Hi friends!

Sunday is a day for planning and next week in the last week before winter break.  If you are allowed to do holiday parties and talk about Christmas in your classroom, head on over to Owl-ways Be Inspired to see what I do each year on the last day before break! SPOILER ALERT - It's super fun ;)


Have a great week!




Thank goodness for TpT's Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale! It's the perfect time to stock up on fun holiday products!

http://www.starrspangledplanner.com/
Thanks to Jillian for this adorable image! 


If you are looking for a fun way to integrate science and ELA, check out my Snow unit!

If you want to take your kids for a Gingerbread Hunt around the school, look no further! 

Teaching subtraction can get tricky, but not with this Hot Cocoa craftivity

Add these lessons from the Philippines to any Holiday Around the World unit! 

And don't forget about Christmas in Hawaii with this book study!

What fun activities do you have planned for December? 


Aloha! I hope everyone had an awesome Turkey Day - I sure did! My family flew over to Oregon to spend time with family and friends.  Here we are all dressed up for Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's house.  She requested we all wear plaid.  So guess who all got new plaid shirts?? We did!

Turkey and family are definitely my two favorite things about Thanksgiving weekend, but saving money on things I love is a close third! Who doesn't love saving money? If you love cutting out paper and vinyl, well, lucky for you, Silhouette is having a big Black Friday Sale! 


That's right! Here are some of the deals you can score:
  • Free Shipping on order over $50.00 (in the contiguous United States)
  • 40% off almost everything in the Silhouette America store
  • 20% off Silhouette Design Store Subscriptions (using the code BLACK)
  • Machine bundles as low as $99.00 including:
    • Silhouette Mint $99.99
    • Portrait & Mint $189.99
    • CAMEO $199.99
    • CAMEO & Portrait $289.99
  • Lots more bundles featured on the site!  
The deals end on December 4th, so hurry! In order for these deals to work, you have to enter in the code TEACH at www.silhouetteamerica.com/bf!  

Happy shopping!

Here is my round up of Back to School Freebies from my blog!


Create a fun Hawaiian/Beach themed Back to School Night/Open House with my Ohana Night invitations and Scavenger hunt!

Write a Welcome Letter with my editable template!


Create an organized classroom with folder labels for each subject!

The last freebie I have for you are business card magnets that you can hand out to the students!

I hope you are having a fun and successful back to school season! 






I've shared before how much I love using Seat Sacks in my classroom.


Back when I taught in Oregon, I started using book covers as seat sacks.  They worked ok, but since they were so stretchy, only a few things could go in them.  Here, I am using them in my 2nd grade class on Lanai for a couple folders.


Last year in 1st grade, I used the amazing Seat Sacks.  They are made out of heavy duty fabric and even have a clear sleeve for a name tag.  I had the students keep their homework binder in them.  

 This year in 5th grade, I'm using Seat Sacks again.  This time I opted for the larger sized Seat Sack Plus for the bigger chairs.  They have two extra smaller pockets and also came with a pencil pouch!


My students do not have assigned seats this year, so I love the extra storage that the seat sacks provide.  My kids need access to their homework binders throughout the day because that's where they put papers to go home.  After switching to these heavy duty sacks, there's no way I would ever go back to book cover pockets! 

Lucky for you, Michelle at Seat Sacks is offering a 20% discount for you! Just use the code 20TEACH at checkout.  You won't regret it! 

And for all you Hawaii teachers, I updated my HCPS III standards to now include 3rd grade! Go re-download from Google Drive! 5th grade is finished, but I'm just waiting to finish up 4th grade before posting all grades K-5.  Thanks for being patient with me! 


 Do you use seat sacks or other organizational tools?
Aloha! I've officially been a 5th grade teacher for 2.5 weeks! And it's going well! Today I wanted to take some time to show you some classroom set up that is working!



When I came in my room this summer, I had enough desks for 16 students, but I knew I would have 25.  Instead of begging the custodians to find me more desks, I decided to embrace the challenge and try to go for more alternative seating this year!

I ended up getting rid of all desks except one double that was set pretty short.  I got a kitchen table for free on Craigslist, pulled a rectangle table in from the hallway, and utilized the existing round table, kidney-shaped table, and computer desks for student seating.

Now, since my students don't have desks, where do their things go?

Backpacks go on this backpack cart from Lakeshore Learning.  Thank you Donorschoose! We just wheel it out to the hallway during classtimes.

All supplies are shared and go in these drawers on the bottom shelf.  The labels are from School Girl Style's Flamingo Watercolor Set.  I used the font Sweet Peony.  The middle shelf has clipboards, crayons, mini-staplers, and date stamps.  The top is where I set down my curriculum books or read alouds, colored pencils organized by color, along with loose leaf paper, tape, extra scissors, pens, and index cards in the letter trays.  

Homework gets turned in each morning to these student mailboxes.  I also use it to pass back papers, tests, and notes from the office. Thank you again, Donorschoose! I've had this Quill Literature Organizer for 6 years and it is still going strong!  

Book boxes are really important in my room!  They house independent reading books, reading journal, writing journal, and a science poetry book.  When kids finish assignments, I don't have a fancy fast finisher area, I only allow them to read or write.  They can grab their book box, get cozy, and get to work! 
Letters on my bulletin board are from the Flamingo Watercolor collection. 

I bought this booktruck from Demco a few years ago when I was drowning in text books.  I love that it has double sided storage and moves.  This year each group has a large magazine file to house social studies folders, reader response books, and spelling journals.  On top is old leveled readers that I let the kids take home if they want.  The other side is all the extra loose leaf paper, composition books and folders.
Those labels are from the Flamingo Watercolor collection, too!

Homework binders and planners go in chair pockets, just like my last year's class. These are the large Seat Sack Plus from The Original Seat Sack Company.  They are my FAV! Super durable! 
These girls are sitting at my free kitchen table! 

There are enough chairs for every child, even though they are not required to sit in them and they sit in new seats each day.  The kids are grouped into 5 heterogeneous groups of 5 for our current social studies and science units.  I'm doing expert groups/jigsaw activities for both units, so it's super helpful to have them in the same groups.  As they come in in the morning, each group decides where they want to sit and places their team sign on the table.  The table number holders are from Amazon.  I went to two different restaurant supply stores on island and they didn't have them.  I tried to buy local! Lol.  
The signs are from, you guessed it, the Flamingo Watercolor collection!

At each table is a supply caddy for supplies they need more often: pencils, erasers, glue, scissors, and crayons.  Some of the caddies are from Really Good Stuff and some are from School Girl Style.  Melanie has some awesome colors in her shop! 

So far, I'm really happy with this set up! And the kids and I can easily move tables and chairs to the side to have more space in the classroom for dance or drama.  And I'm happy to not have extra things from home all over the classroom, just the necessities! 

What are your favorite storage tips? 

Earlier I shared my K-1 Hawaii HCPSIII standards freebie. And like I promised, here is another grade added on! By the end of the week, I'll have added all grades K-5!

Now the freebie has:
  • Kindergarten - 
  • First Grade - 

  • Second Grade - 

I've included standards for:

  • Social Studies
  • Science
  • Health
  • World Languages
  • Physical Education
  • Career and Technical
  • Fine Arts

Head on over to my Google Drive and download!

And don't forget that I'm having a sale until the end of the day on Tuesday to celebrate going back to school on Wednesday!

Over in Hawaii, we all go back to work this week! In my district, kids start Wednesday! So to help everyone out, a bunch of other Hawaii teacher bloggers and TpT sellers have decided to throw a little sale!

And to sweeten the deal, I've updated my Hawaii HCPSIII standards sheets for you! Here are Kindergarten and First Grade:
    

I'll have the rest of the grades up throughout the week! 

Head on over to my store to see the sale! 




I'm teaming up with my gals from Owl-Ways Be Inspired to bring you an awesome Back 2 School Giveaway! 


 Once you hop over there, you can enter to win 1 of 3 gift cards from Amazon, Target, and Walmart!


And SURPRISE! The giveaways don't end there! Each of these Owls authors are having their own giveaways, as well!  Make sure to head to each blog to enter their individual giveaways! You can find the blog links over on the main Owls blog, or you can just google blog names from the image below :)


I'm giving away some swag from Hawaii that all teachers need: COFFEE!! 

A lot of visitors to the islands love the Hawaii-exclusive cups that Starbucks carries.  But they also love all the awesome varieties of coffee that are grown right here.  So, I am going to mail the winner this adorable Starbucks travel mug and a bag of Maui Blend coffee beans from my fav local coffee shop: Maui Coffee Roasters.   Then, as you are getting ready for school in the morning, you can picture some swaying palm trees in the wind and lovely sounds of ukulele music in the distance.  Instant calmness!


To win, enter the Rafflecopter below! GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.
I'm joining my friend Tonya at Tonya's Treats for Teachers (and a bunch of other TpT sellers!) for a big Christmas in July sale!


Head on over to my TpT shop and snag up some resources for next school year at 20% off! 

Back in May I shared that I had accepted a transfer position at my neighborhood school in 5th grade.  I also shared my newly updated resume that I bought from Pappermint on Etsy.




Well, that post received a lot of views and several of you even headed over to Pappermint Design Studio and bought some of their awesome templates for yourself! So much so that the kind people at Pappermint noticed! And because I have the best readers ever, one of you will win a resume and cover letter template! 

Here are my favorites!
I chose the Roberta template.  I love the teal on the side and the clean looking fonts.  It also comes in a two-page resume called Claudia

The Jessica is pretty.  I love the round picture at the top. This one a a two-page that has the objective, work experience, skills, and education on the front and any continued information, achievements, and references on the back.

I love the Brenda because it seems to be a combo of the two templates above!

The Rachel is adorable with the yellow chevron and coral name at the top!

In order to win a resume template of your own, just enter the Rafflecopter below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway