Back to School time Already!? Let's share our Ideas!

It's that time of year again!  Time to open that fresh box of crayons, sharpen those pencils, and get down to business with a new school year!

One of my favorite first day activities involves...  Play Doh.  What!?
 


Yes.  You can purchase the small individual sized containers and place them out for each student when they come into class.  Encourage each student to play for the first ten minutes or so, while you get ALL that paperwork in order.  It's a great stress reliever and helps break the ice in a fun and inquisitive manner!

What tips do you have for the first day of school?  Let's link up!  Simply add your post link below to share in the back to school fun!

An InLinkz Link-up

7/27/14 Free Stuff Sunday!

This week I am featuring Melissa from More Time 2 Teach!  She says, "My name is Melissa and I've been teaching for 15 years now. I joined TPT about a year ago just to try it out... and I am now hooked! Not only am I a seller, but an avid buyer as well. I absolutely LOVE designing activities that engage students,aka FUN, that are creative, and that help make lives easier for teachers."

Back to School Glyph!

Glyphs are so much fun to make, especially in the early primary grades.  It's a great way to encourage active listening skills with your students!  Plus, who doesn't love an easy open house bulletin board?!


The materials!

Ready made printables with the whole group or individual in mind!

 Step by Step Teacher directions!

 Color and cut!

 Math Activities to tie it all together!

Free Stuff Sunday! 7/20/14

This week I am featuring Nicole and Eliceo!  They say, "I (Nicole) have over 10 years experience teaching K-2 English as a Second Language (ESL). My husband (Eliceo) and I team to provide quality bilingual products. I am from Minnesota and my husband is from Puebla, Mexico, but we currently live in the Yucatan with our 2 kids. Most of our products come in both English and Spanish at no extra charge for the 2 languages. "

New TpT Tutorial! Text Effects!!

I am so excited to show off my newest TpT tutorial!  It's all about adding text effects to your product covers!

Let me give you an example..

When I first started my TpT journey I was absolutely in the dark about how to create those fancy cover pages that so many others were using.  I made do with what I had but I have learned so much since then!

For example --

This is my original "Sound Out" cover page.  It gets the message across just fine, but it doesn't have that "WOW" factor. 

Add a few more pops of color and VOILA!  A brand new cover page with fancy text effects!

 In my tutorial I will show you how to:

• Fill your text with color
• Give your text an outline
• Add a Glow effect
• Add a Shadow effect
• Add a Reflection
• Add Transformations

You can find the tutorial embedded below or you can head straight to YouTube for it!

Free Stuff Sunday! 7/13/14

This week I am featuring PrepToon!  They say, "We are a husband-wife team passionate about making math more fun and engaging by showing math concepts in short animations. Our TpT store has all the 6th grade math content and we are building all the content for grades k-8!! And yes, WE LOVE TpT!"

Free Stuff Sunday! 7/6/2014

This week I am featuring Christina from Christina L!  She says, "I am a certified Spanish and ESOL K-12 educator with two Masters in Foreign Languages and Multicultural/Multilingual Education. I have taught elementary, high school and Adult Education. Currently I am home with a newborn baby!"