Games, Games, & More Games...

Can I puh-lease just give a shout out to Jill at Maervelous Multiagers because she knew my W sign was the Cubbies win sign?! I may be slightly obsessed with baseball... and sports in general ❤

Okay so after spending the rest of the day with my brother, who I mentioned earlier, all I have to say is bless all of your hearts that have children. I'm still in my mid-20's so I'm not at that point yet. I have my own baby.. he's 25 pounds, and white with black spots. Oh, he has a wet nose, long tail, and big, floppy ears as well!! I love my 30 kiddos I spend the day with, but I love giving them back at 3:30 and having my peace.

{ohh... heeeey there bloggy friends!}

Anyway, I've been busy turning and twisting through ideas in my little head for miscellaneous things that could be useful around the classroom. Is anyone looking for something specific? I've really been concentrating on making some games that are more 3rd grade specific. I know I've posted some of them, but I'll post all the ones I've made in the past week. All of them are posted on

My Teacher's Notebook:

So here are some of the things I've made. I wish I had my new 3rd grade resources so I could figure out what else I should make. Anyway, once the new computer is all ordered and delivered I'll make some more games that are more primary too!!

{mixing contraction with the words that make them up}
*umm... hello?! this one's free!!!*

 {matching root words with their 're' or 'un' prefixes}

 {go fish style antonym matching game}

{concentration style homophone matching game}

{concentration style synonym matching game}

{war style card game determining if there's a prefix or suffix}

{matching the scoop with the cone to make a compound word}

*another freebie!!!*

So that takes care of that!! Now some of you may have seen these:

But... well... I'm not so sure I love them. So I made these as well. I'm sure I'll probably make 15 more versions before school starts, but for now I'm using these for my word wall.

Word Wall Letter Cards

I also use a binder that I call my Reflection Journal. It has a cover and is full of pages where students draw and write about the unacceptable choices they have made. They usually do this if they move to the 2 bottom colors of the clip chart. It helps them realize why the decision(s) they made weren't the best ones. I usually only have the parents sign them in really bad situations. I also make copies before I send them home and to make sure there is one in the student's file. I remade mine to match my zebra room, I also made 2 polka dot versions, and because I know quite a few of you are doing a cowboy theme... I made one for all of you. Here are a few versions:

Zebra RJ

Dots RJ

Red Dots RJ

Cowboy RJ

Winners!

 

Okay so most you probably have NO CLUE what this is/means!

We'll save that for another day ;-)

We have a winner!! (Actually 2 winners!!) 

I still am in complete amazement that I have so many followers already.

I can't thank everyone enough for all of the comments and advice.

You are all AMAZING times a million.

Winner Number 1:

{Umm... my first go at a giveaway and it picks 23?!? Weird!!}

That's's my birthday and favorite number!!

Scrapin Shana said:

 Winning Number 2:

Louanne said:

Congrats to both of you!! Make sure you send me an e-mail at Teachinheels@gmail.com.

Well I finally comfortably seated in my air conditioned apartment... after spending the entire morning and early afternoon in the pool with my visitor, my brother, who's going to be a freshman in high school. It really makes me realize how happy I am I teach the little guys. LOL! So we're staying inside because... well... this is what the temperature reads right now:

We'll be spending the rest of the night inside. I have lots of ideas floating around in my head. So expect a post later with hopefully some cute stuff :)

New Computer Anyone?!

My baby, my darling Inspiron that has gotten me through 2 years of college and now 2 years of teaching is in overload. I think she's ready to die any moment now. Her battery only lasts minutes (okay a bit more than that, but still), her keys occasionally stick weirdly, she slows down sometimes (maybe because I have a gazillion fonts, a gazillion files of clip art and pictures, and usually 432 windows open), and now... the kicker... her mouse keypad button is sticking. All I have to do is graze my finder on it and it clicks whatever the arrow is close to. Needless to say I spent some time perusing Dell today. I'm thinking a purchase in the near, very near, future is in store. Until that happens I may not be posting as much stuff, because well I'm getting frustrated with it. I did make some stuff today, but I'm about 2 seconds from slobbering all over the keyboard so I'll save that for the morning along with the 2 winners of my giveaway!! Woo Hoo!!

Here's a quick peek:

❤ Goodnight Loves ❤

Comprehension Beanie Babies

 My poor computer is a wreck... I was digging through to see what 1st grade stuff I've made that I could post and would be useful for everyone. I found these and I got all kinds of excited!! I love using these in my room. Maybe because I was a diehard beanie baby collector and it makes me happy knowing they're being put to good use. I was thinking maybe I won't use these in 3rd grade, but then I realized as I look at them, they'd probably be put to more use in 3rd grade. If anyone's ever looking for some beanies... I'm pretty sure my very favorite, best friend was just talking about how she wish she could find someone to buy hers! LOL!

Only 1 day left of my giveaway!! Go enter!!
I'm giving away 2 Scentsy Teacher Warmers!!

Strategy Beanie Babies

6 Traits Writing Posters

We use the series Good Habits, Great Readers. In 1st grade the writing program was very... I dunno, dry? Not really dry, but it stretched things out WAY too long for firsties! I'm excited to see what 3rd grade's consists of, or maybe I'm dreading it? No really, I'm keep an open mind! Anyway I still think the 6 Traits are a key of writing so here are my posters... I spiced them up a bit from what they used to look like. I have a polka dot version and a zebra version. I started to do a primary colors one, but everything wouldn't edit well, so I didn't continue... Sorry all my primary color friends!! I also posted polka dot library labels in the post below that talked about how I sorted my library.

6 Trait Posters

6 Trait - Dots

Library Organization

So I've been meaning to post this, but I couldn't get my labels finished. I just kept avoiding them. For the past 2 years I've struggled to find a way to organize my library that I really loved. I combined a bunch of different ideas I saw all over until I found one I really loved and that worked for my kiddos. Now 3rd graders I'm sure have a bit more of an ability to sort books than my firsties did, but I'm still going to keep my system.

I have the shoe box size bins from Walmart. I have this OCD likeness about me, so the idea of having different bins bugged me too much. These are oober cheap (especially when you find a deal on PT to get them for under a dollar)! 

 

The labels have the chapter series/theme of that bin, a picture of a book that would fit into that category, and a number. Here's one of the labels:

Now each book has a thin label wrapped around the spin on the bottom left of the book. On the front is the number that matches with the corresponding bin as well as the level on the back. I will not level my books. I think it is key that students figure out how to find "just right" books. Students get so fixated on levels that they'll start competing and focusing on the level. The level is a way that they can check themselves later, or if a student is really having trouble finding a just right book. I've seen a very similar system to this. Here's what the spine looks like:

So that's pretty much it. It's actually the most simple I've ever encountered too. It does help that I had to buy 99% of my books this summer because I needed chapter books. I have most of the major chapter series in their own bins... I combined anything I didn't have a lot of or expect to collect a lot more of. I do plan on having a dozen or so bins of picture books. 

I have to also say that I've had a lot of people outside of my school to tell me to keep the picture books out, but by the end of first grade a good majority of our kids are already reading Magic Tree House and starting to phase out of most chapter books. I talked to one of my future team members and she gave me suggestions based off of what she saw her kiddos doing these past 2 years, that's why the majority of my picture books will be hidden away in storage (with hopes of returning to a firsty library one day).

Book Bin Labels

DOT Book Bin Labels

They're obviously very specific to my library, but if anyone has any interest I'd definitely consider making a generic set for more primary levels.

Busted!

So funny story, or at least it's funny to me. So we're sitting here watching the British Open, playing video games (okay, so that one's not me) and creating things (that's me). As I'm creating this sign, the boyfriend questions why the sign says Ms. Smith and why I keep signing everything "Krystyi." I explain to him, I wasn't trying to somehow keep some part of me a secret, until he then enlightens me that everything else I've created that I (force) ask him to look at says "Christie" or "Ms. Hilliard."

Okay so I'm busted... I tried to keep myself somewhat of a secret. Maybe because the first go around with a blog, I had someone steal my identity. YES!! They stole my name, my creations, etc!! Who would do that?!? So that's why I took a brief hiatus from blogging. That also brings me to why I will only post PDF versions of things. I am more than happy to change things to the best of my ability to fit your theme, but I won't post things in Word form because that's why I did last time, and look where I ended up. I hope everyone can understand this. Has anyone else ever had anyone steal anything from them? Who woulda have thought my fun bloggy experience would have started that way! Okay I've babbled long enough!! 

My main point of this post is really that I created this sign, and I posted more versions with other themes in my store. The clip art letters are glittery and amazingly awesome {I love all things glitter} I will customize them to the best of my ability, including backgrounds, etc. I know many of you are owl, polka dot, cowboy theme-ers and I want to help all of you as much as possible. If you have any questions let me know.

{the real one, not the disguised, trying to hide one! lol!}