Hello Mrs Sykes

I've been a They Might Be Giants fan for ages...  I've even played TMBG for my class: We've had illness galore in the Hello house, and this song has been stuck in my head.  The best way to get rid of an earworm is to share it, so I'm sharing it with all of you... I'm sorry and you're welcome.  Enjoy!

I've been having fun creating my own digital backgrounds, and my teaching buddy Casey encouraged me to share them with y'all.  Here's my first set of Chevron backgrounds (for personal/commercial use) called Many Shades of Grey ... For a closer look at each of the patterns, check out the preview file.   Here's a free page from the pack (be sure to check my Terms of Use - basically, don't say it's yours.)  If you use my graphics in a product, let me know; I'd love to give a shout-out! I'd love your feedback, as this is a new venture for me.  Thanks for your support!

Life takes twists and turns, but it always seems to work out ok.  Sometimes, we have to say goodbye to loved ones... My first "baby," Sasha.  I love her and miss her terribly.  Sometimes we play with our food... NinjaBread cookies - we had so much fun making these!  Sometimes we have to pack up and move... The classroom I tracked in to this quarter.  (Don't worry - it looks much better now!!)  Sometimes we just play... We love Monopoly at our house, but the U-Build Monopoly is just fun to  build with.  ;)  Sometimes we are reminded about the wonders of the world around us... A 3-toed sloth in action at the NC Museum of Natural Science. I'll be back soon sharing some of my new backgrounds I'm working on... shades of grey (but not 50!) with interesting accent colors.  Happy weekend, y'all!  Thanks for spending a bit of time listening.  :)

Time for "The Magical Product Swap!!" Don'cha just love the button from The 3AM Teacher ? Ok - go ahead and be jealous for a quick moment... I was paired with Sandy from Ms. Fiorini's Stadium !   I have been a blog-stalker of hers for quite some time, so I was really nervous to email her.  (Ya know, since I'm such a rookie at all this... <<sigh>>)  Anywhoo - I got to go shopping in her store .  She has so many helpful activities and bundles of lessons, including these... Hard work, trying to pick just one...  Then I saw it -  the answer to my homework issues !!!! Homeworkopoly!! {{rant}}  I don't know about y'all, but homework is one of my pet peeves.  Either you completed it (ALL of it!) or you didn't.  Simple enough, right?  I try to make my homework assignments meaningful and a fun extension of our work, while still letting parents see some of the expected tasks for the grade level.  Even so - g...

Whew!  I finally finished the most recent addition to my Teachers Pay Teachers store, Rainbow Phrases !  I am super excited to share them with you today.  First, a bit of background... Y'all know I was a Literacy Specialist for years in my district, and I use this system (though it din't look so pretty then!) with my kiddos in grades 2-5 who needed fluency interventions and already knew their sight words.  Teachers in my district have been using Rainbow Words extensively for years, and I thought that Rainbow Phrases were the next logical step. My at-risk kiddos loved these!  They each got a "book ring" with their phrases on them, and as they passed each "level" they received more phrases in another color.  The parents (who were typically the ones who weren't sure how to help their child at home) raved about how easy it was to help their child learn their phrases at home.  Then I moved back into the classroom, and these fell by the ...

As a teacher, y'all know I'm kinda broke, and you may have figured out by now that I love, love, love anything that helps my kiddos with reading, so this was a fabulous opportunity for me!!   The day after Samson's marketing director contacted me, I had access to this incredible reading resource!  Since then, I have had an opportunity to explore this on-line reading software resource with my students and with my own green beans at home. Here are the highlights of this program and then I have an incredible giveaway for you ! First,  Samson's Classroom   offers three different products in their package:  Sight Words, Spelling, and Reading.  All are for learners from kindergarten to grade 5. Sight Words:  This part of the program offers 224 commonly used words.  I plan to use this with targeted 2nd graders, as many of my kiddos already know their sight words . There are five different activities:  learn the words, build words, i...

By now, you all know how much I {heart} Vistaprint !  Today, I wanted to share another resource I use for printing in the classroom - Zazzle!   They always run great deals for business cards, mugs, t-shirts, etc.  If you sign up for a free account, they will send emails (just like Vistaprint ) with deals. ~~~~~~~Squirrel~~~~~~~~~~~ A bit of advice: use a "throwaway" email account for the emails from both companies.  That way you just check it when you feel like shopping, and don't have clutter in your inbox.  My most recent email was $10 off any order of $10 or more!  Love it!! ~~~~~~~Back on Topic~~~~~~ Here are a few things I've created for my classroom with Zazzle .  Feel free to pin, or hop over to Zazzle  and check them out yourself. Skinny Business Cards make fantastic bookmarks! You can even customize the back with no additional charge, and skinny cards come in a cute little plastic dispenser. Assorted Business...

Omigoodness, y'all!   I know I've got some issues with my clipart addiction, as I'm looking for clipart instead of Christmas shopping!!  :) I just had to share this very cool freebie I found from the blogger  Crunchy With Ketchup .  {{Love the name!!}}  He is a self-proclaimed Monster Wrangler (5th grade teacher) who is sharing some of his cool clipart with the blogging community.  Go visit to snag this super-cute multicultural clipart. Krista Walden has a fabulous set of Doodle Borders - love these!  I could use these borders on everything!! :)   What fabulous freebies have you found lately?