Lemonade Math Center FREEBIE!!

I am starting to think about what centers I need to make for next year. I only started doing math centers after winter break....so I have lots of centers to make or buy to get through the beginning part of the year. I saw these really cute lemonade kiddos on scrappingdoodles and I knew I had to make centers out of them. I made centers that are like my Rainy Day Math Centers. I found it easier if the kids have seen the centers before...then I am not running around the room showing them how to play. I plan on mixing these centers with some money, telling time, and place value games I already have in my room!

Click hereto download! 

 Tomorrow I will staying in my p.j.s and working on my homework for my masters classes!!! I am not looking forward to it!! I will also be sharing pictures of the great items I found today out shopping with my mom on Friday! 

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

How to Upload a Document Onto Your Blog...

A really kind reader asked how to upload a document for your readers to download on your blog. This is something that took me a while to figure out on my own so I thought I would share for the new bloggers out there!

 First I always create my documents in word, but you can't upload a word document to google docs. you have to save it in a PDF. When you go to hit save as in word find the option that says "save as type"...scroll down and hit PDF.

 Once you have saved you document in a PDF go to Google.com. Sign into your account and hit products. The second button will be Docs. Click on it.

Once you are in Docs. click on the button next to the create orange button...it kind of looks like the print button. Once you clicked on it then the options are files, folders, or setting. Click on files!

It will then take you to your documents library and it is just like creating an attachment on a email. Click on what you want and hit ok. Then hit the blue start upload button. You will see it upload to the right on the screen. Once it is done click on the document.

In the top right corner their is a button that says share...click on it! Then hit public and change. Click the circle that says anyone who has the link. Make sure to hit the blue save button after this!

Then you will see the link to share at the top, copy and paste it into your blog post under the link header. When the link comes up in your post their will be two little arrows. That is where you can tell your readers to click to download the document!

I hope this helps some of you!!

I am super, duper excited to get back to blogging and my Fashion Friday posts! I haven't posted on Friday in like a month...ugh! I am going shopping tomorrow and I can't wait to show you some of the outfits I put together. I might even let me mom try and take some pictures of the outfits on me...we will see how that goes! Happy Monday!

P.S. I am getting ready to go walk 5 miles with my bff...wish me luck!! As you can see I figured out how to space my posts again..in the new blog format it compose instead of HTML when you are writing your post! ;)

Linky Party!

Kelley over at Teacher Idea Factory is having a Rockin Resource Linky Party! Not only is that cool but she always spells her name the same as me!!! I rarely see that ever!!

Click here to link up! Number 1: All the AMAZING children's books out there. I don't think I go a day without reading at least 2 books to my kids! Number 2: My Mr. Sketch Markers! How in the world can I make an anchor chart without them!!

Number 3: All the GREAT resources out there from all my bloggy friends! Everyone is so creative and generous! Happy Saturday!! P.S. Does anyone know why I can't space things out on the new blog format?? I think it makes my posts look awful!!

End of the Year Freebie

Tomorrow is the last day of school....and it isn't even a whole day. We get out at 11:45! I am actually really excited because I have been really tired lately. I just can't keep up and need a good, looong vacation! It is going to suck to have to finish taking EVERYTHING down tomorrow. I am taking everything home too because we have to leave our personal stuff out in the hall because they are putting tile in our rooms. I am NOT leaving all my hard earned items out in the hall for someone to steal over the summer. (Our school has a eat/read/play program everyday for our kids. They can come up to school and get a hot breakfast and lunch. The gym and library is also open for them to play! Did I say it is FREE!) So tomorrow I will be getting my arm work out in taking boxes to my car!! I like to have something to hang up at the beginning of the year so I like to have my students write letters to my future students. Usually they write about tips to get through second grade!

Click here to download all the versions! I am off to go to bed and rest up for my BIG day tomorrow!! Happy TGIF almost!!!

CAMP LEARNED A LOT!!! (freebies!)

So it has been CRAZY at school with all the parties, lunch-ins, and last minutes assemblies! I can hardly keep up with everything! Needless to say we only have 2 1/2 days of school left!! I am super excited for a break but I know I am going to miss my kids and all my fabulous co-workers! This week we are particaping in Camp Learned A Lot. I have put together a packet of some of the activities I use during the week. I have completely decked the room out in camping gear and themed items!

Click here to download the packet. We have been doing many of the activities in this packet and also in Hope's and Cara's camping themed units. We started off graphing how many people have been camping. I am actually teaching my teammates class for an hour in the morning and then we switch back. We only have to plan one lesson in the morning! I am totally loving it!

We also sequenced with smores and made this cute crafty! Of course when we were done we went down to the teacher's lounge and made real smores!! (the secretary was NOT very happy!)

Today we did a pinterest inspire activity. The kids were split up in groups and were giving 2 minutes to make a tower using 100 cups. It was interesting their strategies and what type of towers they made. Take a look...

We have been working on all week our ABC's of second grade. The kids really like this activity!

Click here to download the activity! This is what I made my students for their end of the year present. I also bought Hope's unit with student awards, which is sooo cute!! If you haven't you need to check this out!

I am off to catch up on all my shows and snuggle with my lil helper. I am super tired and need to get some beauty rest to get through the week. I hope you enjoy all the camping themed items!

Sooner rather than later...

I wanted to participate in my good friend Hadar's linky party but I have never had the time. I have been very busy cleaning and organizing my classroom because I will be moving out in ummm, well, 6 days!!!! Here is my summer bucket list... First thing is I want to COMPLETELY redo our reading curriculum. I know its crazy but it needs to be done. Our current reading series isn't cutting it. I plan on still using the phonics lessons, but incorporate new themes and books!I will probably take up most of my summer, which is fine with me. I plan on getting everything organized by weeks in binders. I will post pictures when I get it all done!! Next I will be taking 2 summer classes for my masters and taking my dreaded comps!! I will be done with everything on July 7! Then I only have 2 more classes to take in the fall and I am done baby!! I am so excited to get it done in less than a year and a half!!

I also plan on doing this...

I plan on using these bins to organize my science and social studies units!!

I am totally making this for my school bag next year!!

Lastly I will be going to Maui with my lovely husband! We have been to Kaui and the locals all said to go to Maui too! We totally listened and serve a break from our busy schedule! Happy Wednesday!! I will be working on future homework for my classes and catching up on DVR!!

I need your HELP!!

I can't believe it but I have been nominated for the most fascinating blog award for 2012!! How does a little blog like mine get nominated for such a big award?? I am still in complete awe and shock! First I want to thank all my amazing bloggy friends that I have made! Sometimes I need to just vent and you are always there for me! Sometimes I need a good idea and I again can always count on you. And when I least expect it I get a little surprise like this nomination. (it actually is a BIG surprise!!) If you would like to vote for my Buggy for Second Grade blog please do so by clicking the award below. I am truly grateful to be apart of such an awesome community of inspiring teachers!! Thanks for everything!

What a great start to the week! Happy Monday!

Mother's Day Craft

Tomorrow we plan on making our Mother's Day gifts. I of course found this idea on Pinterest!!It is super easy to make and won't take a lot of our precious instructional time!

Today we started to talk about the different types of clouds. I found this really cute poem that I shared with the kids after we read the AMAZING Cloud book. The kids were amazed by all the different types of clouds. Today we copied down the poem then tomorrow we are going to use cotton balls to make the different types of clouds around our poem writing!

We also reviewed nouns, verbs, and adjectives. I was surprised that some of my students did not remember this!! I was like oh no!!! We will be reviewing them again tomorrow and maybe the next day until they can say them in their sleep!! Today they worked in a small group to put together a sentence I had cut up and label the nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Whew!! I was down for the count yesterday! I went home from school in the morning because I was NOT feeling good. Today I had 4 kids gone. The sickness is definitely going around!! I was a cleaning freak today trying to get it out of my room! Only 9 1/2 days of school!!

Candy Math Freebie!!!

We have been working on a little bit of alegebra this week in the good old second grade!! (I can't believe it!!) We are working on how to solve problems with paretheses! Today I introduced the concept and we did a lot of praticing. Most of them are picking it up but I have a few who are going to need some more time or just need to tune their ears in and listen!! :) Tomorrow we have an early release day so I figured we need to do something fun! We are going to practice solving parenthese problems with licorice! I have made these cards the students will use to make problems. They will then add the licorice for the parenthese. I made a recording sheet for the kids to show their work and for accountabibily! I of course want to share it all with you!

Click here to download your own copy! I still can't believe I have only 2 weeks of school left after this week! I am super excited to get everything ready for Camp Learned A Lot! I will be sharing photos and activities after next week! Happy Tuesday!! (Super excited for Real Housewives of OC!!)

May Currently and Teacher Appreciation!

I really enjoyed doing this currently because I got to pretend to be a pageant girl!! I think it is every girls dream to be in the spotlight for one night!!

I also wanted to share with you the GREAT teacher appreciation freebies on TpT tomorrow! Go to to check out all the great deals from K-2 teachers!!
[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

Rainbow Spelling

I use this great strategy when we are working on a new phonics skill or just studying our spelling words. It takes a little while at the beginning of the year to get the kids used to this way of thinking, but it is definitely worth the headache because my kids can do it all on their own now! Here is how it works! The student use a different color for each sound. For example: c a t....each letter would be a different color because they make different sounds and none of them work together. Another example is r e a d....r is one color, ea are the same color, and d is another color. "EA" are the same color because they work together. Our reading program is very phonics heavy therefore we have what are called "sound spelling" cards hanging from our ceilings. My students refer to the cards if they have questions about any of the sounds.

What are the benefits of this you ask? It helps to reinforce all the phonics skills they learned in first grade and all the new ones they learned this year. It helps my struggling students work on recognizing sounds and letters. I also make them write down the number of sounds in each word. That is how they know how many different colors to use. Using rainbow spelling also helps with blending skills! My wonderful bff/instructional coach created this great rainbow spelling sheet I use in my classroom. I have the words written on the first line and then the second line is where the students use their crayons to do the rainbow spelling.

Click here to download! I can't take complete credit for this idea though! One of my friends last year started this in her classroom and I had to try it out! My kids just ate it up. If you have any questions about which letters would go together or any other phonics rules please leave me a comment! Enjoy!
[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

Website Sharing

I don't have too much tonight. Today was a Monday for me since we were off on Monday. This week we are talking about severe weather/natural disasters. I was on google/utube all morning looking for "kid" appropriate videos. Many of the videos out there are a little to graphic and could defintly scare my second graders. After almost giving up I find this great website that I thought I would share with you! Click Here to go to the website! It has short videos of all the different disasters. My students were amazed by all the destruction! Many of them had not seen an earthquake or hurricane because we don't have them in Kansas. They couldn't believe all the damaged that they can do! In the next couple of days I hope to share about rainbow spelling! This is a strategy I use to help my students really understand how different letters work together. It is also great for practicing blending words! Happy Monday...I mean Tuesday!!
[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]