Teacher Mom: May 2015

Why I Started Blogging

Hi Again! I am excited to - for a second week – be linking up with Miss Monica from I Heart Grade 3! This week the topic is “Why I Started Blogging”. And for me there is no easy answer to this one…

So WAY WAY back in the spring of 2012 I got VERY into TPT! Not as a seller at all, but as a buyer. I LOVED everything that I saw and to be honest it lit a fire under my tush as a teacher. I saw what I could be doing and I NEEDED to be doing those things too! It was a great motivator and a teacher for me!

The following fall I continued to learn, make, and grow and I was encourage to share some of what I was doing with others. I started my blog using blogger and used a basic template and blogged here and there about things I was doing in the classroom and some things I was making and creating at home – hence the Teacher Mom title.

I dabbled in this throughout the year without ever really committing myself to the endeavor. Until, I needed an outlet…

When I got pregnant with my first, it was as though we thought about being pregnant and boom we were. I expected it to work the same way the second time. But plans are made to be reworked and the second baby just wasn’t happening. It was a very LONG process and to be honest my blog readers and my TPT customers made me stay sane through the whole thing. I was not open about my struggles on the blog because I tend to keep it profesh – but once we had success – BABY #2 will be here in 12 weeks!! I feel like I have to thank TPT and blogging – because it was an outlet for me – a place I could be successful or make mistakes and it got me out of my own head. Thinking about my own problems.

I have not been the best blogger since getting preggo. The first bit was a lot tougher than the first time and school has been more challenging that expected this spring, but as I mosey into the summer and my upcoming maternity leave I am getting back on track with the blogging and creating.

I am so happy to have you along with me on my journey as a teacher and as a mom. Here’s to a great summer filled with everything and everyone you need to refresh yourself for the next school year!

My Goals For the Summer of 2015

I am SO Super excited to start of the summer joining in with a new weekly link up which gets a little personal, but a lot teachery too! I will be linking up (hopefully) each week this summer with I HeartGrade 3!

This week is the first week and we are all talking about or goals for the summer. As teachers and as moms we all have them, so I wanted to share with you my goals for the summer.

Jokingly, I have been telling people all I want to do is make it alive until August 22^nd. If you didn’t know before I am due with my second kiddo then! After having my first in December, I am SUPER nervous about being preggo all summer in the heat! So, goal number #1 for the summer is get this baby cooked and ready, so we can meet him (hopefully on time and NOT late)!

Since, I imagine I will be wanting to be outside and active a bit less than usual, I am hoping to put some of that potential energy to good use in my TPT store. I want (need!!) to update my covers, TOU pages, and create some links from within my PDF’s. I’m also playing around with the idea of changing my blog design… thoughts???

Finally, I want to be crafty this summer. I try to make new things for the house all the time, but I seem to go in fits and spurts (read: I made TONS of X-mas stuff and then nothing until my most recent patriotic run!) I am looking forward to spending some time crafting and reading over the summer – Two things that may be left behind for a bit when TJ arrives! J

What are your goals for the summer? Are there things that you would like to see on here – or in my store? Comment below!

And make sure to come back next week when we chat about why I became a blogger! I’m already looking forward to that one!!!!

You Oughta Know :)

I am SO excited to again be linking up with Jasmine from Buzzing With Mrs.McClain! I have to say that this is one of my favorite blog hops to participate in – mostly because there are TONS of amazing ideas to read about!

This month I want to chat about place value…

We teach place value to the tens and ones places in January. We use many hands on strategies to help our firsties to understand the concept and be able to use it while counting and adding.

Now that we are truly preparing the little ones for second grade (EEK!) We are adding in a lot of work with numbers in the hundereds. Kids have had experience with these number, but now we are EXPECTING they to be able to read and write these numbers and have an understanding about what all of the digits mean.

Of course the kiddos had some independent work. This is a trading in sheet my work bestie made…

Find this HERE – Free of course!

And they played an old favorite game from our place value learning earlier this year - Race To A Flat...

Find this HERE – Free of course!

Then over the course of the two day lesson we made two crafty projects during our teacher time (I teach math using a guided math model).

This one I found HERE from Smiling and Shining In First Grade.

These cute monsters were a great way for me to make the connection between what we had learned about tens and ones and extend their understanding to the hundreds place.

I made this anchor chart…

Based on this cute one I found at Ms. Winter’s Playground.

Finally, I was in LOVE with the robot idea, so I had kids make a place value robot.

How stinking cute are they?? Here is a copy of the recording sheet we used…

Hope you LOVED what you see and try some of these ideas out!

Keep on hopping – I’m telling you these ideas are AMAZING!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Secrets from 1B!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

We all know what a HUGE job teaching is and I try to make this week special for the people I teach with and the ones that teach my little lady. Now with TPT and blogging in my life I hope that I can make your week sparkle the whole way through!