Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party!

Alrighty! I have been trying to connect with fellow bloggers and TPTers so I am linking up with Latoya Reed over on her blog flying into first.
This link up is all about getting to know me better so buckle up... my full name is Nicole Christine Holmes... NCH.


N is for neurotic! Seriously, I am very self-aware so let me be the first person to tell you that I have quite the tendency to have tunnel vision and might obsess over non-important/trivial things...often. At times it can be hard for me to multi-task in two or more categories in my life. This is hard to explain because if the tasks are related/micro...I am great at doing things simultaneously. BUT! if you ask me to create a super cute unit and clean the house (or even do a single load of laundry) in the same day it will most likely not happen in the same waking time span.  Does anyone else suffer from this extra crazy form of time warp?

C is for crafty! I might be able to attribute this quality of mine to my particular taste and quirky style because for as long as I can remember it has been hard for me to find decorations, artwork, clothes, (the list goes on) that totally satisfied me, so I started creating certain things from scratch a long time ago. I like things that are just ugly enough to be whimsical and genius! 

When pinterest first launched I thought someone had hacked into my dreams or answered an unspoken prayer because I had been keeping clips, recipes, tutorials and magazine pages in binders for years.  The organization of them was horrendous and I rarely found what I was looking for when I needed it! 

H is for humorous! I love to laugh and I love to make other people laugh. The things I find especially funny are usually very inappropriate and not suitable for a teaching blog, but I can say that a good poop joke gets me every time.  The funniest people in my life are probably my sister and AJP...these lovely ladies totally get and feed into my inappropriate and usually uncalled for sense of humor.  

Glad we could link up! Make sure to check out the linky party! Happy Thursday!

Happy Teaching, Cole! 

Grammar Boot Camp: 8 Parts of Speech and 16 Language posters! Limited-time FREEBIE!

Well hello! It has been a while since I posted anything new...but its because I have good news!! Last week, I had an interview for a coaching job and I GOT IT! Like most teaching hires I was called on Tuesday, interviewed on Wednesday, fingerprinted on Thursday, and held tryouts for the 7th grade boys Volleyball team on Friday! whew...quite the whirlwind!

So needless to say, I have been super busy planning practices and re-shifting my brain into volleyball mode...but I couldn't be happier. (actually, if I were teaching full-time I guess I would be happier...but landing a job after December graduation is tough, right?!) But even with the cra-cra going on in my brain... I have managed to get these grammar boot camp posters done and am working on really fun games to accompany them. Y'all might have to wait til' after Mexico for those puppies...making fun/efficient games is super time-consuming!

Below you will find a link to these military/army-style grammar boot camp posters. There are 24 posters in all and cover the 8 parts of speech and 16 language and grammar topics: noun, verb, adverb, adjective, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, interjection, sentence, comma, colon, semi-colon, personification, hyperbole, homophones, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, suffix, prefix, alliteration, synonyms, antonyms,  and proper noun!
I have to give my coop. teacher credit for inspiring these posters...I remember her mentioning that she halts all mini-lessons for a week and gives the kids a review of all the parts of speech and language- crash-course style! Loved the idea...and it has been on my short list for a while.

IN ORDER TO GRAB THIS FREEBIE:  all you have to do is: follow my tpt store by clicking here, (this also gives you the chance to get a $25 TPT gift card every month), and then leave a comment at the end of this post with your email address and I will email you the pdf asap!

The first 25 commenters will get the entire bundle of camouflage/military/army themed grammar boot camp parts of speech posters for FREE!

Hope you enjoy these!

Happy Teaching, Cole

$25 TPT Giveaway!

Alright, so after my crazy little rant... I am here with good news! I would like to get a few more followers on TPT (because I only have 6), as we all do...so I am throwing a monthly giveaway for my TPT followers only.

All you have to do is follow me on TPT  by clicking here and then clicking on the star to follow me and that is it.  If you don't have a TPT store then you can start one here, Teachers Pay Teachers has some awesome free and paid resources for the busy teacher.

You will know you are following me when you see the star and "following" when you're on my page! 

Then around the 21st of each month I will send you an update via TPT which will ask you if you want to enroll in that month's giveaway. ( It will literally take you 5 seconds) Then at the end of each month I will randomly draw a name from one of my followers...probably using rafflecopter or some other fair random number sorter and the winner will be chosen! I will then get in contact with you and email you your gift certificate!

Your gift certificate will be a legit one from TPT...but you get the idea!!

It's that easy...and that simple! I will also be putting all of my units on sale for the first 24 hours they go live, so this will give you an in to a sale if you are interested in a new unit!

Hope I didn't scare everyone away with my rant! And I hope this giveaway starts a new circle of friends on TPT!

Have a great night everyone!!


Happy Teaching!

-Cole

FREEBIES! St. Patrick's Day Literacy Centers and Candy Land inference game!!

Happy early St. Patrick's Day!  I love St. Patrick's Day because it means that spring weather is near and its an excuse to eat salty meat and drink green beer, but this year it means that our last-minute getaway will only be 4 days away! So with that in mind I am on a serious diet and have been staying in and working hard on some fun spring-time units :)

For this bundle I included activities covering homophones, the "big 4" parts of speech, simile + metaphor,  visualizing, dialogue and inferring!

I'll start with the freebies this time around... these simile and metaphor posters are yours to download and come in 8 1/2 x 11 and in mini versions that could be laminated or glued into an ELA journal etc for later reference.

Skip on over to TPT for this freebie!!

hop on over to TPT for this freebie!

St. Patrick's Day Candy Land inference game with 20 inference clues...Print and Play! 

St. Patrick's Day bundle: 6 Literacy Centers with Posters

St. Patrick's Day 4 Parts of Speech Activity 

St. Patrick's Day inference mini posters & full-size

St. Patrick's Day homophone activity 

St. Patrick's Day figurative language activity 

St. Patrick's Day Mad Libs

St. Patrick's Day Parts of Speech Activities

St. Patricks Day Comic Strip teaching dialogue 

I hope you find some use for these! And keep checking back for weekly freebies & updates!

Follow me on TPT: teacherspayteachers.com/store/nicole-holmes

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Happy almost Spring!! 

Happy Teaching! 

-Cole

Boys Valentine Box Ideas

Considering I am outnumbered in this house 2:1 you would think that the girly holidays might get looked over or craft time might be a chore for my boys...but that is the farthest from the truth. These 2 bubbas love to make things for me and to build new DIY projects for the house. I will have to assemble a collage of all the cool things they have made together! But that is for another snowy Saturday...and this house needs a good scrub so I'll get to it! :)

We got a letter home from the little Bubba's school letting us know that our Feb. home project was to make a Valentine box and send it in for his first Valentine party.  Initially, we thought we would just wrap a shoe box in some Valentine paper that I had left-over from last year, cut a slit in it and call it a day.

But then I starting thinking about how boring that would be and very "girly" for my little guy who is very much a lover, but all boy! (aside from me walking in on him watching a show called "Sophia the First" this morning..which is about princesses?...I didn't ask :) 

Boys Valentine Box Ideas

So after perusing the internet for inspirations we compiled 11 of our favorites to share with you.  I searched and searched for links with tutorials...some have them and some do not, but I tried my best to investigate and put my two cents in to how I would recreate the!

Thanks to all the creative Moms and Dads out there for sharing their homemade beauties to inspire our "all about the boy" Valentine's Day card boxes!

1. Despicable Me Minion: no tutorial...but looks like simply a kleenex box, craft paper, old buttons and tin foil with the mouth of the minion being the card slot. Here is a picture a Minion from the movie for a little inspiration.

2. iphone valentine box: no tutorial...but I took a screen shot of my home screen and uploaded it here if you can't find one anywhere else. This is JPG file that just needs to be enlarged to fit the size box (cereal, tissue, shoe) you have on hand. Then wrap the box in black or white paper and cut a slit at the top.

3. icee cup: The girls over at barnnumber2.blogspot.com have some really cute boy Valentine ideas. The icee picture is up on their blog and I studied it a little and to me it looks like tissue paper mod podged onto an extra large drink cup with a sturdier than usual icee-style lid and spiral straw. The natural hole in the lid would serve as the card opening. The icee polar bear can be mod podged on as well and here is the link to a jpg of him. Super cute!
**This could also simply be done with an extra large icee cup you get at 7-11 just cleaned out really well! :)

4. Minecraft box: small disclaimer...I know nothing about the world of Minecraft other than my students like it and its a video game. That being said...this box simply looks like different hues of brown and tan squares glued onto a square box with eye holes cut out of it. I think this image was originally the head to a Halloween costume, but could easily be adapted to a Valentine box if this is the one for you.  From the little research I did, the image above is a pretty good replica of the head in the game. :)

5. Val Monster: Mariah, over at gigglesgalore.net has an awesome tutorial for her little guy. When I saw this on pinterest it reminded me of the tattle monsters I had seen for the classroom and sure enough those where her idea too! This looks relatively easy and can double as a tattle monster in your own home or classroom. (which reminds me...I need to make a few of these for my classroom!)

6. Pirate Ship: Find your way to mypartybug.com for a mini-tutorial on this cute pirate ship that could easily be adapted for a wide age-range of pirate-loving boys! (we decided on the hockey one before my little guy saw the ship and something tells me we might end up with a Jake and the Neverland Pirates version of this cutey!)

7. Lego: Lynsee and Heidi over at theprettypoppy have a great tutorial for the lego box which seems simple and cheap as long as you have a few items on hand! Thanks girls...this Valentine box is TOTAL BOY!

8. Darth Vader: Jami, over at blackberryvine has different pictures of what her Darth looks like with a general supply list that could easily be tailored to what you have on hand. This one would need a little creativity, but if you have a Star Wars fan in your home...I am sure that little imagination would love to help make this guy come to life!

9.  There are a good amount of robot Valentine boxes that  I scoped out. They seem fairly simple and cheap to put together...the color scheme and details are endless. Here are a few more that caught my eye: tinfoil guy, airduct guy, and  fancy robot guy from bhg.com, 

10.  Hockey Box: no tutorial. But we are going to use a pool noodle, a shoe box, and other craft paper along with some Blackhawks scrapbooking materials I picked up from Michaels. I will upload the finished result with a tutorial when we're done! :)

11.  Monkey Box: Tara, over at firefliesandflutterbyes.com has a super-detailed tutorial on her blog. So click on the link to check it out!

All these choices sure made it hard for us to decide on our Valentine's Day box...Hope this helps you...and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Here is what my guy will be rocking come Val Day! 

under $10 at macys.com!

*UPDATE: Touch Math Poster and number line with number counters **Limited Time Freebie

So...I have been unemployed for about a month now and as the habitual person that I am, I have already gotten into quite the routine already. I am not saying that my routine is a healthy one...I will admit there have more showerless days than I'd care to admit! However, I have gotten a lot done in terms of organizing and creating around the house and for "my future class."

One of my routines includes my daily visits to my most liked websites...ya know the usual suspects- pinterest, honest toddler, the news sites, and of course a lil' blog stalking! :)

Anyway, this morning I came across a pin from a teaching friend of mine and it reminded me of a poster and desk minis I wanted to make a while back when she first gave something similar to one of our little friends when she needed math help.

Desk-sized touch math number lines

So today...in between seeing Silver Lining's Playbook, which was heart-wrenching and wonderful by the way... I made this Touch Math Poster.  If you're not familiar with Touch Math visit their website for more details. Basically it helps students who are struggling with mental math, giving them physical numerical representations within each number.

Poster-sized reference poster- Touch Math 

I am running my freebie deal again...so the first 12 people to repin this post on pinterest and to comment on this post will get a PDF of this colorful poster and the number lines for FREE!

Happy Teaching!

Home Court Advantage: "HCA"...more Quantum love :)

I know...more Quantum stuff! but I just can't help it and with our final Quantum workshop coming up I wanted to have lots of completed posters to share with all the girls at LITH. They all have been really  supportive through my student teaching and made getting through 8-hour workshops on Saturdays much more fun than you might expect! Not to mention, the Quantum Learning workshops really are a lot of fun and truly eye-opening!

Click here to snag this $1.00 poster bundle

So here is my next addition to the Quantum bundle..."Home Court Advantage" or HCA. Basically, it works just like it does in sports- when you're playing in your home court (your classroom) you feel safe to make mistakes, to ask to questions, and to share.

You also feel supported to work through difficult tasks and in-turn you support everyone else in the classroom-even when no one is looking!
(Can you imagine...not getting a reward every time you did something in good character?!) And lastly, you belong in this class-we are a family! No matter what...you are wanted here and are a part of and have ownership in everything (well, mostly) that goes on inside these 4 walls!

The bundle includes 2 styles of the HCA poster, a teacher cheat sheet, and a classroom cheat sheet

I hope eventually my fellow teachers get some good use out of these posters as Quantum Learning gains more momentum!

Happy Saturday...and Happy Teaching!

~Nicole

Cursive Song...FREEBIE!

click here to snap this freebie...don't forget to follow my TPT store :)

As you will see...I love using music in the classroom in meaningful, engaging ways. So the night before I was about to start teaching the uppercase letters to my eager 3rd graders I realized that when I began teaching them cursive I emphasized that the number one rule was that you never pick up your pencil when writing a word in cursive.

Once again panic ensued inside of me...and the thoughts of students blurting out "Miss Holmes but you said we never pick up our pencils" on uppercase "F" day.  So I decided to make lyrics to the "we will rock you" beat.  And the next morning I would explain that the uppercase letters are different and sometimes they are "rule breakers" unlike the lowercase letters.

Since we did cursive as the last 15 minutes of our writing block, the song also served as a successful transition and re-committed the students to learning while reminding them that some of the uppercase letters are "rule-breakers" when they don't connect with others.

Now, the kids sing it all the time and catch me if I forget to start it...hehe.
Hope you get some use out of this lil' ditty! :)

Helpful and Harmful Insects: Review Chutes and Ladders File Folder Game. Temporary FREEBIE!

click here to snag this bundle

So I made this chutes and ladders game a while back during our insect unit. The kids really had a good time playing the game and did really well using it during our science centers review day.

The basic gist of the game is just like the regular chutes and ladders game where the first person to the 100 spot is the winner, except every time a student lands on a chute or a ladder they choose a chute or ladder card and read a helpful or harmful fact.  The students are encouraged to add any facts about the insect on the card.

The bundle also includes 2 assessments: a fill-in-blank worksheet and an exit slip :)

Bundle Details 

LOVE <3 this game

The bundle is a complete print-and-play package that can be easily made in multiples and the easy directions and game board can be glued and laminated onto a file folder.

This is for sale on my TPT site for $3...but the first 12 people to comment will get it for free!

All you have to do is follow my blog and TPT store! :)

Happy Teaching!

Friday Freebie!! Teacher Fonts *Janda Style

As I mentioned before...I absolutely love different fonts! Frankly, the fonts offered for a typical blog are quite boring if you ask me, but hey a girl can't have it all, right! For all your other ventures in creative life, I have compiled a list of my favorite "Janda-style" fonts. I came across Janda about a year ago and have been obsessed ever since! The style is whimsical, cheery, and very cute for classroom printables! 

Click here to get your hands on these funtastic fonts!

The link below the picture will take you to dafont.com. This website it totally free, easily searchable, and trustworthy!

The website gives you directions on how to download the fonts, but I have found it easiest to do the following: 

On a Mac: 

1. Click 'download' on each font you like

2. Click stay on dafont.com and download all the fonts you want

3. Then go to your download file or go to 'finder' to find your recently downloaded fonts and click 'install font' 

4. Sometimes you may get an error message, just simply click through accepting that the font might have an error and the font will automatically be in you 'ipages' folder

On a PC: 

1. Follow the first 2 steps as you would with a Mac

2. As each font downloads it will prompt you to extract the file; accept the extraction

3.  Then there will be a drop down button that asks to 'install' click on that 

4. Follow this process for all your fonts

5. Restart your computer and all of your fonts should be in ready to use inside MS Word

I hope you find these fonts as fun and cheery as I do; they really brighten up my classroom and personal creations!  

Happy Friday! 

Quantum Learning: Classroom Management Posters: LIMITED TIME FREEBIE!

So...I have been attending 8-hour workshops on the Quantum Learning environment and it has truly been motivating and inspiring to gain such insight and knowledge! I am very excited to utilize the Quantum tools I have been given once I have my own classroom.

I know what you're thinking... "oh really, miss new teacher...you think you have it all figured out and as soon as you get your own classroom you're going to change the world...not gonna happen!" Believe me, I am the last person to embrace the latest trends and that is the reason I love Quantum so much ! It is not a trend, its a way of life in the classroom; positive affirmation, ownership, intrinsic motivation, and choices are all staples of a good hearty Quantum diet. :)

My unemployed boredom inspiration led me to create this poster pack, it is filled with positive classroom posters that I have already enlarged and laminated for my own (future) classroom! Even if you don't feel like reading up on how to 'OTFD someone'...(which I highly recommend if you're like me and have a difficult time with confrontation) there are some cute, totally useable classroom posters in here for you to enjoy!

Click here to grab these little beauties!

Here are some samples of what is inside this pack...

How to have difficult conversations...and once you master this and share it you will totally know when someone is OTFDing you! hah

Truer words have never been spoken!

How to show that you are READY TO LEARN!

This 12-pack is a FREEBIE, but only for the first 12 entries.  Here's how the giveaway will go, pretty easy peasy!
1) Follow my blog: fakeitandyoullmakeit.blogspot.com
2) Repin an image from this post onto pinterest
3) Leave a comment after this post

That's it! The first 12 commenters will get an email from me with a FREE zip file of this package which is selling for $4.25 on TPT!

Happy Teaching! 

"In this classroom..." FREEBIE

As you will come to know...I love positive affirmation posters for the classroom.  The one I created is a spin-off of many I have seen before, but I love crazy fonts and silly borders so I decided to make my own.  It will be for sale at my TPT store, but below you can download your own... for FREE!

                                      Click here to download: In this classroom FREEBIE

Pancake Creations

So the other morning I was scanning pinterest for...well nothing in particular, just browsing around.  After aimless pins and wandering, I came across pancakes that were made into the shape of a someones initials.  I thought..."How clever" and then the daily pinterest self-loathing feeling of "well why didn't I think of that!"

JJL are both of my Bubba's initials :)

So I did pin these pancakes and then I quickly realized that I had pinned them the night before while trying to fall asleep! (I must of been more tipsy tired than I originally thought!) I must keep myself away from pinterest after 2 glasses of wine while half asleep- as to not 'like' too many inappropriate someecards and wake up with pinterest walk of shame feelings.

As I am a rule breaker wrapped up in a rule follower's body...I attempted to make the pancakes by following the recipe exactly, but I quickly figured out I would have to improvise as I had not been grocery shopping in a week and the basic needs that even prisoners have were not available to make pancakes.

These pancakes are fairly simple: make a normal pancake batter and add a little more liquid than usual. Then transfer to a large ziploc bag and cut a tiny hole from one of the lower corners to make a poor person pastry bag and then squeeze letters and shapes onto your griddle like you were piping icing onto a cake.

**The thicker your lines and shapes the easier they are to flip.

(I give Lilly over at recipebyphoto some mad props for making her dainty designs look like food porn, but I don't have those magic tools. So if you're like me, make your lines thicker and your pancake designs should flip over nicely with a little spatula gymnastics.)

My Recipe 
2 cups Bisquick pancake mix
1 cup half and half (remember I hadn't shopped in a week...so use whatever milk product you have)
1/2 cup plain yogurt (2 eggs if you're a normal person and have basic staples in your fridge)
dash of cinnamon
dash of sea salt
tablespoon of honey
juice from one meyer lemon

-Mix all the ingredients together and let sit for 5 minutes while the griddle gets hot.
Spray griddle with cooking spray or lubricate it to your liking.
Then pipe your pancake creations onto your griddle, once you see bubbles on the uncooked side you can carefully perform your spatula gymnastics and flip those babies over!