TPT Vegas Style!

I'm back! It's been far too long since I've written a blog post. I've written a multitude of blog posts in my mind while commuting to school, cooking dinner, running errands, or playing taxi mom, etc. etc. etc. I just never got around to posting my thoughts. And believe me... I have SOOOO many thoughts rolling around in my brain. So, I will begin blogging again after spending a fabulous week in Las Vegas with 2 friends from school, Laura Ado and Kim Row, who also happen to be fellow TPT super sellers.

What a fabulous week we had! We turned our one day Teachers Pay Teachers Conference into a 6 day adventure. Vegas was a brand new adventure for all of us. So that made it even more exciting. Not one of us enjoys gambling (or even knew how) so we dabbled a bit in that and all of us actually came out as winners.

 

As we were preparing to fly from Baltimore, MD to Las Vegas, NV, the rain cleared and a majestic rainbow appeared, ending at our airplane. We knew we were in for a great week! It was a good omen.

Upon arrival at the airport, a snappy limo driver appeared with our names on an iPad. This was a gift from Gabe, Laura's husband. What a treat to be taken via limo from the airport to our beautiful hotel.

 

It was exciting to be part of the very first ever Teachers Pay Teachers Super Seller Conference. The speakers were all so gracious and kind. Their stories were inspiring and made me realize that they are just good people who had good ideas and who acted upon those ideas. The underlying message throughout the speeches left me with such a feeling of pride to be a part of this historic event and this amazing company. I am so happy to be a part of this collaborative group. Of course, I was not shy and bravely introduced myself to the founder, Paul Edelman, and one of the most successful TPT sellers, Deanna Jump. Of course I posed for the camera. I know... so cheesy!

  

I have a renewed sense of energy to continue to create resources for teachers. I absolutely love working on my creations/products. It becomes an all consuming event for me. I put all of my energy into my work, so much that sometimes my husband and children have to come and dig me out of my computer cave. It brings me such pleasure to create, produce, distribute, and put my creations in the hands of students. That is when I really feel the satisfaction of a job well done. 

Here are a few more pictures of our fabulous Vegas trip. We had so much fun and created so many memories. What a treasure!

THANK YOU for taking the time to read my blog. I am encouraged by comments... so feel free to comment.

Have a wonderful day! Let it be MARVELOUS!

Small Group Guided Math Instruction

Guided Math instruction is such an important part of the instructional day, but managing that time can often be quite difficult. I created this plan to pull many different lesson ideas together into one cohesive lesson plan "Unit". The set includes 4 learning activities (Games), plus some additional exit cards and practice sheets as well as some ideas and samples for moving 4 groups through a rotation that will keep math moving for a full 60 minutes. A little bit of whole group is included, but small group activities are the focus of this plan.

Differentiation is easy with this customized unit plan for telling time.

The unit is organized in a table format that begins with the Warmup: Whole Group activator. The plan then moves to 4 small group station rotations with the teacher being one of the stations. Each station has a unique and different activity for students to complete either in pairs on individually. Station 4 includes an exit card which canbe collected and analyzed. The final activity is a whole group I have Who Has Activity.

 

Check out my Unit Plans and also check out Laura Ado's Math Center Rotation Powerpoint. It works like MAGIC!

 

 

 

 

March is ALMOST here!

This weekend was a blustery weekend in Maryland. The birds are chirping. Jackets are the outerwear of choice. Time to get busy with my March creations! I created this really cute freebie!

I also created some Bingo games for TIME. My Money Bingo games are very popular, so I thought I woul create a game for telling time to the five minutes. I created two sets. Set #1 contains 30 gameboards, enough for an entire class!

 

Set #2 contains a smaller St. Pat's day set of 7 game boards. These could be used in guided small group math instruction. It could serve as a very quick and fun assessment for your students.

 

State testing is quickly approaching, so I will be very busy at school and won't have time to try out these fun games. I am hopeful to squeeze them in this week BEFORE the test to use as a quick refresher on time.

 

Caterpillar Activities

I created my first 3 caterpillar activities, which I hope and plan to be successful in a line of caterpillar activities. My idea was to create a domino type game, where the students match equivalent forms of a content: money, time, fractions, numbers, etc. My first three activities are finished and have been posted on my store. I think they turned out REALLY well and are Very CUTE! Check them out! As a BONUS, I created ALL of the graphics myself. ALL OF THEM! The borders are a compilation of my own graphics as well. I even created the cute little clock faces. I have some plans to make clock flash cards with them in the near future. I think they turned out really well.

I also created a fun money matching game.

 

MONSTER GRAPHICS by Carrie

This week I launched my own line of clip art. Most people don't know that I have a background in Art. Prior to becoming an Education Major, I had planned to pursue Art. I even had a handsome invite to the Maryland Art Institute. That was back in the 80's before computers were even invented. So, I am putting my artistic creative skills to use by creating computer graphic/clip art. I am having so much fun creating art on the computer. With much thought and deliberation, I decided to call my creations "Monster Graphics by Carrie". This idea came from a friend who suggested that I try something and then she said, "I've created a monster".. thus... Monster Graphics was born. I've become a monster. I AM the monster. I hope you visit my store and see my creations. Here is one of my graphic set that I have just completed. How CUTE are they? I think they are SUPER Cute. But most importantly... I am having FUN!

Copyright Woes

So, as I am learning about being an ethical seller, I have accidentally infringed on copyright laws. Oops. Quite accidental, and very serious. I mistakenly referred to one of my products as "Elf on a Shelf", because that is what the graphic was called. Now, the "real" product/book/figurine, is called "Elf on THE Shelf". I guess changing the THE to and A is just not good enough. I also didn't think it was exactly the same, because the Elf looks very different from the Elf in the store. Live and Learn. I do try very hard to be a good copyright rule follower. It is never my intention to steal from anyone and/or use their product name illegally. It is going to make me CRAZY thinking and researching every word I put in my products in fear of breaking a rule and getting another "strike" from TPT. Some names are easily recognizable, and are a "no brainer". However, there are many products out there that someone has reserved the rights to the name and it may not be obvious. How about "I have, who has?" How about the word DOMINO? What about Dolch? What about even the word, "Flash Card"? See? I think I just might go crazy second guessing everything that has a name... Is it an official name? Or is it just what it is? Who knows? Stay tuned. Hoping for no more "Strikes".

Sick Day

I had a lot of extra time on my hands over the past week because I was home sick with the Flu AND Pertussis. If you haven't received your pertussis vaccine, I highly recommend it. NOT FUN.
So, while stuck at home, I had some time to create some resources for my kiddos. This money activity is very cute and way fun. The idea is that you can play the game in many different ways. Visit my store to download my newest MONEY creation! The pages all need to be laminated and then cut apart. Pass out the cards and students will find their match by walking around and figuring out how much the value is on their card compared to the value shown in coins on a peers card.

 

I also created this freebie as a thank you to my followers. Check it out. The idea with this game is that the children need to figure out how much money is shown in their card and then find the person who has the amount on the bottom of their card. There are enough cards for 30 players.

 

This valentine game is part of a larger Who has money game that is also available at my store.

I created this shape bingo/tic tac toe game.

 

Lastly, I created this Moon Phase Freebie.

 

That's all. Now I just need a snow day or two to finish some other fun projects.

I hope you enjoy these.