Organization, One Year Anniversary Giveaway and Sale!

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin's Teacher Week...Why I like my organization tip.

Two Things That I Love:
1. Don't you love cute, decorative file folders? I don't like the thought of putting them in a file drawer so they are not in view to be admired. 

2. Also, I love translucent file boxes with different colored latch tops. 

The Mashup:
Why not put them together for a snazzy look? Then I can organize my files by topic or "genre," if you will, and not get them lost in the massive amounts of papers that I have accumulated as a teacher and now as a Teachers Pay Teachers buyer/seller.

Honestly, I am not naturally an organized person, so I have to really try. I am a stacker and can stack with the best of them. I just don't think in an organized way. When I organize files, I cannot remember my thought process of where I was filing things and why. So... my solution is to have multiple file boxes that have cute tops that look adorable with added decoration and are also portable to and from school or to and from one area of my home office. 

Here are some more examples of my file boxes.

{Follow the link at the end of this post to read about other teacher bloggers and their organizational methods.} 

In other news...

Great news!

I have officially been a seller on TeachersPay Teachers for one year now! 

It has been a very fun adventure! 

To celebrate, I am having a

 sale in my store on Tuesday and Wednesday. Everything will be 20% off! 

Stop by to see if there are any new products that you could use in your classroom.

Thank you for celebrating with me!
Carrie
                       BTW,       

Click HERE to go to the Blog Hoppin' post 

for lots of great organizing ideas.

Follower Appreciation Sale Items, Two for Tuesday! #6, and a FREEBIE!

It's TWO for TUESDAY!

Hi!
Since I am linking up with The Teaching Tribune for their Two For Tuesday Linky - Week 6, I will have TWO Follower Appreciation items for 50% off today!

Here are the items that I have on sale:

The Eagle Cam:

Keeping an Eagle Eye on the Eagle Nest

{A Writing Activity}

Need a fun way to research and to write about the lifecycle of an eagle?  This may be the resource 
for you! The students will record observations and illustrations in these little booklets. What student does not like to write in booklets?

 

To read more about it, see {THIS POST} and {THIS POST}.
To check it out in my TpT store, please click {HERE}. 

If you are a PebbleGo fan, then you may like this organizer to help with your research. 

You can get a free copy {HERE}. I have also included an organizer with no lines if that is what you need instead. 

If you are not familiar with PebbleGo, then please stop by my blog on Saturday, July 12th. I will be blogging about that gem of a website in conjunction with the You Oughta Know Blog Hop.  Sounds like fun to me!! 

My other sale item:

      "Hello Neighbor!" How to Make a Friend {and Keep a Friend}

This pack has "How To" writing activities including a silly version that coincides with Dr. Jean's song, "Hello Neighbor."

Click {HERE} to see it in my store.

Great News...
Dr. Jean actually has that song as a free download in her store! 

Click {HERE} to check it out. I love how Dr. Jean incorporates songs into everything. That is right up my alley!

Both of these would be great resources for now, for Back-to-School, or for anytime during the year as needed.

If you would like to check them out, today is the day! 

Hop on over to The Teaching Tribune for their Two For Tuesday Linky and see what kind of exciting deals you can find from other bloggers!

Have an awesome day!
Carrie

Valentine’s Day, a FREE game, and a Superbowl Sale!

Believe it or not…Valentine’s Day is JUST around the corner!

If you are in the market for some basic Valentine’s Day writing paper with cute graphics, you may want to check out this new mini-pack in my TpT store. This paper is Valentine-themed and can be used with any craft or activity that you have up your sleeve. You can check it out by clicking here.

Freebie!!

Also, I have a Freebie "Roll, Say, Graph!" Game that your little buddies will love to play. It is the Valentine Edition that combines spelling rules for changing singular words to plural words with graphing. My kids love it! This edition has Valentine’s Day types of words to “say and graph.” You can get it here.

Enjoy! If you decide to download it, let me know what your students thought of it when you get the chance. I would love to hear from you!

Sale!!!

Great news! On Superbowl Sunday, I will be having a sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. It will also be extended through Monday. If you have anything on your wish list that you would like get, now is the time get it at a 20% discount. My list of products is not busting at the seams at this point, but maybe there is something that you might like for your classroom. 

To check out the sale, click on the name of my store, The Think Aloud Cloud.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Carrie

Snow, Possessive Nouns, and a Freebie

About the craft project on the last post...

      ...I decided to do more contractions in the other pile next to the snowman, since the students needed more contraction practice. So, I will add the possessive snowballs and sign from “Pile on the Winter Fun! Set 2” to another craft of sorts. The original plan was to add the possessive snowballs on the right side of the snowmen because they show possession of each of the snowman’s accessories. It seems to be helpful when the students can repeatedly add “apostrophe s” to words so that they can remember where the apostrophe goes spatially. Sometimes that is a tough concept for our buddies. If you would like to check out the possessive noun activity and craft, then you can find it here.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of their finished products.

We also did the “How To Build a Snowman” writing activity from “Pile on the Winter Fun! Set 3.” This set has 2 versions of adjective snowballs and some writing resources. These resources include a “How To Build a Snowman” flapbook pre-writing organizer and 25 different writing papers, with and without scaffolding. My ESOL students really respond well to the scaffolding as they write. Also, the papers have various styles of writing lines to meet the different needs of different students. All of these can be found in Set 3.

If you are interested in all three sets, the bundled set can be purchased at a discounted price. You can check it out here.

Meanwhile if you would like some samples of these sets, you can get a flapbook, a couple of writing papers and other resources in a freebie that is available in my shop as well. You can get it here.

Have a fabulous day!

Carrie

Snow, Contractions, and a Craft

I love a good snow...which rarely happens. I get excited when there are even flurries where I live. Needless to say, the students get excited as well! Recently we had the threat of snow and ice that turned into super duper cold weather that many of you had as well. That weather prevented the students from returning to school for an additional day at the end of the Christmas Break.

THEREFORE, once the students were finally back, I HAD to do a snowman craft with them. The addition of a lesson about contractions was the perfect fit. The kids hardly knew that they were writing, thinking, and even following directions. Here are a few of the students' masterpieces:

This snowman has an extra mitten floating around. 

The snowman's hat was flying away!

This student's snowballs are in the PROCESS of being piled.

I instructed them to save room on the other side of the snowman to make a pile of possessive nouns. Most of them followed my directions. Then I decided that we may want to just add another pile of contractions using "not" or a mix of contractions for another "fun" way to practice making contractions. I will let you know later which direction we decided to go.

This lesson is in my Teachers Pay Teachers store if you would like to check it out. Just click here.

My students have loved this activity for a few years now. I updated it with cute graphics from Krista Wallden.

I have two more sets that I will show you soon. Also, there is a freebie that coordinates. Meanwhile, stay warm!

Carrie

Organization and Diet Coke Boxes

Diet coke. Is the box the best part?

It's like waking up on Christmas morning!

Why do my students act giddy like they found an awesome present under the tree when I bring a Diet Coke box to school? I offer these boxes to students to use as a drawer in their desks. It keeps them "organized!" They fit perfectly inside their desks after the top is cut off. 

Actually, some of my students truly use them to organize their stuff better. Others use them to contain all of the extra markers, pencils, crayons, etc that tend to fall out of their desks. I saw it on Pinterest a while back, I think. I can't remember exactly, but where else would I have gotten a super great idea like that? I will give credit to that brilliant person when I come across it again.

As a matter of fact, my students were getting creative while waiting for the next box to come along and asked for boxes from tissues and from zip lock bags. While those were helpful, none of those boxes "did the trick" like soda boxes can. One of my students finally came around to seeing it that way. I think she will be able to find her scissors now since she doesn't actually look for them INSIDE her desk...usually. How adorable! 

The positive results? Students who have better ideas about how to organize their things...although I have several boys whose things are "squared away" at any given moment. They are my expert helpers who help some of the other students get their things in order. 

Another positive result, the desk fairy has more desks to admire. I made a new reward coupon for her to give the students for the new year. If you would like a copy, please click here.

Maybe this will spark some New Year's resolutions for my students!

Happy New Year! May all of your students' desks be in tip top shape for the new year! Now if the desk fairy would just come give me a hand with my own desk... :-)

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin for the New Year Linky for Day 5 - Organization. Can't get enough of that!!

Have a fabulous new year!
Carrie

A Writing Map-tivity

My students LOVED dancing and singing to Dr. Jean's song, "The Cool Bear Hunt." Every year they get so engaged in the song and the order of events on the hunt. They also have a great time creating a map to the bear's cave, complete with compass rose and map key. Since "craftivity" has become a common word among teachers, I decided to call this a "map-tivity." Who coined the word "craftivity" anyway?

Here are some student examples of our map-tivity:

If you would like to check out this map and writing resource in my TpT store, please click {HERE}. I am adding a collage preview that I didn't have the first time I posted about this activity. 

After the transformation. Isn't that bear so cute?!

I decided to wait on the opinion writing activity for a few weeks while we continue with maps and "Before There was a Georgia" activities like naming the regions and rivers in our state and how they impacted where the Native Americans lived and where the first European settlers decided to live. 

Have a great day!

Carrie

Teachers Pay Teachers

Hi Everyone!

I have finally opened my store on TpT! I have had ideas for a while, however, the technology piece is slowing me down a bit. My adorable husband is pretty savvy and has saved the day. Of course school has started, so that takes up most of our energy and brain cells. So, eventually I will have some more things posted in my store.

For now I have my first free product that you can get if you click on the picture.

I also have one paid product that you can check out if you click on that picture. I will post pictures of my classroom examples soon.

Enjoy the rest of your Labor Day weekend!

Carrie