Workin' on Wednesday

Welcome to week 2 of my new series I am trying out this summer! The purpose of this series is to let you all know what I am currently working on (hence the name) and what products or posts maybe coming down the pipe line for you!

This week I am currently working on making my Secret Agent activity a TPT product. Many people have emailed me asking if and when it is going to be up, so know I am working on it!

This tricky thing about making it a TPT product is when I did this activity it was specific to my school, so I have to think of a way to make it more generic so other teachers can use it! I created this activity on my car ride home from RCA and I cannot wait to share it so other students have the opportunity to be secret agents!

Be on the lookout for this in my TPT store very soon! :)

Happy Wednesday!

Workin' on Wednesdays (New Blog Series)

Happy Hump Day everyone! I hope you are enjoying the warm weather and being able to relax! If you are anything like me, you are still working, whether it be on blog posts, TPT products, or any of the other teacherpreneur things that need to be done. 

I want to introduce a new series I am going to have on my blog. It is going to be weekly or bi-weekly (haven't decided yet), and it is going to give you a sneak peek into what I am currently working on! It might be TPT products or upcoming blog posts. I am keeping it pretty open-ended! My long term goal for this series is to make it a linky party where other teacherpreneurs can join and share what they are currently trying to tackle! 

What I am currently trying to tackle is the largest product I have made to date for my TeachersPayTeachers store. 

I am finishing up the final steps of revising my 5th Grade Quick Checks for Math! I have reached out on Instagram and asked teachers what they would want to see, and I have incorporated those needs with my own! This beast has 74 different quick checks.

My math standards have been my guide when creating this product! I cannot wait to use them to quickly assess my students on standard based topics.

(Grey's Anatomy has been the background noise during the creation of this product!)

Above is an example of what the Quick Checks will look like. They vary in points, based off of what is being asked to solve for! They will be quick and easy to grade!

This is a list of all of the topics/skills that will be covered in the Quick Checks! 

I think I will benefit from this series because if I have it where people can see my end date, I will feel more pressure to get it done! You all are going to hold me accountable because procrastination is one of my best friends. I am hoping to have this product done and posted by next week! 

I hope you all will enjoy this series, I am very excited to get it up and started. If you would be interested in linking up your blog in the future, comment below or email me at crazinessinfifth@gmail.com!

Happy Wednesday! :)

DIY Library Letters

So, I don't know about you, but I am not the craftiest person that has ever walked this planet. I try very hard, but most of the time I DIY, I fail. Except for today, I would call it a success. So trust me when I say this project was easy, it was EASY PEASY! 

I've been wanting to spice up my classroom library, so I thought, why not some cute letters. I did not want to spend a ton of money, so I thought I would paint my own. My body is still on Ireland time, so I patiently waited since 6:30AM for Target to open to go get the letters I needed.

The materials for this project were minimal and cheap. I bought the letters at Target, and the paint and brushes were colors I already had, all previously bought from Michael's (Craft Smart brand).

Paint Colors

Lighter blue: Pool Blue

Darker blue: Turquoise

Lighter green: Ocean Breeze

Darker green: Spearmint

My original plan was to wrap the letters in really cute sparkly washi tape, there could be no failing with that, it would be fool proof. As I was almost finished with the third letter, I noticed that none of the tape was sticking. WHOMP.

Change of plans, I was going to dust off my paint brushes and give painting the letters a try. I wanted them to be somewhat fancy, so I was going to give stripes a try. 

Step #1: I painted the lighter color all over the letters, multiple coats until I couldn't see the wood anymore. This kind of painting I am a fan of because you cannot mess it up, simply paint all over. I let those dry completely. 

Step #2: After the first coat was dry, I put down painters tape in diagonal stripes. I did not measure the spaces, I completely eye-balled them. I then painted the darker color over the open area. I once again did multiple coats to insure there would be a distinct difference in the colors. I let them sit and dry completely.

Step #3: I checked to make sure the paint was completely dry, then I pulled the painters tape off carefully. Then wa-la! My DIY letters were complete!

Believe me when I say, if I can do this, you can too! I hope this helps if you are looking to add a little DIY to your classroom this summer!

Happy painting! :)

New Erin Condren Teacher Planner

I received the most beautiful package in the mail on Tuesday, and if you've ordered from Erin Condren before you can spot her beautiful packaging from a mile away! My new Teacher Planner finally arrived. I was tracking it on my phone, and it must not have connected to the UPS online system because it said it hadn't even been to get it tracking label on, so long story short, it was actually a surprise to me when it was sitting on my door step! 

I have a confession to make. I have not always used the EC Teacher Planner. My first year of teaching, let's be honest, before I knew what I was doing, I had one. I stopped using it half way through the year and switched to one I made my own based off of a sweet blogger's template. That template is what I used all last year, and here I am. I am back to giving the EC Planner a try. I am a little more savvy in making things, so I can't wait to take my old template and make it fit this new planner. I am going to have to come back and compare the two after this year!

My plan for this post is to give you the highlights on the '16-'17 EC Teacher Planner. I am not going to go into all of the details, just what I think are the main parts of it and how I plan to use it.

Enough about me, let's get back to this beauty. I LOVE almost all of the cover options that are available this year! I went with this on right after spotting it. The cover is durable, and will definitely hold up through all of the meetings and throwing into my bag it will see this year. Also, I am obsessed with the fonts this year, as many of us font lovers are!

With the Teacher Planner, I thought I was going to have to purchase some extra accessories, but come to find out I got all of the products above for free with my order! I am SUPER PUMPED about the Date Dots, it saved so much more time than writing in the date for every month, and the colors are really cute!

This planner has a month layout for every month, and it is such a nice way to look at each month at a glance for a quick reference. The Date Dots also pop right from the pages!

After all of the months at a glance, you get to the meat of the planner, the lessons section. This is the part and I still deciding how I am going to use it. I have some labels I am going to put at the top for my subjects and times, but our schedule isn't finalized, so I haven't printed them out year. I don't like my handwriting, so whatever I put in the lined part will by typed, in a cute font, of course. This section of the planner is up in the air right now! Sounds silly considering it is the most important part, but I'll figure it out! 

This is the last section of the planner is the checklist section. I am planning on using this for my grades this year, once again, a new system for me, but I'm going to give it a go! I think I am going to like having everything all in one place!

I am excited to give the EC Teacher Planner another chance! If you have never bought any of the Erin Condren products, I highly recommend you do, her Life Planner is also amazing! Use the link below to go explore the options Erin Condren has!

Erin Condren.

Hopefully you're enjoying your summer break, but if you're like me you're always working and thinking about the next year, happy planning! :)

Summer To-Do List Freebie

I don't know about you, but I am enjoying not getting up at 5AM and having my coffee while watching The Today Show, not at a meeting. I hope you are having a wonderful start to your summer! 

I am in full to-do list mode of all of the things I want to get done this summer before the next school year. Let's be really honest here, the summer will get away from me and I won't finish everything I want to, but I am going to TRY, key word try, to accomplish my to-dos. I have post-its in every planner and on my bed side table, but I will never get what I want done if it not staring my right in the face! 

I am going to organize all my post-it notes with the help of a pretty to-do list, who doesn't love a pretty to-do list? I am going to prioritize my to-dos, following the wise words of Ashley Schroeder to attempt to use time in the best way possible!

Grab the FREEBIE in my TPT store to begin your list making! 

(click the picture below)

I wanted to share a FREEBIE with you to start the summer off right and organized! :) I am off to a 2 week trip to Europe, so I'll be back once I get home! :)

Happy To-Do List Making!