Tell All Tuesday: Summer Flashback

I love Tell all Tuesday because I get to learn more about other teacher bloggers! I didn't have a lot of access to flashback pictures for this one but I did my best! 

 

Childhood summers...ahh! So much fun and so much time! I am so grateful we still get to have a teacher summer! My family loved to visit theme parks when my sister and I were little. We visited Disney, Dollywood, Six Flags, and any other theme parks in between. Till this day I still love a good roller coaster and theme park food! My husband had NEVER been to Disney World when we were dating so I insisted that we go. I felt like I was introducing him to my home away from home and the most wonderful place on earth (He loved it, by the way)!

Another big part of my childhood summer was playing sports. After the age of eight, I was always at a softball field or a cheerleading camp in the summer. I made so many friends and memories that I cherish. When I wasn't playing, we were always playing pranks, dancing, or scheming up a plan to convince our parents of. Fun times! 

3rd from the left on the bottom row!

Top Left!

That wraps up my summer flashback! Link up and share your flashbacks with MyDayinK or Teach Talk Inspire. If you don't have a blog feel free to comment below with your summer flashback.

Cheers to summer memories!

Friday for Friday: June 25th

It is Friday again! Is it really possible that it is the last Friday of June?! Summer is quickly slipping away so enjoy every moment of it!

We got back from the lake this weekend! We thought we were heading to the beach but we ended up at a cute little lake town in North Carolina. It was the most relaxing week! We laid in the hammock, fished, grilled out, got in the hot tub, and RELAXED. It was truly a great week and our fur baby got to go on his first vacation too! 

Isn't the water beautiful?! 

 

I worked on updating and creating some new products this week. I am learning so much from the #TpTSellerChallenge! I am so thankful I signed up and have been included!

A back to school packet!

Teach Verbs & Review

In the midst of the summer relaxation, I attended a training this week. Although it was difficult to wake up, the training was really good! It was about literacy for grades 1-2. We did a lot of applicable activities and it got my brain turned back on a bit! I took a few notes so it wouldn't all leave immediately when I sat back down to watch Netflix, haha! Below is a picture of an activity we did to better under the Scarborough's Reading Rope. Physically making the rope really helped me to deepen my understanding of the concept!

 

After a week of vacation I tried to get back into working out! Phew, it wasn't easy but I felt like I earned a pedicure. I am convinced there is nothing that can't be fixed with a pedicure and a glass of wine!

Lastly, I started reading Unshakeable by Angela Watson. So far I love it! You can tell the author really understands teachers and she offers great advice. I am not too far into the book yet but I only have good things to say. It is also a very easy read. I hope to blog about it when I get finished!

Thanks for stopping by and reading! Cheers to Friday!

#TpTSellerChallenge Dare to Dream

I am so excited to share my TpT dreams with you! I just got started and can see a future with my creations!

Travel the World

My husband and I love to travel! Who doesn't? While we get to travel quite a bit right now, we would love to travel to more places and explore together. Last year for our anniversary we got a custom map from Etsy to pinpoint our travels. It is titled "Moore Family Travels" and it would be great to have extra money to be able to mark some more travels off our bucket list. 

Save for the Future

Saving for the future is always important. I would love to have extra money to put towards our dream home and future expenses. We don't have kids yet but I heard they can be little expensive? :) It would be nice to put extra money aside for life's adventures that come along! 

Give Back

With the blessing of success, there is also the blessing of the ability to give back. I would love to be able to give back more to the community with earnings from TpT. In addition, I want to use TpT to give back to TEACHERS! Teachers spend so much of their time giving everything they have to their students. I want to be able to provide teachers free and affordable resources as a way to give back to all the people that have given back to me!

Thanks for stopping by! I can't wait to read about everyone's dreams!

"Pray, Grind, and Be Patient"

Tell All Tuesday: Teacher Bucket List

It is TELL all TUESDAY! I am so excited to link up with Teach, Talk, Inspire and My Day in K for this summer linky party! It is my first Tell all Tuesday and I am excited to share some of my teacher bucket list goals!

 

Let's get started! 

1. Get My Ed. S Degree

As I continue to gain more experience, I want to continue my education and learn more. I think back to how beneficial my graduate degree was and I know I would gain so much more now with more experience under my belt. This would be a huge step in development for myself and I am hoping to do in the next few years! 

2. Grow My TpT Store

I have been saying for a few years I wanted to open a store but I was intimidated by getting the process started. I finally decided this summer that now was the time and TA-DA, I have a store! I have learned so much from incredibly helpful bloggers. I am so glad I decided to make the leap because this community of teachers are so supportive and inspiring! Maybe next year I will be in Vegas (that should have been on the list)! I want to continue to learn more and grow my store to help educators and develop better stuff for the kiddos in my class!

YAY!!! There it is!

3. College Advising

Ok, this one is a BIG dream for the future. I LOVE working with new teachers. I love interacting, discussing, sharing, and collaborating with them! I love the energetic spirit and the process of mentoring a new teacher. I also love mentoring new teachers because it helps me to improve my own teaching practice. It forces me to look at what I am doing and allows me to step back and reflect more frequently. With this passion I would love to be able to expand one day and work with a college as an advisor for student teachers or as a professor. New teachers need so much support and encouragement and I would love to be apart of educating our future educators!

Thanks for stopping by! Link up and share your bucket list!

Makeover MADNESS! #TpTSellerChallenge

I am so excited to participate in the TpT Challenge Month! Being a VERY new seller myself, I have already learned so much by reading all the posts on Facebook and viewing blogs! Even though I just created this product a few weeks ago I decided to choose it a for makeover because I love it *SO* much.

I think the new cover is much more bold and makes the product stand out more than it did before! Also, let me say...my kids LOVE this! Having their pictures displayed with their goal in the classroom really encouraged my students to stay focused on their goal and they were more thoughtful about their goal because of the big display. It also aided in supporting an encouraging and safe environment in my classroom. The kiddos loved reading each others goals and cheering for each other as they made individual accomplishments!

I am going to explain how to use this product while also explaining a few changes I made. One thing I kept the same was that students first take or draw a selfie! This is the fun part and we laugh together as each student uniquely strikes their own pose. I then laminate this so we can write their goals with dry erase markers throughout the year.

Next, is the goal setting and brainstorming process!

I changed this...

to this...

 I thought the handwriting lines would be more beneficial for our younger students, especially at the beginning of the year. This brainstorming process is key to ensuring students goals are effective. I have found that in order for students to be successful in accomplishing their goals, they have to know EXACTLY what they have to do to help them practice. I use this brainstorming activity as a guide for individual conferences with my students. It helps us to establish what they want and what they can do to help them get there (If that isn't real life, I don't know what is!).

After editing and finalizing our goals I also send home a note to help parents understand this process. I got a lot of great feedback from parents about these goals! Parents loved having a specific goal to help their child with in addition to the everyday homework or typical expectations (I think they liked seeing the selfies, too!).

After hard work and perseverance, have a CELEBRATION! Make a HUGE deal out of one child's successful goal and everyone else will be super motivated to accomplish theirs as well. EVERY goal is a worth a big celebration! I added these certificates to help with the celebration. There are four different fun ones to choose from.

Lastly, start over! Always have your students working to meet a goal! I added an additional parent letter in my makeover to help with the celebration as well as communication with families. 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing my product makeover. Visit my TpT store to purchase! I would love any feedback you have to offer!

June Pick 3 Pintrest Party

I am a little late to the June Pintrest party but I figured better late than never! Thanks Inspired Owl Corner and Pawsitively Teaching for the great summer linky party!

Original Pin Link

I am O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D with this look! I have always been wholeheartedly dedicated to my blue with green and whites polka dot classroom look. However, this year I was inspired by our PTA theme for next year which is "Lots of Champions." I started pintrestesting and found so many cute ideas for team and sport themed classrooms. I finally decided I liked the baseball stuff the most and then this beauty of a pin popped up! So, I have decided to retire my green and bring in some grey and red. I love the design but I am even more excited about all the "Team Moore" things I will incorporate into my classroom with my kiddos! What a tangible way for them to realize that we are all on the same team. Woohoo!

Original Pin Link

Y.E.S. What more could you ask for? I want to try this recipe out! I love to add fun and creative treats to my list of things to make for fun. I have a feeling this would be a big hit at a summer party. I can't wait to give it a try!

Original Pin Link

 I would love to redo our home office this summer! Me and my husband both use it a lot so it is definitely a space that could use some inspiration. Our current office space is in a loft so I know I could make the space better! I doubt that it will look like the picture but Pintrest is really just for inspiration right? I have had many pinworthy ideas that didn't turn out like the picture but cheers to trying!

Check out everyone's Pintrest picks!

Five for Friday Linky Party

Yippee! I am so excited to participate in my first linky party with Doodle Bugs Teaching! I used to read blogs and think what is this linky thing all about and...here I am! Haha, I can be a little corny from time to time y'all!

First and foremost, I decided I was going to start a blog! Since I am in full on summer-teacher mode, I dedicated a crazy amount of time to it (with all of my favorite shows on in the background, of course)! Now, I have a blog and I am excited about this new adventure! I honestly have wanted to do it for years and I finally came to the conclusion that if I didn't do it now, I probably never would! 

Packing, packing, packing!!! And...some cleaning! :) We are going to the beach next week so I am getting very excited! I can't wait to hear the waves crashing and totally disconnect from social media and our phones!

Last years beach trip in Miami!

 The hubby and I went to see the Entourage movie! We used to watch this show in college so we were pretty excited to go see it. If you were a fan of the show, you will love the movie! It was hilarious and delivered as promised! We loved it!

Before going to the beach we are making a pit stop to see our families and drop off our sweet fur baby! We don't get to see our family a ton so we are excited about making a stop to see them. It is always a guaranteed good time!

Nashville

Summer workout time! While I am a dedicated Barre3 girl, I wanted to try something different for the summer. I found this kickboxing place and it is SO fun! The trainers there totally kick my butt every time I go and I feel great when I leave.

Annnd they have pink gloves!!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend! 

Math Power Partners

Hello friends! Here it is... my first blog post! 

It is kind of ironic that my first post is going to be about math because I definitely consider myself a literacy gal! However this year I really focused on improving my math instruction and a few key things really helped me to have more of a heart for math. First off, I decided my kids needed more repetitive practice with the skill. I also wanted it to be ENGAGING and purposeful...so I made some math games that truly targeted the exact skill we were working on that day. I also decided I wanted the kids to work in partners but sometimes partner work can be tricky with the little kiddos. So...power partners were born!

Grab this FREEBIE!

I modeled and taught these 3 rules consistently and it definitely paid off. The kids loved partner work and they were practicing, practicing, practicing. I did entice them by having "partners of the day." At first the partners of the day got a small treat but after a few weeks the kids were just proud to have the title for the day! They were always on task and I could easily pull small groups knowing that everyone was working and engaged.

Below is an example of a very basic beginning of the year math game. I am in the process of uploading my games to my TpT store so check in throughout the summer or follow my store if you are interested in math games for your kiddos! I always have two different levels or variations of each game to provide differentiation. I have also adapted my games for single center use which are sold separately. Again, this is a very basic beginning of the year example. This helps me to establish rules for partner work with the students and ensure everyone knows the basics before we move forward!

(Number Cards Included)

I just put the directions and supplies into a gallon sized Ziploc bag and the game is ready to go! If I know the game is going to change the next day I have students put the directions and supplies away. After a few weeks a student helper can easily see how I am organizing and putting together the bags. They help me get the games ready for the next day before dismissal or during morning work. I try to work smarter, not harder! :)

 You can purchase this game in my TpT store! What do you do you in your classroom?