August Pick 3 Pinterest Party

I am linking up with the Inspired Ow'ls Corner and Pawsitively Teaching with my top three Pinterest picks for back to school.

 Have you seen this sweet sweet note to have students open before the first night of school? I love this sweet note and already have mine printed and ready for my soon-to-be kinders. You have to check this pin out. I can't wait to give this to the parents on meet the teacher night for them to give to their kiddo.

I totally forgot I liked this pin a while back and I would love to use this Daily Focus board in my classroom. I think I am going to use this in my classroom this year but make it interactive on my SmartBoard to focus on during carpet time.

 I always read The Mixed Up Chameleon and A Color of His Own the first week of school. This art would be so much fun and cute to do with the class.

I would love to hear about your back to school ideas and pins because I am always looking for fresh ideas. Please share a favorite pin in the comments or link up. :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Wall prints for your home or class

I know there are a lot of fabulous wall prints out there on Pinterest that are free but I just wanted to share some of the ones that I brought to life. We have this small area upstairs outside of our bedrooms that was pretty much just a blank space. I decided to use it for Raley's play area and to stash some of her toys so her bedroom wouldn't get over crowded. I found some prints on Pinterest to add to the wall in this small area. These prints could easily be used in a classroom too. You can find the prints for free here.

 Instead of printing the prints on plain white copy paper I printed them on scrapbook paper that I got from Michaels.

 I also wanted to share my new terms of use page that I created thanks to the #tptseller challenge and the Facebook group TPT Tips & Tidbits. This was a much needed page. Now I have to go update every resource on TPT and add it.

I know. I know. I have a bunch of randomness going on in this blog post, but I have to give a shout out to my baby girl. She turned 10 months today. <3 She is growing up so fast. (insert a Momma crying her eyes out emoji.)

Ice Cube Watercolor Paints

Remember these? I blogged about these ice cube watercolor paints in my July Pick 3 Pinterest blog post a few days ago. I found them on Pinterest and wanted to try them out with my little. It was finally warm enough out today to try them.

First you have to make them so here is how you do that...

You'll need an ice cube tray, craft paint, water & popsicle sticks.

1) Put 2 pea size amounts of paint in each section of the ice cube tray or however many you want to make.

2) Pour water in each section of the ice cube tray to fill it up.

3) Stir each section with a popsicle stick to mix the paint with the water.

4) Put the ice cube tray in the freezer.

5) Let the water harden in the freezer for 30-45 min. Put a popsicle stick in each section of the ice cube tray so that once the cubes get harder you will have a handle to paint with.

6) Put the tray back in the freezer so it can harden completely.

7) Remove the ice cubes that you want to paint with from the ice cube tray. Use the popsicle stick to hold the ice cube and paint the paper as the ice cube melts.

 

See, they are so easy that even a baby can use them.

Here are Raley's first paintings. :)

What I learned... I only put in about a pea size of paint in each section and I wish I would've put more so that's why I recommend at least 2 pea size amounts. Waiting 30-45 minutes for the ice cubes to semi harden just the right amount so that I can put a popsicle in it is harder than it looks, especially when it happen to be around the same time as my baby girl went down for a nap. You know why? Because that is when this Momma goes down for a nap. Yes, when people told me while I was pregnant to make sure I sleep when baby sleeps I took that to heart and 9 months later I still do it. LOL. However, I did manage to get a popsicle stick in the yellow ice cube. :) The other ice cubes were not hard enough yet when the yellow cube was ready. When I went back (after a nap so I waited too long) to put popsicle sticks in the other cubes they were too hard. The cubes still worked even without a popsicle stick as the handle though.

 

Want an easy DIY craft to do with your kiddos or for you to use when you get back to the classroom? If so, then you should try making your own ice cube watercolor paints.

July Pick 3 Pinterest Party

Other than holidays I find that I turn to Pinterest for ideas & inspiration the most during the summer. The first things that pop into my head when I think of summer is bbq, parties & fun. I am sharing my top 3 Pinterests pins for July with y'all.

Who doesn't love food from the grill during the summer? These Balsamic Glazed Steak Rolls are super yummy. I made these a few weeks ago from this recipe and we really enjoyed them. 

I love any reason to decorate or have mini parties for play dates or get together with other moms. This year I happened to be on maternity leave with three other lovely ladies who teach at my school. We all had our babies within a few months of each other. Since we get a year maternity leave here we made sure that we got together once every other week to chat and let our babes play. Any time there was a holiday or some excuse to decorate I would host our get together. Celebrating summer seems as good as any reason to decorate and have fun don't ya think? These snow cone garlands are so stinking cute! I am going to have to make some of these.

Summer is all about fun! Of course traveling and going on vacations are fun, but for those times when you are not traveling, at home with your kids and looking for something to do in the heat here is a craft that may be for you. This ice cube watercolor paint is a craft that I am trying tomorrow with my little one. The ice cubes are in the freezer getting ready. :)

Do you have any favorite Pinterest pins that you would like to share? I would love to see what you pinned.

Thanks to the Inspired Owl's Corner and Pawsitively Teaching for hosting this linky.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It to Win It... Appl-i-cious Unit

That's right, it's another Pin It to Win It! This time you could win yourself the Appl-i-cious Unit which is over 200 pages of Math, Language Arts, Science, and Writing activities.

You can head over to ePals to check out the details of this unit.

 

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Pin It to Win It & a Freebie

Who is up for a freebie? I am seeing some of you with a Facebook status stating you are working in your rooms to get ready for back to school. If I were still in Mississippi I would be right there with you. I won't be able to get into my room to get it ready until I get back from my trip to Laredo, Texas the 22nd of August. School doesn't start until September 4th but I am so used to already having my room all set up that it's pretty much killing me. It's mostly what I think about before I snooze each night.

Well how about another Pin It to Win It!!! This Pin It to Win It doesn't quit last as long. This is so I can fit more giveaways in here before school starts.
This week you can get the Pre Primer Sight Word Readers. It contains 40 readers, an I Can Checklist & a checklist for each sentence on each reader. This is one of the most popular sellers in my TPT Store.

 

 

Also, I'm pretty pumped about going to my first concert since I've been here. Me & a girlfriend have floor seats on row 14.

Can you guess who I'm going to see? If you are the first to guess his (hint, hint) name I'll send you these Pre Primer Sight Word Readers to you. Don't forget to leave your email.

 

If you liked my Welcome Banner from my Class Décor Pack than you can grab it HERE as a freebie!

 

 

 

 

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Pin It to Win It Back to School & freebie

Isn't it funny how most people assume teachers don't do anything school related during the summer break. If you're like me then you're thinking of new classroom décor, organizing something in your classroom and your back to school to - do -list. It's never ending but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I swear most of my ideas or thoughts for school go through my head while laying in bed trying to sleep.

While school for us here won't start back until the first week of September I know most of you will be heading back in the beginning of August. Oh my! Is it really only one month away for some of you?! Summer just does not last long enough.

If you're getting things set for back to school or at least thinking about it than you can win yourself this Back to School Unit of over 300 pages.

Just pin it to win it!

 

 

Check back Sunday to see if you won the Back to School Unit & check back every Sunday to see what product you could win for the Pin It to Win It to get you set for back to school.

 

Grab this freebie as well.

 

 

 

 

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Ten Pin Linky Party

I'm linkin' up with Ashley at Just Reed for a Ten Pin Linky Party to share our 10 favorite pins. This week it's share your favorite pins for Classroom Décor.

 

 

Here are some of my fav pins!

Love this area! You can check out all the pics from Just Another Day in Mrs. Tabb's Class.

 

Isn't this "Where are we?" super cute? I plan to create this for next school year. This idea comes from Miss Kindergarten.

 

I am in L-O-V-E with this rug from Tunstall's. I want wan want this.

 

Couldn't find a link for this but I like this keep-me-organize board.

Not an educational blog but I like these prints that framed that I found from Chez Larsson. I would like to write on the frames with a dry-erase marker for when students say and have those "Ah-ha" moments.

 

 

These cute labels for organization bins are just what I need. Can see more at The Creative Chalkboard.

 

What a great idea! Found this idea on Pinterest via 3rd Grade Thoughts.

 

Love this listening center set up from First Grade Fresh.

 

 

The photo above and below are from the same site via Pinterest. I love the the class décor and reading nook!

 

If you would like to check out the many fabulous pins I have you can check out my Pinterest Boards here.