Notebook Tablet for the Teacher

I just received an e-mail for a promotion from Teacher's Notebook that I think is pretty sweet. You can enter to win an iPad mini, a Kindle Fire HD, or Nook HD! You can enter once per day and the sweepstakes ends on January 31st. I've already entered!

Feeling a little...normal?

As my three week winter break comes to a close, I feel like I'm just now feeling like myself! I want to just sit and create. I want to paint, draw, build, clean, and blog. Wait wait wait...did I say clean? Cuz that's not me. I don't know why it has taken almost three weeks to decompress, but I'm glad to feel...normal. 

Too bad school starts back on Monday. I'm nowhere near being ready. I've managed to stay away from my classroom like it's infested with bees. Oh wait, that was my classroom last year. Seriously. A hive of bees. In my classroom. During class. Did you know they "wake up" around 10am in my town? Yeah, I didn't either.

But now, all I want to think about is Valentine's Day and the cutesy clip art I've created. I'm also working on some President's Day clip art. *insert shameless plug here*  

I use Art Studio to create the clip art and found some great resources about drawing caricatures. I'm not super comfortable with it yet, but I'm hoping to learn more and then maybe post something on here about how to use it. We'll see how that goes. 

Anyway, enjoy the remainder of your winter break! I know I will!

January Currently

With a new year comes new hopes, dreams, aspirations, thoughts, desires, and of course a sense of purpose. It is a cleansing, a renewal, and a hassle at times. We want to continue doing what we think works, but we want change too. It's a tricky balance. I'm in that boat as well.

My juicing is going okay. I don't want to dwell on it here, so I won't bore you with the details. But I do want to say, it's certainly easier to drink your veggies than to eat them. And who better than to tell me that? My son.

Which got me to thinking. If I can juice veggies and drink them and make them taste good in my own home, why can't I do it in my classroom? My classroom had a "healthy snacks day" which was quite successful. And since we will be starting a unit on weather soon followed by a unit on matter, I'm thinking this would be a great lesson on how matter can change? I can bring the juicer to school along with fruits and veggies and see who is brave enough to try the juice at the end! Oh I can't wait!

Today I'm linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade to exploit my January thoughts. Be sure to check out her fantastic blog for great ideas!

Also, be sure to join my giveaway on Teacher's Notebook! Or visit my Teachers Pay Teacher's 20% off sale!

PowerPoint Games

A new year tends to bring new ideas and new goals. Tonight's goal was to clean up my e-mail inbox. Going through the 2,000+ unread forgotten e-mails, I came across one that I had been meaning to look at, but never really did. One such e-mail is a diamond in the rough.

A long time friend of mine knew I was in search of games for my students to play using my Promethean Board. She teaches high school back east and sent me some links to sites that have great resources. I feel it's important to share them with you.

The first site is UNCW.EDU/EDUGAMES. These are free templates for you to use in your classroom. She said that her students love the "What's Behind the Box?" game. Here's an example of the one I made. I plan on using this game to introduce our next science unit on weather.

To add your own picture (the templates are blank behind the boxes), simply click on the "Format" tab and then on "slide background". Then choose the tab at the left to say "fill" and the tab at the top to say "picture or texture". Next, click "choose picture". This will allow you to choose any of the pictures you have downloaded or saved onto your computer or thumb drive.

The other site she recommends is JC-Schools.net. This site has free templates of games that are crafted after game shows including Pyramid, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?. Jeopardy is a great game to play as a review of lessons taught.

The Jeopardy game is a little more technical, and will take a little time to set up, but worth it in the end. I recommend saving a template as well as a custom made one so that you can keep that topic and create a new one based on a new topic.

I am excited to create these games for the kids to use! If you find other games, feel free to post them in the comments section. Also, be sure to stop by my giveaway on Teacher's Notebook, and my 20% off sale on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Today is New Year's Day. I've started a new project in a new frame of mind. I'm hoping that this goes well. I've been inspired to start juicing. Yes, juicing. I've been concocting new potions in my kitchen and drinking them down with gusto. I feel good about it because I'm taking it slow. I'm not going "all or nothing". I'm drinking one in the morning for breakfast, and then the rest of my day is same as always. Except, I've cut out candy.

Yeah, that's not fun. This time of year candy is EVERYwhere. I have a brand new bag of candy that I'm wondering what to do with. I should just throw it away and feel good about it, but my practical side thinks that is wasteful and crazy.

I've also decided to blog about my juicing journey in a new blog I've started. I'm not really ready to share it yet. I'm not confident with it. Maybe when the juicing gets going along more smoothly, I'll share it.

I've also decided to blog more in general. I'm thinking my New Year's resolution could be to make a goal each month and try to stick with it. January's goal? Juice. And blog about it.

I did find some time last night to create some backgrounds that I think are pretty cute. I've posted them in both of my stores. I'm having a 20% off sale at my TPT store starting tomorrow, and a giveaway for them on my TN store. Stop on by and check them out!