Last Day of June... July already?

Hello all!  I know it's been forever... It makes me so sad just to think about how long I've been away from the blogging world.  I've still kept up with things.. I just didn't post about my own happenings.  I've gone back and forth about whether or not I should share about the things going on in my life and why I haven't posted but I think that will come in time as I get back in the swing of things.  I am in a good place now, emotionally, spiritually, physically (location wise - yes I moved) so let's just say there was a lot going on but I'm very happy with where I am now and my kids are doing well also!

Sooooo..... I can't believe that July is tomorrow!  Where did June go?  I wanted to share a new theme pack I created for a teacher as a request.  It's the largest classroom set I've done and I'm very excited about it. If you are looking for a new theme or if you are doing a Camping Theme you may want to check it out!

What I love about this set is all of the Summer Camp Kidlettes and the Woodland Animals.  This set includes everything you could imagine...plus a little more! Here are some examples of what's included.

I love the Alphabet Cards with all the camping items!  All of the vowels are outlined in your choice of either pink or aqua blue.

How cute are these number posters?  The set displays the numeral, the number word, tally marks and ten frames so students can refer to these all year long! 

I love the camp signs to display the 2D and 3D shapes!

What camping theme could be complete without bug jars?  What a great way to display color words in your classroom!

Months and Days of the Week

Nameplates in different designs and colors!

I love how the word wall headers and banner turned out!  All the vowels are blue so students can distinguish the vowels from the consonants.

Classroom Jobs!  How adorable is this??!! I'm in L.O.V.E.

The set includes a welcome banner and a banner that says "READ S'MORE".  This will be so cute hanging in the classroom library! 

If you are like me... I want everything to match.  So I made tons of supply labels for tubs, bins, boxes, whatever you'd like to use them for. 

These will be adorable attached to a baggie filled with marshmallows, graham crackers and a small chocolate bar!  I thought this might be a cute back to school welcome gift!

Finally, I included tons of colored pennant flags so you can make banners for your classroom.

After I finished this pack, I decided to make all the labels, banners and binder covers editable.  So I created this add-on pack. You can check it out here: 

Last thing, I promise!  LOL My friend requested a behavior chart to match so I'm very pleased with this new chart.  It includes 2 different behavior logs and a chart explanation for parents.  Plus, when students reach the top, they get an Eagle Badge!  Take a look:

I also created these in Chevron... but I think I like the solid backgrounds more.

When students reach the top, they earn an Eagle Badge.  Here they are:

I also created an Explanation Chart to keep in your students binders or folder all year for the parents!

I wasn't sure if I would even be able to make this work since my friend wanted straight faces and a sad face on the campers at the bottom. (She teaches Kindergarten)... but I talked with Nikki from Melonheadz and she gave me permission to use the versions I modified slightly. She is so wonderful! I love her clipart and wish I could own every set!  I'd really like to be in Vegas this summer at the TPT Conference so I could take her class. I asked her if she would consider doing an online tutorial... so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that!

I guess I've posted quite a bit for one day!  I am currently reading the new version of Daily 5 and can't wait to post some about that.  I have done Daily 5 in my classroom for 4 years now and my co-workers were lucky enough to go see Gail Boushey and Joan Moser in person!  (Can you detect a little jealousy there?) It has totally transformed the way I run my classroom and I can't wait to share some things with you!  I've been loving all the posts so far! 

By the way ~ all my Camping Theme Decor is on sale TODAY (June 30th) and TOMORROW (July 1st)!  20% off ~ please share if you know a teacher choosing camping as their theme this year! Have a wonderful day! 

Prepping for the new year! And Hello again {SMILE}!

I can't believe it has almost been a year since my last post!  I will have to say I have MISSED blogging and wanted to sit down and share with you classroom and life happenings so many times... Needless to say last year was a whirlwind but since then I've finished my Master's Degree and am ready to dive back in!

So as I thought about getting back into my classroom this summer (yes already!) I have done the dots on chocolate theme for a couple years now and wanted to change it up a bit.  I have seen so many CUTE ideas and just couldn't figure out what color scheme I wanted to use.  OH - Did I tell you that we (first grade) are getting NEW desks and chairs this year? {I promise that was not a RANDOM thought} The chairs are ROYAL BLUE - So my new theme HAD to incorporate this color (or at least coordinate with it).

Anyway - I was walking through party city {I adore their lanterns and poms} and saw this:

I LOVED the royal blue with the green and aqua! And I really think a chocolate brown would look great with these colors too.  So I started thinking chevron (I have to admit I am loving all of the chevron stuff) so I started looking for borders.  I ended up ordering these from CTP:

I think they will look great with my new theme... And I plan to layer some to create the effect I want.
So now all of my items that I created last year ... it is to do all over again.  I've had a camping/forest theme for 4 years but the last few years I've been adding in more and more owls. {smile}

So I came up with a few things for my room and thought I'd share them and gather some feedback! Please let me know what you think!

First for some name plates for my new {squeal} desks:

I did these nameplates in all four colors above. See... OWLS!

I decided to change my alphabet line to also fit this color eme but couldn't decide whether to stick with the forest theme or change to owls.  SO ~ I created 2 versions!

Here is the camping version:

And here is the OWL version (which I think I'm leaning toward):

I also created cubby labels, table signs, banners and I'm changing out all my word wall stuff.  I am so excited about my new word wall headers :

I can't wait to hang these banners up!

I guess I went a little crazy and I'm still thinking of all kinds of other things I want to add (labels, charts, etc.) So hopefully I will get them done before school starts. I created a bunch of forest animal items and some BRIGHT owl items while I was at it and added those to my store as well if you are interested.  Here's a sneak peek:

Alphabet Cards 

Nameplates

And the cutest forest animals ever!  I just LOVE Scrappin Doodles!

I am really looking forward to getting back to blogging.  I am SORRY this post is super long!  I hope to get back in the swing of things and be ready for Throwback Thursday next week. I'm attending a Whole Brain Teaching conference in a couple of weeks and I'm the coach for our PBiS team and we are implementing this year {More to come on both subjects}. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

"OWL" see ya later! 

P.S. ~ Everything in my TPT Store right now is 20% until Sunday, July 14th!  

Camping/Forest Theme Classroom Ideas

Is tomorrow already the 4th of July?!  Yikes!  I don't know about you - but it is H-O-T here in Missouri!  Since I have been spending a lot of time indoors due to the heat, I have been able to sit down and create some things that I want to use in my classroom next year.  Many of them were pinterest inspired but I thought I would share what I've been up to.

Don't you just LOVE the writing choice boards that have been floating around pinterest?  I have seen several that I love but I wanted to create one that went along with my camping/forest themed classroom.  So I sat down and came up with this... Warning:  I had to lay these out on my table or my bed to see how they will look on a bulletin board.  Sorry for the ugliness - but hopefully you can use your imagination and see the possibilities with a cute background and border.  We cannot get into our classrooms until August!

This will give you an idea of what my bulletin board will look like:

So then I thought it was too dark of a background so here is another picture:

After I cut these out - I decided I wanted to have the option to just cut out a square instead of all the little nooks and crannies!  Whew...my hands were aching!  So I came up with this - I haven't decided which one I will use yet - So I printed this one out on paper so I could see how it looked.

I made some generic list cards to go with "Make a List" part of the board.  There are 12 cards but here are a few of them. I plan to laminate, put on a ring and hang on my board next to the "Make a List" choice.

While I was at it, I created some recipe cards, letter templates (forest themed), list templates, and created the cards to make the title of this board.  I'm not sure how many out there do a camping theme - but if you are interested you can find them here at my TPT store.

I also made some new name plates for my student desks.  I print these out and laminate them and then USUALLY adhere them to my desks with contact paper.  This year I think I'm going to use velcro to attach my name plates.  I like to use cable ties to hold my desks together so when I need to move students around - I don't have to move their desks - just their name plates!  

I made 2 sets - one set is specifically geared for FIRST GRADE and the other is for ANY GRADE.  Here are a few examples:

You can find the first grade set below and the one for ANY GRADE here.

Next year we are going to be focusing more on the six traits and I decided that I wanted some posters that went along with my theme that students could reference after I teach each trait.  I just LOVE how they turned out... here are a few:

I tried to use simple language that my first graders could understand.  I made a poster for each of the traits plus 1 for Presentation.  If you are interested here is the link:

Last, I just love some of the alphabet cards that I have seen lately and I have been wanting to do something that was "foresty" or camping related so I sat down today and made these cards.  I printed some of them out and hung them in my office just to see if I would like them.  I can't wait to replace my old, faded, ugly alphabet line above my Smart Board!  Here is a picture but it was very sunny so it is a little dark:

Here are some of the cards included in the set... I just LOVE dots on chocolate!

I decided to outline the vowels in pink so they will stand out a bit from the consonants.  I am so excited about these - I am ready to head to the laminator!  Click on the picture below to go to my TPT store.

Well - I didn't mean for this post to be SOOOOO long.  I had several emails asking me to create some more woodland themed items.  I have a few more ideas that I hope to add very soon - but I almost forgot - I am having a SALE in celebration of the 4th of July!  Everything in my store is 20% off until Friday, July 6th.  Hope you are keeping cool in this 100+ degree heat!  Have a great day!