No More Money Egg Drama

In the past, I dreaded teaching counting money because it meant that I had to use those plastic "money eggs" with my math groups. You know what I'm talking about, right? Those plastic Easter eggs that we "saved" from last season and stuffed with a group of coins and stored in an egg carton.

What happened when students used them? Coins fell out of the eggs and got lost so my teacher answer key never matched up with the amount the students counted. The students switched the tops and bottoms of the eggs (yes, even though they were color coded) so that my "numbered" eggs ended up all mixed up. The not-so durable plastic eggs and egg cartons cracked/broke/fell apart and their contents fell all over the floor. What a disaster!

What is a teacher to do? I say get rid of them. I decided to work SMARTER not HARDER. So get out your Popsicle sticks (Jumbo sized preferably) and hot glue gun. Turn your money eggs into money sticks by hot gluing your coins to a Popsicle stick and solve all of your pesky money egg problems.

To easily differentiate and meet the needs of all of your students, vary the placement of the coins on the stick. Green money sticks feature amounts less than $1.00 and coins are arranged largest to smallest amount. Red money sticks feature amounts greater than $1.00 and are arranged randomly for a more real-life type of counting situation.

Another benefit of using money sticks? They are very versatile. Students used the money sticks to compare different amounts of money using the greater than, less than, and equal to symbols. 

We also played the game "kaboom" with money sticks. Without peeking, students drew money sticks out of a container. If the student was able to successfully count the money amount on the stick, they got to keep it. If they were wrong, they put it back into the container. When they drew the "kaboom" stick, they had to put all of their winning sticks back into the container and start over.

I'd love to hear how you are ditching those eggs for money sticks in your classroom. Tweet me @addsparkle88, IG at addsomesparkle88, or connect with me on Facebook at Add Some Sparkle. See you next time friends! 

Counting Money Pumpkin Patch Craftivity

I'm so excited to introduce you to a new product I created to showcase your students counting money skills with a fun craftivity. Students create a pumpkin to "sell" using dollar bills and coins. Each individual student's pumpkin is displayed together to create a class pumpkin patch of pumpkins for sale.

I began the lesson by starting a class discussion about how much students thought pumpkins cost in real life. The students were pretty insightful with their observations and we established a price range of $2.00-$6.00 for a medium sized pumpkin. Next, I showed students some local prices of pumpkins from stores in our area. I let the students decide on how much they wanted to price their pumpkin for with the guidelines that their pumpkin needed to cost more than $1.00 but less than $6.00 and they must use dollar bills and coins. That was all the direction they needed and then they were off to work!

Wow! Don't these pumpkins look great? I'm really happy with how they turned out. The whole craftivity takes about 25-35 minutes to complete and makes a wonderful bulletin board for fall. See you next time friends!

A *Super* Hero Classroom Reveal

Hello Friends! I have a *super* hero themed classroom reveal for you. 

I love adding Super Hero artwork and themed items to my boring beige walls. 

I know what you're thinking...can she actually wear that cape and mask? Yes, I can and I plan to do so later this year. You gotta love dress up days at work, right? Only a teacher could get away with this. I ordered all the art work from Etsy. I found tons of cool stuff there and had to rein myself in a bit before I purchased all of it.  

I decided to take down my Word Wall and replace it with a display space for student work. Student work is attached to the line with thought bubble clothespins. I hot glued a thumb tack on the back of the clothespin to allow me to hang heavier work without me worrying about it falling down 5 minutes later. I'm loving this design and it takes me about 3 minutes to take down and rehang new student work. The best part is that it doesn't require any stapling. #itsthelittlethings I created the "citiscape" out of black foam with yellow foam "windows" tacky glued right on top. It was remarkably easy to do. 

And who doesn't love banners? They are a quick and easy way to spice up a space. 

The Super Hero theme continues with the signage in my classroom. Everything from pocket charts, to the lunch menu, to my student job chart is done in the Super Hero theme in the blue, yellow, and red color scheme.  

I hope that you've enjoyed a sneak peak into my classroom. Many thanks to Ashley Schroeder @schroedershenan  and Angie Olson @MrsAOlson for hosting. #2getherwearebetter 

Until next time friends,

Bulletin boards that are really *Super*

Hello Friends! I'm linking up today with some of my favorite Second Grade Teachers, Angie Olson from Lucky Little Learners @MrsAOlson and Ashley Schroeder from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd @schroedershenan. As we approach Back-to-School time for many of us, we're talking about bulletin boards on the blog today. 

Ok....confession time. (Deep breath in.....and exhale.) I'm must admit that putting up bulletin boards is not my favorite thing in the world as a teacher. Phew! I just said that sentence really fast. Before you start blowing up my comments section with your disbelief and disagreements, I just want to say that I KNOW that as a Second Grade teacher I should love this opportunity to be crafty but I really don't. Here's what I don't love about it.....for each unique and creative idea that I come up with, I draw a blank with the upcoming new season, theme, unit, etc. It's too much pressure and it stresses me out! 

Well friends....I've decided to do a Super Hero theme this year where the majority of the backgrounds, borders, and decorative trim will stay up all year long. I'm going to be all about working smarter, not harder. However, the student work will vary. It's an idea that's so simple but SO good! Why in the world haven't I thought of this before year 9 of teaching? 

Check it out below and let me know what you think. (Don't you just LOVE this little guy?)

The top picture shows off my classroom bulletin board in the hallway. I have 26 incoming 2nd Graders so I tried to keep as much space available for student work as possible. I'm going to need every inch of space. The blue paper works well for two reasons, it becomes a nice "neutral" color that looks good with a variety of student work posted on it and it looks like the "sky" when I post my Krista Wallden Superhero Kids Clip Art around the board. It's all ready for the first day of school and Deanna Jump's awesome Super Hero Craftivity and Writing Assignment that I found on TpT. The bottom picture shows off the inside wall of my classroom where I'll hang student work on "thought bubble" clothespin clips with their names. To add some durability to the design, I hot glued push pins to the backs of the clothespins.

Here's a close up of the Super Hero Work Wall complete with a night time Cityscape made out of foam to give it some depth. I Googled images of cities and used my overhead projector to trace the images onto large pieces of foam board. I'm really pleased on how well the design turned out since the wall space takes up one entire wall of my classroom.

I think I'm addicted to making banners for my classroom. Here's one that says "Grow" but I also have ones that say "Read" and "Learn" all made from felt.

I've even tried to spruce up my desk area with the Super Hero theme by hanging *my* cape, mask, and magic wand next to artwork that gives my students a glimpse into my personality and favorite things - flip flops and the beach, caffeine (I love all kinds), and Disney. They always think it's cool when I tell them that I worked at Walt Disney World in college so it give us something to talk about right away.

So...what do you think? I must admit that I'm really pleased about how the bulletin boards turned out. Who knows? I might just change my mind about bulletin boards after all. 

Have a great beginning of the school year friends!

TpT Conference and Periscope Excitement

Hi friends! Have you heard about the new social media phenomenon called Periscope? I hadn't until I attended the TpT conference in Vegas.

I must admit that the TpT Conference was AMAZING and I learned so much from some of the most talented and creative people in the teaching and blogging community. Here's are a few photos of me meeting a few of my favorite TpT sellers and teacher authors. It was hard limiting the pics to just a few because I have tons. I felt like such a fan girl meeting all these Educelebrities.

Amy Lemons of Step into Second Grade with Mrs. Lemons  

Cara Carroll of The First Grade Parade

At the beginning of one of the sessions, a presenter said that there wasn't any live streaming or Periscoping allowed at the sessions. I remember thinking, "no problem" because I had no idea what they meant by Periscoping.

I quickly learned (with a quick Google search) that Periscoping is a video streaming platform owned by Twitter. It allows users to transmit a live recording of themselves to their Periscope or Twitter audience in real time. Followers can interact with the "Scoper" (person broadcasting the video) and comment, ask questions, and give "hearts" approval feedback for ideas that resonate with them. Videos from your followers are available for 24 hours and then they disappear. (However, it is possible for the user to "save" the scope to another platform but that's a whole other post.)

When we came back from Vegas, it seemed like no one wanted the enthusiasm of being together and idea sharing to end. A few Scopers hopped on and started broadcasting and it's only been a few weeks now and I'm hooked. I love Periscope! When I hear the whistle alert, I get excited for some great new teacher tips.

If you haven't experienced Periscope yet, here's are some tips:

• When you hear the Periscope whistle alert, log into Periscope as fast as you can (especially if the Scoper is well known). Otherwise the broadcast will be too full and you can watch but you can't interact with those in the room. Often, Scopers will give Instagram or Twitter previews alerting you when they will be on and what they're Scoping about. 
• When the Scoper turns the camera around, the screen goes blank for a moment and the volume mutes. It's okay - the feed will come back on shortly. 
• If you like the content you are hearing on the Scope, tap the screen to give "hearts" approval feedback to the Scoper. 
• If someone in the chat says something interesting or profound, you might want to consider following their Twitter account. Simply tap their name and click on "view profile" and then click "follow."
• If the broadcast is too full and you still want to interact with the Scoper, you can Tweet them by clicking the "share" button and then clicking the "share on Twitter" button. This will allow you to send a Twitter message directly to that person. Use the hashtags #periscopeteachers #periscopeEDU to connect will fellow educators. 

If you're looking for Periscopers to follow, you might want to check out some of my favorites:

• Angie Olson from Lucky Little Learners @MrsAOlson
• Ashley Schroeder from Schroeder Shenanigans in Second @schroedershenan
• Kim Bearden from the Ron Clark Academy @kimbearden 
• Amy Lemons from Step Into 2nd Grade @Stepinto2nd
• Cara Carroll from The First Grade Parade @thefirstgradeparade
• Hope King from Elementary Shenanigans @hopeking
• Shelia from Sheila Jane Teaching @sheilajteaching
• Mel Dillard from Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations @seusstastic 

Of course, join my Sparkle crew by following me on Twitter at Add Some Sparkle @addsparkle88. I hope to do my own Scope very soon. Stay tuned.

July Currently

Happy July everyone! For the first time ever, I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade for the July Currently. I've been a long time Blog hopper but never an author so please go easy on me friends as I learn the blogging trade one skill (and SEVERAL blogger "how-to" posts) at a time.  

Listening: I'm a night owl and love vacation days from school where I can stay up late and watch Jimmy Fallon without having to record it and watch it the next day. I love when Jimmy does his "hashtag" bit and his classroom instruments performances. 

It is RARE that you catch me without having nail polish on my toes. I'm addicted to having a wide range of polish colors to choose from at any given time. I'm Loving the Essie polish color "big spender" which is a very pretty berry pink that will pair well with the outfits I want to pack for Vegas. 

Which brings me to Thinking I need to do some laundry before I can pack for Vegas. I am bouncing off the walls excited about attending my very first TpT conference in Vegas next week. I can't wait to meet all of you. I have been blog and social media stalking all the photos from last year so I have an idea of where to go, what to wear, what to do, etc. If you have some tips for me, I'd love to hear them.    

Wanting hot summer weather to make an appearance in Indy before summer vacation is over. It's been unseasonably cool and rainy here in Indy. I should NOT have to wear a sweatshirt to watch July 4th fireworks but that looks like a possibility. 

Needing to organize my closet before its declared a disaster area. The problem is that the same space has to store craft supplies, clothing/shoes/handbags, and seasonal items. I'm reading the the #1 NYT bestselling organizational book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo for inspiration. Now I just need to find some motivation....

All Star I'm enjoying the time that I've spent hanging out with friends and family this summer. I love the relaxed and casual vibe that summer brings. I'm ready for a few more weeks of it before its time to head back to school. 

Here's a link back to Farley to read more Currently posts. 

Until next time, 

Teacher Dollar Deals at Target

Score! As you can see below I found tons of cute teacher stuff on my last trip to target. Is there any teacher who doesn't LOVE the teacher materials in the Target Dollar Spot? 

Kudos to @Target for the wide selection of products this year. I truly don't know which item I'm most excited about...the cute school supply clothespins, the foam dice, or the cute classroom decor. I had a blast looking at all the cool stuff with a few of my teaching buddies. (Shout out to my friends Melissa from Little Smiles Big Sunshine and Heather.) 

I went back the next day to pick up a few more items only to find out that the bins were wiped out! Bummer. (Can we get a restock, please?)

 Now, I'm just itching to get back into my room to decorate.