As you may have noticed, my website looks a little different!  After a bit of a blog hiatus and a newfound adventure in curriculum expansion, I felt as though the website needed a refresher to fit this new phase of life I am in! Check out how I migrated my page from Blogger to WordPress and got a new look… all in one!

Bellano Web Studio

After researching many other educator website/blog combinations, I stumbled across Mr. Elementary Math’s webpage.  I really liked the crisp layout and cohesive design elements.  After taking a look around his webpage, I saw that he had used Bellano Web Studio to help build his site. I reached out to him to see how the process worked and if it was one he would recommend.  After giving some really helpful website tips and tricks, he said, “Thauna from Bellano Web Studio is great to work with.  She did a great job listening to my vision for my website.”  After reviewing her portfolio and loving a lot of her work, I reached out to Thauna from Bellano Web Studio and got the process started! 

I was able to get on her schedule for the following month, which worked out perfectly!

The Process

Thauna had me fill out a web design form that focused on mainly design elements (colors, layout, etc.) and what the website would be used for.  I did my best to be as detailed as possible, as I had a pretty clear vision for what I hoped the final result would look like.

Thauna uses Basecamp as a platform to communicate documents, conversations, and questions back and forth.  I had never used it before, but I was so impressed!  It was extremely efficient and allowed all our communications to be kept in a neat and orderly format.  It was nice to have everything we were discussing in one place to refer back to throughout the design and edit process, such as files, pictures, layout ideas, etc.

Logo Header

The first step was deciding on the colors and fonts for the header logo that would be predominately displayed across all of the pages within my website.  We went back and forth with a few peach clip art options (who knew picking a peach could be so tricky!).  I decided on the final combination and was relieved to know it was Thauna’s favorite, too!

The Waiting Game

After I had done all of the upfront work of submitting my web design form, layout requests and logo design, it was now Thauna’s turn to work her magic on the webpage.  I anxiously awaited to see what she would come up with! Two weeks later, she had a preview ready for me… and it exceeded all of my expectations!  I loved it!

We went back and forth making small edits, such as hyperlinks to correct pages and sizing, but all in all, she was spot on with what I had envisioned the webpage to look like.

Blogger to WordPress

One new aspect of my webpage is that I am using WordPress.  When I originally started my blog/webpage a few years ago, I was using Blogger.  I never had any issues with it, but felt limited in my design abilities based off of what I had previously designed for my header, toolbar, etc.

Thauna even helped me migrate all of my previous blog posts from Blogger to WordPress, which was a huge timesaver!  And it was awesome to start fresh with a new look, but not lose any of my previous blogs.

Check Out Bellano Web Studio

So… if you are looking to bring new life to an existing webpage or blog or want some creative help with a new webpage you have been thinking about, I cannot recommend Thauna at Bellano Web Studio enough! 

I hope you look around my webpage and love all of her hard work just as much as I do!

Thanks again Thauna!

The post New look… same me! appeared first on Jersey Girl Gone South.

Wow… it has really been a while!  As I look back on my last blog post, it is about our gender reveal with our baby girl. And she just turned two years old! Where has the time gone?!

Fast forward to now, I am the happy mother of the sweetest 2-year old girl, Quinn Kathryn Ann! She was born on May 9,2017. Quinn is our whole world and has brought an unexplainable joy to our lives.

But boy… life has really changed!

While I was pregnant with Quinn, my husband and I made the decision that I would stay home with her after she was born.  I always hoped that when the time came to become a mom, I would be lucky enough to spend my days with our children at home.  The fact that that has become a reality has fulfilled all of my dreams.

I won’t lie in saying that I miss my classroom and the amazing students I had the pleasure of being with every day.  But I know that the classroom will be there waiting for me when I am ready.  And for now, I am loving being home with my girl and being a creator on Teachers Pay Teachers.

And honestly, life is only about to get crazier! My husband and I are expecting baby #2 in October!

Check out the video below for our gender reveal for baby #2!

Check out our gender reveal for Baby #1 in 2017!

The post Life Update…Baby #2! appeared first on Jersey Girl Gone South.

In an effort to try to get you completely caught up with everything going on in our lives, I figured the most logical blog post after telling you we’re having a baby… needed to be about OUR GENDER REVEAL!

We knew that we wanted to find out if our baby was a boy or girl as soon as we could (we are extreme planners after all).  So, we opted to have the blood test done at about 12 weeks.  After the blood test, came 10-12 days of waiting.  Those felt like the longest days ever!

We always knew we wanted to find out if we were having a baby boy or a baby girl in a fun way.  However, my husband was adamant that if we were going to do a “reveal” with our friends and family, that it would need to be something awesome and manly for him to participate in.  I made it a personal challenge to find a super manly gender reveal idea.   When I showed him my idea using YouTube examples and Pinterest, he was hooked! YIPPEE!

Tannerite Explosion

Being that my husband is an avid gun lover, we knew guns and explosions were the perfect way to find out if we were having a son or daughter!

So after researching and watching YouTube video tutorials, we decided we needed the following items:

– 4 lbs of Tannerite (We bought ours at Academy Sporting Goods)
– 10 lbs blue chalk powder (We bought ours at Color Blaze)
– 10 lbs pink chalk powder (We bought ours at Color Blaze)
– cardboard box

After buying the Tannerite and chalk powder, I decided to decorate the cardboard box to look super cute.  I covered it in craft paper and painted it!

The Results Are In!

Now all we had to do was get the results to our blood test!

When the doctor finally called, I had her give the results to my sister-in-law.  That following Friday, my husband and I rushed home from work to our family’s piece of land (where we would be shooting the Tannerite).  We were full of anticipation!

We set up the box on top of straw, so that we had a good view when it went off.

My sister-in-law had the large responsibility of putting the correct chalk powder (pink or blue) inside the box around the Tannerite.  After she did that, we were all set to go!  

Check out our gender reveal video below!

We are beyond excited about our baby girl due in May!

The post OUR GENDER REVEAL appeared first on Jersey Girl Gone South.

Wow! It has been a VERY long time since I last wrote a post!  SO MUCH has happened since then! My husband, Corey, and I are excited to announce that we are expecting our first child in May 2017! We’re having a baby! AH!

 We are beyond excited about this next chapter of our lives! (and our bulldog, Griffin, is too!)

I still can’t believe it! We’re having a baby!! :):):)

Be sure to keep up with our blog! I promise to be more active from here on out! We have too much going on not to be!

And check out my Jersey Girl Gone South storefront! I’ve been hard at work adding lots of new products for the new school year!

The post We’re Having a BABY! appeared first on Jersey Girl Gone South.

One of the most frequent questions asked by buyers on Teachers Pay Teachers is, “How do you use internet scavenger hunt webquestss in your classroom?”  

Great question!  Here’s how:

• All of my internet scavenger hunt webquests include an embedded link in the PDF.  

• Students will need to click on this link to get to the website needed to answer the questions.  The easiest way to do this is to host the PDF on a website.  For example, my school uses ItsLearning to post assignments, homework, resources, etc.  I post my internet scavenger hunts on ItsLearning, so that my students can log on at school or at home to access them.  If you have a website for your classroom, Google docs, or a share drive for your school, these are great places to host the web quests!
• Once your PDF is hosted on a site that the students can get to, you can make copies for each student to write their answers on.  I have my students fold and glue them in their Social Studies Notebooks. In doing so, they can be used as a study resource.
• If all else fails, make copies for the kids. Students can type in the web address carefully on a web  browser!  I’ve done that many times, too!

Above all, I have found great success using internet scavenger hunt webquests in my classroom. For the reason that, they are a great way to include technology in what would normally be an everyday worksheet opportunity.

Interested in trying an internet scavenger hunts webquests in your classroom?!? 

Check out my Declaration of Independence Internet Scavenger Hunt WebQuest HERE!

Be sure to check out my TeachersPayTeachers store! I have over 130 social studies and science internet scavenger hunt webquests to choose from!

If you have any other questions about internet scavenger hunt webquests, be sure to leave a question or comment below!

The post How To: Internet Scavenger Hunts WebQuests appeared first on Jersey Girl Gone South.

This year, my grade level moved hallways, which meant a lot of packing and unpacking.  Since I was moving rooms, I took it as an opportunity to refresh my classroom decor.  I had been searching all over for some classroom rules inspiration on Pinterest and found one pin that kept catching my eye from kindercrazeblog.com.

In my classroom, there is always one spot that really irritates me because I can never find something big enough to take up the space above my whiteboard.  The whiteboard stretches almost the entire length of the front wall.  After seeing this pin, I thought this would be the perfect spot to display my new classroom rules decor!  

Gathering My Supplies

I read kindercrazeblog.com‘s post about how they created their rules with subway art and wooden frames.  I was so bummed to find out that they got their frames from Michaels, but they are much more expensive now.  She got them for $3 each and in the store they are $7.99 now!  Since I needed 6-8 frames and was not looking to break the bank on this project.

I headed to Michaels to see if I could find a cheaper alternative.   After searching most of the store, I was about to give up.  And then… I found the 50% off aisle!  They had various frames, but only 1 or 2 left of each.  There was one style that had a bunch, so I made it work!  The frames I found (similar to these) were not exactly what I had in mind, but I figured I could make it work!  They were $3.50 each and I had 25% my entire purchase coupon!  As a result, I got 6 wooden frames that had an 11×14 inch opening for $22 dollars!  

The Next Steps

In kindercrazeblog.com’s post, she spray painted her wooden frames.  I knew this would be easier, but it was much more expensive, since I wanted different colors for each frame.  Instead of buying spray paint, I bought acrylic paint and paint brushes.  All of those twists and turns in the wood scared me, but the acrylic paint was $0.69 a bottle!  SCORE!  I purchased three different colors: Craft Smart Bright Pink, Craft Smart Citron, and Americana Indian Turquoise.

I’m not going to lie, painting the frames was not the most fun/easy thing to do.  It took two coats of paint and I didn’t worry about the inside edges of the frame, just the outer edge.

After I was finished painting, I let them dry for 24 hours.  I tried to recreate my own subway art classroom rules, similar to the ones in Kindercrazeblog.com’s post.  Honestly, it was time consuming and didn’t look nearly as good, so I ended up buying the ones in the blog by Maria Manore Gavin.  You can find them here.

My issue was there was only 5 classroom rules and I wanted 6 frames.  3 on each side of my clock on the front wall.  So, I made my own “In Our Class, We…” sign.  FREEBIE ALERT: You can find it on my TeachersPayTeachers here: In Our Class, We… Subway Art Poster FREEBIE

Putting It All Together

My issue with the printable signs was that the wooden frames fit 11×14 photos and I could only print the paper 8.5 x 11.  So, I printed the subway art in color and glued it onto bright colored construction paper that I had in my classroom (you can buy this at Staples, OfficeMax, HobbyLobby, etc.)  I glued two pieces of 8.5 x 11 together to fit around the entire piece of paper.  After gluing them together, I laminated them to give them a little more structure.  

Now came the fun part: hanging them up!  This required hubby and a ladder.  I taped the laminated posters up temporarily to make sure they were spaced correctly.  Then, I hot glued the laminated posters up in their correct spots above the whiteboard.  After I hot glued, I used Scotch Mounting Squares that I had purchased from Target.

I am so happy with how these turned out!  It is a focal point in my classroom and I love that I can reference my classroom rules decor easily throughout the year!  Here are a few more pictures!

The post DIY: Classroom Rules Decor appeared first on Jersey Girl Gone South.

It’s hard to believe, but it is back to school time already!  Last week, I met my 25 anxious fourth graders at Open House.  Growing up in New Jersey, we didn’t have the option to meet our teacher or see our classroom before the first day of school.  Looking back on it, I wish we did because it can definitely ease some (not all) of those nerves!

Because the night of Open House usually flies by and is pretty chaotic, I went with a different approach for Open House.  In the past, I’ve been so concerned about getting required papers back signed that night.  But instead of putting my focus on requirements, I made my own requirement: ENJOY MEETING MY NEW STUDENTS!  Seems simple.. and it was always a priority… but it was never my sole focus.  

How I Organized for Open House

This year, I organized my flow for Open House in a simple way.  Here’s what I did:

1.  Easy desk layout for parents and students.

2.  Make a special treat for the kiddos! (Or two! )

3.  Personalize something for each student.  I wrote each student a small letter on the back of the postcard.  

4.  Put the unneeded paperwork out of sight.  I used a manila envelope and sealed it with the papers that the parents could look at on their own time.

5.  Simplify the paperwork!  I used a flipbook from Chalk and Apples that I bought on TpT.  It’s editable and amazing!  Click Here to Find the Flipbook on TPT!

6.  Create a parent checklist.  Let’s be honest… they have just as much trouble following directions as the kids do! haha

7.  Enjoy meeting your new students!!!

Most importantly, I hope you all have an awesome Open House and Back to School season!  This time of year can be CrAzY for teachers!  Above all, do your best to put it all aside and focus on those new faces in your classroom!

The post Open House 2015 – Welcome Back to School appeared first on Jersey Girl Gone South.

This past weekend, my husband and I had an awesome time in Las Vegas!  We went for two reasons: the Teachers Pay Teachers conference and a UFC event.  Both were beyond amazing!  As I sat through the TPT conference, I was flooded with information about making my TPT store grow.  But when I sat back and reflected on the experience, I realized that it was not only about making my store grow, but how I could grow as a teacher, creator, and business person.  Above all, it was in that moment that I had a bit of an epiphany.

My Epiphany

My epiphany was this:  You CAN do it all!

So many people attribute their lack of performance in life, work, family, etc. to their lack of time.  I think maybe there is enough time, it is how we spend it that becomes our problem.

Erin Cobb, from I’m Lovin’ Lit, gave out these LIFE CHANGING planners at her TPT session (Check it out here!).  I cannot wait to put mine to use!  I often feel so overwhelmed with day to day happenings that so many things fall to the wayside.  Now, don’t get me wrong… I am often labeled an organizational freak and a planner of all planners.  But still, I often go to sleep wishing I had time managed to accomplish more throughout the day.  Whether it was putting more time to creating TPT products, writing a new blog post for my blog, cleaning the house, walking the dog, cooking a better dinner.  It is always something, right?!

As a result… I vow to use my awesome planner in an effort to organize ALL aspects of my life!

Today is the day to start new… with the attitude… YOU CAN DO IT ALL!

Here are a couple of my personal favorite photos of our trip to Vegas!

The post You CAN do it all! appeared first on Jersey Girl Gone South.

Welcome!  Let me first introduce myself!  My name is Erin Kathryn, or Jersey Girl Gone South on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I have been teaching 4th grade for three years and love every minute of it!  About a year ago, I created my Teachers Pay Teachers store and as I begin my week long Thanksgiving Break (YIPPEE!!!!!!) I decided to start a new adventure….a blog!  I want to share my highs….lows….and in-betweens as I navigate through my teaching/creating career!

Learning As I Go…

One of my favorite things to do is read other teacher’s blogs. I love hearing about their ideas, things that went well in their classroom, or how they created/use a product in their classrooms. My hope is create a space for other teachers to learn from me as well!

The post Starting a New Adventure…A New Blog appeared first on Jersey Girl Gone South.