TpT Seller Challenge: MAKEOVER MADNESS!

Hi everyone! So I'm sure you've already heard about a few fabulous ladies (Sparkling in Second, Third in Hollywood, Peppy Zesty Teacherista, and Teach Create Motivate) and their super motivating TpT Seller Challenge! I'm all for a kick-in-the-pants so I will be participating in their challenge and posting my work each week:

Week 1 is "Makeover Madness" where we were motivated to update one product cover and/or product content of our choice. Well I have recently been working on building consistency throughout my newer product covers and have been meaning to go back and re-do a few of my covers for a loooooong time now. So I updated FOUR product covers/products! 

Here they are! (psst...click any of the pics to get a good close-up of each image!)

This is the cover of one of my best-selling products, "Chalkboards & Banners", a classroom labels and decor pack. I don't actually hate the original but, like I mentioned, it wasn't consistent with the rest of my store. So it got a facelift!!

Oh boy. This one is embarrassing. That horrid image on the left was the PRODUCT COVER for my "All About Me" autobiography template pack. How I sold as many as I did is beyond me, bless all of you who were brave enough to click to learn more!! But again....FACELIFT! aahh. Much better.

P.S. if you own this pack, go download the update! I improved all of the writing lines and added another option on the "My Favourite Things" page.

Next is one of my kiddies' favourite products; my "Dry Erase Binder." It got a little facelift as well and went from drab to fab! Well...maybe not FAB, but it provides a whole lot more information-at-a-glance :)

Last but not least, I gave this *entire* product a little facelift. As another one of my best sellers, my "Telling Time" pack got a much-needed update in the form of new fonts, better layout, and a conversion of one of the activities to a more hands-on cut-and-paste activity...

...and I obviously updated this cover as well :)

If you own my "Telling Time" pack, go download the update!

Now for the best part: 

All of the products above are ON SALE in my store 

until Friday! 

See you next week!!

Summer Reading List (a linky party!)

Hi everyone! Long time no blog post! I have a very adorable excuse though...

If you follow me on Instagram (@funwithfirsties), you saw this picture and already know that our first little boy was born on April 29th and has been keeping us busy ever since! Love him!!!

But I'm excited to be joining Molly from Lucky to Be in First during Zack's nap for her Summer Reading List for Teachers linky party to share some great reads with y'all!

Now first I have to confess...I'm actually NOT a big reader! I love love *love* children's books and have a ridiculous collection, but when it comes to reading "big people books" I don't have much of an attention span (honestly I think being an English major in university and being forced to read things I was not at all interested in killed it for me). ANYWAYS, my reading list is a little unconventional but I'm super excited about it!!

1. Creative Coloring Flowers - Valentina Harper 

2. Enchanted Forest - Johanna Basford (if you haven't heard of this one, Google Image it now!)

The first two books are not actually summer READS...they're colouring books for adults! I've had these on my Wish List for a long time now and I'm hoping to snag at least one this summer for some art therapy every now and then!

3. Coastal Living

Yes, it's a magazine. But it's my fav and technically it involves reading!! I plan to catch up on the stack of unread magazines that have accumulated since the school year started...hopefully on the deck, in the sun, with a drink in my hand ;)

4. Hands Free Mama - Rachel Mary Stafford

Okay so here is the one ACTUAL book on my reading list! It was recommended to me by a whole bunch of people and it really hits home based on our generations my preoccupation with social media, and my Type A perfectionist personality. Can't wait to read it!

Now for my recommendation list! Again, they're not all conventional but I loved each of them!

1. Honolulu - Alan Brennert

2. Moloka'i - Alan Brennert

I've always had an inexplicable obsession with Hawaii (and I haven't even been!). So I literally judged these books by their covers and bought them based on their names and cover photos! But I'm so happy I did because I absolutely LOVED them.

3. Bringing Up Bebe - Pamela Drukerman

If you're gonna be a mama or are a new mama, I highly recommend this one! It's one of those books that I totally agreed with every point but she wrote it better than I could ever articulate and I actually learned a TON as well. Great easy read.

4. Things We Love - Kate Spade

Here is my unconventional pick! If you love Kate Spade and bright colors and stripes and mimosas and happiness, you will love this fun coffee table book. I flip through mine again and again <3

What's on your summer reading list? Link up HERE to share!

Five for Friday (linky party for April 24)

Today I'm joining in once again with Doodle Bugs Teaching's Five For Friday linky party :)

My week started off FANTASTICALLY when I opened the weekly TpT newsletter and saw this:

Needless to say I was *pumped* to see my most popular freebie featured in the newsletter for the first time! Here's a sample of the super simple but skill-packed math craftivity:

If you don't already own it, go download my Name in a Ten Frame freebie, and don't forget to check out the newsletter to grab 9 other awesome freebies as well!!

We are quickly outgrowing our little house and are most likely making the move to a bigger space later this summer! ...A bigger house, but a much smaller backyard. Which means I have recently been obsessed with pinning ideas of how to create a cute little backyard oasis:

(You can check out more of my outdoor pins on my "Going Green" board!)

So far these have been some of my fav ideas:

(all of the pics above + their sources can be found on my board)

We are still waiting for the arrival of baby and I've been off work for over a week now...bored. out of. my mind. Seriously, where is this desperate "nesting instinct" they talk about?! 

Well anyways, being home has actually made me quite productive work-wise and I was finally able to put my Healthy Eating Unit together as a resource to share with others in my little store!

These are all of the activities that I have used in the past when teaching all about nutrition and food groups, along with some newly-added posters, worksheets, and more!

I just uploaded it last week and already I'm pleasantly surprised with how many teachers are finding it helpful! Here's a closer look at everything in the pack if you're curious :)

(And if you're interested in reading a detailed description of everything included, click HERE)

So, like I said,  I've only been off work for a few days and already I'm missing my little firsties. It's seriously crazy how one day I was looking forward to being off and finally taking some time to relax, and the next I'm just dying to get back to my classroom! I'm so grateful for all this love:

And finally, since I am no longer spending my days in a classroom, I thought I'd share a little tour of where my recent days have been spent: in the teeny tiny nursery!

And if it wasn't yet obvious that this nursery was decorated by a first grade teacher....

I'm not kidding, deciding which books to display first on these shelves actually took longer than the time it took to put together the rest of the room! I have WAY too many to choose from, but these will do for now. Seriously though, what teacher is not obsessed with children's books?! 

 And that's that! Thanks for stopping by and reading my very random 5!

If you'd like to join in on the Friday fun, head on over to DBT to link up and have a wonderful weekend :)

Our Probability Unit: worksheets, activities, lessons, and assessment

Hi all! If you follow me on Instagram then you probably saw what I posted this morning:

So needless to say I won't be in the classroom today and, according to the doctor (but not me yet!), for the rest of the week. But I will still share what my firsties will be up to anyways :)

Last week I introduced a new math unit on probability. We began by discussing some new math words that we will be using frequently throughout this short little unit: likely, unlikely, certain, and impossible. 

Before school one day, I printed and cut out a whole bunch of simple scenarios. At the beginning of each lesson over the next few days we discussed and sorted the scenarios according to their likelihood:

The "impossible" scenarios were by far the biggest hit with my firsties :P

To practice our understanding of these 4 new math words, we created our own probability flip books that featured events that were likely to occur, unlikely, certain, and impossible:

This flip book is part of my Probability Pack

To make these books all I did was print off the first page for each student and staple it with 3 other blank pages (you can use as many or as little blank pages as you'd like depending on how many scenarios you want your kiddies to come up with). Then the students cut along the 3 dotted lined to make their flip books. 

Today, the kids are going to learn about spinners. I created a SMARTboard file for the supply teacher to use while introducing this concept. It simply features a spinner with 3 different-sized sections (similar to the one on the paper below) with several questions to discuss about likelihood. The kids then get to make their own spinners!

This activity is also part of my Probability Pack

The kids will: 1. Decorate each spinner section 2. Create a spinner using a paperclip and brad 3. choose three sections of their spinner and copy the pattern into each of the three blank boxes 4. Answer the questions 5. Spin their spinner 10 times and record the results on a graph (second page not pictured)

Although I won't be there, the kids will continue learning about probability throughout the week and will work through the rest of the practice pages in my Probability Pack. Here's an overview of what else they will be doing (and exactly what else is included in the pack if you're interested!):

I also have a random FREEBIE for you!👇 

And even if you're not into sweet little Color Monster (😆) I'd love for you to join anyways because saving you time and sending you occasional (FREE) teacher treats is my favourite!!

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And before I go make some hot water with lemon and honey, I'd like to congratulate Jena who was the winner of my Student Awards giveaway! Congrats Jena :)