Curious About Our Top Five Selling Products???

I have confession to make. 

I pretty much only shop on Teachers Pay Teachers during a sale (which the BIG one happens to start tomorrow). 

I know. I know.

You're thinking, "You're a TPT seller!"

Yes, I am. We are. Kristi and both are pretty similar in this area. In all honesty, both of our districts provide great curriculum and we only buy (or make) things that supplement it. Hence the reason we have so many "I have...who has...?" games in our store. We aren't looking to rewrite curriculum or make millions on TPT. We have just made some things over the years that we like and thought other teachers might like too. :-)

Neither of us spend a lot of money on our classrooms either. Some might call us cheap...or wise...or both? I've purchased only 1 thing all summer, and that was mostly because one of my teacher friends needed someone to split the pack with her and I knew I needed another one for all my "I Have...Who Has...?" games. Ha!

I love these things... I now have 3 of them! :-)

Anyway, since the back-to-school sale is upon us, I thought I'd share the five top selling products from our store.  

Drum roll, please. 

#5 - Diphthong oi and oy Game Pack

#4 - -r Controlled /er/ Sound Game Pack

#3 - Vowel Digraphs /aw/ and /au/ Game Pack

#2 - Diphthong OU and OW Game Pack

#1 - I Have Who Has - Time to Hour and Half Hour

In my role as a reading specialist, I use the vowel diphthong and digraph games A LOT. Those more difficult vowel patterns take lots of repetitions for my kiddos. Even if we've moved on to another skill, these games are a quick and easy review for my readers. 

In the classroom, Kristi and I both love to immerse our kiddos in the "sound of the week" from our curriculum. I mean if we are working on the /oi/, /oy/ sound, we will play songs during transition times with that sound. Students will read decodable stories with that sound. Word work activities will be centered around that sound. The Connect 4 games from our packs with that sound make a great partner activity either during word work or as an option when work is complete. We use the "I Have...Who Has...?" in small groups or as a whole class when there was a few minutes to fill. The last year I was in the second grade classroom, I would put the "I Have... Who Has...?" game out as a morning tub activity as they trickled in after breakfast. I loved seeing my kiddos practice that sound by choice! :-)

If you're shopping the sale, have fun! Watch out for those sellers that raise their prices during the sale--ugh! That happened to me last year, and of course, I decided I did not need that product after all...because I'm cheap, you know. ;-)

P.S. I report back 2 weeks from today!!!

We Are Laughing So Hard...and a Freebie :-)

Hey there! Kristi and I are actually together right now. We haven't seen each other since Christmas break, and we are having such a good time. It seems that we just pick up right where we left off...which, of course, explains why we are teaching besties.

What brings us together? 

Other than spring break, I mean.

Well, we actually reached a TPT milestone recently. We can hardly believe it! THANK YOU to those of you who have supported our store. We are humbled to think that there are teachers who enjoy our resources as much as we do.

So...we have a FREEBIE for you! Hooray! 

This is one we have been thinking about for awhile. We always introduce sounds one at a time and love the targeted practice that our games offer. However, this year I've been working with Kindergarten and they are now ready for something that covers all of the short vowel sounds in one game. Kristi thought this was a great idea and plans to use it at the beginning of first grade for review.

Click on the picture to grab this forever freebie!

We hope you are enjoying a wonderful Saturday! 

 

Five for Friday - Classroom Prep, Videos, and Stitch Fix

Hey there! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs again for Five for Friday. 

1

I did it!

I actually went to my classroom and stayed there this time--despite the mess that awaited me.

I'm pretty excited about the things I got accomplished. Here's a peek:

A - Smart Tags prepped--yes, I changed the name. It is a play on making "Smart" choices and it fits my classroom better than the more common name. I made some of them, but most are from Lucky Little Learners.

B - Prepped my "Dealing with Math Homework" instruction cards (Amanda Madden). You can see how I use them in my classroom here and find links to Amanda's post about them.

C - My son got in on the action with the bulletin board. He was actually finished already, but had to pose. Ha!

D - I got my Math Helpers printed and laminated. I love these things!

2

I made a back-to-school video for my kids! It tells them about making an "About Me Bag" and I shared mine so they could get to know me. Be kind--it is for them so who cares if I'm a bit of a dork! At least that is what I keep telling myself. :-)

3

I've been meaning to share my graphics and fonts binder for awhile now and never got around to uploading pictures. Then I decided this would be easier. Plus I haven't made you a video since last summer!

4

My first Stitch Fix was awesome! Too awesome! I asked for all tops in this fix (you can do that, request certain things). 
My stylist definitely used my Pinterest style board and sent me things I had pinned.
I loved every piece and really wanted to keep them all! 
I would have, too, except for this black beauty.

Dry clean only with a price tag of $78. I just couldn't do it. I knew I needed to send it back. But if I bought all five, I was going to get a $75 discount which would make it practically free. 

So then I knew I had to send something else back or it just didn't make sense. So I chose to send back the cardigan. Then I realized that for $40 more, I could keep both so I had to send one more thing back or it just didn't make any sense to send anything back! So I chose to send back this striped top also.

I think I am going to request that they send me the cardigan again and the striped top in black and gray (if possible)...like I said I really liked them so it was hard to send them back! The cardigan especially--because it was a color I wouldn't have picked for myself  which is kind of why I wanted to try Stitch Fix (to get out of my comfort zone).

That left me with my two absolute favorites that I just couldn't part with and it was more friendly on my wallet too. :-)

I have never even tried on polka dots before - LOVE this! 

I had pinned this one...knew I would like it. AWESOME!

I'm so excited about my first fix, I already scheduled my next one for September. You can choose to have a fix as often as you like, but with my budget every other month should be about right.

If you're like me...fashion challenged and hate shopping or if you just want a little push out of your comfort zone, you might want consider it.

**Disclaimer: If you use the links here and end up scheduling your first fix, I will receive a one-time $25 credit. I'd very much appreciate it, but of course, it is not necessary. If you don't want to give me credit, just type in their web address and go for it!**

Also, no need to worry that this is going to become a fashion blog because while I enjoyed using their style cards and trying on the outfits, I did not enjoy the pictures! Ha! I won't be doing that again!

5



So this happens this weekend--starts tomorrow! Stop back by to see what goodies we are giving away. :-)

Have a great day!

$50 Target, $25 Etsy, $25 Amazon and $1 Deals Anyone???

It's giveaway time!

We haven't celebrated our followers in quite some time, so we decided to do a big giveaway! 

I have to admit that I am still amazed and humbled by the number of followers we have--especially on Facebook! 

Kristi and I are so thankful for each of you.

In addition to the giveaway, we are having $1 Deal Days every day while the giveaway is live--July 16th - July 20th! Make sure you are following us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook because that will be the easiest way to share the $1 deals. You won't want to miss them! 

Today's deal is...

...drum roll please...

That's right! 

Our Fractions Mega Pack is only $1 for today only! 
This pack includes seven fun and engaging games designed to help your kiddos with those tricky fractions...for $1!

I told you that you wouldn't want to miss these $1 deals! 
The rest of them will be announced via IG, Twitter, and FB so use the buttons in the top right corner to follow us if you aren't already!

How can we top that $1 deal?

A giveaway, of course!

Here we go...

Three winners. 

$50 to Target. 

$25 to Etsy. 

$25 to Amazon. 

Perfect for your back to school preparations!

You're going to notice an emphasis on following our TPT store in order to enter. That's because I have only recently realized the benefits I'm getting by checking out the new listings e-mail I receive for stores I follow. I'm often able to grab FLASH Freebies and/or resources at great discounts. We want to offer that same thing to our followers--and we want to make sure you don't miss those specials!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ok, I hope you're as excited about this as we are! 

Best of luck! ;-)

Branching Out...Connect With Me!

Hi there! 

I've joined the fun--at least I think it is supposed to be fun (more about that below)-- #tptsellerchallenge that is being hosted by Ashley at Teach Create Motivate, Jen at Sparkling in Second, Amber at Peppy Zesty Teacherista, and Emily at Third in Hollywood.

I got started by recording our current stats--which was fun to see. This little blog has definitely reached more people than Kristi and I ever dreamed!

You can see that I'm fairly new to Instagram. Don't even have a link for you in the sidebar. #gasp! But I really am still getting it going... For now if you'd like to follow me on Instagram, my username is @teachinglittlemiracles.

Also, I just signed up for Twitter today. 

Our administrators last year were talking it up for the professional development opportunities and then when I entered the #tptsellerchallenge, I figured I should just go for it. 

I have NO IDEA how to use it yet, but you can follow me at @Teach_Miracles if you want to. It could be fun if I get it figured out. Ha!

Links in sidebar coming soon--I hope!

Okay, the challenge for week one was to makeover an old product. Easy enough! We have a lot of "oldies, but goodies" that could use a face lift so I jumped right in. I started updating the covers and information pages for our Super Sight Word packs. 

It was fun.

Do you see the emphasis on was--as in past tense? 

That means I am not having fun anymore people.

It all started out well and good. 

Five packs updated last night. The packs were some of our first. I mean back when we created things in Word. Thank you to whoever clued me in to how much easier it is to use PowerPoint! So it took some effort to get them all updated, but I did it. The covers are much more appealing to the eye. See the example below:

I was happy.

Next, I would need to upload the revised products to TPT.

First four products uploaded just fine, and then the fun stopped!

TPT kept saying, "This file may have a virus. Please check and upload again."

Seriously?

I do not have a virus. I checked. Over and over.

I tried saving as a PDF again.

I tried it on my laptop.

I tried it on my Mac.

I tried it holding my tongue just so.

I tried it while crossing my fingers.

You get the idea. 

I tried everything that I know how to do.

Then I went to work recreating the file--yes, a 78 page file!

And guess what?

When I tried to upload it, I got the same error message!

Nope. I was no longer having fun!

Finally, I just made it inactive. Because well, I have a life outside of TPT and I'm headed to a basketball camp with my daughter tomorrow.

So, I then took the offending file (the third grade one) out of my newly created bundle so that TPT would accept it. 

I will add the third grade file into the bundle. 

Next week. 

When I'm no longer ready to smash my computer.

Click the picture to check it out:

Right now it is 330 pages of sight word goodness! When I add in the 3rd grade one, it will be 408!

The good news is that as I worked on the pack, I started thinking of how I was going to use this next year. I have quite a few struggling readers heading my way. I'll share my plans when I get it put together!

Oh, and in honor of #makeovermadness I've discounted all the individual packs and priced this bundle at a steal of a deal!

Wisdom for Wednesday - The Battle

Good Morning!

I hope you're having a happy week! 

This week has been crazy already for me. I survived Hats! The kids did a great job and nobody seemed to notice that I messed up leading one of the songs. :-/

Last night my son accompanied the high school choir in one of their songs at their concert. Pretty cool experience for him.

Tomorrow is my daughter's league track meet and then Friday she is having some friends over for her birthday. The end of the year is just crazy!

At school, the kids have enjoyed "ink pen day" and "rearrange the room" day so far from our balloon countdown. 

Today we are having "puzzle day." This class absolutely loves puzzles and they often choose them as their Fun Friday activity, so I'm bring in some "big" ones and we're going for it after lunch. I can't wait--really! I love puzzles too!

Now for this week's Wisdom quote. Take a look:

This quote is actually talking about the "work" we do for the Lord, but I think it applies to all of the "stuff of life." If we are so busy doing, that we are not taking the time to truly be in fellowship with our Lord, we are missing the point! 

The Lord desires a close relationship with us and that takes time. Time in the Word. 

Time in prayer. 

Let's not be so busy doing, that we neglect the "one thing is needful…" as Jesus calls it in Luke 11:42 when he is talking to Martha. She was "…careful and troubled abut many things…" and Jesus wanted her to choose "…the good part…" which was fellowship with Him.

Thanks for stopping by for:

Hope it is an encouragement to stay focused on the Lord in these last, crazy weeks of school! 

Hang in there!

P.S. Don't forget the TPT sale! It ends today! 

YAY! IT IS ALMOST HERE!

I don't know about you but I look forward to the big TPT cybersale every year!!! I already have my eye on some of the great products!  I will just have to make sure I stick to my budget!  LOL!

Everything in our store will also be a part of the cyber sale and you will receive 20% off and TPT is offering an additional savings.  Just make sure you put in the promo code CYBER when checking out.

Thank you to Meredith Anderson for this cute banner!

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed time spent with family.  As for me, I know that I ate way too much.  I always tell myself that I am going to be disciplined but there is something about having all that good food in front of me.  I just can't resist!  I need more willpower!

Have a great week and happy shopping!