Five for Friday!~5/9/14~

Woohoo! Happy Friday, Folks! I hope you have had a wonderful week! I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share my Five for Friday with you! 


Let's get Friday rollin'...

Check out my EARLY Birthday present from my parents (they are awesome!)  I have officially joined the Mac world! I am currently typing this post on my Mac, mind blown! 

It is taking me a little while to figure out how to add image just to this post, but I'm getting there.  Do you use a Mac? If so, do you have any tips, pointers on creating products, or awesome tutorials?! Share away! I am so excited to learn everything I can and use my lil' lap top to it's full potential. 

WOOHOO! YAY for upgrading! 

I have been waiting and waiting for my lovely little wedding shoes to arrive.  I checked my mailbox EVERYDAY in hopes that a box would be there patiently waiting for me. Finally, last Thursday they came!! 

Check these puppies out! 

I am in LOVE with these shoes! They make me taller without making it difficult to walk and they are comfortable. WHAT?! Who has ever heard of "comfortable" heels?!  Now, I can happily vacuum my apartment in true 50's housewife style.  (I promise I'm not rolling my ankle in this picture.)

This week I took the jump and purchased my very first Erin Condren planner.  I have heard so many wonderful things about these planners, I just couldn't resist the temptation any longer!  I hope it helps me reduce the amount of planners, calendars and grade books I take home every night.  I've heard it helps A TON with organization, and since I'm only in my 3rd year of teaching, I haven't quite found my niche for planning...so I'll give it a shot! 

I love the saying on the front of this planner.  This is a common theme in my classroom, so it will work perfectly.  Now...if it would only get here soon, that would make my day!! 

Wanna check them out for yourself?! Click on me (the clip art me over there-----------> ) and see the loveliness for yourself!

This week has been filled with lots of testing and schedule changes for my kiddos.  Computers have crashed, systems have been down and test's had been frozen. Gotta love technology!  With all of this going my firsties did a great job of going with the flow of everything. 

After a long day this week, I found this sweet little note on my desk at the end of the day. 

This sweetie wrote one of the best "powims" I have ever received! Needless to say, this turned my day around in a snap! 

This is why I LOVE my job! 

Last but not least, let's talk about my giveaway!  For the past few weeks I have been running a giveaway for my latest product on TPT. 

This lovely little unit contains everything you need to end the year in a fun, yet simple, way.  It contains memory book covers for years to come, writing prompt pages for different grade levels, gift tags for your kiddos (beach balls, sunglasses, gum, glow sticks), and an exhilarating scavenger hunt through your school to a secret treasure ( treasure is not included ..haha).  I created this unit with busy teacher's in mind and held a giveaway to give all of you the chance to win your very own copy! 

Well, the giveaway is over and we have our winner!

DRUMROLL, PLEASE...

...and the winner is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations, Larua! Be sure to check your email for your prize! Thank you to all of you that participated in this giveaway! If you still would like your own copy hop on over to my store right now! 

CLICK HERE FOR MY STORE!  

Well folks, I hope you have an amazing weekend! Summer is getting closer with each and every day, so take a deep breath and enjoy! I'll be spending my weekend converting files over to my new lap top and hanging with this furry face! 

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!

Parent Teacher Conferences and Break!

Hola, folks!  I'm glad you stopped by today, because I have some fun things to share with you.  I just finished up with our second round of Parent-Teacher Conferences. {Remember: I run on a 'year-round' schedule so if you are finding this to be early...it just may be for you "normal calendar" folks}.  As I was preparing for conferences I ran into the common questions of "what do you share at conferences?" and "how do you share it with parents?".  

Now, I have done my share of searching for tools on Teachers Pay Teachers and I have tried asking those "well seasoned" teachers, but haven't found something that accomplished what I was looking to do in my conferences.  I wanted something that held my students accountable, but also showed parents that their child was aware of what they needed to work on.  So, I started asking some of my teacher friends I work with to see if they had the same dilemma I was struggling with. Needless to say, they were having the same question, but we determined that it was one of those things we would just "get" over time.  Well, that answer made me feel a little bit better for about five minutes and then I decided to take matters into my own hands. One of my friends, "Lynn" (name has been changed), has mentioned she just wanted a letter that her students could fill in the areas they felt successful in and the areas they felt they needed to work on to be successful.  This was a BRILLIANT idea, so I text her and asked if she would be okay with me creating a letter for her to use and potentially share with the rest of you! She was thrilled and was relieved to know that 1) she wasn't going to have to hand write a letter to photo copy and 2) that her students parents would be able to see/hear from their child about their feelings of themselves as a learner. 

I got straight to work and developed a letter for myself "Lynn" and "Amanda" ( another teacher friend whose name has been changed).  Each of us tried it in our classrooms and found that it was a great addition to conferences. We had parents tell us how much they enjoyed seeing their child take ownership of their learning and our students even enjoyed being able to share the areas they felt successful in and what they felt they needed to work on! 

Here is a picture of the Conference letter I made. Hop on over to my TPT to download it and keep it for your future conferences! Please be sure to let me know what you thought of it so I can improve or alter anything that didn't work out! I greatly appreciate your feedback! 

Phew, now that conferences are over I have a week break and then I'm teaching our "Extended Learning Opportunities" next week! I have been making a list of projects/goals for my summer break and here is what I have so far:

1) I need to paint more buckets to store my Guided Math Stations (this will also be something I work on over the summer). {see my buckets here}

2) Attempt to make crate seating for my Guided Reading table! Have you seen these things! They are absolutely adorable and also can be used as extra storage...who doesn't love storage? If not, pop on over to my Pinterest page a take a look at my "First grade Ideas" board. 

3) Find a Guided Math Stations to create for my potential Guided Math Groups. 

4) Hang out with my adorable schnauzer, Kyle. 

Just look at that face! He is very fuzzy right now, but it sure is keeping him warm during these crazy Nebraska freeze-outs! 

Alrighy folks, I think I'm going to keep working on some of my TPT products that I hope to share with you soon! In the meantime, hop on over to my TPT store or check me out on Pinterest. Don't forget to hit that follow button so you don't miss any freebies or products! 

Thanks for stoppin' by! 

Teacher Week '13-Let's talk about me Monday!

I am so excited to link up with all of these amazing teachers for Teacher Week '13! Now, I know I am totally new to this world of blogging but I'm going to give it a try...so here goes nothin'.
I have already done a bit of a "get to know me" post, you can see here, but another one can never hurt, right?
Here we go!...

My name is Megan and I am a 20-something First grade teacher in Nebraska (Go Big Red). This is my third year in the world of education. My first year I taught First grade in a small town setting straight North of my hometown. Last year, I was lucky enough to get into my hometown district where I taught fourth grade, which was a fun adventure, but when I had the opportunity to return to First grade I jumped on it! I LOVE first grade!

My blog, that you are currently on, was originally started as group of  reflections from when I Student-Taught, so if you go back you will find some very long posts on my thoughts about teaching before I had my own classroom. Recently, I decided to have a go in this world of educational blogging. Currently,  I am in the process of learning how to create and keep up with other Teacher blogs. My ultimate goal is to be able to create, share, inspire and sell on Teachers Pay Teachers. However, getting started is a little tricky and overwhelming at times! Slowly, but surely I am learning about this crazy world of blogging and hope that someday I can share ideas with the rest of you!

This summer I fulfilled a long-time dream of mine, with my boyfriend, and got a puppy! Our puppy's name is Kyle and he is cuddly Miniature Schnauzer. Here is a photo of him the day we picked him up!

He is just too darn cute!! Yes, he has big bushy eyebrows and a black mustache!  You will most likely see lots of photos of Kyle on my Instagram or in my blog posts. He already made it into one of my very first posts on here, be sure to check it out!

Next, I would like to introduce you to my wonderfully supportive boyfriend. He is a little embarrassed to be on my blog, so you probably won't see a lot of him and most likely will be referred to as "my helper" or "my boy".  I am very blessed to have him in my life because he is very patient and willing to help in any crazy classroom projects I am completing.  

Here he is folks! Again, this is the only time you will be seeing him. 

His skills include spray painting, cutting lamination, hanging posters, covering bulletin boards, making copies and putting up with my outrageous ideas. :) Sorry ladies, he is taken! 

Well, that is probably enough about me. Feel free to visit my very first blog post from Student-Teaching, follow me on Instagram or follow my blog to keep up with me as I work towards my goal of creating and inspiring! Be sure to check out the other amazing teachers linking up!

Thanks for stopping by! 

A little about me and some awesome finds at Target...

Okay...so since it has been awhile since I have posted anything I thought I would give you a little background on where I am currently in my life.  I am a first grade teacher in Nebraska and I love it. This is my second year teaching first grade, but my third year in the world of education. Last year, I took a jump into Fourth Grade and had a lot of fun, but I definitely missed my little ones! The school I teach at is on a "continuous calendar" which is similar to year round. I love it so far! I mean, only having 6 weeks off for my summer really isn't much different from everyone else nowadays. 

Just this summer I was able to fulfill a dream of mine. I got my very own puppy (well, with my lovely boyfriend of course). Everyone say hello to Kyle the Miniature Schnauzer. He loves to cuddle with me while I scroll through Pinterest or eat...I mean, help pick up the scraps of paper or lamination that I am cutting out at the time. 

 As you can see, Kyle also has great fashion sense. We were very lucky to be able to go out and spend a great day on the lake. You better believe that Kyle was the most ridiculous looking stylish dog out on the lake that day! For future reference, I do not always dress Kyle in clothes...only when I find it to be necessary...which isn't often.

When it comes to my classroom style I am a total color nut! I love animal print (my favorite being zebra), pretty polka dots and bright colors.  Let's be honest though, who doesn't love color in their classrooms.   I hope to post a classroom tour soon..so stay tuned! 

Enough about me....now let's talk about Target.....

I absolutely LOVE Target! I think we all know that their Dollar spot is simply to die for, there are so many hidden treasures in there! Well, I ran by Target for a "quick trip" which turned into me wandering aimlessly and finding magnificent items for my classroom. When I get into my wandering mode you can almost always find me in the school supply aisles. My boyfriend no longer worries when I wander off simply because he knows there is only once place I can be found.

 I LOVE school supplies! So, of course I ended up back in the school supply area where I found some awesome Scentos markers! My kiddos love when I get these out to grade papers or I let them use them for Word Work. The best thing is that they are only $1, plus they have so many fun scents. The item I am most excited about is the little note cards! ...

I mean, look at these! The opportunities are endless and they are only $1(ish) I will most likely be making mine into sight word flashcards, but I am tempted to go back and buy more simply because I can make them into anything! 

Well, I'm sure I will have more Target purchases to share sooner or later, but that's all I have for now! I hope you enjoyed my little update. I am glad you stopped by! Check back soon for my blog make-over and more classroom updates!

See you soon!