Celebration Extension and Another Field Trip

First things first!

I was going to choose the winner of my 1st Birthday Celebration tonight but I have some big news!

Terri from The First Grade Princess, who just happens to be in Hawaii right now, emailed me the other day and asked if she could donate something to my giveaway...I was like, YEAH!  Now if you don't follow her...head over there now!

The 1st Grade Princess

Did you go?

I'll wait.............

Okay I can't wait any longer....anyway, her package hasn't arrived to the Buckeye state yet, so I'm extending my Birthday Celebration indefinitely...well, until it arrives!  :)  I'm so excited...I don't even know what's heading my way!  So, if you haven't already entered my giveaway, go ahead!  You can even add a bonus comment if you want!  :)  On a side note, never, ever in my wildest dreams did I expect to have so many entries...and new followers because of all of your shout-outs...I'm so humbled that you find something about my blog that makes me worth following!

Enter my give-away by clicking here!

Now onto my field trip the Lakeshore Learning Store!!

So, last summer a Lakeshore Learning Store opened about 1 1/2 hours from where I live.  It was on my list last summer to go and check it out but with taking classes, I never made the trip.  So, after breakfast with my inner-circle-of-trust, my friend Megen and I ventured out and headed east!  Oh my gosh my friends...that store is AMAZING!  Everything a teacher needs to start the year is on sale right now...borders, decor, stickers, certificates, etc!  And I got a few freebies too because I spent $20 (like that was hard to do...geesh!)!  Here's what I picked up today...

I fell in love with the polka-dotted letters, name tags, and calendar days in my color scheme!  I picked up the Happy Birthday Certificates for $2.79 and the Lesson Plan book for free!  (Not sure if I'll use that because I type my lesson plans on my laptop...but it has a pretty great calendar on the inside!)  I picked up a copy of the Poetry Journals I ordered for my class so I can start making my Smart Board slides to coordinate with each poem.  Here's a picture of the inside...

I love that there's a little writing prompt and then an area where the kiddos can write down or get autographs of the people who they read the poem to. 

I use "All About Me" posters with my kiddos every year.

I usually send them home as homework after our first week together and then I hang them on our outside bulletin board for the entire year.  The kids love looking at them...and so do the rest of the staff in our building.  I have purchased posters similar to this from Oriental Trading in the past but saw these and since they were on sale I picked them up. 

I paid $7.99 for a set of 30!

 Check out these Happy Birthday certificates!

I picked them up to give to the children from the other classes I will be teaching on their birthdays.  Since I'll be their reading/language arts teacher, I thought they were very appropriate!  The left half is perforated so that they can tear it off and have a bookmark!

And then, because I spent $20 so easily, I got a free bag too!

It's one of those environmentally safe shopping bags which are great, but I always tend to overfill them and then they rip, so I'll be using my bag to transport my laminating items to my mom when I have cutting that needs to be done.  (She says that cutting my laminating stuff is therapy for her...hey...whatever floats her boat.  I'm just grateful she does it for me.)

Needless to say, I'll be heading back to the Lakeshore Learning Store in a few weeks to get my last minute school stuff...totally worth the drive!

I keep reading about all of the Back to School finds everyone is getting at Walmart so I headed into a Walmart nearby and found this:

Our "seasonal" aisles are still filled with water balloons, beach toys, buckets, and summer fun!  See...up here in Northern Ohio, near the lake...we're still in island mode...at least in this Walmart!  :)

Sorry about the long post tonight...but I had things to share!

Take care!

First Visit to School!

Well...I did it.  I made a stop at school over the weekend just to sneak a peek at my classroom.  Here's what I found...

Just look at that shine!  

Even with the lights off...I almost needed to put my sunglasses on...that shine just screamed, "Welcome Back!  Time to get to work!"  My room looks so huge!  Oh...yeah.  All of the furniture is sitting in the hall.  Wait a minute!  Something else was missing.....MY TREE!  Oh gosh!  How did they take it out?  Did they have to take it apart??  

"What tree?" you ask... this tree!

My family and I, with a close friend's help created it last year!  The leaves change with each season...these were my spring leaves.  I love this tree!  But where is it??  I couldn't find it anywhere!   So I took a deep breath and reminded myself, that I was told that everything--EVERYTHING was coming out of our rooms this summer so that they could strip the floors.  Of course my tree had to be removed.  Everything will be fine.  So I gave my custodians a few days and went back for another quick visit.  Here's what I found.

My room is barricaded.  I couldn't even move things to get in...all I really wanted to do was to pick up my Mod Podge so that I could get a little crafty!  So...needless to say, I need to give them a little more time.

Just a reminder about my 1 year Birthday Celebration!

Enter my giveaway by clicking here!

I am super humbled by all of the entries and sweet comments!  I love that I'm getting a bunch of new followers...and also gaining a bunch of new friends!  I'm doing my best to keep on top of everything and make sure I visit and follow all of your blogs too!  So much fun!

OMG!!!!  Guess what's on TV!!!  Summer School...with Mark Harmon and Kirstie Alley...could you just imagine!?!  Such a funny movie!  I think if I taught an education class in college I might show this movie...just to spur conversation!  It's about 25 years old (already)!!  I laughed out loud when the Principal was running around the parking lot stopping teachers in their cars on the last day of school to ask them to teach summer school.  Speaking of TV...have you seen those Shingles commercials??  "If you've already had chickenpox, the virus is living in you"?!?!?  Seriously??  Isn't there a shot or something I can get?  Those commercials freak me out!

Okay...well...I'm starting to ramble a bit so I'm going to go enjoy the sunshine!
Have a great day!

HOLY SMOKES, a Freebie...and a Give-away! :)

Friends...

Thank you so much for joining my First Year Birthday Celebration!  I have tons of comments that have put a smile on my face and several new followers of my little blog!  I feel like a "real" blogger!  So exciting!

As a little thank you, I created a beginning of the year activity that may interest you!  I'm always looking for simple beginning of the year things that most of my new firsties should be able to do without me so that I can do some individual assessments or just catch my breath!  I'm pretty sure this one will meet my needs and hopefully it will work for you too!  (It might work in Kindergarten too...with help!)

Click here for your FREE download!

I'm going to post it at my TPT shop for $2.00.  (Is that fair?).  For my faithful followers...that's you!  It's free!  Just click on the link above!  Let me know what you think...if you find any oopsies just let me know!

Just a reminder of my First Year Birthday Give-Away!

You have until Friday, July 13 to enter and I'll be choosing the winner on Saturday morning.  (This way I can get your prize in the mail over the weekend!)
Click here to read about and enter my give-away!

Speaking of give-aways...
Lacey @ Wild About Teaching is having a mother of all give-aways to celebrate her 500 followers!  Make sure you check out her blog...tons of fun stuff!

500 Followers...Holy Cow!

Well, today is a pool day and I have a few things that need to get done before I head out!
Hope you have a great day!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, not me personally!  My blog turned one year old over the weekend!

I looked back at my first post and oh my goodness...I just jumped right in. I didn't introduce myself, I didn't have a plan, I just jumped...with both feet!  I have learned so much this past year and I'm still learning!  And not just learning about blogging either.  I'm also learning how to be a better teacher from all of you.  Your ideas and stories inspire me and make feel...prepare yourself..."normal".  Well, as normal as primary teachers can be!  Ha! Ha!

So...

I like to keep my give-aways really simple!  You'll find a list below of all of the ways you can enter my giveaway...just leave a quick comment for each one you do and I'll choose a winner!

1. Give me a little shout out on your blog.  

(Make sure you take my blog button with you and share your post with me.)

2. Follow my blog.  

(Most of you already do...thanks!)

3. Follow my NEW (as of this summer) Teachers Pay Teachers shop.  Download a freebie or two if you want and rate me if you can!

4. Leave a comment for me to read...I love reading them!

See?  Easy!
Oh...what am I giving away, you ask?  Well there's definitely at $25 Target Gift Card involved!

Our Target was putting all of the summer dollar deals on clearance as of yesterday....to make room for some fun school stuff, I'm sure!  If you win, just think of all of the goodies you can buy...on me!

Like my other give-aways, I also have a tendency to throw in some extra goodies I find while I'm out and about! 

So!  Let's go!  Remember...for each "thing" you do, leave a comment below with your email so I can find you when you win!  (I'm even talking to the girlies at my school who have stumbled across my blog and are secretly following me...you know who you are!)  Ha! Ha!

You have until Friday, July 13 to enter your comments!  I'll choose a winner first thing Saturday morning!

Thanks for sticking with me this first year!

Teacher's Wisdom Linky

I'm joining Deb and her "A Teacher's Wisdom" Linky Party!

If you haven't checked out her blog you really need to take a peek!  Lots of fun stuff!

Click here for her blog!
Click here for her linky party!

We're supposed to share our wit and wisdom from all of the years we've been a teacher.  Of course there's a zillion bits of advice but I chose my top three...advice passed down to me from veteran teachers who have recently retired.

Here they are:

My order from MPM arrived yesterday!  Brand new borders!

I don't really have a theme...well maybe I do...Our school colors are red, black, and white and our mascot is a pirate.  My color scheme matches our school colors and I have a few Piratey things but I don't theme everything around pirates...just enough to instill some school pride in my kiddos!








Guess who's coming to Cedar Point tonight??

I know....I hear you singing!  We're taking my nieces to their first "concert" tonight...even though I only know one of her songs!  We've been talking about it for weeks and they are super excited!

Okay...enough for today!  I'm going to try to sneak into my classroom today to check things out...I'm envisioning all of my stuff in the hall and my floors drying with a super sheen shine!

Hope you have a great weekend...don't melt!

The President is Coming! The President is Coming! And my 4 on the Fourth!!

Big day today in northern Ohio!
The President is going to make a stop in little old Sandusky today!  Streets are being blocked off all afternoon and apparently only 300 people have been invited to attend and have ice cream with the President.  Everyone else can stand outside the marked off area and look from a distance...our local paper actually said, bring your binoculars or telescopes if you're not one of the privileged few.

My plans??  The sun is coming out and since I'm not one of the chosen, I'll be doing my own thing!  :)

Oh!  The Art Walk is tonight...I hope all of this hullabaloo isn't going to impact the Art Walk!  I love walking around our little downtown and checking out all of the talents!

I'm also linking up with Ms. M's Blog and her 4 on the Fourth linky party!

Check out Ms. M's Blog to Link Up!

We're supposed to share 4 things we're going to try for the first time in our classroom this year!  

Here we go:

1.  Departmentalizing~I'm teaming with two other teachers this year to pilot departmentalization with our first graders.  I googled it yesterday and my heart sank...not a lot of good feelings on it out there.  BUT...I'm still excited and a little overwhelmed at the same time with it.  I'm totally confident doing it with the teachers I'm doing it with and I know we'll be fine...it's just a lot to absorb.  I'm in charge of the reading and language arts...that's HEAVY!

2. Classroom Set-Up~Since I'll be teaching reading for most of the day, my set-up is going to be a little different...I'm not quite sure how yet...but it'll be different.

3. Assessments~ I need to create some quality assessments for reading that will show student growth throughout the year.

4. Communication~I need to be way more consistent on my communication with parents...with the good and bad news.  I do communicate...I just want to be a little better with it.

Okay friends!  The sun is shining and I need to get a move on!

Have a super day!

Hobby Lobby Field Trip

Oh dear friends...Hobby Lobby is the most amazing place ever.  I have to admit though...everyone always shared their treasures they found for their classrooms....I had no idea all of the funky fun home stuff!  If I had my dream home, I could have done some SERIOUS damage!  But because I'm waiting for my house, I behaved.  Let me tell you something...when I move...I'm heading to Hobby Lobby FIRST to purchase some fun stuff!  I went with my sister and my two nieces yesterday afternoon because it was a gloomy day.  All of us were first timers so you can only imagine the accelerated heart beats when we saw those rhyming orange words!  When we walked in my first thought was, there should be a map for a heaven like this!  Everything we looked at or wanted was on sale...like 50%-66% off!  Is it always like this??  My sister found tons of wall art for her home and lots of cute things for the girl's bedrooms!  So fun!

Me, on the other hand remembered my motto..."I will have control.  I will not go crazy.  I will be smart and savvy."  I really was this time because I think I was so overwhelmed with everything!  Here's what I bought...

I love my "Dream Big" and "Explore, Dream, Discover" signs and I think they'll look great hanging in my classroom.  I plan on decoupaging the letters and finding a cute place to put them in my classroom too.  Then there's the cute Pirate banner I found!  Of course I had to have that and my heart was wishing they had a few more piratey things for me!

Using this plate for an appetizer I'm making for our 4th of July picnic today~Feta Dip!  Here's what it's supposed to look like!

Click here for the recipe!

One complaint...Hobby Lobby...you need to invest in bigger carts!  By the time we were heading to the registers we had to have both girls walking instead of riding in the cart!  :)

After 2 1/2 hours in Hobby Lobby we then headed to Walmart where I found these for like a dollar!  Magnetic words and letters!  These will definitely be put to good use this year!

Bourbon-Lemonade Iced Tea

Well...I need to go and make my Bourbon-Lemonade Iced Tea for our picnic this afternoon!  It is the most amazing iced tea ever and you can make it as strong or weak as you wish...we love bourbon, so our iced tea is a little stiff!  I've linked the recipe to the caption below the picture!













Lisa from Super Pig and Tyrant King awarded me with the One Lovely Blog Award!  It's my second time receiving this award so I need to do a little searching to find some brand new bloggers to pass it along to!  Hey!  Wait a minute!  If you're reading this and you haven't received this award yet, leave me a comment and I'll put you on my list when I do my next post!  Thanks!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July!  We'll be watching the fireworks at Cedar Point tonight! It's going to be crazy busy but they do an amazing show!

My First Currently w/ Farley

Good Morning Friends!
I decided to FINALLY figure out how link up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade with her July Currently Linky Party!

OMG!  Farley is such a hoot!

It was one of the things on my "learn how to do it" list and I think I did it!  Here it is~

Just gave myself a little pat on the back!  :)  My all time favorite read aloud for the kiddos is Fudge-a-Mania by Judy Blume.  I love the language and the family structure in this book!  I don't read it to my first graders because I think some second and third grade teachers read it with their students and I don't want to step on any toes...but it's so fun!  My all time favorite go-to book as a teacher is Spaces and Places by Debbie Diller.  I love finding new ways to set up my classroom...each year I try to tackle something new!

So I made a stop at school this past weekend...just to check on my room and measure my bulletin boards so I could order my borders from MPM.  It hadn't been touched.  I have to admit I was a little bummed, but then I took it as a sign that I needed to enjoy a little more of my summer before switching to "serious" school mode.  AND...all of the floors are being stripped in our building this summer so our custodians have their work cut out for them...in the heat...kuddos to them!  The last thing that they probably want is some anxious teacher in their business so I'll stay away a little longer!  :)

OH MY GOSH!

Did you hear that??

Was that thunder???

Is it raining???

YES!!!  Rain!!

Guess where I'm going today....a field trip to HOBBY LOBBY!  I think the nearest one is an hour away!  I've been reading about all of the goodies you have found at Hobby Lobby and have been so envious of all of your finds...it's my turn!!!

But wait.

I will have control.  I will not go crazy.  I will be smart and savvy.

At least I hope I will!

Have a great day!

First Purchases for 2012 (and a little more...)

Well...I made my first visit to The Dollar Tree and I actually kept myself in check...

Congratulations certificates for the
end of next year.

Word Cards: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives,
States, Continents, Newspaper Labels,
and Job descriptions.

But then I discovered "Container Heaven"....clear containers that were whispering to me from their shelves, "We'd look so good in your art closet...buy us now!"

And these fun "Design Your Own Mug!" mugs...

Part of me is thinking to purchase them to let the kiddos design and use throughout the year...water for warm days, Abby's "Jitter Juice"from her "Fun with Firsties" unit, hot cocoa in winter...but then there's keeping them clean and storing them too.  What do you think?  Should I do it??

Are you stalking Jessica Stanford over at Mrs. Standford's Class?  She has some really cute ideas and I always love reading her posts...plus she's from Ohio just like me!  Anyway, she's trying to earn enough votes to win a laptop for her classroom.  Click on the link below the picture to take you to her blog post!

Click here!

I just posted three sets of my chapter books on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Thanks again for all of your advice.  

I priced them @ $15.00 for a set of 5 and added $5.00 for shipping and handling.  We'll see how it goes.  Spread the word to those who you think might be interested.

My Shop!

So...a funny story....

My sister, her two daughters and I live at Soak City during the summer.  Soak City is a water park connected to Cedar Point which is practically in our backyard.  We're there a lot!  Anyway, the other day I was just minding my own business and reading The Book Whisperer (Awesome book...I'm going to email the teachers at my school and tell them that it's a great summer read...they're going to think I'm crazy).  One niece was sleeping and the other was laying in the sun with us and all of a sudden I feel a presence.  A lurking shadow...a giggling lurking shadow.  As I turn around to see what's standing near me, there they were...all smiles.  5 kiddos from my school.  Now...on a side note, God has not blessed me with a beach body and one would think that he could at least bless me with beach hair...but noooo...I'm all wavy and curly, sunglasses trying to maintain at least a part of it...their mothers looking on admiringly from a distance...all put together mind you!  And there I am...catching up on summer with the kids.  They were too cute!  Before I knew it, they were sitting in a semi-circle around my beach chair and we were all sharing our summer adventures.  Made me start to really think about my plans for this year!Okay...well, I'm off to start laminating all of my word cards I found at The Dollar Tree (I wonder if that company knows how much teachers adore them)!

Take Care!