Teacher Week: Make Ahead Meals

I am so excited for today's blog topic because I definitely need some inspiration for my lunch this year! I am already missing meeting my friends for lunch or simply having the options of choice at lunch time...

I thought I was going to pack wonderful, preplanned lunches this year but the beginning of the year madness has caught me once again! My lunch looks a little something like this right now...

With an apple and maybe a bag of skinny girl popcorn! To add to the last minute lunch, our refrigerator went out last week and we just got an appointment for it to be fixed. YIKES!

So I am going to share with you what I have done before and loved! A couple of years ago I tried out some muffin tin dinners. It was so simple and I loved the portion sizes! I could just do one or two "muffin sizes" and then add in a little snack and really feel like I had a meal! Also as an added bonus...you only get one dirty dish in the process (AMEN). Honestly, until this blog post I completed forgot about this idea and I am glad I remembered!

Here are a few of my favorites!

1. Muffin Tin Pizza

Visit Tracy's Culinary Adventures for the full recipe!

Love these and the portion size is just right! I love to add the mini pepperoni's and some mushrooms. Simple, easy, and warm!

2. Chicken Pesto Wontons

Visit Emily Bite's for the full recipe!

These are simple and loaded with flavor! Everyone will ask you what you are having because it smells so delicious!

3. Everything Eggs

Visit Lauren Hefez for the full recipe!

I love these and they are perfect for breakfast too! Literally add any veggies you want and then top it off with eggs. Sometimes I just get egg beaters and it is so simple and tasty! 

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully you got some simple preplanned lunch ideas! Have a great week! Cheers!

Teacher Week - 5 facts about me!

 I am so excited to participate in teacher week! Today I am going to share 5 fun facts about me! Hop over to Blog Hoppin' to link up and share 5 facts about you!

First off, I have been married to this stud for over a year and a half! He is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without him! We met in college at The University of Tennessee and have been together ever since! The stud in the middle is our fur baby, Jake. He has been with us for most of our relationship and he makes our little family ever so happy!

Second, these two teacher friends have been with me since my first day at my first job! We were all on the same team the first year and then we got moved around. We literally cried but have stayed good friends through it all! One of us moved out of the state and the other two decided it was time to try a different school. Two of us ended up getting a job at the SAME school (there are 52 elementary schools in our district) and then a few months later the other one moved back in the state. Within DAYS we had a position randomly open up at our school and now we are all teaching together again!!!! God truly blessed me with these people in my life!

Third, DISNEY WORLD! I love love love Disney World! Seriously, it is my favorite place! Thinking about the fireworks and parade at night literally makes my heart skip a beat! Every time I have been in my adult life, I have taken a newbie along with me. I love to go with someone who has never been and see the joy they experience! I even took my husband for the first time too! I can't wait to take a future little one down the road! 

Next, I bleed orange! Even through the rough seasons, I love good ole Rocky Top! My favorite day of the year is soon approaching. This Friday will be the first game day Friday of the year! Literally, EVERYONE that lives in Knoxville wears orange ALL WEEKEND! It is amazing and it never fails to make my heart happy! Go Vols! 

Lastly, I love to travel and have fun! I am always down for an adventure and rarely ever chicken out of trying something new. My motto is YOLO and I stick to it...most of the time! I love to live life to the fullest and can't stand to be bored. If there is any activity, count me in! ...Except if it happens in the first month of school, because everyone knows teachers just can't have extra energy that time of year.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my fun facts! Cheers to a great week!

Five for Friday: August 28th!

I can't believe I have missed Five for Friday the last few weeks but I am so glad I get to participate this week! As we end the third week of school I am almost, maybe, kind of, sort of, getting back into routine! Haha!

Ok, here we go friends...

As we get back into school we have been practicing numbers 1-12 like crazy! ...Seriously, A LOT! I love using dice (the foam ones, of course) to practice different math games throughout the year. I made dice games to help my kiddos practice spelling number words, dot patterns, ten frames, and number formations. They have had a blast!! Learning and fun...the best combination!

If your kids need practice too, grab it here!

I always use scholastic book club because I love the fact that the books are reasonably priced and give the parents a good idea of what grade level text looks like. When I saw this month's choices though I was SO SO SO excited!!! I can't wait to get my hands on the The Day the Crayons Came Home! Does anyone have this book yet and it is just as amazing as the first one?!

This week we learned about verbs! I love teaching verbs and always have a lot of fun with the concept when introducing it. No matter how excited I am though, it always takes a while for the kids to get the hang of the concept. This year, however, I played verb charades! The kids had so much FUN and immediately understood that a verb is an action! They were able to go back to their seats and give me examples right after our introduction activity!! ...That makes for a happy teacher! 

Grab this fun packet here!

With technology becoming more and more apart of our society and educational system, I decided to add a keyboard to my kiddo's resource binder this year! They LOVE getting to "type" their spelling words! I see them practicing and they have been telling each other what some of the function keys are for! I love it! They get a lot of exposure to technology in my classroom but I love that they are learning where the keys are on the keyboard too! Typing is a whole different story than touching the iPad! 

I got this template for free on teachers pay teachers! I have searched and searched for this again but can't find it anymore! The file I have doesn't credit anyone or the seller! If you know who it is, please tell me so I can credit them! 

I think of my teacher friends are back in school but I have a few that still aren't! In honor of those still living up their summer...I am going to have a one day SATURDAY SALE this weekend! Cheers to a terrific school year everyone!

Welcome Back to School!

WOW...I totally underestimated and forgot about how exhausting the beginning of the year is! Sorry for my hibernation from blogging but I am back in action now! I am officially done with my first week with kiddos and I can see the light for the rest of the year! My classroom is a work in progress but it always is! Haha!

But seriously, I don't want to discuss how many times I went to Walmart of Target in the last two weeks!

So I talked about how I was "ALL IN" on a new classroom theme this year. I was going to do a baseball/team theme and I made a ton of stuff! I started to set everything up and realized I could not live with so much red and gray in my classroom! The second I put my blue and green back up I felt immediately better and knew it wasn't time for a complete change just yet! So since I wasted a lot of time changing my room, I didn't have as much time to put it back together. However, I think I found a happy place before school started! Here is preview!

I tried something a bit different this year. Instead of students beginning their day on "Ready to Learn," they have to earn it! They have to come in, put their things away, and get started on their work quickly before they get on the chart. So far, so good! They love to "show me" that they are ready for the day!

I decided on a clip chart for my jobs this year! The clips start at the top and move down. So as one kiddo put it, you get a little vacation once you have worked so hard in our classroom for a while! Haha! You can grab the chart here!

This was the last time my projector worked! YIKES...a new one is coming soon though! Starting the year without one has been quite the challenge for me!

Grab polka dot word wall cards here!

You may be thinking what is up with all of the blank boards?! I have found that the kiddos DO NOT understand how many resources are in our classroom if I start the year with them already on the wall. I start off with nothing up and build the room with my kids. When I started doing this I found out that the kids really understood what was posted in our room and how to use the resources better!

This was pretty much the set up for open house night! Our school had a "Building Lotts of Champs" theme so our team decided to do a "Brick by Brick" (UT VOLS reference) or "Lego by Lego" theme in our hallway. That is why you see all the legos! :) Here is our team ready for open house!

The kids think this is so silly and smile every time we walk by it!

My sweet teammate Donna! 

I also set up a photo booth for the first day of school! The kids were ADORABLE. I will post what I did with these sweet pictures very soon! Grab a photo booth for your grade level here!

Phew... now I need to get ready for our big parent meeting! Hopefully I will be posting soon about parent night and getting routines up and going!

Have a great weekend! Cheers!

P.S. One day S-A-L-E on Wednesday, August 19th! Check it out!

What's in your cart? S.A.L.E

Everyone has been talking about it...back-to-school! Yep, the time has come! Good news...TpT just announced a mega SALE! You can get up to 28% off items in a lot of sellers stores, including mine! Use the code BTS15 and stock up on all of your favorite new things! 

I am linking up with Speech Room News to share what is in my cart! Below are my favorite 3 things you should check out for your back to school collection! Also, visit my Freebies & Fun page to snag my Back to School Charades!

First off, I can't say enough good things about my Selfies for Success pack! Take a selfie of your students and create a goal for them to work on. These make an adorable display in the classroom AND motivate your students because they are reminded of their goal daily. There are also notes to send home to parents, brainstorming worksheets, and certificates included! Check it out!

 

Next up is an open house, back to school, parent night MUST! I have photo booth set ups for first through fifth grade posted in my store. Parents LOVE this because it helps capture the memory of their sweet kiddo on their first day in their new grade. You could put it in the hallway for your whole grade to use or use it in your classroom. I have also done this on my own and gifted it to parents. It was a big hit!  Grab it here!

Lastly, I LOVE this center. My IPAD fluency center helps my kiddos SO much! Most kids really don't understand how they sound when they read until they listen to themselves often. This center has differentiated instructions for 3 levels of students. It also includes response pages and an early finisher activity. So students read a leveled text (I put their small group reader from the previous week), record themselves, listen to themselves, rate their fluency, and describe how they could improve the next time they read. *You can also use the camera on your Mac desktop computers if you have those in your classrooms as well. The instructions are the same for both. Grab it here!

Also, I have these things in my cart from some of my friend's stores! 

Love this idea from The Blessed Teacher!

Aren't these great! They are from Kindergarten Dragons!

Remember... August 3-4th! Stock up and enjoy the back to school madness friends! 

Five for Friday: July 31st

Holy moly!!!! I can't believe I am seriously experiencing the last Friday of my summer!!! WHAT?!

I mean, if I didn't have Five for Friday I seriously might be delusional as to what day of the week it is. Time to get ready to get back into action! Let's get started...

So last week I told you I was off to this "drive through zoo." Ok...seriously, there are no words for this place. NO WORDS. So you drive up to this place in the middle of the country, and BAM, there are wild animals EVERYWHERE. IN. THE. WILD. You pay $9 and off you go! We got some food treats the guy told us to just beware of the zebras. So off we go, windows fully rolled down, ready to see some animals. These animals came CHARGING our car. Heads in the car and we were surrounded within seconds. Due to the shock, food went flying and it took a few minutes to get the windows rolled up. Pigs, zebras, water buffalo, cows, emus, donkeys, peacocks, camels... All I can say is WOW. If you are ever in East TN, you must experience this place!

Cleaning. Lots and lots of cleaning this week! Knowing that the next two weeks are super busy for the hubby I... it was necessary! It is amazing how incredibly clean you feel after you deep clean your carpets! Before the deep cleaning madness began we did go on date night though! We went to an oyster bar and it was terrific! 

I went back to school to meet with my team and get a few things done. I was totally all into changing my room and going for a sports theme this year...until I hung my new border. I hated the change and hanging border usually gives me such joy that I knew this was a big reg flag. So, I went back to my old polka dot theme and did some sprucing up! Here is sneak peak of my job chart. I am trying to do a clip chart this year for my jobs. I will post more pictures very soon!

Get up to 28% off of my store next week!!! Who doesn't love a back to school sale?!?

Lastly, I am teaming up with my sweet friend Paige from Our Elementary Lives for an instagram linky! Yes...we are so into the back to school craziness, however we think it is important to enjoy our summer memories too! So lets all take a minute and enjoy each others summer fun! The image we are using is below. Check my instagram to see my summer memories! :) Repost and #teachersummerdays

Have a fabulous weekend friends!!! Cheers!