Eatin' Healthy with Fruits n Veggies!

My first day of school was today.... I swear I have an entire class of chatty kathys - YIKES!

Needless to say, this will be short & quick!!
Tehehehehe... this guy makes me giggle.

He and 3 other "Happy veggie" crafts are part of my new packet:
 I needed some major material to cover the Common Core Nutrition & Activity standards, so this packet did it for me!

It has plenty of writing prompts, sorts, a board game, an assessment, those cute crafts and much more. Here is a little preview of the pack:
[click to see larger]

If you'd like to see more, go check it out in my {TPT store}

I promise to be back later in the week with classroom pics.

For now, I need some food and a nap :)


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Start the year off *WRITE* freebie!

It was Meet the Teacher day today and I must say I am soooo excited to get those little cuties on Monday! They were so precious!

I made them a little treat to take home with them that I wanted to share with you guys:
I found these adorable little candy pencils on Pinterest last week and I knew I HAD to make them for my kiddos! It has a package of Rolos as the base of the pencil and a Hershey's Kiss for the tip! Add some construction paper, some tape, a glue dot, and a cute little saying and VOILA!
Adorable-ness!

{Here} is my "pinspiration" so you can see the original post.

I made the tags, so I turned 'em into a googledoc to share with everyone for today's freebie. These little gifts can be given out anytime at the beginning of the year and they were a big hit!
[click image to download]

Here are a few other pics:
{My *kiss your brain* jar}

 
{My Kickin' off a Great Year board}
This is going to go perfectly with Hadar's Kickin' Goals we will be making soon!

I will be in and out of my classroom all weekend preparing for my official first week with my kids, but I am soooo close to finishing a packet for ya'll that I am SUPER excited about! The goal is it will be ready and posted by Monday. I will try my hardest to post it!

Don't forget to head on over to Blog Hoppin' to see everyone's freebies!



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Theraputic Thursdays

Wait, there's a teacher-week linky party going on?!??

I have been in meetings, decorating, filling out forms, organizing, pulling out my hair, and trying not to scream for the past 3 days!!!

I saw today's topic and man, oh man, I can do this one!

This is what I do to relaxxxx after days like today... and yesterday... and I can only guess tomorrow too.

[1]
Shopping (well, kinda...)
This may be very strange, but spending money is actually quite stressful to me, shopping, on the other hand, is wonderful and quite relaxing. Sooooo... I have this odd habit of grabbing a cart at one of my {many} favorite stores and walking through the entire store acting as if I had $500 to spend. I try things on, I negotiate with myself [okay, Susan if you buy these pair of shoes you can't get the purse], I spend hours deciding how I will spend my $500. 

Just when I have made all my final decisions I leave the cart there and walk out of the store.
Is this weird?!?!?? Ha! I don't know why but for some reason it relaxes me and I get the "high" of shopping without any buyer's remorse.

[2]
Long, hot, showers.
I shower until the hot water turns cold.
I know that is NOT environmentally friendly and is not great for my water bill. But I love standing under the hot water. I zone out and am in my own little world.
Fantastic.

[3]
Lay on couch. Turn on Bravo or HGTV. Sit and stare for hourrrsssssssssss.
Weekends and summertime are usually spent with my eyes glued on these stations. 
I have no shame.

That is all I have for today!
I am going to shower, then watch TV :)

I am also making some super cute treats for Meet the Teacher day that I will be posting this weekend, so make sure you come back and check 'em out!

Go check out what others do to relax:

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Drumroll Pleaseeeee & BTS Jitters!

Thank you to everyone who joined our *SWEET* giveaway over the weekend!
Congrats, Karyn!!!!
An email will be sent shortly :)

. . .

Seeing as in-service starts Wednesday and I meet my kiddos Friday, I thought I would join up with A Turn to Learn and share my back-to-school jitters!
Back to School Jitters Linky Party

 {1}
I swear, the second I see my kiddos adorable faces, I am put at ease. I remember why I love teaching and I get SO excited for the year to come!

{2}
Every year I get nervous about meeting all my students' individual needs. SO many students, so many standards, I sometimes wonder "HOW is this going to happen?!?" At the end of each day I just need to remind myself that I did the best I can and hope I taught my students to do the same.

{3}
I am soooo loving that I am officially a *super-cool* teacher/blogger this year!! I have an entire techy-world of knowledge and expertise right at my fingertips!! Hopefully, I can provide some knowledge and expertise to others too :)

{4}
Ahhh.... sleep.... how fond I have become of you this summer.
Between teaching, blogging, and wedding planning I have plenty of reasons to not get my beauty sleep. I think I will implement a "curfew" of sorts for myself when I will unplug each night and spend time with Parker before retiring to bed.... I (think) I will do this....

Link up and let me know how you're feeling about going back to school!!
Don't forget to comment on the 2 blogs in front of you!
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Just Droppin' In!

Ahhhh! 

I have been gone for SO long... 

Doing things like this:
 {Friend's Bachelorette Party}
I'll stop the pictures there.... you get the idea.... 
You can tell by the picture quality what kinda *classy* joint we were in ;)

and doing this:
 
 
 Apparently these are the faces I make when trying on a gazillion wedding dresses.... 
I did find my dress though!!!! Tears were shed by all :)
 (and none of those crazy faces were made when I found THE dress)
Little sister joining in on the fun :)

and then I decided on these:
{Photography - Lightshed}

Heidi dress in silk chiffon
{Bridesmaid Dresses -J.Crew Bridal}
my best ladies could not BE any more different so they will all be picking the style that looks best on them :) - it just has to be short, navy, and silk chiffon.

and going to a friends wedding, like this:
{The future hubs & I - Congrats Laura & John!}

I just wanted to drop in and show you what I've been up to!

I start school the DAY after I get back from my vacation - yikes - but I am excited to get back to business! Before I go I have 2 things to share:

(1)
This is the LAST day to enter our *SWEET* giveaway:

(2)
The Fab-u-lous Kelley Dolling is having a FLASH $1 sale on her back to school items so go check 'em out!

Be back soon!!
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One *SWEET* Giveaway!

Hiya everybody!

Alisha, over at The Bubbly Blonde Teacher, and I have teamed up for one *sweet* giveaway!
We have both created some *sweet* themed packets to help motivate students at the beginning of the year and we're giving away both of them!

First, Alisha has created her {It'll Be A Sweet Year} packet filled with back to school writing prompts and craftivities:





and secondly, I created my {Ice Cream Social!} packet jam-packed with beginning of year literacy & math activities:

The giveaway will start NOW (8/17) and end at midnight on Sunday (8/19)!
On Sunday, both of us will use a random number generator to pick a winner from each of our blogs.
That means you will have {2} chances to win!!

TO ENTER:

(1) Follow The Bubbly Blonde's blog & TPT store and leave [one] comment on Alisha's blog saying you do both of those things.
BlogButton



(2) Follow T.G.I.F.'s blog & TPT store and leave [one] comment on Susan's blog saying you do both of those things.



DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!!!

Good luck!!

:)
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A Cupcake for ME!

Ladies & Gents I very excited to present my FAVE craftivtity creator of all time, TERI!!
Enjoy her post while I'm away!

Hi everyone!
I'm Teri from A Cupcake for the Teacher,
and I'm excited to be here today! :)
I have a fun first day freebie to share with you!
Have you heard of Magic Playdoh??
I first discovered Magic Playdoh before school started last year.
I thought it was the cutest idea, so I made a batch for my little ones.
Let me tell you.  They. LOVED. It.
I will definitely be doing it again this year with my firsties!!

If you haven't heard of it, the idea behind Magic Playdoh is that it starts off white, and if it *just so happens to change color* when you squeeze it, then you're going to have a great year!  Genius, right?!

Toward the end of the first day of school, I hand out Ziploc baggies of Magic Playdoh.
I display a little poster and read a poem with my class:
{I didn't write the poem-- I found it at Fun in First Grade-- but no one knows where it originated!!}

Then I have my kiddos squish up the playdoh... INSIDE the Ziplocs first, to prevent the food coloring from staining their little fingers!  It's so fun to listen to them as they realize that their playdoh is changing colors!!  Once it's all smooshed up, the playdoh can be taken out and played with, without fear of blue or red hands.  

I made these cute matching labels to put on the playdoh baggies:
 {Download them for free HERE}

To make Magic Playdoh, you'll need:
*1 cup flour
*1 cup water
*1/4 cup salt
*2 tsp. cream of tartar
*1 Tbls. vegetable oil
*food coloring

Then, just follow these steps:
1. Put all of your ingredients {EXCEPT the food coloring} into a pot and turn the stove on medium heat.
2. Stir, stir, stir!  It's going to take a few minutes to form.
3. Once your mixture forms a ball, remove from heat {I put it on a paper plate}.
4. Give it a second to cool, then separate the playdoh and form balls.
5. Poke a hole in each ball and put 3-4 drops of food coloring in them.  Carefully close the ball without squeezing it, so the food coloring stays in the middle.

When you're all done, put one "doh" ball in each baggie and seal the bag.
You're all ready to take it to school!  Your class will love it!!

*Note: I cut the recipe in half for this tutorial.
The full recipe will make about 8 decent size pieces!*

I hope that you enjoyed this little tutorial and that you can use it in your classroom!  For more fun ideas, freebies, and more, stop by my blog!

Thank you Susan, for asking me to guest post today!! :)
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Sneak-a-Peek!


Hey everyone! I have a spare minute while I'm out on vacation and I thought I'd link up with Blog Hoppin' to share my latest TPT buys n' bargains from the sale this past weekend!!

{1}
 
{Lindsey @ The Teacher Wife}
Lindsey has thought of everything! Story maps, worksheets, activities that can be used for EVERY book. This has been on my wishlist for-e-ver and I just couldn't pass it up this time... Now I must get her Reading Comprehension II packet!!

{2}

{Cara @ The First Grade Parade}
"Duh!" is all I have to say. I don't think I buy anything on TPT without my cart including an item from Cara Carroll! This is the perfect little pack to add some *fun* to my place value unit! And at only $3.50, how could anyone say no?!

{3}

{Randi @ Teach it with Class}
Our Social Studies curriculum stinks!! We have really outdated materials and this packet using the ever popular Pigeon series is going to be a huge help!! I am loving that Randi went through and outlined her lessons over 5 days. She has made my life much easier :)

{4}

{Kelley @ Teacher Idea Factory}
Okay... I signed up on Kelley's blog for a pen pal and this pack is a must-have to go along with it!! It is filled with all different types of letters to write to our cross-country pals! I can't wait to get started on it!

{5}

{Alisha @ The Bubbly Blonde}
This sweet packet pairs perfectly with my ice-cream themed beginning of the year activities!! Alisha created so many writing prompts and crafttivities for the students to complete during those first weeks in school. How to have a "sweet" year, how to be a "bubbalicious" worker, and how to "chews" good behavior are just some of the adorable prompts for my students to discuss and write about!

{6}

{Hadar @ Miss Kindergarten}
Oh, the visions bulletin boards danced in my head! Goal setting is SO important at the beginning of the year and Hadar's adorable soccer-themed craftivity will give my kiddos a great visual when determining their goal!


Alrighty, that's all I bought for now....... but I have a strong feeling that once I go back to Blog Hoppin' to see everyone's purchases, I will be back at the check out! Thank goodness for TPT ;)

Tomorrow I have an amazing guest blogger entertaining you for the day, so make sure you swing by and read her post! I'll give you a hint... think *cupcakes*

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