Big Purchase!

My husband and I bought a house yesterday!  This is our first home so we are so excited!

Last night was our first dinner in our house - pizza on the floor!

We have lots of cleaning and packing and moving to do.  It's going to be a busy month!  Luckily we both come from big families so we have lots of people to help us!

And just a reminder about my BOGO!  Buy any product in {TpT} or {TN} store and you'll receive my brand new healthy foods unit for free!

 Just be sure to leave me a message with your email so I can get it to you right away!  The BOGO ends tonight at midnight.

Happy Saturday

A Bribe...

So here's the deal.  I'm sooooo close to meeting my TpT goal for this quarter.  I want to reach it!  

So I might just have a deal for you!  It's a BOGO, if you will.  (buy one-get one...stay with me here people!)  If you mosey on over to my TpT store before Saturday night and purchase one of my products, you'll get my brand new health unit for free!

  

All you need to do is purchase one of my products (before Saturday at midnight) and then leave me a note letting me know what you purchased!  It's that easy.  Thanks for your help - I really appreciate it!

Looky In My Lunchbox!

Looky!  Looky at my lunch!  Okay, my lunch isn't that exciting, but Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics is having a linky party.

Here's my lunchbox:

Honestly?  I hate it.  The style is great - fits all my food perfectly and fits in my schoolbag.  The design is sooo not me at all.  I like bright, pretty colors!  Want  a new one, but if it's not broke, why fix it?

Here's the boring part.  I eat almost the same. thing. every. day.  I strive on consistency!  (And it makes my mornings easy).

Always a Chobani vanilla yogurt.  I put cheerios in it for a little "crunch" - a little healthier than granola.

A Chewy chocolate chip granola bar.

Some type of fruit - usually green apple or grapes.  A clementine in the winter.  And I bring a banana to eat before the gym in the afternoon.

And I love my Camelbak water bottle!  I never leave home without this thing (even on the weekends)!  And these colors?  Totally me!

School starts at 8:45, so we eat lunch at 11:40 every day and we have 20 minutes.   More like 12, I guess, once we get the kids settled and use the bathroom.  That's why I bring yogurt - no time to heat stuff in the microwave!  We do get to eat on our own in the teacher staff room, but twice a week I have recess duty, which means I am even later to lunch (recess is right before lunch).  My husband wonders why I eat dinner so quickly...

Word Wall Games for Free!

Here is a an awful picture of my classroom word wall:

It hangs above my whiteboard at the front of my classroom where all my students can see it.  You can't really tell from the picture, but it has a seashore theme!  The vowels are starfish and the consonants are seashells.  I really like that all the words are in such bright colors as well.  I put it up 2 years ago...and well it just stays there...it's very hard for me to reach those words (even standing on a desk)!

I found this spinner at the Dollar Store a couple years back and we use it to play a word wall game.  We play at snack time because that's when we have some extra time and it keeps them calm (and seated) while they're eating.

I'm not sure if the spinner is available anymore, so I created my own set of (free!) word wall games just for all of you!  It's four different games, in color and BW, for you to play with your students.  Just click on the picture to grab it from my TpT store!

 If you do grab it, I'd love to hear what you think!

Also go visit the Lesson Plan Diva to see how other teachers are using word walls in their classroom.  Feel free to add your own ideas as well!

Quick Check-In

I had a whole other title planned for this post, but, well, it wasn't quite appropriate.  Moving on.

I am on my way to bed (how is it Sunday night already??) but I wanted to tell you about my weekend and I have something in store for my readers.

Yesterday I took two of my nephews to see The Addams Family.   I LOVE musicals (Christina Bainbridge, you and I need to hang out!) but I knew nothing about the Addams Family.  Yeah, I've heard of them but I've never seen the show, movie, etc.  I was kinda roped into it by accident, thanks to a mistake by my MIL and I wasn't really that interested.  However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised!  I didn't think the music was great, but it was really funny.  And it probably wasn't the most appropriate show for a 7-year old.  It wasn't my idea to take him though, so you can't blame me!  We did have a great time though.

Today, I got to see The Hunger Games.  I went with some of my family and we had a little mix-up of theaters.  We ended up getting there after the previews started and the only spots left were in the front row. It was definitely an interesting perspective!  I was a little nervous about seeing the movie after reading the book (I always like the book better...ahem Twilight...) but the movie was really well done.  I was impressed!

Now onto you guys.  I leave for Disney in 20 days (yeahhh, I'm not counting) and it's been a stressful couple of months so I definitely won't be doing any schoolwork on this trip.  But I don't want you to miss me too much while I'm gone!  So I was trying to think of some posts I could create ahead of time to share with you while I'm gone.   My classroom!  I haven't really shared many pictures/descriptions of my classroom since I started blogging and I want to show you what this year looks like before I change for next year!  I'm going to start taking pictures this week.  I'm so excited!

There might also be a TpT/TN sale involved as well...stay tuned!

P.S. ~ If you're still reading...this really wasn't a QUICK post, huh?

Finally!

2 weeks of extra morning duty?  Done!

Short observation?  Done!

Long observation?  Done!

Evaluation meeting?  Done!

Report cards?  Done!

Conferences? Done!

Phew!  So glad the past two weeks are over.  Yep, all of the above happened in just two weeks.  They have been super busy/crazy!  The above list doesn't even include professional development, IEP meetings, faculty meetings, etc.  

I did get the nicest compliment from a parent last night.  My classroom is next door to a 4th grade room (don't ask) and many of my old students are in that class.  At parent-teacher conferences, one of my previous parents stopped me in the hall and asked me if I had my roster for next year yet (yeah, right!).  I nicely responded, no.  She then said, "Well when you get it, let me know.  I really hope my daughter is in your class!"  Aww... it made me feel so good!

I'm also done with my newest product and I'm super-duper excited about it!  I've been working on it and tweaking if for awhile.  I created an organizational calendar for all you busy bloggers and TpT/TN sellers out there!  It has monthly calendar pages as well as pages to take notes, write your stats and set goals.  I'm going to make mine at Staples tomorrow!

{TpT}

{TN}

I'm sooo close to meeting my TpT goal for this quarter!  Just a few more days - I think I can do it!

Roll and Spell

First, this is my motto for the next 3 weeks:

My whole family is going to Disney - I'm so excited!  Actually, I'm just excited to have a break.  We haven't had one since Christmas and that was less than a week and half long.  Only 3 1/2 more weeks!!

Meanwhile, in the land of spelling...

I stole borrowed this idea from Deb over at 

It's a game called Roll and Spell.  I was looking for a new activity for my kids for spelling and I stumbled upon her post.  I thought, why not give it a try?  Well...my kids go crazy for it!  It's the funniest thing.  They get so excited when I tell them that Roll and Spell is the activity for the day and when they have a free choice day, they automatically choose this one.

Deb has three different versions...original, rainbow spell and out loud version.

Rainbow version - they write the words in different colors depending on the number that they roll:

Original version - they write their words in different handwriting (big, small, fancy nancy, etc.)

Their favorite is the out loud one.  They get to spell their words out loud in different voices (alien, baby, opera, etc).  I tried videotaping it, but the rest of the class was too loud and you couldn't hear their voices.

If you are looking for a new spelling activity, go check out Oh My Little Classity Class's site!