Back to School BOOST Sale!

I can't tell you how EXCITED I am about the Back to School BOOST Sale happening on TpT tomorrow! The two day sale at the beginning of the month was NOT enough time for me! Since then, I've wishlisted a ton of fabulous items from my fellow sellers and can't wait to take advantage of the deals. Anyone else as thrilled as I am? Click the picture to shop my store!

 

Meet the Teacher {Linky}

As the summer winds down and my focus turns back to school, I can’t help but find myself searching through all of my favorite teacher blogs, looking for last minute ideas. I often wonder who the teachers behind these genius tricks and tips are. So, when I saw that Stephanie Stewart from Falling Into First was hosting a Meet the Teacher Blogger Linky, I couldn’t pass it up. Sit back, relax, take a break from all of those pins you think you’re going to have time to recreate, and meet some fabulous teachers! 

HELLO! My name is Tanya. I'm a 32 year old wife, mother, teacher, designer, and blogger (okay, seriously, I’ve been pretty terrible at the blogger part, but I’m working on it – promise)!

This will be my 7^th year teaching. Oh my goodness! I can't even believe that. Seriously, has it been that long already? 

Anyway...I was born and raised in a tiny town with a BIG sense of community kind of place in good old Wisconsin. But as soon as I graduated from college, my hubby, Lucas, and I (not married at the time) high-tailed it out of here and moved to Atlanta, GA! We needed a change of pace and a few warmer winters and boy did the South deliver! In the two years (yes, two blissful, but short years) we made so many amazing friends,  ATE our way around the city (amazing restaurants in and around Atlanta), and made a zillion memories that I will forever cherish.  I taught fifth grade in Powder Springs, just west of the city. I loved my job and learned SO much in those first two years. I had the privilege of working with some amazingly talented and passionate educators. Life was good. But, it didn't take us long to realize that living closer to our families was more important. So, we moved back to WI, about four hours away from home so Lucas could go back to school. I taught fifth grade for three more years before we moved again, this time back to our home town. I now teach 2nd grade in the district where we spent our K-12 school years. many of my colleagues were my elementary teachers! In fact, my 2nd Grade teammate was my fifth grade teacher! It's crazy ya'll! But in a very good way. I cannot complain. Things have definitely come full circle and now we are starting to build a house in the country where we plan to stay forever and continue to enjoy this wonder life we've got going. Alright, enough of all that. On to some photos.... 
 

Memory Lane...

My husband, Lucas, and I went to school together, although he was a grade older. We were never very close back then, but reconnected as I was finishing up my 6th and last year of college. I seriously have no idea why we had never talked before that...we are meant to be! We dated for six years and will be married for three at the end of August! I can not articulate how much I am in love with this man.

Here I am way back in 2006, prepping for my FIRST year as a teacher! Thank goodness my organizational skills have improved since then!

This is me and my two FAVORITE men – my husband, Lucas, and my son, Jack, at my brother's wedding last October (right around hunting season in Wisconsin, hence the beginning of a 6-month beard on my hubby). I actually use this as my TpT store photo - did you recognize it?  Yup, I just cropped those two right out of the picture, but every time I look at it I still know they’re there! ;)

 

What I’ve been up to this summer…

Most of my summer was spent PLAYING with my son!

(Right: At our community carnival just the other weekend, Middle: Jack's first time fishing - during a family reunion camping trip, Left: Water fun in the backyard)

 

We have made many trips to "The Land" this summer, as my son refers to it. We're building a house this fall, which will be our FIRST and last time as homeowners! My husband has already spent MANY hours bulldozing, stumping, and moving dirt - a boy's dream!

As my husband preps the land for our house, I’ve been spending a lot of time prepping my classroom for the new school year. Okay, that's a total lie! Truth is, I've been in twice. These photos are from last year, but my classroom is almost set up and looks very similar to these photos. I'll post updates next week. ;)
 

 

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

(not in any particular order, of course)

• spending time at the family cabin
• snuggling with my almost 3 year old son
• reading and learning about spirituality and positivity
• Clip Art, clip art and more clip art!
• Pure Leaf Raspberry Tea
• Coffee with natural creamer
• Fresh stacks of clean, white paper
• Any dress or top from Filly Flair (makes up half my back-to-school wardrobe)
• Paparazzi Jewelry (cheap & cute)
• Colorful Felt Tip Pens
• Aztec prints
• Homemade Guacamole with Rold Gold Garlic Parmesan Pretzel Chips

The list goes on…

 

IF YOU WEREN'T A TEACHER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE? A Graphic Designer. Creating digital clip art has become such a huge creative outlet for me. I’ve taught myself how to create clip art from reading and watching tutorials online, but I would LOVE to take classes. Maybe in another life…

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU.

Creative. Passionate. Determined. 

FINISH THE SENTENCE, "________,  SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!"

I love spending my own money on classroom supplies! :)

 

Q: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE {DEAD OR ALIVE} TO THE PARTY. WHO ARE YOU INVITING?

My Grandpa. He used to come to EVERY birthday party and I miss him SO much. I have so many amazing memories with that man and I would have loved for him to have meet my son.

Q: IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?

Perseverance, Passion and Cheesy Potatoes.

Hmm...will have to write a blog post on that one someday!

 

Q:YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER. WHAT IS IT?

 Teleportation. BAM!

 

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

“Do it with passion or not at all.” - unknown

    

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

I actually auditioned for American Idol and sang “Me and Bobby McGee”. I didn’t make it through, so with that thought I pick... "Crazy", by Patsy Cline. It was my backup plan song! ;)

 

 Q: ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?

I am a night own in the summertime. In fact, it's 12:36 a.m. and here I am! I can be so productive at night when the boys are sleeping and it's nice to have some me time. However, during the school year I force myself to go to bed early and coffee is my ONLY hope for a good morning. 

 

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCE THAT YOU'VE CREATED IN YOUR TPT SHOP?

I really love my line of Planners & Organizer Binders. It’s hard to pick a favorite design, but I’m really proud that I finished my Ink-Friendly version this summer. So far, it’s been a big hit!

 

 

I do love my original (Best Selling) Chalkboard & Brights. It made it's way to the top 100 Best Sellers list and has been inching it's way up for the past 3 weeks! 

 

 

 

Q: SHARE SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU! 

I am a CHEESEHEAD! I cheer for the Green Bay Packers and can’t wait for Football season to officially start! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure Jack was just resting his eyes during half-time here! ;) >>>>> 

 

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I hope you enjoyed learning more about me :)  To meet more fabulous teacher bloggers, and to link up yourself, click on the button below!

Back to School & Staying Organized

I've been bitten!...by the back to school bug, that is. You don't have to look at a calendar to know that it's already August. Just check out any social media sight and you'll instantly feel the Back to School Buzz! Teachers are prepping, planning, pinning and purchasing. Parents and students are shopping for supplies and everyone is trying to soak up as much freedom and summertime as they can before they head back. Here, in Wisconsin, we have one month left. However, there are many schools that are already back in session. Crazy!

To help out, the amazing folks at Teachers Pay Teachers are hosting their annual Back to School Sale August 4th and 5th and you better believe I am participating. My store is prepped and set to discount ALL of my products by 20%. As always, TpT is throwing in an additional % off with the promo code: BTS14 for a total of 28% off.

As a seller, I feel quite prepared. As a buyer, well...that's an entirely different story! My wishlist is full and my shopping cart is OVERFLOWING! Seriously, it's quite ridiculous! I really don't know how I'm going to narrow down my purchases and trust me - I have to! As much as I love supporting my fellow sellers, I also need to afford the house my husband and I are currently building. No worries though, I'll be dishing out the cha chings with the best of them!

I really hope you take a second to stop by my store. I'm sure your wishlist can't possibly be as long as mine! ;) If not, I have to tell you about my best selling item which is a Planner/Organizer Binder in Chalkboard & Brights. I have other designs, including a more ink-friendly version that includes 105 cover choices with matching binder spines. It's just that my Chalkboard & Brights was on the top 100 best selling products list for the past two weeks, so I've got lots of love in that one. My line of planners are packed full of organizational tools, lists, forms, calendars, lesson planning pages, CCSS for grades K-8, Special Education and intervention resources, and much more! They are also editable and you receive free updates every year. Who am I kidding, since I first posted this product, I've added over 100 pages. What can I say, I can't say no to customer requests!

 

 

Happy shopping!!!

is gearing up for the big Back to School Sale on TpT!!

It's here! It's finally here! Any teacher looking for last minute goodies for his or her classroom would be just crazy not to shop the TpT Back to School Sale! As a seller, my ENTIRE store will be 28% off will the coupon code: BTS13. I'm actually running my sale August 18th through the 20th.

As a teacher getting ready to teach a whole new grade level, you can bet I will be shopping on the sale dates. My wish list and cart are OVERFLOWING! If you haven't already done so, be sure to check out all of the amazing products on TpT, especially in my store. ;) I offer clip art, resources for Common Core, and more! Start transferring your wish listed items to your cart, people!

 

on landing a dream job and staying organized this school year.

That's right, I did it! I got the JOB! No more day-to-day sub jobs. No more school hopping. No more INTERVIEWS! I got my dream job!

After my husband and I moved our little family back to our small, home town last June, I was very nervous about getting another full time teaching position. I didn't even know if I wanted to work in my hometown district, which I can't believe I'm even admitting to now. "Maybe it will be strange to teach the children of my old classmates", I thought. "Maybe it would be best to live here, and teach in a neighboring town", I had convinced myself.

Then the school year started and I got my first call to sub in the district. It only took that day to make me realize this is exactly where I want to be. This district, the one where I spent my 13 years as a student, myself, is small, but progressive. It produces amazing teachers and is filled with people who truly care about the education and future of children. The test scores are among the top in Wisconsin. The elementary school, where I will be teaching, is a fairly new building, has up-to-date technology and an AMAING principal and staff! Did I mention the school is only about a mile down the road from where we live? I have died and gone to heaven!

The biggest change is that I will be teaching 2nd Grade, when all of my full-time experience has been at the 5th Grade level. It makes no difference to me, however. I am SO excited to work with this age group and learn to be the best 2nd grade teacher I can be. I just don't know where to begin!!! Well, I know where to begin, but it's really hard to focus when I have so many ideas swarming through my brain. Luckily, I have a few weeks to get my classroom ready and brain prepared.

The first thing I plan to do over the next week, is get my Teacher Planner / Organizer printed and bound into a book. It literally will be my saving grace over the next 9 months. I've used a planner every year that I have taught and I don't know what I would do without it. This year, I updated the planner to include all of the Common Core Standards for each grade level (K - 5). Of course, I will only be putting the 2nd grade version in my planner. I just haven't decided on which theme I will use. As of right now, I have four in my TpT store. I'm also working on a Football themed planner right now. You can check them out by clicking on the cover pages below.

 

 

 

 

Here's to a well-organized school year!

Teacher Appreciation Sale on TpT

 

Have you heard about the Teacher Appreciation Sale??? It's Tuesday and Wednesday and it's going to be AMAZING! Everything in my store is 28% off with promo code: TAD13.

Also, I just added some Colorful Cloud Digital Frames & Borders (also on sale) to add to your clip art collection.

 

I ♥ Teachers!

TpT is AMAZING!

 

For anyone wondering why there is so much buzz about TpT these days....why so many bloggers/Pinterest Users/Teachers are posting/tweeting/pinning/and talking non-stop about the amazing site, let me share...

 

As a teacher, you will put hours upon hours into creating meaningful, engaging, standards-based learning activities, projects and units for your students. It can be extremely challenging, trying to tailor these to meet the needs of EVERY student. Of course, it can also be difficult to come up with an idea that is going to capture the attention and interests of students in this digital-dependent, fast-paced world we live in.

 

However, when you get to actually implement what you've planned and created and see positive results, it is the most rewarding feeling.

 

With TpT, teachers not only have a place to go to get quality products when they are strapped for time, but they can actually share the products they have spent so much time and energy to create.

 

I love that as a seller on Teachers pay Teachers, I get to hear stories of how my hard work is paying off all around the country, and in some cases across the globe. Today I woke up to this feedback on a Biome Research Unit I created (one of my top sellers). I will be beaming all day!

"My students and I LOVE this project. I use it with my intervention class, which has many students with IEPs. They work on this independently while I see small groups. It is very structured with guiding questions to help them. Even my "toughest" students have enjoyed this project!" ~Jen Samar

Short Vowel Practice Games

I just posted my series of Short Vowel Practice Games on TpT. They are SO cute and inviting for children and easy and fun to play! Most importantly, they meet the following Common Core Standards:

Kindergarten –
Phonological Awareness:
• Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.
Phonics and Word Recognition:
• Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
• Demonstrate basic knowledge of letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or most frequent sound for each consonant.
• Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.
• Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

First Grade –
Phonological Awareness:
• Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
Phonics & Word Recognition:
• Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
• Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
I've been meaning to share these games for a while. However, like most things these days (including this blog) they got pushed to the back burner. You see, I've been focusing most of my attention on job searching and soaking up all the time I can get with my son - knowing that my days spent home with him are very limited. Now back to resume editing and fort building...

SUNDAY SUPER SALE TODAY!!!!

 

It's here!!!! Today is the big day! It's the Sunday Super Sale on TpT! Oh, you thought I was talking about the big game, well...there is that. But, if you haven't already been on the site, stop by. EVERYTHING on my store is 20% off. Plus, when you type in the word SUPER at checkout, you receive an additional discount, saving you a total of 28%! Hurry up, head over and plan your upcoming week...or month, for that matter. Happy shopping!!!!

(Click either picture to head to my sale.)

has hearts on the brain!

Yes, yes, I know - it's Christmas, not Valentine's Day! However, I thought I would take a little break from the current holiday season and whip up this Valentine Conversation Hearts Clip Art. Afterall, I know there will be a lot of teachers out there working on creating TpT items instead of actually taking time off this winter break. The least I can do is help out by giving away these cutie pies as a FREEBIE! I think they would be a perfect addition to a Valentine's Day item cover, or center activity. Click on the link above or the picture below to download your own set. There are 42 hearts total (7 diferent messages). I would LOVE if you left feedback after downloading. Enjoy!

All I WANT for Christmas is on TpT!

 

I’m sure many of you feel the same way, so I’ve decided to hold an “All I WON for Christmas" Giveaway on my blog December 13th – 16th.

I'm looking for donations that include Christmas and winter items, as my goal is to help out one or more teachers that last, busy week before the long winter break.

However, I will gladly accept donations of non-seasonal items. After all, who wouldn’t love to have some extra activities saved up to use during that long stretch after winter break? Depending on how many donations I receive, I may split them into more than one Rafflecopter.

If you would like to donate, please fill out this google docs form by the end of the day - Tuesday, December 11th. Once I have everything set up, I will email you with more details, including a link to the post and a promotional image to use on your blog/page.

Feel free to check out the success of my last giveaway.

Thanks in advance for your support and donation!

TpT Cyber Monday {and Bonus Tuesday} SALE!

Happy Thanksgiving! Okay, so it's the night before Thanksgiving...you didn't think I would actually take time away from my family and that delicious food to write a post did you? In fact, by the time you read this, I most likely will have devoured most of the pinterest desserts I've been planning, and will probably be on the verge of a turkey & sweets coma.

Anyway, I want to tell you all about the ENORMOUS cyber Monday (and Teacher Tuesday) sale over at TpT. Ov course, I had to join in! All of the items in my store will be 20% off, plus TpT is adding and additional 10% off when you enter the promo code in the image above.

I am SO excited to participate as a seller, and to empty out my wish list! Head on over to my store and add to fill up your own wish list.



The 3AM Teacher is hosting a linky party on her blog, for other TpT stores that will be part of the sale. Check them out by clicking here.

giving away my latest math centers

WOW! It's really been a while since my fingers have tapped these keys. I'm two and a half weeks into my long-term substitute position and I'm busy, but loving it!

I'm filling in for a Title I teacher on maternity leave until mid January. Although most of what I am doing involves reading instruction, I also work with a couple of students that need some extra practice with basic addition and subtraction.

Enter, my latest TpT item! I created these Dice & Domino Math Centers. The students are absolutely in LOVE with the BUMP games! In fact, I had to tell them we were going to take a break from them for a couple of days to work on something else and they almost cried! I guess things could be worse. Ha!

For the next five days you can enter for a chance to win these addicting math centers, plus tons of other great TpT items over at Tori's Teacher Tips. Tori recently reached the big 500 on her followers list! Not only is she giving away some great items, each day she will be adding little goodies to the mix. You just have to check it out!

loves when teachers help teachers!

I live in Wisconsin, where we get tons of snow in the winter, but never have to worry about hurricanes. I am deeply saddened by the devastation that Hurricane Sandy has caused in the Northeast. Among the many people that have lost their homes or experienced massive damage, there are schools and teachers that were also affected. Many schools were hit pretty hard, leaving students and teachers without resources and materials.

My friend, Laurah, over at The ESOL Odyssey, came up with a great idea to help these teachers. If you have a TpT or TN store and would like to donate any of your products to schools/teachers who are in need, please click on the picture link below. This will take you to Laurah’s blog, where you can sign up to help.

I am donating my product, The Six Major Land Biomes: A Science Unit and Research Project (Meets CCSS) and my Common Core Standards Writing Prompt Resource (With Pictures). Anything you are willing to donate will be a huge help for teachers needing materials right now. Thanks for helping!

is having a HUGE Halloween sale!

I sure hope you said treat! I've joined forces with several other TpT stores this Halloween to offer you 20% off EVERYTHING in my store. That's right - no tricks about it! Stop by any time on Halloween Day, October 31st, to take advantage of this SPOOKtacular sale!

You can also stop by JD's Rockin' Readers to see who else is offering a sale on their store! Enjoy the treats!!!