Sunday, February 3, 2013

Gotta Luv Target!

My hubby always drops me off at the door in front of Target and goes to park the car.  It's a routine:-).  He knows where to find me when he comes in....THE DOLLAR BINS!  There's always something I need in there!  Luckily, hubby has stopped asking for explanations of my purchases. It's cheap entertainment after all, right?  Here's my goodies from last weekend..



Of course a polka-dot magazine holder is a MUST!  Check out the cutie post-its!  Where else can you get 100 Day certificates for $1??  Nowhere!!  

Saturday, February 2, 2013


Take a break from football to go shopping and you don't even have to leave the house!!  Check out the TPT Super Sunday Sale!  My store is 28% off!  Stop by and have a look!  Don't forget to use the code "SUPER" at checkout to get your discount.
Stop by Jason's Online Classroom for a great linky with lots of stores having SUPER sales!


Sunday, January 27, 2013

New Sub Product

I have had such luck with my first grade sub tub packet that I decided to make one for second grade teachers too!  One recent reviewer of the first grade product said "My sub said I had the best sub folder she's ever seen".  I love that it's helping other busy teachers!  Check it out by clicking on the pic.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

A Little This...A Little That

We are heading into the end of January!  WHAT!!  How is that possible!

I sent Progress Reports home last week.  I got all of my DIBELS assessments done!!  Can I get a whoop-whoop!!

It's all about penguins in my class this week.  Wednesday is Tacky Day!  WHAAAAAAT'S HAPPENING!  Ha!  I love that penguin!!  I'm so sad that I have to go to a CCSS training that day and have to miss the FUN with my kiddos:-(.  Pity party.  Boohoo!

I do artsy crafty things on Thursday afternoon and Thursday at lunch I was still thinking about what I wanted to do.  Then I remembered the totally cute symmetry penguin I saw on Pinterest a couple of nights before.  OH YEAH!  I whipped out the black and orange paint, cut some paper and we were in business.  I simplified the process and the look a bit from what I saw on Pinterest.  Here's some samples of these little cuties.


Little Dudes

Little Gals



And for the creative ones...Macaroni Penguins!
Click here to see the original article about these little cuties


I watched Mary Poppins with my little girl (she's 22) today!  OMG...such a great movie!  I may have to show it to my class the next time they earn a popcorn party!  BTW...to earn a popcorn party my kiddos have to build two Mr. Potato Heads.  They earn parts by getting good reports from their pullout classes (PE, computers, library, lunch).  My class LOVES this!  At our Winter holiday party some little siblings came into our class and without knowing the importance of Mr. Potato Head, they started playing with him.  Holy Cow!!!  It was just disastrous!  I had to reassure the class that we would put all of the pieces back on the potato and I wouldn't make them start over!  Hahahaha!  I forgot all about it but when I came in to school the next morning, I noticed that Mr. Potato Head had been put back just as he had been before all the terror the day before!  Hilarious!  Kids take these reward things very seriously!!

I got this idea from 2nd Grade Rocks on Pinterest <3.
Click here to see the original post

Off to work on some new products for TPT!  Hope you will stop by my little store and have a look:-)

Monday, January 21, 2013

Time for a Linky!!

Richi over at Ribbons, Recipes and Rhymes is having a linky.  She created some cutie pie penguin clip art and shared it so we could create some penguin products.  I'm linking up to my new Writing Silly Penguin Sentences packet.  Check it out:-)  Oh...I forgot to tell you, it's a freebie!!






Thursday, January 3, 2013


Happy New Year blog friends! I'm having such a great break that I haven't taken the time to do any blogging.  I didn't work on any new products until yesterday:-)  But now...I'm on a roll!  I finished my January Spectacular Sentences, and redid my Washington/Lincoln Expository Writing packet as well as the Valentine stuff I made last year.  Check them out!  

This first little sweetie will get your students to write sentences that dazzle!  The packet I made for December asked students to add "where" to their sentences.  This packet asks students to add adjectives!  That what makes the difference between good writing and great writing in my book!  


And moving right along...here's the link up to my "Mad About Math" Valentines Day packet. Woohoo!

Whaaaat you say???  There's more???

Yes indeedy!  Language Arts Valentines Day packet<3

And did I mention I revamped my Expository Writing with Lincoln and Washington Writing Activity Pack? 


I gotta go back to work and get some rest!  But first, I need to finish my January Word Problems packet.  I'll get it up later today or tomorrow.  It's awesome for CGI!  My class loves doing these fun word problems.  Just before the break I gave them a tough division word problem from my December packet and one of my kiddos got out of his seat and came up to me and said, "Mrs. Thelen, that was really fun!  I had to think a lot!" Learning, being challenged, and having fun...what a concept!  


Sunday, December 2, 2012

Gingerbread

Check out my new Gingerbread Galore unit on tpt! I love doing Gingerbread the last two weeks before Winter Break.  The grand finale is making gingerbread/candy houses!  What a mess!  What a blast!  Our first grade team  has the kiddos make their houses on the last day before the break.  It makes a fun party and it doesn't have a Christmas theme.  


I hope to get my CGI Problem Solving Packet up tomorrow!  Come back and check it out.