Five For Friday!

I am SO SO happy it is Friday!  I know it has been a shorter school week but I always feel like those are the weeks that feel the longest!  This is the first weekend we don't have any family or friends visiting and I look forward to being lazy ALL weekend long!  Because it is a fabulous Friday I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday linky party!

1. Bring on FALL!!!

I love the fall.  I think my favorite part is the weather and all the decorations I have!  I cannot wait to decorate my house for the first time for fall!  Sunday I spent some time making a new fall wreath.  For some reason I love making new wreaths and I am really excited about how this one came out.  I told my husband I was going to wait and put it out this coming weekend with the rest of my fall decorations but I just couldn't wait and I put it up Monday :)

2. ELMER

I LOVE the book Elmer by David McKee.  It has been around a long time but I still love to read it to my new students every year.  Just in case you haven't read it, the book is about a very colorful elephant who tries to paint himself gray.  When he does all his elephants friends are sad because they don't know where there friend Elmer went.  The book is great to read to primary grades because it about how everyone is different yet everyone can be friends no matter what!  I always love to have my kids do an Elmer craft once we read the book and this year I decided to do a paper tear craft.  My students did an awesome job on their elephants and I love how they came out.  If you are interested in the craft I included everything you need for it in my Ultimate Back to School Bundle on TPT!  Head on over and check it out!

3. Hootie and the Blowfish

Who doesn't love a little Hootie or Darius Rucker?!?  I love both of them!!!  Because Darius is from Charleston, SC he comes back once a year with his band Hootie and the Blowfish and they put on an amazing concert which raises money and collects school supplies for our school district!  The concert is a two day event and myself, my husband, and his family go every year! This past weekend we went to his concert and it was even better then last year!  I have to say this is my all time favorite concert and I don't think I will ever get sick of going!  I am always sad when it is over because that means I have to wait an entire year to see them again!  

4. Letter of the Week

This summer I spent a lot of time making a letter of the week unit for my TPT store and for myself to use in my classroom.  Now that I have started teaching a letter each week I have been able to start using the bundle.  It has been such a time saver and I keep asking myself why I didn't make the bundle earlier!  It is so nice having 6 printables for each letter!  I have been able to use them for morning work and homework.  It is such a time saver and anything that saves me some time makes me a very happy teacher!!! My kids love the printables and it's great seeing them stay on task and focused while working on them each morning!

5. Behavior Elephants

Over the past few years I have tried so many different behavior systems.  Each year they always sound great but once I start using them I realize I am not happy with it!  This year I tried something new and made each one of my students their own elephant that has 4 stars that are Velcroed on.  Each time a student receives a warning they lose a star.  I finally found a behavior plan that works!!! It is such a relief to have a behavior plan that my students care about and don't ignore. I feel like it really helps that each student has their own elephant with their own stars that they have to remove if they are bad.  I love how the elephants look and I love even more how well my students have responded to them!!!

Make sure to head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to see what everyone else is up to on the fabulous Friday!

Where has the time gone!

I have been missing AGAIN from my blog!  The past month and a half have been absolutely crazy!!!  Back to school always seems to consume my life and to top it off we have also had visitors every weekend.  After this weekend hopefully things will go back to normal and my schedule will not be so crazy!  I have been staying at school late each day which needs to stop because I am exhausted when I get home and my puppy has been sitting in her cage for way to long each day! In order to get back in the groove with my blog I am linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her September currently linky party!  Here is what I am currently up to...

I am going to be posting some cute things that have been going on in my classroom later today so make sure to stop by later to check it out!  For now, make sure to head on over to Oh' Boy 4th Grade to join in on her linky party fun!!!

Back to School Sale!!!

I can't believe it is already that time of year... BACK TO SCHOOL!

Make sure to head on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store Sunday August 18 - August19 for 28% off all of my items!  This is the best sale of the year so you don't want to miss it!  I can't wait to purchase all the amazing products on my wish list! 

Happy Shopping! 

Missing in Action...

I'm BACK!!!

I never really was gone but I haven't posted in a VERY long time!  Things were crazy around here for the past 2 weeks and I haven't had much time to do anything!!!  Last weekend my husband and I returned from our 10 day trip up to New England to visit with both our families.  It was a great time but I always feel like we never see everyone we need to and we always run out of time.  I was home for two days and then I went up to Myrtle Beach where I met my dad and 2 sisters.  I just got home from that little trip today and boy am I tired!!!!

Overall our trip home went great except we did hit a bump in the road on our drive up to New England which definitely consumed all of my time for a few days!  My fur baby Molly got scared and pulled out of her harness while we stopped in P.A. to spend the night with my husbands grandparents. She was missing for over 30 hours!!!! Of course the area where she ran off into is acres of cornfields so it made searching extremely difficult.  If anyone knows me at all, they know my animals are my LIFE and needless to say I was a complete mess!  My husband and I were very upset and ended up spending an extra day in P.A. searching for her and missing the wedding we were traveling home to go to :(   We ended up finding her late in the evening after my other dog Maizy started barking and Molly heard her.  It was the best/worst day of my life! We are so glad to have her back and I am now going to be that crazy mom who doesn't let anyone else try and walk my babies :)

I am going to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday linky party to fill you in on this past week!  I am so glad this linky is back.  It is one of my favorites!  

#1

Myrtle Beach!

I just got back from spending the past 3 days in Myrtle Beach with my Dad and 2 sisters.  We spent a lot of time relaxing, shopping, going to the aquarium, and of course eating! 

 

This is a picture of myself on the right, my little sister in the middle, and my older sister on the left!

#2

Library Bins!

I have been searching all summer for new library bins for my classroom library.  I came across these super cute purple and teal bins in the dollar section of target this week and had to have them.  I am a little worried that they might not fit in the shelf I use for my books but I guess I will find out Tuesday when I go in to my room for the first time this summer !

(My cat likes them too :) )

#3

Organizing!

I have a huge closet under my staircase that I store all of my decorations in for my house.  When we drove home from New England my mom felt it was necessary to give me bins filled with even more decorations!  As soon as I got home I went through everything and organized it all based on which holiday I would need it for. One item that I always have such a hard time storing are my wreaths!  I now have a lot of them and always have a hard time storing them without them getting squished.  I came up with a great idea (or I think it is at least ) of putting a bunch of command hooks on the wall of the closest and hanging my wreaths off of them.  Saves so much space and keeps the wreaths from being ruined.  Why didn't I think of this sooner!!! It's the small things that make me happy! 

#4

New Alphabet and Numbers!

This school year I am changing my classroom theme!  I did a jungle theme last year and this year I am going to be doing the chevron pattern with elephants... Basically I am taking my blog theme and using it in my classroom because I love it so much!!  Earlier this week I had to go buy a new printer because my old one broke right before we left for our trip.  My old printer was 8 years old and I was sad to see it go but I was also excited to get a new one!!!  As soon as I got the new printer set up I started printing my new alphabet cards and number cards to go with my new theme.  I am so happy with how they turned out and I can't wait to get into my room so I can hang them up! 

#5

Yard Work!

My husband and I have been avoiding working in our front yard all summer because we have been battling with our builder about gutters.  Every time it rained all our mulch would wash out of our flowerbeds and into our yard because our house didn't have gutters installed when it was built and it was causing major issues.  We were getting water into out garage from the stone on our house due to the insane amount of water pouring off our roof.  After many emails back and forth I finally won the battle and the builder put up gutters!!!!  So silly but yes I was excited!  Last weekend my husband and I went to Lowe's and bought all new mulch and flowers and our front porch and walk way now look so much better!  I may have had to wait longer then I wanted but now we have a pretty porch and gutters!  Like I said before... it's the small things that make me happy! 

Make sure to head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to see what everyone else has been up to this week!

That completes my Five for Friday... Now on to my currently!  I can't believe it is already August!  This summer has flown by. I am also linking up with Oh' By 4th Grade for her August Currently Linky!  Another on of my favorites :)

Make sure to head on over to check out what everyone else is currently up to!!!

Monday Made It!

This past week flew by!  I spent a lot of time at the beach and relaxing. This weekend my husband and I were pretty busy spending time with friends. We went to a baseball game, bowling, and helped put up wainscoting in our friends new nursery.  I am tired just thinking about our weekend!!!

I didn't get a lot done last week even though I had so much I wanted to make...  I guess there is always this week!

I do have one thing I made this week to share!  I am linking up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It linky party.  

I have been doing a lot of thinking and really want to make sure I have all of my centers made and ready to go each week when I need them.  Last week I started working on an apple themed unit that is filled with different math and literacy games that I can make for my students to use all throughout September.  All of the items in the unit can be used for multiple activities which is great because now I don't have to make the materials for each center each week.  Instead I can reuse the center materials but change the center activity!  

The unit includes number apples, letter apples, apple themed word cards, and so much more!  Now all thats left to do is print, cut, laminate, and the worst part... cut again!  

If you are interested in the unit head on over to my TPT store to take a look!

Here are some pictures of what the apple unit looks like.

   

Make sure you head on over to 4th Grade Frolics to see what everyone else has been making!  I always find the cutest ideas from this linky party!  Now I need to get busy making all of the cute things I find!!!

Favorite Pin Friday!

I can't believe it is already Friday again!  My husband has been gone all week on travel and I feel like I was just saying bye to him!  I spent most of my week relaxing and going to the beach!  I also made sure to find some time to pin a little (a lot).  I am going to be linking up with Cara over at First Grade Parade for her fabulous Favorite Pins Friday so I can share all the fun things I pinned this week!

For my Classroom:

I LOVE these phonics cards!  They are so colorful and the best part is they are free!  Head over to Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons and check them out!

I came across this super cute idea this week and I can't wait to use it in my classroom next year!  My kids are always willing to share and participate when they know there is a treat involved.  Katie over at Rock & Teach made this really cute "Kiss your Brain" jar!  I will definitely have to make one of these for this upcoming school year!

Yummy Recipes:

This potato salad looks AMAZING!  I am going to have to find a reason to make this even if its just for me to eat all by myself :)

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My husband and I eat a lot of chicken so I am always looking for new recipes to spice things up.  I came across this recipe and I can not wait to make it this week.  I skipped out on cooking last week since it was only me but this week I will be back to cooking each night! 

Herb Crusted Chicken in Basil Cream Sauce... YUM

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For the Home

I have a big wall going up my stairwell and I haven't been able to figure out what to put on it.  I found this pin and was inspired.  I love how this looks! 

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Must Have...

I LOVE my Michael Kors watch but I am on the lookout for a new one.  I found this gorgeous watch on pinterest this week and I am obsessed!  I may have to start dropping hints to my husband :)  

It's probably a good thing that it is unavailable! 

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Now its time to head on over to First Grade Parade and see what you all have been pinning! Make sure to link up with Cara so everyone can see all your fabulous finds!!

Giveaway!

I am so excited to be part of an amazing giveaway being hosted by Sam over at Mrs. Kelly's Klass . She is making the move down to Kindergarten this upcoming school year and is having an awesome giveaway right now to celebrate for Kindergarten and First Grade teachers.  So many amazing bloggers have donated items to give away so make sure to head on over and enter for a chance to win some amazing products!!  You have until July 11th at 11pm to enter! 

GOOD LUCK!!!!!