A 1,000 Likes GIVEAWAY!

Head over to Quite A Pear and enter the 1,000 likes GIVEAWAY! Over $50 in prizes. If you are bummed about not winning the label/ribbon set here is your second chance to win $25 worth of bucket/label/ribbon "stuff" ALONG with a Harper Infinity Scarf, from my other "pear".

Isn't it pretty!!!

You can also enter here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

THE caddies

Most of you know, by now, my other business is bucket/caddy making...or designing or decorating.... it's hard to really put a label on what I do (small pun intended). Anyway a TON of you have asked where I get my caddies. I've always, sort of, kept it a secret because I felt it would take away from my business. But having moved cross country and getting tired of shipping the bulky caddies to everyone I let the cat out of the bag!

TARGET! I know right!!! Every summer season (right before school gets out), and has been this way for the past three or four years, Target has released season caddies. The are technically called utensil caddies. Every year they change just a little bit. Last year was the round caddy, this year is the rectangular caddy (they had one similar two years ago). Then right before school starts they go on sale...and the white ones seem to be "ghost-like" because two years running they have not been available online while they are on sale. Hummmm.

So now that all the teachers are going to run to their Target to find them, don't forget to see me at Quite A Pear for the labels and ribbon!!! Here is the link for the Target caddies.

There was a question about how much did the current rectangular caddy hold. It is larger than the round ones from last year. I took a picture of mine in my room this year...with a few things in it so that maybe you can get an idea.

Note the scissors are adult size scissors (they came with my new classroom), you can sort of also get an idea of how deep they are by looking at the glue stick!

Finally a little note to my student "blog stalker"...the little bird made it and is sitting on my shelf at my new school now! Good luck at registration and on your first day of middle school!!!

Winner and Sneak Peak!

We have a winner for the label/ribbon set give-a-way hosted by Run! Miss Nelson's Got The Camera. Congratulations to Karen G. (click here to be directed to Miss Nelson's Blog for details)

This is just a short post today, my brain is tired...I've been busy working on labels/ribbons and buckets. Even some things for my own room! Because it's such a short post I thought I would give you a little sneak peak of a few of my OWN classroom items!

Answering Some Questions

I can tell that many of you are gearing up for back to school and/or your teacher workdays. It's a little different for me this year because now that I am in Oregon we don't go back for teacher workdays until the end of August and the first official day of school is September 4th! It's a little strange that I'm now one of the lasts ones to be going back to school.

I can also tell many are getting back in the swing of things because I'm getting a few more requests for shared documents as well as some great questions about previous posts.

The most questions are coming from my interactive math notebook. This was something new I did last year (previous post can be found here) I don't know why I thought I explained them in the previous post, I just sort of posted pictures!

Basically what I did and will do this year is give myself a new spiral notebook, along with all the other students. I project the notebook using my document camera and as I go through the mini lesson I write the notes in my notebook, sounds pretty simple when I type it out! I usually lead with the header, most of the time in the form of a question, and see what kind of prior knowledge they have on the subject. I then follow with the "formal definition" of the term and/or subject we are discussing. Most of the time they copy things down as I am writing them. But if I really really need their attention I tell them NOT to copy this down, pay attention, I will give you time to copy it when I am done explaining.

I usually add little drawings that may help them remember something, they can copy those down or make up their own. I try to always give them tips and hints and usually write/draw those in different colored marker/pen. The other thing I found that really helped my students last year was if anything we were doing had steps...to write out each step and show each step! One time I didn't write it out because I thought it was pretty simple and they flipped on me! I literally write step 1: divide the ones column by the outside number...then I would SHOW it.

If a lesson required printables (100's charts and so on) I always had those copied, trimmed and ready for that class so that all they needed to do was glue it in and get to work. You will see a few of these things in my pictures from the Interactively Math post. Finally what you don't see is the student work that I would assign after each lesson. Usually after each lesson they would have to go to the next clean sheet in their notebook (we did use front and back!!!), I would give them five or so problems for them to work out on their own. As I would walk around an monitor checking them as the finished them I could easily identify those that were struggling. Then I would pull those students to small group that day or the next to work with them. If the whole class struggled then I knew I needed to teach it again or find a different approach.

I hope this helps some of you as you are working on those lesson plans and I hope to add to the pictures and such that I have already posted.

Finally another question I have gotten a lot lately is about my buckets/caddies. For the newbies out there I do have a second "job"....I decorate the caddies and buckets. The caddies, this year, are on back order and I really don't know when they will come in, but I have started offering the labels and ribbons as sets. They come to the customer as stickers and ready to be used. If you want to see more of the products and cute stuff we offer just visit our FB page: Quite A Pear.

Keep those comments and questions coming! Thanks for sticking with me through this move!!!

Summer Fun Part 1

We are all moved in! YEA! And I guess you could say mostly unpacked. Nothing hung on the walls and not much decor going on, but the important stuff is done.

I have been doing a few crafts, not for my classroom as of yet, but for my house and opened my "business" back up...the bucket making thing. I did manage to move my stuff into my classroom and was told I should be able to start setting my room up next week! Yea! Now I just need to get my daughter enrolled in her preschool so I can ditch her...I mean drop her off for some educational experiences and friend "making" opportunities. I'll tell you what just trying to get the boxes moved in with her hanging around was a HUGE task!

So here are a few snapshots of what I've been doing!

 My daughter's cast iron bed makeover!

It was a TON of work

Step one: clean with a metal brush
Step two: apply rust remover chemicals and then rinse and let dry

I did find some iron under the paint and rust!

Step three: apply primer to keep the rust from coming back
Step four: apply white paint (three coats!)

I'll post a picture of it when it is all set up with the bedding and such.

Finally some new buckets I've done (again not for my room yet)

Quite A Pear Give-a-way!

Just a short little post to let you know that my little FB store is have THREE give-a-ways today!!!! Yes THREE, and one of them is geared toward teachers. The give-a-ways run through Wednesday, but head on over and enter! The first one is already posted...as well as all the rules (read carefully because you can enter more than once on each give-a-way). GOOD LUCK. Click on my logo to head over to the shop!

 Here is what we are giving away first today!