Five For Friday {June 28th}

It has been sooooo long since I’ve linked up with a Five for Friday and it feels so good to be back at it!

My goal this summer was to read…a lot.  My husband challenged me to read books that would help me grow, either personally or professionally.  He has become quite the reader.  Last year alone he read 75 books.  I have been so impressed with him and gladly accepted his challenge.  My wishlist on amazon continues to grow!  Right now I am reading Teaching with Intention by Debbie Miller.

I first read about it on Deanna Jump’s blog (click HERE to see the post) and I figured if it helped the #1 seller on TpT become better at her craft it could help me too!  I also found a great Book Study for it on the blog Teaching With Style (click HERE to check out the book study).  You can even do the book study for college credit, but you don’t have to.

I am obsessed with the website Twice.  It’s this great site where you can sell your clothes (only certain higher end brands are accepted) and then buy gently worn (sometimes brand new with tags) clothes.  I have gotten a few dresses from the website this summer and I am in love.  Click the link below to check out the website and you get a $10 credit to shop with!  They make it super easy to sell your clothes to them, they pay for all of the shipping and if something you buy doesn’t work out you can send it back and they pay to ship the return as well!  Right now I am waiting on this cute dress to come in the mail!

It’s a Gap dress that was originally $80 and I got it for $12!

I’m telling you, it’s worth checking out.  Click HERE to check out their website.

Okay, so if you choose to keep reading you have to promise that you won’t judge…..promise?  I turn 40 this summer.  My best friend since the age of 14 also turned 40 this year (before me)!  One day I happened to be scrolling through Instagram and I saw this post…….

(Yes, I follow Joey on Insta…remember you aren’t judging me!)

Anyways, I saw this pic so of course I took a screen shot and immediately sent it to my friend.  After all, the first concert we saw together was NKOTB and we go every time they come to town just to relive our childhood!  She texted back that she was in and that we should make it our 40th bday celebration.  And the best idea ever was born!  So, on July 10th we will make the couple hour drive to Vegas to spend a few days having girl time and screaming like teenagers.  Our husbands and children think we are nuts….they just don’t get it! 

 So, here is my question for all of you.  The concert is in Vegas.  Dress code?  I bought the cutest black strapless silk J. Crew dress (on Twice) of course.  Or, do I just go with jeans and a cute top.  We also splurged and bought tickets to the After Party, because you only turn 40 once, so there is a slight chance that I could run into one of the boys (yeah right!) and I need to be ready for a photo op!  So what is your vote for concert attire? 

If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, you have probably read that feeding our family is a difficult job sometimes.  We have food allergies and preferences galore.  My husband and  youngest have a gluten allergy.  My youngest is also allergic to peanuts.  My oldest decided 4 years ago that she is a vegetarian and she is also gluten free and dairy free.  I often feel stuck in a cooking rut.  I feel like I fix the same few meals over and over and over, because I know they are safe and everyone will eat them.  So, when my 15 year old said that she wanted to be in charge of dinner Tuesday night, I happily accepted!  She texted me a list of things she needed from the grocery store and when I got home from the shopping she told me to go relax, she wanted to do it all by herself! 

Here was the final result.  Creamy potato leek soup and green onion cakes.  It was delicious!  She found a great gluten free vegan website, click here to check it out!

I saw this posted the other day and it was a great reminder that I need to stay focused on what truly matters.  When you are married to a fellow teacher, money can start to become a concern in the summer.  That summer check just doesn’t stretch as far as you need it to sometimes and you have to get creative. 

It was a good reminder that money can’t buy the things that I really want my kids to have!

 

That’s my 5 for Friday for this week.  I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Worksheet Wednesday {FREEBIE!}

It’s time for Worksheet Wednesday with The Teaching Tribune.  I love heading over there and checking out and downloading all of the free goodies! 

The theme this week was Summer.  My kiddos always love A to Z activities.  A to Z can be used as a fun and quick review for content areas.  Just have the students list the alphabet down the side of a piece of notebook paper, give them a topic and let them go.  Mine especially love it at the end of a science or social studies unit.  The goal is to come up with a word or phrase for each letter that relates to the topic.  It’s always best to teach a new strategy like A to Z with a non academic topic, kind of takes the pressure off of it!  I also like to throw in fun topics as morning work sometimes just to change it up a bit. 

For the FREEBIE today, I created a cute little worksheet with a Summer themed A to Z that you can download and use at the beginning of the school year or right now if you are teaching summer school.  It will be a great way for your kiddos to share what they did over the summer and to teach them how to use A to Z!  Click on the pic to download it for FREE!

Graphics:  Melonheadz

Border:  Teaching in a Small Town

Two For Tuesday

This week two of my most popular wish list items will be 50% off TODAY ONLY!!! 

Item #1:  Fossils Are Fantastic

Not only is this my most wish listed item, it is also my best seller.  It is one of the first products I made for TpT and it’s a hit in my classroom every year!

It’s on sale today for $1.50!  Click on the picture to check it out in my store!

Item #2:  Earth’s Layers….An Edible Activity

Another science product!  This one is a huge hit every year in my room.  The kiddos are always begging to do it again.  It’s educational and yummy…what more could you ask for!  And today only it’s $1.00!  You can’t beat that price!  Click the picture below to go check it out.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Tune in tomorrow for Worksheet Wednesday!

Monday Meet Up {Week 4}

Can you believe it…..2 weeks in a row.  That must be some sort of record for me.  Thank goodness for these linkys holding me accountable for blogging!

Here are 3 things you may not already know about me.

We have a trip to Disneyland coming up in July with our dance team.  My girls and their dance friends are so excited to go together.  The other day they were talking about their favorite rides and Tower of Terror came up.  My girls love talking about what a baby their mom is and how she cried the entire ride and kept asking if it was over.  It is true…and I am not ashamed.  Elevators in general aren’t my favorite thing and I don’t know why anyone would willingly get in one that they know is going to drop.  I did it once, to prove a point to my then 8 and 9 year olds that you should try something before you just say you don’t like it.  I’ve done it.  I don’t like it.  I will never do it again.

#2- My daughters are close in age.  No, we didn’t plan it (I know you were dying to ask because every stranger in the world felt the need to ask it while I was pregnant).  It wasn’t our plan, it was God’s plan.  I love that they are so close.  Sometimes they fight but I think that comes with being with each other 24/7.  They dance on the same team, go to the same school, and share some of the same friends.  The only thing that makes me sad is that in just 4 short years they will both be gone.  I have no cushion, I have no transition years….just BAM….gone.  That hard reality is starting to sink in as they get older.

#3….I have 2 sisters.  There were 3 girls in the house when I was growing up.  My dad traveled for business….A LOT.  He is a smart man!  We used to bicker, like all sisters do and my dad would always say, “You just wait, some day you will be so happy you have sisters, they will be your best friends.”  We used to yell back that it would never happen and we would never like each other.  Well, we grew up and now my sisters are my best friends.  We are all in education, which I think is incredible odds, and we love each other dearly. 

Thanks for stopping by and getting to know me a little better!  Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post Two for Tuesday.  Two of my most wish listed products will be on sale for 50% off!!!!

Worksheet Wednesday {Freebie Alert!}

Today’s link up is Worksheet Wednesday.  It’s supposed to be a one page worksheet for free but my post includes two free grammar packs.  It’s all part of my quest to change the world, one social media user at a time!  Check out the old post below:

Originally posted on February26, 2014

This week we are working on those difficult homophones you’re/your and there/their/they’re.  I told my kiddos that one of my biggest pet peeves is how often adults still misuse those homophones on social media.  It. Bugs. Me.  So, I am on a quest to change that for the future generation! I told them that if they ever plan on “friending,” me when they are older they had better learn the difference! If you would like to join my quest, I created and posted these little packs and they are FREE at my TpT store.  Just click the picture to go download them!

As always, I just ask that if you download them you please leave feedback and consider following my little store/blog/Instagram account.  It will help you keep up to date on flash freebies, free downloads, new products/ideas and sales!  Thanks so much!  You guys are the best!

Two for Tuesday

I’m linking up with The Teaching Tribune again today to bring you Two for Tuesday.  Two products from my store will be 50% off today! 

 

The first is my newest product…….

These fun maps make a great formative assessment to see what your kiddos have learned about a math concept.  I teach the third grade gifted cluster at my school and often have kiddos that “compact,” out of a unit in math.  I plan on using these maps to make sure that they are solid on the concept and to help them dive deeper into it.  These are also great to use for end of the unit review or as review before testing begins!  Click on the picture to go and grab them for 50% off!

The second product is one of my favorite!  One of our frameworks for ELA is an author study.  Each of our third grade classes studies a different author and then we present the author to our grade level.  My class studies Roald Dahl.  I made this pack to go along with James and the Giant Peach and it was a huge hit!  Grab it now for only $4.00!

Have a happy Tuesday everyone!

Monday Meet Up….A Letter to Myself

Happy Monday morning!  Seriously, what is it about summer that makes waking up on a Monday so much more enjoyable!  This morning I am linking up with The Teaching Tribune for Monday Meet Up.

Today’s assignment was to write a letter to the you that first started your blogging/TpT journey.  It was a great way to reflect back on how far I have come and the lessons I have learned about myself and about prioritizing things in my life.  There are still things I need to work on and goals that I want to accomplish but it’s been a fun road to travel and I have met some great people along the way! 

And….there’s a mistake, why wouldn’t there be, I didn’t save the original slide.  The year was 2012, not 2013! 

Have a great Monday!  I’ll be back tomorrow for Two for Tuesday!  2 items in my TpT store will be 50% off!