Hello! If you are anything like me, you are busy. Super busy. I teach full time, blog, create, wife, and mommy. I NEEDED a way to keep it all together! I have tried everything. Thank goodness my husband is an engineer.  He is very organized and can keep track of stuff for the boys most of the time. He can’t keep track of me though. I have to do that. So!  I have been searching for one planner that can do everything. I think that I have finally found it! This is my Erin Condren Life Planner!   I am not

Hello again!  So glad that you are back! So, today I am sharing my calendar board set up. Short confession time first. I greatly dislike (I am trying to stop using the H word)  doing the calendar. I really, really do.   But, I know that even in 2nd grade the kiddos still need those skills. I tried to get away without doing calendar.  I really tried. I was not successful. So, I try to do a bit of calendar everyday during our morning meeting. I have tied it in with my number and word of the day and so

Hello all! Thanks so much for “hopping” by today! Now that we are back in school, I am working on setting up our classroom routines and procedures (as we all are I am sure). So, for Reading Workshop (I use the Daily 5 framework tweaked to work the best for me) once we have some stamina built up I start in with mini-lessons! We have so much to cover don’t we? So, I usually start with Check for Understanding and back up and re-read. I do this lesson several times, so I always try to pick books that I love.

Hello all!  I am participating in the Teacher Time Savers Linky Party hosted by Literacy Loves Company! This is a little tip that has saved me a ton of time and aggravation over the years! So, in my district we are required to wear a lanyard with our I.D.  I also have a “keychain” wallet, my keys and my trusty chapstick holder on my lanyard.  I wear it from the time I leave the house in the morning, until I get home after school. Yes, I am a huge Harry Potter fan.  I was officially sorted into Ravenclaw on Pottermore.

Hello friends!  It is good to see you! Today I want to write about a book that I recently found. It is called Rip the Page by Karen Benke! This book is so much fun.  It has all kinds of fun and engaging (for lack of a better word) prompts to help get your creative writing juices flowing! It also has quotes and words of encouragement from famous writers such as Lemony Snicket and Patricia Polacco. I don’t know about you, but when I teach Writer’s Workshop I like to spend the first few minutes of our quiet writing time,

Oh my goodness! I am still recovering from the awesomeness that was the TpT conference in Vegas #tptvegas15 ! I went with my friend Hilary from Rockin Teacher Materials. We are now “The Hilarys!” We didn’t fly out until Thursday morning, so it was a whirlwind 2 days in Vegas!  We stayed at the beautiful Palazzo hotel!  This this is HUGE! Sign out front (darn palm trees photobombed!) Inside the hotel lobby!  We learned a ton!  I brought all of my favorite pens to take notes! We ATE.  The food was WONDERFUL! My favorite meal was breakfast at the Grand

All teachers know that kids learn more when they’re excited and engaged. Today a team of bloggers come together to help your students take a BITE out of learning with a theme your students are sure to love! My Shark Week freebie is a few shark-themed writing prompts from my Pick a Prompt series! If you haven’t tried these out before, they are a fun way to get kiddos writing.  There are three sections with pictures: Character, Setting, and Plot!  The kiddos pick one (or more) from each section and write a story.  There are also other types of prompts

Hello again!  I am participating in this week’s TpT Seller Challenge!  If you are interested in joining us, you can find that info HERE! So, the product that I created is one that I have been thinking about for ages.  I bought the clipart, borders, and backgrounds a while ago, and just couldn’t get started.  Well, thanks to the challenge it is now a reality!  Hurrah!  Without further ado, introducing: Verb Villains! This Verb unit has everything that you need to teach your kiddos all about verbs! It includes: Posters for the Verb Types: · Action Verbs · Linking Verbs · Past and

Hello all!  I am here today to tell you about a Bright Idea for a free reading resource for your classroom! I know that my main goal for reading is for kiddos to enjoy it!  So, I try to get as many different types of reading materials I can for my classroom. Every year I have a few kiddos who are LEGO crazy! Did you know that you can get the Lego Club Magazine for free? I signed up and had it sent to my classroom. You do have to sign up for the Lego Club, but then they send

I am particpating in the #tptsellerchallenge!  I am soooooo excited about the first challenge!  Makeover Madness! I made over my Super Silly Pick a Prompts! I have been working on making over all of my writing prompts products for a while now, so it is nice to have another one our of the way! When I first created these I used a myriad of borders, and only had 3 choices of lines.  With the makeover however: My kiddos love these prompts!  They have such a great time with the characters and super silliness!  Here is an example of a super

I am linking up with Ciera over at Adventures of Room 129 to tell you about what I am reading this summer! I live for summer so I can catch up on my reading.  I am a very fast reader though, so I usually have to buy a stack and go to the library a ton!  Here is my current stash: (I couldn’t resist the kitty in the picture!) So, I am cheating a little.  I have already read: The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty (I have lent it out already) This one intrigued me from the first sentence!  I

Oooooo!  Isn’t it neat?  Stayed tuned as my new blog is updated!  I also changed my name!  Welcome to Primary Planet!