Today is the day! Our Back to School Bash is all kinds of ready for you to ENTER to win it BIG! We have EIGHTEEN {YES! EIGHTEEN!} amazing bash baskets for you this year! At each blog you will find a little bit of info about the prize that you can win, a Rafflecopter to enter, and a button to hop on over to the next blog! While you are hopping around, we would love for you to follow our blogs so that you will always be "in the know" about what's going on. You will even be able to pick up some pretty nice teaching tips as well throughout the year! So let's get this thing rolling! Y'all! I can't even get over how cute this tent is. ... Read More
B2S Bash 2015 – PRIZES!!!! Get EXCITED!!!!
Friends! Get. Excited! No REALLY excited! :) If you aren't excited yet, you will be once you see the amazing sponsors that we will be hosting for giveaways this year during the Back to School Bash 2015. Check them all out below. Then be sure to join the hop beginning tomorrow so you can enter to win some of this amazingness! Just a few things before we begin... Remember to look for this little guy at the bottom of each post to hop to the next giveaway. There will be 18 prizes, and you won't want to miss a single thing! Along with the 18 Bash Baskets, there will also be a HUGE GRAND PRIZE! And I am talking HUGE! This ... Read More
B2S Bash 2015!!!!!
That's right, my friends! It's that time of year. Back to School Bash 2015 begins tomorrow where we will introduce you to all of the amazing prizes and sponsors. Then you can enter to win big beginning on July 31st. This year we have over $5,000 in back to school swag! No, no...you read that right! $5,000!!! People love them some teachers y'all! So join me and some of my blogging besties below for some amazing giveaways this week. It all begins tomorrow when we will introduce our 18 BASH BASKETS! Be sure you get yourself a head start and follow all of these amazing blogs and their instagram accounts. Believe me...this year you don't ... Read More
Meet the Teacher Tips & Ideas
Well...it's about that time. Time to go back to school. Do I hear a resonating sigh?? Or are you ready for routine and structure?! Me personally...I need routine! At any rate, with the approach of a new year also comes the anticipation of Meet the Teacher night. I absolutely LOVE Meet the Teacher! I love meeting my kids and their families. I love seeing my students around their parents. I mean seriously. The kids I'm always nervous about at the end of the night are typically my most well behaved kids! They're just really comfortable around their parents :) And that's ... Read More
Math Center Set-Up & Organization
With the start of the school year rapidly approaching, I thought it would be the perfect time to talk to y'all all about how I set up my math centers. This seems to be a frequent question I'm asked. Let me just tell y'all that by NO means do I think I have it all figured out. I just want to share what's worked for me over the last 13 years in the classroom. As with anything, you have to find what works best for you as a teacher and what best fits the needs of your kids. What works for me may not work for you. What works for me one year might not work for me the next...especially considering the dynamics of ... Read More
Vegas Teacher Blogger Meetup 2015
The meet up that we held in Vegas last week was AMAZING!! There really isn't many other words that could describe it. Picture 1100 teachers in a room together, having fun, meeting new people, and winning lots of prizes. We were all smiling so hard that our cheeks hurt. It was a great night and we appreciate all of the many teachers and bloggers who came and had a fabulous night with us. First and foremost, we have to give a HUGE shout out to Teachers Pay Teachers, SDE, and GoNoodle! These sponsors not only donated generous amounts of giveaway swag, they also helped organize and make our meet-up extraordinary! It's safe to say that ... Read More
Sight Word Saturday!
Hey you guys!! HAPPY SATURDAY! If you've been reading along this week, then you know today's the LAST DAY of my little birthday SALE-A-BRATION! Today is my official birthday (WHOOP!!!) and I'm celebrating it at a wedding with the entire family in tow. I specifically asked for nothing this year so that we could instead spend the weekend doing random acts of kindness. I have one tiny little favor to ask of you. Will you join us, too?! Doesn't have to be anything big. Just a simple random act of kindness :) Now let's get right down to it and talk about what we're really here for...SIGHT ... Read More
Fluency & Phonics Friday
If you're been joining me this week for my birthday SALE-A-BRATION, welcome to day 5 of our little weeklong event! I think this is the most consistent I've posted since starting this blog 5 years ago. I need to get better about that. I forget how much I love it sometimes!!! Today we're talking all about fluency and phonics. First we're focusing on phonics and then we'll get into the fluency portion. Do you have a specific phonics curriculum you follow in the classroom? Saxon? Horizons?? Or do you just make it up as you go? I'm asking because I'm genuinely curious. ... Read More
Holidays & Themes (Thematic Thursday)
This week is quickly drawing to a close and we're on the backside of our birthday SALE-A-BRATION. It's been so much fun getting to celebrate my weeklong milestone with y'all! Today we're talking all about holidays and themes. Do you celebrate holidays in your classroom? Are you allowed to theme your resources and curriculum? I often get asked how I fit it all in and I'm hoping this post gives you a glimpse of how I plan! Now let's first take a look at my yearlong pacing calendar. We'll look at October just for giggles. As you can see in the far left column (under Sunday), I have my ... Read More
Write On Wednesday
It's Wednesday and the 3rd day in my weeklong birthday SALE-A-BRATION! Today we're talking all about writing... I know I've blogged about my writing station several times before so I won't go into great detail about it here. However, I do want to take a minute to tell you how much I love it. I've always had a writing center, but I struggled week-to-week with planning writing activities that kept my kids truly engaged. Keep in mind that my writing center is completely separate from Writer's Workshop. While I love for my kids to choose what they're going to write about, when they visit the writing ... Read More
