A Toy Story (Part Two)

It's time for Part Two of my blog post on using toys in the classroom.If you didn't read Part One yet, head on back and read that one first.After reading Part One, you know my rationale for using toys in the classroom... even with students who are eleven and twelve. It's just difficult not to smile and pay attention when a toy is around to symbolize things like:Good job!Your team has earned points!This is IMPORTANT! Listen up!Isn't this FUNNY?and...

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11 Ways to Build a Classroom Library on a Budget

Well, it's about that time! The back-to-school clock is ticking and there ain't no stopping it. Some of you may even be back already! For new teachers especially, this is such an exciting - and scary - time! One of the questions I hear come up for new teachers time and time again is "How do I build a classroom library with limited resources?"I have a few ideas and tricks that have worked for me over the years that I will share with you here today....

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Winners are In....

That was an awesome first giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered! The winners are in!  Stay tuned for giveaways and other exciting happenings in the next months as we start a new school year!...

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Beat the Back to School Blues Giveaway! Win Over 50 Grades 3-6 Resources!

 Hello friends! We are approaching back to school season! Our friends at All Things Upper Elementary have a Huge Giveaway planned for you!  We have separated the amazing resources by Math, ELA, and Back to School Resources. Enter the subject(s) you teach or enter them all!Grades 3-6 Math Resources:1. Order Up Math Bundle from John Hughes (10 Sets)2. Grades 4-5 Word Problems Bundle from Meg Anderson(4 Sets)3. Graphing: Interactive...

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Hooking Your Kids with Book Trailers...Plus, a Surprise Tomorrow!

Books, books, books....I LOVE books! Every summer I get giddy thinking about which books I am going to use in my classroom for the following year. I sit for hours and thumb through catalogues or click through websites looking for books that go perfectly with the science or social studies concepts I have to teach or are perfect examples of the ELA standards that I need to teach my students. Sometimes to the point to where I have to take a thumb break.I...

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Using Time Wisely- Planning for A New Year of Interactive Notebooks

I am so happy to be back with you this week to talk about Interactive Notebooks. I am also thankful that my friend, and fellow ATUE Collaborator, Meg of Fourth Grade Studio, was gracious enough to let you know where I was two weeks ago. I definitely had a blast while I was at CAMT 13 and did a full recap over on my blog if you are interested.Many of you have asked me, "Where do I start? How do I know what comes next? Where do I put things?" and I'm...

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Using Summertime Efficiently

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Back-to-School Pinspiration

It's summer. The sun is hot, the beach is calling. It's reallllllllly hard to think about school. But even though my mind feels like it's a million miles away from school, the calendar disagrees. Luckily, over on Pinterest, the pinners keep on pinning! And it's a good thing, because if it weren't for all this Pinspiration, it would be EVEN harder to wrap my mind around the cruel fact that summer is not actually infinite.  Today, I wanted to...

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Vista Print Fun! Make it to Match Your Theme!

Hey guys! It's Jennifer Findley from Teaching to Inspire in 5th. I feel like it has been forever since I posted on here! Today I wanted to share with some of my newest vistaprint creations!  First, I had to find a coupon or something to help with the costs (I believe Vistaprint is on to the teachers using all those free shipping discounts :( ) So I headed to groupon and snagged this deal! $17 dollars for $70 worth of stuff? I think I will. Note:...

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Summer Classroom Finds

I don't know about you, but every summer I'm always on the look out for new things for my classroom. Most of the time it is things to organize the stuff that I accumulated over the previous year.  The following are just some of the things that I have found this summer.I got these at Michaels for 44% off and then an additional 15% off. I'm going to be honest and tell you I have no idea what I am going to use them for, but they were too cute and...

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