End of the Year Projects~ Pizza Keepsake Boxes and Memory Books

Boy this year just flew by! I can't believe that next week we start our end of the year projects! I am sitting here this evening printing the pages I need to make our oh, so cute pizza boxes! This is a tradition of mine and I consider it and the contents inside (like a DVD of class photos) to be my gift to the students and families! 

My mom did a lovely job coloring this example for the photo shoot, don't you think? She had fun making it! Mom comes in every year at this time (and weekly too) to help me. She assembles the boxes and passes out all of the children's treasures I have been saving.

One project from each month and all sorts of goodies like pick sticks, cubby tags and other special items get sent home in the box. The kids have a blast looking through all of their crafts while remembering all of the fun themes we had throughout the year! The parents go crazy when they come home and absolutely LOVE the boxes!

I took a trip out this weekend to Gordon Food Service to pick up some small white boxes. I was happy to walk out of there with 50 boxes for $15.00! Local pizza places will often donate boxes too if you smile and tell them you are a teacher! 

What else is in the box? When you lift the lid, there is a cute page of ABC's through the year. I type up some special things that we have done during the year that begin with that first letter. Inside is a sentence completion page about the year too. I always personalize a special poem for each child to include. All of those pages are in the Pizza Box Craftivity. 

NEW THIS YEAR... I thought it would be really cute to add a slice of pizza to the box in the form of a shape book! 

Presenting...Slices of my Year Memory Book!

As we look back at the year, we will use the brainstorming sheet that is included to generate some ideas for writing on each page of the book. 

There is one page for each slice, or month, of the year! 

Here is how my example turned out:

 It looks good enough to eat! I printed mine in color, but there are black and white covers for the students to color too. Covers are created for Kindergarten, First, Second and Third Graders.

FLASH FREEBIE ALERT!

This brand new item will be free for the next two hours! 

Head over to my store and grab a copy to try out with your class! 

I hope you like it! :)

I like looking back with these kinds of activities as much as the kids do. 

We always end the year feeling wildly accomplished!

Spelling Words Practice Ideas and Printables for Second Grade!

Techr I reele need hlp wif bein a good spelr! Not many, thankfully, but a few of my students are still struggling with applying good spelling in their writing. This year, rather than using Words Their Way, I've decided to focus on phonics skills and on correct spelling of all high frequency words from the first through the third grade list. These are the words my little writers need to use most often and the ones I need to be able to read!

These same words are also my word wall words. 

They go on the wall after a week of daily practice in a variety of ways. 

I use my cabinets in the background to display the words alphabetically.

 They are printed on colored cardstock. 

When I introduce the ten new words of the week, we look at spelling patterns and talk about word families and all of that good phonics stuff. Then we PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE in a variety of ways ~air writing, using pom-poms to cheer, march and spell, looking at the shape of the word (as in letter boxes) and of course, lots of written practice.

I am not giving a weekly spelling test! That's not to say that I won't resume regular testing next year, but I'm giving it a try. Students often memorize well for the test, but then go back to their comfortable ways of writing those same words during Writer's Workshop as their creative minds are busy thinking of other things. I feel that the true test of spelling, for my students, is being able to apply the rules and demonstrate accurate spelling (age-appropriate of course) in the context of their writing. I assess spelling in their written work. My hope is that with regular written practice, the correct spelling of these words will become automatic in time!

There are lots of favorite written practice activities I've used for years, like writing silly sentences with spelling words, and they are the kid's favs too! Sadly, some of my copies were old, dirty, outdated and probably passed along for twenty years from teacher to teacher. I refuse to send home an ugly paper :) and so I made a new and much cuter packet for use with my kiddos! I included wide primary lines on the pages to encourage handwriting practice at the same time.

If you are looking to update your spelling practice pages or just want to add a different twist to your routine, you can grab a copy of this set at my TPT store! Just click on the picture to download a copy!

I hope they will help your class "bee"come more fluent spellers!

Clip Art on a Budget, Pin it Winners and a Freebie!

You get what you pay for~ so the saying goes! That is usually true for most things, but I am here to let you in on a way to add cute on a budget! The most challenging and time-consuming part of my latest project was finding the perfect graphics to represent events in Laura Numeroff books which are wildly creative!

While on my search for these unique images, like a carousel horse with a purple mane, I discovered a few shops with really cute, high-quality CU clip art.  Many have instant downloads available which is a definite plus for me. I just hate waiting for sets to be sent by email especially when I am on a roll!

If you are looking for a single graphic and don't want to spend a lot on a complete set for just one image you will use, check out

Digi Web Studio and Colorful Clipart (many $1.00 sets and digital stamps too)
Sweet Clip Art ( new TOU and CU with a small donation of as little as 25 cents!)

Of course, I will always rely on the work from my favorite artists~ Creative Clips, Ashley Hughes, Pink Cat Studio, Melonheadz and KPM Doodles, just to name a few! These fabulous graphics are worth every penny but it's always nice to get them on sale! KPM Doodles is running a 50% off special right now. Melonheadz is offering exclusive sets with purchase too, so hurry on over for the promo codes!

Giveaway Winners

It's time to announce the winners of the Pin it to Win it! Congratulations go out to:

Yashika
Denise F.
Amanda P.
Karen M.

They each get to pick out a sequencing set of their choice!

I'm feeling the Pinterest love this week! It's so exciting to see my shop, blog or TPT creations on teacher boards!  My new sequencing card activities for the Laura Numeroff books have been Pinned over 250 times in just 4 days! That is just incredible friends! Thanks so much for helping to spread the word and let other teachers know about the new sets!

As a thank you to all who played along and for my wonderful readers, here's a little flash freebie for you that is hot off the press! You can see the horse with the purple mane for yourself!

Just click on the picture to take you to the download!

Hope it was a super weekend!

Fun Before the Fourth Flash Freebie!

I should be at the beach or water park instead of working on my computer, but the weather has not been cooperating lately! I am stuck inside at least for a few hours today, so I'm having some fun with my blog and spicing up my shops! 

It's been a while since I've had one, so here's a flash freebie friends! Hurry on over to my Kidsrcute TPT shop for a  freebie classroom bunting set! This one is in my classroom theme, black and rainbow bright! The item will be posted at full price after 5:00 P.M.  Michigan time today! Click on the picture to take you there!

If you do download, please Pin it if you like it and leave me a little feedback. I would really appreciate it! You're the best! :)

On cloudy days, I'm working on separating some of my bundled decor sets, tweaking some and adding a few new beautiful and unique themes to the collection! I'll keep you posted!

Doing the sunshine dance for everyone for a beautiful 4th of July! Have fun, live it up and be safe!