Valentine's Day {Pinterest}

Valentine's Day is less than a week away! I know you probably have a ton of cute ideas planned already but just incase you're like me and still making/creating things this weekend check out some of my Pinterest inspired Valentine's Day things.

Free printable Valentines 

thepinkinkdoodle.blogspot 

Cereal box valentine holder

I've seen these made my kids at my school and they turn out great!

Cereal Box Valentine Holder

So precious I have to do this! Use red paint for the hands and stamps for the be mine in the middle. You can have your students put a sticker heart or draw a heart. This is the best card their parents could get and will probably keep for years to come!

Marble art mrspicasso's art room: kindergarten

I will be making/baking these crayon hearts this weekend...I'll let you know how it turns out.

[dandee]: Friendship Bracelet Valentines.

Dollar store friendship bracelets for your class. I'm pretty sure they would wear these for the rest of the year. :) I got to check my dollar store for these! 

Creative Itch: Pixie Stix Valentines...

Who doesn't love pixie stixs or glow sticks? What a cute way to give your kids a valentine!

the teacher wife: you make my ♥ GLOW! {v-day freebie}

eighteen25: subway art

I'll leave you with a cute printable to spruce up your classroom door or home. 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Tagged!

I got tagged by Kelley-Buggy for 2^nd Grade and Stapler’s Strategies! I have finally decided to play along tonight so here it goes!

1. You must post the rules.

2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.

3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.

4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.

5. Let them know you've tagged them!

12 Fun Facts about me...

1.  I just got engaged! Yes, I still so excited about it so it is number 1. We have dated for 5 years and are so in love! I can’t wait to see what our life has in store for us.

2.   We are buying the house we live in! Hopefully we will be closing by the end of the month.

3.  My brother is in the Navy and him and his wife will be moving to Hawaii soon! Aloha! I can’t wait to visit!

4.  Speaking of my brother we are very close (2 years apart and one grade) and when we graduated undergrad together we went backpacking in Europe just the two of us. It was such a great experience before we both moved on to adult life.

5.  I was in a sorority in college-Delta Delta Delta can I help ya help ya help ya? Lol I hope you’ve seen the SNL skit. I loved the experience and lived in the house for 3 years in college. This is how I met my fiancé.

6.  I have a love/hate relationship with the gym. I really hate to get ready and go and if I don’t change when I first get home from school I’m most likely not going. I love doing classes at the gym though and always feel great after. My fiancé and friends have been so encouraging though so I usually go 5 times a week.

7.  I LOVE to travel and can’t wait to plan the honeymoon. I know I’m a little ahead of myself but we are thinking Greece! I’ve never been there and have really wanted to go for years now!

8.  I have never had a dog as a pet. Growing up my parents were working and we were such a busy family my parents thought it would be unfair to the dog to have one. Now they have a little maltipoo who is adorable and I have been begging for a dog of my own. Now that we are about to own our house all my dreams might just come true!

9.   My BFF and soon to be MOH is a medical student who is finishing her last year. She is a super smart and fun person to be around! When I got engaged she was the first friend I called and she didn’t pick up. I tried like 8 more times (over zealous much?) and she still didn’t pick up. I got worried and text her BF we couldn’t get in touch with her is she okay? To which he replied I hope so she is in South America right now! I totally forgot which day she was going on a mission trip for 2 weeks! I thought it was Monday and she left on Friday! I had to e-mail her the wonderful news and she is such a great friend that she called me from the middle of nowhere to talk to me!

10.               My parents were born on the same day, the same year, in the same hospital. February 7^th! They met in the nursery. They didn’t start dating until after college and my grandmother said it was meant to be from the start. My mom jokes every birthday that she likes older men because my Dad was 30 minutes older than her.

11.               I recently finished grad school and had a 4.0 throughout. I thought at graduation I would get some sort of recognition but since there weren’t’ that many people in Education gradating and everyone has to get a C or better in grad school they don’t recognize anyone.

12.               I have had to move my classroom every single year of teaching (4 years) and I have already been told I’ll have to move again next year. The move next year will be to a better room with a window so I’m okay with it but I would love to stay in the same room for at least 2 years!

Questions from Mrs. S

1. How did you decide to become a teacher? I decided to become a teacher after being a comp counselor for my overnight camp. I loved teaching my little campers the ways of camp, teaching horseback riding, and having fun around kids! In high school I started volunteering in a Kindergarten class and I was hooked. I knew I wanted to teach early childhood when I entered into college. I don’t know what else I would possibly do other than teaching. I wouldn’t make a good housewife…I don’t cook hmmm full time mom without cooking I could do though.

2. Did you marry your high school sweetheart? Nope I am going to marry my college sweetheart. If I married my high school sweetheart I would probably be divorce and already had a kid. Things worked out for the best.

3. Where would you choose to retire and why? Florida for sure! I was born here and I will stay here for the rest of my life. I love the “Florida lifestyle” of sunny weather, beaches, and being laid back. Plus there are a ton of older people that flock here every year for winter so my thought process is why not just stay! J

4. What is your favorite cook-at-home meal? Well since I don’t cook…I’ll go with what my finace’s favorite cook at home meal which homemade pizza! YUM!

5. Do you have a teacher "bestie" with whom you plan? Tell about him/her if so. No, I don’t. I have only had one teacher bestie at another school and we still keep in touch but we don’t plan together. I love all the teachers I work with but I would not go as far as besties. We get along well, laugh, and plan together though and I think that’s the best situation.

6. What is your pet peeve? Laziness. I used to have this roommate that would wash out dishes and then leave them in the sink. Why?! Why did you not take the extra 5 seconds to just put it in the dishwasher! I hate dishes in the sink.

7. Does your team share everything or do you have some "stingy" teamies? Everyone shares! Thank goodness! I think it is so nice that everyone shares and we all equally share which is great! I scratch your back you scratch mine.

8. What is one of the funniest stories you can tell about your teaching experiences? Oh my…I don’t think I can think of one this late in the evening. But I’ll tell you the latest…one of my little girls complimented me on my engagement ring and said “Soo your ring fake but it just looks real..I have jewelry like that too.” “No sweetie it is real.” Huge eyes “Wow, I like that it’s big.” They start pretty young with this lol. Then she says” You look so snazzy. That’s what my Dad says to my Mom before they go out on a date.” This is with full on snaps of the fingers. This child is hilarious on a daily basis.

9. Have you ever run into your garage door? (I personally--not my car--did this last week one morning before school and slammed myself to the ground...OUCH!) Wow how is this one of my questions. Yes, I have with my car twice on two different garages. The first time I was in high school and trying to have a party and park inside the garage. I was (still am) a horrible driver and hit the side of the garage taking off part of the side and smashing in my passage mirror. I got in a lot of trouble for that one. The second time I’m not sure what I was doing…but I hit the brick siding on the garage. The garage was the winner that time and my car still has a rust like stain on the front.

10. Do you have pets? What kind and how many? No, I want a puppy sooo bad!

11. Are you an early bird or a night owl? Early bird for sure! I hop of bed and I’m ready to go but at night my eyes can’t stay open.

12. Where is the most exotic place you've ever been?

Hmm this is actually a tough one. When I think of exotic I think of tropical for some reason so perhaps Costa Rica. I also think of somewhere not very common and in that case Iceland, which is actually very green and lush.

Questions from Kelley:

1. What is your favorite T.V show? True Blood or Breaking Bad

2. Do you have any hobbies? I play the piano.

3. What was your New Years Resolution? To stay fit!

4. Are you a dog or cat person? Dog

5. What is one color that describes you? pink

6. What type of music is playing in your car right now? Well I still have a tape player and a regular radio so what ever is on the top 40.

7. Favorite subject or unit to teach? reading

8. How many siblings do you have? 1 brother

9. How did you husband propose to you? See proposal story Cloud 9- it just happened!

10. What is your favorite drink? Lemonade

11. What is your go-to blog or website for teaching? Google reader…well the first blog I ever stalked was The First Grade Parade so I’ll go with that.

12. What is your favorite guilty pleasure? Blogging!

Okay and now I’m going to break some rules…uh oh…that’s not teacher like. Well I’m walking on the wild side and I’m not tagging 12 other people or making up 12 more questions because I’m pretty sure almost everyone has been tagged so if you want to play along just do so and I’m soo sleepy.

100th Day!

Hey friends! So we just had our 100th day on Monday! It was so full of excitement and the kids asked the same crazy questions like they always do..." Do we have school tomorrow? Is this the last day of school? Are we going to second grade now? Do we have another 100 days to go?" Whoa now kiddos slow done we still have school, no this is not your last day...I would be way more pumped and sad all at the same time, you'll know when you are going to 2nd grade-we'll have a party, and thank goodness we don't have 100 more days only 80 wait only 77 now. Oh first graders innocence!

So here are some really fun things we did on the 100th day of school: 

Our awesome 100th day projects! The kids brought a 100 of something in a bottle in a brown paper bag. They had to read 3 clues to the class from their clue sheet and the class had to try to guess what was in the bottle. Then the child revealed the 100 items after 3 or 4 guesses. It was such a fun predicting, oral language, and critical thinking skills acitivity. The children loved sharing their projects and I loved to listen to all their guesses! 

  If I were 100...writing so adorable! Worth clicking on the picture to enlarge and see the writing.

 

We wrote 100 words on our chart paper throughout the day! This was just the beginning! At the end of the day we read all of the words together. My students LOVED doing this and seeing how smart they have become in 1st grade. 

Of course we made some fruit loops necklaces using 100 fruit loops and our trusty 100's chart. The kids probably loved this activity the most. I mean who doesn't love eating fruit loops off their necklace? Haha I know this drives some teacher nuts but I love this activity.

A parent volunteer who has a cookie business made 100th day cookies for us in our school colors! I put them in the shape of 100 and they got to take one home with them. 

I wish I could show you all the other adorable math games we played, our crowns, and necklaces on but my district has very strict rules about posting pictures of kids and I don't know how to block out their faces. If you know how to do that it would be a great help to me. 

 In other news I just got my Valentine's Day gift from the exchange!!! Thank you Erin from Creating and Teaching! It was such a fabulous gift from a super sweet blogger and I will post it all tomorrow!!

Storage {CFC Project Week #5}

I might be slightly behind (tardy to the party! it's okay I'm fashionable late) on my clutter-freeness right now but I wanted to share with you my favorite storage options for the classroom, why I love them, and what I use them for in a to the point way using visually as well! Enjoy and link up girls!

Math Storage Container:

-organized monthly

-stores math games

-easy for kids to use

-easy to move around (has wheels)

Word Work Cart:

-roomy enough for games and larger materials

-tons of pockets for markers

-bins that hold materials

-easy access for my students

-can easily be moved (has wheels)

-holds a pocket chart

Book Bins:

-hold many books

-easy for kids to take off the shelf

-pocket for labels

Container Store Shoe Boxes:

-hold small items

-can neatly be stacked

-easy to see materials

File Folder Pocket Chart

-easy to switch materials out of

-easy for my kids to use

-easy to keep organized weekly

Monday-Friday Paper Holders

-keeps papers organized weekly

-easy to see what is coming up

-holds papers and books for each day 

-easy for a sub to use (place all books/materials in that day) 

Cloud 9 {Personal Story}

 I kinda rushed my giveaway on Saturday and did it a wee bit earlier then intended. This was due to the fact that the boy said "hey can you stop blogging and pack an overnight bag we're leaving for a trip!" I was extremely excited, anxious, and overwhelmed! Surprises get me that way!  I mean he caught me off guard in the middle of my lazy blogging Saturday....so I had to quickly post my giveaway. Anyways I'm sure my absence has only made your heart grow fonder!

We leave on our trip and go to Jupiter where all his family leaves. Upon arrival he wants to check out the beach and take a walk at a nice resort. So I go along and then stop on the dock because I told him it was too windy and I didn't want to go! Then he tells me we are not staying with his family but we are staying at this beach resort!! We lounge by the pool with fruity drinks in hand enjoying this mini vacation on a beautiful Florida "winter" day. After a few cocktails we took a nap and woke up to a beautiful beach sunset. The boy said that we should get dressed quickly and take a walk on the beach before going to our favorite restaurant Food Shack. I did not quickly get dressed (I mean come on we're going out on a date...I wanna look good!) and mean while the sun goes down. He still insists on a walk on the beach so we take a walk on the beach at dusk (pretty much dark). As we were walking we stop to look at the waves and talk about life together. All of a sudden while I'm hugging him I feel the ring box-it was quite large like a watch box almost! As soon as I thought is this the moment? He takes my hands turns to get down on one knee and said "What would make me the happiness man is if you would marry me. Jessica would you marry me?" Swoon, elation, tears of joy, and an excited "Of course!" and we were engaged on the beach!

We called family and friends to share in our joy and excitement that night. We had a wonderful conversation, bottle of wine, and dinner. We got to visit his mom that night and she was screaming with delight. The next day we visited his father and his grandmother who was taken completely by surprise from our visit and engagement.

It was the best weekend!

We both went back to work on Monday but it was fun letting my team, principals, and other staff members know throughout the week about our engagement. Everyone has been so sweet and supportive!

It's been one week and I'm still not off cloud 9 and get a giant smile ever time I look at my ring or think of my fiancé.

I'll be back to regularly teaching blog stuff tomorrow but couldn't help to share my joy with you!

The beautiful ring! He designed everything himself and put so much thought and care into making it.

One of our friends thinks I should be a hand model...the boy disagrees and says I move too much but this is the best professional picture he took take. :)

Winner winner!

We have a winner! 

#63 Anash! Thank you for following! 

I will be sending you your new TPT game Match Up Mittens A Rhyming Game by e-mail now and sending you your new Kindle cover and gift card in the mail on Tuesday! Congrats!!!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:63Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Show Us Your Teacher Area {CFC Project Week 4}

Tonight I'm going to show you some before and after pictures of my teacher and desk area. I need some immediate attention in this area because it was cramping my style. Now I'm really happy with the results and I hope you like the change too. My room mom and other volunteers even noticed and complimented me on how much more organized I have been since the new year. (Yes, they actually thought I was super organized before but I'll let them believe that and not let them in on my dirty little secret.) 

Show us photos of your "teacher area."

• Write about what you like about it. Previously not much hence the NEED to change it up! Now I really like everything about it except for that it covers a little bit of a bulletin board. I would love to get rid of the desk but I have to keep it. 
• How you would like to change it? I really wanted to make a little more room for myself, organize it, and create a clean top desk.
• What changes did you make to it as part of the Clutter-Free PROJECT Challenge. I moved my desk around so it is against the wall which opens up the room and gives me more space. I re-oragnized all my files, emptied my drawers of junk in my desk. Beside my desk I organized my cubbies. I also threw away a plastic storage container that was kinda broken and taking up space and condensed my literacy games. I made use of my Monday-Friday paper holders. 
• What tips can you share to help others have a clear work-surface? I am going to clean off my desk at the end of each day. So if papers and extra junk do pile up I'll take the time to put them in their proper place. I think a little cleaning each afternoon will go a long way. I also will try to immediately put each paper in its proper location once it is copied or not being used. (M-F bins, file, trash) 

Before Pictures: 

Not so great because I didn't like this space so I took them from far away... But you'll notice that the area is a little crowded. I kept stuff under my desk (gag!), behind my desk is not clean and cramped, and the top is messy. I also didn't even bother to hang my diploma. This picture was taken at the beginning of the year so M-F paper bins and cubbies weren't messy yet but they weren't visible so they ended up getting cluttered. Also notice the storage bin they are on. The second picture also shows you just how small of a space it was before. Also notice that my word work cart is to the right of my desk behind my rocking chair. 

Okay so now onto the new and improved teacher area:

As you can see I flipped the desk and pushed it against the wall. It now covers a little bit of the bulletin board but it's okay. I moved my M-F bins to the top of my cubbies so I would have to see them and therefore they would have to be oragnized. So far this has kept up! I still have one of my plastic storage bins that is now clean and my printer sits on top. This is much better than having my printer underneath my desk or on top of my desk. The word work cart is turned around as well and the area has plenty of space now. 

As you can hopefully see from this picture my desk top and cubbies are now clean. My M-F bins are organized! I hung up my diploma and other items that make me smile through my day. I have just a pencil sharpener, tape, stapler, sticky notes, calendar, and computer on my desk top now. This is a big improvement from piles of papers and notebooks on top. I wish I had better pictures :( I was going to take some today but my camera died. This is also very sad because my kids also made cute penguins. 

Anyways I hope you have enjoyed seeing the change that has made my life easier and less stressful. Link up because I want to see your changes too! 

Okay now I'm off for a sushi date to stop thinking about kids and school!