2014 ~ The Best Year Yet!

So here we are looking 2014 right in the eye.  Have you decided on a New Year's Resolution yet?  Is it to get in better shape?  To de-stress your life?  To amp up your teaching game?  Well, whatever it is, we're here to help you...although we all think you're perfect just the way you are!

I have teamed up with several fabulous teacher bloggers to bring you The Best Year Yet Blog Hop and Giveaway :) 

From New Year's Eve until January 2, you can hop around our blogs and grab a FREEBIE from each of us.  Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter at The Teaching Tribune for your chance to win one of these fabulous prizes.

Today I am offering the product below as my freebie.  Simply click on the picture to take you to my store to download it.

While you're at my store you may also want to check out these products, just perfect for those first few weeks back at school.

Be sure to continue the circle on the blog hop by clicking the button below.

We truly hope that 2014 is your best year yet and that it brings you good health, happiness and many other good things.

Remembering Sandy Hook

As educators, we remember and honor our fallen colleagues and their students from Sandy Hook Elementary School. We honor them each day in our classrooms in which we continue their dream of teaching our children. We honor their memory with our service. Join with teachers everywhere in committing random acts of kindness to show our love for Sandy Hook. #love4SH

Christmas Questionnaire Linky

Hey y'all!
I'm linking up with Michelle at Fabulous in First for her Christmas Questionnaire Linky :)

Hot Chocolate or Eggnog? 

Definitely hot chocolate! I've never tried eggnog, and I don't plan to ever try it - the name alone grosses me out!

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them underneath the tree? 

When I was younger, Santa did both. The bigger presents were laid out, and the smaller ones were wrapped. When I got a little bit older, my stepmom would wrap our gifts in "code" - and she wouldn't let us know what the code was until Christmas morning. My sisters and I LOVED it! For example, the code might have been my gifts were wrapped in snowmen wrapping paper, my sister's were wrapped in Santa wrapping paper, and my stepsister's were wrapped in reindeer wrapping paper. It was so much fun trying to crack the code ourselves - which we never did. :)

Colored lights or white? 

White. We decorate our tree in a Georgia Bulldogs theme, so the ornaments are red, black, and silver :) 

Real or Fake Tree? 

I have ALWAYS had a real tree for Christmas - one year my hubby and I used a fake one, but I definitely prefer real. You can't beat the smell!

What Tops Your Tree?

 A silver star

Favorite Christmas Memories or Traditions?

My favorite Christmas memory is from Christmas morning 2 years ago - it's when my husband proposed! :) Remember up above where I said we used a fake tree one year? Well, we had been really busy and hadn't had the time to put up a Christmas tree. I was pretty upset, because I had never NOT had a tree. Well, my sweet hubby woke up in the middle of the night and decorated a fake Christmas tree that we had in storage - my ring was hanging on it when I woke up the next morning :)

Do you remember your favorite gift as a child? 

I don't remember a specific gift, but I'm sure it was a baby doll - I was ALL about the baby dolls when I was younger!

Do prefer giving or receiving? 

I love GIVING! I have so much fun picking out gifts for people. My problem is waiting until Christmas to give them the gifts..I get so excited that I want to give it to them right then :)

What is your favorite Christmas song? 

Mariah Carey's version of "All I Want for Christmas is You" - I LOVE to jam out to that one in the car and PRETEND that I can sing.

Candy Canes. Yuck or Yum? 

Yuck - they're too sticky and I don't like anything peppermint flavored.

Favorite Christmas Movie?  

Home Alone (that's kind of a Christmas movie, right?)

 

Do you shop online or at stores?

In stores!

Photo Cards, Letter or Store Bought Card? 

I love giving and receiving photo cards!

Go link up with Michelle to share your answers to the Christmas Questionnaire!!

 

**Don't forget to enter the giveaway I have going on right now - you only have one more day to enter to win some FABULOUS prizes, including a $25 TPT gift certificate!!**

XOXO,

*200 Follower Giveaway Time!*

Hey friends!
I am so grateful for each and every one of you that stop by my blog! A few weeks back, I realized that I had hit 200 followers on this little blog of mine, and I knew I wanted to celebrate by offering the chance to win some FABULOUS prizes :)

There are 3 different sets of "prizes" that you can win. The first set is a K-2 Giveaway Bundle. This bundle includes 6 winter-themed products from some of my Teachers Pay Teachers buddies! They have generously donated a product, and all you have to do is enter to win - it's as easy as that! The next set is a 3-5 Giveaway Bundle, which includes products from 5 sellers as well as myself. The last set is for a $25 gift card to Teachers Pay Teachers. I would have a hay day with $25 to Teachers Pay Teachers! :)

**NOTE: Each set of prizes has the option to follow my blog, Facebook page, and Teachers Pay Teachers store...you {obviously} only have to do each of these things once, but can still enter each giveaway!

See the pictures of each set of prizes below, and make sure you enter the Rafflecopter for each prize! Good luck!

K-2 Giveaway Bundle

a Rafflecopter giveaway

3-5 Giveaway Bundle

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway


I hope you enjoy visiting these amazing teachers from around the country, and GOOD LUCK! The giveaway will run through December 13 :) Eeek..just realized that's Friday the 13th!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello friends!
I know I'm a day late, but yesterday was a little bit crazy, so I wanted to stop in and wish you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I had such a wonderful day spending time with my family and eating way too much food :) Later in the evening, my sister and I went Black Friday shopping...I usually really get into it, but for some reason I just wasn't feeling it this year. My sister kept asking why I was so cranky haha! So this may have been my last year hitting the sales...from what I can tell, you can get a lot of the same deals online, so that may be my route next year. How did you spend your Thanksgiving?

If you haven't entered this giveaway over at Easy Teaching Tool's blog, you need to run over there NOW!! You don't have much longer to enter, and there are TWENTY SEVEN products up for grabs, including my Disguise a Snowman project :)

Speaking of giveaways, as a special thank you to all of my followers, I will be hosting my very own giveaway to celebrate 200 followers!! I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart for following along on this crazy teaching journey of mine :) So far, I have 20 donations lined up, and hope to add a few more before the giveaway goes live on Monday! So be sure to check back to enter on Monday!

ALSO I will be participating in the CYBER MONDAY SALE on Teachers Pay Teachers on Monday and Tuesday...my entire store will be 20% off, and with TpT's sale, you can get 28% off every item in my store! So get ready to clear off that wishlist - I know I will be clearing mine off!

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving with your families (for those who celebrate), and that you enjoy your weekend before heading back to school on Monday! That's when I'm headed back anyway...how many more weeks until Christmas break?! ;)


XOXO,

Turkey Reveal!

Greetings from a disguised turkey-filled classroom! ;)
Check out my post over at The Teaching Tribune to see a few of my turkey reveals..Click the picture below to go straight over!

 

 

Have a  wonderful day!

 

Ricky Sticky Fingers...Dealing with Stealing in the Classroom

Happy Monday!
I'm linking up with Laura Candler over at Corkboard Connections to showcase a book by the amazing author Julia Cook.

Julia has written over 40 children's books that can serve as a spring board for various classroom discussions, such as tattling, cliques, and yes, even dealing with boogers. Click HERE for a list of Julia's books and the topics that each book deals with.

The book I chose to read and discuss with my class was Ricky Sticky Fingers. Click the image below to go straight to Julia's website for ordering information.

Do you know what's really cool about ordering the book straight from her website? She autographs it for you! This is no stamped autograph either..you can actually specify the personalization that you would like for her to write in your book. AWESOME!

Back to the book...I haven't had as big of a problem with my 3rd graders and stealing this year, but I have had issues with it in the past. This story is about a boy named Ricky who just can't seem to keep his hands off of other people's things! When Ricky sees something that he wants, like a friend's bubblegum, he just takes it. This goes on until one day when Ricky's bike gets stolen. When this happens, it makes him realize how others feel when he takes their things. Ricky uses the "good" inside himself to overcome his sticky fingers, and he decides to return all of the things he has taken from others.

I read the first half of this book with  my students, and led a discussion on how the students would react if we had someone like Ricky in our classroom. My students discussed this with their partner, and then I called on a few students to share their thoughts with the class. Most students said that they wouldn't like it if Ricky was in our class, because they would always be afraid that he would steal their things. Then, we did a few role-playing scenarios on how students would react if they discovered that something of theirs came up missing: what they would do and how they would solve the problem.

Then, I read the rest of the book. The students loved how the story ended, and how Ricky was able to understand how it felt when something was stolen from him. With their partners, the students discussed how the story ended, and how it made them feel. On a piece of notebook paper, the students wrote these feelings down and shared them with someone in their group. It was pretty unanimous that the students felt empathy towards Ricky, and they changed their minds about not wanting "Ricky Sticky Fingers" in our classroom.

Even though I don't have a problem with stealing this year (so far), this book was an excellent way to lead a discussion on stealing, why it's wrong, and how it makes others feel.

Check out Julia's website HERE to see a full list of her books, along with resources for her stories. I am so happy that I was introduced to this amazing author, and can't wait to continue building my Julia Cook library!

Turkey Craftivity + a FREEBIE!

Hey y'all! I've got early duty in the morning, so this will be quick. I just wanted to stop in and share a couple of the things I've been working on this week.

First, I'll share this craftivity that I just uploaded a few minutes ago..it will allow your students to show their understanding of multiplication and division fact families, while creating an ADORABLE display! Just click on the picture below to go straight to the product in my TpT store :)

Next, I wanted to share this new FREEBIE with you! I have done the "Disguise a Turkey" project with my students for the last several years. It never gets old seeing what creative ideas they come up with! This is a family project, and I usually give the students about a week to complete their disguised turkey. Then, the students bring them back to school, and complete a writing assignment about their turkey. All of the materials you need to complete this project are included in the freebie below! Just click on the picture to snatch it up! :)

Yes, I used the same turkey for both products...but how stinkin' adorable is he?! Scrappin Doodles has the BEST clipart!

Also - don't forget to check out the awesome deal going on over at Educents right now - 34 instant downloads with over 1,100 pages!!! Click HERE to check out my blog post - you also have a chance to win any set of task cards from my TpT store for FREE! :)

Well, I told you it would be short. I hope you can use one or both of these products in the next couple of weeks! :)

BE ON THE LOOKOUT for my 200 follower giveaway coming up very soon!!

XOXO,

Educents bundle + GIVEAWAY!

Do you ever have a hard time finding the perfect reading & language arts materials to use with your students? I know I do! Luckily, I have a group of trusty TpT sellers that I go to first when searching for reliable products that I KNOW will work. I have teamed up with some of these fabulous sellers and Educents to provide you with this great bundle for 3rd and 4th grades!

I am very excited to be a part of the bundle with Educents!  I know you will love my Common Core Reading Test Prep BUNDLE for grades 2-4! It is a FANTASTIC resource that will get your students prepared for state testing with the Common Core!

This bundle includes a total of 10 reading passages (5 informational and 5 narrative), along with common-core aligned questions for each passage. This bundle is a great way to get your students ready for state tests, because they must go back to the text and give evidence to support their answers.

There are many other products in our bundle to get your kids learning!  

Centers, printables, vocabulary, book studies, interactive notebooking and so much more!

Click on the button below to go to Where the Wild Things Learn's blog to see the awesome product that she has included in the Educents bundle :)

  But that's not all!   Since you stopped by my blog, I would like to give you a chance to win something extra for free!  Please do any (or ALL) of the things listed below to earn entries...the winner will get any set of task cards from my store for FREE (no bundles, please:)) Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thank you for stopping by - make sure you check out the awesome Educents bundle - I promise you won't be disappointed! :)

XOXO,

November Currently

Hey everyone!
I have had such a busy weekend, but I wanted to stop in really quickly to link up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for November Currently.

Listening...my hubby LOVES The Walking Dead. It grosses me out just a tad, but I do watch it (sort of) on Sunday nights. Spending some quality time with the hubby :)
Loving...our weekend was filled with family & friends time! Yesterday, we went to a bonfire/Halloween party at our friend's house. We were over there most of the day, and had the best time! I love bonfires and everything that goes with them! Today was our nephew's 2nd birthday party, so we got to spend some time with my hubby's family as well. Great weekend!
Thinking...that I had cereal for dinner, which means I desperately need to make a trip to the store for food! Sometimes it's hard shopping/cooking for just the 2 of us, so I stick with cereal when the pantry is bare :)
Wanting...oh, how I love my weekends!
Needing...my buddy Jennifer over at Teaching to Inspire in 5th has come up with the cutest data tracking system for her 5th graders! She is just the best, and said I could do a 3rd grade version! Can't wait! Make sure you follow us to see when it's posted - it will {hopefully} be sometime this week.
A yummy pin...so, the picture below REALLY doesn't do this pie justice. My sister introduced me to Nestle's Chocolate Chip Pie a few years ago, and I was hooked! I make it without the nuts {because I don't like them}, but she uses them when she makes it. It is DE-LISH. I promise - make it, and you won't be disappointed!! Click on the picture to get the recipe!

Well, I'm off to work on some lesson plans for this week - we have benchmark testing all week, so hopefully my plans will be short & sweet :)

Have a great week!
XOXO

Happy Halloween SALE!!!

Hi friends!
I just wanted to stop in quickly to let you know that I am throwing a Halloween sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! My entire store is 20% off through tomorrow :) So, go snatch up some goodies!

Here are some of my favorite {chevron} products...click the picture to go straight to that product in my store :)

Happy shopping!

XOXO,