Clip Art and ABC Farewell

It's has been awhile since I last posted.  I've actually been sick and totally exhausted.  I've also given up sugar and sweets, so my lack of soda may have something to do with that exhaustion.  There's only one week left of school, and saying goodbye to my second graders will be so sad.  With goodbyes on my mind, I decided to create End of Year ABC's.  We start the year, with our ABC's of second grade, so I thought we'd end in a similiar fashion.  It's a FREEBIE, just click below.

I also posted on TPT my Color Cuties Clipart.  If you haven't grabbed the black and white set.  You can get them for free here.  Here is a peek at the color set:

I'm off to bed, but I would like to give the color version to the first 3 people that leave a comment.  I will send it your way tomorrow, please don't forget to leave your e-mail.  Thanks :)
 

Writing Portfolios

The year is winding down and it's about that time to start putting our portfolios together.  I actually have two portfolios.  One is filled with their work from all subject areas, and the other is put together into a booklet to create our Writing Portfolio.  Here are pics from the past couple years.  I definitely love using the large, 2 gallon ziploc bags. They fit everything perfectly and their work stays neat and tidy on the way home.

Here is last year's writing portfolio:

I absolutely love teaching little ones to write.  It is honestly my favorite subject to teach.  I LOVE to hear them squeal with delight when I say that we will start a new writing piece today.  I love the  anticipation they have as I start to share my own personal story at the start of each mini-lesson.  I can see their little minds turning as I'm passing out their writing paper.  I definitely think a love for writing is infectious!  You can get the portfolio covers for free by clicking HERE.

I keep all their writing during the year, so it can be compiled into their portfolio.  I include all of their pieces from my Writing Piece of the Month resource. I also include their Poetry Journals, as well as their writing pieces that go along with our Reading Street stories.

When we read, A Birthday Basket for Tia, they wrote about a special birthday. Click the image below to get the FREEBIE.

 I have most of my writing templates on my school computer, I will have to post some of the other writing papers in my next post.  I will also be back to post pics of their portfolios.  I always say I'm going to be more organized with their portfolio work and it just NEVER happens.  I have piles everywhere!!!  If you have any good ideas for storing portfolio work, please share.  I need a much better system.
 

Mother's Day

Just a quick post to share our cutie Mother's Day project.  I absolutely LOVE colorful beads, so I knew I wanted to create something that incorporated beading.  This is what I came up with...

I thought they would look super cute hanging on the fridge.  They could use the clothespin to clip anything they'd like.

To make it, I simply had my students add beads to a pipe cleaner.  Then, we put washi tape on a large popsicle stick and clothespin.  I only had them put washi tape on the front of the popsicle stick, but they could do both sides if they wanted.  I used a glue gun to attach the ends of the pipe cleaner to the back of the popsicle stick.  The picture below shows the back of the project.  Super easy and adorable.

You can get this freebie by clicking below.
Both the American and UK spellings of mom are included.

 

 

I ♥ Monsters

I've had monsters on my mind the last week, so I wanted to share a few of my creations.  My classroom theme is monsters, so I thought it would be fun to create some cutie monster clip art.  You can check them out on TPT. I am currently working on the color versions, so stay tuned.

I also created writing paper to go along with the fun monster read aloud, I Need My Monster.

I also REALLY wanted to read, A Monster Under Alex's Bed by Angelika Glitz. I checked it out on Amazon, and this is what I came up with:

 

I spend a lot on books, but $394 for 1 book is just not happening.  I considered it for a whole 5 seconds and realized that would be a bit crazy!!!

You can click below for the writing paper freebie. I plan to use the monster adjective page first to brainstorm great adjectives to describe their monster.  This will give them ideas for their writing piece.

 

 As always, the first 3 people to leave a comment will get the Monster Cutie clip art for free.  Just a way to say thank you for following my blog :)   Also, please don't forget to leave your e-mail.
 

A little of this and that...

What a busy week!!!  We started the week with Earth Day and that was a lot of fun.  We created an Earth Day anchor chart together to get those schemas activated.

We also worked a little with poetry.  They searched for the  rhyming words and then drew their mental images.  I'm sorry I didn't share the poem page.  I found the poem on-line and I'm not sure who originally wrote it. I just typed it up and put on a REALLY cute border.  I absolutely love Krista Wallden's new borders!!!

We also wrote letters to the tooth fairy this week.  Oh my gosh, I love reading their writing.  They are way too cute!!!
This template is out of my Writing Piece of the Month resource.  We normally do it at the beginning of the year when we do our letter writing unit.  I don't know what happened, but better late than never.

I also created some fun money posters.  It had been on my to-do list since the beginning of the year.  I'm just now getting some of those projects done.  Better late than never! I'm thinking that should be my new motto.

As always, the first 3 people to comment will get the money posters for FREE.  Don't forget to leave your e-mail.   Have a great weekend!
 

Instagram

Yay, I'm finally on Instagram.  I totally jumped on the Instagram bandwagon late!  I suppose better late than never.  I am still trying to figure it out, though.  For instance, I haven't a clue how the hash tags work. Somebody will have to give me a mini-lesson on hashtags :)  I'm excited to finally have a place to share all the pics I take.  I tend to take tons of pictures, and most of them never make it to my blog.  I'm excited to finally have a place to share them.  I hope everyone's having a great weekend and I hope you will follow me on Instagram. 
Also, I have a few projects in the works.  I will definitely be back to post about them soon!!!

To follow me on Instagram, click below.

Updates and a Freebie!!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend...I definitely am enjoying a little rest and relaxation with the family.  I've also spent a some time the last week updating some of my most popular products.

My Scoop on Comprehension resource is one of the very first products I posted on TPT.  It is also one of my favorite classroom resources.

This product  has really evolved over the years.  The newest update now has scoops for students to record how they have applied a particular strategy/skill to a book they are reading.  I use this larger scoop when introducing the strategy or skill for the first time.

There is also a page included with 2 smaller scoops.  Students can use these scoops with a book being read in class or with their library books.  Once students fully understand the strategies, they can use this page independently in stations.

This is a preview of what's included:

If you have already purchased this, please go back to your purchase page on TPT and re-download it for the update.

Now...for update #2.  

I also updated my Bloom's Buttons.  They are now EDITABLE!!! So, if you want to add more questions or you want to make some specific to a story you are reading...now you can! 

This lovely update was inspired by my new blog buddy, Patti.  She needed some questions to go with a story she was reading in class, but wanted to keep the same format as the Bloom's Buttons.  What better solution than to make the blank set of cards editable! I'm really excited about this update.  I originally had some blank cards that you could hand write questions on, but keeping the original font is 100% better! So, please go back and re-download this file if you have already purchased it.  

And please check out Patti's adorable blog: 

 

Now for a freebie...

We all have those little ones that love to blurt.  I know many of them don't mean to, they just get a little overzealous about what we're learning! This year, the blurting started to become a bit too much, so the Blurt Bulletin was born.  I was really excited about my cute little letter and guess what...I haven't had anyone to send it home with.  The blurting literally stopped when they found out about the note that would go home.  That's definitely a great thing, don't get me wrong!  But, I really wanted to share my letter with someone, so I'm sharing it with my loyal followers.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!

Spring Cleaning TPT Sale

I'm joining a bunch of bloggers for a TPT Spring Cleaning Sale!  All of my products will be 20% off until Monday.  My TPT wish list is a mile long.  I can finally move a bunch of the items from my wish list to my cart.  Then, off course I will probably fill it right back up.  First, I plan to leave feedback on all my previous purchases.  Those valuable points add up!!!

I also wanted to share an election resource I updated in my store.  Actually, I was going in to edit the resource and ended up deleting the whole thing instead.  That was a big oopsy!  I just added it back to my store with the additions I made.  We always learn about elections in November, but I ran out of time this year.  Looks like I may have to do it in April or May for my kiddos this year.  My kids have a great time with it and I would hate for them to miss out.  I just might do it that last week of school when we are wrapping up,  and all of our test books have already been picked up. 

As always, the first 3 people to leave a comment will get this election packet for FREE. Just don't forget to leave me your e-mail address.
Have a great weekend!!!