Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

We've got a winner, folks! Congrats, Chelsea, you win all three of my new clipart packs! Please send me an email at embrown51008@gmail.com so that I can send you your prizes.

Thanks so much for everyone that entered! I am so excited to have my first giveaway. Now that I know how to do it - and that people will enter - I will definitely have more. Too much fun!!

Thanks again!!

Monday Made It {Late, As Usual} and Last Call!

So I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics - a day late. Having a kid + summertime + lazy me = late post. Sorry!

I'm super duper excited to be linking up this week because I am venturing out into the world of clipart and I cannot get enough of it! I'm obsessed. And I'm so happy to share my creations with the teaching world. My clipart is simple, no frills, and can be used commercially without the requirement of providing credit. I'm happy enough to have my clipart used! 

Before I went back to school to pursue teaching, I was a graphic designer {BrownCow Creatives was/is my brand that I "did" freelance under...if I ever did freelance. Ha!} . But I never had the confidence to draw clipart. This summer, however,I'm staying home with my newborn trying to find ways to occupy my time and I started doodling. Turns out I love it! I'm not so great at drawing people figures, but I'm sure with practice, I'll get there.

So far, I've created some Chevron backgrounds:

A Weather Pack:

A Back to School Pack:

And my favorite, a Halloween Bundle:

For the Halloween Bundle, I started playing around with different frames. I didn't think I could make frames, either! But I did it. Too much fun. I'm losing sleep {double time, since I also have a baby}, but I can't stop. I have a Christmas pack in the works, which I started last night. I turned on a little Christmas music to set the mood. Ha! Christmas music in July. What a nut I am! I'm also going to have a sweet shop pack, a space pack, and a few more choice holidays before the year is up. 

I'm giving away my first three creations, so make sure you enter! Last call, because it ends tomorrow!

I'm also getting ready for going back to school and I'm becoming more and more obsessed with getting organized. So, I made some binder covers and spines for my plethora of binders.  I'm getting very anxious for the school year to start!

So that's what I'm working on. Looks like lots of teachers out there are gearing up for the school year, too. Link up with Tara and show us whatcha got!

New Adventure - and a Little Giveaway!

I finally did it! I'm using my former life as a graphic designer and combining it with my love of teaching and creating fun lesson plan packs and activities. I've created some clipart and background packs and I'm so excited about them! I have so much fun creating stuff like this and I especially love putting it together in cute little displays. It has been so long since I drew anything digitally, so it takes me a while to get things going. So far, I've created a chevron background pack {I started with something easy peasy and basic to make sure I didn't completely get in over my head}, a back to school background and clipart pack, and a weather pack. I'm very happy with how they've turned out! I've used my "Brown Cow Creatives" branding because that's my graphic design brand that I designed many moons ago...and so I thought I may as well bring that back. I put them all on my TpT store. See them there by clicking here!

I have never held a giveaway on this ole' blog of mine and mostly because I don't know if I have enough people that follow this little blog that would be interested, but now is as good of a time as any to host one. I want to giveaway all three of these new packs to one of my sweet followers. The only thing that I would ask in return is some feedback on them. Though I have plenty of experience as a graphic designer at designing and creating various types of clipart, I've never sold any for teacher use. So I'm basically creating what I think I would want to use on my lesson and product packs for TpT. It'd be nice to hear from other teachers on what they would also like to see on clipart packages. So - here we go! The winner will receive all 3 packs, which includes 28 graphics and 24 backgrounds total.

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment letting me know you're interested. You can earn 2 more entries by pinning the above image to Pinterest.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much for entering and good luck!

Classroom Cuteness

Along with getting a new classroom, I wanted to revamp my classroom decor. I didn't really have a theme last year and this year, I wanted to add a little cuteness to my classroom. I'm very excited to use my new decorations! I'm still sticking to the basics since I teach solely science, but I'm using lots of bright colors - especially green since I associate the color green with science. For whatever reason.

I put my decor pack on TpT, though I'm not sure how many other teachers teach only science. Here's a peek:

I love it and I can't wait to get it all up in my room, along with a few other things I'm thinking about. I am venturing to the good ole' neighborhood Old Time Pottery to get a few summertime lanterns, since they'll be going on summer clearance soon. I have several succulents that will look really cute in those lanterns. I'm also thinking about making a few poms for the ceiling and I've also purchased a hanging mobile. I saw on Pinterest where lots of teachers are gettin frames from Dollar Tree and spray painting them. Genius. And duh. Why couldn't I think of that myself?! Anyway, I'm getting some of those and will be putting classroom odds and ends in them. Hopefully, that'll spruce the place up a little.

I can't get in my room until the first of August because my school is getting a new roof, but as soon as I can get in, I'll be working hard getting it cute and then I'll share some pics.

Getting closer! Are you ready? 

Science Fridays

Hello out there! I'm still here, taking care of my little one - and starting to do a little more thinking about heading back to school! Only 6 more weeks until we go back. Yikes!

I'm major struggling with not really reaching - and exceeding - my goal from last year of trying to incorporate more technology into the classroom. I want to rollover this goal into next year, because I think it's really important, especially in science. I've been doing some Twittering (not really tweeting, just looking at different science-related tweets and tweeters. Tweeters? Huh.) I've decided to do something called Science Friday, or SciFri for short. {Turns out, there's a radio show called ScienceFriday, which I found through my Twitter "research". Guess it's not that original, but I like it.}

I wanted to do something different, something fun on Fridays, to give the kids something to look forward to every week. In my classroom, I share math responsibilities with my fellow math teacher friend and the kids take their DOM Quizzes in my room every Friday. This eats up about 30 minutes of my class time, which is no big deal, but just makes it a little difficult to start any new material. I just got back from a two-week vacay visiting friends and fam in Louisville and on my way home, I thought about how I could make this SciFri fun and engaging, yet still relevant to the curriculum AND while tying in technology somehow. Each SciFri might look different, but will basically have the same structure. We will start with a quick writing prompt or discussion, followed by a class activity, and then end with a recap. Here's what I've come up with for the different activities I may use:

- Every other week, or when appropriate, begin SciFri with a writing prompt: 

 {This week, I learned......     I'm still perplexed about.....    I'm really curious to learn more about.....}

This will be beneficial to me for obvious reasons.

- TwitterTime! This will be a time where students will break into groups and search our class Twitter feed to find something worth sharing. The possibilities are endless with this one, because you never know what will be discovered. 

- Science Pictionary. I'm thinking about creating a Pictionary game for some of my units of study. We could use this as a study tool to prepare as a class for upcoming tests.

- Science Trivia/Zap Game. Self-explanatory.

I'm just thinking outloud about how to make my Fridays a little more peppy and exciting. What do you do on Fridays? Does your Friday look different than any other day of the week?

Back in Action - Exploring the Scientific Method

I'm baaaack! YAY! I have a helper today. Daddy is off work and he's on major daddy duty this morning while I pump out some school stuff.

Quick update - my school has decided that we need a change of scenery. I'm moving rooms. Wowzas! No small feat when you're a science teacher...But nonetheless, it's getting done. We have to be out by this Friday because - for extra fun - we're getting a new roof. So everything in my section of the school has to be completely removed since everything will be exposed to the elements once they start on the roof. So - EVERY teacher in the school has to pack up their classrooms - even those that aren't in my section - because we have to have a place to store the stuff from the classrooms that are affected. For any other school in the country - I would say "IMPOSSIBLE!" - but for us, PFFF. This is a walk in the park. We're getting it done and it's all good. I'm actually looking forward to a new room, a fresh start. Updates to follow! I can't get back in my room until August, so pics of said new room won't be available until then.

I am rockin' and rollin' with a new scientific method approach. I was a mess last year and didn't really focus on what I should have when introducing the scientific method and variables. I felt rushed to make sure I got "everything" in. Whatever that was. But now I have a clear understanding of how much time I have to get "everything" done and I feel much better about it. I made a little packet of fun activities that can easily and efficiently introduce both the scientific method and variables. I also found a SUPER FANTABULOUS activity that I will definitely be using. It's a paper airplane activity that is perfect for variables. I mean, what 5th grader wouldn't LOVE throwing paper airplanes in class?! Click here for that experiment.

Check out my variables experiment packet on TpT! Here's a peek:

It's so great to be back in action. My posts will still be few and {not too} far between since I have a little chicken to look after this summer, but I am definitely plugging away at my Light Unit that I've been hollering about for almost a year now - and I've also got a new take on my Human Body Unit that I'm working on. So - not to worry - I'm not going anywhere! I will just be here less frequently as I get acclimated to my baby girl's ever-changing schedule.

Shouting it From the Rooftops!

She's here! She's here! And she's just perfect! My baby girl was born on Easter Sunday, how awesome is that?! We are so excited to welcome this little creature into the world and I wanted to share it with my teacher bloggy buds.

Coming up in the next month will be my revised Light unit {the dreaded unit I'm determined to transform into the favorite unit} and maybe even some fun lower elementary book activities. Now that I have this little angel to read to, my thinking is shifting from science to itty bitty language art activities. :-)

Momma and baby are adjusting to our new life at home and enjoying every minute. I'm taking a break from school and focusing on her for now, but I'm looking forward to getting back in the swing of things. But not until later!