Is this Goodbye?

I have some VERY exciting news!  I have been promoted to 4th Grade.  Yep, it seems I've learned so much that I get to skip 3rd grade and head straight to 4th...  haha

My products have almost all had a wider audience than just 2nd Grade.  However, when I began this bloggy journey, I really had NO.CLUE. what I was doing and named my blog for just 2nd.

Now, that I've been doing this for awhile, I feel it is time to spread my wings in a lot of areas.  I want my blog to reflect that change and so it is time for a new blog. 

As with this blog, I turned to Christi over at Design by Christi.  She is FANTABULOUS and designed the MOST BEAUTIFUL BLOG EVER for my new blog!  

There's glitter and bright colors...EXACTLY what I asked for.  (Maybe I need more glitter...I don't think there's any such thing as TOO much glitter do you??)  HA!

While it's kind of sad, it's also very exciting that this will be my last post on 2nd Grade Pad.  The past freebies and posts will remain, so feel free to see what you've missed.  

I hope you'll hop on over to my new blog and become a follower there.  You'll find lots of new ideas and information coming to you in the future and a special gift for joining with me on my new journey!  I hope to make my new blog, much more dynamic and interesting than 2nd Grade Pad.

Just click on my new icon to head on over now.  I can't wait to see you over there!

  

Teacher Appreciation Extravaganza WINNERS

Happy Mother's Day!  I hope you are all having a fabulous Mother's Day with your mom, grandmothers, children, etc.  

If you are taking time to check in on my little 'ole blog, I'm sure you are doing it to see if you won!

It's hard to believe, but we had OVER ELEVEN THOUSAND entries.  

Can I just say a staggering WOW!!!!!

We had so much fun pulling this together for all of you.  I hope you all enjoyed your freebies and found some new blogs, facebook pages, and TPT stores along the way to start following because my fabulous bloggy friends and I have even more fun and excitement in store for all of you in the future.  You won't want to miss any of it.  We've got some exciting ideas for this summer.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime...

The winners are...

Can you believe it?? How weird is that to have EXACTLY 11,111 entries???

Maybe all those ones are because we believe in making all of YOU feel like #1 and want our ideas and products to be A+ for you!

  

 

An e-mail has been sent to the winners.  We look forward to hearing back from you!


 

Teacher Appreciation Sale

I hope you all had an EXCITING day yesterday on our big blog hop. If you missed it, it will continue this week although some of the freebies are only for a couple more days, so grab them fast! 

Today I wanted to let you know about the special I will be having in my TPT store on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Just e-mail me (found in my units) letting me know what you purchased, your user name, and what item of equal or less value of the smallest amount your purchased you would like for your freebie and I'll e-mail it right over to you!

I also wanted to share some of the items in my store, just in case you would like to load up your cart and get ready for the big sale tomorrow!!

Hang in a bit and you'll find another freebie to add with the one you got from my blog hop! 

Just click on each picture to go to that custom category in my TPT store.

 Back to School Classroom Themes

 Second Grade Common Core

 Math

 

Language Arts

 Writing

 

And don't forget to check out my current FREEBIES!  Three of them have been in the TPT newsletter before!

And now for a little extra freebie!  Just click on the picture to download!

 What are you waiting for?  Go load up your cart from my store and all of your favorite stores and be reading to save BIG tomorrow with this code:  

 

Teacher Appreciation Extravanganza Blog Stop #12

The Big Day is FINALLY here and you've reached...

My bloggy friends and I have worked on this event for WEEKS to try and make it the PERFECT

 

 We wanted to offer you lots of great gifts!  To pamper yourself...

 If you win prize #1 you will receive LOTS of gift cards (spa treatment, Barnes and Nobel, Starbucks just to name a few).

For prize #2 you can choose any type of theme you would like for your classroom back-to-school theme.  You will receive a custom-made unit of everything needed for your classroom (calendar, name tags, etc).  We also have a packet of great back-to-school units for you!

 For prize #3, you can choose one item from each of our TPT stores ($10 or less).

We all also have a freebie for you to help finish the rest of the year.
My freebie includes some fun activities for your kiddos to finish, along with this bulletin board or door display.

 For my part, it HAS been a terrific year!  And so hard to believe it is almost the end!

My unit is a paid unit in my TPT store and will be free Sunday - Tuesday, so click on the picture to grab yours FREE now!

If you missed the above unit as a FREE unit!  Never fear!  Just click here to grab another one!

In case you haven't heard, TPT is having one of their very few HUGE site-wide sales Tuesday and Wednesday.


My store will be included in that sale so hop on over and start filling up your shopping cart and you will be ready to go!  Remember, if you have made ANY purchases in the past (no matter how long ago) and did not leave feedback, do that today.  You will then receive TPT points that can be used like $$ toward your purchases.

Check back this week as I'll be having some bonus freebies for you!

 

Take it and Make it Life Cycle of a Butterfly Craftivity

It's Thursday and you know what that means!

 I went shopping yesterday.  I just happened to be in the mood to see what I could find for my classroom next year.  I have decided to go with a bright rock-n-roll theme for my back-to-school theme using these 4 bright colors.  I was pretty please with the start I made.

 I found these 4 little containers at the Dollar General for $1.

 I added dice and now no more dice on the floor.  I am SUPER excited about this!

(It's just the little things in life isn't it??)

 We've been wrapping up our study on life cycles.  We made caterpillar accordion books that I actually came up with YEARS ago when I was teaching kindergarten.

You will need to do some prep work before you begin.  Use bulletin board paper and accordion fold into 6 sections.

I use a lid for my pattern to trace circles.

Make sure that whatever you use for a pattern is hanging over on the side of the folds.

Cut out to make books before you start with your students.  (A parent volunteer is GREAT for this!)

It's also fun to make them a variety of colors.

 First the students color the pictures.

 Cut out one eye and post on the front next to the fold.  Add a smile.

 Open the book and add the other eye along with another smile.

 On each circle add the stages along with the pictures.

Last page!

The back of the book.

Here is what the book looks like open.

See how it accordion folds?

It can also be left closed as you turn each page.

You can find this craftivity in my TPT store.

Now it's your turn to link up (just grab the first pix at the top and add somewhere on your post) and share something that we can TAKE and MAKE!

Be sure to stop back by Sunday for some BIG news...You won't want to miss it!

 

New unit (Judy Moody) and a freebie!

It was raining CATS and DOGS here this weekend so I didn't leave my house all weekend!  The great part of that was I got TONS of work done on a new TPT unit.

I guess I would be considered a "geek" in some circles...haha

We only have 4 more weeks of school!!  How crazy is that!  This year has absolutely flown by!

In 25 years of teaching, it has been the best group of students I've ever had.  I am going to miss them terribly.  

Now that we've covered all the mandated standards, it's time to review and also have a little fun.  

I was reading a book for fun to my students...one I've never read before, although you might be familiar with it.

I was so captivated by this book.  I immediately envisioned the fun I could have with this book at the beginning of the year.  Before I knew it, a complete and in-depth book study had been born. 

 The ideas seemed to flow faster than I could put them to paper!  I LOVE when that happens.

I've included EXPLICIT lessons plans for all 12 chapters.

 Vocabulary with fun activities

 Technology opportunities as students learn science and social studies activities associated with the book.

Craftivities are also included.    I am offering the turtle craftivity to you as a freebie.  Just click on the picture to get your copy.

Here is a closer look at just a few of the 88 pages in this unit.  Everything you need for a 2-3 week book study is included.  For the first 48 hours it is on sale for HALF-PRICE!  

Click on the picture to purchase your own copy.  I plan on using this for my back-to-school unit.

BAM!  My first 3 weeks are ready to go!! 

Be sure to check back for some GIGANTIC news later this week!  You won't want to miss out.  Here's a little preview...