I'm a little late to the party, but I finally finished my post! Last week was my first full week with students, and I feel like a hamster in a wheel! I was able to get a little caught up this weekend. 

I wanted to share one of the best things that has happened to my class: Class Passes and Kiddo Cash! My students are loving our Class Passes and Kiddo Cash! I wasn't sure if it would be a hit with second graders, but it seems they love getting money and spending it just like third graders! I award students money when they complete their classroom assignments, homework, class jobs, and have good behavior. I also take money away when they are off task or missing assignments. My students have been so motivated since I brought out the money! I had a few who would sit and stare out into space, and now all I have to do is walk around the classroom with a stack of Kiddo Cash, and everyone quickly gets on task. I love it! 
There are 26 different passes to choose from, but I didn't print all of them. I figured I would limit the students' choices. I bought the acrylic container below at The Container Store. This is where I am going to keep the extra passes. 
Once I get the labels on my pink toolbox below, I will keep the money and passes in it. I bought it at Amazon. You can click on the picture below to see what it looks like if you are interested. 
Below is my price list. These are the passes I'm currently letting students purchase with their Kiddo Cash. As for pricing, I just charge what I think is fair for the pass, anywhere from $10-$20. I charge $15 for 3 pieces of candy, and snack box is my most expensive item.
The kids have gone crazy over getting to use a pack of Scentos for the day! I found more of the separately sold Scentos markers at Staples today for a dollar each, so I grabbed a few more since the kiddos loved them so much last week!
Here is my Snack Box. I used to have a weekly raffle, but now I sell passes for chips, pretzels, juice boxes, granola bars, fruit snacks, and other treats. I plan to ask parents for donations to help with the cost. 
Click on the picture below to see the entire file! The black and white copies would look great printed on colorful cardstock or copy paper. 

How do you keep your students engaged and having a blast? Would you like to use this pack in your classroom? Leave me a comment and your email, and I will chose a winner!

Have a great week! :)


Caitlin from Teach Inspire Change is having a blog relaunch! To celebrate, she and many of her bloggy friends have come together to bring you a TpT Bundle Giveaway! The TpT sellers involved in this giveaway are shown below. There are 5 bundles to win, so you can enter whichever suits you!
Visit Caitlin's new beautiful blog HERE to enter! Good luck! 

My friend Amy from Learning Lessons with Mrs. Labrasciano is hosting a giveaway that will help make your transition back to school a bit easier! See the items below that are being donated for this giveaway!
I'm donating my Brights Decor Pack! It's packed with over 400 pages of banners, labels, name tags, schedule cards, and many other items to decorate your classroom! You can print the items as is, or customize them in PowerPoint to suit your needs! If you win, you get to choose either my owl pack or my pack without owls. Here's just a glimpse of the labels that are included in the packs!
Here is a closer look at the pack without the owls. Click on any of the pictures below to see these files on TpT. 
And below is a closer look at the pack with the owls. 
You can win all of these resources to use in your classroom this fall!  Head over to Amy's blog to see more of what is included in the bundle.  Enter to win this great bundle of resources below.


This week's Back to School in a Flash Linky is all about classroom decor! Thank you to Ramona Recommends, Fancy Free in Fourth, and Not So Wimpy Teacher for hostessing this fun linky!
We started school on Thursday, so my classroom was pretty much ready for this linky. There are a few things I'm going to tweak this week, but here is what I have so far! I moved into this classroom at the end of May, and spent a few weeks putting things away and decorating. I am still having a hard time finding things, but I do love all of the closet, drawer, and shelf space in this classroom. It is designed for 20 students, even though I have 29. 
I love my color scheme- aqua, pink, lime green, and orange. To me, it keeps the decor cohesive. This summer I found lots of great baskets and storage at great prices that weren't in my color scheme, but that was no problem, because spray paint has become my bff! Here are two different views of my classroom. 

Here are some of my favorite spots in my classroom:


This board took me FOREVER to put together! I blogged about how I made the clothespin pushpins here. I used the numbers from my decor set. I planned to use some burlap squares I purchased at Michael's in the scrapbook area, but when I opened the pack, they were frayed and crooked! I knew that wouldn't work, so I went back to Michael's and picked up a set of 12x12 cardstock that matches my decor. I spent at least and hour putting up each square evenly on the board, with the help of a ruler and my kiddos to tell me when they were crooked. I plan to use this board for student work, and I will switch the work out every few weeks. I'm hoping the clothespins will be much easier than stapling the papers! 
This year I fell in love with Melonheadz Kids Clipart! I still have a few areas with owls, but these kids have taken over my classroom! They are absolutely adorable! I gave my character file a huge makeover and a new name, and now it's called Character Kiddos and Critters. The picture above are the posters that are included in the file. The animals below match the posters and the students who exhibit the character traits each day will get to keep the corresponding animal on their desks the next day. I plan to blog more about this pack and how I use it. It does include a few other items such as awards, brag tags, and treats for your kiddos with character.

I'm in LOVE with my classroom jobs board! Each job poster has a kiddo holding a square, and in that square you place your students' numbers. I also have an editable set so you can add your own jobs and student names, if you would rather use those instead of numbers. I used magnet strips on the backs of the numbers so I can easily change them out each week. I'm hoping this set up keeps things more organized for me this year!
This is my language arts focus wall so far. I think my plan is going to be to put the letters on a banner and hang them up a little higher, then move up my story title a bit. I'm going to add comprehension posters to the top, but this is the basic layout of my ELA board. 
This year I made Common Core "I Can" posters in brights to match my board. I love these posters because they are not only a decor item on my board, they help to keep me organized with the standards, which will be mandatory to use this year. I have second grade with kids here, and third grade with kids here. I have an owl set for second grade here, and an owl set for third grade here. I organize them in a binder and just switch out the pages each week based on the standards I'm teaching. It's so easy to stay organized and on top of things this way! 

Now it's your turn! Blog about your classroom decor and link up with us below! 




I love back to school time! There are so many fun things to buy. Melissa from Mrs. Dailey's Classroom is hostessing a Back to School in Style Giveaway. You could win the prizes shown below! (I really need a new bag and a new wardrobe!) 


Be sure to enter to win this fabulous back to school giveaway soon! It ends on August 11!
Welcome to Pinterest Pick 3 Linky! It's serious crunch time with school starting for many of us! Of course my Pins for this month are all back to school inspired! 
(Click on the Picture Above to See Original Pin)
Target had the best plastic letter size baskets in the dollar section. They were so much cheaper than the expensive ones I saw online, but they were the wrong color! (My classroom colors are the same colors as the picture below.) I ended up finding the posts above and below, so with the help of my hubby, they got a little makeover. Check out the directions on these pins, and then you can see the idea we he came up with for drying them here.
(Click on the Picture Above to See Original Pin)
(Click on the Picture Above to See Original Pin)
This dish drying rack turned organizer is genius! And with my (husband's) spray paint skills, I can paint this to match my decor! My dependable parent volunteer will absolutely love this to store her binders and other supplies!
(Click on the Picture Above to See Original Pin)
I wish I would have made the time over the summer to complete this project! It's simply fabric and Mod Podge! I have heard of people using squares of scrapbook paper too. I am going to have to try this one of these days! I always end up covering my file cabinet with posters, but this would be so much nicer!

I would love to have you follow me on Pinterest! Click here if you would like to follow me!

Now it's your turn! We would love for you to link up and share your top three Pinterest Pins for August! This linky is hosted on the third of each month- so come join in on the fun! Download the graphics below to add to your post and link up!

1.  Save the Pick 3 images to your desktop.
2.  Create a blog post using these images to share you 3 Pinterest Picks for the month.
3.  Share a link to your full Pinterest page if you would like.
4.  Link up by clicking the "add your link" button below.
5.  Be sure to check out the other Pinterest finds that have been shared and leave a comments on the ones you love!





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