Incredible Dollar Buys at Target!

Everyone MUST go to Target and look for these DOLLAR ITEMS!!!  I've always purchased a few things here and there for my classroom from Target's dollar section but now they have TEACHING MATERIALS!  For someone who is moving from 4th grade to 1st, this was a God-send!  I purchased the following items:

*colorful pocket charts (small size) for vocabulary words

*rainbow star stickers for my progress charts

*a cute star pointer

*colorful star and rainbow borders

*adorable crayon erasers which I will use as a first day gift

*bookmarks to go along with the erasers on the first day

*great reader book awards

*"Great Work" and "Super Star" large stickers

*desk name plates with alphabet and numbers

*a "Welcome" banner

*"Today is..., Yesterday was..., Tomorrow will be..." bulletin board set

*new monthly headers for my calendar

*2 Dr. Seuss notepads (Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham) for Dr. Seuss's birthday

*colorful congratulations awards

*cute tab dividers

I am soooo happy!  I know the Dollar Tree also has similar supplies but these were so darn cute AND they were at my favorite place...Target!

I have to share my last favorite purchase there which I may use either at home or at school.  It is modeled by my son (who thought I was funny sharing this with him) here:

Happy shopping!  Just make sure there are plenty of "dollars" in your pocket because they all add up when you're buying out the whole section!!! ;-)

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Share Your Resources!

Happy Friday!  I spent my whole day inside trying to avoid the 105 degree temperatures outside!  It made for the perfect day to create new materials for the upcoming school year.  If you are a second grade teacher, you need to check out my newest product on TeachersPayTeachers called Set for Second!  It has many activities and printables for the first weeks of school. 
Here is the link:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Set-for-Second-Back-to-School-for-Second-Grade

Has anyone else been busy creating?  Be sure to comment and add a link to your newest products on TpT, TeachersNotebook, and other sites.  It's almost back-to-school time, so go ahead and share your resources!  

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Fresh from the Garden

As I was trying to find recipes for all of the tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant from my friend's garden, I was reminded of an idea that had been brewing in my mind for awhile.  I have always wanted to plant a fruit and vegetable garden at our school.  As always with my crazy ideas, I have no idea if it would work, who would fund it, and whether or  not I should just come back to reality and forget about it.  One of my favorite memories of my grandfather was helping him to garden when I was a child.  He lived on the outskirts of Baltimore City with a tiny backyard but there in that limited space was a wonderful garden.  We would pick the ripe fruits and vegetables and then find recipes to create using these resources.  I can't help but wonder if the students are missing out on memories like this one.  Our school has a fruit and vegetable program, but how neat would it be to have students grow their own?  As the wheels have turned, I also started brainstorming a teaching packet that would track the progress of this garden.  I could see tracking growth through measurement, making graphs to compare the progress of the plants, counting seeds and estimating them, sorting, and the list goes on!  I may begin to work on this throughout the week.  What do you think?  Is this a project that would work or might I be taking on too much?  Any thoughts on who could help?  Has anyone ever done something like this before?  Thanks so much for your input!


Check out this link for an interesting story connected to gardens at schools...
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/food-politics/moco-schools-say-food-gardens.html

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