5 Reasons I Love Summer!

Hi Friends!

So, I am sure that I can safely assume that as a teacher you are just like me... you love having summer off! Am I right!? It's not the reason I am a teacher, and I am sure it's not the reason you are either.. but it's a great perk to an already amazing job [scratch that] LIFESTYLE!

I am also sure I can say that most of us like having summers off for most of the same reasons. But I started thinking about these reasons last night as I snuggled into bed to count my blessings, and thought I would share them with you!

Thanks to Cara Carroll & KG for the awesome fonts
and The Creative Chalkboard for the sweet graphics! :)

5. School Supply Season - Though this season {which is already upon us!!} marks the countdown until we return and summer is officially over.. I am a total school supply nerd! I love shopping for markers, pencils, erasers, glue sticks, post-it notes, and new planners. I love the bright colors of the new binders on the shelves and the stacks of notebooks. I also love searching for those awesome penny deals at Staples and Office Max week in and week out. I thoroughly enjoy opening new purchases and putting them away at school...it gives me a small thrill! :) haha

4. SUNSHINE! - I am sure most people love summer for this reason. Sunshine just makes me so happy! I REALLY enjoy laying out {more than I should} and you won't be the first one to tell me to put on sunscreen instead of tanning oil and how bad it all is for me. But I just love a good summer tan, and tan lines - they rock! I love the warm feeling when I lay out on a towel and soak up the sun, the blue sky, and the fresh air of God's amazing Creation. I also get to chill out with my pup some more and slow down for a bit. It's my "me time" and I get it as often as I can!

3. Babysitting My Nephew - Caleb is my ONLY nephew... and I just love him! He can be rotten at times {his mother's word, not mine!} but I wouldn't trade my special time with him for anything! I usually get to watch him 2 days a week, and though it is exhausting, I NEVER regret it! He helps me mow the grass {he rides on the mower with me :)} and we go to the park and play for hours. He keeps Reagan young and can't wait for Uncle Dave to come home. In fact, I get to watch him tomorrow and can't wait! 

2. Creating TpT Products - When I am in the mode.. I HAVE to work! Usually during the school year, that time comes few and far between. No matter how hard I try, I just can't set aside ample time to work and just CREATE. But that's okay.. because I make up for it in the summer! I love looking through clip art and digital papers to make a beautiful design for that item I just haven't had the time to make for school. You know, that one that would be so nice to have but is stuck at the bottom of your to-do list {the to-do list teachers never get to finish!} It's nice to just and create and see what inspiration God gives me that day.. because let's face it - I could NEVER come up with stuff on my own!

1. Sleeping In! - I know, I know.. that one is pretty obvious. I mean who doesn't love the feeling of not having to set an alarm and get up when you feel well-rested!? If you're like me and are NOT a morning person, this is definitely number one! I LOVE to sleep. But there are 2 other reasons I love sleeping in that for the simple fact of sleeping itself.  First, every morning before he leaves {as long as I was smart enough to remember to pack his lunch the night before!} my hubby comes in to kiss me goodbye and tell me he loves me. Now, usually, I am a giant grump when I first wake up. But this is the ONLY time where I am not. It makes waking up for that 5 seconds absolutely wonderful, and he does it every. single. day. {swoon} As soon as he leaves, my other favorite reason for getting to sleep in occurs: my sweet pup Reagan jumps into bed and cuddles with me until we decide to get up for the day. Both things make every summer morning (or snow day, or holiday, or any day off) my absolute number one reason why I love summer!

I could DEFINITELY go on, and on, and on....and on! with more reasons why I love summer! Time to read, take Reagan to the dog park, baseball games, my family reunion, wedding season, etc., etc.. but those 5 top the list! It really is the little things in life that make us happiest and why I am O-H SO BLESSED!!

I hope you'll join in on the conversation with me and share your top 5 reasons for loving summer too! 

Christmas in July!

I am so excited to link up with all of the AMAZING bloggers over at Blog Hoppin' for a Christmas in July sale on TpT!

Every day I will have a different product on sale in my TpT store! 

Today, it's my Chevron Classroom Management system! It includes a chevron themed clip chart, monthly calendar logs for your students to record their behavior (includes months August-June) and a behavior goals page for your students to use to set behavior goals each week and describe how they will reach that goal. PLUS, you need only to buy it once! I'll update your monthly calendar logs EVERY YEAR so you just redownload it to use it again! It is usually $6.00... but you can get it today for only $4.00! 

Visit my TpT store and click on the banner you see below.. it will take you directly to my deal of the day! There are TONS of amazing teachers participating.... click on Santa above to check them all out and shop with their deals too!

LINK UP!

I have never done a link up before, let alone host one... but hey! there's a first time for everything, and if you wanna do something, why not go ALL IN!?

Speaking of all in... that reminds me of poker... which reminds me of Vegas... which reminds me that I'M NOT THERE RIGHT NOW!! Ugh! I SO wish I was going to be at the TpT conference tomorrow. I have seen SO. MANY. PICTURES. from the SDE events and blogger meet-ups happening RIGHT NOW, and I have to admit, I'm jealous! So many of my sweet teacher friends are there having fun, learning, growing, and making strong friendships with some A-MAZING teachers! I'm not there because, well...my family reunion is this weekend. We have it every year and if I missed it, I don't think I could face my family members ever again! But next year, NO MATTER WHAT, I will be there! I don't care if they decide to host it in Alaska, outside, and make us wear our bikinis in the middle of December.. [okay, I know that would NEVER happen, but you get the point, right!?] I WILL BE THERE!

But, until then, I am consoling myself with ice cream and working hard on more products to post.... I posted 4 within the last 24 hours! I think that's a new record! haha.... and to console all of us who aren't there having a blast in Vegas, my whole store is on sale through Sunday 20% off! Join me and throw a sale of your own if you wish you were in Vegas right now too! Link up with the picture below :)

The amazing Krista Wallden at The Creative Chalkboard made the graphics

and the fonts are [of course] from KG!

If you ARE in Vegas right now reading this... HAVE FUN! and keep posting those pictures! Though they make us a tad jealous, we are still loving seeing who you're meeting, what you are learning, and what Vegas looks like! :)

I {mustache} You a Question.....

.......do you love giveaways!??!

If so, you've found the right place!!! Thanks to Creative Teaching Press I am giving away some fan-STACHE-tic classroom goodies!

I recently made a new door for my classroom with the latest craze... MUSTACHES!

It's by far one of my most favorite doors/bulletin boards!

You can recreate it or make your own fan-stache-tic display by entering my giveaway below!

You can earn extra daily entries on my Instagram account too! :)

Here's what you'll win!

one set of Mustache Medley Cutouts
one pack of Mustache Mania Border

one set of Fancy Black 4" Designer Letters

a Rafflecopter giveaway

just....WOW!

OMG... the NE Ohio Teacher/Blogger Meet Up was AMAZING!!!! I don't even think amazing is the right word for it... there is no perfect word to describe the day! Every. Single. Girl. was so sweet! I will be reeling from the day for weeks, I am sure. [my poor hubby! lol]

The day started with a quick Target run with my sister for some last minute items and a new pair of shoes [of course!] My black flats were leaking the last time it rained/snowed, so I needed some new ones A-SAP. Only $20... couldn't pass them up :)  We then made our way to Legacy Village, where we patiently waited at The Cheesecake Factory. Girl after girl came through the door and the circle of us in the lobby continued to grow - it was so cool! My excitement only grew as the day went on [which didn't seem possible] and I don't think I stopped smiling or talking once! It was if we all knew each other for years, and we became fast ::real life:: friends ---- I am SO grateful!

We had 18 amazing girls come! I never would have dreamed when I thought to organize this that there would be THIS great of a response... I am so overwhelmed with thankfulness, happiness, and just overall awe at the day.

Here's who joined us... go check them out!

Britney @ Tailor Made Teaching

Amelia @ The Wild Things Learn

Kathleen @ Middle Grades Maven

Kristi @ Fashionistas in Cleveland

Christina @ Second Grade Sugar and Spice

Amy @ Classy in the Classroom

Amanda @ One Extra Degree

Kristen @ Fashionistas in Cleveland

Chynell @ The Pinspired Teacher

Ashley @ Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd

Casey @ Miss Case's Classroom

Veronica @ My Style of Learning

Cecilia @ Keeping Up With Kindergarten

Jessica @ The Teacher Talk

Traci @ OH So Veterinary

{plus several other amazing teachers who love meeting other teachers!}

It was SO FANTASTIC! I still can't believe it really happened, and that it's over already! We definitely have to do it again soon! For those of you reading who live in other parts of the country and have never been to one....
HOST ONE! It's totally worth it! :)

We talked teaching, fashion, food, family, you name it! It was so wonderful, to say the least. The big talk was the TpT Summer Seller Conference in July! We are so blessed that Amanda of One Extra Degree is an NEO girl and will be presenting a session on copyrights at the conference! So cool! Several other girls are already registered and have plane tickets purchased.... I'm hoping to convince the hubby we need a summer vacay to Vegas too! ;)

Of course, I love party planning [I swear if I hadn't become a teacher I would have been a party planner!] so I made sure everyone went home with goodies, and we played a game for some great prizes! Eight girls got to take something home, including some fun classroom goodies courtesy
from Creative Teaching Press!

Have you ever been to a blogger meet up! Comment below and tell me all about it!
I'd love to hear about others :)

O-H So Awesome!

I am O-H So Excited to announce that my amazing, gorgeous, and genius little sister is starting a blog!! She is leaving us in the fall to attend Veterinary School at THE Ohio State University! I am so proud of her hard work to graduate with her undergraduate degree in just 3 short years... but I have to say I am going to miss the heck out of her. I already do....she is about 3 hours away at California University of PA and doesn't make it home enough! [not her fault though!] But I have to say that I KNEW she would be accepted to vet school.
I watched her stress about her grades, her application, her interview, and finally the waiting time. But I was ELATED to be able to tell her "I told you so!" I never once doubted her intelligence or ability!
Now that she is off to get a great education doing exactly what God made her to do, she has decided to blog about it! She asked for my advice and after some terribly concocted blog titles, I thought of my own blog and "O-H So Veterinary" was born! We now have "Sister Blogs," quite literally! haha

Head on over and check her out by clicking this link. She is pretty hilarious and I am sure that her journey into the world of veterinary medicine will be quite interesting, especially through her eyes :)

Continents, Dr. Seuss, & a FREEBIE!

I can't believe we are into March already! I have been sitting down looking at my curriculum, trying to map what I am going to be teaching the remainder of the year and I must say, I am a tad stressed about it. With 8 snow days [and counting] this year I feel like I've lost a lot of time! I'm tired of the never-ending game of catch-up and just hope I can fit in everything! Is anyone else feeling the same way?

The last two weeks we have been working on our geography skills. This past week, to reinforce the continent and ocean names we labeled our student groups and the floor as the continents and oceans. The students were SO excited to pick out their group labels and now we refer to their groups as the different continent names - SO fun! We also labeled 4 areas of the floor the different ocean names. They pretend they are swimming from one ocean to the other! I love it!

 

Since I only have 12 students in pods of 3, there needed to be some other areas labeled as the continents. My desk became North America, our reading table is Africa, and our library is Europe :)

This week we also celebrated Read Across America Day with Dr. Seuss projects! The students were given different selections to pick from as a response to a Seuss book of their choice.

They were working so hard on them this past week - I was SO proud of them! Some chose to write  play and make puppets to go with it, one was designing a magazine advertisement for a book that included a summary. Another student was writing a newspaper article about their book, another was writing a letter to the main character from the Butter Battle Book, and some were writing about the setting of the story and creating dioramas to match!  I left early on Friday to go to a weekend long scrapbooking retreat :) I can't wait to go in Monday morning and see their finished creations!

I'll be sure to post pictures here to show them all off ;)

Here's two students in the works:

I love how hard this little learner was working to proof read her story summary by reading it over. She is such a hard worker!!

Lastly - THE FREEBIE!

We started our unit on time and money this past week in math. We were working on telling time two different ways as well as elapsed time and I realized I desperately needed to label my clock to help some of the kiddos out. I decided to make them color-coded after we talked about the quarter hours to help them see the difference :)

You can download them from my TpT store here!

Please let me know what you think about them if you download them! :)