Getting Organized

Before

Teaching can be stressful, and having a messy room seems make it a million times more stressful. Before the students came back to school this year, I did some major organizing. I got rid of a lot of old things in my cabinets that the previous teacher had left. It was really hard when my room kept getting messier  from pulling out stuff from the depths of my storage space. However, when I finally got rid of it, it felt great! Also, I used a bunch of old storage tubs from a teacher who just retired (thanks Neal!). Then I labeled the tubs and stored seasonal items and various supplies in them when I was finished my room felt so much better. Now lets see how long I can keep it clean...

After

Greetings from Hawaii!

We have had a great summer! The highlight has definitely been a family trip to the island of Kauai. Beaches, pools, shaved ice, and beautiful sights everywhere. Next week we go back to school, but we are so grateful for these wonderful summer memories.

Summertime!

We love summer! After a long year of working in the classroom, there's nothing like the freedom of summer. Sleeping in, camping trips, reading books, going to the beach...the list goes on. 

Summertime also means catching up on jobs around the house. This summer we took on the daunting task of painting our house by hand. It was a long process, but the end result was well worth it. 

Soon we will be heading back to school again, but it sure is nice to recharge your batteries a little during the summer.

SLANT

This is a SLANT anchor chart designed to help students with active listening. Teachers ask students to "pay attention" all the time. However, many students don't know what that means. This anchor chart is great because it encourages students to be actively involved in listening, rather than sitting back and passively listening to a speaker and not showing them that you are following along. Also, the anchor chart provides great social cues for students with special needs. The next time you ask your students to pay attention, don't forget about SLANT!

Second Grade Common Core Math

We just added another summer math product! Surf Shack Summer Math: Second Grade is our new common core aligned way to help students practice math this summer! It focuses on 8 different second grade CCSS math standards.

This product has a similar feel to our original Surf Shack Summer Math for first grade.  However, the concepts are more challenging, and include regrouping, expanded form, graphing, comparing, word problems, and more.  There are also math tools, such as number lines, tens frames and 120 charts. It also has original beach art that kids love.  Come ride the math wave at the surf shack!

New Pinterest Collaborative Boards

We love Pinterest for all of it's great ideas and products.  As sellers on TpT and Teacher's Notebook, Pinterest is a great way to new materials to others.  Many of you know that collaborative pinning boards are good places for posting products for others to see.

There are many collaborative boards that we belong to, and it's neat to see all of the cool items that get shared.  We recently decided to start our own collaborative Pinterest boards.

The first one is called "Speech an Special Ed." It's not just for speech pathologists and special education teachers, it's for ANYONE who has resources or ideas relating to these areas.

The other board is called "Education and Technology." As the name suggests, it's a board for pinning products about all things related to technology.

Follow these Pinterest boards if you want to see the cool material that is being pinned.  If you would like to join as a collaborative pinner, just leave your Pinterest URL in the comments section below :)

Flash Freebie!

We are having our first flash freebie! Our new "Surf Shack Summer Math" for first grade will be free for a short time this evening.

Details to come on our Facebook page!

https://www.facebook.com/JoeAndAllieTeach