Meet and Greet Gift Tag Freebie

Our school has a Parent/Teacher Meet and Greet the day before school begins so that our kiddos get a chance to see their classrooms, meet their teachers, and bring in their school supplies if they want to.  

It's really nice being able to meet parents and family members before the kiddos come on their own.  Sometimes first graders 'think' they know how they are getting home until 3:00 rolls around and they suddenly don't remember if they are going to ride the bus, walk, or get picked up in mom's car!  :)

I try to spend at least a few minutes with each family to answer any questions, reassure my new kiddos that first grade is really going to be awesome, and ask a few questions myself.  

I also like to give my kiddos a little treat so that they feel more comfortable in their new classroom and look forward to coming back!  I have a Rock Star theme (and polka dots too) so I created these little tags below:

These tags can definitely be used with any theme though!!  

You can download them for free in my TpT store or my TN shop by clicking on the links!

I put a hole punch in the corner and then attach a glow stick.  I did this last year and my kiddos LOVED it!  

I have one for the girls and one for the boys.  I have these tags all ready to go.  I wait and attach the glow sticks right before the kiddos come in so they last longer.  

And you can get the glow sticks at the Dollar Store!!  I bought packages of 7 for $1 which I thought was a great deal.  

I love using these for Meet and Greet, but they could easily be used anytime throughout the year.  

Hope you enjoy them!  :)

August Currently...Late to the Party!

As usual, I'm late to the party!  I'm linking up with Farley for her August Currently.  If you have never linked up, I suggest you click here and go link up!!  

We LOVE our new 3-D TV!  It is soooo cool!  I also love our new furniture!  We have done some remodeling on our new house this summer.  We still have lots to do, but I need a break!!  I love what we have done so far including a cute and fun chalkboard wall.  :)

With school starting in just a couple weeks, I really NEED/WANT/HAVE to get my classroom ready!  I'm totally starting to stress about it!  

I do have to get my annual back to school pedicure though!  

I need to get some new ink cartridges too.  I have soooo many things to print, laminate, and cut out!  

My Back to School must haves are highlighters, postcards, and treats: 

Highlighters- I use them for just about everything.  I grade with them, help kiddos with writing and math, and I use them to write on papers that I put under my document camera.  It shows up so much better than pencil for my kiddos in the back of the room.  

Postcards- I always send postcards to my kiddos the weekend before school starts.  I like saying hello to my kiddos and their families so it's become a tradition!

Treats- I also put out treats for my kiddos on the first day of school.  It's just a few back to school things they might need.  I give them a treat on the first day and the last day.  That has also become a tradition.  :)

Well, I'm off to finish laminating and then getting to bed.  I have some errands to run tomorrow and then I'm going to be spending the next two weeks living in my classroom!!  :)

*FREE* Classroom Behavior Rewards for Successful Classroom Management

I know it's only mid July, but some people are already getting ready for back to school.  

Me?  I'm enjoying my summer a little longer!  :)

I did update my *FREE* Behavior Reward Catalog and wanted to share with you!  I used it all last year and it was a huge hit with my kiddos!  And the best part is that the rewards are free for me!!

I should clarify that this pack is not free, but the rewards for your kiddos are free and that makes my reward system so much easier and cheaper!!   

You can purchase this pack at my TpT store here or my TN store here.  

I have a Rock Star themed classroom so my Behavior Rewards matched that last year.  This summer I decided to add another set that was chevron with matching clip art for everyone to use no matter what your theme!  

This pack is only $4.00 and can be used all year!  Grab it this summer so you're ready to go when school begins.  

I used these rewards with Class Dojo and it was such a success last year for me that I will definitely be doing it again this year!  

You can read about how I implement Class Dojo by clicking *here* to read my post from last fall.  

Since this pack is updated I want to share it!!  The first three people who share their classroom management tips with their email address will get this pack for free!!  

Hope you're enjoying your summer before back to school mode hits!!  :)

A TpT Friend and Vacation Pictures

I was logging into Teachers Pay Teachers the other day and I saw that a friend of mine was mentioned on the homepage!  Jennifer Siderius used to go to my church a few years ago, but has since moved to the east coast with her hubby and they just had their first baby!  

Click on her picture to go to her store and check out her cute goodies!  She works in a school library so if you are a librarian or know one who is looking for materials, make sure you check her store out!  

She has these adorable bookmarks in her store too!  Click the picture to go download them!

We are at the beach this week, but on our way here we stopped to visit a couple historic cities and took some tours.  We rode on this trolley and it was so fun!  It was air conditioned too which was wonderful on that hot day!!  

We like to go to Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives restaurants from the show on the Food Network and this was one of them.  It was definitely one of the nicest ones we've been too and the food was delicious! 

And here is a picture of our beach from the pier down the road.  My two year old nephew has wanted to see a dolphin since we got here and last night we got to see one up close!  It was swimming right by the pier near the shore.  It was so cute seeing my nephew so excited!   :) 

We are now headed to that beautiful beach for another day of fun, sun, and sand!  We are celebrating my other nephew's first birthday today and then some friends are joining us at our house this weekend!  

I'm off to the beach to enjoy my last couple days of vacation!!  :)

Night Before First Grade- Back to School Giveaway

We are at the beach on our family vacation and it is honestly amazing!!  We haven't been to the beach for an entire week with my family for a long time because we have been taking big trips out west the past few years.  

While I would prefer to be in the Rockies somewhere hiking, I do love my time at the beach too!!  :)

Everyone else is still getting ready around here so while I'm waiting I wanted to share my updated Night Before First Grade- Back to School Pack with you.  

I took this pack:

and this pack:

and combined them to make this great big pack:

Click HERE to go purchase this pack at my TpT store or TN store! 

This pack contains a lot!  The first part goes with the Night Before First Grade book by Natasha Wing.  You don't need to have the book, but it definitely makes it more fun!  Students will write a letter to their Kindergarten friends, talk about back to school worries, and create a Summer Vacation Alphabet Book.  

The second part practices color words, number words, number sense, and has reading, writing, and math task cards to review kindergarten skills.  

I actually started working on this in early June, but then summer got in the way.  You know how that goes or maybe it's just me: stay up late, sleep in, eat lunch, take a nap, workout, eat dinner, stay up late hanging out friends and then start all over again.  :)

I finally got it finished and now these two packs are combined and updated into one new fabulous pack!  :)

If you go to my TpT store you can download the preview and grab a couple freebies!  

Since I am at the beach and loving life I am going to share 5 of these packs with the first 5 people who leave a comment about their favorite thing to do at the beach with their email address.

I will send them to you tonight when we get back to the house.  We are headed out to eat and do some shopping now!  

Yay for vacations!!  :)

Happy 4th of July Sale and Linky!!

Happy Fourth of July!!  

I am having a sale in my TpT store today and I have also included tomorrow!!  Everything is 20% off!

Click the picture above or here to go my TpT store!

I have joined Flying into First Grade's linky too so click on the stores below to go get some great goodies or go link up your own store and enjoy the fun!  :)

July Currently....a Little Late! :)

Better late than never!  It's only July 3d and over 500 people have already linked up with Farley!  Go link up with your July Currently if you haven't yet!  

Here's mine:

I *HEART* my nephews sooo much!  They are almost 3 and 1...we're having a first birthday party on Friday!  They are adorable and so much fun!  

I love the fact that we are going to be at the beach next week.  Yay!  

I definitely need to get off the computer and get busy packing and finishing up laundry.  Fun stuff, I know!  

I have been working on a couple new TpT packs for too long and I need to get them finished...maybe after vacation....hopefully! 

Do it all with love!  If you don't love teaching, creating things, or blogging then don't do it.  It has to be something you love and enjoy or it's not worth it.  While I love blogging and reading other blogs I definitely need a break in the summer.  

I'm off to read just a few more blogs and then I need to get to packing!  :)