Five for Friday! Sweet Summertime!

Hello All! I am very excited to be linking up with Doodle Bugs for this first Five for Friday summer post! I am going to miss all of my kiddos from this year; they were a fantastic group! With that being said, I am so pumped that it is officially summertime! Woo hoo!

Here are a few things that have been happening in my life this week! Some are classroom-related, and some are more personal! Enjoy!

Sweet, sweet summertime! I can not believe I am already finishing up my first week of summer! My husband is currently deployed, so as soon as school got out, the kiddos and I drove 9 hours to IOWA! It has been an exciting, fun filled trip so far! Here are a couple of pictures from this week!

Baby Elle puckering up for a kiss!

I have decided that I wanted to redecorate my classroom for the next school year. I am just ready for a change; I have had the same classroom décor for about two years now. After lots of thought and changing my mind a million times, I think that I have decided on what colors I would like to incorporate. I am in love with the combination of the colors below and chalkboard accents. What do you think?



Over the summer, I will be creating different classroom decorations to go with this color scheme. Be sure to pop over to my TPT store, Lovely Little Classroom, to check out the new decorations!

 

I have a newly acquired love for kayaking. If you have never been, you should go. I went for the first time this weekend with my sister. It was a very neat experience. Peaceful and thrilling at the same time (if that is at all possible??)

Beautiful, right?

My sister and I!

I have been teaching 5th grade for the past three years and I absolutely love it! As of right now, there is a chance that I may be moved to 4th grade next year because of numbers. I would really like to stay where I am (I love my team!), but I am thinking positive. Whether I teach 4th or 5th grade, I will love my students, teach to the best of my ability and feel blessed to have a job.

I am constantly trying to better myself as a teacher. One area I am going to focus on this upcoming year is missing student work. I would like to have a consistent, organized plan. I have been scouring the web and think I have found something that would work with my teaching style. This idea comes from the fantastic blog of Curls and Smiles. She has some great organizational ideas that make me say, "Why didn't I think of that?" Check it out! What do you do to keep up with missing student work? Feel free to share any ideas!

Have an awesome weekend!

Technology Thursday: A New Linky!

I am very excited to announce something I have wanted to do for a while now...

Technology Thursday will be a weekly linky dedicated to all things technology related. Share reviews of websites or apps you've tried, tech tips that make your {teaching or personal} life easier, and helpful tutorials. Our hope is that this linky provides a place for teachers to share and learn new ways to use technology and engage students!

Be a rule follower!

Rule #1: You must include the image above and a link to our linky somewhere in your blog post.
Rule #2: Follow the Rule of Three...visit the two blogs who link up before you and the one immediately after you and leave some love on their pages!
Rule #3: This linky is not intended for product promotion. You may include products you've created in your posts, but they should not be the sole focus of the post. {Exception...freebies...because everybody loves a good freebie!}

Without further ado, here's this week's Tech Tip:

How many times have you wanted to sign your students up for a new website, but the site asks for a unique email address for each student? This has happened to me several times, which is why I was SO excited when I learned about this little trick...

Gmail + anything!

Your regular old Gmail account has an endless number of email addresses! Here's how you do it...

1. Create a gmail account for your class {something easy for the kids to remember like msjones@gmail.com}.

2. When you need to sign your kids up for something new, use the email you created + anything... You could do their names, student numbers, or anything else you want. Here are 2 examples: msjones+1@gmail.com or msjones+jessica@gmail.com.

3. Here's the great part... Any "you must click the confirmation link in your email to sign up" messages get sent to msjones@gmail.com because Gmail ignores everything after the plus sign!

4. Added bonus, you can use the "+whatever" to create a filter so that any spammy junk messages sent to those accounts goes straight to your spam folder or trash! {I can see a use for this with my personal address, too}

Hope you're able to use this tip to get your students onto those pesky sites that require emails for sign-up!

Don't forget to link up anything tech-related!

An InLinkz Link-up

Two for Tuesday: Half price goodies!

I'm popping in to link up with The Teaching Tribune's fun summer linky to share two of my most popular TPT resources that will be 50% off for today only!

 My single most popular product has always been my Teacher Toolbox labels. While I have them in over a dozen styles, today I am featuring the #1 seller, Turquoise Dots, at half price. That means you can grab a copy for just $1! These just got a little facelift, and are now easier than ever to use. Instructions are included on how to make your toolbox.

Another popular seller is my Word Work for Big Kids pack. I set out to create activities to use for Word Work during Daily 5 in my class. Since I teach 5th grade, we don't focus as much on spelling & creating basic words as we do on vocabulary. These 12 activities can be used to reinforce and practice any set of vocabulary words. On sale today for just $2!

Pop over to The Teaching Tribune to grab some more great deals, today only!

Monday Made It: Classroom Decoration

I am linking up today with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It.

Want a cool project to add some spice to your classroom door?  I made these for my 3^rd grade teammates.  Shhh!  Don’t tell them- it’s a surprise.

   

Materials:

Spray paint

School glue

1 sponge paintbrush

1 small craft paintbrush

2 containers- I used Styrofoam bowls.

Newspaper or placemats- (It will be messy!)

Mod Podge- (I used gloss.)

Large wooden letter

Scrapbook paper- (I used 4 variations for each letter.)

I bought all the supplies at a local craft store.  The store had the letters in a variety of sizes and a few styles and also had an abundance of scrapbook paper.  I already had many of the materials on hand.  

I promise it’s easy!

Steps:

Spray paint the back side of the wooden letter in a well-ventilated area and allow the letter to dry.  I used black paint since I had some at home, and I sprayed the letters outside.

Lay out your newspaper on your work area.

Mix the school glue with some water in a container.  I didn't do any measuring; I just added water until the glue was easier to paint on the paper.

Tear the scrapbook paper into small pieces.  The size of the pieces really depend on the look that you want for you letter.

Paint the back of each piece of scrapbook paper with the glue mixture.  This is a really important step.  If you don’t glue the pieces of paper down well, the paper will bubble up when you apply the Mod Podge. (This happened to me the first time I tried it!)

Start placing the scrapbook pieces onto your wooden letter. Use the straight edges of the paper on the straight edges of your letter.  It’s like putting a puzzle together!  The pattern is totally up to you.

Continue to glue the pieces of paper until your letter is covered.  Allow the glue to set and dry.

Pour your Mod Podge into another container.  Use the sponge paintbrush to apply a coat of Mod Podge over the scrapbook paper on your letter.  Cover the whole letter.  I usually cover the sides of the letter as well.

I apply 3 coats of Mod Podge, allowing them time to dry in between.

That’s it!  You now have cool decoration for your classroom door!  

Of course this technique can be used on unlimited items in unlimited ways.  Just follow your imagination!

Currently...June!!!

Normally, Farley's Currently sneaks up on me, but not June...I've been looking forward to June for a while!

Listening... Is there any sweeter sound than little ones singing? I could listen to that all day!

Loving... There is now only one in-service day...report cards to finish and cleaning to do...between me and sweet freedom! (for 2 months, anyway!)

Thinking... You know how we don't have favorites, right? Well, this year's class has definitely been my favorite! I'm really going to miss them, especially since I teach 5th and they are headed to middle school now.

Wanting... I'd love a pool, but I would hate the maintenance! Maybe it's the end-of-the-year-teacher-tired talking, but I would love to just lay on a float for a while :) Maybe when we win the lottery...

Needing... After 6 weeks off, I'm back in grad school starting today. I should really get started on it, but I can't motivate myself just yet.

Summer bucket list... 1 - Always wanting to visit family back home. Looks like we'll be able to head down for the Fourth this year! 2 - First trip to Vegas... Seeing a good friend for the first time in 5 years (6?)... TPT Conference...YES to all of the above! It's gonna be a great week! If you're going too, I'd love to meet up. Leave a comment or shoot me an email!

Head over to Oh Boy Fourth Grade to link up and see what everyone else is up to this month!