October Problem Solving

Aloha friends!  I cannot believe October is already upon us!!  This week I am on Fall Break.  The first quarter just flew by and now I am prepping for my favorite months ahead.

October is such a fun month with Fall activities and Halloween right around the corner. Each month I prep my Monthly Word Problems.


I created these a few years back to really push my kids critical thinking and to get them to think on a deeper level.  This is no easy task for second graders.

Each day we do one problem.  At the beginning of the year I projected them on the board and we did each step together.



I have these posters and the kids can refer to them as they need them.



It has taken the whole quarter to get my kids to do these independently.  I am so happy with their progress!!


I tell them how proud I am of them each day and I know they push themselves to try their best!

Have you tried these with your second graders?  Here is a freebie to see how well they will work for your classroom.


Let me know what you think.  Hopefully your students will become problem solving masters as well!



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Birthday Treat

Aloha friends! I hope you are happy and well on this lovely Saturday morning.

I am up early today and getting ready for some fun adventures this weekend.  Yesterday was my birthday!  I didn't celebrate much, except with my class and we did my usual How Old Is My Teacher Today?



I have to say I love this class.  A majority of them thought I was in my 20's or 30's!  See why I love teaching second grade!  It not only keeps me acting young, but feeling it as well.

I actually did have one little gal guess how old I was...


Yup, this gal is 49 years old now, or should I say 49 years young!
I actually love birthdays.  I never feel like I'm getting old, just wiser!

So to celebrate with you I am having a sale this weekend.  All items in my TpT shop are 15% off this weekend.  I know some of you are still getting ready to start a new school year, so this may help out a bit.

I am off to go hike, and then I have a bunch of girlfriends coming over this evening to celebrate with me.  I am making a Tropical Sangria that looks to be a bit potent!! Check it out on Pinterest!




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Pineapple Daze

Aloha friends!  These warm days of summer have me lounging, snoozing reading and creating.  Just a quick post today to share these fun little posters I created for my classroom.



There seems to be a pineapple obsession at the moment so I turned it into something fun!  I love the bright colors and can't wait to get them printed out and put up in my classroom.  If you have a love of pineapples too, these might be just what you need.  You can check them out in my TpT shop.

I hope you are enjoying your summer as much as I am. I have 1 more week to stay up reading until midnight, lounging at the beach and being all around lazy.  August 1st is when the craziness of Back To School begins!



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Pineapple Planning

Aloha my sweet friends! I hope you summer is progressing well and that you are relaxed and enjoying some much needed down time!


I have been out of school for 3 weeks now and I have been mixing it up a bit.  Last week I had a three day class that I really enjoyed and then spent some time going to the movies, getting my toes done and hanging out with sweet friends.  I even got in a bit of surfing!


Did you know that June 17th is International Surf Day!?  Well I had to get out there and partake in the festivities. 

Along with all of these other activities I have been doing some work.  I promised that I would get the Pineapple Planner done and I finally finished!
Fun Pineapple themed lesson planner that is editable in Powerpoint. Create exactly what you need for an organized school year.

It took me so long to make this planner because I had so many ideas.
I ended up including 24 different cover choices!




With all of these choices you can create exactly what you want.  Just change the text on any of these examples.  I also included ink friendly organizational and planner pages.




Unless I develop another idea I like better I am pretty sure this is going to be my planner this year.  Now I have to decide which cover I want!

If you are a pineapple lover this is for you!  It's available in my TpT shop.

This is a fun and affordable Pineapple themed lesson planner that is editable in Powerpoint. Create exactly what you need for an organized school year.


Mahalo for stopping by.  I hope you are enjoying your summer as much as I am!



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Flamingo Love Lesson Planner

Aloha friends!  Are you on summer break yet?

I've been on break now for a few weeks and I am catching up on some much needed sleep and relaxation!

I have also been able to catch up on some much needed work for TpT.  I am a little shocked at how many teachers contacted me to see if I had updated my teacher planners for next year!

Lol, I have to admit I have been a slacker with the end of the year activities and I really just wanted to veg in front of the TV!!

But all joking aside I have updated ALL of my planners and they are ready to roll for the 2017-18 school year.

Not only did I update them all, I was inspired to create a brand new planner!


I call it Flamingo Love!

The hardest part about designing planners is choosing the right graphics and deciding which covers you like best.  There were so many options I just included them all!  
Most backgrounds include either the double or single flamingos.


You can add your name, date, school name or  whatever you would like.



I also included a variety of planning pages to choose from.
I really love the colors of the grade book and the calendar is just fun and pretty!

You can grab this planner in my TpT shop or just put it on your wish list for Back To School time.

I was so inspired that I have a Pineapple and an Aloha themed planner in the works!  

If you have purchased a planner from me previously then you can download the update for free.
Just a heads up, I plan on raising the price of all of my planners in July.

Hopefully you are relaxing and enjoying your break or getting ready to!  Mahalo for stopping by and I look forward to sharing more fun this summer!


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Light Frame Giveaway

Aloha Friends!! I hope the end of the year activities have your students engaged and happy. Or not!



Well your students might not be fully engaged, but the end of the year chaos is a promise of the quiet summer months ahead. My students are in full chaos mode right now! They are writing animal reports and have tons of school wide activities and celebrations that are keeping their enthusiasm high.

I recently received a cool new toy for my classroom from Green Light Innovations.  This fun Light Frame can be used in so many ways in your classroom or around the school.


You can use the neon markers that come with it to create your own design and the lighting options are really fun too.






I posted this in the classroom on Friday and the kids were mesmerized by it, lol.  It definitely got their attention and they read every word that was on the board.  It is super easy to clean too.  I created a board for my kids who met their math facts goal.  I'm sure they will love it when they see it tomorrow.



Green Light Innovations is giving away 20 of these Light Frames to teachers!  Just check out their link to enter and submit a picture of your classroom.  It's that easy!

Click Here---> Light Frame Giveaway

You could end up starting the new year with a great way to grab your student's attention.

Good Luck!!


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Teacher Appreciation Sale

Aloha out there all you hardworking teachers!!!

It's that time of year again.  Winding down another year of hard work and dedication to our profession.  We do so much for our students and I hope that you are receiving some well deserved perks.

I appreciate everyone of you who stops by my blog and leaves me a little love from time to time.  Without other teachers to share and collaborate with, I wouldn't be half the teacher I am today.

Teachers Pay Teachers is also showing a little love by throwing their site wide sale!!

Stop by my store to receive up to 28% off all of my items.  It's the perfect time to grab some Hawaiian themed products for summer or a new planner for next year.  Don't forget to use code THANKYOU17 to receive the full discount!!!

Mahalo again for stopping by and Happy Teacher Appreciation!!

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Earth Day

Happy Aloha Friday!!

It's been a long, busy, fun week in my classroom.  We have done tons of writing, reading and art this week.

We started off the week discussing Earth Day.  We watched some great videos and read a few books.
Check out this POST to see what they were.

We discussed lots of ideas on how we can help the Earth every day.


This was a great info graphic that I used to start a discussion. (Courtesy of  BMW Manhattan)

I then had my students write 5 things they could do each day to help the Earth.  We have been working on informational paragraphs, so this fit right in.

We then put it all together and created these cute little guys.



This particular class is very artsy and loved making them!

If you would like this template you can download it HERE.

I think this is such an important topic to discuss at any time of year.  Especially here on our little island.

I hope your week was fun and eventful as well, and that you have a fantastic Earth Day weekend!!




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Woven Easter Baskets

Aloha friends!! I hope you are having an awesome week getting ready for Spring and Easter!

This week we only have 4 days of school.  Friday is a holiday here  (Good Friday) so we are finishing up our Easter goodies this week.



I posted a picture of our Easter Baskets we were making on Instagram and I had a lot of requests on how to make them.


It's pretty easy, it just takes time and patience!

The materials you will need are:

-Yarn-About 4 skeins for a class of 20
-Easter Basket Template
-Tagboard or Stiff Paper

Here is a quick video to show you how to make them, along with a picture tutorial.

Click on Template to Download in Google Docs



Weave Over and Under
Leave about 1/2 an inch at the top

Glue on a ribbon border and handle

Fill with Easter Goodies!

My class loved making these and are going to be so happy to see them filled with goodies when they come in tomorrow!!

Have fun making these and let me know how they come out!!



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