Makeover Madness!

I am so happy to be joining the fun with the TpT Seller Challenge!

Third in Hollywood, Teach Create Motivate, Sparkling in Second, and Peppy Zesty Teacherista are hosting this awesome challenge to meet other sellers and grow our businesses.  Woohoo!

This first week, our challenge was to give one of our products a makeover!  I figured my Polygon Bang! Games were in need of a little TLC.

Before, the product had a simple design and basic solid color backgrounds.  When I first made the product, I had limited fonts and clipart, so I used what I had.

 I felt like this clipart was a little too chunky, so I wanted to make the design more streamlined.

And after……

 I love that the design matches the design of my other products.  It's simple, but attractive.  :)

I love mixing fonts and love how these pages turned out!

I made the directions and answer keys look a little cleaner, too.

So what do you think?  Have you linked up to show off your makeover yet?  It's been fun to look at everyone's updated products!

JULY Currently!

I can't believe it's already July!  It's the peak of summer, and it's time to soak it up before it's gone!

If you haven't linked up with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade yet, be sure to add your July Currently!  :)

Wordless Wednesday- July 2

Happy Wednesday!  Here's to a long 4th of July weekend ahead!

Today I'm linking up with Sugar and Spice for Wordless Wednesday!

Here's a sweaty selfie for ya!  What do YOU do over the summer to stay fit and keep your mind clear?

If you look closely, you can see the beads of sweat!  Boom!!

Little Scientists Save Summer

ATTENTION PARENTS AND TEACHERS:

Are your kids barely into their summer vacation and already whining, "I'm boooored"??

I came across the blog The Kitchen Pantry Scientist towards the end of the school year and just knew I had to get some of these science experiments in during the last days of school.

She's a fellow Minnesotan, and has been featured many times on our local news sharing fun science experiments.  She's an actual scientist (bacteriology), and explains the science behind all of the experiments.  Best of all, all of her experiments can be done with ordinary things found in your pantry!

First we did one called Magic Potion, using cabbage juice, vinegar, and baking soda.  I wish you could have seen their eyes light up when the chemical reactions occurred.  :)

Also from The Kitchen Pantry Scientist, we did Fizzy Balloons.  Super cool!

We did an experiment called Elephant Toothpaste (not from The Kitchen Pantry Scientist), which produced a chemical reaction (foaming) and a thermal reaction (warmth).  

Look, some of my former students stopped by for the fun, too!

Yes… They should have been wearing goggles….  :/

It was fun to play with the foam after the reaction… it was SO soft!

I even repeated the experiment with my niece!  Check out that little scientist!  :)

Our last actual unit in science for the year was exploring light and shadows.  We made shadow puppets using construction paper and popsicle sticks and explored how drawings and cut holes affect the shadows.  My students LOVED when I closed all of the blinds and turned off the lights in the room… it was VERY dark!  I gave pairs of students a flashlight and told them to take their shadow puppet, find a blank wall and make some shadows!  It kept them occupied for almost our whole science period!

So next time your kids say they're bored this summer, grab some simple materials and let them explore SCIENCE!  It might just SAVE the summer!