Interactive Board books

April Fools!

I bet you thought I wrote a post for today on my blog!  Well, I tricked you!  I wrote one, but you need to hop over to Mrs. H's Resource Room to read it.  I am guest blogging over there today.  I promise it is a post that you don't want to miss!  It is all about making interactive books and there is a link to a limited time freebie!

Smart Apps for Special Needs

A few weeks ago I was a guest blogger for Smart Apps for Special Needs. I love this blog!! I get daily updates on great apps which are mostly free!! This is a great way for me to build my library of apps without going broke. Also if I am looking for something on a particular subject I can usually find it on Smart Apps. Check out my guest blog post here!!! Enjoy!!

Guest Post from Grade School Giggles: Hands on Academics with Play-dough

Play-dough can take any number of academic lessons from ordinary to extraordinary and it only takes a few minutes to make inexpensive dough. Just combine 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup water, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1/3 cup of salt, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, and food coloring in a pot over low heat. Stir for a few minutes until it makes a clump around your spoon. Store it in a sealed container when you're not using it.

Once you've made your dough you are ready to start using it in your lessons. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Spelling- Make letter mats and let the students build them. You could even do the same with cursive letters for older students. It would be a good early finisher activity. Older students can also roll the dough out and use stamps or toothpicks to spell their words or write examples of compound words or contractions.

Math- Make number mats and let the students build them. Have them use the play-dough to model basic addition or subtraction problems. Students can use play-dough to act out word problems. When studying measurement, play-dough can be used to create ropes in different lengths. It's also great for building 2 and 3D shapes.

Science- Younger students can explore color mixing. Older students can use play-dough to build a model of the Earth, make land forms, or build models of animals, plants, or cells.

Social Studies- Play-dough can be used to model using an assembly line and making goods as part of an economics unit. It could also be used to outline continents, states, countries, or rivers on a map. Older students could even use it to create a topographical map.

Have you used play-dough in your room before? How do you use it? Do you have any new ideas?

Please stop by Grade School Giggles and check out more of my classroom ideas. Thanks!

Guest Post from The Autism Classroom Project: Donor's Choose

If you have not heard of DonorsChoose, or you are one of the teachers who has checked it out, but has been too intimidated by the proposal writing process, then this post is for you!!!  

In March of this year, I wrote my very first DonorsChoose proposal for a color printer so I could create colorful visual supports in my classroom.  Within 2 hours of my project going live, it had been fully funded.  Within 3 weeks, I received my printer.  Well, that started a whirlwind of ideas for other projects.  I immediately started writing new proposals and since March, I have written 6 more.  Of the 7 proposals I have written these past few months, 5 have been fully funded and the other two have been partially funded! Some of the other items I have gotten from DonorsChoose include over $300 in therapeutic art supplies, math and language arts centers, an X-Box with Kinect, and supplies to support a student led recycling center.   I have done the math, and to date I have had over $1500.00 worth of materials and supplies donated to my classroom!  So, needless to say, I have experienced great success with DonorsChoose and would love to see more teachers utilize this spectacular resource.  

Here’s how to start and if you need a little more in depth help go here http://www.donorschoose.org/docs/DonorsChoose.org_Submit_a_Project_Tutorial.pdf

1.   Go to DonorsChoose.org and create a teacher’s account and upload a classroom profile picture.
2.   Use your start up points to submit a project that is under $400.  These have the best chances of being fully funded.
3.    Think of a creative and catchy title that will grab the reader’s attention.
4.     Go shopping!! DonorsChoose has partnered with School Specialty, Lakeshore, Nasco and several others of our favorite teacher catalogues.  Keep the items student centered!!!
5.    Summarize your request.  Explain why your students need the items your requesting.
6.   Tell your story.  This is the part where you describe your students and how these items will help your class.  Remember to write well and from the heart! 
7.   Lastly, you are going to provide some simple project details and then quantify the impact. 
8.   Be sure to look for Partner Funding opportunities!  These are companies or other charitable foundations that want to help!  4 of my projects have been helped through Partner Funding!!

From start to finish, creating a project usually takes me 20-30 minutes.  I LOVE DonorsChoose and I know that you will too!!!  Good Luck and let me know how you do!  If you have any questions, please let me know!!

You can follow me at The Autism Classroom Project on Blogger and Facebook!

Leann Sorrell

http://www.donorschoose.org/leannsorrell

Guest Post from Autism Tank: Work Tasks

  I am super excited to be doing my first guest blog post for Learning Ahoy!  When I sat down to think about what topic I should cover, I instantly thought about work tasks.  Both Caitlin and I seem to have a slight obsession with coming up with fun, new tasks to keep our kiddos busy.   When I was cleaning up my classroom in the last weeks of school, I found some tasks that I had totally forgotten about!

The two tasks I will share today both have to do with counting.  This first one was super easy to make...I just used notecards, stickers, and some beads I had laying around.


I just put a different amount of stickers on each notecard.  Then I wrote multiple choice answers on the bottom of each card before laminating them.  After they were laminated, I added 3 velcro spots.  The kids have to count the stickers, then velcro the bead to the correct number.

This book does involve counting, however, it is more of a matching task.  Each page in this features different aquarium animals that we learned about before a field trip to the aquarium.  I have created a few different versions of this book on different units we have done.  It is a good way to reinforce vocabulary words in an independent task.  

For this task, the kids have to match the words, pictures, and numbers on each page.  As you can see, this task is stored in 3-ring binder and I used top-loading sheets (to help save on laminating).

Thanks to Caitlin for allowing me to post as a guest blogger!  To see more from me, come check out my blog at www.autismtank.blogspot.com!

~Hailey from Autism Tank

Frugal Friday: Reward/Cash Back Programs (Guest Post)

Since I have not done Frugal Friday in awhile I thought I would kick start it again with a guest blog post from my friend, Beth.  Beth has her own blog about frugal living, couponing, being a mom, and running.  She also has worked in the school setting as a Guidance Counselor so she knows how often teachers try to save money so that they are able to purchase more for their classrooms.   You can check out her blog at Frugal Running Mama. Enjoy!  ~Caitlin


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I LOVE to save money. And I love to earn money back on things I purchase. I've been a member of several different reward/cash back programs for awhile and I've found some I like and really trust.


  Shopkick: This is a fun app on my smart phone and I love it! You earn points for walking into certain stores, scanning specific items, and looking through what they call “look books”. You can redeem your points for gift cards to several different stores. You can also earn kicks if you register your debit card with the app. I don't usually do this, but my sister did it and loves the extra points she gets. Sometimes you get notifications of bonuses available for spending certain amounts, or with extra kicks for certain stores. It’s pretty easy to get kicks, especially if you go to the stores that get you kicks on a regular basis. I will normally have to wait a few days to get kicks for Target because I go there so  often. I can still earn for scans, but just not kicks for a few days. I think they limit the amount of kicks you can earn each week in each store. If you are having trouble getting an item to scan, or if it keeps saying the barcode doesn't match, take a photo of the item and the barcode and email it to customer service later. Normally they will credit you the kicks you missed out on and then they can update the item in the program so that it will scan better for other people. They are very nice and responsive when you are having trouble, so just shoot them an email with questions or concerns.

  Viggle: This is an app on my smartphone that I use when watching anything on television. It works on shows that you are watching on the live or on the DVR, but not Netflix or movies. If you are watching a prime time show at the time it is airing, you can sometimes do trivia and earn more points. The awards shows that are on a few times a year have a  lot of points for trivia! You open the app and “check in” by letting your phone listen to the television. Make sure there are no other noises- especially talking or crunching on snacks. Since I watch TV anyways, I might as well earn points doing it. You can also complete offers to earn more points, so I look through these every few weeks to see if there is anything I am interested in. They offer a wide variety of rewards, some things "sell out" but usually come back the next month. So if you don't see something you want, just wait a week or two and check again.

  SwagBucks: This is a rewards site where you earn points for all kinds of things! You can take surveys, search the internet, watch videos, play games…there are so many things  you can do! I use it as my everyday search engine for EVERYTHING. When I want to go to my email, I type the address in SwagBucks. There is an app where you can watch videos for points. It takes a few videos to get points, so it's something I do if I am bored, or I let my daughter watch the kid videos and earn points. You can earn all different gift cards with your points, I usually go for the $5 to Amazon or $5 to Starbucks.

  Ibotta: With this app, you buy certain products, and you earn cash back on them. You scan your receipt for the approved stores and when you get to $5, you can request payout via PayPal. Just recently they emailed me saying one of my store cards can be registered so I automatically earn cash back on qualifying purchases without having to upload a receipt. I check this app about once a week to see what I can earn. In order to earn the money, you have to do a few things for each item. Usually it's watch a video, share on Facebook or learn a fact. It only takes a few minutes to go through and decide which items you want and do the required actions.

  Receipt Hog: This is the newest one I was told about by a friend. After you shop, you take a picture of your receipt to be uploaded and you can earn money back. I just uploaded my first receipt and am waiting for it to process. I am hoping this one is a really good once since most of the items I buy are natural and there are no coupons or cash back options for many natural items. Right now, this is only available for iPhone but you can enter your email on the website to be alerted when it is available for other mobile devices. 

  Nexercise: You can earn points with this app for doing exercise. I am really bad at remembering to open this when I start a run, but my friend does it and I just set it to send me alerts when she starts, to remind me to use this one! You can earn gift cards and special coupons with this app.


Jingit: This app started out as an online earner, but now that I have a smart phone I have connected my account. When you earn money on this app, you can spend it at musicme.com or you can register to have them send you a Jingit Debit Card that you can use for purchases. You can earn money for watching videos, you can purchase items and get cash back on the app, scan items at stores. If you choose to have the debit card sent to you, they charge you $3.00 from what you earned for the card. This is a one time charge. There is also a fee if the card is inactive for 90 days. $2.00 will be deducted from your balance for inactivity. So, if you are going to use this app a lot, get the card and  use it often. It does require you to enter your SS# to get the card. This is offered through USBank, so it's up to you if you want to try this one or not. I currently have about $5 in my app and am waiting until I get more to apply for the card. I am also considering using it for music since I am always looking for new running music. You can download it through iTunes. I'm sure there are other apps out there that I will find soon, but for now, these are the ones that I am using to earn money/gift cards. What is your favorite way to earn?

Check out more of my writing at Frugal Running Mama! I write about living frugally, running and being a mom. 

 

Frugal Friday: The Websites that Lead to Savings (of Both Time & Money)

Today's Frugal Friday Post is by Steven Daar. Steven runs the Teachers Retirement Help blog where he writes about a variety of topics that can help teachers: save more, get out of debt, protect their retirement, automate their finances, etc in addition to posting interesting or entertaining content to break up the finance monotony.

I’m excited to be a part of Frugal Friday. I want to introduce you to two websites (well, I’m sure you’ve heard of one of them before) that can save you a lot of time & money.

The first one is a little known website called Amazon.com. I’d guess you’ve bought something (or many things!) from Amazon before but you may not have used the site to buy things like clothing or grocery items. What makes Amazon a great resource for clothing and groceries is that they don’t directly sell these items from an inventory. Instead, they are aggregators.

That means many sources selling the same item put their goods up for sale on Amazon and (assuming all of the sources have the exactly same quality good) all the price comparison is done for you.

When it comes to grocery items, Amazon works best for things like: toilet paper, soap, toiletries, cereal bars, vitamins, and a host of other things that generally are non-perishable or have a long shelf life.





My suggestion would be to keep your receipt after your next trip to the grocery store and then head to
Amazon and price compare your grocery store’s prices to what you can get at Amazon.

It isn’t uncommon to save $50 by completing a large portion of your grocery/toiletry shopping on
Amazon as opposed to at the store. The bonus is that these items are going to be delivered to your door for less money.

The second is not necessarily a website, but if you Google: [your city or town] Community Supported
Agriculture (referred to as a CSA), you will see if there is a CSA option in your local area.

Here’s the deal with a CSA:

If you buy produce (I’m looking at you…yes you), then you either buy packaged/processed produce or you buy fresh produce. Fresh produce (especially fresh organic produce) can be pricey and will spoil relatively quickly, requiring frequent trips to the store.

If you sign up for a CSA box, you eliminate these problems. You can get a box of just-picked, local, and organic produce delivered to your home AND it is likely to be less expensive than what you’d pay at a grocery store or a farmer’s market.

How is it possible for a superior product to be delivered to you for less money? Compared to grocery
stores, there is no store overhead with CSA boxes. Compared to a farmer’s market, the farmer knows he has a guaranteed customer in you. Therefore, any preliminary price hikes to hedge against a slow day at the farmer’s market isn’t necessary.

CSA boxes may be more expensive than processed produce or produce heavily treated with chemicals, but it is unlikely you will find a better (or more convenient) deal on organic produce

The only step left now is to enjoy all the extra time and money you now have!

You can get Steve’s Enriched Teacher Guide here for free. That guide has 5 great money saving tips just for teachers that will help you save large amounts of money with little amounts of effort.