Monday Made It

Today's Monday Made It is for my classroom. I cheated and posted a "Saturday Made It" just because I was SO excited about my teacher toolbox. I want to make another one because I'm obsessed. But, following the trend of "Thanks for popping in" that's all over Pinterest, I made my own to go with my jungle theme. I couldn't find someone to link this back to, so if this was your idea, please let me know so I can give you credit!! Luckily, Scrappin Doodles had monkey popcorn clipart! How perfect! I was thrilled. Here's the picture of how they turned out. I think they look super cute. I couldn't decide on which font to use, thanks to Kevin & Amanda for having SO many cute fonts.  

If you have a jungle theme and want to use this in your room, head on over to TpT to grab this cute freebie! I, of course, took off Mrs. Perkins so that you can fill in your own name when you print it out! :)

I also created some jungle themed job cards that match my behavior clip chart! You can find those HERE! :)

Finally, if you haven't already entered my giveaway, make sure TO CLICK HERE! It ends Wednesday night and the winner gets a $25 TpT gift certificate! Woo! :)

100 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY!!!

Here it is...the day I've been waiting for. I've reached 100 followers! I'm so excited and honored that all of you want to follow my bright little blog! :) Just in time for back to school comes my 100 follower giveaway. What am I going to giveaway you might ask? Well, it's something pretty spectacular. It's something ALLLLL of us teachers could use.....

That's right, you guessed it, I'm giving away $25 gift card to Teachers Pay Teachers.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway closes Wednesday, August 1 at midnight. I will announce the winner on August 2! I can't wait to see who wins! Good luck! :)

Swimming into Second Giveaway & Saturday Made It!! :)

So everyone needs to go over to Swimming Into Second and enter Courtney's giveaway! Today is the last day and she has AWESOME prizes! I hope I win!!! :)

Now, I couldn't wait until Monday to share the beauty I made yesterday. I know I'm extremely behind on this trend, but I couldn't decide whether I wanted to make one since the pens, pencils, etc. don't fit in straight. Can we say OCD? But, I gave in and I LOVE IT!!!!! Seriously, it's probably going to be like my favorite classroom item and will keep me from throwing everything in my desk drawer! Yay! With all of that being said, here is my version of the ever-so-popular Teacher Toolbox. Thank you Blog Land and Pinterest! :)

I think it turned out adorable! :) There's a special appearance by Bentley in the back. Those of you who've been following me from the beginning know that he had surgery 12 weeks ago for a torn ACL and meniscus. He got cleared yesterday to play ball and be his "old self," even though he's only 2. Ball playing here we come! :)

P.S. I foresee a giveaway in my near future!!

Tell Me More, Tell Me More...and Tell Me about Jungle Behavior Clip Chart! :)

Okay, so I'm linking up with probably my FAVORITE blogger. I LOVE Amy Lemons, in a non-creepy way of course! ha. I am such a huge fan of everything she posts, especially her TpT store. With that being said, I'm super excited to join her linky! :)

1. I LOVE food. Seriously, I've been blessed with a high metabolism...which I hope doesn't change as I age! I ate an entire box of Annie's Mac & Cheese today for lunch. Usually I have to make myself stop eating. My favorite is Mexican food. I could eat Mexican food everyday and luckily I've got many Mexican favorites in ATL! :)

2. I can remember wearing my hair down in high school maybe 10 times. I always wore it in a ponytail or a messy bun. Not until I went off to college and joined a sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, did I actually become super "girly." I now own more dresses than any girl ever should! ha.



3. I LOVE college football. I grew up in a Georgia Tech household, went to Georgia Southern, and by marriage I've become a Tennessee volunteer. My husband was born in Knoxville and his parents and grandparents went to UT. He didn't go due to out of state tuition, but believe me that didn't hinder his LOVE OBSESSION! In this picture, he was channeling his inner Dooley. :)



4. I absolutely LOVE scary/suspenseful movies. The scarier and the more I jump, the better! I haven't seen anything really good lately and would love any recommendations.

**********************************************************************

On another note, I finally finished my Jungle Behavior Clip Chart. It's not too detailed, I was just holding out on posting it until I actually put it together myself. I LOVE it! :) Here's a picture of it..the pic isn't such great quality, but I think it still looks awesome!

To purchase this adorable clip chart, go visit my TpT store and find it HERE!! First person to comment and tell me where I went on my honeymoon, I'll send it to you for free! :)



Monday Made It!

Finally, here is my Monday Made It post....since I missed it last week! My parent's anniversary was July 15 and my sister and I wanted to do something different this year. She saw on Pinterest the framed Scrabble tiles spelling out names and off we went from there. Here was our original inspiration:

My sister found scrabble tiles on Etsy for cheap, so she bought a whole package.

I'm the super somewhat creative one in the family, so I had the design task. Here are a few of my materials. :)

1. Scrapbook Page Frame (SOOO much easier than trying to get it framed)

2. Cardstock Letters (I ended up using other letters in addition to these in the end)

3. Stampin' Dimensionals from Stampin' Up. I LOVE THESE THINGS!!!!

4. Final finished product...with some pizazz! :)



Designing this was really fun, even though I'm fully aware it's a little crooked! ha. Everyone is included....even the 3 dogs! Here's your super challenge. Can anyone figure out which letter tile we ran out of? :) I had to draw one of the tiles on a blank tile she sent us. Who can figure out which one it is??? :) 

P.S. I'm loving all the comments and love I've been receiving lately. Thanks for all the comments! They make my day! :)

Newbie Blog Hop

Janice over at Grade Three is the Place for Me is having the best idea for a blog hop! I'm fairly new to blogging (a few months) and think this is such a great idea to get to know other "newbies!" :)

1. What state you are in? I was born and raised in the fantastic state of Georgia! I love it here, and wouldn't go anywhere else!
2. Your current teaching position. I am currently teaching 3rd grade in a suburb outside Atlanta
3. Your teaching experience. This will be my second year teaching. I taught 2nd grade last year. I student taught, and did all of my other field experience, in South Georgia right outside Savannah.
4. When you started blogging? I started my blog I think around April! I didn't post anything for a long time. Being a first year teacher and planning a wedding kept me quite busy. I'm happy to be back!
5. Share a blogging tip / blogging resource. Don't be afraid to share and be critiqued. I shared so many of my first resources I posted on TpT for free with my first few followers. I emailed them all to them to look through and keep! I got some great feedback and even had some typos I had overlooked!

I'm almost done with my newest TpT product, Jungle Clip Chart Behavior System. I know there are already a few of these out there, but I didn't find any that suited my needs perfectly. As soon as I put it together and take a few pictures of what it looks like in "real life," I will post a preview here!

I'm still waiting on 100 followers so I can do an awesome giveaway! :)

Handbook and AWARDS!!

Alright y'all, I've been revamping my handbook for third grade for like 3 hours...literally. I took the current third grade handbook and my second grade handbook from last year to create the ultimate "Third Grade Handbook." :)

You can find my handbook HERE!

What I'd really love to know is what all of you put in your handbooks that you pass out to parents? I have the typical stuff in mine like behavior, transportation, take home folders, homework, curriculum, etc. Is there anything extra that you put in yours? I would LOVE suggestions.

Now, I've been so honored lately that I have received not one, not two, but THREE Liebster Awards!

First, I received the award from Hooty over at Hooty's Homeroom,
 

 

then from Sailing Second Grade Seas, and finally from Miss Cayer over at Teaching is Love!

 

Thanks for all the love!!! I've also got a special giveaway in the works for whenever I reach 100 followers!! :)  

Must Have Picture Books

Well, I had my stuff all ready for Monday Made It yesterday, but had an incredibly crazy day. Hubby and I went looking for houses. This is round 3 after two failed attempts, one of which we waited 8 months for. Yes, you read that correctly....8 MONTHS! But, we found a house we LOVE and think that it was in God's plan for us to find the one we did last night. Now hopefully all this comes through! :)

Now for the good stuff. I LOVE picture books. What elementary school teacher doesn't? I've linked up with Lindsey over at the The Teacher Wife for Must Have Picture Books. (They are in no particular order)

Barf Burger Baby: I used this book to teach expression, and as a reward when my kids were great. They would BEG and BEG for me to read this book. It is hilarious, if I do say so myself. It does not have much literary value, but hey, it's good for some humor! :)

The Lorax: Who doesn't love this book? This is my favorite Dr. Seuss book and is great for teaching so many different things such as rhyming words, the earth, conservation, fiction, etc. You could do so much with this book.

I Wanna Iguana: Such a fun book! I used this, among many others, as a fun introduction for letter writing, particularly persuasive letters. The kids thought the letters were hilarious, and it really taught them how to put some of their personality in to the letters they wrote.

First Day Jitters: I have to include this book just because of how it relates to my first year of teaching last year. I love how the whole book you think it's just Sarah the kid who doesn't want to go to her new school. This book describes me perfectly on my first day of my first year of teaching. With not being able to even get in my classroom until 48 hours before children came in the building, I was TERRIFIED and nervous as all get out. Such a great icebreaker on the first day of school. :)

Fancy Nancy: I LOVE FANCY NANCY!!! I'm serious. I wish that they would have had Fancy Nancy books when I was younger. I think that every birthday party would have probably been Fancy Nancy themed. What a great book to teach synonyms for "dead" words, as we call them in my classroom. I just love all the Fancy Nancy books!!!

I know I have so many more favorites. I'm actually a nonfiction girl, too. My kiddos LOVED nonfiction, which is great with the Common Core finally coming into Georgia! Can't wait to go read all the other linkys!!! :) 



I'm Back with a little Pinterest and Blogger AWARD!

What a month June was for me. Most importanly, I married the love of my life and spent the most amazing honeymoon in BELIZE! Here are a couple of my favorite pictures:

 On the way to our reception!

We climbed the Mayan Ruins! (We also went cave tubing and zip lined)

Snorkeling in the second largest barrier reef in the world, Hol Chan. We also swam with stingrays and sharks!

So now that I'm back in teacher mode, I have lots of Pinterest projects I want to get done before pre-planning. Here are a couple of the pictures. I would LOVE to hear if anyone has made any of these!

I love how sleek and clean this group table looks!

These are so cute and practical for EQ's and Standards!

Have any of you made any Pinterest projects this summer? I'd love to hear about them! I'll be sure to post pictures here when I finish them! :)

Now, I was SO honored to find out that I was awarded the Versatile Blogger Award while I was away!
 

Thank you to Mrs. Lundquist over at Superlative Science for honoring me with this award!
 





 

Rules of the award...

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.

2. Include a link to his or her site.

3. Include the award image in your post and/or blog.

4. Share seven facts about yourself.

5. Nominate other bloggers for the award, linking

to their sites.

6. Let those bloggers know they have been nominated

So here are some things about me:

1. My school was under construction last year so I couldn't get in my room until the Saturday before school started, yes 48 hours until children arrived in the building. It was my first year, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack....literally.
2. I have the most adorable puppy in the world, Bentley, that I love OH so much. (Shown here with his BFF, Bella)

3. My husband and I dated almost 5 years before we got married!
4. I LOVE Christmas. Anything to do with Christmas time, decorating, music, EVERYTHING! :) I think I'm rubbing off on Bentley now, too!

5. I'm nervous about this transition to Common Core and moving to a new grade all in the same year. I've been wanting to create some new stuff, but have no idea where to start!
6. I LOVE college football.
7. Finally, I think I'm starting my masters in August. :)

Here are the bloggers that I'm nominating:

Courtney @ Miss Third Grade

Courtney @ Third Grade Sprinkles

I love that both of these bloggers have a passion for teaching just as I do, and yet they are somewhat fresh to the profession!

I'm ready to get back to blogging now that planning a wedding is over! :) Can't wait to share and get new ideas before school starts!