Pssst....I have a little secret for you!

Hey yall! Real quick...

Can you believe tomorrow is MAY??? That means I only have 14 school days left, and 1 day for post-planning after that. Wahoo!!!

What's my secret you ask? Can't tell you...yet :)

But come back tomorrow...you are not going to want to miss it!

Okay, okay...I will give you a little hint...



Come back tomorrow?

P.S. I am thisclose to 200 followers!!! Please, please, please tell your friends...I would LOVE to get there by tomorrow!!!

Balloon Poppin' Fun {freebie}

Hey yall! Are yall having a lazy Sunday like me? I love my Sundays!

I have done a whole lot of nothing today. I did manage to get out to the grocery store, and I'm trying to find the motivation to take the pups to the park...

How many of you have this picture pinned?



It sounded like so much fun, so I decided why not?

In case you haven't seen this photo, here is the premise: write down fun little activities for the kids to do for the last few weeks of school, put them in the balloons, and hang the balloons from the ceiling. Each day, pop a balloon and complete the activity inside! Fun, right?

I was origanally going to do this for the last 22 days of school, and let each student pop a balloon a day. But I didn't get my act together :(

So I just wrote out 15 fun things for us to do...but then I decided to do it for the last 10 days of school. Mainly because we still have lots of learning to do and I'm not ready for them to get completely crazy...yet.

Click on the picture to get your own fun activities. Most of these don't cost a dime, although some do require a little planning on your part :)



I am most definitely going to plan the balloons that should be popped each day....but I won't let my littles know that :)

Thank you, Mr. Postman

Hey yall! It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday...

Ha! I really felt like singing that ridiculous song all day. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, google Rebecca Black and prepare to be entertained.

I actually had no issues getting up this morning, because I realized that I get to wear jeans for the rest of the school year!!! That is 15 whole days of jeans-wearing bliss, my friends.

Yes, I would hate me, too :)

And then, I came home to find this!



My Pinterest-inspired bloggy exchange gift! I love them!!!

They are from Kerri at Ms. Kerri and her Krazy Kindergarten. Thank you soooo much, Kerri! These are beautiful and will look great on my desk :) And now....I have even more reasons to use those post-its! Go say hello to Kerri, and tell her how great a job she did on my gifts!

This is what I sent to my blogger Lyndsey from A Year of Many Firsts.

Look familiar??? Its the same scrapbook paper I used for this...

I about died when I read Lyndseys information sheet, because she said that she loved the pale yellow/gray combo, and that is exactly what I had put on mine!

I actually created her gift first, and then decided that I liked it so much I wanted to do one for me! Her gift also inspired me to make this for my home...

If you didn't get to participate in this fun bloggy exhange, hop over to Teacher Blogger Exchange and follow them...then you'll be ready for next time!

The 'Berry' Best Year

Hey yall! Just a quick post to tell you about my new craftivity that I have up for sale.

I am *super* excited, because this is my favorite one...er, make that two...yet!

Have you had a 'berry' good year? Then you and your littles definitely need to make one of these sweet things...





This unit includes:

*2 berry craftivities (strawberry and blueberry)
*2 different writing prompts, both in 2 different style fonts
*Writing prompts for kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade!
*Tracers and templates to complete the craftivities
*Pictures of the completed craftivities



You like?

Get this in my TPT store here and in my TN store here.

First two to comment get this free :)



What I'm Lovin' Wednesday

Hey yall! Happy hump day!

I don't have anything inspiring or super crafty to share with you today. We honestly haven't done anything super cutesy this week, besides our Earth Day owls :) We have just been really trying to get to all our content, and haven't had much time for cutesy. We also had to set aside an hour and a half today for testing, totally last minute. Sheesh. There went social studies!

So I thought I would share some stuff that I am really lovin' lately.

1. Mod Podge: I am really digging this stuff. It has my wheels-a-turnin. I will be putting this to great use in the next few weeks, especially once I start making my end-of-the-year gifts!

2. This place...

This is our local dog park and it is awesome! We spend most of our afternoons here with our pups. It is a great way to relax after a long day at school, and is amazing exercise for our sweet doggies.

3. This adorable unit that I purchased from Alisha at The Bubbly Blonde. Our first grade classes are all switching on the last week, and each teacher will teach a lesson to all 3 first grade classes. I was trying to find something cute and funky...and this is perfect! Can't wait to see how they turn out :)

4. The lineup for this year's Music Midtown in September.

Can you say Pearl Jam?!?!

That would be enough in itself, but also in the lineup is Foo Fighters, The Avett Brothers, and Florence and the Machine. Super stoked!!!

5. That there are only 17 days of school left!!! I am in the midst of writing my last set of lesson plans for the year...whoo-hoo! Even though I am over the moon excited that summer is so close, it is also bitter sweet, because I know that I will officially be unemployed. So keep your fingers crossed for me that I get a job next year!

Gotta run...my computer is beeping at me!

We Love the Earth!

Hey yall! Is it just me, or was today completely exhausting? Whew!

We have had lots of love for our little ol' Earth in my classroom.

We started on Friday by reading these books.





We also watched a Brain Pop Jr. video on reducing, reusing, and recycling. We discussed all the ways that we could take care of our earth, and made a graphic organizer of our ideas (forgot to snap a picture of that ).

Then we got to creating :)

We made these really awesome earths, and wrote 3 ways that we could take care of our earth.





My bulletin board was already full of our achoo people, but I just had to get these up! Ignore the stacked chairs in the picture :)

Today, we finished our Earth Day fun by reading this book.



We discussed what pollution is, and how to avoid polluting our earth.

Then we made these stinkin' cute little owls from my Give a Hoot! pack.



I LOVE how they all used the same tracers, but they each turned out a little differently. I especially love how some of them added eyelashes and bow ties :) I much prefer work that is not 'cookie cutter,' as I feel it truly does reflect the students personality. See that last one, how it is all crooked and odd? That sweet girl is most definitely an oddball :)

Gotta go...my hubby is cooking me dinner, and it's starting to smell yummy!

End of the Year Gifts and a freebie!

Hey yall! I have been one crafy girl today :)

I was trying to figure out what to get my littles for their end of the year gifts. Last year, my teamies and I made these.



We stayed up really late and worked for hours on these flower cookies. The little tag says "You have really bloomed in first grade!" They turned out really cute, and I think the kiddos enjoyed them.

But I just wanted to do something more permanent this year.

I had seen these tile pictures floating around Pinterest, so I decided to take a stab at it.

First, I gathered my materials.



*6 x 6 tile: Lowes $ .88

*2 sheets of scrapbook paper: Hobby Lobby $1.10

*Mod Podge: Hobby Lobby $4.99

*Foam paintbrushes: Hobby Lobby $1.33 for 6

*4 x 6 picture: Walgreens $ .33

Be sure to cut all of your paper and the picture beforehand, because the Mod Podge dries pretty quick. It would be super easy and helpful to have a paper cutter, but I just used paper as a straightedge.



Lay out all of your pieces first, to make sure they are cut to the right size and you know how you want them.

Using the foam brush, cover the tile with Mod Podge. Don't be afraid to use it liberally!

Then put the scrapbook paper down, smooth out all the bubbles, and brush with Mod Podge again.

If you are using 2 different types of paper like I did, put the other sheet down, smooth out the bubbles, and cover with another layer of Mod Podge. Be sure to do this quickly, because the glue dries pretty fast!

Lastly, put the picture on top, smooth out any bubbles, and cover with another layer of Mod Podge.

Let it dry for about 10-15 minutes. I decided to run out to Michaels at the last minute, and purchase this stand. It was on clearance for $1.49.

The final product!

I am sooo happy with how it turned out!

My plan is to do one of these for each of my students. I am going to take a picture of each of them doing a fun pose. Since I am planning to print them out at Walmart, I will also add some text at the bottom of the picture, probably "First Grade 2011-2012." I won't do the stands for each picture, because that would get too pricey. But these actually look just as great leaned up against the wall as they do on a stand.

My BFF and I are planning on having a sleepover to get these done for our littles before the year is out :)

You like?

I also made this using the same steps, but instead of a picture, I just covered a wooden letter with burlap and glued it to the front.

Before I go, I just posted a new unit in both my shops.

This fun unit correlates with the book "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell" by Lucille Colandro. It is perfect for those last few weeks of the year, and will get the littles excited for summer and the beach!

Click here to get it from my Teachers Notebook store, and here to get it from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

And, just because you made it allll the way through this entirely too long post, here is a freebie from the unit. Click on the picture to download.

First 2 to comment gets the unit free :)