Back to School Sale - 20% OFF all products!

School's just around the corner so I'm throwing a one day

BACK to SCHOOL SALE!!! 

ALL products in my Chirp Graphics shop AND my Teach Easy Resources shop will be discounted!

If you are looking for some new activities for Fall, you may want to peek at my 

Fall Back to School Unit

It contains 9 fun circle time and center time activities including:

1. Two person Apple Tree Counting Game

2. Jack O'Happy Mini book

 3. Class/Circle Time Pumpkin Number Game

4. Scarecrow Number Matching Game

5. Jack O'Happy Song Cards 

6. Farmer Squirrel's Nut Stand Playdough Activity

7. Class/Circle Time Leaf Colour Game

8. Colour Song/Storybook called Can You Guess the Season?

9. 5 Crows All Shiny Black Magnet/Felt Board Song

 And if you like clip art for your teaching resources or other creations, I have a ton of new items for Fall! 

Here's four of my recent additions:

As I mentioned ALL products in both shops will be discounted by 20%!  

Click on the shop images below and take advantage of these great prices while you can!

Just remember to use the promo code BOOST at checkout to get the full discount!

FREE Fall Clip Art Set from Chirp Graphics

I see so many teachers busy preparing for the start of the new school year.  

Teachers are one hard working bunch!

Plus, we know what will happen if we're not prepared!

  Can you say, C H A O S ?!  

Yes, avoiding disaster is very motivating!

I was thinking about what I could do to brighten the mood of any teachers who may have a bit of the back to school blues.

Sales are fun, but even more fun is getting something for FREE!

So I decided that throughout the Fall I would offer regular FREE clip art giveaways from my Chirp Graphics shop!
And I won't be giving away just a couple of images from a pack; I'll be giving away full sets! 

And tomorrow (Wednesday, August 12th)
 will be the first one!

This week's set will be completely FREE, but for
two days only - the giveaway ends on
Thursday, August 14th at 9 pm. 

After that, the set will be available in my shop at regular price which is still low ($4.50), but of course, not FREE :).

If you decide to download the pack below, I'd love your feedback on it for my shop page.  It will really help me build my little store, plus it gives me great inspiration!
  Thank you in advance! :) 

Just {click here} or on the image to pick it up!

p.s. - If you'd like to be notified of these flash freebies, just sign up as a follower on the sidebar of my blog and/or click the Follow button on my Chirp Graphics shop!

Behind the Scenes - Meet the Teacher Q and A's

I follow a few different teaching blogs for ideas and inspiration.  And I love seeing bits of the person behind the blog!  

Today I saw this Meet the Teacher Link-Up and I thought it would be fun to join in and do the Q and A's.

So here's a little more about me!

 THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

Coffee, Starbucks (I love their Caramel Macchiato and the ambience is pretty good there, too!), going out to eat (I love eating; hate cooking!), the OUTDOORS (hiking, walking my dog, mountain biking, or just sitting and staring at the clouds!), Cadbury Hazelnut chocolate bars, and wearing comfy jeans (the staple of my wardrobe).  

 IF YOU WEREN'T A TEACHER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE?

I would probably want to be an interior decorator.  

I'm crazy about furniture, accessories, throw pillows, even...light fixures!  I would love to help people create a space that makes them feel good.  Especially if they think they can't afford it.  I've learned that you CAN have style even on a super tight budget.    

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU.

Down to earth (I'm going to say that's ONE word!), authentic, and creative.  

FINISH THE SENTENCE, "________,  SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!"

I never do school work outside of school hours...
 

Q: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE {DEAD OR ALIVE} TO THE PARTY. WHO ARE YOU INVITING?

My husband is the most critical attendee!  He does all the grocery shopping, cooking, and bartending for parties!  I'm so lucky!    

Q: IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?

This Way and That! 

 (In some ways I need and seek a lot of change.)

  
 Q:YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER. WHAT IS IT?

The ability to use more than 10% of my brain power!
  We humans have a lot of wasted potential!     

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

I have a ceramic jar full of favourite quotes on my desk.  There's so many I can't pick a favourite, so I'll pick the most recent one I added...

If in doubt, choose the bigger life.
 

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? 

I've sung "Let It Be" by the Beatles for Karaoke night a few times.  That would be the safest choice!

Q: ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?

Oooo.  There's nothing I dislike more than setting an alarm to wake me up.   And yet, I don't have tons of energy late at night either.  I think I usually hit my peak around 6 pm.  

 Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCE THAT YOU'VE CREATED IN YOUR TPT SHOP?

 My two Pete the Cat Units!

In my Chirp Graphics shop, I love the Monster Cuties set I just added!  

Q: SHARE SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU! 

I use what might be considered seriously embarrassing baby talk when I speak to my dog.  He's so cute.  I can't seem to help myself!

But tell me, who could resist this face?

But that's enough about me!  
If you have a blog, click {here} or on the image below to link up and post your own set of Q and A's! 

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Fun Picture Book for Back to School!

For this week's Picture Book Pick of the Week, I thought I'd choose a book with a back to school theme.

When you're finished reading my pick, stop by Deanna Jump's blog to see lots of other choices, too! 

My selection is The Day My Mom Came to Kindergarten by Maureen Fergus and Mike Lowery.

This book offers a funny, indirect approach to teaching children how to behave when first starting school. 

And as we know, that's an area that usually requires some attention! :) 

Since I teach preschoolers, I'm just going to change the word "kindergarten" to preschool when I read it so that the story will relate better to my group!

The book opens with a little girl excited to start her first day at school.

The only one not excited about the day is the little girl's mother.

She's feeling a little sad that her daughter is going off to have adventures without her.

Luckily, the teacher decides that mom can spend the day in Kindergarten, too!

Mom is so excited that the first thing she does is BARGE to the front of the line-up to go inside.

Once mom gets inside, she starts running around leaving muddy footprints in her outdoor shoes!

Later when everyone is in the library, mom forgets to use her inside voice.

Then at snack time, mom drops crumbs everywhere and does not even bother to clean them up!

At craft time mom has trouble using the scissors.  So she slams them down on the table in a HUFF!

The story continues with mom breaking rules right and left and soon the little girl is FIT TO BE TIED!  

That's when the teacher tells her, that sometimes it takes  time to learn something new.  

She tells the girl not to worry and that her mom will get the hang of it before too long.  

And guess what?  Mom starts getting a lot better after that.

The story ends with the mom deciding that Kindergarten is lots of fun, but that it's probably a special place just for kids.  

Mom decides that she will stick to working hard in a place meant for people who are bigger - and a place where she will actually fit into the chairs.  

Mom pops her craft into her purse and her daughter tells her  that she's already great at the job of being a mom. 

(Ah, the feel good ending!  You always know it's coming!) 

This book will definitely be on my back to school story time list.  

How 'bout yours?

Another thing I'll be bringing into the classroom to start the year, will be the scrapbook worksheets below.

I'm offering this set for FREE from my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop right now.

Hop over if you'd like to scoop them up!

FREE Scrapbook Worksheets to Document Progress in Basic Skills - Great for Preschool or Kindergarten!

As August arrives, the mind drifts to thoughts of a new school year...

 and perhaps, back to school shopping. :)  

(I know I have my heart set on buying a new pair of boots!)   

Although I still have one more month of beautiful summer left, I know teachers in hotter parts of the world are returning to the classroom fairly soon.    

So for YOU folks as well as any go-getters out there who like to get a planning jumpstart, I thought it would be smart to already post the following FREEBIE since it's one you'd want to start using in the first month of school.

Although I teach at a play-based preschool, we still encourage students to spend time developing certain skills 

 - namely learning to write their name in lower case letters, effectively using scissors, and I also like them to develop some basic drawing skills.

To easily see how each student progresses in these areas over the course of the year, I created the following worksheets.

Students fill out the first part of each sheet at the start of the year, and the second part at the end.  

When completed, just pop these pages into the students' scrapbooks in June and you'll have another great sample of their work from the year. 

Here are the sheets included in this free set: 

If you'd like to be notified of my next Freebie, 

sign up as a follower here on my blog OR you can follow my Teach Easy Resources Shop. 

I love to share ideas with followers and the more the merrier!

Click {here} to pick up this free set. Enjoy!