Back to School and Prizes Galore

In New York, we go back to school in September but I am thinking about my classroom all summer long (in between teaching summer school!) I love to find new and exciting products for my second graders.

Disclaimer: This review is based strictly on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience. I was provided the sample free of charge or paid a small fee by the company or PR agency and I provided my honest opinion.

 

I was excited to find this "Welcome" sign that I will hang outside my classroom after summer school ends :) It goes great with my black accents around my classroom. Definitely large and pops!  I think it'll look nice to invite my students in on the first day of school.

Who doesn't love pom poms? I have adorable white and gray ones already, so I thought hey - why not try black?  These are so reasonably priced, but I was a little careless with assembly.  A few of the corners ripped since there's so many sections to make it look full.  The finished product came out cute (not like the photo), but I should have had more patience with unfolding them ;)  Would I purchase again? For the price yes, but I may have someone more crafty put them together! 

I will buy these pencils year after year for my second graders.  They hold up nicely and I always want to make their birthdays special.  Also, second grade pencils (or Kindergarten, 1st, or 3rd grade pencils!) are perfect for the first day of school and to get them excited for the year. 

Do you do Star Student in your class? I do for one full rotation of the class.  I have a special day of the week where they will share items, read books, and receive a book at the end of the week that has compliments and notes from his/her classmates.  These stickers are so cute and at a wonderful price! 

Click HERE to download the star student cut outs that I hand out to each star student to fill out at home and share on our poster.

Roly Poly stuffed pets and Roly Poly stuffed Easter-themed animals will be so cute for my kiddos for end of the year gifts (shhh - don't ruin the surprise!) I know it says "Easter themed" but who doesn't love chicks, bunnies, and lambs always?  In second grade, we hatch chicks too so I thought it was appropriate! 

Slap bracelets are definitely making a come back since my childhood... but DIY ones? My creative kids will LOVE designing these! For 13$ you get 48 in a pack so I will be able to use these with next years class too! 

Penguin bendables! Ok yes, I know it's July - but I couldn't pass these up and I'll have something to give them around the holidays.  They are really cute for the price and I would purchase again, but a couple had some paint chipping off - not too bad though and I know my sweeties won't care! 

Thanks for reading!

Also - there are still 3 more days left in the Back to School giveaway!!! Don't forget to enter! :) $250 you could get sooooo many wonderful things!  Best of luck!

$250 Oriental Trading Gift Card Giveaway

Back to School Oriental Trading Giveaway

Are you ready for an Oriental Trading GIVEAWAY? To win 250$ to spend on amazing products for your classroom?!

Perfect time to start thinking about Back to School goodies - and Oriental Trading has it all.  If you have read my blog posts before, you know that I am a big fan of their supplies from bins for organization to cute pencil toppers and prizes for my students.

Here are some of the fun products I have gotten in the past from Oriental Trading:

Giveaway begins July 16 and runs through July 30 - Good luck and happy shopping! 

$250 Oriental Trading Gift Card Giveaway

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.

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.