14 Days for the LOVE of Teaching FREEBIE Blog Hop!

I can't believe how fast January has flown by! Valentine's Day is right around the corner! 

I have teamed up with 13 fellow teacher bloggers to bring you the 14 Days For the LOVE of Teaching FREEBIE Blog Hop!

We are hoping to make your planning a little easier, and as well as bringing some some educational fun to the classroom!

The Blog Hop will begin on February 1, at Ms. Smarty Pants's Blog!

Each of the 14 days, you'll visit another Blog and pick up a new Freebie.  At the end of the Blog Hop, you'll have 14 different freebies!   How cool is that?

Valentine's Day Freebie

As you can see,  I've been busy this past week updating my Blog.  I hope that you like the new look.  I still have several articles and photos to add to the page section, but I hope you will continue to come back often to see what is new!

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. I am not sure if it's because it's a great day to show people that you care about them, all of the chocolate, or the color PINK! (or all of the above!)

Each year, I host a Valentine Card Exchange with my followers/fans.  It's pretty fun.  I start collecting names and addresses for a few days, and then I send out lists to the participants.  I usually split the names into groups so that there aren't more than 20 names per list. (Roughly a book of stamps).  Friends from all over the world sign on to send Valentine Cards.  It's open to teachers/classrooms, daycares, homeschool families, and individuals.

Valentine Card Exchange rules are pretty simple: 

1.  If you sign up to participate, please be prepared to follow through.

2.  Cards can be hand made or store bought.

3.  Cards need to be mailed no later than February 8th.

4.  Send 1 card per name on the list you receive.


I am taking names for the Valentine Card Exchange this year until Friday, January 25th.  I will make the lists up and send them out on Sunday, January 27th.  If you are interested in participating, please email me at CrayonboxLearning@gmail.com  ASAP!

I whipped up the freebie below tonight.  I had it sketched out for a few days.  My friend, Mel from Graphics at the Pond made the scalloped border for me. :)  I thought it added a sweet touch to the cards.  There are 3 different designs, and 6 cards on each page.

Click on the cover to download the freebie!
                                            

 

 

 

Feel free to print off pages for your students.  You are welcome to share this freebie with your friends at school or you can give my URL to them. 

As always, if you have any questions or comments... please leave me a message or email me!  I love hearing from you!   Have a great day!

Snowman Paper Bag Scrapbook

Materials Needed:

White Paper Bags 5-6 (lunch size)
Permanent Ink Marker (orange, black)
Medium/Small Black buttons, 2 sizes. (2 medium for eyes, 5 smaller for mouth)
Binder Rings (2)
Pink crayon or colored pencil
Glue
Scissors
Ribbons
Hole punch
Ruler (optional)


Directions:

1. Stack 5-6 white paper bags together with the folded bottom of the bag face down.
2. Measure how long you'd like your snowman scrapbook to be. For my example, the measurements are 6 ½ x 5 ½ inches. Here, you have the option of cutting the bags the same length, or you can move ahead to the next step before cutting the bags.
3. Take the top bag, and measure equal distances from the edge to punch the holes for the binder rings.
Punch 2 holes in the top bag, and then use it as a guide to punch the holes in the remaining bags.
4. Put the binder rings in the holes.
5. If you have not already cut your bags, you can do so now. Having the binder rings in place will help make sure the pages are even.
6. Using an orange non-bleed marker (I used 2 orange Sharpies), draw a carrot nose in the center of the top bag. For my example, I made my snowman's nose slightly upturn.
7. Using a pink crayon or colored pencil, shade the cheek area to give the snowman rosey cheeks.
8. Glue 2 medium sized black buttons above the carrot nose to make the snowman's eyes.
9. Below the carrot nose, glue on 5 smaller sized buttons to make the snowman's smile.
10. Tie ribbons onto binder rings to finish the Snowman Paper Bag Scrapbook cover.
11. Let dry completely before using the Snowman Paper Bag Scrapbook.


*Shout out* A big shout out to the Organized Classroom! This post completes the requirements for the 5 Star Blogger Challenge! Yay! Be sure to check out Charity's Blog!!

Number Tracing Ring Book

Click on the photo to download the freebie in my TPT Store!

Materials Needed:

• Colored Cardstock
• Lamination Film (heat laminator works best)
• Scissors
• Number Trace Ring Book Template (included)
• Binder Rings
• Dry Erase Markers

Directions:

Young learners enjoy practicing writing their numbers and letters. This earth friendly activity provides a fun activity that allows children to practice their skills, at the same time conserves paper!

To create a number tracing ring book:

1. Print out a set of cards onto colored cardstock. For my example, I used recycled white cardstock. Using colored cardstock saves on ink, and time coloring. (optional)
2. Cut out the individual cards. (This will provide a better seal when laminating.)
3. Laminate pieces with a heat laminator.
4. Punch a hole in each card where indicated and insert the binder clip.
5. Ready. Set. Trace!

The number trace ring books are an excellent item to include in take home bags to provide an extra activity to reinforce skills at home. The number trace ring books can be used for long road trips, or for time fillers when students are finished with their work early. 

Alphabet Write On / Write Off Activity Notebook

Click the photo to download the printable pages for this activity!

Materials Needed:

1 inch View Binder Notebook
Sheet Protectors
Cardstock
Dry Erase Markers
Alphabet Tracing Sheets (all 26 letters, frog tracing, cover)


Creating a Write On / Write Off Activity Notebook gives you a lot of options, including the different skills that you emphasize. It is a great item to have made up ahead of time for kids that finish their work early, and need something to work on independently. Smaller versions of a Write On / Write Off Activity Notebook can be made up ahead of time for road trips, or other occasions where children have to be occupied for periods of time.

The sample Write On / Write Off Activity Notebook uses a combination of Frog themed tracing lines, and a set of 26 alphabet tracing sheets. For the purposes of this tutorial, I am using a few pages selected at random to photograph.




Directions:

1) Select the notebook you would like to use for the project. View binders are perfect to slide a custom book cover in the front and back.

2) Print out the template pages, or use other worksheets (Coloring book pages, tracing pages, work well too!).

3) Slide the printed pages into sheet protectors, and insert into your notebook.

4) Use dry erase markers on the sheet protectors to complete the activities.

Bee Place Value - Freebie

Click on the picture to go to TPT and download this freebie!

Here's the buzz....

This activity was created to coordinate with the other bee items that I had made.  It was featured in a post at Think Crafts last fall.  I loved how the cards turned out.  This freebie includes the printed templates, so they are already to use!

Materials Needed:

• Cardstock
• Small Clothespins
• Scissors
• Lamination
• Bee Place Value Clothespin Game Template

Directions:

1. Print Bee Place Value Clothespin Game Template
2. Cut out individual game cards.
3. Laminate (optional) individual cards. (Cutting them out prior to lamination makes a better
   seal around the edges of the cards.
4. Use with small clothespins.

Gift Idea:  This would make a cute gift for a new teacher, or a teacher that uses the bee theme.  Printing off a set of cards, cutting and laminating them.  Then add colored (you can dye the clothes pins with RIT dye over night) clothespins.  Seal in a vellum or cello bag tied with some color coordinating twine and a cute bee tags!

Meet Mr. Giso - Product Swap

I signed up in December to participate in my first Product Swap, hosted by Jessica Stanford. I've never participated in one of these activities before. The main idea is to swap a product with another teacher seller and then review their product. Sounds like fun, right?

WHO: The teacher that I was partnered with is Rich Giso, a First grade teacher from Maine. Mr. Giso has a blog called "Mr. Giso's Room to Read. Mr. Giso has been teaching for over 14 years in various settings. He returned to the classroom after working as a reading coach.

Mr. Giso's Classroom!  Who wouldn't want to be a student in his class?  

WHAT:  The product that I agreed to review is the Read and Write the Room Bundle of Hunts!    This packet comes with 46 separate "Write the Room" scavenger hunt sheets.  They include topics like vowels, word families, colors, famous Americans, compound words, and much more!  Each packet also comes with artwork to create the scavenger hunt box too!

These are just a few examples of the 46 separate scavenger hunt "Write the Room" forms.  What I liked about this packet is that there were several options for the "Write the Room" activity.  There are enough different pages to work on several each month and not duplicate the activity.  This is a resource that can be printed off and prepared ahead of time.

WHY:  Why not?   I can't think of a reason not to add this Mr. Giso's packet to your resource library!

WOW:  Mr. Giso is having a SALE!!  Woo hoo!!  Starting Saturday, January 12 at 7:00 p.m. through Saturday, January 19th, you can receive 20% off any item in his store!   That's right!  You can receive a discount on the packet mentioned above too! :)  Click HERE to visit his store!

~@~

I enjoyed reviewing Mr. Giso's "Read and Write the Room Bundle of Hunts." I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did.  Mr. Giso's Blog is also a great find.  It includes book reviews of different children's books that he has used in his classroom, projects that he has developed. One of the features that I loved was the "tour of his classroom" which is located on the right side bar.  To visit Mr. Giso's Blog to learn more about him and his class, click on the link below!

To visit all of the Blogs for the other wonderful participants in Mrs. Stanford's Product Swap, click Here!

Ocean Write the Room... Giveaway

Hi there!

I am participating in the Rockin' Teacher Materials Flash Drive Giveaway! I donated the Ocean Write the Room pack. (Pictured above) Click on the image, and you will be able to view the packet. For more information about this giveaway, check out their website:



Rockin' Teacher Materials will be giving away several flash drives with LOTS of goodies on them. Teaching materials were donated by TPT Sellers. The flash drives are separated by grade level, which makes it even more fun!

Be sure to stop by their website and see the wonderful resources that have been donated.

Guest Blogger - Nicki Thigpin

A special thank you to Stephanie, Stephany, and Kathi from Primary Possibilities for hosting this amazing Blog Hop!   I am excited to have Nicki from Mrs. Thigpen's Kindergarten guest blogging for me today!

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Hey everyone! I'm Nicki from Mrs. Thigpen's Kindergarten and I'm your guest blogger today. First off all, thanks to Primary Possibilities for hosting this awesome guest blogging event and thanks to Danielle for allowing me to be her guest blogger today. This is a first for me so I was unsure what to write on here! It's a lot to think about.

A little about me.....This is my 10th year teaching with 9 of those years being in Kindergarten. I started my blog back in July and have loved blogging even before then. Kindergarten has my heart and I don't think I'll ever graduate from K! I am National Board Certified ('09) and I have two more semesters of grad school before I earn my Master's in Elementary Education! YAY!

If you are like me, you want your parents to stay informed on what's happening in the classroom. I send newsletters home but sometimes I just want something simple to be able to type up and send without worrying about adding cute pictures. Something that's already done for me....well here it is. My new packet is Newsletter Templates for the Whole Year.

It has 2 editable files for each month. One file has sections that have headings such as: updates, special events, star student, homework, and classroom needs. The other file does not have headings so that you may add your own to fit your classroom needs.

I hope you check it out!! And please stop by my blog for more resources and ideas. Don't forget to check out all of the guest bloggers today and some great blogs!

Click on the image to view the packet

Here is the link for my blog:

 

Happy New Year !!!

Welcome to 2013.

Did it seem as though 2012 went by a little fast? :) It seems just like yesterday I was getting used to writing 2012. Today, is the start of a new year filled with a lot of promise. I am excited to create new materials, and share with my fans and friends.

Blessings to you and your family!