I am so excited to be participating in my first blog hop with the Facebook group Our Teaching Tribe! Our challenge this month was to participate in a Product Trade-Off. I was matched with Laura from A Grade-Filled Classroom. You can find her products at her TpT Store, A Grade-Filled Classroom. Laura is an Instructional Coach and she has a passion for teaching and helping other teachers become the best versions of themselves. She creates products especially for 1st-3rd grade teachers.


Laura sent me her Back to School Get to Know Me Task Cards and Back to School Ice-Breaker Cootie Catchers. My students are going to LOVE both activities!


I will be using the Back to School Get to Know Me Task Cards with my 2nd-4th grade students in the library. We will use it as a Scoot game to get the kids moving and to help ease some of the first week jitters students tend to have. There are several variations included so for you to use, which I love!


My students will especially like the Back to School Ice-Breaker Cootie Catchers. This ice-breaker might make me the most fun librarian on the planet! ;) The cootie catchers will allow students to break away from their comfort zone and find students they might normally be apprehensive to approach at the beginning of the year. I love that all the work is done and all the students have to do is color, fold and enjoy the cootie catchers. The detailed picture instructions in this product are great, as well. My students won't even realize that I'm observing their personalities and interactions while they are working on this fun activity!

If you like these products, you can find Laura (A Grace-Filled Classroom) on Pinterest, TpT, Instagram and on her blog. Thanks for sharing your great products with me, Laura!

Who else cannot wait for the TpT Love Back to School Sale August 3-4? My wish list is huge! My entire store (including my 1oo's chart bundle) is 28% off with the code: BTS15, so be sure to take advantage of the great prices!  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S…/Lil-Country-Librarian

My entire TpT store will be on sale for the TpT Blast Off Back to School Sale August 4-5! Get 28% off when you use promo code BTS14! I already have several things in my cart and I can't wait to add more! I hope you find lots in my store, as well!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lil-Country-Librarian

Thanks to More than Math by Mo for the cute button!

I have enjoyed every last minute of the last two snow days!!! We should schedule these in the middle of winter more often! :) Yesterday was all play, so today I got busy working on several hundreds charts that have popped into my mind lately! If you have any suggestions for new charts, I would love to hear them!  Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to download a freebie! :)

I was so excited to get the latest Old Lady book in the mail from the sweetest reader, Diane! It arrived at the best time, too, just right before school started! It is perfect book for back to school! Thanks again, Diane, for sending me a copy of There Was an Old  Lady Who Swallowed Some Books by Lucille Colandro!



If you haven't purchased a copy yet, it is only $1 in the Scholastic Book Clubs SeeSaw September flyer. That is an amazing price!

Source: www.clubs.scholastic.com

Click on any of the pictures below to check out my newest unit There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books Mini Math and Literacy Unit on TpT. It is only $3 and is the same style as my other units for the Old Lady series of books. Here are a few sample views for you to get an idea of a few of the pages included.




The first three people to comment on this post with their email addresses, will receive a copy of this unit for free! Thanks for being such great readers! Thanks to the first three who commented!

I have been on the search for a cute binder for my lesson plans for the past two years. I have found so many that I like with cute patterns and wonderful colors, but they are either too thin or they don't have inside pockets. I finally gave up and bought a plain white Avery binder that I could liven up using scrapbook paper and my computer. I think I'm ready to start adding lesson plans now!



What do you use for your lesson plans?

Yesterday, I got together with my group of friends we affectionately refer to as the Kindergarten Teacher Crew. It consists of current and former Kindergarten teachers from my school, encompasses three different school districts, and a variety of new jobs! We have a Counselor, a Reading Recovery Teacher, a second grade teacher, two retired teachers and three current Kindergarten teachers. We try to get together several times a year to catch up. I adore this group of Godly women and I look forward to our get-togethers. Lately, we’ve been able to see each other a little more frequently because at the end of the night, we all pull up our calendars on our phones and schedule our next visit. It’s definitely the way to do it.

I carpooled with friends, so we were able to do some shopping before and after dinner. Here are my fun finds from several Staples stores and Target. Most of these items had a limit of 2 or 4, so we weren’t able to get very many at each store. Keep in mind that our nearest Staples is 40 miles away, so we had to make our trip to town count! I haven’t posted about all the fun things I’ve purchased for my classroom. I think I will probably wait until the items are in my room all cutesy and decorated!

The cashier at Staples also let me know that Teacher Appreciation Day is Saturday, August 11. I don’t’ know if that’s everywhere or not, but I thought I would mention it. I have never been. Have any of you? Was it worth it? I was told that there is a goody bag involved.

Staples

• 18 Staples Stickies - 25 cents each
• 8 Staples Pencil Cap Erasers - 1 cent each
• 1 Clip & Go Germ-X 2-pk  - $2
• 8 Staples Index Cards - 1 cent each
• 16 Post-it Notes (2 per pack) – $1 each
• 5 Post-it Bags – Free (Buy 2 Post-it products and get a bag for free. Not available in all locations.)
• 19 Sharpie Highlighters (5 per pack) – 50 cents each

Total: $32.16


Target

• Paper Mate Pens – $1 – Used $1/1 PaperMate Pens printable coupon FREE
• Crayola markers 10 pk – 99 cents
• Wipe Clean Alphabet Cards – $1
• Dr. Seusss Flash Cards 1-20 – $1
• Paper Clips – $1 (From Staples)

Total: $4
(Not shown, but this may be beneficial to some of you—Target has a $3 Mossimo coupon that pairs nicely with the $5 camis that are on sale right now. You can’t beat $2 for a cami!)


Staples

• 3 HP Ink Cartridge Combo Packs – $31.99 each 
• Ink cartridges are Buy 2 Get 1 Free right now. I also used a $5 off $30 coupon. This made my ink cartridges less than $10 each.

Total: $58.98


Have you found any great deals lately?

I'm so excited to be getting together with my Kindergarten co-workers, Lisa and Robin, tomorrow! We get to meet Robin's new baby boy and we're going to work on planning the first few weeks of school.  

This year, we got our class lists super early, which has been really nice! I've been going back and forth for the last month on exactly what I wanted to send, a letter or a postcard, to announce to my new students that I would be their teacher. I finally decided to create a postcard that went along with our Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) theme this year, which is Beach/Ocean. This is what I came up with.


I created the postcards in Word and Paint using Scrappin' Doodles and Happy Heart Creations graphics. (Can you tell I don't have PhotoShop?) I printed the cards on my Canon Selphy photo printer using postcard paper. I hope to get them mailed tomorrow if I can finish all the writing in time. I will be mailing out a another letter for families before school starts that includes our school supply list, Open House details, etc.  


I recently ordered several $2.99 self-inking stamps from ArtsCow.com and I can't wait for them to arrive. I'm especially excited for the 'I showed good GRRR behavior' and 'Ask me how I made a good choice today' stamps. I think they will be great for hand stamps for my students to help with positive behavior. (GRRR stands for Get Safe, Respectful, Responsible and Ready to Learn--our PBIS expectations that go along with our bear mascot.)


If you are interested here are the details for getting the name stamps for $2.99 each.

Last week, I added some new products to my TpT store that I completely forgot to post about. I hope you like them!

The first three people to comment with the product they would most like from above will get the item for free! Be sure to include your email address! Thanks, Ann, Megan and Elisabeth for being the first three to comment. Be sure to check your email for your freebies!