Currently January 2015

I can't believe it's going to be 2015. Doesn't that feel like such a futuristic year? Maybe it's just me but I remember when it was New Years Eve 1999 and being so excited for the year 2000. I can't believe that was 15 years ago!

Listening- We've been binging on Netflix since we got home yesterday. My husband is watching "Crimes of the Century" right now while I'm reading "The Devil in the White City."

Loving- Our house is clean. I spent all week before we left (two weeks ago) making the house spotless so when we came home we would have one less thing to do and could relax. And now I've got my scentsy on with Christmas Cottage inside- best. smell. ever.

Thinking- about jury duty. We got home after 2 weeks of travelling all over the country (four Christmases) to a fun jury summons letter. Man, they don't give you much time to prepare! I'll have to take off a full week the second week we return to school. I am NOT looking forward to writing a week's worth of sub plans.

Wanting- I am going over to a friend's new house tonight for a party with lots of snacks, fun and games! Really looking forward to it and wishing it was 7:00 already!

Needing- More days off- I know. I'm greedy. I haven't relaxed at all yet though.

Yes to running- always my resolution!
Maybe to being open to opportunities.. more on that later in the month!
And I'm always wishing for a lifetime of happiness for my family and friends.
Happiness to me would be lots of travelling and memories in 2015!

Two for Tuesday Sale {8.19.14}

It's time for Two For Tuesday time! These two products will be 50% off in my store TODAY ONLY! Everything on sale today will be chevron-themed!

The first item for sale is Chevron Name Plates. They are simple, clean and chevron to put on your students' desks. These are SUPER cheap so check them out {here}.

The second item for sale in my shop today is the Chevron Class Calendar cards. Use the included cards in this resource to display a calendar on a bulletin board, pocket chart or your board! I used to have a purchased calendar from a teacher store, but I lost a few of the cards so I had to make this one. This way if you lose a piece of your calendar (a month or a day..) then you can just reprint! Check them out {here}.

And speaking of sales, did you hear that TPT is having a ONE-DAY back to school BOOST sale?! It's tomorrow!!!! Every single item in my shop will be 20% off. If you use the promo code BOOST you can get 10% off on top of that! Check out my store {here} to start adding items to your wishlist for tomorrow's sale!

Five for Friday {8.15.14}

Linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!!

Shopping, lots and lots of shopping this week! I love back to school season. New clothes and fresh new school supplies. And I found that cute lil dog figurine! He's going to go on my desk at school :)

My sister's birthday was last weekend so we had a whole weekend of celebrations planned!

I love my green smoothies. That is all. 

One of the activities we had planned last weekend was paintball! It was SO much fun. I'd been before but that was in high school. This place was so awesome so if you're ever looking for paintball places in the Northern VA area, check out Hogback Mountain Paintball!

I started a facebook and an instagram for Fourth Grade Lemonade! Click the pictures to follow each!

Can't wait to go through the linky and see what everyone else did this week!

Meet the Teacher!

Hey bloggy world! My name is Caitlyn. I'm a 25-year old teacher in Virginia. This will be my fourth year teaching fourth grade. I'm so excited to be in fourth grade again this year because I just love that age group.

I married my husband last September! We met at Beaver Stadium at Penn State a few days before freshman year started. We were friends first and started dating a few months later. He's been my best friend ever since.

We have a puppy named Brooklyn. She's a miniature schnauzer and she'll be 3 in October. She is the snuggliest, laziest fluffball you've ever met.

          

This summer I've been travelling, reading and spending time with family!

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS:

              

Top Chef, Running and coffee!

I'm addicted to Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee. I go to bed excited to wake up in the morning to have my coffee.

IF YOU WEREN'T A TEACHER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE?

I originally went to college to be a journalist, so maybe some type of writer. When I was little my dreams included ballerina and marine biologist. I can also type really fast so I would have loved to be a Mad Men era secretary to channel my inner Christina Hendricks. Clearly I have no viable back-up plans!

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU:

Dedicated. Caring. Loyal.

FINISH THIS SENTENCE, "_________ SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!!"

In the spirit of going back to school- I love going to a million PD meetings rather than setting up my room said no teacher ever!

My district has teachers go back a week and a half before the students so we can go to tons of workshops. While many of them are useful (I love SIOP!!!) they're time-consuming and you're just dying to finish laminating, hanging, sorting, taping, etc.

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE {DEAD OR ALIVE} TO THE PARTY, WHO ARE YOU INVITING?

I'd have to go with Harry Potter. (Hey, it didn't say anything against fictional characters!)

IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?

The Girl Who Loved Carbs

YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER, WHAT IS IT?

Definitely teleportation. I work about an hour away from my house because I love where I work and I love where I live, but I do NOT love the drive.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. I'm a terrible singer, but I love the song.

I love Jose and Alexa from RealityChangers' rendition of it here:

ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL?

100% Night Owl. I become basically nocturnal during the summers.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCE THAT YOU'VE CREATED IN YOUR TPT SHOP?

I put a ton of hard work into my Literacy Centers Starter Kit. It's for 3-5th graders and I created it because I remember being so lost about creating centers my students could handle independently. Now that I've got a handle on it, I wanted to share. These are super easy... just print, and hand out! Most of the activities can be applied to ANY book, so you need minimal supplemental resources :)

SHARE SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU!

I had the chicken pox three times as a kid!

You can join in on the fun too!!

Monday Made-It {8.11.2014}

We start school relatively late in my district, but I've been seeing everyone's back to school posts and it really had me inspired this week so I have been crafting and creating like crazy!

I got this idea from Shanyn at Coffee, Kids and Compulsive lists {here}! I loved it because it's SO simple... one of those ideas where you wonder- why didn't I think of that?!

All of my popsicle sticks got a washi tape makeover! I got blue and green chevron washi tape at Michael's and wrapped the tops of the sticks. These are the sticks that go in a jar that I pull to pick names. If you notice in the top right picture, make your "seams" on one side so that you can write the students' names on the neater side.

But I didn't just make these because they were cute, there's a reason!

Step 1: All the names in a jar, washi tape up.
Step 2: Pull out a name.
Step 3: Put the name stick back in the jar, washi tape DOWN.
Step 4: NOW I know which names I've called and which names I haven't because I can tell which side the washi tape is on. Brilliant!

Since I got a whole set of popsicle sticks and washi tape, I continued using them to finally make an idea I've had for a while!

Team Name Generator!!!

I always, always, always have my students pick their team names whenever we're playing some sort of game in my class (and we play a lot of games). It makes them excited about the activity and gives them ownership of their group. HOWEVER, sometimes it takes a long time and a lot of the time it leads to bickering between students about what the team name should be.

Enter... team name generator.

I put one washi tape (blue chevron) on half the popsicle sticks and another color (green chevron) on the other half of my popsicle sticks. On the green popsicle sticks I wrote a bunch of adjectives (sparkly, angry, courageous, polka-dotted, purple, funky...) and on the blue I wrote nouns (penguins, unicorns, tigers, bears, eagles...)

Have each team pick one blue and one green popsicle stick and....

They've got their name! In this case, it was the cheerful sharks, ha!

I thought this could be fun, but it also reinforces adjectives and nouns. I'll be saying "Ok, pick an adjective...now a noun..." all year.

I also made a calendar display for my chevron-themed classroom this year:

It includes the months, days of the week and days 1-31 for you to display in your classroom. I had a calendar that I bought from a teaching store, but I lost the "31" number so then it looked ridiculous with my homemade non-matching 31 so I put this set together. Now if I lose a number, I can just reprint.

You can have this set too if you'd like! Hop on over to my TPT store.

You can also purchase all of my chevron-themed classroom sets in a brand-new bundle {here}.

Aside from chevron, I'm also obsessed with anchors and anything nautical. So, I also made a set of nautical binder covers! The set includes fifteen binder covers for all of your back-to-school organizational needs. Every year I say I'm going to be more organized so this was step ONE!

Favorite Pin Friday {8.8.2014}

This pin is from Mary at Teaching with a Mountain View. How easy is this idea?! Give the kids a pile of task cards and they have to answer their card right in order to go their turn. Connect 4, Life, Monopoly, whatever games you have on hand!

I pinned this cute lunch count board from Tara at And They All Fall Down because it's SO simple and I have a bunch of washi tape already that I can use. I don't have a cricut to cut any vinyl for the letters to stick on my boards so I'll be going to a craft store and purchasing some stickers from the scrapbooking aisle. Then if you notice in the bottom, she's got her numbered magnets that the kiddos sort into their choice of the day. The custom numbered magnets are made by her as well in her TPT store Tea and Coffee.

My students and I were all obsessed with this song this year so I adore this anchor chart that could also be used as a bulletin board during a geometry unit. The shapes are all "saying" their characteristics. And then there's the fox who's just all happy and cute in the middle and makes me smile. This pin is from Linda at Around the Kampfire.

There's also an accompanying fox-themed geometry activity in her store to do with your students {here}!

My purchases in the BTS sale!

 I am so excited about my haul in this year's BTS sale! The sale isn't over yet, so I wanted to share my finds so that you still have enough time to snag these resources on sale if you'd like!

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Powerpoint Template- This is completely editable and I can use it to review all sorts of content in my classroom on my SMART Board. I use review games a LOT in my class so I'm super excited about this find from Best Teacher Resources. She has a ton of other Powerpoint review TV games that I wishlisted for the future (modeled after Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Jeopardy or Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader) as well as other review games like Connect 4.

I need help! Number Cards- I can already tell that these are going to be a life saver in my class! Usually when I'm doing guided reading or writing conferences, I have students that need help but I can't get to them because I'm busy. With this new product, I can have the students grab a numbered card and call them over in order when I have a free moment. This way the students can get back to work quickly and I can minimize interruption time. So glad I found this!

Kid Team Signs- These signs are from the wonderful Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics and I've been eyeing them up ever since she posted her Monday Made It last week. She added them to her store this week! They are just SO cute. I plan on printing two of each sign, gluing them together back to back, laminating and then hanging them from the ceiling on a string over each table in my classroom. 

Mystery Walker Tool Kit- This tool kit from Leslie's Locker has been on my wish list all summer. I was intrigued when I saw the title of this product, but I was sold when I read the first sentence of the product description: "Looking for a way to help keep your students quiet and well behaved in the hallways?" Um yes!!! So every day the students will know the teacher has their eye on a "mystery walker" of the day, but the students don't know who it is so they all have to be on their best behavior in the hallway because if it was them all day AND they were a model citizen in the hallways, they get a happy note home! I think this is a super cute idea and I know that my kids always like when random names are pulled... plus the mystery all day just makes this a winning system that I can't wait to implement!

Line Up Buddies- This product is a great classroom management tool from Michelle at Apples and ABCs! I always stagger my students lining up (usually by colors they're wearing or by birthday months) but sometimes it's hard to me to keep track of what I've already called and I struggle coming up with new ideas so this tool is great! You pull a stick out of the jar (remember how I love pulling random names?!) and it will say something like "If your name starts with ____" and the teacher fills in the blank. Easy, fun, printable, done. You can read more about this product at Michelle's blog post about the resource {here}.

Bulletin Board Banners- These little pendants from popular TPT store SunnyDays have been sitting on my wishlist for a while and I am so happy to have finally purchased them! These are themed pendants that can be displayed in your classroom. The product comes with a set of 25 (back to school, summer, field trip, book report). I will print these out and have my students write and color on their pendants and then they will be hung on a hallway wall on a string. Cute, quick and easy! I think parents will love finding their child's little banner at Back to School Night!!!

Nautical Name Plates- I love anchors. Ok, I'm borderline obsessed with them. But how cute are these name tags from Style and Paste?! I love buying digital name tags because you pay a small fee ONCE and then reprint them every year, rather than paying like $5 for a pack of 20. Brilliant. Adorable. Sold. Happy teacher.

Measurement Facts and Conversions SMART Board Pack- These are cute and colorful, but they're also jam-packed with content, which is to be expected since they are from the incredibly amazing FlapJack Educational Resources. I teach in a non-common core state but these SMART Board lessons align perfectly to our measurement standards in Virginia as well. Included in this pack are lessons on capacity, metric length, time, customary length and weight. Seriously these SMART Boards are so good I almost feel like I'm cheating as a teacher by buying them. But I'm ok with that!

Owl Poke Multiplication Cards- I also purchased this from FlapJack Educational Resources mainly because owls. But really because they're self-checking! You can see a video about how to set these cards up and use them {here}. I can set up a center or have this as a fast finisher activity and the students can be whizzing through these cards getting immediate feedback while I can be helping another group of students. Score!

Sooooo clearly I went a little overboard and unfortunately for my bank account, I can keep shopping today! Hope everyone is having a great time taking advantage of the sales!