Neon Love!

I, being a 80's child, have a love for all things neon! So when I saw these sneakers I knew I just had to have them! Anything that pairs black with neon is perfect for me!

I mean, how could I resist! The bottoms are adorable and the laces, well I am 100% certain I had the same pair of laces when I was a kid!

So after staring at them longingly day after day, unable to wear them to work due to our dress code and not willing to risk wearing them in the icky winter weather, I decided to try this look out on my nails!

Michaels had this amazing glitter that was just what I was looking for!

Here we have black and neon attempt #1. Bear in mind that I had never used loose glitter on my nails before!

I liked these but I was not completely smitten. I think the glitter is too transparent to use on black polish. I am going to try it out on white soon - I think that will pop more!

I wanted the black to be solid but instead I ended up with little bits of glitter all over it. I think next time I will seal the glitter half off with clear coat first. Then I will coat the whole nail. Dragging the clear polish down the nail made a gradient glitter look that I wasn't really going for!
Since I was not totally satisfied with that experiment I decided to try again. This one was way worse! Perhaps I should refrain from doing my nails at 9 pm on a Sunday night in the future! The neon polish looked good...but the black glitter, not so much!

I think my error was in shaking the glitter over my nail rather than just pinching a bit over it. They reminded me so much of something that I could not place. Then I realized. My nails looked like Wooly Willy! They were way too heavy and textured! This manicure lasted one day - mainly because we had a snow day last Tuesday and I was able to scrape it off and change it up a bit!

So whilst I love my sneakers I definitely have not achieved a neon/black nail look that I adore yet. However I will conquer it, I promise! (Or perhaps I should say I hope!?!)

What's on your nails this week?

The Wrap Up = Perfect Bun!! Giveaway Winner!

I am a huge fan of buns, but my hair is starting to get really long. It has become a bit more annoying trying to create a nicely shaped bun. I tried the sock bun, I really did, but it is not my friend. The sock shows through and it always tangles and rips my hair in a horrible way when I attempt to take it out.

Lo and behold I came across a tweet the other day that mentioned a hair stylist who created a tool that makes quick easy buns. I clicked onto the website and I was definitely intrigued! Sarah Potempa is now my new favorite person. She has invented the best bun creator EVER! It is called The Wrap Up and it seriously rocks! The video made it look so easy that I just had to have it! (It comes in yellow and black too!)

It arrived today and I am totally smitten!

The first picture shows how it looks closed, the middle is how it opens for you to slide your hair in. The last picture shows how it folds over to close up! 

You just put your hair in a ponytail, slide The Wrap Up over it, then slide it down to the bottom of your hair. Next you roll it all the way back up to where your ponytail is. The last step is to close it into a circle and spread your hair around to hide the tool! 

Voila - the perfect bun in no time at all! This is definitely going to be my favorite summer style! It is very lightweight, soft and foamy and does not destroy your hair which is one of the best parts! 

(Side note: This post is all from my true adoration of this product. I was not asked to blog about it but I just had to tell you lovely ladies about it once I tried it! I already got my sister hooked on it too!!)

Last but not least, congratulations Rachel! You are the winner of the Springtime Syllable Bingo Set! I will be emailing you tonight! Thanks to everyone who entered!

Have a great night!

Springtime Syllable Bingo

My first graders loved playing the St. Patrick's Day Syllable Bingo games so I wanted to make a Spring version that would last a bit longer and offer some longer words. Several of my first graders are still struggling identifying the syllables in words and I think reviewing with this set will help a lot!

 There are 60 word cards ranging from 1 syllable - 4 syllables:

There are six 3 x 3 boards:

 And six 5 x 5 boards:

It also includes game pieces for the 3 x 3 boards:

And the 5 x 5 boards:
The two different sized boards are helpful for differentiating for abilities, or even for the time you have allotted for the activity. I start off by using the  3 x 3 boards when my students are beginning to practice counting or clapping out the syllables. Once they are a bit more comfortable we switch to the 5 x 5 boards. Sometimes if I need a quick closing activity I will switch back to the smaller boards too!

This set is available in my TpT shop!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Spring Silent E Games with Blends & Digraphs

Spring is almost here!! (I am choosing to ignore the fact that we will be getting ANOTHER snowstorm early next week.) Instead I shall focus on Springy thoughts! My focus with my first graders has been on blends and digraphs in short vowel words for the past few weeks. Now it is time to move onto the dreaded Silent E words!! I decided to put my intense desire for all things Springly to good use when making this game!

It has five game boards:
Long A, Long I, Long O, a board with both Long E and U words and a mixed vowel board for reviewing. Each board also has beginning blends and digraphs.

I included Score Sheets, and a sample score sheet, in this set too. If you use these activities in literacy centers or stations it makes a great assessment sheet. Each student records the word they land on and then uses the word in a sentence. They earn 1 point for each word they use correctly!

This set also includes gray scale versions of all the items in case you would like to send copies home with your class for practice!

This set is available in my TpT shop!

St. Patrick's Day Short Vowel Games with Blends & Digraphs

The very minute we arrived back from winter break my first graders began talking about St. Patrick's Day! That has led to us doing a countdown towards it each day this week - needless to say they are beyond excited about it!!

Since we have been working on blends and digraphs in Intervention lately I decided to combine that skill with St. Patrick's Day!

This set includes 6 game boards: Short a, e, i, o, u and a mixed vowel board that is great for reviewing all the short vowel sounds.

During Intervention my students and I play these games together. We each read the word  we land on and then use it in a sentence. I included Score Sheets for small groups who are playing the game with their classmates, either in centers, stations or reading groups. The Score Sheet has a column where they record the word they landed on and a place for a sentence that uses the word.

This works well as an assessment tool when students are playing the game independently. I collect the sheets and give each correct sentence 1 point. It allows me to see whether or not they understand what each word means.

This set includes gray scale versions of all the game boards, Rules of Play and Score Sheets as well.  It is available in my TpT shop.

Have a great weekend!