Feedback Frenzy Pay$ Off!

Did you know that if you have purchased something in the past you can earn credits for TPT? All you have to do is to leave a kind, helpful comment and bingo! You'll get a credit. Those credits add up. And if you're looking for ways to save money this weekend, that's one way to do it. 

You might be thinking, "How do I know if I did or didn't leave feed back?" 

Here's how: Go to your account. Look up your purchases. Skim down through them. If you see it blinking, it's probably reminding you to leave some feedback. Take the time to do that before you shop. Then when you are ready to check out you can use those credits to pay your bill. It will tell you how much is left for you to pay after you 

turn the credits in. 

If you're in to shopping, saving, and getting a bargain, then you need to double check your purchases to see if there is any that you have forgotten to do. I know that I did!

Also sometimes a seller will update their products. This is also the place where you'll find those updates. They too will have a blinking sign to let you know something has changed. 

I hope  you have fun shopping this next two days. It's one of the best sales TPT has!

Patty

Give Away, Best Products, and $aving$ You'll Love!

It's give away time. Just click on this picture

and it will take you to a great blog called 
Adventures in Teaching. Cassie is celebrating her anniversary and she wants to give YOU the gifts! 

I'm sure that you heard that there is a wee little sale going on this Thursday and Friday.

If you haven't heard that, then I'm glad you stopped by to read about it. 

Apparently we (as TPT) have grown to 3 million strong and it sounds like that's worth another celebration.

I too, will join many others and will have my entire store on sale. You will save 28% off your purchase IF you put the promo code TPT3 in right before you pay. I hope you are loading up your wish list right now and then come back on Thursday or Friday to pick up those things you want. 

I know my wish list is growing too. 

I'd like to high light my best sellers in case you'd like to pick them up too. 

How Do You Spell Ou and Ow Words?

Cause and Effect for 1st and 2nd Graders

Vowel Teams Sweep!

If you'd like to see the best sellers of other teachers, click on the link below. There are many others who have wonderful things to show you.

The Perks of Teaching Primary 

If you'd like to know more about DJ Inkers and their cool stuff for teachers, just click this banner below!

Patty

100 Year Old Photos!

We had another snow day today. . . 

yup ANOTHER one!

This makes our 8th one. We are allowed 6, so now we are over by 2, but sadly, Winter is not over yet!

There's talk about adding minutes to our days to help out instead of going longer in June. Right now we get out on June 11th. 

My thoughts are this: The whole state of Michigan has had way too many snow days this year. This is a freak year. Last year I don't think we had even 3 days. So why doesn't our governor just say, "Oh well, let's just scratch those days and not worry about making them up!" 

Wouldn't that be nice if he said that? But do I really think he will. . . . Nah! He's just not that nice!

I had last Friday and this Monday off for our Mid Winter break. My husband and I chose to fly down to Houston to see our daughter. She is now

 expecting a baby girl! 

(Yes, another girl grand baby! 

This is going to be so much fun!) 

She has a beautiful baby bump right now!

Isn't she just the cutest!? She is keeping a blog now, (I'm a proud mamma!) and I get to see the updates each week. She is currently due on July 6th, but if the doc thinks she's going to be a week early, 

then so be it!

This coming Friday, we are celebrating our 100th day of school. But truly I do not know if it's actually the 100th or not with all of these snow days! 

We've seen many blogs where the kids and teachers dress up as if they were really old. So our school is going to do this too. 

Last week we wrote about the things we might still be able to do when we are 100 and the things we might NOT be able to do when we are 100! Here's the lists they made.

Then I used an ap called Old Fart Booth and I took their pictures. It miraculously turns them into old, wrinkled people in about 20 seconds! It was a hoot! I tell you it was HYSTERICAL!

I put them on the bulletin board in the hall so everyone could have a good laugh!

 This is her expression when she saw her face!

Some kids thought they looked Hideous! Others just made sad grimaces when they saw how bad they could look. Don't they just look so old!!! Even the skin on their necks looks old. 

 I told them that I knew I was going to age much more gracefully and that I seriously could NOT possibly look as bad as it showed me!

So if you're looking for a big laugh, grab this ap and have some fun with it. Funny though, I couldn't get many teachers to try to see how they would look!

Happy 100th Day to you no matter when you celebrate it!

Patty

Lovely Give Aways x 3

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm telling you now because I can't blog until next week. We actually have Valentine's Day and President's Day off. So our Valentine Party is tomorrow. Yes, I will accept all prayers for a sugary high day to become a peaceful one!

Don't forget to check out a few give aways, and as always they are SUGAR FREE!

Go to this link and read all about them, (there's 3 of them!)  then go to those blogs and maybe you'll be swimming in some cool things on Saturday!

Give Give Give Away Times 3!

Not only is February a short month, but throw in a few snow days, professional development days, Mid Winter break days, and a holiday party and what you get is about 12 days to teach. Oh sure! I'm going to show progress. . . not sure how, but I'll give it my best shot.

In the mean time, let's have some fun. (Because those days I mentioned aren't any fun are they???!!!)

I am involved in TWO give aways right now. How much more fun can that be? 

I should be having my own give away because I just reached my 500th follower on my Google Friend Connect and 470 on Blog Lovin. That's worth celebrating. . .but not now. . . soon, though.

Laura from Enchanting Elementary has been blogging for a year and she wants you all to win the prizes. 

Please jump on over there and register to win. No one wants to be a loser. . . but you can't win if you don't enter. She will pick the winner on the 15th.

The second give away that I'm helping with is from Lynn at Horizons and Dreams. She is celebrating her birthday on the day after Valentines. But she's sharing the gifts before her birthday. Enter often and your chances are better of winning. 

She will announce her winner on the 15th, too.  Your mailbox could be overflowing if you are the lucky winner! 

Now if you're still here reading this. I will give 4 lucky people my latest creation of What's the Equation. It helped my kids read story problems and figure out which equation matched that story. 

All I ask is that you are a follower of my blog and my store. Then leave me your name and email and I'll pick 3 winners sometime on Monday. I can't wait, I'm going to see my daughter and her husband in Houston. They are expecting their first baby in July!

Happy Valentine's Day to my friends,

Patty

P.S. The winners were Michelle, Christin, Toni, and Andrea. Check your mail!

A LOVELY Give Away!

It's all about LOVE. . . isn't it? 

Blogging runs on LOVE. I began following blogs because I LOVE to see what others are doing. I started my blog because I Love to share and create. Hopefully you are here reading this because you LOVE my blog . . . or me . . . . or my things. . . . or to read. . . . or you were hoping to win something! 

What ever the reason, I LOVE that you are here!

One of the other parts of blogging that I LOVE is the friendships that I have found with other bloggers. It's great to virtually meet them, learn about their classrooms, their families, and their lives. 

This blog today is about one of those friendships. I am helping Lynn from Horizons and Dreams. She is celebrating the one year anniversary of her blog.. . . AND her birthday!

Today's post is just a "Wet your Whistle" kind of post.  You can't enter today, but if you set your alarms, or your calendars you can enter each day starting on tomorrow, Feb. 10th through the 14th. She'll pick a winner on the 15th. That's also her birthday. 

How lucky is she!

You'll be able to enter to win this Fact and Opinion activity from me on Tuesday. But if you can't wait for the contest, you can click the picture to pick it up from my store.

Good Luck and thanks for all the LOVE!

Patty

Context Clues so You're NOT Clueless!

I have just the thing you've been looking for!

I know that Valentine's is next week and if you haven't gotten your Valentine centers printed already, you just might not get them done and ready to use before the big day next week.

So instead, how about picking up something that isn't a holiday theme? 

My Word Meanings in Context 
is just the perfect thing you need. 

Click on the picture or the red link above to go to my store.

My kids love this because it helps them zero in on the best choice for the meaning of the bold faced word. It also helps them increase their vocabulary and their knowledge of community workers. 

Your kids can do this in a center independently, in a small group with an adult or student helper, or in your whole classroom as a Scoot game.

All of the clip art and fonts in this product are from DJ Inkers. If you're interested in picking up some of their cool stuff, you can click on this picture below.

Patty

$uper $ale Today Only

Stop by my store today, 

I've got everything at 20% off.

Some of my things for Valentine's are: 

Contractions

 Fact and Opinions

Verb Tenses

Free Nonsense Words

I also have some Knock Knock jokes that I put on the kid's lockers. 

I hope you find something you like 

and that you love the pri¢e$ too!

Patty

Teaching Responsibility

At our school we keep track of how responsible each student is. It might sound time consuming, but it doesn't take that much time. 

I have a spread sheet with each child's name on it. Every morning I check to see if they have their homework turned in. (They have a place on the board to put their magnet up. Those who haven't moved theirs are the ones who didn't bring it.) I check to see if they are wearing their glasses. They will get a responsibility mark if they don't have these things with them. If they don't put their name on their papers or if they don't bring their gym shoes they also get a mark. 

After 6 marks, I send their parents a note telling them that we are trying to build responsible young people and that their child needs to make some improvements in this area. Then I list what the specific problems are for that child. If they continue and get 12 marks in the month, they will miss a fun event near the end of the month. Then we start with a clean slate at the beginning of each month. Meanwhile I have a check sheet to show a parent if their child has a pattern of not returning things or being responsible.

But the BIG deal is that I do reward them for being responsible. Anyone who has zero or one responsibility mark, gets to eat in the classroom with me on the last day of the month. This may not sound like a big deal to you, but my kids love it!

You can see that these girls are having fun. But even more so, these boys below are loving it!

In case you're wondering, they get their outdoor clothes on first, eat, then go outside. As usual the boys finished first because they love to rush outside. The girls stayed around to chat with me a bit.

What do you do to help your kids become more responsible?

Patty