TPT Seller Challenge Week 2: Dare To Dream!

Happy Weekend!

I'm having a great summer,

but the days are packed...packed...packed....

and it seems like I have a small window

to do some blogging... nap time and weekends!

I'm excited to be here for week 2 of the 

TpT Seller Challenge hosted by

Third in Hollywood

Sparkling in Second

Peppy Zesty Teacherista &

Teach Create Motivate

This week's TpT Challenge is Dare To Dream

I'm fairly new to the TpT world and haven't made a ton of things. I try to focus on one or two things at a time that I need for my students.  As I get more comfortable I hope to expand and do more. Some of my dreams are...


Family Time- I would love to use TpT earnings to do fun family things with my husband and son. Not just the usual go to the park, have a picnic, etc.  Those are all super fun things to do and we do them a lot... what I want to do is those special extras.  Maybe going to a water park for the day, or to a special place for the weekend to get-a-way spontaneously. I'd love to just always jump at the chance to meet up with people and do things to make memories and not worry about money.   

TpT Conference- I really want to go to Vegas for the TpT conference.  I have met so many wonderful people through blogging and IG that I really would love to meet them and see what else I can learn. I'd love to save money from TpT to be able to join in on the fun.  Maybe next year???

Fun- I just want to be able to go out and do something for myself, my family or a friend.... to have fun.  Offer to treat someone to something special or just to be making memories.  I guess that goes along with my first goal, however sometimes I feel that us teachers don't get enough time to spoil ourselves or the people that we love.  

New House- My husband and I are in the process of building a new house.  We don't have an eta yet but it should be sometime this fall (you know, the perfect time for a teacher to move!!!) I'm hoping that we can really take the time to put into it what we want to get it started and off on the right track.  Sometimes money can hold you back from doing certain things to the house or adding certain decorations or splurging on something new like a comforter set.  I'm hoping that I can use my TpT earnings to help that process out a little bit more!


Be sure to stop by one of the blogs I mentioned above to read and connect with all of the other dreamers out there.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Makeover Madness: Week one TPT Challenge

Hi there! Happy weekend. I am excited

to be a part of the TPT Seller Challenge

hosted by 4 fabulous bloggers. 

See Below!

I have been absent from my TPT world lately.

Life has just gotten in the way. 

I have on my summer list to do some makeovers,

so this was the perfect way to get started.

One of my best sellers is a set of task cards

that I use at the beginning of the school year. 

I have three sets of them. One for addition with 

regrouping, one for subtraction with regrouping

and one for place value. I also have them linked together

in a bundle pack.

My goal is to revamp the whole entire bundle,

but for now I have the first set done. 

Here is what I started with----

In my defense, it wasn't a bad start.

I use them a lot with students,

especially when I'm trying to do some assessing

at the beginning of the year. 

I decided to change it up a bit and

I LOVE how it turned out. 

I would love for you to check it out!

Click Here!

It's going to be FREE for a flash and then 

discounted. I'd love some feedback too!

I'm super excited to get on the next product

for this bundle. :)

Currently May... wait...what??? May?? Really???

OMG! Where has the time gone.

 I just can't get over the fact that May is here. 

This has been the fastest and slowest

 school year at times this past year,

 but now I'm starting to panic... 

Am I really ready to be in the last month of school?

 Am I really ready to say goodbye to my sweet kiddos??? 

Ahhhh!!!  

Am I the only one feeling this way?  

Either way, I'm excited to finally be back to blogging!
I'm super excited today to link up with Farley

for Currently!  It's been awhile so I'm 

ready and excited to catch up on some

blog reading after writing this!

First of all don't you just LOVE the design this month?

I can't get enough of the purple!!!

Listening- The TV is on and the hubby is watching a movie. I can't sit still long enough to watch a movie these days.  I have no interest. So here I am just blogging away!

Loving- At the end of April I started to do a Pinned It Spinned It challenge on Instagram.  Have you heard of them?  I follow a few gals who pin different outfits from pinterest for each day, and you need to spin the outfit to make it your own.  It's really helped me stick with not wearing the same old things each day.  It's excited for the end of the school year too.  Are you on Insta?  Find me: MrsBentinsBlackboard!!!

Thinking- Sadly most nights around this time I'm already in bed.  We've gotten really used to a schedule with a baby and that means early to bed for H, early to bed for us!  He went to bed really early today and I'm worried bout what time he will wake up in the morning! :)  Cross your fingers for me. 

Wanting- I'm a new mom.. It was my first year as a teacher/wife/mother all rolled into one. I desperately need some "Me Time"! Enough said. 

Needing- I've recently started Weight Watchers with a group of teachers at school and I'm really wanting to finally get rid of that baby weight. I've been avoiding it for far too long. H turned a year old this month so it's time. It's important to me to stick with it and be more active especially with my family. So far so good especially since the nice weather. 

Summer: Yes- Building our new house starts this month. So this summer will be full of following the progress! I'm so excited.  Hoping- To just enjoy time with my family and forget what day of the week it is. I can't wait! I hope I can do it.  Dream- To get away on a mini-vacation. I feel it's been tooooo long and it would be a great way to start making some memories with my new little family!

Stop by Farley's blog and check out all of 

the currently linkys! It's a great way to 

meet some awesome people!

My Rockin' Classroom- Pioneers

Happy Weekend!

I'm pumped to be blogging today for a Rockin' Giveaway

with my friend Katie at Rock and Teach!  

We're all getting together to give you the chance at some great prizes

and to share some rockin' things that we do in our classrooms. 

For the past several years my team and I

have done a pioneer simulation to help teach

non-fiction in our reading blocks. To get some background,

check out this old blog post.  

Here is our trail map to the West!

This year we wanted to continue 

some of the great things that we've done

in the past, but also we wanted to take it to a new level

So.... we added a STEM element! 

A-Ma-Zing!  

Seriously.. Amazing!

I am so lucky to work with such great 

teammates.  We rocked this and I have them to thank for it!

Here were the pioneer essentials that had to be packed in the wagon!

Students worked in their 'wagon train' groups

to attempt the challenges that we've made.

The first one was to build a wagon that 

can hold a list of 'trail materials' without falling over. 

Step 1:  Students had the opportunity to look over items in the General Store and go back as a team to view prices and discuss ideas. 

Step 2: Planning Process- Until they had a plan, they weren't able to go to the store. They needed to bring their ideas together. 

Step 3: Buying Supplies- Students needed to track their spending on a budget sheet, and make change from their purchases. They could go to the store as many times as they needed, but there would also be times that it would close. 

Step 4: Build a wagon structure that could hold all of the pioneer essentials for travel. In order to have a completed wagon, you must fit everything in or on it and the wagon can't tip over. 

Step 5: Additional Challenge- Make your wagon roll 2 yards without tipping or falling. 

I had 3 out of 4 wagon trains successful with this challenge. 

 Surprisingly the one that didn't finish was a huge shock to me. 

It was amazing to see some students shine in this activity

 that struggle with more everyday school activities.  

I also love how 2 of the 3 put their water barrel (soda can)

on the outside of the wagon how it was on the real wagons!!!

We had a long discussion and reflection process after this activity was done. 

 Students wrote about their experience and documented their process with pictures. 

 We took the pictures and listed the steps and talked about what they would do differently next time.  I can't wait to share with you the next STEM challenge we did.

  Some groups really took what they learned 

in this wagon building activity to heart 

and tried very hard to fix their teamwork

 or communication the second time around. 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing my rockin' pioneer activity!

Please take time to visit Katie 

and the other fabulous bloggers taking part in this giveaway!

Enter Enter Enter to win some

fabulous prizes and also a $50 TpT Gift Card!

Have a fantastic Day!
Ana :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

I'm Still Here! Five For Friday {4.24.15}

Happy Friday Friends!!!  I know that I have been absent for a really long time.... I do apologize for that. I am thankful for the connections I have still been able to keep through twitter and instagram though!  I needed to take some time to focus on life and school. It sure has been a very hectic year with getting back to work after having a baby (who is one now!!!yikes!!) and selling our house.... moving in with my parents and have had almost everything go wrong in the last 5 months to move on to a new adventure.  I'm happy to say that school in winding down, after a fabulous year and a wonderful group of students. I have a lot to share from what we did and I have a lot of great news in terms of our future--- we're building a house! I'm linking up for one of my favorite linkys today.... Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs teaching to give you a little look into what I've been doing this week, and maybe a little from last week.... it's been so long since I've blogged I have so much I want to share!! Enjoy!

I've been plugging away on fractions with my kiddos. We're using math expressions, anyone else?  I missed this part of the year last year b/c of being on maternity leave so it's been a little scary for me!  However, I have to say that it's been going very well.  My team is amazing and I've also teamed up with our ESL teacher, math interventionist and another teammate to do some team teaching and small group work with fractions.  My kids are doing well, but let me tell you, it's hard!  I'd love to know some of your suggestions for resources for fractions. We've been doing a lot of hands on activities. I've found that to be best, but I'm always on the lookout for more!

We end the school year with a great project in 3rd grade. I talked about it last year here.  We do a pioneer simulation where students are assigned to an identity and a group and they 'travel the trail' west.  We have a heavy emphasis on non-fiction reading and learning for 4th quarter and this fits perfectly with it.  One of my favorite activities is this interactive word wall.  We've done a lot with words and parts of speech this year, so it was a great activity to familiarize students with some of the pioneer vocabulary.  I love using vocabulary boxes with them as well.  It really helps them understand the words.  

Speaking of pioneers, we have changed up our teaching of it this year and have added some STEM activities to go along with our learning. It's been wonderful.  I will do a longer post when I have time, but here is a look at what we had to do this last week. Students had a limited amount of time and resources to create a shelter for their pioneers to protect them from a coming storm. I was very impressed with their creativity and teamwork. 

We're doing a school wide writing project this year at school. It's been going amazing and also everything can't get enough of it. We're all making cardboard books or cartoneras and publishing them for a celebration at the end of the year.  The process has been amazing. I'll share more at a later post, but wanted to let you know in case you wanted to get involved. You can check out more from my co-worker's blog Books Del Sur here!

We did a twitter challenge at school this week. It was amazing. I got to step outside of my box and do some things like a twitter chat, selfie with my co-workers and share ideas to those that I don't know.  It got people on twitter that didn't know much about it and it also got us collaborating from across the halls.  We always do a great job with collaboration but this was a different way! It was so fun.  If you want to know more let me know.  My coworker Jennifer set it up for us! She blogs at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings and also be sure to follow her link to her writing blog! Are you on twitter? I'd love to connect with you. I can be found @MrsBentin3

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend! :)

This Year's Goals... Positive Thinking Thursday 1-8-15

Happy Thursday!!!

I've been home for 2 days due to cold and windchill--

Wisconsin has been brutal weather wise this week. 

I have to say I am very lucky to have been able to stay home,

and not commute to work, especially today. 

It's pretty crummy out there, and a 35 minute drive

can easily be a 60+ trip in this mess. 

Thursday is Positive Thinking Day!

I found this while searching pinterest,

and felt that it was fitting since it's a new year...

and the time where people set resolutions.

I think sometimes it's best to set goals....

I feel like the above list is my list of goals

for 2015.

Source

What are your goals for 2015????

I'm linking up today with the amazing Jennifer,
from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings 
for Positive Thinking Thursday!  

If you're looking for some positive energy 
or want to pass some along, 
stop by her blog to read or link up! 

Currently...Late (Again) and Anchors Away Monday

Happy 2015!!!

I'm back from a much needed

and wanted mini-break. 

We've had a lot going on in our family the past month,

so I decided to put some energy towards that. 

Unfortunately that meant that blogging needed to 

take a back seat....

Until NOW!

We're still working on finding a place to live

{We're currently with my parents},

which has been simply amazing, 

especially with the little one---

but it can't last forever!  

I'll be sure to keep you posted!

I'm linking up with 2 fabulous bloggers today.

First: Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for

her 'Currently' linky {that was supposed to be done on the first of the month....}

Better late than never, right???

Listening:  As I mentioned earlier, we're currently living with my parents after recently selling our house.  We have our own space, but it's not exactly away from all that goes on.  I listen to their TV every night from my bed, which is right on the other side of the wall.  I love the show "Love it or List it" though.. so it's all good!!!

Loving:  We just had our first Christmas with our little one.  He is now 8.5 months old and such an adventure each day. Christmas was so magical...just makes me wonder how much more fun next year will bring!!  It sure does give a new meaning to the holiday time when you have a baby. 

Thinking: For once I didn't go into school over break, which I think is a good thing. I'm pretty well planned this week, however I usually have a couple weeks going at a time... that is not the case right now.  I could use one catch up or work day in my classroom....  I guess I will settle for staying late tomorrow to get caught up. 

Wanting: We sold our house in early December with the plan to build. Some things went wrong with the land we were going to purchase and no longer will buy it.  So that means we are now at square one again. Not sure if we will build or buy... but right now we've got no leads. It's super frustrating, just because the planner in me wants to know what will happen.  :)  Anyone have a crystal ball?

Needing:  I got my nails done over Winter break for the first time since the baby was born.  I LOVE getting my nails done.. just no time these days.  So, I finally get them just the way I like them, and sure enough two days later one of my nails broke really low....and the manicure is ruined and also hurts! I need to just get it fixed again.  Ahhh the little things!

YES- This year I am searching for 'Balance'..... balance between being a mom, wife, friend, sister, daughter, teacher, etc.  I'm doing good, but I can do better! I WILL do better this year. 

MAYBE- I want to be less anxious about life... and just be adventurous more this year.  This is really hard for me, being such a planner and type A person.  I understand it won't happen over night, but taking baby steps in the direction of wanting it will be  huge start!

I WISH-  I've always wanted to be a wedding planner or have my own planning business on the side or during the summer months. I would love to do that!

Well there you have it!  Stop by Farley's Blog to check out some of what other people are up to!

Now on to Deb's linky from Crafting Connections: Anchors Away Monday 

I'm sharing a simple Telling Time anchor chart today with you!

I actually took all ideas from what my kids already knew and started there.  

We did the basics first like how to write the numbers on a clock, how to count by 5's around the clock, that there are 60 minutes in an hour, labeling the minute and hour hand, etc.  

After we were done, I posed questions to them to get the digital clock on the chart and then also to break the time up into quarters.  We talked a lot about vocabulary for this part, and that seems to be most tricky for them. 

What I like about this is that all on one page, are the basics of reading a clock multiple ways.  This has been up in my classroom since we made it and we've been going back to reference it a lot.  Obviously there are still more things that we discussed and made other charts for those... but I wanted to share this one, because it's been more helpful.  

Would you add anything to this anchor chart? I'd love to hear. 

Stop by Deb's blog for some great examples of anchor charts!

Have a great week!