Wild and Crazy Start to the Year!

We are in our 5th week of school, and I have to say, this is the craziest school year I have ever experienced! Here is the Cliff Notes version of my start to the year:

The second day of school  dropped my document camera on my big toe and broke it - exactly 7 minutes before I was supposed to let students in!  My toe is finally feeling better, but it sure is big, fat and ugly.  I guess sandal season is about over.  And in case you were wondering (because my principal was), my document camera survived, thankfully!

The next week of school I was hit with a nasty stomach bug, which necessitated wee hour sub plans because I hadn't prepped my emergency sub plans that I bought this summer!  Thankfully my teammate came to the rescue, and helped my poor sub out, because I'm pretty sure the plans were incoherent!  Needless to say, My Emergency Sub Plans are now all prepped and ready to go!  

Barb at Kinderzoo created a fabulous product, and she has them for a variety of books!  If you don't have an emergency sub tub or packet, you should go check out all of Barb's fabulous Sub Planners!

Week 3 brought the exciting roller coaster ride of being transferred to 5th grade due our building losing a teacher, but just as I was getting excited and settling in to the idea, another teacher in our building left, and so I didn't move to 5th after all.

Week 4 culminated in kidney stones, which reared their ugly little head on the weekend, so at least my little lovelies didn't have to have another sub!

The roller coaster was making me weary and I was feeling really defeated when I opened my email to find exciting news from Cheryl at Crayons and Curls.  I was the winner of Angela Watson's Awakened book giveaway!  

     

I am super excited about it!  I received my signed books from Angela in the midst of my possible grade change chaos, and it seemed nothing short of divine intervention!  I have started reading, and I have to say Angela truths are really hitting home!  I am looking forward to this journey!

When I first started stalking reading blogs, Angela's blog, The Cornerstone, was one of the first ones I read routinely. If you haven't visited her site The Cornerstone, you must go check her out! Her monthly roundup of Best Teacher Freebies is a great resource, now organized by grade bands! You can check out September's post here.

On a much brighter note, week 5 has been highly productive and the crazy drama of the first month seems to be behind us! I am really looking forward to getting back into the blogging groove!

We have a Winner!

Congratulations to Sara from Miss V's Busy Bees! She was the winner of my 100 follower giveaway!  

I'm off to do some shopping at the huge Teacher's Pay Teachers Back to School Sale! 

 (graphic created by the fabulous Amy Lemons)

I neglected to post that my goodies will be on sale too (20% off) and use the TPT promo code BTS12 for up to 28% off!

Be sure to hop over to Blog Hoppin' and check out the huge list of teachers participating in the sale!  Happy Shopping!

100 Followers Giveaway and Goodies for Everyone!

Sometime during my lengthy absence from blogging I hit 100 followers!  I am amazed, and honored that you want to listen to my rambling :)

In celebration, I would like to give away a $25 gift certificate to Teachers Pay Teachers! 

It's a win-win. You get some fabulous new products for your classroom, and you're supporting a fellow teacher!  I want to make this a quick giveaway so that the winner will have their certificate in their hot little inbox by the weekend.  I am going to try Rafflecopter, so here we go...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And because I love all of my followers, and I want everyone to be a winner...I have a little something for you.

I was creating a background to match some clip art and got a little carried away (AKA-procrastination).  I ended up with a ridiculous amount of backgrounds.  

All 43 are yours.  You can download them for free from TPT for personal and commercial use, just give a little linky love in your creation.  Now, here's the disclaimer...this is my first stab at this, so hopefully all will go well.  If not, email me, and I will actually read one of the 15 different pins I have on making backgrounds and fix it :)

Nicole, over at The Kinder Kid, has created some fabulous space themed things.  I was on the fence about doing a theme this year.  I created a Bloom's Chart and used a space theme, because the metaphor fit, but the space theme started growing on me.  Then I read Nicole's post, and that confirmed it for me.  The alien headband is killing me! I love it!  Hop over and check out her creations, and I will be posting my creations soon.

I start back for training on our new math curriculum tomorrow, and I am in complete denial :)

I'm back...sort of

I had planned to take the month of June off from blogging and all things school, but our summer took a crazy turn and June has turned into July too.  At the beginning of June we finally got Sophie, the German Shepherd puppy that we had been waiting for.  

Unfortunately, our sweet little baby had a congenital defect for which there was no remedy, so after 7 weeks with her, we had to have her put to sleep.  Absolutely the hardest thing I have ever had to do!  She was precious and dearly missed.  It's hard to remember what life was like without her by my side and under my feet!

I'm in need of a distraction, so in an effort to get back into the school groove, I'm back, sort of...  I'm not promising any earth-shattering pearls of wisdom, but I do have a freebie for you to help create a print rich environment in your classroom.  Several years ago I started adding labels to things around the classroom, not everything, but lots of things. They used to be simple black and white labels on ruled lines - because correct letter formation is such an emphasis with so many of my little lovelies!

I needed to add a few more and redo others, so I decided I wanted just a bit of color to help them stand out without being a distraction.  My revamped labels are still simple print, but they are on colored rule.  They're free in my TPT store if you're interested.

Download this freebie from TPT

I hope to be back later this weekend with some other classroom revamping!  And, while I've been away, I passed 100 followers, so I think a giveaway is in order!  More details to come!

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things...

Teaching Idea Factory is hosting her first linky party.  Hop over, check it out, and link up!  Who knows, maybe you'll find a few new favorite things!

I feel a bit like Julie Andrews now that I'm finally on summer break!  So...These are a few of my favorite things... 

Overhead Spinners

My overhead spinners.  Now I don't actually use them on an overhead, but they are essential for literacy and math stations.  You can read a bit more about how I use them here.

Sharpie Love!

What teacher doesn't love Sharpies and have a rainbow assortment in every possible tip size?  This year I actually let the kids use Sharpies (not mine, of course) on several art projects.  I loved the pop that the Sharpies gave their artwork and they were very responsible while using them.  Needless to say they have a very deep understanding of the word PERMANENT! 

MOBI Interactive Tablet

I love my MOBI Interactive Tablet and the kids do too!  Now if I only had an interactive board to go with it.  

I use it all the time during whole group instruction and the kids use it during literacy and math work stations.

Fisher Price Kid Tough Camera

Another favorite in our classroom. We use it regularly during our literacy and math stations.  When kids have an activity that is purely manipulative, they take a picture of their name tag next to their work.  It helps with accountability when necessary, and also give me a peek at how the are doing with stations when I'm too busy with small groups to check in.  We use it for so many projects too - shapes in the real world, small moments writing, poetry, and as a reward for our PBS system they can take it to recess.  It's truly kid tough. We have been using ours for the last 3 years and it still works like a charm! 

And of course, I don't know what I would do without all the fabulous inspiration from fellow bloggers and Pinterest!

What are the Rockin' Resources that you couldn't live without?  Head over to Teacher Idea Factory and link up and share your favs!

Feeling Blessed and Appreciated!

My twins turned 8 yesterday!  We spent the day together with just the immediate family to celebrate.  Their big bash with friends and extended family will be next weekend! (Lego fun for the boys and A Day at the Spa for the girls!)  Watching them together today I am reminded of how truly blessed I am!


Are you ready to feel appreciated?  

You have probably heard the exciting news!  But in case you have been under a rock or just insanely busy will all of the year end activity, there is an amazing blog hop to beat all blog hops going on right now!  Over 150 bloggers are each giving you a gift from their TPT store!  Absolutely AMAZING!

It's organized by grade bands so here's your links to get started:

PK-2: Hosted by April McNair at A Modern Teacher

3rd-6th: Hosted by Laura Candler at Corkboard Connections

7th-12th: Hosted by Adrianne Meldrum on The Tutor House

This fabulous event is today only, so get going!  You can also take advantage of TPT Teacher Appreciation Sale May 6th-8th.  TPT is offering an 8% dicsount, use promo code TAD12, and many, many stores are running additional sales so you can save up to 28%!

I have put everything on sale, so you can snag some deals.

Find it here.

Find it here.

Find it here.

Have a fabulous weekend! I'm off to shop 'til I drop!

Number Sense Winners and Some Insect Station Freebies

Ok, a day late, but hopefully not a dollar short! 

     

The winners of my Number Sense Giveaway are:

  

   

  

Congratulations Ladies! 

Erin, email me so I can send your goodies to you!

(ofprimaryimportance @ gmail.com)

Iraines, I have emailed your goodies!

And now some goodies for my all of my wonderful followers.. we are still need to wrap up our plant unit on Monday, but then we are headed straight into insects, another one of my favorite themes.


Here are the two Write the Room activities we will be using next week.

Click here to download this freebie from TPT.

Click here to download this freebie from TPT.

If you download either, please leave me some feedback and let me know what you think!  Happy Saturday!