2016 Update - New Classroom

So, I've been MIA this year...but A LOT of things have happened.  Here are a few updates:

1) My school district opened 3 new elementary schools this year!  I chose to stay at my current school, which was cut in almost half in size.  Because of the big downsize, I got to move down the hall to a bigger classroom!  My room is about double the size of my old one.  However, the downside to having a big room is you have room for more students.  I am now a teacher of 26...with more seats to fill.  Here are a few pictures of my jungle classroom.  Enjoy!

A large drip pan with large magnetic foam letters made for an easy beginning of the year door! I was busy moving and organized the room and didn't have time to do a detailed door.  So this was perfect.  Simple. Easy. and Cute!

This is the bathroom door and sink.  I've since added their pictures to the jungle birthday chart.  I get a lot of compliments on chart...and it was FREE on Tpt!  If you would like to grab a copy, you can find it here.  I also used bathroom reminder posters behind the sink to make the area look a little brighter.  The posters can also be found on TpT but you have to purchase them for $3.25.  They can be found here.

I LOVE my reading center.  I like how cozy it feels with the plants and lamps.  I have pillows at home that I need to bring in that are in giraffe and monkey print.  

Here is my handsome husband.  As you can see, he was thrilled to be helping me set everything up.

I'm trying out a new clip chart system this year!  In years past, my clip chart only moved down.  Now the kiddos can clip up and earn stickers on their clips when they reach pink.  When they get to pink 5 times and have 5 stickers on their clip they earn a yellow clip.  If they earn 5 more stickers they get a blue clip.  If they do it yet again, they earn a glitter clip!  It really motivates them to do their best. You can do any clip color you choose, but I'm doing yellow and blue since those are our school colors.  

There are a ton of new things I'm trying out this year.  I've included a few in this post but will be including a few other new tricks and tips in future posts.  So stay tuned! 

TpT 2014 - In Review

Here's just a quick post before I turn in for the night.  I was looking at all of my Teachers pay Teachers product statistics and decided to finally make a graph showing my earnings for the 2014 year that just wrapped up.  If you don't know, I started TpT the beginning of 2014.  I've considered myself a newbie for the longest time.  Since it's now 2015, I guess I can no longer consider myself one!

The blue area is my first year selling on TpT!  As you can see sales started off slow and grew dramatically toward the end of the 2014 year.  I created this graph to motivate myself. I can now see that my work pays off and that uploading new products is well worth the effort.  As you can see, my 2015 year has started off pretty good.  Here's hoping for another great year of selling! :)

Secret Santa - Gift #2

As my last post unveiled, this week has been a week of Secret Santa gift giving.  It has been so much fun!  My first gift (the reindeer Dr. Peppers) was a major success.  She loved it!  She even took a picture of it and was showing it off to other teachers!  (She even showed it to me and I pretended to be in awe.)

Since I started off with a bang I tried to keep the gifts creative and fun.  Here is gift number two!

As you can see, it was super simple to make but still cute.   Her information card said she liked chocolate with nuts, so I bought her a bag of peanut M&M's and a cute Walmart cup.  I almost put it in a Christmas themed cup but decided against it.  I want her to have something practical that she can use all year.  But to give it an extra something, I added Christmas ribbon and a printout tag.  

You can find and download this tag for free by clicking the following link: http://blackberryvine.blogspot.com/2011/11/teacher-treat-cups-christmas-edition.html

Stay tuned for my 3rd, 4th, and final gift! 

Secret Santa - Gift #1

This coming Monday starts a week of "Secret Santa" gift giving for my Kindergarten team.  I hate shopping after school so of course I waited till this weekend to go shopping for all five gifts.  I loved making them though!

To decide who would be buying for who our team filled out a piece of paper with our interests and put it in a bag.  I pulled a teaching assistant and she was super easy to buy for!  She said she likes Dr. Pepper, dark chocolate, chocolate with nuts, the color red, adult beverages, and few other things I wasn't sure how to incorporate.

Here's what I came up with (with the help of Pinterest, of course) for Monday's gift.

Aren't they cute?!  It turned out a lot better than excepted.  At first, I was going to make a Dr. Pepper can cake, but when I got to the store and started looking for things to put it together I realized I'm not that crafty.  So I went with the second best option.  Dr. Pepper Reindeer!

To make this all you need is the following:

- 6 pack of bottled drinks

- 12 brown pipe cleaners  

- 12 medium sized googly eyes

- 1 square of red felt or red pom poms

- Christmas ribbon

I have other gifts already made but I decided this would be a good gift for Monday.  Teaching is exhausting...especially this close to Christmas! She'll have all week to drink these caffeinated drinks to keep her going.  

Stay tuned for Secret Santa gift #2! 

And the blogger of the year award goes too....

I may be the worst blogger...EVER!  Teaching has me busy, exhausted, and did I mention exhausted?

Anyway, here are some things I'm excited about!

- I'm making, on average, about $300 on TPT per month now!

(Hint: Check out my cousin's amazing blog to find out how to get started on Teachers Pay Teachers.  She's the one that got me started!)

- My second year evaluations are half way over!  I've been observed formally twice (without feedback -yet), submitted my long range plan, and just turned in my unit work sample!  I'm beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel! 

-  My Kindergarten team is getting along, for the most part, this year.  Praise Jesus!  We're even doing a "Secret Santa" gift exchange.  I'm in the works of planning what gifts I'm going to buy/create.  I'll  be surfing Pinterest the next few days for some ideas.  Stay tuned for what I come up with! 

And last but not least, 

-   Christmas Break is almost here!  Just 3 more weeks till I get to relax, take a break, and breath!  

At Last!

I have finally finished all of the letters for my Write the Room products!  Customers kept asking me if I was going to finish the alphabet and/or create a bundle; and now I have finally done both!  It took me way too long, but I'm so relieved and proud to have it finished.

Click to go to TPT product

Isn't it beautiful?  It has already been "wishlisted" three times!  I can't wait to use it in my own classroom.  I'm awful at keeping up with my classroom projects by taking pictures, but I'll do my best to give an update of how it goes and of my kiddos actually using it.  I plan to start using it after Christmas when we go over the letters for a second time; that way they'll already know the sounds and will truly begin to learn how to read.

If you like this product please follow my store!  My next project is going to be creating themed and word-family write the rooms.  I have one themed write the room already for the beginning of the year.  It sure has been a hit these past few months.

Click to go to TPT product 

Anyway, enough about my products.  I hope everyone has had a great start to the school year!  Just think, only 161 more days till summer break!

Mini Tasty Tacos (A Picture Recipe)

You Will Need
Wonton wrappers
1 pound lean ground beef
1 (1.12 ounce) package Dry Taco Seasoning Mix
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
Anything else you like on tacos
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place wonton wraps into muffin pan and bake for 5 minutes at 425deg

Add taco seasoned ground beef to each wrap 

It should look like this!

Add Mexican cheese (add more than I put if you're a cheese lover)

Bake at 425deg for 8 minutes or until the wrapper is golden brown

Add sour cream and/or anything else you like on tacos

Serve and enjoy!!!