Friday, July 31, 2015

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! 




Thursday, July 30, 2015

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!

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Five for Friday: July 24th


 
Woah, seriously!? It is FRIDAY?! ... This one went by really fast! Only one more week for me before I am fully BACK IN SCHOOL! Craziness, but I am making sure that I make the most out these last few days (Hence, no blog posts, oops!).

The hubby and I headed to the movies this weekend because it literally rained constantly! We saw the much anticipated Trainwreck and it didn't disappoint! My husband said "Do you want to go see that Lebron James movie?" Haha! Sorry babe, it is a romantic comedy but at least Lebron is in it. Good date night movie or girls night out though. We had fun!
On Monday me and some friends headed out to do a paddle board fitness class! It was so fun and much harder than I expected. We did a lot of core work and then would paddle for cardio in between sets. Needless to say, I felt like it was a good work out and we had a beautiful view. It was well worth the groupon and I would do it again! I am so lucky to have such amazing teacher friends to hang with in the summer! ...well all year, but you know what I mean!

Since we had such a good work out and summer is winding down, we decided we needed to stop at the beer market afterwards. I am sure you will be shocked to hear...IT RAINED. AGAIN. Don't worry though, it didn't ruin our good time!

I did stop and think about school for a minute this week! Last year our team became photo booth obsessed. We did one for western day, 101 day, and many more. Our parents LOVED these pictures! So naturally, I decided we had to have a back to school photo booth! That inspired materials for our open house photo booth and I also created photo booths for second-fifth grade as well. I thought this could also make a cute beginning of the year gift for parents too! Below is an example of what the set up could look like!
Grab yours here!






So my sweet friend Darby that I work with has a little boy and twin girls. We decided to we were going to take them to Jump Jam (indoor trampoline park) this week. When we arrived they were closed for a field trip!! It was raining (shocker) so we didn't have many options and ended up at the Chick-fil-a play place! My other friend brought her nephew and we had a blast with the little ones!



I don't have pictures for my number five because it is the adventure that is on the books for today! We are heading out to a drive through safari zoo! I will definitely post about this next week because I am guaranteeing some CRAZY pictures.  I am a little nervous to roll through this place in my car but YOLO! Afterwards we are heading to the pool! One of our teacher friends has to go back Monday so we are having an early end of summer celebration with her! 

Enjoy your weekend friends! Cheers!







Friday, July 17, 2015

Five for Friday: July 17th

Wow! Here we are again! What a week it is has been! As summer slips by it seems easier to slow down and really enjoy every little last bit left! Here we go...
First of all, THANK YOU so much to everyone that participated in my giveaway. A big thanks to Two Little Birds Design Shop, Whatnotsandstuff, Monograms by Mallory, and Make it Personal by Mary Margaret! They donated some amazing items and I hope you have had a chance to check out their super cute stores! 

Also, THANK YOU to everyone who entered the giveaway! I could not be more surprised, excited, and blown away! I am so happy that so many participated and said such wonderful and kind things! This is an amazing community and I am happy to be apart of it! So here it is...
In celebration of my all my new followers and friends I am also having a FLASH FRIDAY sale! Woohoo! Again, THANK YOU for being so fabulous and wonderful!
Check it out!!

I also joined periscope this week! YIKES! I joined and thought I was going to start scoping (is that what we call it?!) immediately...um yeah, NO! Haha, I have been observing and I am definitely going to do it at some point. I think my goal is going to be Monday afternoon/night. I seriously have no idea what I will talk about or share but YOLO! Might as well, right? What have your periscope experiences been? Help a frantic, scared, scoper out people!

So I had a new experience this week...I did hot yoga! A studio here is doing free outdoor sessions this summer at local parks. I am a Barre3 girl myself so I thought "I know how to do yoga, right?" Yeah...a little different but I still liked it! I don't know if I really would want to go to a studio and sweat for 90 minutes but it was a new experience! 
We also had a view of the lake! 

Lastly, I finally got a new planner! I have been weighing the pros and cons of Erin Condren and Plum Papers ALL summer. However, I simply don't ever keep up with a planner so I couldn't justify it. I do my lessons online and keep up with most things on my computer so it was a no go. However, I used to be able to do everything without really writing down dates and now I am finding that is not really happening as well. So I went to Target and found this little beauty...
It has a monthly calendar, daily notes, and a to-do list section. If I use this baby like crazy this year then I will totally invest in a fancy planner next year! So here is to a year of complete organization and writing it ALL down, to-do lists and all! :)

I also bought the washi tape to make it all cutesy! I bought three different colors...pink for school events, teal for personal events, and orange for football (its serious in the south y'all)! The only thing I am not digging about the washi tape is my sharpie pens don't write on top of it?! What is this about planner people? Oh and I LOVE the gold stickers I found. Those are for birthdays and special dates! Let me know your planner tips and tricks!

Have a GREAT weekend! Thanks for stopping by! Cheers! 




Wednesday, July 15, 2015

One Lovely Blog Award

My heart is so happy today! I have been nominated by Rachael from Sweet Sweet Primary for the One Lovely Blog Award! I just started blogging in June and I am so happy I did!  I have created so many new friendships and have been so inspired!
I will share a few things about myself before sending the love to my favorite blogger friends!

1. I live in Knoxville, Tennessee! GO VOLS! This is our year...seriously! :)

2. I have been a teacher for 5 years. I decided I wanted to be a teacher in high school after enrolling in an ECE class. I knew I wanted to make a positive impact on the lives of children, especially during early development. I am grateful for my high school ECE teacher, Mrs. Garrett, who helped me develop a passion for early childhood development!

3. I got my undergraduate degree and masters degree from the University of Tennessee! 

4. I have been married for a year and a half. I met my hubby on a vacation I was on with a friends family right before college. We had known each other before but the sparks flew that 4th of July at the beach! We have been together ever since! :)


5. I L.O.V.E a good drama television show! Scandal is my absolute favorite! I love to think I am totally like Olivia Pope, getting business taken care of! I also love Nashville and Blacklist. Chrisley Knows Best literally makes me laugh out loud!!!

6. I also love a good adventure! If I am having doubts about doing something the only thing someone has to say is YOLO...it gets me everytime! That and FOMO keep me pretty busy! HAHA!

7. My classroom theme this year is sports. Specifically, baseball! I do like baseball but got the idea because our school PTA theme this year is "Lotts of Champions" (Lotts is part of our school name). I started to think about our hallway and how to incorporate the theme and decided I loved it enough to do a classroom makeover. Also, I LOVE how tangible the idea of being a on a team will be for my kiddos! Classroom community from day one folks! 
Go Team!
8. I desperately wanted an Erin Condren planner this year but simply could not justify it! I buy a planner every year and then totally don't use it after a month. So in order to prove myself wrong, I bought this cute planner from Target! I washi taped it all up and made it cute to make myself feel better. Maybe if I can stick to this all year, I can buy an Erin Condren next year! 
I am going to add my monogram, no worries!
9. I love getting to know other people! I am all about collaborating and hearing other peoples ideas. If you are interested in collaborating, definitely let me know! :)

10. Lastly, because I am a new blogger and have loved it so much...
Giveaway ends Friday friends!!!!! See my previous post for items included!!!

Thank you so much for the nomination Rachael!

I would like to nominate...

Jill from Chevron and Centers 
Jill is such a sweet heart and has been so kind to me since I have started blogging! She is such a wonderful person and I love reading her blog!

Jennifer from The Blessed Teacher
Jennifer is amazing! She was my 1000th follower on instagram and sent me such a kind message when I was just getting started! I love to read her blog and I think she is such a kind and caring person!

Paige from Our Elementary Lives
Paige is SO sweet! We have been chatting and you might see something from us soon!

Cheers!