Showing posts with label January. Show all posts
Showing posts with label January. Show all posts

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Sunday Super Sale & A Pinteresting Wednesday


I wanted to share some great news!! Teachers PayTeachers is having a Sunday Super Sale!  You can get products for 28% off the original prices!  Those are great savings!  You know I can’t pass up a sale – so my wishlist is cram packed with products to purchase on Sunday!  I can’t wait!

Make sure you head on over to my store and add some items to your wishlist to buy on Sunday.




It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for  The Vintage Apple's Oh, how Pinteresting!! I love today, I get so many great ideas from each of you!!

After last week, I’ve cleaned up my boards and rearranged a lot of things. I’m so excited to say I cleaned my Pinterest boards.  It’s like reorganizing your cabinets!!

So, here are some of my favorites this week…


To keep in mind...









Thinking I can do this during my “weather unit” because it is adorable!!






This looks delicious, but I am sure the calories would be off the chart! Delicious!

 









I just love wild weather!!!



Reading LOVE!!



Love the colors - might be a new spring look!!



Not too much teaching related again this week - but yes, there is another side of me.

Have an amazing Wednesday peeps!

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Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday


It’s been forever awhile since I last participated in The Vintage Apple's Oh, how Pinteresting Wednesday… okay, maybe only a few weeks – but in blogland that feels like FOREVER!!!

I’ve found it hard to keep up with my boards lately – I think having two accounts has overwhelmed me. I have a personal account – please, people don’t need to know my “business” and I know not all of my followers want to see my teaching stuff – and I have a teaching account.  But… I have found that I am pinning a lot of the same things and I created some boards twice.  Ugh, seriously!?  So, here are some of my favorites this week…



Seriously – these are amazing!!! I’m not sure what I would use them for, but I’m sure they would make my room look ah-dorable!!


Source: etsy.com via Amy on Pinterest


Again – I think this is SUPER cute and it would make my room look so inviting. This may be a trend in my room next year!!


Yes, I am justifying the many occasional mistakes I make!



I neeeeeddd a puppy – Mr. Realistic, I hope you’re listening reading!!







My motivation for the week…


And, not that I bake, but I’m hoping Realistic Girlfriend will get the hint :) Yes, we follow each other’s boards. If she weren’t dating my son I just know we’d be friends. The fact that she dates Oldest Realistic is just an added bonus!!



I know, not all teaching related, but my life (contrary to popular belief) does constitute more than teaching.

Have an amazing Wednesday peeps!!

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5 for Five & Manic Monday Main Idea Freebie

How many of you are lucky enough to have the day off today?  Yes, I am waving my hand in the air!!  Yayyy – an “extra” day to get things accomplished.  I LOVE it!! I know we just returned to school, but I was already in need of a break.  Yes, it continues to be a long year. :)

I am so excited because today I actually get to sit and enjoy my hot coffee in quiet.  Yes, you read that right – QUIET!!  The house is absolutely silent. Youngest Realistic is still in bed and Mr. Realistic had to work (bummer) so the only thing I hear is my keyboard. Even with Oldest Realistic at school it is still loud in our house, and I adore quiet – I thrive on it.  Okay – so let’s get down to business.



It’s a 5 for Five Monday with Jessica and Jenn and I am so excited to share my accomplishments this week… here is how last week turned out.

1.  Schedule my massage appointment for this month – not accomplished yet… I just couldn’t get 5 minutes to make a phone call last week. 

2.  Schedule dentist appointments – this was a half accomplished task.  I cancelled one because it didn’t fit into our schedule and didn’t have a chance to reschedule yet.  It’ll get done… hopefully.  I need a personal assistant to make all these calls for me!

3.  Go to the gym this week – Yep, done.  Only went to Zumba on Monday, but I went once.  I hibernate in the winter – seriously. Straight to work and home.  I don’t like the cold.  I know – it is single digits in the Mitten so I should be used to cold weather, but I still don’t even like the 30’s and 40’s where I’m at.

4.  Print next week’s lesson plans, copies, and homework assignments– finished!!

5.  Blog at least twice this week – yes, and boy, did it feel good!!

Okay  - 3 out of 5 isn’t bad.  Let’s hope that I actually accomplish everything on this week’s list.  This week I have to focus on taking care of myself again.  It seems like I’ve been so busy focusing on everyone else as a mama, teacher, wife, and daughter, that I’ve lost sight of my own well being.  I’m sure most of you know what I’m talking about – I think a lot of women tend to do this!

1.  Schedule my massage appointment for this month – yes, back on the list it goes.  I have to get it done!!

2.  Go to the gym at least twice this week – do you see the trend? Hopefully I can get myself back into the routine if I ease into it.  I think I’m just going to have to take the plunge and get there on a schedule again!!

3.  Make doctor’s and dentist appointments. 

4.  Get next week’s lesson plans, homework, and materials printed, copied, and ready! I’m on a mission to be a week ahead of myself.  Hmmm… then I’ll have to catch up with myself that way too, but at least I’ll be headed in the right direction!

5.  Schedule at least 3 blog posts…. this is going to be a tough one, but I’m going to get back into a routine so I might as well start this week!!

You can probably see a pattern at this point. Once I’m out of my routine it takes me awhile to get it back together. But I know I can…just in time for track out (ha!).


So, if you’ve stuck with me long enough, here is my Manic Monday freebie!  Students have to underline the main idea of the paragraph and illustrate one of the details.  I know it looks so plain, but I think once my students get their art on the paper it will be really stinking cute!!  My students LOVE to draw and illustrate and I thought what a better way than to get them to focus on the details. Yayyy – they get what they want and so do I.  Don’t tell them though, or they’ll decide it’s not so fun after all!


Have a fantastic Monday everyone!!

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Inauguration Day Literacy Activities


Along with MLK Day celebrations, we will be celebrating Inauguration Day in my classroom this year.  I am super excited about the new unit I created to celebrate this important event – I thought since we learned about the election, we needed to follow through the process and study the President being sworn in to office.

Here are a few things that we will be doing:
  • Making words with the letters from Inauguration Day
  • Writing a newspaper article after watching the inauguration
  • Writing about a pet we would take to the White House
  • Writing a letter to President Obama congratulating him and offering our advice
  • Looking up words about the inauguration words in the dictionary
  • Reading about the requirements of being a President and responding


Social studies will make up a huge part of our week – but I am looking forward to it!  I love introducing my students to real life situations and scenarios.  If you’re interested in implementing some of my ideas head over to my TpT storeto pick this up.



Have a fantastic Tuesday friends!! 

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Scattered Thoughts and Clipart Crazy Linky


Oh my gosh – I totally forgot to post about the exciting email our students {via yours truly} received this week!! 

A long time ago, in a month far, far past…. we sent letters to men and women in Afghanistan for Veteran’s Day.  All of our second grade students completed this during our writing “switch” – have I mentioned that I love my team!?!  Anywho, we received a response on Thursday.  It was from a serviceman whose mother teaches in our school. 

Our kids were so excited to get responses to their questions, and I was so honored that he emailed me.  I scooted from room to room reading his email to all of the kids – each time I read it I had tears in my eyes, thinking about all this young man is giving up to serve our country.  Needless to say, it was an exciting moment, and a project we will do again next year!!


On another note, while I was stalkingblog hopping this morning I ran across an awesome post on TeachableMoments.  It was about the great paradigm shift in education.  It is a long video, but well worth the watch.



Finally, I’m linking up with Primary Polka Dots who is having a therapeutic Clipart Crazies linky. 



I am obsessed with clipart; yes, there should be a twelve step program for me.  Oldest Realistic, is an amazing artist and {insert whiny voice here} I have tried to convince him to make some clipart from his amazing & wonderful mama and my great followers.  But, it has taken the back burner since he is busy at school.  Hmph!  So until he and mama are on the same page, here are some of my favorites!




If you are clipart crazy, please head over to Lindsay’s blog so I can see who your favorite clipartists are!

Until next time…

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A day late & a dollar short! Five for Friday


Yes, it has been that kind of week – I’m already behind the 8 ball and it’s only the first full week back!! Yikes, I hope this is not how the rest of the month is going to be! Ugh!!

Anywho, I have a bajillion reasons for being behind this week, but number one is that everyone wants to have a meeting.  Guess I am the “cool” teacher – ha! No, just the one with tons of meetings!! So, I scheduled like 5 meetings this week and have neglected my poor little blog.  I had to move things around my plate to make it work, and unfortunately blogging got knocked off in the process.

So, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday {even if it is a little late}.  It’s really easy, and I hope you decide to tag along – all you have to do is share 5 random things about your day/week.


1.  We focused on Martin Luther King, Jr. this week and my kids LOVED it!! Monday we read My Brother, Martin {one of my favorite MLK books}.  We are learning about MLK and leadership in social studies between now and the 22nd when we change gears and switch to science.


2. We had too much testing this week!!  I know, assessments are necessary; but, seriously, we took two pre-tests this week and it seemed to take the wind out of my baby’s sails!  I hate that for them – they get so frustrated {even though I’ve told them they won’t know what is on the test} and in turn, it makes their teacher sad.  I know that crying, whining and complaining is not going to make testing go away, but I just needed to vent.


3.   In literacy we have been working on our Cinderella unit.  My kids are amazed by all of the Cinderella stories that we have read.  Even my “tough” boys love Cinderella – yes, the girl version!  They couldn’t believe it when I introduced them to Joe Cinders.  Don’t you just love when your kids find something as exciting as you do?!



4.  Unfortunately, due to all of the other activities we are doing, we will not be celebrating 100 Day.  It is really hard for me to say no to, but I know they have done 100 Day for two years and it probably won’t even bother my students {no other 2nd grade teacher is doing 100 Day} but it is hard because it is one thing I absolutely LOVE.  Ugh – I don’t even like to write about it. {Can you hear me crying now?}

5.  I actually had an “extra” day off this week – no, it really doesn’t mean time off, it means I allocated more time to prepping sub plans.  No, I didn’t do anything fun {still crying!} but I got some answers to some medical issues.  I hope {have my fingers and toes crossed} that I go in on Monday morning to a great note…but alas, I am not getting my hopes up.



Here’s hoping that I get on top of things this week and I can actually blog next week – yes, my fingers and toes are still crossed!!

Happy Saturday evening friends!!


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Flipboard, LeParcel, and Popcorn... a random mix!


I am so excited about today’s post! Mr. Realistic introduced me to a really cool app – Flipboard– it is a magazine type social media app.  I love it!!  If you’ve never heard of it, make sure you head over and check it out.  So, while he was flipping through his board… I imagine it is a “guys” version of Pinterest, but I don’t dare tell him that – he found a great “deal” and sent it to me.  How sweet – I think…??? 

So the product is LeParcel.  It is genius – each month you receive a package aligned with your monthly package… perfect, my entire monthly (according to what I choose) needs PLUS chocolate and a gift!  Here is a quick video of their product…


Meet Le Parcel from LE PARCEL on Vimeo.

 You know, I am not one to feature products on my blog, but I just couldn’t pass this up and it was “endorsed” by Mr. Realistic, so here it is!  I am subscribing this month and I will let you know what I think.  I can’t wait – it sounds almost as good as Birchbox!!

So – now that I am done talking about “real life” here is some new “teacher stuff!”  I am really trying to make this month as exciting for my students as November and December were, so I am featuring some special events this month.

The first day in January that I will be featuring in my classroom is Popcorn Day – January 13th.  Of course, you can use the popcorn unit any time, but I am going to use it this month.  Here is a quick glimpse, but make sure to check out my complete product on TpT.



I can’t wait to use this little unit with my kiddos and posting pictures as soon as I can! 

Happy Friday “eve” friends!! One day closer to the weekend – Yayyyy!!
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