Diamond Patterned Paper-Digital Scrapbook Paper Freebie

For Teachers Pay Teachers, I use a lot of different papers to build products. Here is a freebie for some papers I've created.

 Download here!

These papers can be used for personal or commercial use.

Three Things Thursday-New Products!

This year, we went to Illinois to visit my parents for Christmas. Since we were on vacation, I took a break from actively keeping up with Teachers Pay Teachers products and blogging. Now that we're back, I have some more products to introduce. 

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 There were times where prepping for guided reading was a real pain. During my first year of teaching, I would be up until 2:00 am several nights in a row trying to get the lessons done for each of my groups. I created this product to save myself and other teachers the headache of working on guided reading plans for The Sign of the Beaver. Just print the packet and you can be on your way. Each chapter has comprehension questions for students to answer, chapter summaries for teacher use, end of book activities, plus more! This product can be used for individual student study, small group instruction, or even whole class instruction.

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This next product is a continuation of my math task card series. The task cards here are specifically for 4th grade, but can be used as a review for upper grades. There are 28 task cards that have problems that help students practice reading, writing, rounding, and comparing multi-digit numbers. Perfect for fast finishers, centers, or games!

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Finally, I created another Spanish product. This product is based off of the popular card game, Spoons. During play, students are looking for an AR verb, its correct definition, the correct conjugation, as well as a picture that matches the definition of the verb. Great for beginning students or those that just need a review!

I'm leaving, on a jet plane or Packing is a nightmare

We are heading to Chicago this afternoon to spend Christmas with my family. Packing is one of the most stressful activities ever.

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I agonize for hours as I lay everything out for Baby A and myself. Last time we flew to my parents house, I read some tips online that said to bring 2 extra outfits for each day. By the end of the trip, I had maybe used 1/3 of the clothes I packed for her. Plus, I didn't think about using my parents' washer and dyer. Life could have been that much easier had I not over planned....but I am too much of a worrier to learn from that mistake. I'll update later on how much I pack vs what I use for this Christmas vacation.

What are some of your packing tips for babies?

Flying with Babies: What I've learned so far

We have now been on 4 flights with Baby A and she is just over 9 months. I can't say I'm anywhere close to being an expert on flying with a baby, but I've learned a few tricks that have made it a lot easier. I'm adding tricks other people have shared with me too.

Tips, Tricks and more to Flying with a Baby under 1
1. Baby items fly free
     I can't speak for pack-n-plays, but strollers, car seats, and a diaper bag fly free! We deposit our car seat when we drop off our luggage. Then, we gate check the stroller as we board the plane. I put my carry-on in the container above our seats and stick anything I absolutely need during the flight in the diaper bag.

2. Boarding the Plane
    Once you have little kids, you can start boarding the plane in the families traveling with small children group. Having the extra time to get settled is super nice. Definitely take advantage of it if you can.

3. Layers, Layers, Layers
    On flights, you never know how warm or cold the flight is going to be. I've been on flights where it has been freezing and on other flights where I thought I was in the Sahara. During the summer flights, I had Baby A in a bodysuit and shorts and had pants and a jacket in the baby bag. In November, I put her in pants and a long sleeved bodysuit along with having a back up jacket and warmer pants.
     Be sure to bring a couple back up outfits for the baby and a back up shirt for you so that if you get soaked, you don't have to stay like that the entire trip. I didn't need the back ups, but another lady on the flight went through 3 outfits on a 4 hour flight.

4. Prepare for anything
     Have plenty of extra diapers. Going on flights can make a baby's system go nuts and it would stink to run out of diapers in the middle of a flight. I figure out how many diapers Baby A will go through in the length of the flight, and then bring 1.5 times that many.
     Bring plenty of things to distract the baby, but they may sleep through the whole flight depending on their age. Try to keep it to things that are "new" (aka haven't been seen in a while) to help keep the baby's interest. I brought things that Baby A hadn't played with in a while to distract her.

5. Takeoff with a snack
      I was pretty worried about the takeoff on the first flight because when I was younger, I always had ear pain. I asked around and people suggested timing a bottle for take-off or having Baby A use her pacifier until take off ended. It worked like a dream! The first set of flights after the bottle, Baby A passed out for the whole trip. During the second set of flights, it still worked but it took her longer to fall asleep. For landing, do the exact same and you'll be all set.

    Those are the most useful tips and tricks that I've picked up. Does anyone have any other tricks for traveling with babies?

The Sign of the Beaver: A Work in Progress

I think I have been over-ambitious about my next product. I have been working on it for a while, but I haven't had very much time the past week or so. It's going to be a novel study of The Sign of the Beaver. I keep thinking of things to add to the packet. Does anyone have any projects that they are a bit too ambitious about?

Three Things Thursday

1. Vidangel 
About a year ago, we found Vidangel. It has been wonderful for date night. You start off "paying" $20 to rent the movie. Pick any filters you want. For example, if you don't want to hear swear words, pick the words you don't want to hear and the filters will mute them out. Once you're done with the movie, you sell it back for 19 credits that you can use for other movies. So in the end, you're really only paying $1 per movie. It's a really great deal and WAY better than Redbox.

2. The Shadowhunter Chronicles
Back when Twilight was popular, if you didn't read it and have a team, you were a little ostracized. These books were awful, but I still wanted to see what happened. Is that a normal reaction??
I never thought that I would find a book that caused a similar reaction until I started:

I will admit that they are way better written than Twilight and I do like them a lot more, but they are still pretty bad. Yet, I can't believe I still want to read them to find out what happens. I wouldn't judge someone quite so harshly if they admitted to liking this series as I do when people admit they like Twilight. Maybe I secretly like both series and haven't admitted it to myself yet. 

3. Christmas

I am so excited to go back to Chicago for Christmas this year! I miss snow this time of year, but I don't miss having to warm up the car or defrost it at all. It will be Baby A's first Christmas. We leave the 21st and get home about the 27th. 

Fuller House: A Review

Growing up, I would watch Full House reruns on ABC Family, so of course I was interested in the remake on Netflix.

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The first season came out right about when Baby A was born, which made it great for late night feedings when I didn't feel like reading. The season wasn't too bad. I liked it for the most part, but the Bachelorette references were a bit annoying for me. 

Season Two was a lot better! I liked how they handled adoption and infertility, plus I liked how they resolved DJ's relationships with Matt and Steve. The kids were a lot funnier too. There are a few dirty jokes, but I don't see kids catching them. However, I wasn't the most observant kid, so who knows. It would probably be a great idea to watch it first before letting your kids watch it first. 

The problem with finishing this season is that I need another series to watch during downtime. I guess there is always Gilmore Girls again....any recommendations?

2017 Reading Challenge Level 3: Running

Things have been crazy busy the last two weeks! I've finally had time to come up with the final level for the 2017 reading challenge.

The final level has 50 books in it. I didn't have enough room to combine the YA/Adult edition with the children's edition so they are in two separate images. 

If you start from level one and read through until the end of level three, you'll have read 80 books for the year. For level three, I broke it into a few genres to make it a little easier...or possibly trickier. I guess I'll see. I'll keep track of what I read here on the blog and on Goodreads. 

Any recommendations on books to read?