Saturday's Snapshot

Hello Lovely Followers,

Today was a really busy day. I took one of the new teachers at our school clothes shopping for Salwar Kalmeez. We had a blast. I got some really cute new outfits for this year. I wear western style clothes quite often, but I really enjoy the life and color of Indian clothing. I especially love all the jewelry! Here are a few pictures of my new wardrobe!

I love the blue and yellow combo here! :) It comes with really cute blue salwar pants ( a baggier style of pants).

I really liked this one because it is simple (for Delhi styles). The pink is really pretty and it comes with pink salwar pants. 

I love the mix of the blue, green, and pink in this one. It also has pink churidar (which is Indian leggings) 

You can probably see a common theme here of pink. I love the pink and black here. The neck and sleeves are also really pretty. It has black churidar pants. 

Yup, more pink and green! I just can't help it! :) This one has pink salwar pants as well. 

Any outfit in Delhi wouldn't be complete without a new set of bangles! Can't wait to wear these beauties around! 

In other news, the little man has been having an awful time lately. He really misses America and especially his family. As soon as he wakes up he talks about going to America and seeing his Mimi, Nana, and two Papas. We feel really bad for him and are looking for new ways to make living in Delhi exciting so he doesn't feel quite so homesick. It is difficult to find things to do in the current Delhi heat. Two seems to be a really hard age for all of us! I am holding out that three will be much better!

Lastly, I have been thinking of ways to show you all more about my life here in Delhi. Last year I had a lot of camera problems, but this year I have a new camera and I am really excited to give you all a taste of life here in Delhi!

Each Saturday I will post a different picture "snapshot" from happenings around Delhi. Some of the picture will be my own and others will be from fellow teachers at my school. I hope you enjoy them! :)

This week's picture is of a rickshaw driver near a main market in Lajpat Nagar. The picture was taken by the principal of my school. Stay tuned for a new one next Saturday! 

Thanks for dropping by!

New Blog Design and Sale/Giveaway Celebrations!

Hello Friends!

My new blog design is up and running! :) I love it. Thanks so much to Honey Bunch for this fabulous new design!

To celebrate I am having a 20% sale this weekend at My Store and 3 weekend giveaways!

 Giveaway #1
 $25 TPT gift certificate for back to school purchases!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway #2
Forest Friends Classroom Set

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway #3
Hawaiian Classroom Set


a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Year, New Name, New Layout: "3rd Grade Theatrics" is now "Digraphs Decimals and Discoveries"

Hello Fabulous Followers!

My first day back at school is in 10 days! I start setting up tomorrow, lots of pictures to come...

I mentioned in a recent post that the wonderful ladies at Honey Bunch Blog Design were hooking me up with a new look! It is in the works and it is looking fabulous! :)

I also changed my name (I am sure you noticed this and were like who the heck is that?) I chose the name 3rd Grade Theatrics because of teaching 3rd grade in New Delhi, India. Those of you who teach 3rd Grade know about the "hams" our students are. These kiddos are full of life and laughter and can be real drama queens/kings!

I have one more year teaching in New Delhi, then I land back in PA. At this point I am not sure what grade I will be teaching next, so I decided to change my name to something more generic; something that can move with me from grade to grade. I started my blog back in October but it was a sitting duck until about March. Since it is still so young, I figured that this was the time to make some switches and then set it in stone.

Why Digraphs, Decimals, and Discoveries? This name pretty much sums up my experience as an elementary teacher. Digraphs: I love to teach students how to read and working with digraphs is a lot of fun. This part of my name ties in my experiences with lower elementary. Decimals: I really enjoy teaching math and decimals was something that we started to tackle in 3rd grade. I also remember teaching it to 4th graders during student teaching. This part of the name ties into my experiences with upper elementary. Discoveries: My philosophy of teaching has always focused on hands-on learning and discovering our world through books, interaction, and technology. It is so important to give our students the keys to life-long discoveries!

So there you have it. A New Year, a New Layout (coming very soon), and a New Name! :)

Thanks for being such amazing followers! I really appreciate your comments, advice, and participation in my giveaways.

Blessings,

3rd Grade Reading Mania Sticker Book

Good Morning Lovely Followers,

I am really excited to share with you my Reading Mania Sticker Program. I have been working on it a lot lately and have just finished the first 3rd grade sticker book today for September. I designed the program to give your students reading opportunities from over 300 3rd grade favorites!

Here is what the sticker book looks like:

Colored 

Black and White

Each 3rd grade book title has a sticker:

Each sticker books has a spot for the stickers. First, the students set a goal for the month of how many books they want to read and write that in their sticker book. Then they fill it up with stickers!

Colored

black and white

After the students read the book, they can fill out one of the 10 response sheets for that book:

At the end of the month, if the students reach their goal they get an award:

Here is the link :)

This program is a fun way to get your students excited about reading and give them a lot of amazing titles to choose from. I will be releasing the Oct-June books throughout the school year as well as books for 2nd and 4th grade. I will also be adding new book title stickers along the way. So be on the look-out for new Reading Mania Sticker Books and stickers! :) 

To kick it off, I am offering it free to the first 4 people who comment on this blog post leaving me their e-mail!

Blessings,

New "School" Year's Resolution Linky Party!

Hello Lovely Bloggers

I have decided to run my own linky party. I have seen a lot of them and participated but haven't done my own yet. So I decided to run a...

I love to make New Year's Resolutions, but let's face it, they never last past January 31st (if they even last that long!) I find that the only way I can stick to them is when I have a friend who wants to accomplish the same thing and we "check up" on each other.

So here's how this is going to work:

1. Blog about a New School Year Resolution. Something for your classroom and if you want to add something personal as well, go for it!

2. Link it up (Be sure to link your blog post back to the linky party so others can join in on the fun!)

3. Look for someone who has a similar resolution as you and connect with each other.

4. Check up on each other and encourage each other throughout the school year.

My Resolution:

My classroom is tiny, I mean literally tiny! It's hard to fit the student's desks, my desk, the library book shelves, and shelves for general school supplies in the room, let alone any space for centers or a cozy spot for the students to read. This has always been a frustration and challenge for me. The second half of that challenge is that we are not able to get into the school building to set up our classrooms (we tear them down at the end of the year) until a week before school starts! 

Last year was my first year teaching. I think everyone can relate when I say that the first year of teaching is insane! I didn't find out what grade I was teaching until three days before school started last school year. I felt rushed in setting up and getting my beginning of the year lesson plans done. Needless to say, a midst all those things, I have not learned the secret to an organized classroom. 

I always felt discouraged and guilty because I ALWAYS had a really unorganized desk, yet my students  kept their desks clean. It was always the joke that the Messy Desk Monster would come to Mrs. H's desk and eat all of my most prized possessions.

At the end of the school year, as I was packing up my classroom, I organized all of my units, centers, and put them neatly away for this coming school year. 

So, I resolve to keep my classroom organized. :) In fact, this coming week I will be setting up my classroom, and I look forward to blogging about all the organizational ideas that I have collect from pinterest and how they work in my tight space.

I also resolve to get back into shape. Wesley is going to be three in December and I still blame him for being overweight!(It's just so easy to blame being overweight on pregnancies) I am 40 lbs heavier than I was on my wedding day almost 4 years ago, and I would LOVE to be that weight again, but more realistically I would like to lost 25-30 lbs.

I absolutely adore Lindsay Brinn from Moms Into Fitness, and have used her workouts in the past, so I decided to get her Pretty Fierce Lean Out dvds. I ordered them back in March...and they have been staring me down ever since.

So, what say you, anyone want to buddy up with similar resolutions?

Flash Freebie Time!

I had a lot of fun today updating most of my products! I feel so accomplished, that I want to share my joy by having a Flash Freebie! It's really late here...almost 2am so it will only be available for 25 minutes, so you have to snag it fast! :)

I ask two things of you: 1. Please leave some feedback 2. Check out my newly updated freebies! Currently my store is half freebies!

Enjoy!

Tuesday's Teacher Tidbit {and a freebie!}

I can't believe how quickly the school year is creeping up on me! School starts back up for me on August 1st, which is right around the corner! I have sooo many things to accomplish before then. I can't wait to get back in my classroom and set it up. I have a lot of organizing to do.

This school year, I want to be more consistent with blogging. I feel like I have had a year to acclimate to life in Delhi and also one year of teaching under my belt. I am especially excited to see my blog "spruced up" a bit. I am letting the experts at Honey Bunch Blog Design make me and epic blog design. I am SUPER excited to see them work their magic. 

One thing I wanted to start up is a Tuesday's Teacher Tidbit. Every Tuesday I will share a little tidbit of information that I have found and used, or a guest blogger has found useful. Please feel free to link up! The more tidbits of information out there, the better :)

I like to do something in my classroom called: Discover and Share. I usually do this a few times throughout each unit. I gather up all the books I can find in my classroom library and the schools library for sources. I tell the students that they have twenty minutes of discovery time. They select a book from the pile and fill out the My Discoveries Notebook (see at the bottom of post) At the end of the twenty minutes I give the students five to ten minutes to gather their thoughts and reflect on what they just discovered. Finally, we share our discoveries. This can look different each time. Sometimes I tell my students to partner up, other times I put them into groups, or I have them present their information in front of the class. During the sharing time, the students take notes from the other discoveries. 

I have found this method to be very effective! The students remember the information that they find in the books because they claim it as their own discovery. They are really excited to share it with each other and eager to learn from their peers. In fact, at the end of the school year when we debriefed together, my students told me that this was their favorite activity and that they remembered more from this activity then from the other things we did, even review games! 

Try it out, tell me how it works in your classroom :)

Snag the notebook freebie by clicking on the picture!