We Have a Winner!

Congrats to Whitney Kibler!  She won a $10 giftcard to Teachers Pay Teachers - happy shopping!  Thank you to all who entered my giveaway.

I am definitely enjoying my vacation so far and it hasn't even been 24 hours!  I've already gone to the gym, done laundry and taken care of this little guy:

Meet Raleigh!  We just got him last night and I am in love!  He definitely keeps me busy too.  I'm feeling accomplished and now I get to sit with my coffee and catch up on my blogging.  Happy Summer!

Most Fascinating?

Hi all!  I have 1/2 a day left of school - 1/2 of a day!!  Well, technically, I have a full day, but the kiddos have a 1/2 day.  I spend the afternoon cleaning and packing.  Does anyone else find this depressing?  I am so excited to be on vacation, but it's so sad to see my classroom without all it's bright colors!  I am going to miss this crew sooo much.

In other news, I've been nominated for Most Fascinating Blog of 2012! But...uh...look at the award...

Art Teacher?!?  I'm confused.  I am not an art teacher.  I am not EVEN close to being an art teacher.  I highly admire the work of art teachers and think they do a wonderful job, but that just isn't my cup of tea. Soo...now what?

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!  You can win $10 to TpT - how great would that be for back to school?!

Just click the picture!

Milestones Giveaway

Yes, you read that right.  I'm celebrating multiple milestones today!  I've reached 400 blog followers, 300 TpT followers and 100 Facebook followers.  Thank you thank you!  To celebrate, I'm giving away a $10 giftcard to Teachers Pay Teachers!

You have until Wednesday to enter because that will be my first day of vacation!  Woohoo!

Enter using the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Awesome Resource

My state has this pretty awesome resource for teachers.  It is called Resources for Rhode Island Education.  It is a big warehouse full of amazing recycled products for teachers to use.  A lot of the products they have are items that stores and factories would normally throw away, but a teacher would love!  For example, they have HUGE piles of different size and color poster board.  They have ribbon, empty jewelry boxes, pieces of cloth, petri dishes, and so much random stuff.    It is a great place to get things for classroom projects.  

They also carry quite a few Avery products as well.  Binders, labels, post-its, business cards, postcards, etc.  Some of the items are individually priced but the products are mostly sold by weight.  They have a giant scale and you put everything you want on the scale and pay by the pound.

Today I walked out with this:

for only $2.00!!  It would have cost me over $25 at Staples.  They also accept donations, which I always give!  I am so thankful that I can get a lot of the resources I need (and many I don't!) from this place.  There really are people out there who want to help teachers!  Click here for more information.

In other news, I think I have a sticker problem:

I kinda organized it:

But I'm sure it will get messed up as soon as I touch it again!  I need a better way of storing my large collection of stickers.

Also, I have hit 400 blog followers and 100 FB followers (at the same time)!  Look for a giveaway soon!!

Currently...

Currently it is June but feels like March.  50 degrees and rainy??  Ah well it's better than 90 degrees on these last few days of school - but that sun better come out when I'm on vacation!

If I could go anywhere in the world, I would choose Australia.  I have no idea why but I've always wanted to go there.

I went to Disney World with my family over spring break in April.  We had so much fun!!

In July I'm going on my honeymoon to Hawaii.  Another place I've always wanted to go!  I absolutely cannot wait!

You Know It's Summer Vacation When...

Okay, I'm not there yet but it's almost summer vacation!  I'm dreaming of it already!

In the meantime, Kindergarten Lifestyle is having a fun summer linky party.

Seriously, my non-teacher friends make fun of me when I am yawning over dinner at 8:00 on a Friday night.

Sunday nights are the worst during the winter, but in the summer they are no big deal!

How do you know when summer has officially arrived??

5 and 1/2 more days - I can do it!

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Your newsletters that is - did you read them??  My products were in BOTH the TpT and TN newsletters this weekend - oh my goodness!  I am beyond excited!  Just ask my husband, I think I scared him when I jumped on the couch Tom Cruise-style!

The Teachers Notebook newsletter featured my Summer Fun Activities and Centers.

And the TpT newsletter featured my Elements of a Friendly Letter Poster freebie!

I especially wanted to share how I use this poster in my classroom because we refer to it all. the. time. in my room.  My students practice writing letters throughout the year.  Every Friday we write in our Friday Journals to our parents (read more about that here).  My aunt also teaches second grade in California, so our students are pen-pals with each other.  They love it!  And I work really hard with my students on writing thank-you notes throughout the year for adults or students in the building who have helped us in some way.

Here is a picture of my writing anchor charts hanging in the back of my classroom.  The letter one is smack dab in the middle!

Some of my other posters are also available in my TpT store as well.

I'm also sharing my linking up with Classroom Freebies Manic Mondays

Go check out all the other freebies that are there and maybe even link up your own!