Happy 4th of July!!

As you can see we've taken a couple of days off to enjoy time with family! We're planning to get caught up though. Be on the lookout for our Wired Wednesday and Thoughtful Thursday post soon! In the meantime head over to A Day in the Life of a Title I Teacher for a giveaway!

There are 2 prize packs (PreK-2 and 3-6). We donated one of our best selling products, see if you can spot it in the PreK-2 prize pack!  Click the image below to enter!

Teacher Feature Tuesday: Erin Schneider

Are you ready? It's time for the next edition of Teacher Feature Tuesday!

Our featured teacher is:

 Erin Schneider

Erin teaches 7th grade Social Studies (History) in Bowling Green, Ohio.  
Erin Schneider's TpT store opened in August 2012. Check out her TpT store!

Why do you teach?

"I have always known I wanted to be a teacher.  Ever since I was little I couldn't picture myself in any other job, I still can't.  I teach to make a difference-to help make students productive members of society.  I know they will mostly not remember everything they learn in 7th grade social studies, but I hope they will remember the skills they were taught."

Why did you open your TpT store?

"Two years ago I was transferred from American History to Ancient World History and I was so scared. I thought for sure I wouldn't make the transition well and wondered how I would ever be a good teacher again (a little dramatic probably).  I needed a lot of help and guidance then.  I didn't know about TPT then, but I sure wish I did.  I hope my store helps other teachers every day!"

How has TpT made a difference in your life personally and/or professionally?

"Every time I sell a product I feel validated.  It's a great feeling to know that others value your work and your teaching style. When I am stuck on a topic (how to teach it) TPT saves me...every. single. time. :)"

I wish someone had told me...(share some advice for TpT sellers)

"Proofread.  Proofread.  Proofread.  Then ask someone else to proofread. :)"

We've taken some time to look around Erin Schneider's store and she has some great resources! Head on over and check out what Erin has to offer!

July Currently

We are linking up with the 'Currently' party for July with Farley. We sat down last night and did our July Currently, but didn't get to post them so here they are...

Here's Steph's:

Here's Manda's:

*We were watching/listening to a highly inappropriate, but hilarious movie last night!
*We are both loving our life! Finally have our own place, Steph has a job in a school for next year, and everything is just good right now.
*Steph is thinking about the busy week we have planned. Manda was just thinking about the fact that she had to be up early for work today.
*We are both wanting a vacation. Now that Steph has been offered this job, we've decided that we can plan a long weekend before school goes back.
*We seriously need to focus on some cleaning and organizing. We still have boxes laying around that need to be unpacked. And a pile of decor stuff in our living room floor.
*Manda's tip...Think of something on the go...Write it down...you will forget it if you don't!~This has happened a few times recently to us. We need to start keeping a notepad in our purses to keep up with our on the go thoughts!
Steph's tip...♥Do it because you love it!♥~Steph feels like this is true with everything! Family, teaching, TpT, blogging...don't become a robot in any aspect of your life. Do what you love and love what you do!

Make It Monday: Stop Motion Animation

We are so excited to share this project with you! We literally spent like two and half hours on this, but this is a project that you can spend as little or as much time on as you would like. We went all out for ours, but it can easily be made simpler.

Yesterday we were getting ready to sit down at the breakfast table when Lil Man made some sound effect. This is a normal occurrence, and we always tell him how awesome he is when he does it without realizing it. Manda made the comment that he needed to grow up and work in sound effects. Then she had the idea to make a stop motion video with him.

After breakfast we headed to his room for "supplies". We grabbed some cars and a camera and got to work!

We set up the pictures and snapped the shots. Then we downloaded the pictures and put them in order and added some audio. Now this was a much longer process than it seems written out here, but we're going to discuss how to make the videos more in depth on a Wired Wednesday post. 

Here's our video:

 Hope you enjoyed our stop motion animation! Have you ever done anything like this? We'd love to see it! 

Also, if you haven't already...be sure to get your entries in for the giveaways we're hosting. You can enter here. 

We're Hosting a Giveaway!

We offered to help some TpT friends host a giveaway. Neither of them have a blog so we wanted to help get the word out for them!

Let's help celebrate 180 Days and Counting & Tabitha Savage stores and their giveaways!

Enter to win the PreK-1st giveaway here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Enter to win the 2nd-3rd giveaway here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Enter to win the 4th & up giveaway here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

GOOD LUCK!!

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a fun day out Saturday...Well we got up early Saturday and hit Old Navy's $1 Flip Flop sale! Then enjoyed some donuts and coffee! Coffee was much needed after that!

 Then we hung out around the mall waiting for our surprise for Lil Man! While he patiently waited he did math on his phone...He wanted to see how many more seconds (one hour) he had to wait...

He started by trying to add 60+60+60+60+60+60...and quickly decided he needed a new approach so we multiplied instead ;-)

Then we headed off for the surprise!

He was so excited to see this movie!! Truth be told..we all were! :)

While we were there he had to take another picture...

He's (we're) so excited to see this movie too! Can't wait until it comes out!

Today we spent the day at home and worked on our project for tomorrow's post...it took us like two and a half hours in all.

So it's time for a new week to start. If you missed any of our posts last week be sure to check them out. Make It Monday we shared Lil Man's bottle cap craft. Teacher Feature Tuesday we introduced Stephanie/The Creative Classroom. Wired Wednesday, I vented about my technology mishaps. Thoughtful Thursday we shared a couple of new products from our store. Fun & Free Friday (posted late) we shared a little bit of the fun we had this week and some great freebies as always.

We're super excited to share tomorrow's post with you because we had so much fun with the project! Also, we are hosting some giveaways this week for friends so be sure to check it out! Time to buckle down for an awesome week! Are you ready?

Fun & Free Friday (Late Sunday Edition)

So sorry that our Friday post is just now being posted on Sunday! We had a crazy busy Friday and then our internet kept going in and out Friday night and Saturday. No fear though, it is here! Hope you enjoy it even if it is 2 days late! 

Fun
This week was busy but still lots of fun! We spent some family time playing video games! (Yes we are video game junkies!)

Lil Man had the most fun this week! He had dance camp for most of the day Tues-Fri. Each day had a dress up theme too!

Friday evening I had to drag Lil Man to a meeting with me for my "other job." At the end of the meeting, I got a new wallet that I'm in love with!

And now onto everyone's favorite part of our Friday post...

Free (click images to download)

Jessica Osborne shared this great freebie with us!

This great freebie will help you get the ball rolling on your back to school plans! These surveys help you get to know your students at the beginning of the year. And then at the middle and end of the year, it gives your students a chance to reflect on how the class is going, what they like/don't like, and what they want to happen.

Aspire to Inspire brought us this next freebie!

Have you ever play Scattergories? We love that game! This game is similar in design. Players are asked to think of a word for different parts of speech that starts with the chosen letter. Can't wait to use this game!

Erin Palleschi shared our next freebie this week!

This fun themed freebie has students collecting data using tally marks and creating a bar graph! So cute! Think we should have Lil Man do this on our next movie night before we can watch the movie!

Diving into Learning shared our last freebie for the week!

This fun game has students determining whether addition facts up to 5 and up to 10 are true or false in order to be the first to the finish line. What a great way to practice addition fact fluency!


Thank you to those who shared these freebies! We hope everyone enjoys them!!

If you would like your freebie featured, fill out the form!