Tips and Tools For Back To School - First Week Activity

Am I the only teacher who is E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D?  Pre-planning just started for us and I'm shocked that I am still awake.  Surprisingly enough though, I'm not stressed. Maybe I should get past day one before I make another statement like that!

My friend Heather from The Busy Busy Hive is going to help alleviate some of our 1st week planning stress.  She created the cutest Desk Buddies With Back To School Writing.  In honor of our Tips and Tools it's free for you.  I love how original it is.  It's not like everything else that we see.

I'm going to pair it with the book "How I Spent My Summer Vacation".  Make sure to check it out.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things For Back To School

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things Linky

Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things! You sang that didn't you! Welcome to our back to school linky! We are so glad that you stopped by to see what our must-have items are for back to school.  When you are done browsing through all of our blogs, we hope that you enter to win one of our Amazon gift vouchers so that you can buy some new back to school items too!  We have $370 to give away.  Don't forget that the more you enter, the higher your chances of winning are!

Classroom Rug with Sit Spots

When I saw this rug at Ikea I just couldn't pass it up.  It's huge and it has the perfect place for my Sit Spots.  The photograph makes it look black and white.  However, it's actually gray and black.  Just to be on the safe side, I sprayed it with Scotch Guard.

Sit Spots

Have you seen these Sit Spots? They are fabulous! They are these durable velcro spots that stick to most carpets.  You can write numbers on them, sight words, fluency facts.  Whatever suits your fancy.  They can be washed, vacuumed and abused by small children.  I use mine to assign spots on the carpet.  They also pull double duty.  I have made some review games to go with the Sit Spots. The kids can throw bean bags at a number.  Then they read the question that matches the number.  It's a fun way to review content.  The Sit Spots come in tons of colors and shapes.  Just for you I have a Back To School Game!

Ikea Rug For Classroom

Ikea had a bunch of rugs for $15.  I wanted to share this with you just in case you were looking for one.

Teacher Shoes

Alright guys, let's talk shoes.  We stand on our feet all day.  Do you have a Fit Bit? Well I do and it told me that I walk an average of 12,000 steps at school!!! That's a lot.  So I need sensible shoes.  My Sperry Top Siders are my favorite. They have comfy insides and a little sparkle on the outside.

Teacher Bags

My name is Amy and I am a bag-aholic! I love bags.  My must have teacher bag is my Large Vera Laptop Tote. It has a padded inside for my laptop and plenty of room to store all of the other stuff that I haul back and forth.

Teacher Bags

We wouldn't want to leave out 31 Bags.  This is the back of my car with 2 Large Utility Totes.  I leave them in the car so that I can haul groceries and bags in and out of the house.  We would pretty much do anything to get all of those groceries in the house in one load wouldn't we? They also really come in handy at the beginning of the school year because I can use them to haul projects back and forth to school.

Book Bags

 These huge ziploc bags came from Ikea.  They were under $3.  I put duct tape at the bottom of them for durability and use them for book bags.  This way the kids can keep their library books and guided reading books in them all year.

Durable Labels

Now I could lie and say that these dishwasher safe labels are only for my kids so that they don't lose their lunch tupperware, etc., but I won't.  I'm just as guilty for leaving something behind.  These labels help your items find their way back to you.

Rocking In Second Grade Shirt

Teacher T-Shirts

Reading Rocks T-Shirt

My all time favorite teacher must-have items are teacher t-shirts.  I LOVE my Friday shirts.  I secretly yearn to have a new one for every Friday.  You'll have to excuse my windy picture up there, but this is one of my new shirts.  I found this company Teacher Tees in Las Vegas at our teacher conference.  They had a ton of varieties.  When we asked them for a special one they made it in 15 minutes. Amazing.

Back To School Read Alouds

Last, but not least, my back to school read alouds.  I have been on the hunt this summer to find back to school read alouds that the kids haven't already read.  My favorite of the bunch are "Dog Days Of School" and "Rosie Revere Engineer".  "Dog Days Of School" has a back to school theme.  The moral of the story is that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.  I also like how they have the little boy put himself in someone else's shoes.  "Rosie Revere Engineer" is about not giving up.  This will go perfect with some beginning of the year character trait lessons.

Here's your chance to earn some extra back-to-school loot.  The more that you enter, the higher your chances of winning are!

Our Winners!

Jessica Eicke-Reinartz - SitSpots

Erika McGaha - Teacher Shirt

Amanda Wilbanks - $100 Amazon

Jamie Swan-Casteel - $100 Amazon

Karrie Smith - $50 Amazon

Denise Bowden Jordan - $50 Amazon

Tara Larson - $40 Amazon

Kayla King - $30 Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

I would like to take a moment to welcome one of my Insta-buddies Amy to my blog! Amy can be found on IG @funinroom3

Thank you Amy for allowing me to be a guest blogger! Let me introduce myself…I’m Amy also. I’m a first grade teacher in CA.  This year will be my 10^th year.

There’s something so refreshing about starting a new school year! I love Back to School time. This year I will be on maternity leave for the first few months of the year, but I can’t help myself from preparing for another school year. I love having summer vacation to relax, prep and plan. I also love to stock up on my favorite back to school items!

Here are just a few items that are my favorites for beginning a new school year:

1.School Supplies—I love them! As a child, I always loved getting the supply list from my teachers and filling my backpack. As a teacher, it is just as fun to fill a cart full of fresh supplies to start a new year!

2.  Pens and my favorite pen holder—I inherited this pen holder last year from a teacher at my school. Of course, I have to always keep it stocked with my favorite pens.  Along with buying supplies for students, I love to buy new, fresh pens for myself. I also buy a new pack of patterned pencils to use.  My favorites include Papermate Flair, Scentos markers, and Pilot Frixion Pens.

 

3. Laminator—What teacher doesn’t spend a lot of time during the summer laminating for back to school? I love my mini Purple Cow laminator!  It is so convenient to have a mini laminator at home.

 

4. Erin Condren Planner—This year will be the 3^rd year that I’ve used an Erin Condren planner. I found this planner when I was on maternity leave with my son. I was feeling sad to leave him and go back to school that summer. Once my first planner arrived, it was so bright and colorful that I couldn’t wait to use it. It was a little something that made me look forward to going back to work and leaving my son. This planner makes lesson planning much more fun!

5. Back to School clothes and shoe shopping—Isn’t it great that teachers still get to shop for back to school clothes? I always buy a few new outfits for the first few days of school as well as some new shoes.

6. Coffee—I love coffee so much! I would drink it all day if I could. It is definitely much needed after a summer of staying up late and sleeping in.

I hope everyone enjoys their last few days of summer and has a great start to a new school year!

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Tips and Tools For Back To School With Dirt Road Teacher

Tips and Tools For Back To School

Dirt Road Teacher

I can't tell you all how excited I am this week.  First of all, Missy from Dirt Road Teacher compiled all of our freebies from Tips and Tools together in one blog post.  That's one resourceful blogpost.  TPT is getting ready for their big sale, and you know I'm having a BIG sale too. Last, but not least, we will be having a HUGE Back-To-School post tomorrow with lots of prizes to win!!!

Missy's Lesson Planners

High/Low

 I just love linking up on Saturdays with one of my favorite bloggers! So this week's high and low is quick and simple!

 I have been working my fingers to the bone to get ready for a HUGE giveaway for you all tomorrow! Make sure to stop by to see our favorite back-to-school must haves.

 It was a pretty big bummer when I came out of the gym to find my tire flat.  It had a big ole' nail in it.  The bright side is that it needed to be replaced anyway.

Monday Made It - Bucket Seats

Bucket Seats With Mrs. Labrasciano

Materials for Bucket Seats
Add in staple gun and sponge brush.

 I love making bucket seats to go under my guided reading table.  They are simple to make, have great storage and if you do it right, you can use recycled products.  It takes about an hour to make a seat.

The first thing that you will need to do is take scrap paper and mod podge it to the bucket.  I like to use a nice layer of mod podge to make the bucket durable for the classroom.  After you glue it to the bucket, use a scraper and roller to get out all of the air.  Once you are done putting the paper on the bucket you should give the bucket 3 coats of mod podge.  Make sure that you let it dry in between layers.

After you have covered the bucket, you will need to make the seat.  You will need to cut cardboard and foam to fit the circle on top of the seat.  Lay the circles on the fabric.  Staple the fabric as shown above.

 After you have the seat covered, use spray adhesive to coat the top of the bucket.  You can then push the cushion down.  I used scrap fabric to embellish the handles.  Just tie the scraps on.

Bucket Seats With Mrs. Labrasciano