Entire Store is 20% Off January 6th and January 7th 2020!

Ring in the new year with some brand new lessons! All items will be 20% off on January 6th and 7th! 

I've recently created some new products that will really ring their "educational" bells.

Check them out below:

Preschool and Pre-k U.S. Coin Pack: Look at some samples of what you'll get in the unit below!

Part of Money Grows on Trees Coin Sort Found in this Pack! 

 

How Much Is It? Trace 

January Toddler and Preschool Activity Pages: From Martin Luther King Jr. Day to National Soup Month, this pack has you covered. It can also be made into a booklet. Just color the cover page provided. 

Trace the Words That Describe Martin Luther King Jr. Sheet 

January Is National Soup Month! Circle the Season We are In Sheet 

Winter and Snowflakes Toddler and Preschool Pack: Invite your students to investigate the beauty of winter! Click on the cover to see what snow-tastic items abound in this pack! 

Winter and Snowflakes Toddler and Preschool Pack 

Angels Toddler and Preschool Unit: Children will be amazed by the unearthly wonders of these heavenly beings. See sample pages below. 

The Angels Are Bowling! Color Matching Cards (On stormy nights, my mom would tell me the angels were bowling because I was afraid of the loud noises.) 

Angel Shape Puzzles 




Other units and packs recently added are:

Polar Bear Toddler and Preschool Pack

New Years Toddler and Preschool Printables Pack 

Please stop on by for this New Year/New Lessons Sale! Remember, you receive 20% off all products on January 6th and 7th! 

I hope you all are having a happy and healthy 2020!

TpT Cyber Sale on November 26th and 27th!

Happy TpT Cyber Sale Greetings! 

Many of my products are on sale on Monday, November 26th and Tuesday, November 27th! I have  new toddler and preschool-themed winter packs that will engage and entice the youngest of learners to investigate Elves, Snowmen, Santa's North Pole, Winter Fun Activities and more!

I am offering 83 of my products at 20% off! Remember to stop on by my store for lots of great deals next week! 

Here's a sneak preview of some of my newest packs below! Click on the link below each cover to view! 

Elf Unit 

Holiday Toddler Pack 

Santa's North Pole Pack 

Winter Fun Pack 

Happy Holidays! 

Jennifer 

How One Educator Helped Her School Through TpT for Schools!

TpT for schools offers a limitless number of educational resources. It brings quality teaching materials to educators, administrators, and students alike.

Just see how the following educator gave the gift the learning to her school through TpT for Schools!

It all starts with a conversation! Third grade teacher Michelle Burrus helped her administrator see how TpT for Schools offered a real solution to their school’s challenges. Read her whole story and learn more here about how to start the conversation with your own administrator: bit.ly/tpt-for-schools

Apple Picking, Crafts, and a Preschool Apple Unit! Oh My!

It's apple picking time! Fields upon fields of apple trees are beckoning you to pick these delicious, red, green, and yellow beauties from their branches. If you have a farm nearby, it's definitely your perfect chance to taste fall's natural treasures!

Thankfully, I live fairly close to a beautiful farm in Sturtevant, Wisconsin called Apple Holler. It has a great restaurant with traditional American food such as burgers, ribs, and fried chicken. Oh my God, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. The food is absolutely delicious. I have never picked apples or pumpkins at this farm, but they have been named one of the "10 Best Orchards" by USA today in 2015, so they must be excellent.

I have to say the setting is gorgeous. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. The land is untouched and fabulously rural. It reminds me of a Thomas Kincade painting of true Americana. A time when life was harder, but simpler at the same time.

They offer hayrides for families and have an adorable country store! If you're ever in the Wisconin area you should definitely stop by! You will not be disappointed.

If you can't travel to your local orchard, you can get in the "apple picking spirit" by creating a few of these adorable apple crafts I found!

Creating crafts with students is a wonderful way to spark creativity, encourage critical thinking and  fine motor skills, and improve color identification and recognition.

Take a look at the crafts below to start creating! Click on links below each picture for directions.

Easy Apple Craft  (Paging Supermom) 

                                         Apple Coffee Filter Art (Mom to 2 Posh Lil' Divas)

                                               Bubble Wrap Painted Apples  (Somewhat Simple)

Aren't these crafts so cute. I've done somewhat similar crafts to these with my preschoolers too! It's amazing how few craft supplies are truly needed for these projects. They are really simple and easy to make with just a little preparation and time. 

Okay, I hope you enjoyed the crafts I found, but what about other possible activities that the children can explore in the classroom? Don't worry, I got you covered with the following ideas and my newest Preschool Apple Pack I'm selling on my TpT store! 

Science Center and Science Activities

Cut an apple open and let the children observe the inside of the apple. Place lemon water on the flesh so that the apple doesn't brown as quickly. Provide plastic spoons so the children can scoop out the seeds, too. 

Find  and make a simple applesauce recipe. 

Compare two types of apples and record there differences using a graph or better yet, a venn diagram. 

Taste test different types of apples. (Check for allergies first) 

Math Center 

Count apple seeds. Cut  out a red apple from red construction paper and  apple seeds from brown construction paper. Laminate all of the pieces and cut them out of  the lamination. Have students count seeds using number cards that can be created using index cards at the math center. 

Apple patterning

Cut several apples from scrapbook paper and have students create AB, ABBA, and ABC patterns. 

Dramatic Play Center 

Apple Picking 

Provide plastic bushel baskets, fake apples, paper bags for apple picking and buying apples, a cash register, and play money. 

Bakery 

Writing Center

Apple words 

Create a list of apple-themed words that your children can trace. Words such as bushel, tree, cider, pick, etc. 

Tracing apple trees

Create several apple tree shapes that your children can decorate and trace. 

Art Center

Apple prints

Cut apples in half and let your children dip  them into yellow, green and yellow paint. They then press the apples onto easel paper. 

Apple rubbings

Cut apple shapes from cardboard and have children place a piece of paper on top of the shape. Tell the children to rub a crayon over the cardboard apple shape to make a rubbing. 

Apple hats

Make a headband out  of long construction paper. Have children cut out apple shapes and glue to the headband. Staple the headband around the child's head with a stapler. 

Books

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall 

Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington 

Ten Apples on Top by Dr. Seuss 

  Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray 

You can also purchase my Preschool Apple Unit at TpT for more fun, easy-to-prepare apple centers and activities. Students can sort apples by size, play a color match file folder game, investigate non-standard forms of measurement by measuring foods made from apples using apples and much more! 

 This unit includes:

Things That Start with “A” Tree Mat

Things That Start with “A” Apple Cards

Apple Sizing

Measuring With Apples

Apple Objects to Measure such as an Apple Juice Box

How Many Apples are in the Basket? Math Mat

Math Mat Numbers with +, -, and = Signs

Apple Pieces to Count, Add, or Subtract

Apple Color Matching

How to Make an Apple Pie Sequencing Activity

Preschool Apple Unit

You'll be the "apple of your students' eyes" with these fun and educational activities! 

Getting Squirrely!: Squirrels, Chipmunks, and Other Rodents Unit for Pre-K, Kindergarten and Homeschool!

Squirrels the quintessential harbinger of fall (and all year for that matter) Do you love seeing  these funny, furry, lush-tailed cutie pies in your backyard? I certainly do! When I was creating the unit, Squirrels, Chipmunks and Other Rodents, I learned that their is more than meets the eye to these adorable, curious little hams.

Squirrel Facts 

Squirrel's  teeth never stop growing?

Squirrels can be found around the world,except for Australia 

The African Pygmy Squirrel is the smallest squirrel in the world. The Indian Giant Squirrel is the biggest. The African Pygmy Squirrel is five inches long and the Indian Giant Squirrel is a whopper at 3 feet in length! Talk about the long and the short of it. 

Chipmunks are ground squirrels. 

Flying squirrels glide, but do not fly. 

Squirrels hoard away food, but often don't find all of it. 

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/squirrels/

Since we're talking about squirrels I need to tell you about my mother (AKA The Squirrel Whisperer). She has been known to gently console the most frightened baby squirrel from the fence for a nut reward.

 She can often be found surrounded by a scurry of both squirrels and chipmunks during all times of the day. They show off their cuteness by standing on their hind legs, hopping, plopping down on hot days on their stomachs in the shade, and placing their paws on their chest in a classic "Who me?" pose. It is truly a sight to behold. 

If you too like me, love squirrels and would like your students to learn more about them and their cousins: rats, chipmunks, and beavers, the Squirrels, Chipmunks, and Other Rodents Pack is for you! 

I thought you might enjoy seeing a few of the cutie pies in my backyard. I recently created flashcards featuring backyard animals. The pack is called It's a Wildlife: Animal Photographic Flashcards. 

Here are a few of the pictures featured in the flashcard pack. 

Fox Squirrel 

Eastern Chipmunk 

Eastern Gray Squirrel 

Click on the link below the picture to see a full preview the Squirrels, Chipmunks, and Other Rodents unit! 

Squirrels, Chipmunks and Other Rodents Unit

Teachers Pay Teachers For Schools Makes a Teacher's Life So Easy!

Have you ever truly wanted a great lesson plan that was created by a teacher in the field that truly understood the needs of  their and (your) students? Then check out TpT For Schools. Make sure your administrators know about this amazing way that they can provide their teaches with high-quality products.

Check out the info below the image to learn more about this fantastic way to bring TpT to your school!

Teachers, I want to make sure you know about TpT for Schools! Educators like you already turn to TpT to get resources to meet the needs of all types of learners — and now your school can support you in purchasing these resources! TpT for Schools is an easy, centralized way for your administrator to use school funds to buy the resources you need from TpT. Learn more here about how your administrator can sign up: bit.ly/tpt4schools

It's a Learning Curve: What I've Learned About Teachers Pay Teachers As a Newbie

I have learned a lot on Teachers Pay Teachers in the last four months. It's quite the learning curve for sure. Before Teachers Pay Teachers, I had only created teaching materials for myself and rarely thought about designing them for other teachers, but it was one of the best things I've ever done.

By creating resources, I have learned more about educational resources that teachers from toddlers to early elementary enjoy, began to understand popular learning keywords and trends, and received much advice from those in the TpT's forums.

Below, I wanted to help other newbies learn how to better succeed on TPT  by providing some quick and easy tips that I have learned from the forums, bloggers and YouTube videos.

1. Always create your files in Powerpoint. When I first started, I was was addicted to Microsoft Word. It was easy and simple to use, but trying to format my work was a nightmare. If the pictures or font moved to the next page one more time, I thought I was going to scream! After learning how to use Powerpoint, I learned that you can easily change slide positions, duplicate slides, and create jpegs for product covers in a snap. 
2. Make Square Covers in Powerpoint. 8 by 8 square covers give potential buyers a clearer and better look at the products you are trying to sell. I found out that it is very easy to do too. Just click on the design tab and change the page dimensions 8 inches high to 8 inches wide and make sure that you maximize your page size for the most usable page space. Make sure to add pictures of your product to your cover so that buyers can get visuals of your fantastic resource. 
3. Use the TpT forums for suggestions, ideas and tips. I was totally confused about flattening and securing my work and Adobe Acrobat Pro did not load properly onto my computer. Recently, a  TpT teacher-author was nice enough to help me figure out a way to flatten and secure my work without installing this very expensive pdf program. There is even a section on the TPT forums,  that allows you to ask other teachers to review your work to see how it appears to potential buyers. 
4. Set a Specific Time to Work on Your Products and Store. Otherwise, you will find yourself working 18 hours a day.:) Take time to rest and recharge, just remember that you need to make awesome and educational products for teachers, not churn out lots of low-quality, less than stellar work. Quality over quantity is always the answer. 
5. Use Teacher-Created Clip art. TpT offers a lot of teacher created clip art for free from teacher-authors. As long as you follow their terms of use and make sure that the product can be used commercially, you are good to go. Another great site for free clip art is Openclipart. 
6. Take Advantage of Social Media. Set up a Pinterest account or a blog to increase traffic. Traffic does not always mean sales, but sales are more likely to happen  if you pin or post a product frequently to these sites. Pin and blog as often as possible. The more people who see your brand the better your sales will be. 
7. Use Keywords to Your Advantage in Blogs. Search engines will be more likely to find you if you use high frequency search terms for your products. An example if some is looking for  Preschool Animal Flashcards. Search terms could be "Animals" "Flashcards for preschoolers", "Early Childhood Education Flashcards" "Picture Flashcards" etc. 
8. Most Importantly, Make Sure That You Have Researched Your Product to Make Sure That It is Developmentally-Appropriate for the Age Group You Are Designing It For. If you are unsure how to create a math worksheet for 3rd graders, perform a  search on 3rd grade math worksheets or go to the library and look at your school district's textbooks for 3rd grade to find out about appropriate difficulty levels for this age group. I generally stick more to preschool to extremely early elementary because this is where I feel most confident. I believe in the old adage "do what you know". 

It's your turn, do you have any tips and tricks for newbies to Teachers Pay Teachers? Please share your comments below to help us (newbies) learn more and improve our skills on this amazing teaching resource marketplace.

On Your Mark, Get Ready, Set, Learn! 

Working Hard for the Money!: Labor Day Activity Pack on Teachers Pay Teachers

Hey everybody, get to work on this Labor Day unit that will impact your students' interest in their future careers! 

This unit contains informational text about the holiday, a Famous People Jobs Worksheet that allow students to delve into the lives of famous people who impacted the world around them, a Job Report Worksheet for a student research project, and so much more. 

Students will also enjoy placing words in ABC order with an Alphabetical Jobs Worksheet that promotes ABC  recognition skills too! 

Check out this unit by clicking on the link below. 

Labor Day Activity Pack

I Know My ABC's! ABC Animal Flash Cards on Teachers Pay Teachers

Young children will have a roaring good time reviewing their ABC's as they use these full-color, easy-to-read flashcards!

Each flash card features both the uppercase and lowercase letters of each letter of the alphabet and the animal's name.

A bonus Animal Fun Fact Card completes this vivid and bold set. Each card contains 3 well-researched facts about each and every animal.


Just follow the following link to see these beautiful and informative flash cards.

ABC Animal Flash Cards 

School's In!: Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School Bonus Sale! Tuesday, August 21, 2018!

Your classroom may be back to school ready, but do you have enough lesson plans prepared for upcoming units? Don't stress, head on over to my TpT store, Glitter and Glue Sticks Forever, to enjoy 20% off  everything in my store plus an additional 5 % off from TpT!  That's a total of 25% off! 

To make your shopping experience even easier, my newest unit covers include larger, bolder and easier to see thumbnail pictures of all my products in a square format! 

The one-day sale begins on Tuesday, August 21st! So put your feet up, relax, and enjoy some bargains from a fellow teacher, just like you! 

Store Link: 

Glitter and Glue Sticks Forever

Here's a peek at some of the units available in my store! Links to these units are in the captions below thumbnails. 

Preschool Ocean Unit

Animal Fun! Jungle Animals

United States Geography

Pay Dirt: Glitter and Glue Sticks Forever is now selling on Teachers Pay Teachers

Since I've been in ECE for a while now I have decided to make a little dough on the side by creating teaching resources on the extremely popular website, TeachersPayTeachers. This site allows me to create lessons through my Microsoft Word Program or PowerPoint and easily upload them as a PDF.

I have made sure to make each of  lessons, activities and worksheets bright and cheery with easy-to-understand instructions. Since I am just starting out all of the products are quite reasonably priced.

Some of my products Include:

• A Father's Day Learning Pack 
• June Special Days Calendar and Activities 
• A preschool to 1st grade-friendly Farm Pack 

Here's a link to my TpT Site: 

Glitter and Glue Sticks Forever Teachers Pay Teachers Store

My Glitter and Glue Sticks forever Logo