Holiday Greetings & New Year's Wishes...with a freebie!

I hope everybody is enjoying his/her winter break!  What a blessing it is to be able to take some time off to relax, eat, spend time with family, sleep, and then eat some more.  Eating is my favorite. ♥

But I also know that so many teachers are already thinking about lesson planning for the New Year.  I know I'm already thinking about how to create resolutions with my little friends with the support of a good read aloud.  Last year I had used Extra Yarn, which is an incredible book with an awesome  female lead character.  And the book exemplifies how a person can have such a huge impact with a simple act of kindness.  But I didn't feel like the students developed strong personal goals after hearing that story.

This year I would like to incorporate more of a growth mindset with creating the resolution.  I've already read The Dot, so I'm thinking of reading What Do You Do With An Idea? or The Most Magnificent Thing.  I'm not sure which book to use...but it will eventually come to me...and I'll post it here on the blog and on my Facebook page.

Giving thanks...for you...with my first ever GIVEAWAY...

During the beginning of the holiday season, we often reflect what we're thankful for. Truthfully, along with being very grateful to God for good health, my wonderful family, for having a home and a job, I'm also incredibly thankful for all my followers on Teachers Pay Teachers. Your lovely comments are truly humbling.  To be part of this community of wonderful educators and to have the opportunity to create and share teaching materials that hopefully have a positive impact on children (and make teachers' lives a little easier!) is inspiring.  So to you,

So, what's the best way to thank you?

I'm ECSTATIC...better yet, ELATED, to be giving away a $10 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card.  My first ever giveaway!  Yay!

There are a couple of different ways to enter:

1.  Please comment on this blog post with a product (or products!) that you would like to buy from Teachers Pay Teachers.  It could be any product, not necessarily any from my store.

2.  Follow me on Facebook and comment under the TpT Gift Card post with the product(s) that are on your TpT Wish List!

I'll be talking submissions until Monday, November 28th, 2016, at 8 PM.  I will randomly select a winner and post it on the blog and on my Facebook page by 9 PM. 

After you win the gift card, you can go do some shopping...

Please be sure to share!  Thank you again!!!


***GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED!  THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED ON THE BLOG AND ON FACEBOOK!  I CAN'T WAIT TO DO THIS AGAIN!!***

Teachers in September: Under construction

Must. Stay. Organized.

One of my goals this year is to get organized and stay organized.  But it definitely requires a huge time investment in the beginning of the year.  I'm really committed to making these changes, to improve my teaching and my personal life.  Therefore, I haven't been blogging or developing products much over the past couple of weeks. Because my life looks like this right now:

Book explosion:  I'm re-organizing my library!

The pretzels add some glamour to this shot.

Clean. Organize. Assess. Repeat.

So hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can share some more pictures of my small-space classroom that are actually an improvement.  

Surprise Sale!

So, TpT is throwing another back-to-school sale!  A little gift for the teachers who are beginning the school year in September, like myself.  Or for those who are already in the grind of the school year and needs some extra stuff here and there.  My little store is on sale for 20% off, and TpT throws in another 10%, to make it a total of 28% off.  Check it out!

And if I may, I have a new product that I've been using myself for a few years.  It's a word wall alphabet for small spaces because I've been sharing a classroom every since I became an academic support teacher.  It's also goes with a blue color scheme or space/star theme (which I currently have both in my room).  Check it out!  And, as always, thank you!!

Follow me on Bloglovin'

So, apparently, I'm quite late to the Bloglovin' party!  Now that I've discovered how simple this site is, I've joined and claimed my blog.

If you're interested in having me follow you on Bloglovin', let me know in the comments!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
 

The best part of summer...

The best part of summer for teachers is the opportunity to show the multiple facets of their personalities and lives without worrying about lesson plans, professional development, observations, classroom libraries, report cards, assessments, PARCC, parent conferences, back-to-school, grading, staff meetings, classroom management, technology integration, interventions, contacting parents...etc.  For me, it's family time, traveling, and the ocean...

Family wedding!

Washington, DC

Cleaning up and simplifying

I'm trying.

I'm trying so hard.

I'm trying so hard to make this blog prettier, more modern-looking, with a cleaner edge.  Just trying to clean up and simplify...

But, man, Blogger is just not fun to maneuver, and looking up HTML codes is no walk in the park either.

I can report with some satisfaction that I've changed some of the fonts and the colors a little bit and removed some extraneous stuff.  My TPT logo is much better, thanks to the LogoMaker app, and of course I used it on my Pinterest page.

I need some "Eye of the Tiger" music...I need to keep on going...

Courtesy of www.wpclipart.com

P.S. My Facebook page and I are also in a fight...the link does not consistently work...

Monitoring Your Reading = Passing Level 1 of a Video Game

So I've put in a few years of trial and error into creating this resource, Re-telling and Summarizing Fiction Texts:  Interventions and Strategies.  I can tell you how I've put in my heart and soul into creating these graphic organizers and anchor charts to help my students, and I really think they will help your learners, too.  And eventually, I will get into the details of each strategy and how they address specific student needs and text structures.  But instead, I'm going to begin with the ending because it's my favorite part of this story, really the best part of the story:  winning level one of the video game.

Clip art courtesy of Paula Kim Studio

More funnies...

It's never too late...to start your resolution...

Even though it's April, I'm still going to wish everybody a healthy and joyous, {rest of the} New Year, filled with creativity.  I think it's the spirit of creativity, this drive to create and mold and refine, that keeps us going as educators, especially to fight through the many obstacles and challenges in the world of teaching.

I have so many resolutions, so many facets of life that I want to grow and change and develop...one of which includes blogging.  It's such a wonderful privilege to be able to be part of a community of educators who shares its experiences, commiserates through the challenges, and congratulates each other's successes through blogging.  This year, I really want to re-join that community, in my own small way, because I know it will make me a better educator.  Here goes...

Oh, and of course, happy spring, the season of the renewal...