Jungle Word Wall Cards

I had a few people request some jungle word wall cards after I posted my ocean theme ones. I just so happened to have some cute jungle/zoo clip art from Lettering Delights so I put some together!

Jungle Word Wall Letters

You can download them by clicking on the document above! I hope you enjoy them!

Giveaway Winner!

Congrats Suzy!! Please e-mail me at creatingandteaching(at)hotmail(dot)com within 48 hours! From there we can talk colors, designs, and/or themes!

Having a giveaway was so much fun! I even gained another 50+ followers to my blog, and it was a perfect time to kick off having a facebook page too! Thank you so much to everyone who entered!

My Current Classroom State.

I can't even begin to tell you how jealous I am of everyone getting into their classrooms already to set up. (Yes, I do realize some of you start school sooner, but I'm just jealous!)

And if Abby, at The Inspired Apple doesn't stop coming up with the MOST **adorable** ideas for decorating her room, I might have to put reading her blog on hold until I'm in my own room! (just kidding, I could never stop reading her blog!)

BUT I was at school on Monday for a meeting and of course had to sneak down to my room. I moved classrooms at the end of the year & then they were painting the walls, so everything is a d.i.s.a.s.t.e.r. and I am by no means exaggerating the term! I snapped some photos to share & have as my before photos.

Here is what you see when you're standing right in my doorway. My room this year is a little bit bigger (I believe), but the layout is **SO** not pre-school friendly!

I would love to get rid of that globe. I don't use it, but apparently there is an abundance of unused globes in our building & no one wants it!

Here is a shot from standing over by the windows you see on the right.

One last photo I have from standing on the steps to the loft.

So, as you can see. I have quite the mess on my hands. That big piece with the cabinets where the TV is does not move either.

I would love suggestions, ideas, or stories about having a loft in your classroom. Do you love it, hate it? Do you even let you students use it?!

Don't forget! Today is the last day to enter the 100 follower giveaway!

Word Wall Cards

So I was recently inspired by a photo on pinterest to create a word wall for my pre-k guys!

This photo is originally from a great teaching blog, From Kindergarten with Love. I thought, what a great way to do a classroom word wall for pre-k, using environmental print! I always included a letter into our morning messages that goes with our theme for the week. My thought is to have families send in a label or picture starting with that letter toward the end of our unit. We can discuss them during morning messages and add them to our word wall.

Since I can't work in my classroom yet, I don't have a picture of my word wall. But I sketched out a super cute idea! (Does anyone else do this? It really helps me put my bulletin boards together!)

I did make letter cards to go with my ocean/beach theme for my word wall using clipart from Just So Scrappy Too. They were so easy! I simply added letters to the frames.

Word Wall Letters

You can download them from Scribd by clicking the document above. I was unable to upload the document to my TpT store because it was too large. (If anyone knows a way on how to reduce the file size of a pdf, let me know!)

Print Candee Digital Clip Art

I don't know what it is, but I just keep coming across the MOST adorable clipart! I have found ANOTHER clipart site that I just had to share with you! Print Candee Digital Clip Art!

I came across the Etsy shop for Print Candee first and thought oh, no, I've done it again, more clipart! I was surprised at first to see that the downloads were not instant on the Etsy shop, but then I saw that you could get instant downloads from the Print Candee website.

There are SO MANY great offers on the website just to start too! 

First, sign up for their newsletter to get $25 worth of free downloads! Um, hello, who wouldn't take advantage of that?!

Second, join Print Candee on facebook and get a coupon for 1 free set!

Third, there is a coupon code offer for 30% off your purchase of $10.00 or more! There is even a blog for Print Candee too!

You really have got to check them out! So much cute stuff (great for all of the owl lovers out there too! :) ) Leave a comment and let me know what great finds you find over at Print Candee.

Ps. Again, I'm just blogging about this clipart site because I fell in love with the designs!

 

Home Bulletin Board Makeover

Here's a post for the crafty portion of the blog! I recently did a makeover to a bulletin board in my room. This bulletin board has been around f.o.r.e.v.e.r. It might even be on it's last life. I'm sure my older sister used it at one point and during my middle school days I adopted it and made it look like this:

See the pink and yellow gingham ribbon around the edges of the board? Ps. this board clearly became a catch all for small items that didn't have a home. Such as thank you cards and silly little gift items.

Now my bulletin board happily looks like this:

The colors match my bedspread and new colors I'm using in my room. (Black, yellow and gray). I even re-painted the words at the top and added a new larger word in the middle.

In case you're just starting to join this blog, I still live with my parents. (It's ok, I'm only 22.) And while I have moved on from the pink and green bedroom walls I have, I can't convince my roommates parents, to re-paint my room. So, we all have to pretend my walls aren't green.

I simply removed the pink and yellow gingham ribbon on the board previously, but was left with this:

Awesome. Hot glue attached to the wood that is, NOT. COMING. OFF. I just painted over top of the glue and wood with gray acrylic paint. Covering it with the ribbon helped to hide the raised glue. The white ric rac also helps to hide the glue designs.

The words I re-painted were the ones already on top of the bulletin board and the large LOVE was found in Marshalls clearance for $3.00.

I sprayed each word with a coat of spray primer and then a coat of white spray paint. From there I painted them the different colors.

I may decide to do more to the word LOVE and I ended up not using the word wish again at all, but hey, maybe it will find a new home!


I love the updated look of my bulletin board! Have you recently taken a break from your classroom and revamped something in your home?

Don't forget to enter the giveaway ending July 29, 2011!

PBS Video

SO I went up to school today for a PBS meeting and we decided that for our kick off this year we wanted to create a video for the teachers to show in their classrooms. (Rather than expecting 330 kindergartners to sit in a gymnasium within in the first few weeks of school)

Woo hoo how fun! Well....I have to write the script/skit for our video! I have ideas, but I've never done something like this before. We are going to focus our video on 3 different areas; the classroom, cafeteria, and bus. We hope to display kids using their ABC's and not using their ABC's. So now I'm asking for your help!

Does your school have a PBS video that promotes your PBS program? If so, what are some of the pro's or con's about it?

Do you have any great ideas for a PBS video?

Do you know any great resources for a PBS video?

Have you ever helped to put anything like this together?!

You are all excellent resources so I knew this would be a great place to start!

Don't forget! Giveaway ends on Friday!

100 Follower Giveaway!

100 followers!! I made it! When I first started my blog I never thought I would have this many followers! I was excited just to have 8! So now I want to give a big THANKS and celebrate reaching 100 with a giveaway!

I recently made a name sign to hang on my classroom door out of an 8x10 canvas.

And now I'd like to give you a chance to win one yourself! I used my cricut to do the letters, and applied a coat of spray gloss for protection when I was finished. The winner of the giveaway will choose a theme and/or colors for their name sign! If you'd like something other than chevron stripes you may choose that as well.

Ready to enter?! Here's how:

1. Follow my blog.

2. Follow Creating & Teaching on facebook.

(yes! new facebook page!)

3. Add my blog button to your blog.

4. Post a blog entry about this giveaway with a link back to this post.

Please leave 1 comment for each way you enter the giveaway. The giveaway will end Friday July 29, 2011 and the winner will be chosen at random on Saturday July 30. The winner has 48 hours to contact me by e-mail at creatingandteaching(at)hotmail(dot)com.

Good luck to everyone!

Erin Bradley Designs

So here is a website I just HAD to share with everyone. If you share a love for clipart (as most of us do) then you will love Erin Bradley Designs! Her stuff is a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e! At first I thought $5.00 per pack was a little steep, but then I figured you are getting 10 papers in a pack, so that's really .50 cents a paper and they are definitely worth it! If she ever had a sale, I think I might die and go to heaven!
**EDIT: after exploring her blog, she does have sales periodically!! woo hoo!!

There is also an Erin Bradley Designs Blog you can check out! There you can find links to Ink Obsession Designs, a website for invitations, and Ebee Paperie for stationary! SO CUTE!

Now I'm off to peruse the websites some more and hopefully not spend too much on clipart and paper! I hope you find this stuff just as cute as I have!

Do you have any great clipart websites to share? Leave a comment!
(p.s. I am not being paid to share these websites, I simply fell in love with them!)

Christmas in July!

Just thought I would join in on the Christmas in July fun and get a jump start on some Christmas activities. Well, one Christmas activity!

Just in case that is too small for you to read, this is a set of counting cards where students can count the pictures and then either find the matching number card, or for older students, laminate the cards and they could use a dry erase marker to write the number in. I used clipart from Lettering Delights and Digi Web Studio to create this cards. EDIT**(yes there is a typo in my images regarding clipart. It has been fixed on the actual documents.)

The set also includes 2 blank cards and 2 blank small squares. You could make more copies of this if you wish, but students could also use dry erase markers to draw their own objects and fill in numbers, etc.


You can download this item in my TpT Store! The item will be free until 11:00pm July 18, 2011 (Eastern Time)! After that, it will be listed for sale!

I love having a TpT store, but I could use some pricing advice from the TpT veterans out there! :) I would love any advice you can provide!

Classroom Songs Linky Party

Hadar, over at Miss Kindergarten is having a linky party for classroom songs. We all use songs in our classroom whether they are on CD's, we sing them (even if we can't carry a tune), or we make up little songs throughout the day.

My favorite part about singing with the little guys is not only how much they love it, enjoy it, and respond to it, but how they have no clue whether or not I have the tune right! :)

This linky party forced me to put some of my go-to songs onto cute paper and print them out. Now I will have them for my classroom AND copies to put in my sub binder!

I can't take credit for any of these songs myself. They are all ones I learned through my placements and student teaching while in college!

First song: "Hello, Children"

 We sing this song at the beginning of greeting time to say Hello to everyone! As the child's name is said they wave and/or say Hi!

Hello Children

Second song: "Days of the Week"

This is a new song I am going to use this year. Last year we used the traditional Days of the Week song, but I think the students will love this. Sing it to the tune of the "Adam's Family"
Days of the Week

Third song: "Open Shut Them"
We sing this during snack time. Once everyone has washed their hands, we sing and students keep their hands in their lap until everyone has been served.
Open Shut Them

Fourth Song: "Books Away"
As my students finish their snack they go over to pick a book to read. When it's time to put our books away, I sing this quick little jingle and the students often join in!

Books Away

I'm loving all of the new songs I am finding with everyone's entries to the linky party! Head on over to post your own! Leave me a comment if you join in so I can check out your songs!

Blog Button Update

So, the recent blog mixer link up party got me thinking about my blog button. And then it dawned on me. My button is most likely wider than most people's side bars & if you're like me, you want all the blog buttons you have to fit!


THEN I realized, that while I had changed the link in one of my codes, I never changed it in the code you post! So, it still displayed my old blog button!

GOOD NEWS! SMALLER BLOG BUTTON & CORRECT BLOG BUTTON!

On my side bar, it still appears larger. Not sure why, but I'm pretty sure when you copy the code it comes out smaller! If it's still too wide for your blog, let me know!

Doodle Bugs Teaching Giveaway!

My name is Erin and I have an addiction. To all things cute stationary! Seriously, I really do think I have a weakness for this stuff, I have a gazillion different note cards, thank you cards, note pads, to do lists, clip boards, file sorters, you name it!

So you can only imagine how I felt when I came across this WONDERFUL giveaway over at Doodle Bugs Teaching!

I also love this super cute picture she put together to advertise her giveaway! What a great idea! There are 10, yes, 10! different ways to enter this blog contest!

1. Follow Doodle Bugs Teaching Blog. [check]
2. Put my Doodle Bugs Teaching button on your blog. [check]
3. Follow Doodle Bugs Paper Blog. [check]
4. Put my Doodle Bugs Paper button on your blog. [check]
5. Follow me on Twitter. [check]
6. Follow me on Facebook. [check]
7. Follow me on Pinterest. [check]
8. Blog about this giveaway. [check]
9. Tweet about this giveaway (mention @doodlebugspaper)
10. Facebook this giveway.

Hey, 8 out of 10 isn't bad! And like most giveaways, leave one comment for each! It may sound silly, but I'm starting to feel like I need a calendar to keep track of all of these giveaways!

If this post hasn't already sent you over to her blog to enter, get there now!!

Blog Mixer Linky Party!

It's just been linky party madness! And I'm loving it! There's another linky party over at Yearn to Learn! She is having a blog mixer linky party. I love this! You can find so many new blogs in each person's post! And a huge thanks to Jennifer at First Grade Blue Skies for listing me for #1 in her link up to the party! 

Here's what you do:
1.  Find a "New Kid on the Block" (someone who has only been blogging maybe 2months or less).
2.  Find a blogger in your same grade level.
3.  Find a blogger in a different grade level.
4.  Find and grab a super cute button. 


Here are my answers...

1. A "New Kid on the Block" blog for me would be: Doodle Bugs Teaching! Doodle bugs is not necessarily new to the blogging world, BUT the teaching blog is new & I'm in love! EXCELLENT printables posted that can be used with multiple grade levels!




2. A blogger in my same grade level: Now this one is tricky for me! There aren't many pre-k bloggers out there, let alone special education pre-k bloggers! But I recently came across All Things Katherine. She is a pre-k teacher! I was beyond excited!

3. A blogger in a different grade level: really, I have to pick just one?! To see ALL of my favorite teaching blogs click here. But if I'm going to pick just one I'd say I really enjoy is First Grader...at Last! Her blog is adorable, I love her ideas, and her classroom and organization makes me jealous!




4. A super cute blog button: again, I have to pick just one?! I love everyone's blog buttons especially when they match the blog layout! I'm going to go with a blog button from A Teeny Tiny Teacher! (Isn't that blog name just adorable!)




Be sure to check out Yearn to Learn for the party and link up! Leave a comment if you've linked up, I'd love to find some more great teaching blogs!!

Giveaway at Target Treasures!!

As teachers, we ALL love a good deal, a bargain, a sale, or just a plain cool item we HAVE to have for the classroom. Everyone has been sharing AWESOME finds from the Target dollar spot recently and honestly, it's making me a bit jealous. I live at the beach and our closest Target is easily 30-40 minutes away. Horrible, I know.

Then, next thing I know, Hadar from Miss Kindergarten created a blog devoted to TARGET SALES. Of course I HAD to become a follower, and now I get even MORE jealous about great Target deals!




But there is good news! To celebrate all of the followers and support of her new blog, Hadar is having a giveaway for a $20 giftcard to Target!! There are 3 ways to enter, so QUICK check out her new blog Target Treasures!

I always make it a point to go to Target anytime I'm nearby & I am known to make that 30-40 minute trip just so I can go to Target! It would totally be worth it to have a giftcard to take!

Linky Party for, Linky Parties!

Sounds confusing, I know. But you should check it out, once you get there, it's really not! Over at Yearn to Learn you can find & join, a linky party that includes a list of current and previous linky parties! Not a bad idea! I added my organization linky party to the list (still trying to get more link-ups!)




There are all different ideas listed there so far. Some linky parties I've seen before and some I have not! Head on over to Yearn to Learn to check it out and if you haven't already, join in my organization Linky Party while you still can! I'd LOVE to read more ideas!

Spelling Cards!

First and foremost, can I just say how EXCITED I am to see that I made it to over 50 followers?! I didn't think it would happen! So a big THANK YOU to all of you who are following!! I've also been getting more followers on my TpT store!

I have some spelling cards to share with you that I made for a classroom activity. They are not theme related, but are on objects students most likely know. I know I won't be using these the beginning of the school year for all of my students, but there will be some who can do this right away!

There are 12 pages in the set (excuse my coloring on some pictures, I really like to drain my color cartridge before changing!!) The words include: crab, moon, flower, bird, lamb, paper, glue, bus, apple, paint, star, and rocket. The line on the page is for the students to spell out the word with little letter squares.

I laminated each individual letter and I plan on putting a velcro spot above each line for each individual letter. All my velcro is at school, so I don't have that shown on here. As you can see, the word flower is a little long for the line. You could easily trim up the letters if you'd like, or just let it go over the line as I did. All of the four letter words fit between the photo and the end of the paper.

I used clip art from Scrappin Doodles and from Lettering Delights to put this activity together. The font used is also from Lettering Delights and it's called Doodle Print!

This product is FREE in my TpT Store!

Wish List Linky Party!

I found a new teaching blog today thanks to Frogs, Bees & Under the Seas! They chose four great teaching blogs for "Shout out Saturday". Over at Really Roper you can find a linky party for classroom wish list items! My current wish list is filled with new fish items for my fish theme this year! I keep getting great catalogs in the mail and circling items like crazy! (Now, if only I had a bottom-less bank account for it all!) The most recent catalog really had some of my favorites in it. Check out their website at www.TRENDenterprises.com!

Here's an under the sea incentive pad. It comes with the stickers too! Sticker charts work great with most of my little guys!

Fish accents. I use these for alllllll kinds of things in my classroom. I use them for name tags with every new theme we do!

 

Fish stickers! These are adorable! As students are sitting down with their back packs ready to go to the buses, I give them stickers as an incentive to find their quiet voices!

Fish notepads! I label the outside of my cabinets with what is inside of them so I, or any guest of the classroom, always knows where to find something! These would be great for that!

There is lots more on my wish list too, such as new borders, and I would LOVE to find a fish themed job chart and fish themed colors! If anyone knows where I can find either, PLEASE let me know!

P.S. If you are doing a monster theme, you MUST visit this website. They have TONS of new items for a monster theme!

P.S.S. If you haven't checked out my organization linky party, scroll down past the next blog entry to link up!!

Wedding Gift

Here's an idea for a wedding gift that I thought I would share. A friend of mine recently got married in Jamaica and had a return party when her and her husband got back. It was a lot of fun! To go along with the beach theme & since I know they go to the beach with family and friends at least once a week, I came up with this gift idea!

The red stripe to go along with the Jamaica wedding!

I thought it turned out so cute! Here's what I started with.

Not the picture frame, I just forgot to move that out of the shot.

I had to use some extra stuff for presentation and to support the items in the bag. (I apologized to them for having to give them some "trash" with their gift!)

I created the tag on the bag with some clipart from Lettering Delights. I simply cut it out and put it on patterned paper and added some ribbons.

The congratulations on the card was made with the Cricut machine and the Alphalicious cartridge. I cut the blue lettering out in the shadow setting, and the red out in the "normal" setting. Both in the same size.

There's a close up of the card with the bag! I hope the newlyweds are able to enjoy their new beach bag, towels, and Red Stripes on the beach with their family soon!

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Fair!!

Organization Linky Party!

As I approach 50 followers, I thought I would have my first ever linky party! (Fingers crossed that it's a success!) I'm thinking about having a giveaway when I reach 100 followers!

I was looking through a magazine yesterday when I saw an organizer for bulletin board borders, something I've been in the market for, when I thought organization!! What a great idea for a linky party! I've seen some ideas out there for various classroom storage & organization that people have come up with on their own and what a great idea to put it all in one place!

To start, I'm going to share how I organize my theme ideas. As a Pre-K teacher, Mailbox Magazines are my first resource. I always find great ideas in there to use or to adapt for the classroom. But I hate it when I find something for a theme I might do in a month and then can't find it again. Insert my binders.

I started binders with theme ideas where I can photocopy ideas I find and insert them in page protectors behind each theme. Using page protectors also lets me put any reproducibles that go with the activity behind that page and keep it all together. Right now I have 6 binders with between 6-8 themes in each one. Over the summer I'm planning to re-work some of my binders because some of them have gotten too thick!

I simply used page dividers and labels to create my tabs. I prefer tabs to be at the top rather than on the side. Also on my to-do list for the summer is to create cute page dividers for each theme.

Now it's your turn to join in on the organizational fun!! click below to link up. I can't wait to see what everyone has to share!

Maybe the best idea for a giveaway YET!

She's at it again, that Jennifer at First Grade Blue Skies! I don't think I can keep up with the amount of giveaways she finds and posts about! Go Fourth! With Mrs. Owens is hosting a giveaway for reaching 100 followers! AND she has the best idea for a giveaway!

A 31 GIFTS ALL IN ONE ORGANIZER!

If you've never heard of Thirty One Gifts, you have got to check them out! Their stuff is so adorable, cute, and functional! (Most of their patterns are brighter than the one I found in this picture!) I think this is such a good idea for a giveaway! The winner even gets to pick out the bag design they prefer AND have their tote personalized! Mrs. Owen's has 3 ways you can enter this contest.

1. Be or become a follower of her blog. [check]

2. Blog about her giveaway. [check]

3. Post her blog button on your blog. [check]

Click her button  below, or link at the top of the post to head over to her blog to enter!

I'm certainly ready for the giveaway! Can't wait to see who the winner is!!