A Full Moon Kind of Week

Oh my goodness! I have to be the world's worst blogger.  I can't remember the last time I missed three days in a row.  I have missed blogging so much!  Almost more than I would miss toilet paper... yeah, not quite that much, but you get the point!  I do have to tell you, I was going to blog yesterday, but when I went to pull out the laptop, I discovered I left it at school.

Anyway, I feel like this is one of those Christmas letters where you hear about the kids, what each family member is doing with their life, etc.  There is so much to tell you!  So, to make it quicker, I'm going to do a quick Top 5 Ways I've Spent my Time.

5. Restaurants - Yeah, we are getting ready for diets, so we are making sure we get our fill of good food.  We have eaten out pretty much every night this week.  Honestly, I'm looking forward to some plain chicken.

4. Sleeping - I was out last week, but definitely back this week!  Not to mention, I think this week we've had a full moon.  I am exhausted and can't seem to get moving at all in the morning.  I am fully alert at night and completely dead at 5:20 a.m.  Something has to give!!!  School starting at 10:45 anyone?

3. Printing - I cannot win when it comes to using printers.  First, I started printing something two days ago, but my printer messed up.  This is at 6:35 in the morning and I REALLY wanted ChickfilA.  Then, I tried at school and the computer with the color printer wouldn't work right, so I was going to do it last night.  Yeah, didn't happen... hard to print when your laptop is at school, so worked on it tonight, got halfway through and ran out of ink.  Um... anyone thinking pay to send it to Office Depot?

2. Verizon - Messed up phone bill and three 45 minute phone calls in a month to attempt to fix it FINALLY got it fixed - enough said!

1. School - I have several playlists for my first graders.  Well, today they asked for Christmas music.  So,  what did I do?  Um, yep... you are right, this teacher played Christmas music in February.  I have to say, it was one of my favorite days with them.  I also had one of my kids working on my iPad with headphones next to me this afternoon and she said, "Mrs. Wheelers (yes, she calls me that), it's not making the right noise."  I looked at it and I have the TPT app added to my iPad and it had cha-chinged in her ears.  Not sure why, but that just seemed to top my day off.  Think we will have to have to have a cha-chinging Christmas in March, too.

Now, since I've been out of touch for a few days, I have to share with you my new freebies :)  We are reading "Little Bear's Friend" this week, so I made a few sheets that can compliment the story.  I'm also doing gummy bears for a little treat tomorrow :)  My kiddos have no idea!  Really, I had no idea either until I ran into a teammate at Target and she was getting gummy bears.  As always, click on the bottom of the pages to go grab them.

Oh, and before I forget, I am in two awesome giveaways!  You can click on either of the pictures below to go check them out.  You definitely won't regret it!

See you guys tomorrow!  Have a Fantastic Friday!

Giveaways, Linky Parties, and Freebies

Wow!  Today has been a great day.  I shouldn't admit it, but I decided to skip everything and stay in my cocoon one more day.  I know tomorrow I have to be ready to conquer the world, but today, I just wanted to hibernate and just hide from the world one last day.  I wanted one last lazy pajama day.

I've also had a REALLY exciting blog week.  Charity Preston featured one of my freebies in her new magazine.  It apparently had a lot of repins, so it landed on her Pinterest page.  I wouldn't have had a clue if Jessica from Second Grade Nest hadn't told me.  That completely made my night!  You can CLICK HERE to go to the magazine.  It's a pretty awesome magazine.  In case you want to see my pin, it's on page 22.

Then, today one of the giveaways I am in started.  It is over at Teaching and Tapas.  If you click on the giveaway picture and it will take you to her site.  She has over 100 items in her giveaway, so you won't regret joining.

Anyway, I'm linking up with Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits Hall Pass.  It's completely different than the other link ups I've done, so hope you enjoy!

Product:
I actually have two favorite products right now.  I am in love with my two new St. Patrick Day sets.  One is math task cards and the other one is a set of Printable sheets.  If you want to see pictures of them, check out my blogs from the last week.  If you click on the pictures below, it will take you to them on my TPT site.  Both of them have freebie items loaded in the preview.  I promise, you won't regret visiting!  Here are preview pictures of the freebies included with these two sets.

Area:
Right now I am loving my "desk" area.  I just got rid of my desk two weeks ago and exchanged it for this table.  It has made small groups, writing, etc. SOOO much easier.  I find myself wanting to do more hands-on activities with the kids and as funny as it sounds getting rid of the desk was like getting rid of a barrier.  My kids love getting invited to sit with me.  Other than that I just love my classroom in general.  It's very open since I pushed desks next to the walls.  I figured out I have 7 areas I can use for small groups.  That definitely affects the noise level and how productive my kiddos are.

Signal:
Typically, my signal is Give Me Five!  That stands for 1. Check your feet, 2. Check your hands, 3. Check your eyes, 4. Check your mouth, and 5. Check your ears.  Most of our school does this, so all the kids know what it means.

Sanity:
My sanity is typically my teammates.  They always know the right thing to say and the way to calm me down.  They are like family to me.  The best part is we all know each others strengths and weaknesses. On top of that, we read each other well, so if we sense another teammate is having a tough day, we will send devotions to each other, Bible verses to each other, and pray together.  We also have a habit of getting each other breakfast quite often.  So, when I say I'm on the best team in the world, I truly am.  I get paid to do a job I love and to work with some of my best friends.  I have it made!

Alright, time to get back into first grade teacher mode.  I just told my hubby tomorrow will be long because I stayed up late and slept in every day!  I'm thinking a Starbucks order may be on my list in the a.m. (if I can get up).  Have a great Monday!

Five for Friday... I mean Saturday

So, once again I am going to be a day behind in my blogging :)  I think I may need to just start a weekly Saturday link up since I'm always around 12 hours late to the cute one on Doodle Bugs Teaching.  Of course, if I did that I'd probably do 90% of the Saturday posts on Sunday :)

There seems to be only two places I get to on time - work and church.  Everywhere else is hit or miss.  According to my hubby, if I say I'm going to be home by 4:30, then he starts getting ready at 4:30 because typically I am 15 to 45 minutes later than my original time.  I have some major timing issues ya'll!

Anyway, even though I'm late, I am still going to link up to Doodle Bugs Teaching because it is way to cute to pass up.

Here are my 5 random facts for this week.

Random Fact #1:
I finished!  I finished!  I worked ALL day yesterday on creating my newest packet.  ALL day as in I finished at 1:30 in the morning.  Do any of you guys ever do that?  I'm down to four sheets left, my hubby is snoring, and I sitting here thinking, "I have to be the Little Engine that Could."

Anyway, it's a set of St. Patrick's Day printables.  If you like all of my freebies, you will LOVE this packet.  Some of them are similar to the sheets I've had on here and some of them are completely different.  They can easily be used for morning work, homework, review, or assessments.  Oh, and these two sheets are freebies in my preview section.  Just click on them and it will take you straight to where you can download them.

Here are pictures of the rest of the packet.  If you like what you see, you can click on any of the pictures and it will take you to my TPT store.

Random Fact #2:

Have you ever seen a small Chihuahua try to bury something on a bed?  It might be the funniest thing in the world.  I gave my Bella a dog biscuit to eat since she's been hanging out with me in my focus zone - my bed.  Well, she took it and started trying to push the sheet over it.  However, you can't exactly push the bottom sheet over anything, so it was pretty funny.  Here's a picture of Bella sitting with my focus snacks yesterday :)  I can get anything accomplished with a Coke and a few snacks :)  and I wonder why my jeans have tightened up a little.

Random Fact #3:
This is the blog for one of my favorite people right now.  Jessica's blog is cute and has some great ideas.  I think the part that amazes me the most is she actually designs it herself.  She's also become a pretty good friend.  In the TPT world, it's rare to know someone that actually does this and I've been blessed with two, Jessica being one of them.  I'll tell you about the other one tomorrow.  She constantly cracks me up with her comments and the links and pictures she sends.  In the last two months, I'd also say she's one of my top five encouragers.

Anyway, Jessica and I have been switching a lot of our items for the last month or two and I have to tell you, her new spring packets are awesome.  I can honestly say I've never seen a packet that really does stretch from K-2, but hers does.  I checked two of them yesterday and immediately asked if I could use them.  Oh, the best part about this random fact is she has NO idea that I'm blogging about her right now which I find hilarious because we are talking on FB :)

Random Fact #4:

When I create, I have this habit of picking a television show and listening to it.  I rarely watch.  I just listen.  Back during the summer, I went through ALL of the Gossip Girl episodes and Cosby Show episodes.  This week, I've managed to go through all of the Scandal episodes.  The funny part about Scandal is it has new episodes even now, so I started on Netflix and had to switch to Hulu Plus halfway through.  Now, I've moved onto Parenthood which I have to say is a new favorite.  It has a kid with Asperger's, so since I know kids with it, it's easy to relate to how he reacts.

Random Fact #5
I LOVE my iPad and I have certain apps I check every day, but my favorite app is Bejeweled Blitz.  Each game only lasts a minute, so you can play it as little or as much as you want.  It is the one game I play when I need to not think.  It's also a freebie, so if you click on the picture, it will take you to the Apple app store so you can grab it.

Alright, hopefully my post tomorrow is a little shorter.  The last couple have felt like the world's longest posts.  Of course, the owl hooting outside my window is probably not helping my focus :)  Hope you guys have a restful Saturday!  I'm off to create some more.

A Seussical Ideas and Freebies Post

Alright, I had this all planned out.  I was going to tell you about getting ready this morning and discovering that my one pair of jeans that fit perfectly were soaking wet damp.  Then, I was going to tell you guys about my marvelous lunch with my teammates at Olive Garden today.  The funny thing is I even picked at my teammates and told them I was taking notes because I was out of funny stories.  Three days locked in a house will do that to a girl.

So, I had this entire blog planned out and the thunder started.  Rain doesn't bother me at all, but thunder and lightning means tornadoes in my world.  I don't do bad weather, so now I am hyperventilating (Not really, but I do keep jumping) and praying at some point God will quit bowling.  

Anyway, while I wait for the weather to settle down, I thought I'd share my Dr. Seuss ideas I found online.   I also have a few more freebie birthday sheets ready, so those are right below this paragraph.  If you see anything you like, click the picture and it will take you to the site where I found it (If there is a site).  

#1 Teaching Blog Addict

This is one of my favorite websites.  There are always excellent ideas and right now, there are TONS of freebies for Dr. Seuss' birthday.  I know I will definitely be grabbing a few of these things for next week.

#2 My Very Own Dr. Seuss Book

This is approved by the Seussville site and I have to say it is adorable.  I just wish I could afford to print the entire thing times twenty in color.  It is twenty pages of activities that include rhyming, short stories, math, and more.  Honestly, it really fits Kindergarten perfectly.  It could also be good for first graders that need independent work.  This is well worth your time.

#3 Dr. Seuss Lesson Plans & Printables

Okay, this is the best freebie I think I've ever seen!  If you follow the picture, there are 8 sets of activities/worksheets based off of 8 different Dr. Seuss books.  Oh, and if you don't have the books Target has ALL Dr. Seuss books for $5 or $10.  I know I loaded up on them today.  Right now, I'm thinking the entire month of March should be devoted to Dr. Seuss.  There's no way I'm fitting this into a few days and I'm only on number 3.

#4 Cat in the Hat Craft

I have seen this adorable cat floating around on Pinterest for the last two weeks.  I just had to post it.  It originated with a Kindergarten teacher named Anna Holcomb.  It took a little digging, so I'm putting it here so you can go straight to her blog and check it out.  I love these crafty teachers because they always help balance out all the worksheets :)

#5 Dr. Seuss Book Graph

I absolutely adore this book graph freebie.  I love it so much that when I cleaned up my pins earlier this week, I realized I had pinned it more than once.  To me, this is the perfect way to marry math and reading.  I can't wait to take the time next week to read all of these books to my kiddos and then let them do this graph.  A matter of fact, I am probably going to print this one in color.  I just adore it.  As I mentioned above, Target has All the Dr. Seuss books.  I went today and I bought five of these titles.  I don't think there's anything better than a crisp, new hardback book.  I cannot wait to do this next week!  Lindsay nailed it with this one!  She also has some really cute centers that are in my cart.  You won't regret checking out her blog.

#6 Target Goodies

Alright, ya'll.  As I mentioned above, I went to Target today.  Well, before I went to Target, I visited Party City.  In case you are going between the two, I found the same items at Target for Dr. Seuss marked down.  For example, the Dr. Seuss pencils were $4.99 at Party City.  At Target, they were $3.48.  They weren't in a clearance area.  I found all of the items where you find the school supplies.  I can't promise they are on sale at your Target, but I have a feeling if I got them marked down, chances are you will find them marked down at your Target.  Now, to find t-shirts.  If anyone has any ideas, please leave me a comment :)

#7 Silly Cat Math Roll

I fell in love with this the second I saw it.  It's a cute, little math game.  The kids use dice, roll them, and cover the numbers they roll.  The best part is it is free!  This will definitely be one of my centers for next week.

#8 Jello Snack

I'm not sure about you guys, but I love being able to tie a snack into a learning activity.  I saw this one a few weeks ago and thought it looked simple and I have no doubt that my kids will eat this.  I would LOVE to link it up to the creator, but the pin went straight to a picture.  If any of you know who came up with such a fantabulous idea, please let me know.  I definitely want to give credit to the creator :)

#9 The Birthday Round Up

This is a cute place value center activity.  What I like about it most is it is perfect for your higher level thinking kiddos.  Here's the funny part about this pin.  I was going through my Dr. Seuss Pinterest board, saw it and I had to mention it.  Well, I went to follow it to the teacher's blog and it's my friend Catherine, The Brown-Bag Teacher.  There's something neat about picking an item and not realizing it belongs to someone that follows your blog.  Plus, I follow her blog, so I'm excited about sending you her way.  She has an entire set of these adorable centers, so go pick up her freebie and see what else she has prepared :)

#10 Goldfish Colors and a Book

You know the phrase, "Save the best for last"?  Well, I may have managed to do that.  The Oopsey Daisy blog takes the goldfish and graphs them.  This goes great with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  This blog also gives you an idea for t-shirts if you can't find one (Anyone remembering my dilemma right now?)  This blog is pretty incredible, so when I have time, I'm going back to look a little closer.  I think you will enjoy this one as much as me!

These are just a few of the things that I found.  If you want more ideas go to my HOLIDAY FUN - DR. SEUSS board.  It is loaded with tons of fun activities.  My next blog post like this will be on St. Patrick's Day, so if you guys have any awesome freebies that you have found, leave me a link over the next week.  I will be sure to check it out and feature it if it falls within what I'm looking for.  These are some of my favorite posts to do.  They take forever, but they save tons of time during the week!

Whew!  I'm wiped!  See you guys in a few hours!