New Year Soap Gift

Looking for a simple gift to give for the new year!  Last year during Christmas, I wanted to give my friends a simple gift with soap.  I was so excited about giving it to them before Christmas and I ended up not having enough time to put them together.  

Instead I ended up getting them ready during my winter break and brought them back to give to them as part of a New Year's gift.  I plan to do the same again this year!  I have posted the gift tags on my TpT store if you'd like to make a simple gift for friends and family!

New Year Hats

Being in first grade has been a lot of fun and many of my students really enjoy getting to make hats for each holiday.  

During my winter break, I had to make a hat to celebrate the new year.  What I love about these hats is that my students already know how to make them.  The template is very simple and I love that they have the option to write on them.

What I like to do is include these in the writing center.  The students write their sentence and then get to color their hat.  They know how to cut it out and place it onto a sentence strip.  Having it at the writing center has saved us a lot of time when it comes to getting them ready!

I can't wait for my students to make these.  If you are looking for something quick and easy, I have posted it to my TPT store. Happy New Year!

Fingerprint Calendars

Hello everyone!!! 

I have updated my fingerprint calendars.  You can also read about my CD fingerprint calendars that I made when I was teaching kindergarten (just click on the link).

As you know, I love making crafts! Especially during the holidays and when it's time to make a parent gift.

Making hand print calendars were always fun, but I wanted to do something different and one day while I was at Michaels (ohhh, way, way back like in 2010, LOL), I looked at the calendar section to find the calendars I normally buy...but they didn't have enough of the ones I was looking for. That is where I got the idea of making a CD calendar with fingerprints instead of the usual regular sized calendars.  

It took awhile to get the template just right so that they would fit inside a CD case...but it worked and I've continued to make them every year!!

This gift turned out to be one of the cutest gifts that we make as part of our parent gifts for Christmas.  Well this year, I am teaching first grade and with making so many fingerprint ornaments, I decided to wait until we return from track break to make our fingerprint calendars as a Valentine's Day parent gift.  Who says that these only have to be done for Christmas, I say make them for any special occasion!;)

This year, I received many requests if I could add more fingerprint ideas and also make the calendar template bigger.  Now that I am a new mommy, it has been harder to catch up on making products. Yet, during my winter break I was able to work on a few that were on my to-do list and I was able to make this special request. 

I've added 12 more fingerprint ideas so now you having two options to do for each month.  You can also make the fingerprint calendars using just regular sized paper, in case you do not have time to order the calendar CD cases. No more cutting, just print and start to use them right away.

I'm so excited that I decided to put both calendars into a bundle.  Make sure to redownload the file to get the additional calendars if you have purchased my CD fingerprint calendars!  If there is ever a fingerprint that you want me to add, don't hesitate to contact me.  I'm always open for new ideas and making this a product where everyone has what they need. 

I'm not the best with remembering to take pictures when I'm in the classroom, but I will post pictures of the finished calendars when we make them in February! 

Assess Me Linky

I'm linking up with Rachel from The Tattooed Teacher for a fun 'Get to Know You' Link Up! Here I go...

Now it's your turn to join in on the fun!:)

TPT Seller Challenge: Dare To Dream

I'm here for the 2nd week of TpT Seller Challenge with Third in Hollywood, Sparkling in Second, Peppy Zesty Teacherista and Teach Create Motivate!

There are so many goals and dreams that I have for myself, but if I could only pick three these are the ones that I would choose.

Save: We do not currently have any kids, however we are trying for that dream to come true!  Being able to save the earnings that I make from my TpT store towards our future family would be amazing.

Create: This summer marks my 2nd year as a TpT seller.  I feel so blessed to have friends who motivated and pushed me to open up my online store.  I'm very happy that I did and feel that I have learned so much.  I am truly grateful to have followers and my goal is to continue to create and share products/ideas that others will enjoy using in their classroom.

Travel:  This one is more for my husband.  He has a brother who lives in Sweden and we do not get to see him very often.  It would be amazing if we could save some money to be able to visit him.  Plus we would love to travel around the world.:)

Thank you for stopping by!

TPT Seller Challenge: Makeover Madness

We just came back from our mini vacation to San Francisco! The first thing that I did when I got home, was jump on my computer and that's when I read about the TpT Seller Challenge and thought it would be fun to join. I'm linking up today with Third in Hollywood, Sparkling in Second, Peppy Zesty Teacherista and Teach Create Motivate and for this fabulous challenge!

For this week's challenge I decided to work my very first product that I made to go with the book, The Kissing Hand.

I was truly excited to update it with new fonts, borders, backgrounds and clipart.  It's amazing how with just a few little changes, it can make a product look so much better.

I also included the Kissing Hand Headband for Kindergarten & First Grade with this product and it will be on sale for this week.  If you have this product, please make sure to redownload the file to get all the updates!  

Yippy!! Five for Friday!

Hi everyone, I'm a little late for Five for Friday!!  Yet I thought, why not join the fun with Kacey at Doodle Bugs and share a few things with you.

 Last year, our class did a 'Super Dad' Celebration and this year I wanted to come up with a craft that would go with the theme. You can read more about our Father's Day celebration by clicking here.  I'm all about making crafts that are simple for my kiddos to make! I especially wanted it to be similar to my Mother's Day craft, so that both parents would get a gift with their child's handprint on it.  This is what I came up with and I'm really liking how it turned out!

About a week ago I went with a friend to Grape Vine Canyon.  We thought that since it was cloudy and cool in Vegas...that it may be chilly over there.  This was our first time going, so we really didn't know what to expect.  Well we were very wrong and it was around 100 degrees, yikes!  The first thing we saw were a few petroglyphs, which was pretty cool!

Walking further down on the trail got a bit complicated with all the plants that were in the middle so we had to hike around it...and if you know me, I am quite a clumsy girl!  So, I ended up spraining my knee...not fun when you have a long way to walk back to the car, lol.  

I'm glad that we went, yet I've had to take it easy and I haven't been able to workout.  So, this week I've been enjoying my walks with this little guy around our neighborhood.  Nothing to intense there, lol.

This year I have been working with small groups of students K-3 for intervention.  With my kinder group, I have been using my Alphabet Club and just seeing the growth that they are making...just make my heart smile!  

Here is a picture of us using the cards to review the letters in the red and orange list.  

I am just soooo proud of them! I gave each student a copy of the cards in a ziploc bag for them to keep and use at home.

I've kept my cards in a metal ring to keep them organized.  Another great way to give the cards to the kids!

The Alphabet Club is quite simple and I've separated them into 5 different lists.  The students receive a certificate each time they pass a list of letters.  I have this product posted on my TpT store if you are interested in getting it. If you do have it, make sure to re-dowload the file since I've made some updates!:)

I'm working with a student who is having a hard time writing his name in the correct order.  I knew that I wanted to make a template where he could practice tracing his name and he really likes cars.  So, today I came up with this template just for him.  I'm hoping that it'll inspire him to want to practice tracing and writing his name.  It's not quite finished, but I plan to add small green dots on each letter so that he may know where to begin tracing.  Once it's laminated, I plan to find a small car for him to use to practice tracing his name on the road letters.:)

Last but not least, I've been updating many of my products that I have on my TpT store.  Being on track break has really given me the extra time to get some stuff done. One of the products that I've made a few updates on is my B.E.E. folder/binder.  I've added additional pages and it is all editable!  If you've purchased this product, please make sure to re-download the file for the additional updates!

Well, thank you for stopping by and hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!:)

Mother's Day Craft

Do you ever try to change it up and try making a new gift or craft for Mother's Day?  I feel, that I am always wanting to try something new each year. Here is a tile that we did with our thumbprints.

Here is another where my students made a heart flower out of construction paper. 

Last year we made mason jars with flowers.  You can read about it more about how we made them if you click here.

And this year I thought....hmmm, what could we make?? (tapping my chin)  So this is what I came up with.  I wanted to see if I could combine the two crafts together (the flower craft with a handprint).

Now you may be thinking...why a blue heart?  I was picturing it as the sky and grass for the flowers.;)  But of course you can always switch up and use a red or pink heart instead of blue.  Overall I'm happy with how it looks and it is now up on my TpT store.  

Have a fabulous day!