Back to School - HELP I'VE LOST MY MIND!!!

I was finally allowed into my brand new classroom today. YAY! I was so excited but after a minute I realized I am not ready for back to school! I am not in ANY way ever going to be ready and I still have plenty of time (according to the calendar) anyways. I’m hoping I will feel more settled tomorrow! I even lost my car keys in my classroom that took me a REALLY long time to find them.

Among other things I am finishing a class tomorrow and have a big final project to share and discuss tomorrow. But do you think I could find a stapler in my entire house?!? It’s okay I couldn’t find one at school today either.

Back to school I think it makes me LOSE MY MIND! Does anyone else feel that way?!?

TpT Conference - Las Vegas

I went to the Teachers Pay Teachers conference last week in Las Vegas (Let me just say that I love Vegas, I mean LOVE Vegas! If you ever have any questions or need ideas of where to stay or what to do out there ask me, seriously I have a LOT of Vegas knowledge and tips).

Anyways… let me tell you…

IT WAS AWESOME! I’m sharing that fact with you (if you are a seller) because you were either there and agree or weren’t there and are wondering if you should go next year (which is of course a BIG yes). It is very overwhelming but there are tons of things I can’t even begin to tell you I learned about. If you are a buyer on TpT let me tell you, there will be tons of new and smart teachers out there doing wonderful things and creating wonderful things for you and your kiddos at school.

I had the opportunity to see and meet some amazing TpT staff. I enjoyed hearing their inspiring words and learning a lot about TpT.

The best highlight is that I ran into my cooperating teacher from student teaching! She was out here too! It was amazing to see her and she actually is a second grade seller too!

Like I said earlier, I love Vegas! I crossed off 3 new things on my Vegas to do list!

The first was the High Roller. It is the world’s tallest ferris wheel.

I also went to Circus Circus to do the Adventuredome (because I am a HUGE roller coaster junkie). We rode El Loco (which was my favorite), there are  only 2 of this roller coaster in the United States. They also have another roller coaster the Canyon Blaster (also pretty fun) and a bunch of other thrill rides and stuff for kids.

Lastly, we did the Eiffel Tower at Paris Paris. It goes 460 feet above The Strip. It had amazing views and also allowed you with the use of an Ipad to see what your view would look like if you were at the REAL Eiffel Tower, which I thought, was awesome.

Overally, an amazing trip. It has me thinking about TpT and also about going back to school….

Exciting!

I am slowly getting ready for my upcoming two vacations but wanted to take a quick moment to share my excitement in seeing this with you J It is just nice to see myself on this for once! I have been anxiously waiting for it to happen for AGES!

Tonight we begin our family adventure to Iowa to see my husband’s family (I have never been to Iowa so I’m glad to cross this state off of my bucket list of visiting all 50 states). After that my husband and I are headed to Vegas (a city with both love) of course I am going for the TpT conference and he is going to play poker but I honestly can’t wait. I will try and update as much as I can.

Classroom Decor Products

I have been spending a lot of time getting some of my favorite back to school products finished. I will be the first to admit that I am OBSESSED with classroom themes. I currently have a sports theme but I love seeing and making products for others to have different themes. I currently am working on punctuation posters, 0-20 number posters, behavior clip charts, and alphabet posters. Keep reading for examples of each of the products I have as well as the different themes.

Punctuation Posters

(Includes posters for period, exclamation point, question mark, apostrophe, comma, colon, hyphen, semi-colon, parenthesis & quotation marks)

0-20 Number Posters

Includes posters for numbers 0-20 that the numeral, number word and a tens frame

Behavior Clip Chart

Includes full sized clip chart parts with the following levels (outstanding, great day, good job, ready to learn, warning, teacher's choice, and parent contact). 

Alphabet Posters

This product contains 26 alphabet posters each with a themed graphic, colorful border, primary lined letters and initial sound clipart to match the letter. 

Currently I have all four of these products available in these themes at my TpT store. Laughing In Second - TpT Store

All 4 Products Available Now In These Themes

Apple

Beach

Bear

Bee

Carnival/Amusement Park

Cow

Cowboy

Crayon

Dinosaur
Dragon

Fairytale

Fish

Frog

Giraffe

Monkey

Monster

Movie/Hollywood

Nautical
Ocean
Owl
Panda
Penguin
Pirate
Racecar
Rockstar
Sports
Superhero
Transportation

Some future ideas...coming soon?

Ladybug
Panthers
Jungle
Bugs
Zoo
Farm

If you have any additional theme ideas you'd like to suggest or that you might be interested in, please feel free to let me know in the comments. I'd also love to hear what you have currently in your classroom as your theme.

Dare to Dream #tptsellerchallenge -- Week 2

This week the #tptsellerchallenge asks to “dare to dream.” It is meant to allow us to talk about our hopes and dreams for our TpT business.

When I started my journey with TpT I was looking for extra money after moving with my then boyfriend (now husband) and his two kids away from my half-time teaching job and full-time summer job. I wanted any extra money I could get. I wanted whatever money I could get, even if it was just 30 cents.

Luckily, I got a full-time job as an aide (not that it was much money) but money was a little less tight. Luckily, that turned into a long-term substitute job and that made things much better.

I stay with TpT now for that same reason. I like to be able to make extra money so that I don’t have to feel that pressure anymore. My dare to dream for TpT is and always has been these things…

1. I saved for a very long time to put down a down payment on a house. I won’t lie now I really miss that giant dollar amount in my savings account (just in case). That number is not NEARLY as large and it freaks me out. I would really like to be able to increase that again but there just isn’t a bunch leftover every month to raise it like I want. As we begin to explore having a child of our own (our children now are both from my husband). I want to be sure we have the money to provide our children and ourselves with the things we want and need.

2. That being said, I want to be able to go on vacations and do fun events without worrying about the money.

3. I went to school using money my parents had saved and that I had earned by working. I want to help my children get through undergraduate without loans (or almost none). My husband is still paying off his loans and I have seen what a burden loans are (I have my own now for my Masters). I hope to provide my children with a successful start to their lives after college if I can.

Week One – TpT Seller Makeover Challenge

Week One: TpT Seller Challenge {Makeover Madness}

I love summer and I love for things to be colorful and interesting so I was very excited to be part of the TpT Seller Challenge.

I was as Disney with my family so I am a little bit late on week one but I am finally done with week one. #TpTSellerChallenge!

I am so excited about this awesome month of challenges and change.

To start off the challenge, I wrote down my social media stats at the start of the challenge and realized I had yet to make a Twitter for my store. Check out my stats here!

I spent most of my time working on some new covers that I made on products back when I first started selling (as you can see they needed help).

I am very excited for the rest of this challenge. I am also glad to be back from vacation so I can spend some time making new products as well. Keep checking back exciting things are on the way.