I'm back...sort of

I had planned to take the month of June off from blogging and all things school, but our summer took a crazy turn and June has turned into July too.  At the beginning of June we finally got Sophie, the German Shepherd puppy that we had been waiting for.  

Unfortunately, our sweet little baby had a congenital defect for which there was no remedy, so after 7 weeks with her, we had to have her put to sleep.  Absolutely the hardest thing I have ever had to do!  She was precious and dearly missed.  It's hard to remember what life was like without her by my side and under my feet!

I'm in need of a distraction, so in an effort to get back into the school groove, I'm back, sort of...  I'm not promising any earth-shattering pearls of wisdom, but I do have a freebie for you to help create a print rich environment in your classroom.  Several years ago I started adding labels to things around the classroom, not everything, but lots of things. They used to be simple black and white labels on ruled lines - because correct letter formation is such an emphasis with so many of my little lovelies!

I needed to add a few more and redo others, so I decided I wanted just a bit of color to help them stand out without being a distraction.  My revamped labels are still simple print, but they are on colored rule.  They're free in my TPT store if you're interested.

Download this freebie from TPT

I hope to be back later this weekend with some other classroom revamping!  And, while I've been away, I passed 100 followers, so I think a giveaway is in order!  More details to come!

You Spin Me Right Round, Baby Right Round!

When I broke out the spinners again this week, this is the tune that a group of my girls serenaded me with (and continued to sing throughout their work stations)!

My kids have an obsession with spinners, so I am capitalizing on it big time!  I want to share a great resource I found online for making your own printable spinners.

Here is a screen shot of one I created to use with our sight words.  

(Click on the picture to go to the website.)

But wait, it gets better!  One of my all time favorite teacher purchases was this set of overhead spinners from Learning Resources.  I bought a package of 5 spinners for $5 almost 4 years ago at my local teacher supply store, and they have held up amazingly well.

I must confess, I have never actually used them on an overhead.  Instead, I laminate spinners I have made and then tape them underneath.  The spinners can quickly and easily be changed out, and no more dealing with pencils and paperclips!  And that, my friends, is worth a whole lot, especially at this point in the year!