Teachers of Instagram

Hold on to your hats, people!  Yes, I'm blogging!  Yes, it's been almost a month. Yes, my goal for 2014 is to blog at least once a week and actually do more than just join linky parties!  I promise to do better, my dear followers!

I'm going to end 2013 by linking up with Elizabeth over at Kickin' It In Kindergarten for her Teachers of Instagram linky.

I love Instagram.  While I have been absent from the blog, I haven't been absent from Instagram.  It's so quick and easy and fun to see what everyone else is up to!  If you aren't already a follower, you can find me at @alwaysanadventureink or just click that cute little Instagram over on your right!

Here's my three favorite pictures from my Instagram account (with a bonus thrown in because I couldn't pick just 3!)

My hubby and I took a weekend getaway to the Buckeyes game this fall.  We had so much fun!

 

If you follow, you know that I spend a lot of time at the soccer field in the fall and spring and at the indoor field in the winter.  This is my favorite soccer picture with the rainbow over the field.  It was beautiful!

Is there anything better than morning coffee on the deck overlooking the beach?

And the bonus.  I bought my own laminator this summer and it was the start of an obsession!  I barely use the laminator at school anymore because I like my own so much better!

 

So there's my top three (or four!) If you aren't on Instagram, head over and sign up.  If you are, follow me!  I'd love to follow you and see what you're up to!

 

I'm off to prepare some yummy food and wait for our good friends to arrive to ring in the new year!

Currently December!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!  I'm linking up with Farley this morning for my Currently post.  This is going to be short and sweet because I actually have to go to school today. It has been so nice to have a week off.  I love that we get Monday after Thanksgiving off, too.  It always feels like a bonus day.  Guess those are the perks of living in an area where hunting is a huge deal--you get the first day of deer season off from school!

 

Anyway, here's what's Currently going on with me . . . .

 

Most of this is pretty self explanatory . . .

 

I think I've mentioned in previous posts how loud my dog snores.  That could probably always be what I list in that box!

 

I got my house all decorated this weekend.  Is there seriously anything better than sitting down at night with only the Christmas lights on in the house??  It makes me want to watch It's a Wonderful Life every night!

Here are two of my favorite ornaments from our tree.

 

Hubby gets an ornament like this each year for the kids and I.  Last year, we finally had enough to do our whole tree in these glass ornaments.  I love them so much!

 

 

I really need to make a list of what I've already purchased for my family and what I still need to get.  I keep telling myself I'm almost done.  I actually think I'm done DECIDING what to get, but I don't think I've gotten it all yet.  Big difference!

 

Yes, I'm already hoping for snow on Christmas.  Hey, we had a white Thanksgiving so I don't think a white Christmas is too much to ask for, is it??

 

One thing I didn't get to this weekend was loading the Christmas music onto my iPod.  Thank goodness for Sirius radio and Pandora.  It got us through the decorating!

 

Going to our Christmas Eve service at my church is my favorite tradition.  I think I've only ever missed one service in my entire life and that was because it was cancelled due to a huge winter storm.  Our church sits up on a hill and has a long drive up to it.  The drive is lined with luminaries and it's so beautiful.  And when the entire congregation forms a circle, lights their candles, and sings Silent Night, well, I get emotional just thinking about it . . . .

 

I'm going to go link this up with Farley and I can't wait to read about everyone else's Christmas traditions!  Thanks for reading . . .

 

 

Who doesn't love a sale??

Are you gearing up for the Cyber Monday and Tuesday sale over at TpT?  I know I am!  I've been loading up my cart for a week now.  By the time I'm done, I should be all set for Christmas and beyond!

 

My store will be 20% off along with MANY other great stores.  I've linked up with Primary Possibilities for their list of stores offering deals.  Head over there and check out all the great items.  Stick them in your cart so you're ready and then all you have to do on Monday is enter the code and checkout!

 

OK--I'm off to whip up a couple of Christmas Math and Literacy centers in hopes of getting them uploaded before the big sale!

Five for Friday--I'M BAAACK!!

Well, friends, in my last post I promised to be better about blogging.  It hasn't happened and I'm sorry!  Life is just nuts sometimes, isn't it?? Well, I've finally found myself with a Saturday morning with no place to be so here I am!  I love having a few hours in the morning to blog and catch up on everyone else's blogs.  I really miss it and wish I could find more time in each day!  Here's a little peek at what I've been up to over the last few weeks!

 

We've been using activities from the amazing Caitlin Clabby from Kindergarten Smiles a lot this month.  This activity is from her October Word Work pack.  So much good stuff!!  If you have never visited Caitlin's blog, you need to go there NOW.  She's amazing.

 

Part of why I've been neglecting this blog is because of this fabulous new evaluation system in Ohio {insert sarcasm here}.  I've had my pre-conference for my observation, my observation and then my post conference within the last week.  Add two nights of parent-teacher conferences in there and the fact that grade cards were due the week before and there goes ALL my time to blog!  Our district gave us these binders to collect our evidence.  I really need to find time to work on it.  Right now, I stuff papers in the pockets, but haven't organized it at all!

 

I got this little gem of a letter hand delivered the other day from one of my students from last year.  So sweet!  And so exciting to see other teachers in my building using great TpT resources!  This can be found HERE from A Cupcake for the Teacher.  Don't you love getting little love notes from former students??

 

 

Here's one of my cuties (don't you love that shirt??) using the letter tracing cards that I made.  I made my own set because we use Wilson Fundations as our phonics program and I really wanted to have the pictures match our keywords for each letter.  Not always easy when they use "Ed" for /e/ and "fun" for /f/ so I made my own set.  I know that those pictures wouldn't be helpful in classrooms that don't use Fundations, so I made a version of those cards with more common pictures for those letters.  You can find them HERE in my TpT store.  It's a new product so it's on sale today!  I use these with my kiddos who are struggling to learn letter names and sounds.  This is recommended in the book, The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson to help build that letter sound knowledge.

 

We made these awesome pilgrims this week and wrote about things that we are thankful for.  This made a great hallway display for parent-teacher conferences.  The craftivity and writing template is from Caitlin again and is found in her November Unit.  Like I said before, she's amazing.  Go check it out!

 

And here's a bonus pic just because I want to share!

My little girl is growing up!  They had a Middle School dance last weekend and here's my girl (on the left) with her BFF at the dance.  Hubby and I were chaperones and he actually teared up a little bit when she walked in with her friends.  She's not little anymore!!

 

Well there it is, folks!  That's what's up with me!  Now I'm going to go link up with Doodlebugs and check out what everyone else has been up to.  You should, too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently November!

Hey!  Remember me???  I sure hope so, but I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't!  It's been two weeks since I've blogged!  There just aren't enough hours in the day!  I'm hoping to catch up this weekend and be better about it, but with the holidays coming up, I'm making no promises! 

 

I was so happy to get to November so that I could get back into the blogging routine with Farley's Currently.  Here's what's CURRENTLY up in my little

world . . .

 

Listening

If you have a pug or know anyone who does, you will be able to relate.  They snore SO loud, even when they aren't sleeping!  We often have to keep turning up the volume on the TV just to hear it over top of her!

 

Loving

We have not ONE thing that we MUST do this weekend!  Mainly, that means NO soccer games. We have spent every Saturday since Labor Day at the soccer fields for roughly 6 hours!  You can't even imagine how excited I am for a Saturday at home.  It's not going to be lazy by any means, but I'm going to be able to catch up on SO much stuff.  School work, housework, TV shows, football, etc.!  Yay!

 

Thinking

I'm not getting caught up on anything by still sitting here in my pjs at noon.  Well, yes I am.  I'm catching up on my blogging, right??!!

 

Wanting

I really wish I could just stay here all day.  I want to read blogs.  I want to print and laminate.  I want to create some of the ideas that I have in my head.  But I really do need to put some laundry in and do the dishes and help my son find his bedroom floor again.  And I have to take my daughter to her school to get her stuff because they had to evacuate their building yesterday due to a bomb threat and weren't allowed back in to get their belongings--that's a whole other blog post!

 

Needing

All of my Ohio bloggers will hear me on this one.  See, Ohio has instituted a new teacher evaluation system this year and the paperwork is OVERWHELMING!  My pre-conference for my first observation is Monday morning so I'm looking at several good hours of typing up paperwork this weekend.  Thank goodness it's a weekend with no soccer!

 

Yummy Pin

I've never tried this, but it looks yummy and seems kind of fall-ish to me!

 

Here's the link to the original post with the recipe.  Looks really yummy, doesn't it!

 

S'more Cake

 

Now go link up with Farley with what you're Currently up to in November and see what everyone else is doing, too!

 

Five for Friday with a Fantastic Giveaway!

 

 

 It's that time again!  I missed last week because we've been crazy busy.  Who hasn't, right??  I know.  But I'm back this week!  Stick with me until the end for a chance to enter my HUGE birthday bonanza giveaway!

 

 

 

I've been working hard on getting my Guided Reading binder all together.  I bought this fabulous kit from Caitlin over at Kindergarten Smiles.  You can find Part 1 and 2  HERE in her TpT Store.  It's so fabulous!  I have it pretty much ready to go.  It's helped me organize my small groups SO much!

 

 

We did the fabulous picture sort this week.  My intervention specialist is a TpT/blogging nerd like me.  She made this N/M picture sort for me to use.  As soon as she gets the link up, I will be sure to let you know because she's doing a great job with the picture sorts.  Check her out over at The Phonics Phenomenon!

 

 

Tuesday was my birthday.  I've been wanting red Toms forever.  When my mom said, "Buy something you want for your birthday," I knew right where to go!  I wore them for the first time today and I'm in love!

 

 

It's fall in Ohio!  Nowhere I'd rather be.  It's beautiful where we live in the fall.  We are actually one of the largest tourist areas in the state because of our fall foliage.  This is just down the road from my house.  The trees probably have another week or two of fall beauty and then they will be bare.

 

 

As I mentioned, Tuesday was my birthday.  I put together a HUGE giveaway to celebrate.  You won't want to miss it!  Some of my blogging IDOLS were kind enough to donate!  Run, don't walk!  Click the image to take you over to the blog post with the Rafflecopter.  Hurry--it ends tomorrow!!

 

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Birthday Bonanza Giveaway!

I know I've been slightly absent from this blog lately, but I have been trying to keep my head above water both at school and at home!  There's paperwork and more paperwork at school on top of actually preparing lesson plans and teaching.  There's soccer and more soccer at home! 

But enough about that.  Today's my birthday!!!  I know as we get older we aren't supposed to like to celebrate our birthdays, but not me!  I love my birthday and I want everyone to know!  So I put together a super excellent giveaway event to celebrate!  When you see the bloggers below who have donated to help me celebrate, you won't be able to click all those rafflecopter buttons fast enough to enter!  I'm so excited for all of you!  Check this list out!

I told you it was an amazing list!  You're looking for the rafflecopter already, aren't you?!  I know I would be! Now go enter below, but do it quick.  I'll announce a winner this weekend!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for helping me celebrate!!