Big congratulations to Amy L - the winner of my Big Boho Giveaway!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered and for all of the fun comments and words of congratulations. Being involved with the CD Blogger Summit was really one of my proudest moments this year. Hope you've enjoyed it too!

If you're not Amy L, don't fret just yet!  All of the other fabulous designs from my friends and fellow Carson Dellosa Creative Partners are also up for grabs. 

{Hurry though because the giveways end soon!}

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One of the biggest highlights of my blogging career so far has to be my partnership with Carson Dellosa. I have used CD products since day one of teaching. So when they approached me about being part of their first Blogger Summit, I was honored, excited, nervous, and definitely shocked! Me? Little ol' me? So I put aside my very real fear of flying and joined some amazing blogging friends  for a whirlwind weekend of creating and decorating!

This is Carson Dellosa headquarters in North Carolina. It was cold! It had snowed just before we arrived. That thrilled me and Cheryl to no end. But Erica and Erin weren't quite as impressed!

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Inside there were tables upon tables stacked with supplies and cool Carson Dellosa products for us to use in our classroom vignette. Each blogger was assigned one theme. I got to use Boho Birds and the coordinating Chevron Common Core accents. Lucky me!

And as if that weren't enough we got to shopping at Hobby Lobby! It was my first time in this craft heaven and I looooved it. Since then one has opened up in my neck of the woods too!

So, what did we do with all of that cool stuff? We turned it into some pretty cool classroom spaces! 

You can see much, much more in the digital version of the lookbook HERE. Keep an eye on your mailbox too because a printed copy is headed your way as well!

Here's a little behind the scenes action...

Ready for the really awesome part? I get to give away a TON of the classroom decoratives that are showcased in my classroom vignette!  You will receive everything listed in my section of the lookbook.  {click on the little white circles to see more} That's almost $200 worth of amazing classroom materials! 

Just enter using the Rafflecoper widget below by June 30.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I love task cards and use them all the time with my kids. I don't always love the cutting and laminating that's involved. Sometimes I just don't have the time before I want to use them.  Sometimes just thinking about the laminate, cut, laminate, cut, massage sore fingers, laminate, cut, cuss, laminate cycle is just too overwhelming. Luckily there are some great alternatives.

If you're using the task cards for a review or whole group activity, consider using your projector to show the task cards. If they're already cut out, just place them under the document camera. You can even just show them straight from the computer and not even print them at all!  Sometimes I have the kids write their answers down on paper as I show each card, sometimes we just discuss them out loud. This is also a great way to review or check completed work when using task cards for scoot games or center activities. Save your ink, save your time, save your sanity, and save your sore fingers!

If you want your kids to use the task cards independently or projecting them is not an option, you might really dig this next idea. Print and cut the task cards, but skip the laminating step and use these little photo albums! I picked these up from Dollar Tree.  If you want the kids to check their own work, just include one card at the end as an answer key. 

I have little bonus tip for you too. I'm cool like that. Empty baby wipe containers make excellent storage containers for task cards. Even the photo album slides right in! I took the top off of this one because these happen to be larger task cards, but with smaller cards you can fit them in with the lid closed. Consider storing cards that all relate to a theme or subject in one box. Use a Sharpie to label the container and you're all organized! No more searching through piles and boxes to find the set you're looking for.

For more bright ideas from more than 130 differentbloggers, please browse through the link-up 

below and choose a topic/grade level that interests you. Thanks for visiting!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Welcome to my stop on the hop! A bunch of my second grade superfriends and I are sharing some of our products, freebies, or ideas to help you over the last little hurdle before that sweet, sweet relief of summer! All day pj wearing, coffee drinking, trash tv watching summer. Well, at least that's usually my reality. Although I do plan to fit in some working out and definitely cooking some healthier food.  But I digress, back to the hop.

If it's products you need. I'm your girl. I'm going to use this for the last week of school. We have a three and a half day week but there are some special events and things going on plus a lot of the room will be packed up and extra supplies sent home by then. So, this pack will be my saving grace. Click on the pick to see more.

Next is Compound Beach Bingo. It's perfect for the last few days or even your end of the year party. And it's free and It can be found by clicking on the picture below.

Every year I have my current class make bookmarks for the next year's class. I always ask them to either welcome the new students or tell them something they might need to know about me or the class to have a great year.  I just cut a piece of card stock into strips, let the kids write on and color each side, and then sometime over the summer (or the night before the first day of school) I laminate them.

I'm mad that I can't find any better pictures because usually they are pretty hysterical! But the ones below have got the biggies covered: Welcome. Beware of all the math. Work very hard on everything. You will be writing a lot. Make sure Mrs. Boehm gets her coffee <---most important.

Also, tie-dye circles were all the rage last year.

Ready for more great ideas? Just hop to the next stop!

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Hola! Happy Cinco de Mayo! 

In case you didn't hear yet, the big Teacher Appreciation Sale on TpT tomorrow and Wednesday. My entire store will be 20% off and if you use the code TPTXO when you check out you'll save an additional 10% {which sounds like 30% to me but some super smart secret mathematician says otherwise. I duuno, I guess I believe them. #mathishard}

 I get asked a lot if I'm going to bundle different things, so this weekend I got busy bundling! First I started with some task cards. These are the ones I use for my Brain Builders Club shown below which I've blogged about HERE and HERE.  

I bundled the cards to make it a bit easier and more affordable to set up your own Brain Builders Club. Even though the bundles already offer the cards at a deep discount, they'll still be on sale so you can save even more!

I also bundled some of my writing resources. These are really specific activities to build writing skills in your blossoming authors. 

One thing I get lots of bundle questions about are my Ready, Set, Print packs. I don't think I'll be bundling these because I tend to update them every month, which would lead to updating the bundles every month.. Classic Give a Mouse a Cookie stuff...

Besides being a seller, I'm a HUGE tpt shopper. Ready for proof? This is a screenshot of my wish list total! yikes! 267 items!? I won't be buying ALL of them. probably. maybe.

I sure hope Teacher Appreciation Week is filling you with lots of sunshiney thoughts. If no one else has told you, please know that if you're here, I think you're all kinds of awesome!

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Only a teacher understands the slight euphoria that comes with putting up the May calendar. That's why you see forty bajillion pictures of May calendars all over Instagram on May first. And I love every one of them because it means we're that much closer to suuuuummmmerrrr!! I do NOT spend my life wishing the days away and counting down to summer when I'm in my room, but even the most dedicated, happy teacher starts to look forward to leisurely morning coffee, untimed trips to the bathroom, and not having to eat lunch at 11:07 exactly. Am I right?

But May is also a beast of a month. We have our end of the year standardized tests, our informal reading assessments, conferences, parent event, general packing and organizing for next year, and on top of that we have six family birthdays and Mother's Day all rolled into 4 short weeks! So, as always, there's a need for a little something-something to fill the gaps. It's just reality that when you are responsible for giving one-on-one tests to every kid while the rest of them are as silent as possible, you can't be up monitoring whiz-bang, hands-on, interactive learning experiences. Hopefully, I can help with some of my monthly resources. 

First up, is my Mother's Day Craftivity Card. I made this with lots of different printing options, so you can just print one page per kid and have them color or you can print the different parts on colored paper for them. I like options. I'm kind of fickle. I have to say, I think it's pretty cute! And for $3 for your whole class to have a cute little gifty for their mom is budget friendly as well.

Next up, is the May edition of my Ready, Set, Print pack. I updated this one recently so be sure to grab the revised version from your purchases if you already have it. I added some pages in there to help my kids with bubbling in. I was surprised how hard it was for my kids to bubble in! I guess I shouldn't have been, they don't do it a whole lot. It's kind of sad that it's a skill they even have to learn, but that's a whole 'nother post. I've also gotcha covered for Cinco DeMayo, Memorial Day, and general springy stuff. Skills covered include apostrophes, commas, using much or many, phonics, differentiated addition and subtraction, proofreading, prefix and suffix identification, addressing an envelope, and even and little foldable Mother's Day card. And as always, CCSS for grades 1-3  are printed right on top of each page.

The May printable writing journal is ready! I have been using these in my room consistently since January, and the progress my kids have made is incredible! I don't print every single page. I actually select about 8 pages which gives me 16 journal topics and pages. I use most of them as a teaching opportunity. We read the topic, think about what we could possibly write about, share some ideas, and most of the time I model one example for them with their input. Then they get to tackle it on their own. On the first day of the month when they get the journal, we go through it together and put a star on each page that they can work on independently during work on writing time. I know I'm doing something right, because when I start handing out the new journals I'm met with excitement from my kids. They don't hate writing! And that's huge.

{Well, most of them. There's always an exception...}

And finally, if homework has got you down, I've got the fix for that too. I am not a big fan of homework, but it's a necessary evil. In these packs I really try to make it interesting. The kids learn about something relevant, historical, or just plain silly. They also practice phonics, grammar, critical thinking, math, sentence structure, and keep track of reading at home.  I originally, named them Homework Helpers but I had lots of requests to take "homework" off the page because teachers were also using them for seat work and bell work the morning. So, your wish is my command!

And how sassy is that little flamingo up there with her zebra purse and dangly earrings?! 

Love me some Melonheadz graphics!

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