Aloha! And a Freebie!

I'm back!  Back on the mainland, that is.  My husband and I had an absolutely wonderful time on our honeymoon in Hawaii.  Here are a few pics:

I got some shell necklaces :)

Those are the only pictures I have right now.  The rest are on my husband's computer.  Which is with him.  At work.  Poor thing did not want to go back to work today!

But don't worry, I'm back at work too!  Okay, technically, I'm sitting at home, with my puppy, watching The Today Show.  But!  But I am also working on stuff for my TpT Store!  I updated my Monthly Teacher Calendars.  I added monthly blank calendars that include full weeks (Sun-Sat) as well as blank calendars with school weeks (M-F).  Click the picture to see more!

I created a freebie for you too!  Here is the September versions of the calendars and calendar covers.

I added it to Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies

Check it out for lots more freebies!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July!!  This is my absolute favorite holiday of the whole year!  Here's a picture of my brother and my cousin (kinda) from last year:

I received a request yesterday to make some blank calendars for teachers, students and even TpT sellers to use.  I was excited - I like getting requests!  I got started right away and here's the finished product:

They are available in both of my stores:

{TpT}

{TN}

Next up, check out Luckeyfrog's Lilypad Giveaway!

She's giving away a lot of great stuff this week!!  Hop on over and check it out!

Ok.  That's it.  I'm out.  For 2 whole weeks.  I'm headed to Hawaii bright and early tomorrow morning - woohoo!!  As much as I love blogging and TpTing (is that a word?), I've promised myself a whole two weeks off.  Completely.  Except maybe the plane ride.  It's 9 hours.  I'm deathly afraid.  I'm not scared of planes.  I'm scared of sitting still.  Eeek!

Have a great holiday and I can't wait to see you all when I get back!

I'm Not Crafty...but I Monday Made It!

 Like the title says, I'm not crafty at all.  I just don't have that creativity gene.  Somehow I was put in charge of making a board for memories for my dad's Surprise 50th Birthday Party.  At the last minute.  I quickly rushed out to get supplies and get started.  Hoping for the best!  (sorry for the awful pictures, I was in a hurry!)

I started with a bulletin board, wrapping paper, ribbon and flags I created with clipart from Lettering Delights: 

I put the wrapping paper on the bulletin board and arranged the letters across the top.

Then I decided that they looked better like this:

And wa-la!  A bulletin board for memories.

So that's the extent of making things so far this year.  I'm definitely considering this a Monday Made It!

Currently...

Hellooo July!!  Here is my Currently for this month:

Thanks Farley!  I love to look back at my Currently's to see what I was doing during each month.  Kinda like a mini-diary.

Anyways, my favorite food in July is ice cream!  Which inspired this:

There are over 300 fact cards and there are some games and center activities as well!  Love me some ice cream!

Check em out over at:

{TpT}

{TN}

Summer Shopping!

I almost missed the June party, but I think I made just in time to join the fun!  Kristen over at Ladybug's Teacher Files is having a:

School just got out in RI so there's not a ton of stuff in stores yet, but I hit Target at the right time!  Here's what I got:

- 5 trays (orange, yellow, blue, purple, red)

- 5 bins (orange, yellow, blue, purple. red)

- 2 dry erase boards with lines on them (looks like loose leaf paper)

- cut out stars

- summer magnets (those  might stay at home)

Here's what I didn't get:

- Dr. Seuss pencils

- Dr. Seuss stickers

-Dr. Seuss bookmarks

-Student of the Week chair cover

Yep, that was all in my cart but I decided to show some restraint.  Even the small amount of stuff I got prompted the cashier to ask, "Are you a teacher?"  I laughed and said "How did you guess?!?"

I'm sure I'll have a lot more to share in July and August!

Best One Yet! And a Freebie!

Have you ever made a product that you are just super duper proud of?  I mean, I'm proud of everything I make.  But this one takes the cake!  I created morning journals for my students:

It includes writing prompts for every day of the school year - and then some!  There are over 300 writing prompts in here people!!

I also made monthly covers for the journals:

And included different pages of line paper:

These are one of my favorite things that I use in my classroom.  My students each receive their journal at the beginning of the month.  Each journal has a cover, a calendar and enough journal pages for the month.

They keep it in a folder in their desk.  After they come in and unpack every morning, they take out their journal and start writing about the prompt for that day.  Then they draw a picture to go with it.  We start with 2 sentences at the beginning of the year and gradually reach 5 sentences by the end of they year.  And I always say "at least" because they are welcome to write more than the required 2-5 sentences!!  I give them about 15 minutes each morning to work on their journals.

This is great for me as well.  While they are quietly writing, I am able to work on attendance, lunch count, etc without interruptions.  It also means I only have to gather morning work once a month, rather than every day.

The journals I created don't have dates on them, just days of the week.  This way, they can be used year after year!

Check them out:

{TpT}

{TN}

Take a peek at my July Writing Prompts for free!

I'm sharing it as part of TBA's Friday Freebie!

And Classroom Freebies Manic Monday!

Also, Beth Ann of Taming My Flock of Firsties is having an awesome giveaway!!

My *brand new* Book Basket Labels is just one of the many great prizes!!  There are a lot of entries already so make you sure you go check it out!

Short Lived Inspiration

So, today I saw this awesome post by Marie over at The Hands On Teacher.  She made this super cool clipboard with duct tape.  I was so inspired that I immediately went out to get the supplies to make my own!  I knew that I wanted polka dots, so I found this:

Cute, right??  Then I went to get a clipboard.  I looked...and looked...and looked.  No clipboards to be found anywhere in Target!  What?!?

I didn't have anymore time to shop because I had to come home to this guy:

So maybe tomorrow I'll venture somewhere else to get a clipboard.  Oh well.

P.S. ~ click on his picture to see more photos at my {severely neglected} photo blog.