Happy New Year!

I am so excited about this new year! The time is ticking away until 2014 and I do have to say 2013 was my best ever! We have been truly blessed this year!

My biggest blessing would be my two girls. I started 2013 on bed rest and was really worried about the health of my girls. But, God is good and we had healthy babies right on time. They continue to bring me pure joy everyday.

I took this for our Christmas card.

We were also very blessed with my husbands job. He had a wonderful year and was able to provide for our new little family. 

I will start job sharing in 2014. I believe it is the right choice for my family. I love to teach and I don't want to give it up so I am very excited for the opportunity to teach part time! I hope that 2013 was a great one for you and that you will be equally blessed in 2014!!! 

Please continue to check back in 2014. I think I may just have a little more time on my hands and I have really been working on improving my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I look forward to a great year!

I got a grant!

I am so excited! I have applied for grant after grant in my teaching career and I have not ever received one ..... UNTIL NOW!!!!!!!

Like I have said before I work at an ischool where every student has an iPad to use for instruction so I applied for an iPad document camera!!!

Here is what I am getting!!!

Job Sharing on the Brain

Hey Blog Buddies! 

I would like to pick your brain about job sharing. I am planning on job sharing after the first of the year and I can't wait. My principal has approved it but now we are mapping out the details. 

Have you done it? How did it work for you? 

I love that my school is willing to do do this for me! Another thing I love about my school is that we celebrate Christmas. I know that it is not done at many schools but mine does. We have trees in our rooms and decorations in the halls. 

We are doing a craft I found on pinterest for our parents. They are turning out great. The wrapping idea was from this link. The project itself is from this link. I combined a couple of ideas. The kids are loving this project! Here is an example of our work.  

We are also participating in the Hour of Code activities this week. It is pretty easy to implement since we have 1 iPad to 1 student.  Here is what we are doing:

We are using the following apps: 

 Light-Bot lite

- Hopscotch

-Cargo Bot

-Daisy the Dino

I have been utilizing the website as well because coding is not something I am familiar with. The students loved doing this today and they can't wait for the rest of the week. 

Share a Resource!

I am so excited about the resources I got at the TPT sale!

I have been waiting for the 2nd Story Window 3rd Grade Morning Work Packet. To go on sale and I got it!!!!

Plus I bought so much from Teaching With A Mountain View! I love her store plus she teaches 3rd grade in Colorado!


What resources did you get?


PLUS I FINALLY Finished my Common Core Reading Response Journal. I have a preview of it below!

Comment below with your favorite new resources!!!!

GIVING THANKS LINK UP!

I am joining the linky from Reading and Writing Red Head. 

Here is what I am thankful for this year!

 I would say that this year I have more to be thankful for then ever before! This year I had my sweet baby girls, my husband has had a wonderful year at work and thanks to my fantastic parents I can still work while they watch my girls. Our life is good and I feel truly blessed this Thanksgiving!

I also will be giving an additional 20% off in my Teachers Pay Teachers store  December 1-3! 

I need your help!!!!

I am working on a reading response journal for my class. It is common core aligned and goes with my new Pearson Forward curriculum.  What I need is for some feedback on what I am doing. I would love to send this to a few people and have some constructive criticism. What would you change? How much would you charge?  So if you comment below with your email I would like to send it to the first two people to comment. Then as a thanks you can have it and use the finished product!


PLEASE HELP!!! Thanks in advance!

Revamping!

I have been part of TPT for a really long time well about six years. So I have been going through my store and improving my older items, the ones that I made before cool fonts, cute clip art and common core standards. So I REVAMPED several items. I am hoping that my previous buyers will be happy with the changes and the potential buyers will come running!


I have been revamping my teaching as well. I have had an interesting school year to say the least. Learning common core, learning a new curriculum, and juggling being a new mom. Plus this group of kiddos is challenging but I love them! I had many of them when I was teaching first grade two years ago. We make A TON OF anchor charts. Soooo I am now OBSESSED with giant post its! Its my new favorite thing.......... Have you used them?

I have to write on them as well so I have been using smelly markers which the kids love!!! Scentos are my favorite!

What are some of your new favorite things?

What Does The Fox Say?

Have you heard What Does The Fox Say by Ylvis? Well I was teaching Onomatopoeias today and realized this would be a great pop culture tie in to our poetry unit! I created a fun lesson to go along with it.  Here is a LINK to the product in my TPT store.

I am considering have my students turn it into a music video too, in order to show off their poetry!

Book Reports!

A couple of years ago I came across this project in like March so I came across it again because of Pinterest. It is now my favorite I ever have done. Every single student turned in a great pumpkin!

The Uncle Si pumpkin would have to be my favorite! But shh... don't tell my other students!

 

I loved this project! 

This was the first time we were allowed to celebrate this holiday. We presented these projects and had hot apple cider (YUM!). It was a great day! How did you celebrate?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!

I feel like my like blog has been neglected. So I had to stop by. HERE is the deal:

I have a two babies

I work 40 minutes from home

I am a test school for a brand new curriculum( You ever wonder who tests the stuff you teach in your class room? Me right now thats who!)

Life is rough! I will be back though I miss you guys!

I will also post the amazing pumpkin book reports my kiddos turned in.

TPT Sale

Hi all! I hope you all are enjoying your school year! I just wanted to let you know that I am participating in the TPT sale. 10% off in my store until 10/14! Thanks for following me!

Back to Reality!

I hope you all are taking advantage of the TPT sale! I am! I just created a new form to use at back to school night,  meet the teacher or the first week of school. I created it because I felt that I had too many different forms for them to fill out and now they are all in one place.

Please check it out! 

I am really looking forward to starting school again!

BACK TO SCHOOL SALE!

What a busy week! I have been in trainings all day about the Pearson Forward curriculum. It is an online curriculum and it pretty neat! As I learn more I will share that with you! How is everybody's first weeks back going? I am getting excited!


I also wanted to let you know that I will be part of the Teachers Pay Teachers back to school sale August 18-19! All of my items will be 15% off!

Starting School

I have been out of town for the last 3 weeks. I had a nice time and showed off my girls to a bunch of people who were excited to meet them. I am starting work tomorrow! I went back for one day and I loved it! Its been seven months since I was working! I am working on getting my room set up and I love my Broncos stuff! I am so excited for this year! I have been working on some stuff for my room and I wanted to share with you!

You can check those out here! 

Here's to a new school year, new principal and a bunch of new teachers at my school! 

Farewell Summer Sale

Well I am going out of town tomorrow morning for the rest of the summer. I was thinking about blogging while on vacation but I decided not to since I will be so busy and this will be our first big trip with the girls. I will check back in with you 8/9 when I start school and let you know about our training.

Since I will be going away until school starts I thought that I would throw a sale! SO here it is 20% of in my TPT store until Wednesday!

How are you spending the end of summer???

End of Summer and A Giveaway

Well it's almost here ........ the end of summer. :(! I can't believe how quickly it has gone.  My room is almost done. I say almost because we have new curriculum so I am not sure what needs to be on my walls. I mentioned in a previous post I wasn't sure what my classroom was going to be like when I went in to set it up. Well worse case scenario I HAD MICE!!!! They were running across the classroom while I was setting up. Most of my stuff went in the trash can :( Luckily my principal said I could buy what I needed so I get to do a little revamping!

The next new thing that is happening in my room besides the principal and curriculum is I am getting tables instead of desks. I am not sure what to think about this I am worried about managing the students supplies. I would LOVE any input on how to manage this from experience.

I am currently working on some back to school forms and I will let you know when I am done!

Now on to a giveaway! I have donated another item from my TPT store to a giveaway! I am part of the the 3-5 giveaway!

You can enter this great giveaway here!!!! 

Now I mentioned doing my own giveaway before and I haven't had much of a response. I think I will hold off until after school starts. I will keep you posted! 

A Little of This and a Little of That

Well I was at my parents house over the past several days. It was so nice to be taken care of. During that time I realized my summer is really ticking away. I have one more week at home and then I will travel until our first day of training.  All of that means I need to go in and get my classroom set up. I am not excited about this because I WASN' T the one who packed it up. In fact the sub I had for maternity leave decided to redecorate my classroom and shoved all my stuff in a pile in my cabinet so I have been dreading it!!!!

This lead me to wonder if you all had any quick tips to setting up your classroom? Please comment about it below!

This being said Target now has back to school teacher stuff in the dollar section!

Another thing that happened while I was gone was that my principal resigned. I am really bummed! I hope that his replacement will be qualified and equally great to work for! Any advice for this transition?

LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST:

I am featured in a of giveaway!

The Teacher Life! She is giving away a bunch of great stuff so head on over and enter!

I am getting ready to do a giveaway myself! I was wondering what kind of items you would like to win? Comment below!

Giveaway

There is a great giveaway going on over at Confessions of a 3rd Grade Teacher. There are tons of items you can win and I donated to the giveaway! My donation is any item from my TPT store! So head on over and enter! 

Weekend Reflection

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! Ours was really busy but a lot of fun.

My girls and I on the 4th!

While I was away some exciting things happened! First one of my Freebies was featured on Innovative To The Core. She has several great freebies featured so head on over and check that out. 

Next, I am going to be part of a giveaway at Owl Things First! 

Please check both of those out! 

I am thrilled to be featured and part of a giveaway. I am really enjoying getting back into the blogging world. If you are looking for donations for a giveaway let me know I would love to participate!

FAVORITE!!!!! Blogs

Hey all and HAPPY 4th! Well its the 3rd but I am going to be out of town in the mountains with no internet tomorrow.

I wanted to share some of my FAVORITE Blogs just incase you haven't heard of them.

My criteria for a favorite blog you might ask? Well first of all they have to be informative and major bonus points for making me LAUGH!!! I will share the categories with you below!


Teacher Blogs, Mommy Blogs and everything else!


Teacher Blogs:




Teeny Tiny Teacher:  Kristin cracks me up and has bunch of great ideas too. I know that I have mentioned her before.  She talks about life as well as teaching and has weekly features which I love!

First Grade Parade: Cara is adorable and she has tons of great ideas! If you teach blog and haven't checked her out ( also known as you live under a rock with no internet.) you should! I want to be in her class!!!!!!!! She is why I started blogging!




Mommy Blogs:

The following two blogs are an absolute riot! They tell it like it is and don't mind offending people in the process. So if you get offended easily don't check them out.

Pregnant Chicken: This HILARIOUS blog got me through pregnancy and I recommend it to everyone is pregnant or wants to be pregnant or just had a baby. THERE IS TONS of relevant information on her blog. DIG DIG DIG through the archives too!








Rants From Mommy Land: There are three witty moms that blog on the site and I have just recently become a giant fan! They tell it like is, have great ideas and let you know, no, you are not the only one... or if you think that was bad, listen to this..........





Everything Else:

The Small Things Blog: Kate is super talented! She creates video tutorials on how to do hair, make up or what to wear. I subscribe to her youtube channel also. So if you are having a bad hair day, or just want a tip or two check her out.


Okay, those are my favorites. I know there are a million great blogs out there! I read tons more all the time. But those are my tip top choices. I would LOVE for you to share what your favorites are so comment below!

Twins on the Brain and a Linky

Hey all! I have been thinking about my twins and it got me thinking about twins you might have had in your class. These days it seems like twins are everywhere! (Maybe I am just more aware now?!) I was wondering if you have taught a set of twins or multiples in your class at the same time, or maybe your school splits multiples. I just was wondering about how it went? Comment below and tell me of you positive or not so positive experiences!

I have had adopted siblings in my class and two sets of twins way back in student teaching........ but that was along time ago!

Anyways with twins on the brain I wanted to share an updated pic of my sweet girls! Its hard to get them both to look at the camera since they are babies,

but in this one at least they are looking! Happy Tuesday!


I also just joined a linky party over at First Grade Parade! LOVE HER! Check it out here!

I'm BAAACKK!

Alright I have been on a hiatus! I have two infant daughters so it should be understandable but in all honesty part of me was deciding if I was going to stay at home or go back to school. I couldn't write a teacher blog not being a teacher. (Right?)

I have been out of the the classroom for six months now because of bed rest, maternity leave and summer vacation. I had never planned on staying at home but then these two little babies came and I couldn't imagine leaving them! (Anyone else been there done that?) However after countless hours of debating I am returning to work in just over a month. My sweet girls will be five months old. It will be a challenge but I am excited for it!

Here is why:

1. My first graders from two years ago are now going to be back with me as 3rd graders!

2. We are getting all new curriculum strictly on the iPad through Pearson. We will be fully trained on this as we are a test model so I will have to share how it goes.

3. I am going to be teaching literacy!!!! WHOHOO I have always hoped to have this opportunity!


Now any other working moms? I am sure there are!!! Please comment with any tips you may have on making the transition back to work?

I really look forward to sharing the latest greatest technology training with you all!

Teachers Pay Teachers SALE

Hey all! I hope this finds you well and gearing up for the end of the school year! Make this crazy time of year a little less hectic by stocking up on some great lesson plans at the TPT sale. The sale is 5/7-5/8! Everything in my store is an additional 15% off!

Visit my store here! 

HAPPY TEACHING!!!!

Happy Spring Break!

Here in the Denver area it is Spring Break. I hope you are enjoying yours!!! From previous blog posts you may know that I have been out on bed rest for the last 8 weeks. Well my girls are finally here! I wanted to share with you the arrival of Lexi and Lili Cook!

I hope you have a great Spring Break and Easter Holiday!

Bed Rest and Valentines

Hey all! I feel like this little blog has been neglected this school year. As I mentioned in a previous post I am pregnant!!!! With twin girls!!!! I could not be more excited however that is the number one priority  and not my blog.

 Before my girls come I am on bed rest! I will not be returning this year. That was the hardest thing to realize and I had to quit teaching really abruptly!

NOW I am on bed rest which I will do because it means healthy babies but................ I have a bunch of time on my hands.........

 SO I would love your suggestions on what I should/ could do while I wait. Any websites to check out? Any books to read? WHAT SHOULD I DO!!!!


I will post periodically on here as sit at home.

I also have put my Valentines and Presidents Day items on sale in my tpt store. They will be 20% off until Valentines Day. Check them out here!

Super Sunday Sale

I wanted to let you know that I have joined the Super Sunday Sale. Tomorrow everything in my store will be an additional 10%! Happy Shopping!

Super Bowl

Now you know that I love football so I will be watching the Super Bowl even though my Broncos are not in it! I had high hopes this season and it was a fun one to watch!

I will be doing some fun activities in my room as well. Last year I created a mini unit and didn't get to use it because of a snow day! We have been having very nice weather for winter in CO so I hope I get to use it this year. Super Bowl Mini Unit You can check it out in my tpt store. It would be best with 1st and 2nd grade but I plan to use parts with my third graders.

Happy Super Bowl week! I am cheering for the 49ers this year!