Happy Holidays with Oriental Trading

Happy Holidays!  I was very excited to receive my big cardboard box full of exciting items for my students to enjoy from Oriental Trading.  I teach Second Grade and I have to tell you that they absorb everything and they are excited about many things - especially the holidays.

[[Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.]]

When I search Oriental Trading, I love how I can just go to the categories I need - Holidays/Christmas and who doesn't love sales? They have a great sale section as well.

The "main event" of my student gifts are these adorable penguins.  I love the plush toys from Oriental Trading because they are so cute and the kiddos cherish them at this age.  These plush toys are currently sold out, but I also would recommend these holiday bears and reindeers.  Too cute and they are on major SALE!

The slap bracelets are back! I LOVED these as a child.  They are fun to slap on your wrist, but also a fashionable bracelet.

I loved the variety of these but I am hoping that they come out with more of an assortment for boys.  There are other slap bracelet assortments that have different themes, but this particular pack will appeal mostly to the girls of my class.  It was a nice to have some bracelets with designs and some plain, sparkle ones.

The item I was impressed with the most are these 4 1/2 inch snowflake notepads.  For only $5.99, you will receive 24 of these.  Very good quality and they were larger than I expected for the price.  I have lots of artists and notetakers in second grade so they will love these!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy Hanukkah!  I can't wait to celebrate with my students all about the holidays around the world.

Enjoy my freebie from Teachers Pay Teachers full of writing prompts that you can use before and after the holiday season.

Fall Painting Crafts

I was so excited to stumble upon this post from Sugar Bee Crafts.  I was looking for a fun, fall craft to do that would use some colorful paint and the mason jars I had bought.  What better than to create a cute little mason jar luminary?

Adorable graphic from Sugar Bee Crafts

I will say, mine did not come out as cute as Sugar Bee Crafts.  I did not have time to find the perfect leaf decals so I said hmm... what could I use that would be convenient and not break the bank?  I headed over to Michael's Craft Store and got some leaf stickers - perfect!  I used the leftover stickers for my second grader's work (a win, win!)

 The supplies I needed:

1. acrylic paint

2. mason jars

3. paint brushes

4. water / plate to put paint on

5. leaf stickers (or decals) 

After they are dry and finished you will need:

6. small stones/rocks for inside the mason jar

7. tealight candle :)

  Recommendations:

1. Put on lots of paint coats, especially with lighter colors.

2. Let fully dry in between and try to be as smooth as possible with your brush strokes.  

3. After it is dry, pull off the stickers as gently as possible (The photo below shows them still drying)

4. Applying an acrylic sealer will help for the paint to stay and last a long time!

I also painted pumpkins with my sweet friend and her sweet mom.  It's so great living in the same house as one of your best friends - you get to do lots of crafts and fun things together!

We used acrylic paint on these ceramic pumpkins.  They were only $3 each at the Target Dollar Spot (gotta love it!) Below are the two pumpkins that I did.  One of them was for her new baby boy, Parker :) 

The bottom two pumpkins are her moms and Rachel's.  Can you tell Rachel is quite the artist?! xo

What fun crafts have you been doing this fall? 

Happy October :)

Happy Halloween 2017

It's October.  The leaves are falling, the temperature is (kind of) changing here in New York.  Many are excited for apple cider doughnuts, hayrides and apple picking.  This is actually the first year I am really happy for Fall.  Usually back-to-school consumes my life (which it still is) but I am finding time to enjoy some of the little things as well. :)

I love Oriental Trading.  For special occasions, treats, and crafts.  Keep reading to find out about the goodies I got from Oriental Trading to celebrate Halloween with the sweetest second graders around.

[[Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.]]

I love the Halloween sticker sets from Oriental Trading. There is a variety of stickers and they are too cute.  Check out these pumpkins!  For only $2.99 each, I made a teacher's day (well, 4 of them!) with this cute roll of stickers.  This will also bring lots of happiness to their excited second grade friends.

I used this cute freebie tag on TPT from Denise Hill.  Too cute!

Don't want to go through the process of cutting individual pumpkins?  These are on cute foam. However, I did think they would come with pieces... but there's always ideas on Oriental Trading and on Pinterest!

So my favorite item that I got from this order was this super fun keychain assortment.  My kiddos are going to LOVE these! 

Also, these mini jack o' lantern duckies are the cutest.  I wish I could keep one for myself!  My students are 6 and 7 years old and trinkets and cute little animals are their favorite things.  

Bubbles! Oriental Trading has a bunch of cute Peanut products so I thought that these bubbles would be perfect for the goodie bags.  

And Halloween pencils... of course! These are $4.49 on Oriental Trading - not too bad for the price.  I know you can get these at the Dollar Store, but sometimes the quality is not as great.  I'll let you know how these work out!

Here are my finished treat bags.  The bags were from the dollar store and I created these special cards using KB Konnected's candy corn frame.  Glitter, too cute!

Thank you Oriental Trading for making my students' Halloween that much better.

HAPPY OCTOBER AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Back to School 2017

I am so excited to show you my second grade classroom.  I am moving from the upstairs in fourth grade to a downstairs classroom in second grade.  I am very excited - what a perfect age!

I love incorporating the Daily 5 in my literacy block.  Here is my Daily 5 and CAFE posters that you can find on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Click HERE to check out the cutest CAFE headers and strategy cards.

Oriental Trading has a new addition to their website - Learning365 for all of your teaching supplies and other great educational resources. 

[[Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.]]

The photo below is my calendar area.  I love me some Georgia Grown Kiddos xo her calendar set are the best out there on TPT! Equally just as awesome, Good Enough Teacher has the best calendar pieces that fit perfectly in my calendar pocket chart.

To the right of my calendar area is my "I Can" learning objectives chart.  I LOVE this... there is actually more sections but I pinned it off to only have 3 sections.  It twists to hang perfectly straight and I can't wait to use my I can statements here.  You can use dry erase or cards!

[If you are looking for 3rd grade I can statements, check mine out HERE]

Looking for a little gift for your students? Mine are going to love these second grade pencils!  I love whenever it's personalized by grade level.

These magnetic dry erase owls are on SALE (under $5 for a dozen!) and they can work for table numbers, groups, reminders, or just cute BTS decor.  I have these located right now in my math area and I hope to find new ideas throughout the year to use them.  I already got a few compliments ;)

I also love these posters from Sneaking into Second.  So cute!

Magnetic alphabet squares are a must for me working in a primary classroom.  It's such a fun way to add practice to spelling and word work.  Incorporating the Daily 5 into my classroom I always try to find new ways for learning.

Something else that is perfect for my literacy groups are these highlighting reading strips.  For the primary grades sometimes it's tricky for kiddos to keep track of where they are with reading, especially when the print gets smaller and smaller with the more difficult books.  My sweeties will love using these during reading :) 

A fun, exciting part of second grade is learning about life cycles.  At my school, we will hatch chicks and monarch butterflies.  This 4 poster life cycle set is only $6.49.  You cannot find a better price for these quality posters!  This is one of the best deals for high quality posters I have seen out there. A MUST HAVE for a second grade teacher!

The last photo I'll end my blog post with is my cookie bulletin board.  While I was browsing through

Pinterest and TPT, I decided to create my own with cute clipart and personalize them with my kids names.  I used counting cookies from Classroom Chitchat.

I hope you all have the best school year.  Thinking of you all - for the ones that already have your routine down and for those of you just starting out and getting your classroom as ready as you can before back to school... Never forget - you are wonderful and we all make mistakes and learn from them.

Have a fantastic year! xo

Second grade starts my new journey.

Dogs improve our health

Most of my blog posts are about teaching in my classroom, but I never want to forget.. that my sheltie-pom Lily teaches me every day too.

Yesterday was National Dog Day :) 8/26/17

To celebrate National Dog Day, I am sharing how dogs improve our health highlighted by PuppySpot.  Do you have a pet? I am so fortunate to have a sweet, intelligent, energetic, clingy pup.  She is a sheltie-pomeranian mixed breed and she is 4 years old.  

Happiness.

I am a teacher and sometimes I work too many hours and get easily stressed.  Coming home to Lily helps me relax and feel content knowing that there's a little pup waiting for me.

Stress.

My sweet pup helps me relieve stress because she is energetic and needs lots of exercise (just like I need!)  She is so good with running along side of me (or walking.. mostly walking!) She keeps me healthy.

Loved.

Most of all... Lily follows me everywhere and is a true loyal companion.  She does not even need to be leashed and I know she will stay with me at all times.  

If you have the time and commitment and love for a dog, it's the best "investment" I have ever made.  I have had at least one dog my whole life, but Lily is my first dog in my own place.  I love her :) If you are looking for a companion, check out the puppies that Puppy Spot has to offer.