TpT Seller Challenge - Week 2

It's week 2 of the TpT Seller Challenge and this week the focus is Dare to Dream!

And you can join in!  Find all the details by visiting one of the blogs below!

TpT Seller Challenge is hosted by:

When I began my TpT journey nearly 3 years ago, I was very modest in my goals. Since then, with the continued success of my store, I have gradually updated my goals.  And now I am encouraged to Dream Big!  Well, here are my dream goals for my TpT journey!

Become debt-free

This is a common theme for most sellers - pay off debt!  And I have my share of it! I am slowly paying off dental bills and other credit card debt, and I hope to increase the payments so I can pay it off faster.  I am hoping to be debt-free in 24 months!

Save for a new car

I live in Southern California and I NEED my car!  I commute from Orange County to Los Angeles for work and put 70+ miles on my car per workday!  My current car is getting closer to 150,000 miles and I know that it is only a matter of time before I will have to buy a new car.  So I am hoping to put aside a little money each month into a "new car fund."

Travel

I would love to be able to travel more.  I traveled a lot when I was a child, and when my kids were younger we would travel a couple times a year.  But now that they are adults and doing their own thing, I haven't made it a priority to travel.  So I am changing that now!

What are your TpT goals?

TpT Seller Challenge - Week 1

Well... school is out and it is the perfect time to create and update teaching products on Teachers Pay Teachers!  And I have joined the TpT Seller Challenge to give me the much needed motivation to work on my little store!  You can join in too!

Week 1 is Makeover Madness!

I looked over my products and first on the list was my High Frequency Word Leis!

Yes, this cover can definitely be improved!!!

So I got to work! And ta da!!!  The finished covers!

Dolch words

Fry words

CA Treasures words

I was on such a roll, that I decided to create a new version of the leis!  I teach with CA Treasures in my classroom so this will be perfect for my kiddos!

And all 3 are on sale through Sunday evening {6/21/15}!

You can find more details on making the leis {HERE}.

I can't wait for next week's challenge!  Bring it on!

Make an Aladdin / Arabian Nights Sensory Bin!

My class loves our Aladdin themed sensory bin!!!  I love combining a sensory bin with an academic activity, such as letter recognition or CVC words.  And this bin is a perfect combination!

Here is how I created it.

I started by layering in some shredded paper.  I had this left over from my winter sensory bin.

I added in some beads strings.  I purchased necklaces and then just cut them into different lengths.

I found these gems at the craft store.  I loaded the bin up with these.

I also added some sheer ribbon lengths.  These originally had wire in them, but I pulled the wire out after cutting the ribbon.

I headed to my local Halloween store for this genie lamp.  Luckily the store is open year-round!

Here it is!  All ready for my genie and magic carpet cards!

You can find 2 different versions of cards in my TpT store - CVC words and Alphabet letters!

Experimenting with Apples!

Hop over to Who's Who and Who's New to read my latest blog post on our science fair project.

More Sunflowers! {and a FREEBIE!}

The next story in our Treasures reading program was Sunflower House by Eve Bunting.

It is the story of a young boy who plants some sunflower seeds in a circular shape. He waters the seeds and scares away birds.  The sunflowers grow and eventually create a "house" for the boy to play in with his friends.  But at the end of the summer the flowers begin to droop and die.  At first the boy is sad, until he realizes that he can collect the seeds from the sunflowers and plant another sunflower house next spring.

After reading, we created a bubble map describing sunflowers.

And then the kids used the thinking map to create and write sentences.

We also worked on the sunflower life cycle with this cut and glue worksheet.  And you can grab it for free. Just click below!

Multiple Meaning Words

We are always working on vocabulary in my classroom and last week the opportunity came up to work on multiple meanings for the word trunk.  We have been studying plants so it was the perfect time!

Multiple Meaning Words - We call them m&m words and I promise my students a candy m&m when they finish filling out their graphic organizer!

I began by creating a tree map with the word trunk at the top.  They helped by brainstorming different meanings for the word.  With some teacher prompting, we came up with four different meanings for trunk.

Then they used my Multiple Meaning Words {graphic organizer} to create their own tree map using 2 of the meanings.

You can find this organizer in my TpT store.

All About Seeds!

Our book for the week was Seed Secrets.

After reading, we discussed the main idea and supporting details of the book.

We created a chart together and then the students worked on their own charts.

 "explode, coconut float on water, stick on bears"

 "stick on bears, float, fall"

"explode, stick on bears, helicopter"

I brought in a coconut this week!  We learned from the book that a coconut is one of the largest seeds in the world and that it can move by floating in water.

So we explored!!!  We shook it (to hear the water inside), we talked about the rough texture on the outside, and we figured out if it really would float.

Here it is floating!

I found this great video that showed how to easily open a coconut and I decided to attempt it!

Cracking Open a Coconut Quickly, Easily and Painlessly from Sonia! The Healthy Foodie on Vimeo.

Well...I couldn't get it to crack by using the back of a knife.  So I decided to place it in a plastic bag and then smack it against the concrete outside of my classroom.

That did it!  I drained out the coconut water and pried the coconut meat away from the shell.   We each got to take a little taste of both the coconut water and the coconut meat.  And most of the kids liked them both!