Pick 3 Pinterest Picks- December

Greetings friends!  

I am so excited to finally join some of my Primary Peeps for a monthly link-up you are going to love.  The wonderful Lisa from PAWSitively Teaching and Marissa from Inspired Owl's Corner are doing a Pick 3 Pinterest Picks monthly link that is jam packed with ideas we've found on that favorite little place we all find ourselves in hourly er...I mean daily.  Right?  Daily. 

My number 1 pick is one I have done with my kids for the last few years.

 

I found this cute idea and decided that would be the front of the card we make to go along with our Parent gift.  I went out and grabbed tons of fun Xmas paper instead of just greens.  I cut them into billions of strips and set out a tray with them at each group.  I demonstrated how to start from the bottom with the longer strips and then trim them smaller as you get to the top.  The kids love it and they all come out so different.  You can click on the image above to check out the pin itself.

My next pick is such an adorable craft.  

I usually try to get the kids to earn one of my Get Caught-Up Whole Class Rewards (Arts & Crafts) around this time of year to get a little fun mixed in.  One year we created these reindeer and they came out so cute!!

My last pick for this month is a super fun tradition I started a few years back and can hardly wait for the festivities to begin this year.

 

We have incorporated some Minute It To Win It games into our Holiday Party these past few years.  It has been so much fun for both the kiddos and visiting parents.  I've really gotten some great photos.  Last year one of the games we played involved me, my student teacher, a delicious Oreo cookie, and our faces.  That's all that needs to be said.  No picture attached.  Let's just say, I'm a pro at moving a cookie to my mouth without hands and just some face muscles.  I'm a sucker for a cookie!!

How much fun was that?  I can hardly wait to read some other great ideas found to add to our classroom this year.  And don't forget, it's open to you to link-up with us.  Did you find some great idea you'd love to share?  Share it here by linking up below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanksgiving Leftovers & MORE!!

Just keep reading...just keep reading...just keep reading, reading, reading.

Sorry -- I pictured Dory singing as I typed and thought it might work.

Ok -- so wake up from that "turkey coma" and get ready for some great news!!

I am teaming up with one of my Primary Peeps for a fun link-up, giveaway, and sale!  My friend, Missy from Dirt Road Teacher is hosing this exciting event.  There is so much to tell ya, that I don't even know where to begin.

Let's start from the top:

Leftover Sale:

Problem Solving Calendar Math

How about a Thanksgiving Feast of sale items for 1 day only!

I've put a few favorites on sale:

All Caught Up Whole Class Rewards

1. Problem Solving Calendar Math - These have been so much fun the past couple of months, that I've decided to make them for each month.  My kiddos love to pull out their scissors and glue and so I figured why not get them to practice some problem solving skills while they are at it.  And it's happening without the slightest bit of resistance.  For 1 day only - you can grab them for just $1 each!!  
2. All Caught Up - One of my favorites.  This is a great whole-class reward system.  My class is moving through each of these rewards so quickly this year, I'm having to come up with more rewards.  And today, you can catch this for just $1.
3. Christmas Kick-off - My top selling items are the Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication fact tests.  They are a perfect way to get your students to practice their facts through timed tests.  They are the integral part of my Fear Factor Year-long Challenge.  For 1 day, they are 50% off!  That's only $3!!

Fact Tests

Leftover Yummies:

Ok - so my recipe is really about my Sweet Potato Casserole and an idea I plan on trying out this morning.  A good friend of mine made this casserole one year and I LOVE it!  I can't imagine making it better as a leftover idea but I can't wait to try it out. 

Sweet Potato Casserole

• 3 cups of sweet potatoes (cooked, peeled, and mashed)
• 2 eggs (beat)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 1 tsp. of vanilla
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 cup of chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup of butter (melted)

Preheat the oven to 350degrees.  Combine sweet potatoes, eggs, sugar, milk, and vanilla.  I like to add some marshmallows into this mixture to make it a little more gooey.  Pour the mixture into a 9x9inch greased baking dish/pan.  In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar, flour, pecans, and butter to make a topping.  Add the topping to the sweet potato mixture.  Bake for 25 minutes.

Ok - so now for the leftovers...I found this great idea for Sweet Potato Pecan Waffles. I figured since my casserole recipe already has pecans in it, this might be perfect.  The link has a great blog post with step-by-step directions (pictures included -- I'm such a visual learner).

Click image for Pinterest Link

You can find it HERE.  As soon as I attempt this yummy-looking leftover plan, I will post pics.

Leftover Giveaway:

Now check out this opportunity!  It's a giveaway!  Enter for your chance to win some "dinero" to spend on your shopping adventures.  When I say "dinero," I'm talking about $30 or $100 in your pocket!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Leftover Link-Up:

Join us and share any leftover recipes you have in your pocket.

You Oughta Know About...

It's another "You Oughta Know!"  

I was planning to share with you about something my kiddos and I have been working on lately, but I found something else that I'm sure you've heard a little about.  So this You Oughta Know is a "two-for-one."

So for my original idea was..."You Oughta Know about these great books to use for Writing!"

Click the picture to take you to one of the books pictured

If you're like me, you are constantly searching for some books to use with your lessons.  Of course I have my "go-tos" for certain concepts, but every once in a while I stumble upon some unknown gem of a read aloud.  Our last focus in writing was for our 2nd graders to write short stories that had beginnings, middles, and ends.  One of my colleague (who sometimes says her Adult ADHD is a blessing), was snooping around the library one afternoon and stumbled upon the "Share a Scare" one and it was perfect during the Halloween time.  We used it to write our very own scary stories.  Well then I discovered the many others.  They are from the WRITER'S TOOLBOX series and there's a bunch of them.  Each of these books is two-part.  They tell a story and have a sidebar of "tools" writers should use when writing that sort of text.  The books says to read the story first.  Then go back through and read the story along with the "tools" or ideas they give to the writers.  My kiddos loved it and they were so eager to share their scary stories and show what tools they used.  So now we are focusing on Poetry.  I hit up Amazon and got the collection of ones for writing we focus on and away we go.

This one also inspired us to put together a Poetry Project.  I created it and it is called, "I'm A Poet & You Know It!"  You can find your own copy here or by clicking the picture below.

My 2nd share is about this:

Have you heard?  Have you seen it?  Have you read about it?

Well -- if you haven't, what are you waiting for?  This is the most fun way to get your kids interacting with information you've taught.  My hubby (7th grade History teacher) was creating one for his class one night and he showed me how it works.  We literally got our reluctant teenagers down stairs to play late one night.  They ended up having fun even though it was about TX history (grumble, grumble).  Kahoot lets you create a quick review that can be done interactively with student's own devices or laptops or whatever technology you've got.  They log in with a pin, create a nickname so they can keep track of their scores, and compete against others to get the best score with correct answers and speed.  I created one for the first time yesterday and we used it to review our Science vocabulary right before our assessment.  Here are some pics of the fun:

 There was a picture of them celebrating after the answer was shown and the the scoreboard was displayed but it was so blurry because of the amount of excitement that was in the room.  They LOVED it!  They didn't even want to go outside for recess when it was over and they asked if they could do one each day!  

What?  

They are ASKING me to review content?  

Yup!  It's that powerful.  So if you don't know about Kahoot!  You oughta!  Stop by https://getkahoot.com and find out if this can be your little tool to get this reaction.

Keep reading to check out more "You Oughta Knows" from a bunch of wonderful people below:

An InLinkz Link-up

Boo! It's a Tricks & Treats Blog Hop!

Woohoo!  I'm back for a fun Blog-Hop that is tied into my favorite holiday!!  I love, love, love Halloween!  Not because it's dark and spooky but more for the creative side of it!  Decorating, costumes, treats, tricks!  Creativity is my drug of choice for sure.

So I'm joining forces with Jessica from Mrs. Plemon's Kindergarten for this fun blog hop with lots of tricks and treats for you.  

So let's start with a TRICK!  I borrowed this amazing idea from one of my colleagues a few years ago.  I like to incorporate quick word work actives but always hated taking up a whole notebook for our quick lists and word building activities.  She used to carry around a STENO PAD to keep track of her to-do lists and such.  It was brilliant!  What a great way to always have a quick reference to what to do and make a quick note of what you need to do.  If you are anything like me, then you think of something great or important and by the time you are near a pen and paper, you've forgotten what idea it was.  Hopefully this problem is not a sign of old-age to come.  

 

This is my STENO for this year so far.  Each year I seek out the cutest one I can find and so begins my endless to-do list.  Below you can see how used and worn they get by the end of the year.  What is neat, is that I hold on to them for a bit and can find some of my ideas from years past.

Back on topic…so then I realized that this incredible friend of mine was also using STENO pads with her kiddos.  And they LOVED it!  Something about the cute little sized notebook makes them go crazy.  So you can do whatever you like but this is how we use them:

And now for the TREAT!  I have had this idea for a few years and just never got around to creating it so that I wasn't still using that old-school cut & paste copy I have in my folder.  So enjoy this freebie by clicking the picture or HERE and I hope you can spend some fun times begin spookily creative with your kiddos.

Thanks for stopping by.  And just to join in, I've decided to throw a weekend sale to go with our Tricks & Treats Blog Hop.  Stop by my store HERE and get some deals.

Don't forget to check out all the other great blogs filled with Tricks & Treats for all you Goblins out there.

An InLinkz Link-up

You Oughta Know About…"Turn In Flaps"

Have I got the perfect thing to share about for this month's:

with Jasmine at Buzzing With Mrs. McClain.

Have you ever seen one of these do-dads before?

I'm not going to take credit for discovering how to use this device in my classroom.  I have a wonderful colleague that had one of these on a table in her room.  One day I ran into her room to ask a quick question and I saw the kids walking over to it and turning in their assignments. A-ha!!  

You see those numbers at the bottom of it?  Well, since each student has a number assigned to them throughout the entire year, they simply walk over to the contraption, lift the flap with their number on it and slide their paper in.  Once all the students have turned in their assignments, you simply slide out the stack and viola…a stack of papers in alphabetical order ready to grade.  It makes it easier to put into the grade book, files, and folders.  I can also automatically tell who has not turned in an assignment.  I feel like it saves me just a little more time in such a daunting and disliked regular part of my job.  I can't imagine life without it now!!

Ok -- so it took me a while to find this baby.  It doesn't have such an easy name (to the kids I call it the "turn in flaps").  But after some digging, I found it online through amazon and office supply stores.  It is  called the C-Line Plastic Indexed Sorter and usually only runs between $15-$23.  Not bad to save a little of my sanity.  

Click HERE for the link to the one that Walmart sells for $15.84

So that is my You Oughta Know for now.  I have a video about how it works but I left it on my computer at school.  Once I get there, I will add it to this blog.  

Now stop by some of the other great blogs to learn about some more things "you ought know" about.

An InLinkz Link-up

September CURRENTLY!

I'm slacking, friends!!  School started and I have been MIA ever since.  I'm sorry.  It's funny because I keep reading some of my bloggy-buddie's post and it seems I'm not alone.

Anywho---why not start the month of September on my favorite link-up, Farley's CURRENTLY.  Apparently, it is a LOT of blogger's favorite.  I'm way at the bottom of a list of over 200 blogs linked in.  So here are my current states:

LISTENING - You guys know me, I absolutely love to have Criminal Minds playing in the background while I work.  I probably have seen every episode more than 5 times each so I don't really have to pay attention.  I can just listen and still enjoy.

LOVING - I'm getting the hang of keeping my Erin Condren planner to be my "one-stop-shop" so to say.  I usually have lists here and there, calendars in this place and that, and carry notebooks, binders, and more notebooks.  Now I am learning how to keep it all together in one place and I am loving it.  If you haven't tried Erin Condren, I suggest to take a leap.  It is well worth the extra $$.

THINKING - Or trying not to think about one of the most "yucky" decisions we have to make.  Our old little weenie dog is starting to show signs of his 14 years.  He's been losing sight and hearing.  Now he's walking in circles, losing use of his hind legs, and has no control of his bladder and bowels.  We just got back from the Animal ER and we need to decide to make him comfortable with meds or put him down {tears flowing}.  I know what is best for him since he's so uncomfortable but I'm so sad!!

Archie-doodle

WANTING - One more day in this long weekend to get my emotions in check.  I'm trying to get started on lesson plans, school work, and dealing with my poor little guy sitting behind the couch.

NEEDING - I might need some focus medicine to get things done.  I tend to sit down and get side tracked with everything BUT what I meant to work on.  Ugh!!  Maybe a vitamin will help.

3 TRIPS - Italy!  (or any European countries for that matter)  I just want to see several sites in person instead of in movies.  I could really spend a whole summer just exploring if given the chance.  The Caribbean would be my getaway to relax and enjoy beautiful beaches.  And Japan would be to explore amazing culture!  Some day…

Alright, now it's your turn.  Stop by Oh' Boy 4th Grade and link up with us.  Don't forget the rules:

Take Two End Today!! Big Sale Starts Tomorrow!!!

Enter for your chance to win 1 of 6 TPT gift cards……..

Use it for the Big Sale tomorrow……..

Now that is a great way to get those last minute things you need for BTS!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Take Two!" -- Giveaway & Sale

If you are anything like me, then you spent a good amount of money on TPT during the BTS sale and now your cart is full again.

Don't worry, friends.  My Primary Peeps and I have got something in store for you!

How about a little more "moola" to put a dent in your shopping cart?  

But it doesn't stop there…

Check back tomorrow for another announcement and in the meantime you can enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

High/Low Linky with A First For Everything

When I first began to think about this post, I was thinking that I didn't have much to talk about for this week.  But as the day went by, I grew more excited to link up and share.  So here's a link up with Julie from A First For Everything:

I'm going to start with my low since it is so fresh on my heart and nothing else seems so low right now.

We just got back from NM.  I had to leave my mommy.  And that was SUPER hard because we were there for my beautiful grandmother's funeral.  It was a perfect celebration of her life and so nice to see all of my family.  I have the gift of so many amazing memories with her.  While there, my hubby and I got to take a quick picture of the beautiful scenery near her burial location.  

Today, I was able to get into my classroom to begin the task of setting it back up.  It was a relief to get in before the original date given to us and the AC was on for the 2nd half of the day.

So here's the before pic.  I will take some more to compare the process as I go.  

I forgot to snap a few more pics before I left today.  I was able to get most furniture in place and unpack a few things and put them into their places.  Hopeful to begin the decorating part soon!

Ok - to give a little background…I have had some really bad luck with finding a hairdresser in the various locations we have lived over the past several years.  My favorite one was in Dallas but when I moved to Florida, I attempted to find someone with as much skill and didn't have any luck.  I tried another one in California with no luck either.  So when we moved to Houston,  I decided to pass on the chances and just make the 3-4 hour trip up to Dallas and back to my original stylist every 3-5 months.  Today, I decided to try out a girl I found on FB.  I was so nervous, but am so glad I did!! {please look away from the grays}

I love it!  I wanted a subtle ombre and trim.  It came out so perfect!  No more driving to Dallas for this girl!

If you have seen this picture around, then you know about an awesome giveaway.  

Some fellow bloggy friends and I hosted this blog hop and giveaway for the last couple of weeks.  The prizes are awesome.  If you haven't entered your chances to win.  Click the picture above and don't miss out!

As a result of this great giveaway -- my numbers have exploded!  Woohoo!  Thanks to all of you guys for making one of my summertime goals a success!

Alrighty - I think I'll stop for now.  Be sure to link up with us and share your own highs and lows for the week.