us. 

I am especially amazed at the wonderful clip art and digital art that are created and offered on Teachers Pay Teachers. These resources definitely help to brighten many classrooms and products for our students. 

Below I am sharing some of the fabulous FREE Clip Art resources from Teachers Pay Teachers. I tried to find ones that I felt might be more easily integrated into Back to School activities, etc. I hope they are helpful! 

If you create your own clip art, please tell all of us what programs you use the most to help you with your creations? Thanks. 

Happy Back to School time everyone! 

Free Crayon Clip Art

Polka Dot Classroom Labels

Borders/Frames: Big Dots

Spotted Apples

Fat Mini Pencils

Puzzle Piece Templates

Back to School Freebies and Ideas

I know that even though many of you still have weeks left of vacation, so many of you are already thinking about and planning for the new school year. 

With that said, I am including a few links below to either free resources or great ideas to help you prepare for the new year! 

Enjoy! 

Back to School Resources for You

How to Get Cheap Classroom Posters

Schedule Cards

Good Listener Poster Set

Getting to Know You Sheets

Classroom Rules Signs

Parent Inventory Sheet for Open House

Teachers vs. Summer

I know that like many of you I hate it when non-educators make it sound like teachers do not deserve to have the summer months off. As we all know, we put in more than a year's worth of work into 10 months' time! Many of us use the summer to plan, create new resources, work a side job, take classes, etc. 

Below are links to tips and ways to use your summer to its fullest!! While it's nice to have the time to begin preparing for the new school year, it's also important to take a break! 

I hope these links are helpful to many of you! Enjoy your Summer!!!

Top 10 To Do's for Teachers During Summer

10 Ways Teachers Can Be Productive During Summer Break

Summer Planning

Make the Most of Your Summer

Lesson Planning Fun

What Teachers Do During the Summer

My New Bulletin Board!

I decided that since the school year is half over, that it was time for a new theme for my bulletin board outside my computer lab. It's a very large board, so the possibilities are endless!

 

My previous board tied in with my lab's Social Media theme. It was a giant Facebook page.

 

Well, my new board is as close to a Pinterest page as I could create. Each board is a different grade level, featuring projects that students have created in the lab. I also have a board titled "I Heart Technology". This is a board that features hearts from teachers. On the hearts they wrote various technology related tidbits: favorite websites, technology goals, memories of technology as a child, etc. This way the students can see that teachers and staff use technology often as well. I will post some pictures of those hearts in a different post.

 

I will also post more details about some of the student projects in a future post. For now, enjoy these pictures. I am super proud of my students and their hard work!

 

 

P.S. On a personal side note, Happy 5th Birthday to my beautiful daughter, Elizabeth!! Daddy and I are so proud of you and love you lots!

Love Live Binders!

I love Live Binders! I think it is very user friendly and easy to organize. That's why I have so many binders now (see tab for the page with all of my Live Binders at the top of this blog). My students use my Computer Lab Bookmarks binder daily in my computer lab. They love it!

 

What I really like about the site, too, is seeing all of the other binders with fantastic resources! Live Binders can be created for any subject, but the majority of the ones on the site are education related. I am including the links to a few of the FANTASTIC binders below! I hope you enjoy them!

 

Also, be on the lookout soon for a blog post about how my first ever Ed Tech PD Presentation went last week! :-)

 

• Free Tech Tools for the Classroom
• Interactive Websites
• Internet Safety Activities
• Common Core for the Holidays
• 30 Webtools to Transform a Classroom
• Angry Birds in the Classroom
• Free Technology Tools for Teachers
• Infusing Technology into the Common Core

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TpT Freebies: Halloween & October

It's hard to believe that this is the last full week of September! Where does the time go?

I personally love this time of the year! I enjoy the sights, smells, and activities that Fall can bring.

In honor of the upcoming month, below are some links to some great freebies from Teachers Pay Teachers.

October Calendar (Candy Corn)

Happy Halloween Coloring Pages

Halloween Handwriting Sheets

I See Pumpkins!

Trick or Treat Writing Paper

October Word Builders

October Writing Activities

Random, but Fantastic, Finds

I was blog stalking a bit over the weekend. Teachers are amazing!! I enjoy reading and seeing all of the fantastic resources that are out there! I just love all of the creativity!

 

With that said, I thought I would share a few Fantastic, but Random, finds. I hope they will help someone out in their own classroom!

 

 

 

In the Year 1899, People Thought the Year 2000 Would Look Like This

(This is pretty amusing)

 

Using Wordle with Your Students

(I LOVE Wordle!!)

 

Back to School Blog Hunt

(Some pretty helpful ideas)

 

Free Place Value Charts

(Always helpful!)

 

TpT's 10 Free Downloads of the Week

(I LOVE getting these in their newsletter weekly!! They always include all grade levels!)

 

Calendar Activities

(LOVE these!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ready for the Year!

After many hours of hard work this week, I am officially ready to welcome students into my computer lab tomorrow! I am teaching K-4 this year, due to a huge student population increase (last year I was K-5). I am excited about this, even though I have to travel next door to our other building, the "middle" school, in order to teach my 4th graders. 

Below, I am posting a few pics of my classroom. I used Angry Birds and Social Media as my major theme this year. I hope you enjoy! 

Best of luck to everyone as you begin your new school year!

My Angry Birds "Volume Reminder Sign"  and more

Facebook Page bulletin board

Facebook Page bulletin board

New Computer Numbers

Word Wall

Sign to help the kiddos

Mini "Words with Friends" display

This year's schedule

Safe seat with some awesome signs that I found online

Rules

Twitter "Feed" a.k.a. My Objectives

Back to School: Part 4

Well, my brain is surely in back to school mode now. I can't deny it: I go back to work on Monday. ((sigh))

However, I just keep finding so many AMAZING ideas for the classroom, that I just had to do another post and share my findings. 

Today, I am focusing mostly on the classroom setup and organization. 

I hope these ideas and tips are useful or can be passed on to others who are looking for "somewhere to get started" for the new year. 

Enjoy!

31 Books to Read About School

Great Ideas from Kindergarten Kindergarten

Classroom Photos

Let's Give Them Something to Talk About

Around the Class

How to Decorate without Upsetting the Fire Marshall

Introducing...Me!

Classroom Scavenger Hunt

Great Bookmarking Tools

We all know that Pinterest is an AMAZING resource for educators. I know it definitely "sucks me in"! 

However, there are so many more bookmarking tools out that are also very helpful for Educators! 

My favorite one to use is Live Binders. I have created at least 4 of these binders so far (see my page on this blog). Their site is very user friendly and easy to organize. My students also find it easy to use. Not to mention, you also have the ability to find so many other amazing binders on their site as well. 

Previously, I used iKeepBookmarks. While this site is also fairly easy to use and organize, I stopped using it because it seemed as if the site either crashed too often or would "freeze up" as I was editing. However, for the most part, it is still a very good bookmarking tool. 

Below I am including a few more handing Bookmarking tools. If you have any others that you have used and also prefer, please let me know! Enjoy! 

Skloog

Linkable

Evernote

Scoop It

Back to School: Part 1

Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but vacations always go by way too fast! I only have 2 full weeks left of Summer after this week, before I have to report back to work on August 6th. 

With that said, that means my mind is slowly working its way back into school  mode. So, below are many links with ideas of all kinds for back to school. Enjoy! 

• Creative Back to School Ideas
• Catch the Wave Welcome Board
• Sailing Back to School
• Back to School Bulletin Boards
• Back to School Printables
• Back to School Preparations

Summer, please SLOW DOWN!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I cannot believe it is Mid-July already! I only have 3 full weeks of Summer Vacation left after this week. :-(

With that said, I am definitely thinking ahead to the next school year, even though I don't really want to be thinking about vacation ending. 

I teach elementary computers and I have been looking up neat ideas to help organize and "spruce up" the computer lab for next year. 

Below are some links to many ideas that I have found so far, but I am also open for input as well! 

Feel free to share ideas/tips below or via my Facebook or Twitter pages. 

2012-2013 will be my 8th year of teaching at the elementary level, but only my 2nd in the computer lab. I am looking forward to another great year!

• Control Tree and Word Wall
• Computer Lab Posters
• Computer Lab Reminders
• Technology in High Heels
• Wall Keyboard
• Shortcuts
• Computer Lab Photos
• Rules

Time for a FUN Giveaway!

In honor of over 100 posts on here, over 50 followers, and over 6,000 views, I am giving away my new Angry Birds packet to 3 people for FREE!!!

Since we can no longer post anything Angry Birds to TpT, this will be the only place that you can get my packet. Even though it says it's for the Computer Lab, it is EASILY adaptable for a classroom as well. 

Here are the table of contents: 

Angry Birds Computer Numbers___________Pages 3-7

Angry Birds Alphabet Letters___________ Pages 8-14

Angry Birds Classroom Signs ___________Pages 15-16

Angry Birds Notes ___________Pages 17-18

Here is a snapshot of what the packet looks like: 

Enter the drawing below. It runs through this weekend! 

Thanks for all of the support!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

More TpT Freebies-Cooperative Learning

Again, Freebies are just awesome! TpT has so many of them, it's almost impossible to browse them all! 

Today, I started looking at some of more recent Freebies listed under the category "Cooperative Learning". 

Some of the items listed below would be perfect for Back to School! 

Minute Olympics: Range, Median, & Mode

Beginning of Year Activities

Whole Brain Attention Getters and Grabbers

Race Around the Clock

Wacky Science Inflate a Balloon

Ocean Themed Group Table Signs

The Meaning of the Original Olympic Motto

Find Someone Who...Icebreaker

Camp/Outdoor Theme

Cooking With Chef Ad J. Tive

Writing Pretty

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am a sucker for writing utensils!! I love to get a new pen or marker set that I can use at home or in the classroom! Of course, if you add some pretty paper to write on, that makes it even better!! 

Below are some of my favorite products or some neat DIY ideas! I hope you like them! 

I am a Sharpie Junkie!!

DIY Color Blocked Notebooks

Cute DIY Stationary

I love my cute little Jet Pen!

Crayola is the BEST!

Random Aids and Fun for the Classroom

Today I have happened upon a few posts about different organization ideas or fun tips to help in the classroom.

Most of these ideas are FREE! We all enjoy free resources right? Anyway, I hope these are useful. Enjoy!

Types of Games to Use in Classrooms

Computer Lab Bingo

Free GameBoards for Task Cards or Flashcards

20 End of the Year Reflection Questions

Labeling

Lesson Plan Template Freebie

Classroom "Helpers"

Classroom Organization Tips and Ideas

Even though many of these will not personally help me in my own classroom, I sure hope they help others. I teach Elementary Computers, but did teach in the classroom for many years in the past. I only wish I had know about these awesome ideas then! 

Putting Together the Classroom Library

Guided Reading Organization

Writing Centers Organization

Dry Erase Storage

Live Binders

I love this bookmarking site!! I feel it is easy to use and is well organized. Plus, you can search for other people's binders and get some really fantastic resources! Below I am sharing the links to my Live Binders as well as a few other binders that are fitting for the season. Enjoy!

Computer Lab Bookmarks

Mrs. P's Awesome Ed Links

Keyboarding Practice

Common Core for the Holidays

Groundhog Day

Black History Month

Football/Super Bowl



Math Mania!

It's time for some great Math resources! Some are holiday related, so I hope that they are useful in the coming weeks.

By the way, The Groundhog saw his Shadow today, so 6 more weeks of Winter. I certainly don't believe it based on the mild Winter we've been having here in Missouri, but who knows.

Anyway, enjoy the Math freebies! Happy Groundhog Day, too!

Abraham Lincoln's Least Common Multiple

Winter Kids' Math Pack

Math Hunt: U.S. Presidents

Super Star Math Recording System

Be Organized!

Yeah, so I am definitely one that is guilty of having that "Organized Mess" on my desk. However, it's really only as the day progresses. I always organize it and clean it up before leaving for the day, so that I can start fresh the next day.

We all know how messy the students' desks can be, too!! When I taught in the classroom, it would just astound me how quickly some desks would get cluttered inside. Now that I teach K-5 computers, this is not an issue for me, luckily.

However, I am including some great organization ideas below. One of the ideas is shown to be something you can do to help organize at home, but I can totally see it also being applicable to the classroom.

You're Under Arrest!

Tips for a Clear Desktop

DIY Organizer

Room Pictures