Friday, June 22, 2012

Vacation

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to Seattle to go on an Alaskan Cruise ;-)

Maybe I can finish thinking about my reading centers and read some of my books I've already spoken about...

See you all in about 2 weeks!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

TeachersPayTeachers versus Teacher's Notebook

Many people have asked me what is the difference between TeacherPayTeachers and Teacher's Notebook.
Or even; which is better?
Or; which makes me more money?

So here's the facts:

First off, I use both sites to sell and "buy" products. (I say "buy" because I have actually only paid for a few products otherwise I always get the free stuff.) I don't really prefer one over the other, but both have different qualities that I sometimes favor.

The Buyer Perspective:

TPT
-Easy search options
-Wide range of products (games, presentations, worksheets, forms, etc)
-Many different types of platforms (excel, word, powerpoint, PDF, etc.)
-Can search for "free" products
-Preview option on many products along with pictures
-Every seller must have at least one free product

TN
-Usually more colorful activities and games
-Wide range of products (games, presentations, worksheets, forms, etc)
-Many different types of platforms (excel, word, powerpoint, PDF, etc.)
-Can look at a whole "store"
-Pictures are required so you always see the product before you buy

The Seller Perspective:

TPT
-Can be a free member or a premium member ($59.95)
-As a free member, you can upload as many products as you want, but there are fees taken out for each product, i.e. Transaction fee: $0.30 and TPT commission: 40% of price marked (For a $1.00 product I make $0.30)
-As a premium member, you can upload as many products as you want and make 85% of your listed price
-You get paid in quarters (every three months) to Paypal
-Must upload a free product first

TN
-Pay $19.95 for a store and you are set to go
-Unlimited postings
-You get paid as soon as the transaction goes through and you get 100% of your listed price (- a paypal fee) (For a $1.75 product, I made $1.50)
-You must include pictures for all products

I have used TPT for three years now and TN for just about two months.

I am still learning on TN, but am liking what I do with it. However I am having issues with adding worksheets and files because I cannot make a picture easily on my computer. I will need to learn more about that so I can have the same products on both sites.

Yes, I do not make thousands of dollars on TPT, but the products I put on there are things I already make so I don't do anything extra apart from uploading them to the site and then they are there forever to be brought by others. It is little fund that I refuse to touch... except when I brought my TN store.

As I've said, I am here to help others so if you have questions, please comment and I will answer.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Build - Math Centers

Normally, I won't be updating this often, but I ended up finding the perfect bins for BUILD today and had to share.



In case you have no idea about BUILD, check out Adventures in Teaching

I actually found out about it from Pinterest (of course) and was immediately attracted to having my math centers set up the way they describe. If you know about Daily 5, it runs similar with there being five set centers that can be altered throughout year.

Here's the sum-up:
B is Buddy Games - I plan to use all those awesome math games I find on blogs, TPT, and TN with this particular center.

U is Using Manipulatives - Tens and Ones, Dominos, Shape/Pattern Blocks, Flashcards, Counters, Calculators, Unifix Cubes, etc. But I want to create task cards for these so my kiddos don't just "build" objects with no purpose.

I is Independent Work - Worksheets, Workbooks, Folders for different math unit, i.e. money, measurement, addition, subtractions, etc.

L is Learning About Numbers - Books, I found a blog on Pinterest that lists math books by topic  (SCORE, Math Books Galore!) Most books are from $3.99 - $7.99 on Amazon. I got to see Stuart Murphy at the IRA conference and would recommend getting any of his books. He has over 60 math books in his "Math Start" series. I'm trying to collect them all. Check out his books here.

D is Doing Math - This is kind of that miscellanious center that you can do anything with. If you have extra games or activities you want them to do, they can do it here. Also, this can be a teacher led center or even just a "pop-in" center where we check in with them throughout the time.

I found these buckets at Dollar Tree and the labels at Sunny Days in Second Grade. Just alter your print settings to make them smaller to fit on whatever boxes you want to use. This is one of those things I can't wait to start next year.

Linky Party - Summer Reading

Apparently there is a bunch of linky parties going on out there and while I'm still new to the blogging community, I saw one that I really wanted to participate in.
                                      
I ended up finishing one just as summer was ending, so I'll start there.

Caught (Missing)Torn (Missing)
This book is from the Missing Children Series by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Found, Sent, Sabotaged). It is amazing and I don't care if it's YA (almost everything I read is... sorry), I adore it! I actually read the first book with my 5th graders during my first year of teaching and it hooked ALL of them! It turned into a race to see who could get the second one first from the library. Every book has just gotten better and who doesn't love a series? The fifth book, Caught, comes out in September and I've already pre-ordered it on my Nook.

One of my friends, who just happens to adore Disney, got me into the next book that I finished a few days ago.
Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark         Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn (The Kingdom Keepers)

I love Disney (who doesn't?) and I live in Florida, therefore I totally love this book. The Kingdom Keepers series is about five kids who get to "cross-over" into the Magic Kingdom during the night to fight the "Overtakers." The "Overtakers" are the villians in Disney. It was so exciting to think about those attractions and characters coming to life. There are five books in the series and I plan on reading the next book during the summer as well.

Lastly, here are the next two books that are just waiting on my Nook to be read. Hopefully next week when I have to fly to Seattle and go on a crusie to Alaska (I know, I can't WAIT!!!) I'll have some time to read.

Forever (Wolves of Mercy Falls)
The Future of UsForever is the last book in Mercy Falls Wolves Series and I loved the first two. Think Twilight with different shifting rules and no vampires. Definitely check it out!

The Future of Us is one I'm super excited about. I saw Jay Asher at the IRA (International Reading Association) convention this year and have read 13 Reasons Why (Loved it, definitely dark).

That should give me enough to do along with everything else, right?


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Comprehension Tri-folds

Hello again!

I hope all the teachers out there are enjoying there summer by now. I definitely am with all I have going on, and yet, I still have been working on stuff for next year.

I have made comprehension Tri-folds for some books that I happen to have several copies of. This way I can use this during centers next year.

I must say I got this idea from another blogger that I saw through Pinterest (LOVE) but the books she used in hers weren't ones I would utilize so I altered her idea a bit to test the strategies I wanted.

You can find all of my Tri-folds on my TPT (haven't figured out how to do PDFs on TN yet). I hope you all check them out :-)

Current Tri-folds on TPT:
Make Way for Tooth Decay
The Magic School Bus Fights Germs
The Magic School Bus and the Missing Tooth
The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten
The Magic School Bus Set
Bruce, Phil, and Adonna Head For the Mountains

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Another New Look

Hello All!

If hope I am not confusing anyone out there in the Blogger universe, but I am changing the purpose of the blog. Again. (This is the third and final purpose for this particular blog.)

It will now be used to help other teachers. I have read some awesome teacher blogs for a long time and really want to create my own version of some of these great blogs. I want to focus on showing my own ideas along with some ideas that I have found useful from others.

I hope you will all enjoy the ride with me as I head into my 4th year of teaching!!!

Ms. Lyric