Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Well I didn't use the reliable hubby this time. I actually used the number generator and I was able to number my comments using Kristen's post over at Ladybug Teacher Files! She is amazing I might add! I want to say thank you to everyone who participated in my giveaway! I was able to reach exactly 300, which is quick ironic. Thanks for all your support! And the winner was...

Click here to see the generator. I obviously did not save it correctly. The number was lucky number 7 which was...


Ali said...
Happy Birthday!! Enjoy your special day!

Ali
An Education Lasts a Lifetime

Congrats Ali! I hope everyone has a great day!!

GIVEAWAY and FREEBIE

I have been reading some of your posts about TpT having a sale on the 29th for Leap Day so I am going to change my Giveaway a little bit. Instead of announcing the winner on Thursday, I am going to announce it on Wednesday morning. Then whoever wins will be able to use the gift card during the sale. I am also opening the giveaway up to everyone! If you are a follower just leave me a comment. If you blogged about my giveaway go ahead and write two comments. Thanks for all your support!And thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Click here to enter the giveaway! Good luck everyone!

I wanted to share an activity I did this week during our writers workshop time. We have started our Small Moments Unit and finally got to use an activity from Kristen at Ladybug Teacher Files. We first talked about what a small moment was and I used my cute poster I had made. Then we read the story

While we were reading we talked about figurative/descriptive language. I used Kristen's worksheet for the kids to record their findings.

Click here to download it on Kristen's blog!

I also created this little poster that I am going to place on our writers workshop board.

Click here to download the poster.

I hope everyone has a SUPER DUPER Sunday!

Help me reach 300 with a Happy Birthday Giveaway!

The hubby is finally home and I got such a good sleep last night! I think he was tired too because we both slept for 12 hours! (oops!) Well today is my 24 birthday, I know, I know I am a youngen. My principal thought I was turning 28! He was shocked I was only turning 24, but I graduated from college at 21 so I starting teaching pretty young! Well I thought I would have a giveaway to you all lovely bloggers to help celebrate my birthday!

I will be giving 1 person 25 dollars to.....

This giveaway is a little different because I want to try and reach 300! So here is how you enter:

1. Blog about my giveaway and leave me the link to your post.
2. Get someone to join my blog. Leave your name and the person that is now following me. You can leave a comment for each person you get to join!
3. If you are a new follower leave a comment too!


Please leave your email address to one of the comments you leave! Thanks for all your help bloggy friends! I will announce the winner on Thursday!

Last but not least I have seen this on several blogs....

You have my permission to pin anything you have found on my blog! I love finding things of mine that people have pinned. It puts a little extra smile on my face!

Awful Two Days...

I am so sorry but I still have not posted my second Seusstabular freebie and how I organize my math centers. I have probably had two of the worst days in my teacher career. It is such a struggle sometimes to keep a smile on my face, but I know I have to for my kids. I just wanted to go crawl up in a corner and cry. On top of everything at school I had an issue with one of my online professors and I thought we got it taken care of this weekend, but I just got another email so I guess not. It just makes me so frustrated when we are all "suppose" to be professionals but some people don't act like it. Oh and did I say the hubby is out of town still so its just me and lil helper.

I promise to have my math center organization and freebie up by this weekend. I hope you all are having a better week then I am.

Positive Note: I ordered a rubber stamp from the lady that made Miss Farley's mustache one! Here is what it is going to look like:

Student Valentines and Lil Helper Part 2!

Ok, ok, I know Valentine's Day is tomorrow, but I just now finished my student's Valentines. I used the idea off Lindsey's blog, The Teacher's Wife and they turned out REALLY cute! I think the kids are going to love them because they are not traditional at all and they glow duh!

Oh and by the way I did NOT have a snow day! No Kansas schools got the day off, but plenty of Missouri schools did. For those that don't understand what I mean when I talk about Missouri and Kansas I really talk like they are one state, because the major cities in both states are so close together. Such a rip off, but I guess on the flip side I got some more instruction in! :)

I have to leave you with my lil helper picture tonight. He of course wanted a glow stick to play out in the snow in! I hope everyone had a SUPER Monday!

In Line FREEBIE

I wanted to share a quick freebie. We say this every time we get in line. It gets my kids focused and ready to walk in the halls and they looove saying it. We sing it in a chant, I say it then they repeat it. I hope some of you can use this or save it for next year!

Click Here!!

Everyone enjoy your Sunday! I am hoping for a snow day tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Then I would only see the kids 2 days this week, I don't know it that is a good or bad thing! :)

Valentine Gift and a Helper!

I received my Valentine gift from the Bloggy Gift Exchange! It is from the fabulous Tammy at



Here is what she got me...

I LOVE this cup! I will be using it on Monday!

Super cute mirror for my purse! Love!

Cute things for my classroom!

This is what is left of the gummy bears, OPPS! I already ate them all! :) Thanks so much Tammy! You are such a sweetie!

Here is what we are doing next week, oh and did I say it is only a 3 day week because we have conferences on Thursday and we are off Friday and Monday! Wooooooohooooo! I am totally excited!

First: We will be starting our new writing unit, Small Moments. I found this poster of Pinterest and I had to make it! Here is how it turned out:

Turned out cute right??

Also we will be doing Babblin Abby's Snowy Day Inferencing Unit! If you have not checked this out at her TpT you should! It is totally worth the money and I know my kids are going to love it!

So I saved the best for last, my little helper! He had to help me take the pictures and wanted to be apart of my blog.............

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! It is super cold here so I won't be able to walk, but I will get to stay inside and snuggle up to my lil helper!

Second Grade Shindig!!

I have made it through the week, almost. My precious little children have completely gone crazy! Ugh! I hope they can get it together tomorrow, come on it is Friday! Well here are some pictures from our get together on Wednesday with all of the second grade teachers:

Doesn't it look fabulous?? We had such great discussions and I got A LOT of fun new activities. I wish you all could have been there! :)

I also have to share what was in the package I got the other day. It is from a very SWEET bloggy friend!

I am SUPER excited to have a copy of the Lucy Calkin's writer's workshop units! And now I have this bloggy's friend address because it was on her package so I can send her something back!! ;)

I hope everyone has a good Friday and I will be praying my little angels are back tomorrow!!!

Prefixes and RH of the O.C. Baby!!!

We are done with our lesson study....I learned a lot but I am glad to have that checked off. The lesson/unit we worked on was about prefixes. I wanted to share what we did today:

I oh course had to make an anchor chart. I am planning on making one for all of the prefixes we talk about and hang them around the room. When we review them all the kids will be able to refer to them. Second we played a simple game, the kids were given either a blue card (re) or a white card (base word) I played music (Justin Bieber!!) and when the music stopped they had to get with a partner to make a "re" word!

We will be making a cute activity tomorrow that I found on Pinterest and then traced it back to

Click Here to see the post!

I know the kids are going to love doing this project!! I will let you know how it goes!!

Ok so non-education related......The Real Housewives of Orange County is back baby! The first is always the best and this is totally true. I am not a fan of ALL the Real Housewives, but I am obsessed with Orange County! I am super excited and can't wait until 8:00 rolls around! You all know where I will be....on the couch watching duh!!! Tomorrow is our BIG 2nd grade get together and it is going to be fabulous! I will have pictures to share!

What a Day or Shall I Say Week!!

Well today was an easy day or shall I say half day. Myself and my teammate are completing a lesson study. It is a very long process but we have finally made it.....FILMING DAYS!! Yep that is right folks we are filming our lessons. Has anyone completed or been a part of a lesson study before??

Here's how it works:

1. Read a book about lesson study to be "experts."
2. Fill out all the paperwork and forms.
3. Figure out what in the ___________ we are going to teach it on.
4. Plan the lesson.
5. One person teaches the lesson and we film it.
6. We critique it and change parts that need to be changed.
7. The other person teaches it and we film it.
8. We reflect on what we learned and are finally done!

We completed steps 6 and 7 today. I will be teaching the lesson tomorrow and then half day again to do out final reflection. Phew!!! We have been working on this since late November and we have finally made it!! I am really excited to watch my film tomorrow and find ways to become an even better teacher.

So after doing this we have our BIG BLOWOUT Early Release day with all the second grade teachers at our building. I got my activity all copied for the rest of the teachers. I hope they like it as much as I do!?!?

I got a very exciting email today...it was from Tammy at First Grade at Klinger Cafe.



She is my secret Valentine from the BIG Valentine Exchange from Ms. Preppy, but it had nothing to do with my Valentine gift.....she saw that my birthday was coming up and gave me a gift card to TpT!! I couldn't believe it, someone I don't even know in real life being so kind and giving me a gift for my birthday. She is so nice, I still can't believe it. Please go check out her blog if you haven't.

Last but not least I got some sad news today when I got home...the hubby will be on a work trip the week of my birthday. The birthday part doesn't bother me, but a WEEK!!! I can't sleep alone for one night! Who is coming over for a bloggy slumber party?!?! I don't know how I am going to make it!! Well I have a couple weeks to figure that out. Off to go walk with my bff another 5 miles! We are kicking butt! ;)

February Currently

I am here posting twice in one day to be apart of Farley's February Currently!!!

I could not think of a Random Act of Kindness off the top of my head so I am going to think about it and get back to you. Also make sure to scroll down to my previous post to get a FREEBIE!!

If you are unfamiliar with Farley's Currently check it out here:

Winner, Cutest FREEBIE, and Winter?!?!?

So I used my very reliable number generator again to pick my winner.....my hubby! He choose number 27 and mumbled something about the super bowl today. All I heard was 27 and came straight to my computer to figure out who lucky number 27 is! Congrats to Leanne over at

I know Miss Leanne is having a birthday soon.....the same as MINE!!! February 25th!! I guess this will be an early birthday present to her.

We have an Early Release this week on Wednesday. This time all the second grade teachers from the district our getting together at our school. (only 13 of us) On the agenda is to bring an ENGAGING game or activity for one of our last EDM units. (math) Also we are planning on discussing writing and interventions to use in the classroom. We are going all out for this great day. We are decorating and giving out yummy treats...the whole works! I will take pictures to share. I am just hoping all goes well, because I have heard some interesting information about some of these ladies attending, but I am not going to make judgements until I meet them. Ok that was way too long, sorry. But that is the reason why I created my next freebie. It is one of the last lessons we teacher in EDM. I am bringing it to share on Wednesday and I thought I would share with you.

Click Here!!

I hope you enjoy. I figured it is a good review for those 3rd grade teachers out there too! :)

Lastly I had to share the picture I woke up to this morning:

This is it folks!! This is the only sign of winter we have had. Last year we had a blizzard and about 5 snow days by now. NOPE, not this year. I want my snow! But I will wait patiently because it ALWAYS snows around my birthday so we shall see. I hope everyone enjoys Super Bowl Sunday!! I will be in my P.J.'s all day with the hubby and puppy! :)

What You Love (Linky Party)

Kimberly over at Funky First Grade Fun is having a What You Love Linky Party!



Head over a check it out! I love a good linky party!

I meant to say any juicy news. I was typing really fast! My brain thinks faster then I can type sometime.

I got all my grading done!! Woohoo totally excited about that! I still need to do my homework tomorrow. Don't forget my giveaway end tomorrow!

Click Here!

Anchor Charts

My new obsession is anchor charts that I find on Pinterest! I thought I would share some of my favorites that I plan on doing this year or saving for next year.

I am planning on using this one the week of Valentine's Day to review what a good friend is and why it is important to treat each other with respect. (I think some of my friends forgot this during this past week so it is my job as the teacher to REMIND them!)

This one I am planning on making whenever I have the free time. We practice fluency everyday. I will have to post how we do that. I am seeing great improvements in some of my kids. One student went from reading 15 WPM to 83 WPM!!!I was super proud of her!

These two I will be making in our next writing unit. We will be working on the Lucy Calkins unit Small Moments. I started a little later than most of you (after winter break) so I am just now finishing the first unit. We will be having our Author's Celebration next week. I got a really cute children's chair that I want to paint and fix up all cute for my kids to sit in when it is their time to share. I will show you a picture when I get it all done.

Well I need to say thank you to Elisabeth at Twins, Teaching, and Tacos! She gave me the favorite follower award and sent me one of her units for free! She is super sweet and generous. If you have not checked her about please do!!!



On to something craft my bff and I have been working on. We have some babies birthdays to go to tomorrow and I was in charge of making the little girls outfit. I ironed on the cute little cupcake on the front of the hoodie and then hand sewed an E on the back because her name is Emma. It turned out pretty cute!

Last but not least don't forget to enter in my giveaway! I will choose a winner Sunday evening.

Click Here!

P.S Leanne (Spend a Day in Second Grade) and I are long lost sisters:

1. We are both Kansas Girls!
2. She is teaching at the elementary school I went to growing up.
3. Both of our birthdays are on February 25th!!!!!

Totally crazy!!

Giveaway and What's up!

Yes I am still alive from walking 10 miles in 2 days!! My legs hurt so bad, ugh!! They are feeling better today, which was good. I want to say thank you to everyone who commented about your reading block, it was very help. I will share in a later post about what I do during my reading block and how I want to change it up for next year. On to what we have been doing this week...

First we have been working on Subtraction with Regrouping. I bought Amy Lemmon's unit and I have been using different parts of it. I love all the cute posters she made.

We also practiced with these cute activities. The kids loved the matching snowman activity and guess what...it was a FREEBIE on Amy's blog!!

We also started our Kansas Unit today. We talked about the trails that ran through Kansas and started mapping them all out. Here is what we did today, I will show you the finished product later in the week.

Lastly, of course we had to use Jennifer's Groundhog Day activities and make our predictions. We made a class graph. The kids are so excited to see if their prediction comes true!

Last but not least......I have reached 200 FOLLOWERS!! I can't believe it! Thank you all very much! Of course I have to have a giveaway. Here is it.....a custom magnet board. You will be able to pick the color of the board and the ribbon. You could also request to add something to it. It is all up to you!

Here's how you enter...

1. Follow my blog: 1 comment
or
2.Blog about my giveaway: 2 comments

Simple as that! I will pick a winner on Sunday! Good luck to everyone!