Follower Extravaganza Giveaway!!

Hey there!! Something amazing just happened! I hit some amazing follower goals...check it out! 

2,000 followers on Instagram

300 followers for my TPT store

100 followers on Twitter 

and 

600 likes on Facebook!! 

This means that I get to share an amazing GIVEAWAY with all of you!! YAY!!! 

Some of my friends from The Primary Pack graciously decided to help me out with this giveaway by donating Store Credit to their Teacher's Pay Teacher's stores!! 

Here is the break down....

One lucky winner will receive...

$10 store credit to the following stores:

Gina Peluso

Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching

Proud to be Primary

Creativity to the Core

Missing Tooth Grins

One Sharp Bunch

Jennifer Drake

Emmy Mac Shop

and...A New Box of Crayons 

And $5 store credit to the following stores:

A Teachable Teacher

Simply Creative in Kentucky

THAT IS A TOTAL OF $110 IN STORE CREDIT! 

What do you think?! You ready to enter for your chance to win?!

Here ya go!!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Thanks for stoppin' by! 

October Currently with a Trick AND a Treat!

Hey there! I am so excited that fall is finally here which also means that it's time to link up with Farley for here October Currently! 

Let's get rollin'…

Listening- I am laid up on the couch thanks to my cold and I have been obsessed with Scandal…so I'm taking a break and watching How I Met Your Mother     …love it! 

Loving- The fall weather! The fresh cool air, the cozy sweaters and, of course, EVERYTHING PUMPKIN SPICE! This is one happy white girl! 
Thinking- My fall break is technically 2 weeks long, but I am only taking one,because I will be teaching an enrichment group of first and second graders about "Farm to Table".  I'm looking for fun, hands-on, project-based learning ideas for this and I have a million ideas running around. I have never done PBL lessons, so I'm super nervous on setting it up the right way. Do you have any helpful tips or hints?! I'm all ears!
Wanting- I have been fighting a stubborn cold the entire time I have been on break. Today, it has really knocked me on my butt…so my butt is staying on the couch. I am hoping that lots of naps and laying low will help me make it through my next week of teaching. **fingers crossed**
Needing- To sleep…yeah, remember all those ideas I told you were racing through my head? They have also been keeping me up (along with cold meds)…so, again, today will hopefully be filled with naps and cuddles from Kyle (my dog…not my fiancé). 
Trick or Treat- I'm doing BOTH! How can I just choose one!?

Here is my TRICK! 

Nowadays we all have nifty smart phones and we also have students leaving our classroom at random times. I could not keep all of my students times straight, so I decided to set an alarm for each student or groups of students to help us all remember that they need to go! My kiddos love it because I let them choose a sound from my phone and I love it because it keeps us all on track! 

So, give it a try and let me know how it goes!

And here is your TREAT!

Now, I do not have any "October" themed products simply because  I cannot use them in my classroom.  At my school we have a very high population of families that do not recognize birthdays, halloween, Christmas and quite a few other celebrations. So, I apologize for not having a halloween-ish item to share with you. Instead I have put the following items on sale until MONDAY (and if you go to my store you might find a surprise!) !! 

Well folks, I think it's about time for me to take a nap and kick this cold! I hope you have a wonderful enjoyed your short stay here at my blog! 

Thanks for stoppin' by! 

100 Followers on TPT means a GIVEAWAY!

click image to pin on pinterest

OR…

Use the image below to share on Facebook! 

WOOHOO! I have reached over 100 followers on TPT! As a 'thank you' to all of you that follow my store on TPT,  I am holding a giveaway! 

One lucky winner will get to CHOOSE one item from my store that they have had their eye on! 

Giveaway ends on Saturday, so make sure you share and check back each day to complete more entries! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck! I will be back on Saturday to announce the winner. In the meantime, hop over to my TPT store and browse some of my latest creations! 

Thanks for stoppin' by!

A HUGE GIVEAWAY! Don't miss out!

Hey there! Summer break has had me sleeping in, sun bathing and covered in hives/swollen.  I am writing this post in hopes that it will be completed before my Benadryl kicks in and I'm drooling all over my keyboard…yuck.

Anyways…

I have some BIG news to share with you that you definitely won't want to miss! 

I was invited by the lovely Carrie from Adventures in Kinder and Beyond to join in on an AWESOME MEGA-GIVEAWAY that has a ton of wonderful teachers involved !  Yes, you read it right…a HUGE SPECTACULAR GIVEAWAY that is running from the adorable Shannon over at The Diary of a Nerdy Teacher! 

There are some AMAZING products just waiting to be won by you! I will be giving my Puddle Jumpers unit away to whoever the lucky winner may be! 

So, here is your chance! 

HURRY! Come back each day to earn more entries. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Monday Made it ,a sale and a GIVEAWAY!

Ole,  Happy Monday! I'm so glad you are here and I hope that I can help make your Monday a little better. I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics (who just had an awesome blog makeover) for her Monday Made it! 

Alright! The end of the year has seemed to kind of sneak up on me which means I have been running around trying to check off the few remaining items on my classroom To-Do list. I finally got around to finishing my end of the year pack and will be sharing it with you tonight! 

DRUM ROLL please...

Here it is! My END OF THE YEAR EXTRAVAGANZA! This pack includes:

- My Original Parent Letter, written my first year of teaching. (4 templates)

- 3 Different gift tag options for your classroom kiddos.

- Memory book covers for grade K-3 with school years 2013-2014 to 2016-2017 *Be sure to check the covers before printing!*

- Memory book prompt paper 3 styles (K-3) with 3 different prompts. 

- End of the Year Scavenger Hunt with Fay, The Fairy of Education! (She "brings" your class a special treat for working hard all year...the treat is really up to you) :). 

Here is a little sneak peak!

Like what you see? Well, enter the giveaway below for you chance to win! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am happy to announce that I will be participating in the TPT 2 day sale! Hop on over to my store and grab this unit on sale RIGHT NOW and add some other items to your wish list!

Well, in the words of Porky pig....

"That's all folks!"

Thanks for stoppin' by! 

Five for Friday 4/25/14 ~End of the year Giveaway!~

Hey there! HAPPY FRIDAY!  I'm so glad you stopped by to kick your weekend off with my Five for Friday! This week has been crazy and I am definitely ready for this weekend!

So, without further adieu...

Let's get the party rollin'...

As some of you may (or may not have) noticed, I was a little absent from my cute little blog this week for a number of reasons. One of the MAJOR reasons was because my ridiculous, lovely wireless modem decided to stop working.  

So, much of my "spare time" was spent pulling a plug out of a wall repeatedly while yelling slanderous phrases at my internet modem.  Needless to say, I think all that yelling paid off because (as you can tell) my internet decided to work! YAY! 

Well, once my internet decided to cooperate I finally got to register my blog on blog lovin'!  Wanna show my blog some love? Click the link below to follow me on blog lovin'! 

This week the weather has been BEA-UTIFUL which means we get to go outside for recess! WOO!  My firsties, however, don't spend their time running around the playground like any six or seven year old child would be doing. Nope! Instead my kiddos are obsessed with sweeping the gravel off of our blacktop! Don't get me wrong, it is a clean obsession to have, but why didn't I discover this earlier?!  Can you imagine how clean my classroom would be?! 

I will definitely be putting this cleaning habit to use when it comes to cleaning out their desks at the end of the year! 

So...I need your help! 

I have been shopping for a new blog design and I have come to one major question....HOW DO YOU DECIDE?!?! There are SOO many talented blog designers out there how can you choose just one? After many hours of searching I have found some awesome designers, but still don't know what I want or who to pick! I feel like I am cheating or will regret choosing one over the other. 

So, I guess I am asking for your help.  Who do you use/love and why? How do you decide what you want your blog to look like?! I mean I love crayons, but that doesn't mean I want the sprawled all over my blog...I think. So, help me out and leave a little comment of link of some of your favorite designers! Your input is GREATLY appreciated! 

I have been working really hard on a couple of products to post in my store.  With my internet being difficult and a few other curve balls being thrown my way; I sadly had to put my Test Prep Pack on the back burner for now.  :(  Yes, I was a little bummed, but it opened up an opportunity for me to get rollin' on my End of Year Extravaganza pack! 

I am hoping to include my end of the year letter, gift tags for my firsties and maybe a few surprises!  

What would you like to see in a pack like this? Games, songs, scavenger hunts, etc?!?!?  

Enter the giveaway below to win your very own copy of this nifty little pack! You can earn up to 6 entries by doing 3 easy steps! 

Trust me...you DO NOT want to miss this! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Well, I must say my weekend is looking like it is going to be filled with prepping my Words Their Way sorts for next year.  My goal is to have half of the first book cut and in my Word Work binder by Sunday night...can you say holy hand cramp?!?!

Who knows...maybe I'll accidentally forget about my cutting and wind up creating or blogging instead...clearly that is more exciting than the monotony of cutting out word sorts. :)  

Well folks, that's all I have for you this week! I hope you have a refreshing weekend that is filled with joy and relaxation. 

Thanks for stoppin' by!   

A Quick Monday Made it!

Happy Monday! I hope your week is off to a great start so far! My Monday has been good, but I am getting this post a little later than usual due to quite a few things.  This Saturday I will be joining the Catholic Church and I didn't realize it would entail so much outside work on top of my regular school things, so it has been quite the week already. 

PHEW! 

With that being said, this Made it Monday post will be quite short compared to those in the past.  Considering I have not had  a lot of "extra time" (ha...extra time?!) to create/finish my idle TPT products that are waiting patiently on my computer, I will simply share with you a few of my most recent creations! :)

First....

Click image to check it out in my store!

Look how cute these are! 

We have my Math Workshop Essentials Pack.  It is filled with 16 rotation cards, 4 group signs, bulletin board headers and 4 editable pages for you to type your groups on or simply do something fun with!  This is the exact pack that I use in my classroom for my Math Workshop time...IN FACT there are 2 other teachers in my building that have started using this pack as well! Be sure to hop on over to my TPT store to check it out!  

And...

This is my NEWEST product...hot off the press! This is a skip counting center for your kiddos to practice skip counting in a hands-on way!  This pack includes counting cards for 2's, 3's, 5's and 10's with recording sheets starting a different numbers for them to practice that difficult skill of counting on! The reason I love using this pack is because the clip art images on the counting cards make it easy for me to glance over and see if my firsties have the cards in the correct order. It is a life-saver! 

Well folks, that's all I have for you for this very short Monday Made it. For more Monday Made It's be sure to stop by 4th Grade Frolics and check out some more SUPER cute ideas! 

I hope you have a wonderful week and a blessed Easter with your family and friends! 

Thanks for stoppin' by! 

Five for Friday! 4/11/14

YAY! You have made it through another week successfully! I'm glad to see you here and could not be more honored that you are kicking your weekend off with me. 

So, let's get this thing rollin'! 

Go Huskers! This weekend I will be sporting my red in honor of Nebraska's Spring Game. Now, I know that it isn't a HUGE deal, but it is a sign! The Spring Game means that warmer weather is heading our way, grills at tailgates will be sizzling with Fairbury hot-dogs and football games will be found on every TV channel.  It may just be one of my FAVORITE times of the year! GO BIG RED! 

Earlier this week I decided to try something new. I have heard and seen a lot about Farley and her "currently" linky party. In fact, Farley was one of the FIRST blogs I ever followed...crazy, right?! So, I decided to take a chance and join in on one of the largest link-ups I have ever seen! 

You can click on the image to see my "Currently" post! It was very exciting and a little scary to jump into such a large link-up, but I will definitely be doing it again in the future! Okay...so I know you may think that it isn't a big deal that I joined in a link up. I just thought it was really cool that I ( a little first grade teacher from Nebraska) was able to join in on a blog that I have followed since my first days of teaching! It was awesome! 

Okay....so this has NOTHING to do with education, but I just can't resist. I found this little chevron number at a half-price store and I just couldn't leave it there! I love patterns (gray chevron being one of my faves) and I have been looking for a little something to cute-ify my apartment.  As you can see, it is the perfect place to drop everything I have in my arms as I come barreling in through the door. I absolutely love it...now if only I could organize the rest of my apartment....NAH!

If you follow me on Instagram at all, you would have seen this post earlier in the week. 

My students know from day one that I have 3 favorite animals: dogs, cows and zebras.  One of my kiddos "borrowed" this project from her little brother so she could give it to me as a gift!  This adorable little cow is hanging on the bulletin board right behind my desk...every time I look at it I think of her little story that goes with it! AH...I love my firsties! 

My newest product is up and running! My kiddos struggle with skip counting so I whipped up this center pack that makes skip counting a little more hands-on. This pack focuses on counting by: 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's. Each group of skip-counting cards also follows a pattern with the clip art images this will help the kiddos figure out the correct order AND it gives us educator folk the ability to simply glance over from our small group or needy student and see if they are on the right track! Click the image to hop over to my TPT store to grab yourself your very own copy! 

Thanks for hanging with me for my Five for Friday. I hope you enjoyed your stop here on my little blog! I hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with warm weather and relaxing...maybe a little productive if you need to be :). 

Thanks for stoppin' by! 

My first...Five for Friday!

Hey there! Happy Friday! You made it through another week and I am here to share a few things I have been working on during my week off. Sit back, relax and enjoy my weekly endeavors.  Here we go!

My boy and I started off our week attending a Huskers Basketball game! We love our Huskers. On Wednesday night the Huskers beat the Hoosiers and are now in the running to play in San Antonio...do I hear a possible vacation ? I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. GBR! Please excuse the look on the boys face... he couldn't take his eyes off the game which resulted in him looking like he has a lazy eye and I promise he does not have a lazy eye...he just stinks at taking photos. :) 

As some of you may know, I have been on break this whole week which means I have spent my days curled up with this fur ball creating items to put into my TPT store! I must say Kyle definitely has an eye for design (hah!). Most of the time I am creating with one hand and playing fetch or tug-of-war with the other. He has really put my multi-tasking skills to the test this week, but I would say I still have made some decent progress on products for my store. 

I just opened my TPT store last month and I am so excited to have fulfilled a goal of mine.  I love creating things to use in my classroom and then sharing them with all of you! Since it is still VERY new I have found myself filling up pages of blank notebooks with ideas instead of sleeping. This whole "lack of sleep" thing may be what some people call insomnia, but I can't sleep with these ideas running around in my head! Besides, who needs sleep when you can be creating?!  I mean, I can't be the only one addicted to creating, right?! Please tell me I'm not totally losing it! HA! Feel free to hop on over to my store and check out a few of my late night creations...trust me, there will be many more to come!

I did a little shopping this week to prep for my next week of teaching our Extended Learning Opportunities for Kindergarten and First grade!  I have been searching for these animal plates since last summer and I finally found them at Target (god bless you, Target!).  So, since it took me forever to find them I stocked up so I can use them in my math centers.  They are perfect to use as addition or subtraction mats and since next week is totally animal themed they are ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!  My kiddos are going to get WILD about math next week! I think the sloth is my favorite. :)

Here is what I am working on today!  A brilliant idea came to me last night just as I went to lay my head down on my pillow (let's face it, that's when all of your greatest ideas come to you).  I introduce you to my "Luck of the Irish" Math and Literacy Pack. Again, it is still in the works, but lucky for you (see what I did there) I am sharing with you a FREEBIE of one of these pages! All you need to do is hope on over to my TPT store and download  your very own copy! While you're there be sure to follow my store to keep up with all of my late night product posts. 

I hope you have a FANTASTIC weekend!  Relax, cruise TPT and enjoy life.  Before you go, be sure to click that "follow this blog" because I'd love to see you back here! 

Thanks for stoppin' by!