Archives for July 2012

(wo)Man Behind The Curtain + FREEBIE!

July 16, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 12 Comments

Let me start out by saying I am totally and completely floored by the amount of support and interest that’s been generated since I started out this little old blog. I’ve gotten such positive feedback, and cannot overstate how much useful advice has been dispensed to me (FOR FREE! Y’all know I love free!).

Part of that support has come in the support of these three awards:

From: Teresa @ Fun Games 4 Learning, Antonia @ Forkin Fourth, Julie @ Math is Elementary, Rachelle @ Teacher on the Loose, Mrs. Rios @ Mrs. Rios Teaches Second Grade, and Storie @ Stories by Storie. Thank you so much, ladies!!!

The rules are pretty much the same for all of them, but the Versatile Blogger Award requires that I give y’all 7 random facts about myself. So, without further delay:

My husband and I both completed the same five-year Bachelor/Master program… together. Yep, we even sat next to each other during our graduation ceremony (talk about emotional) and took our official picture together!
I’m gluten intolerant… which can be a real bummer sometimes! I’m trying to gauge how to deal with this in my own classroom — as far as treats for my kiddos — so we’ll see how it goes. Any fellow gluten-free teachers?
I’m a terrible dancer but I love to dance. It’s really the best, and something I came to love when it was the only thing that would calm my fussy baby-turned-toddler down.
I can trace my roots on my mother’s side back to the Mayflower, and on my father’s side back to Mary Queen of Scots. Pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.
I’m mildly obsessed with fonts. And by mildly, I mean I can pretty much identify any font by name in under 30 seconds. (Just ask Ginger!)
I’m probably the only elementary teacher that’s not a fan of Skippyjon Jones. At all. (I’m ducking all the rotten tomatoes right now!)
Shopping for school supplies and organizing things is my version of zen. Big-time.

SO — Instead of nominating individual blogs myself, I’d like to have everyone leave a comment linking back to your blog! I love finding new blogs, and I know others do too — so this is a perfect way to put yourself out there and to also find some new bloggers to follow!

I also wanted to share one piece of decor I finished for the classroom today:

This will hang in my classroom during the first week of school (and then outside our door after that). I am so excited to have it finished — it was actually super easy to do!

I know an Oz-themed room is pretty out-of-the-norm, but I know that many teachers utilize it as a book study, or party-theme, etc., and so I’m offering the pennant in my TPT store (in three sizes; the size I chose is the 7.5″ size) for FREE! So head on over and pick it up!

And just another reminder — if you haven’t already — my giveaway closes at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday! Make sure you are entered!

Lamination Power + An Adventure

July 14, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 9 Comments

I kind of have a love affair with laminating things. I might even hum my own parody version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song while I do it… It may or may not sound like, “Super Duper Hot Laminator… LAMINATION POWER!”

So it should be no surprise that I found immense joy in heading here last night:

*angels sing* I picked up the last of the bulletin board trim I needed, and then I laminated it. All of it. Several pieces of trim across, it still ended up being 55 (FIFTY-FIVE!!!!!) linear feet long. Thank goodness for $0.29/foot laminating!

Let the record show that after “rough” cutting all of it last night and cutting out all of the green trim you see there… I’ve learned my lesson. I’m never ever ever buying scalloped trim again. It’s awful. Not even mindless television could take my mind off of how awful it was to try and cut.

But before we came home and I tackled that behemoth, Mr. Plum, little guy and I took an impromptu “adventure” to our nation’s capital. After the teacher store. At 10pm.

It was so so so so so worth it.

I feel so privileged to live so close to our capital that, on a whim, my family and I (or my students and I), can see sights like this. That we can experience history and feel the magnitude of our collective journey as a country right there in the flesh.

Let me tell you, there’s nothing like seeing a child experience the awe of seeing President Lincoln, larger-than-life, for the first time. Or a child asking you with wonder, “who is that man coming out of that rock?” It was well worth keeping little dude up WAY past his bedtime:

I hope all of you have the opportunity to travel — more than once — to Washington, D.C. When you do, please please please make a trip to the memorials at night; it is so vastly different than the daytime experience and it is moving beyond belief. As a native to the area, even I still get teary-eyed walking up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at night, the Washington Monument and Capitol at my back.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a peek at some projects I’m working on, I’ll finally post that freebie, and I’ll finally (apologies to those of you that kindly thought of me!) round up the amazing awards I’ve been given over the past two weeks.

“I still want one.”

July 13, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 6 Comments

Well, no one (as of 11:18pm) guessed my favorite Oz character correctly! I’m not totally surprised, because it’s an unusual preference. So let me explain —

I’m a sap. A total sap.

I tear up at the national anthem, I tear up looking at museum displays at the Smithsonian, I get choked up without fail at every single Olympic event.

I. am. a. sap.

Because of this, I remember connecting so much with the Tinman’s character when I was little. I felt everything in the world so strongly that it absolutely destroyed me to think that there could be someone that couldn’t feel at all.

The Wizard says to the Tinman, “As for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart. You don’t know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.” The Tinman replies, “But I still want one.“

Tears. Here they come.

Having a heart means that you feel joy and you feel sorrow. You feel.

I’ll never forget the “warning” I received about becoming a teacher — that my heart may be broken on a regular basis, and why would I want to do something like that?

I totally understand the Tinman. I relate to him.

There are many disadvantages to choosing teaching as your profession. Those disadvantages often times turn people away. I turn toward them, because teaching makes me feel. My heart is never so open and free as it is when I’m teaching (and learning).

So there you have it. I have an unusually soft soft-spot for our galvanized friend.

I’m still choosing a winner, and going with the person that guessed my second favorite Oz character — the Cowardly Lion — Storie! You are right, his “aw, shucks!” quality is what makes me smile anytime he is on-screen. Check your e-mail shortly for your copy of the binder set!

I’ll be back tomorrow with some new classroom decor, and a freebie (or two)! Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!

Hold. The. Phone.

July 12, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 13 Comments

And shut the front door. The windows, too. Maybe even the garage.

Did I really just list my first product on TPT? Yes, yes I did.

I’ve been feeling a wee bit under the weather in the past day and couldn’t sleep last night. I decided to work on my organizational binders for this upcoming year and put on The Wiz (I know, I know, I’m a walking cliche) and was hit with a ton of inspiration.

One of the things I love most about the Wizard of Oz is how diverse the story is. There are so many lessons you can learn from it, and as a teacher, so many ways you can utilize those lessons in your classroom. So, naturally, I used quotations from the movie and book to round out my binders and they. fit. perfectly.

I have yet to print + laminate (that’ll be a part of my Monday Made It since I just got my ink refilled at Costco — who knew? — and got a new laminator), so I can’t show you the binders in action… yet. I can, however, share with you my one of favorite covers (it’s hard to choose).

Raise your hand if you think I’m going to use this as a management technique. All hands raised? Great! You’re totally right. I might even play “Ease on Down the Road” to transition out of morning meeting. Who knows! Anything can happen in Oz, er, my classroom!

To celebrate my first paid item in my TPT store, the pack of binder covers + spine labels is on sale for $2.50 until tomorrow at midnight! Head on over and check them out!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win all (now) current and future items in my TPT store! There will be five winners so spread the word!

I’m in a super-de-duper mood to night because I think we might’ve turned a potty-training corner (you have no idea how relieved I am!), the first person to correctly guess my favorite character from the original movie will get a copy of the binder set! Be sure and leave your e-mail!

Giveaway, ahoy!

July 10, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 32 Comments

I’m in the midst of potty-training my nearly three year old little dude, so there’s not much productive work getting done other than bribing him with chocolate and juice to utilize the potty. So, I decided now is the best time for a giveaway!

So what if I haven’t quite hit 100 followers yet? Let’s get this giveaway party started, right?!

So…

Here’s the deal.

Five lucky winners will win ALL future paid products on my TPT store (and Teacher’s Notebook if I ever open one). Forever. And ever and ever.

I’m hoping to list my first product by the end of the week (if potty-training goes well), so by the time the giveaway finishes next week, there will be at least one product in the hands of five lucky winners (and I can tell you that you’ve already seen a sneak peek on here and it involves Oz)! From that point on, every time I list something new, those five people will get the product e-mailed to them as an attachment — for FREE FREE FREE (which is the best kind of free)!

Sound good? I hope so!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you choose to blog about the giveaway — you can just grab my button on ye’ old sidebar over there to link back, because like I said, potty-training waits for no man and at this point I haven’t whipped up a custom graphic. I might. So using either is fine!

ETA: Little guy is finally asleep, so I whipped this up real quick: