I hope everyone is having a great summer! I just got back from a super fun trip to Boston with the hubby to celebrate our anniversary, and meet a blogging buddy in real life as a bonus! We had nev

This week, I had the sincere pleasure of reading Marjan Glavac's book Teaching Is...Moments that inspire and Motivate Teachers to Make a Difference.  It was a heartfelt book, full of real life thing

For those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile, you will know that I am not super crafty.  AT.  ALL.  I have NO IDEA how to sew by hand correctly, or even what a bobbin is (which tells

For those of us who have taught the grades 3-6 range, I am sure you might agree that teaching with geoboards is always an even that students look forward to each year.  Geoboards can be both a power

    Happy 4th of July to all my US teaching friends!  I hope you are enjoying this day of celebration with those that matter the most!  That is my plan for today ---  catch you tomorrow all!

Hi all!  As I have been working on creating more beach themed items for the Beach Theme Category at the store, I realized that many of the items within the clip art were actual items I could go to m

Hi friends!  I am super excited to pair up with Shelley Gray of Teaching in the Early Years for a review/giveaway swap this week!  I am reviewing her fabulous Early Finishers Board product, and she

I don't know about you, but there are certain times when I have taught a lesson when I could tell from the glassy looks that I was speaking a foreign language to a majority of my class (can we say d

    Today I had an opportunity to review Educational Insight's GeoSafari Plankton Net and it was a blast!  While I had a choice between several GeoSafari items in EI's catalog, I knew right away t

It goes without saying that teaching a new math concept will almost always benefit from a hands-on component. Fractions definitely fall into this category. My students were pretty bright this year and

Hi friends!  I know some of you have some extra classroom funds to clear away (I hear that smirking from some of you - I feel ya) and were asking for new and novel ideas.  Well, I found this very c

Hi Everyone! I know that many of you are now beginning your summer break. Probably the last thing on your mind is the 2012-2013 school year. I feel the same way. But in a month or so I know thoughts o

Here is part of an article I wrote for a local publication, called Macaroni Kids.  I changed it up a bit for the OC Fans!  I figured many of you are home with the kiddos this summer and of course you

I am all about saving time, and with Edmodo and Animoto, you can share memories of your school year in just a matter of minutes.   This past school year, I was introduced to Edmodo, and I absolutely

  Check out my newest idea:  Block Learning!  It's pretty simple really, just grab some blocks of wood and some stickers - that's it!  Now, I have to tell you I went to the craft store to grab my b

Today I was honored to be able to review Shape Sorting Presents from Learning Resources and this was so much fun!  The set is a simple concept:  it comes with 6 different boxes and a set of 90 super

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?  I started this blog and Facebook fan page back in the beginning of February of last year, and a a year and a half later - look how far we have come!  I literally remember beggin

This is just a quick tip for my fellow bloggers/social media friends, so if you are not interested in this - stop by the Teaching Tips Category right here in the category search function of the blog

Morning and happy Sunday teaching friends!  I have some super exciting news and I couldn't wait to share it!  I did a "little" shopping yesterday (ok let's be honest, I was online for more than 8 ho

So, as I was creating the Common Core skill ring card pouch for the Common Core Student Data Binder post I did the other day, I realized that you could use the pouches for lots of different supplies

I know data binders are really in right now, and I have always found them to be a great student motivator.  Since they are personalized for the child, you can really sit with each student to discuss

Hi friends!  I know the year is winding down for some, but for others (especially my teaching friends on the other side of the world), school is in full session.  So today I thought I would post a f

Hi all!  Well, you may or may not know this about me, but I LOVE coats and bags.  I am sort of addicted.  Not so much shoes (my flip flops work for most of the year, even in winter).  But show me a

In an ever changing society where high stakes testing is so important we begin to leave vital information on the back burner because we can’t afford to purchase, spend time on, or even teach adequ

  Hey Friends! Denise here from Sunny Days in Second Grade. It hardly seems possible, but this is my last guest post for the school year! Next month at this time I will be well rested, well-read a