End of the Year Teacher Gift

Thursday, May 26, 2016 / Leave a Comment

I couldn't wait for my kids to be in school so I could show their teachers how much they mean to me. I know how much a small gift can lift my spirits, so when my daughter started preschool I couldn't wait to shower her teacher with gifts throughout the year.  Now, we're down to our final one....the end of the year gift!

I wanted S's gift to scream SUMMER VACAY!  After browsing Pinterest for some inspiration, I decided to combine a couple of the gifts I saw.  We work on a tight budget so my goal was to spend less than $20 for both the teacher and teacher's assistant gifts.  

I headed to Target where I found $5 beach towels in the Dollar Spot $5 and below spot???  Luckily the twine was beside the towels for only $1.  We headed to nail care and my daughter picked out two nail polish colors.  While we were waiting to check out she grabbed two magazines and TADA....end of the year teacher gifts!!  After Cartwheel and my 5% red card discount.....$18.83.  SUCCESS!!

Any other end of the year gift ideas??

Happy End of the Year!!



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Teacherpreneur Tips and Takeaways from the TPT Meet Up PART 1

Thursday, April 14, 2016 / 7 comments
Guys!!!!  This newbie went to the Northeastern Regional TpT Meet-Up in Rochester, NY last weekend.  I am so incredibly happy that I took the leap and attended my first Teachers Pay Teachers meet up.  It was better than anything I imagined.  The friends I made and the knowledge I gained were totally worth the anxiety I had about leaving my family (for the first time) and taking a trip.



Everything from the welcome bag when you arrived, to the cocktail party and birthday cake for Teachers Pay Teacher's 10th birthday when we left, was absolutely perfect.  I can't wait to share all of the fun details!!!  I will be doing another blog post soon that will chronicle all the amazingness of the weekend.

For this post though, I wanted to share some of my takeaways and the teacherpreneur tips I learned and made note of.  In Part 1 of my You Tube debut, I talk the first five things I jotted down in my notes app.



The weekend was full of networking and conversation.  I mean the first event was a wine tasting and then we headed straight to dinner so there was LOTS of conversation before the conference even began.  I was the dork who listened in to all the fun conversations and tried to soak in all the information.  I had my notes app out and I would jot down tips, websites...basically any information that might help me on my TpT/blogging journey.

Flash forward to a week later. It is a lazy Thursday evening and I impulsively made my FIRST VIDEO and SHARED IT.  AHHHHH (insert emoji face with the wide eyes!)

Sooo.....check it out and let me know what you think!!




Thanks for stopping by!!!


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Five for Friday {We had a Lot of Fun this Week!}

Friday, February 26, 2016 / 8 comments

I'm so excited for Five for Friday this week!  
Thanks for hosting this weekly linky, Doodle Bugs Teaching!!!  

After a TON of testing and SNOW DAYS, I feel like we are finally back in the swing of things!!!



I am really excited about the writing goals we established this week!  I bought this awesome writing goal pack from The Teacher Talk.  This week in writing I have seen such growth, just from setting specific goals and targeting instruction.  



When I taught third grade (four years ago....), I loved doing jigsaw activities with my class.  I would divide them into color groups.   Once they were in their color groups, I would assign each group member a letter.  Then all of the kids with the the same letter would get together and read a passage to become an expert on a topic.  After everyone was an expert, they went back to their color groups and shared their learning with their team members.  This was a fun way to teach a lesson!

I've been wanting to try something similar in kindergarten and I finally found something that worked!  I divided students into four mixed ability groups.  Each group sat at a table together.  Then I assigned each table a topic that they would have to write a fact about.  I read two pages from a  nonfiction book and signaled the groups when I was going to read information pertaining to their particular topic.  When I was done reading (about two minutes of oral reading), the students talked and wrote a rough draft of a sentence about their topic.  Once I checked their sentence for accuracy, they wrote a final copy sentence with a magic marker (score!).  Finally each group shared their sentence with the whole group and we posted the sentences on a graphic organizer on the front board.  We did this three different days this week and broke our nonfiction book (about Dental Health) into three different parts.  It was amazing how good they got at this by the end of the week!



This summer I decided I needed to get in shape before I left for the beach (in 18 days-procrastinator).  So, I drew a 100's chart and made a goal to run 100 miles before we left.  I tracked my running by coloring in the boxes for each mile I ran.  The good news...I made my goal and felt great on vacation.  The bad news...I've fallen off the wagon with only little spurts of great exercise and terrible eating habits.  SO, I've decided to try it again!  My goal is to run 100 miles before my son's 3rd birthday, April 2nd.  
I think I can...I think I can....I think I can....

I do my best thinking in the shower and this week was no exception!  A new sight word game came out of nowhere!!

1-Students choose 5 random sight words and write them on whiteboards (one in each corner and one in the middle).
2- Randomly pick sight words.  
3-If a student has the sight words on their whiteboard, they get to erase it.  (I have them raise their hands before they erase so I can check to make sure they really have it).
4-Whoever is first to erase all their words, wins!!!

-I write a list of the sight words that were chosen so students who don't have their sight words memorized can check the list and see if they have a match on their whiteboard.  

This is a total hit in my K class!!



This is my new WOW WALL!  I wanted a place to celebrate my students' successes!  A little WAKE ME UP KGFonts and POOF.....my wall was created!!  
At first, I was writing specific successes (-student- mastered all 47 kindergarten sight words), then I decided that I didn't want students comparing their awards so I decided to go with....(student) met her sight word goal OR (student) met his letter sounds goal.  This went up yesterday and I am excited to see all their smiling faces on the wall!!


Well, I actually felt productive this week.  I hope I can continue this streak next week!!

Cheers!







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Five For Friday!! Love and Birthdays...

Friday, February 19, 2016 / 4 comments

It's time for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!!

I guess I have a theme this week....birthdays and families.  

Happy Birthday to me!! 


My two little ones decorated me a cake.  It was AWESOME!!!!




We also went to the mall.  They are inseparable!!!!   (xoxo)




I got a bracelet to go with my Christmas present!  I love having an apple watch!!  It's so nice to be able to discretely check your watch to see if a text or phone call is important without pulling out your phone.  Plus, I'm on time for specials and dismissal.  SCORE!!!



I have a hard time picking out V-Day cards.  They're usually way too mushy and sound nothing like something that would come out of my mouth.  Then I found this one.  I loved it.  But it cost $6.   So, I took a picture instead.  It's the thought that counts, right??




This is how I hope to spend my weekend.  Every moment counts!

Until next week....














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Love. It's all you need.

Sunday, February 14, 2016 / 2 comments

I've been married for 11 years.  I love my husband.  Over the last four years, we created two little humans.   A new kind of love came over me.  An overwhelming love.  An all encompassing love.  And I got swallowed in the love.  

With love, came the fear of not doing right by my kids.  Not being the best mom.  Not providing them with everything they need.  Not being healthy and there for my kids.  

The anxiety of being a working mom who wanted to be 100% at work and then 100% at home was very real.  

With all the effort I put forth into being the best for everyone else, I lost myself.  Without loving myself, could I really be present for everyone else?

So, almost five years later I am learning to love myself.  I go to the gym.  I put my phone away.  I read books.  I started a blog.  I play around on Instagram.  I started creating on TpT.  These outlets help my anxiety and fears subside.  I am a more present mother and wife. And teacher.  

There's a lot more to this story.  Maybe for another time.  For now, on Valentine's Day, I am focusing on love.....for my husband, kids and myself.  



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February Pick 3 - Pinterest Picks

Wednesday, February 3, 2016 / 10 comments

I am so excited to link up with Inspired Owl's Corner, Just Reed, and Pawsitively Teaching 
for Pick 3 - This Month's Top Pinterest Picks!!  It was hard to choose just three fun February pins but I somehow narrowed it down......

BTW, you can click on the images for the original blog posts or click underneath the pictures for links to the original pins.  


I know non candy/food valentines are all the rage right now, but I absolutely love these adorable fish bowl valentines with Swedish fish!!

(click the picture to see the original blog post- click here to see the original pin)

The blogger from Everything in Focus was looking for valentines for her daughters class and she found these on Etsy for $5.  She said they were very easy to print, cut out and stick in a  baggie with Swedish Fish.  Such a cute idea!!

Love...."I'm so glad we're in the same 'school'"!!

I've been thinking of the perfect clip art and font to use to create and personalize my own!!  So cute!!!  Here's the link to the Etsy shop, if you're interested.


Ready for some bling?????

This next pin is the cutest ring bling from Mom on Timeout!!!!  
Check it out!!

(click the picture to see the original blog post - click here to see the original pin)

Now, I have a hard time with any sort of craft so when I saw these rings, I immediately discounted them because I thought they would be WAY TOO HARD for me to create with my kinders.  BUT, check out the post and you will be amazed at how easy it is.  Trish includes pictures and step-by-step directions to help make the process easy and doable for anyone (including craft-challenged me).

She credits Disney Family Magazine for the idea.  I couldn't find the original post but I soon became OBSESSED with all the fun recipes and crafts that the Disney Family website shared.  This site got bookmarked immediately!!!


My last pin is a cute (and simple) valentine's day present to send home for Mom, Dad or any Important Person at Home. This looks pretty simple too!!! Thank goodness.

(click the picture to see the original blog post - click here to see the original pin)

"Deal"icious Mom found this heap of cuteness and blogged about it, but I am totally loving the website where the pin originally came from.  It's called krokotak...tons of children's activities and ideas.  Love it!!!!

Thank you for the linky fun, girls!!  I'm looking forward to March!!!





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Totally Elementary - Five for FriYAY!!

Saturday, January 30, 2016 / 4 comments

Yeah!  It's that time of the week!! 

Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!!!!

Short week...just three days because of the snow.  I couldn't wait to assess see my kids again after missing them for five days!!!


This is a pic of my classroom, Wednesday at 10:00 AM.  We had a two hour delay after missing two days because of snow.  My report cards are due this Monday morning and I still had SO much assessing to do.  I couldn't wait to cross some things off my LONG to-do list!!!  



I watched an amazing video on The Teaching Channel.  It featured a kindergarten teacher from San Francisco, John Michaud.   His whole philosophy of teaching was centered around providing experiences for students so they can create their own learning.  I was so inspired I immediately blogged and made pics to hang in my room (above) to remind me of this every day.  Stop and be present in the classroom.  Learning can happen with every new experience.




We are ready for the 100th day of school!!!!
All of my students brought in baggies filled with 100 items that they found at home.
We have Shopkins, Legos, pretzels, Swedish Fish (yum), cereal, pencils, popcorn and so much more!!

February 11th is our official 100th day of school but I wanted to kick off the fun with an interactive bulletin board that they whole school can enjoy.
Yes, this is the world's loonnnnggesssst board.  



Yesterday we made MELTED SNOWMEN!!!!

It was fun to be creative and messy.  Below is the cutest story that I read to go with the craft.  The kids loved how the "little" kid was the hero of the story.  



I'm ending with a shot of my two year old's fresh haircut.  I could eat him up, I love him so!!


Yes, I still eat Chipotle and we love it!!  When you source your food locally instead of getting the same old, same old off the Sysco truck sometimes things go awry, but I think they are going to get things figured out and bounce back!!

Until next week.....













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