Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  I hope everyone is enjoying time with family!  We are in Charleston, SC spending Easter weekend with with family and are heading to Orlando this afternoon.  I love Spring Break!!  I also love all the Easter weekend sales.  Today is the last day for my TpT 20% off sale.  Have a wonderful day!

I'm having a sale!!

Head over to my TpT store this weekend for my 20% off Spring Break Sale!

I'm on Spring Break so I'm having a Spring Break Sale!!

I'm packed and ready to go!  We are heading to Orlando bright and early tomorrow morning.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to post a time or two during vacation.  I can't wait to tell you about the Living Biography Museum my students had this week at school.  Lots of pictures to come!!
In the meantime, I'm having a Spring Break Sale at my TpT store Friday through Sunday!  Click on the picture below to check out some of my sale items.  Have a great Easter weekend!!

Time to start thinking about the end of the school year (and a FREEEBIE!)

I don't know about you but it seems like the school year flies by as soon as we get back from spring break.  Our spring break begins tomorrow at 2:40 (YIPPEE!!).  I've been planning my workstations for the last two months of school.  My writing prompts have been printed, cut and laminated!  They are ready to go!  I just listed them along with my Back to School Writing Prompts.  Here's a little peak at each one...

 You can see the preview here (TpT) or here (TN)

  You can see the preview here (TpT) or here (TN)

I have the bundled set listed as well for a savings of $2.00!

The End of the School Year Writing Prompts are FREE for the next 15 minutes!!!

Whoa! When did 500 happen and a freebie!!!

I can't believe I'm over 500 followers!  I have no idea when it happened but now I have 525 followers!  Wow!  Thanks so much to everyone who follows me!
I just listed a new product and to celebrate 500 followers, it will be free for an hour!!
It is my newest "Pocket Full of..." activity.

Students match the number cards (word form, addition, subtraction, money, tally marks, base ten blocks, and counters) to the correct number pocket.  This reinforces so many skills and helps students start to learn about equivalent numbers.

You can find it for free at my TpT store (please leave some feedback if you'd like!!).  Thanks again for following my blog!!

Five For Fr-unday??? ...and a little giveaway!

Sorry this Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching is coming on Sunday but it has been a crazy week of playing catch up!

1. We had parent/teacher conferences every day this week.  Our school system lets students out an hour early each day during conference week.  This makes for a very hectic week!  Not only was it conference week but it was IREAD week three days as well.  Third graders MUST pass this test to move on to fourth grade.  Students who don't pass (or take the test) have to take summer school and retake the test.  Inability to pass the test means retention in third grade.  I had two students that were sick the day we were scheduled to take the test.  Their parents actually brought them to school sick on the third day so they could take it.  They both went back home as soon as the test was over.  Poor kids!!
2. I was busy this week making an initial sounds activity for a primary teacher in my building.  I decided to use the cute (free) stitched pockets by Ashley Hughes to make "A pocket full of... sounds".  Here is a preview.

Students say the name of the picture on the card then put it in the pocket with that initial sound.  I think it will be a fun activity for her students to do during workstations!  You can see more at my TpT store or TN store if you'd like or comment below for a chance to win!!

3.  I'm part of two wonderful giveaways this week!  The first one started on Friday and comes with lots of great freebies as well!

Mrs. Leeby from Learning with Mrs. Leeby came up with the idea of having a Hippity Blog Hop.  Here is the freebie that I am offering...

Click here to follow the blog hop!
I'm also part of Kate from EduKate and Inspire's 400 follower giveaway!

I'm giving away my Writing Workstation Jar for Spring Writing Prompts in each of their giveaways!

4.  On a shopping note, I think I got the deal of the century this week at Kohl's.  I was walking through the aisle when this caught my eye

I'm always on the look out for the yellow and red price tags.  I couldn't believe it when I saw that this kitchen was originally $129.99 but on sale for $25.99! I also had a 30% off coupon!!  The final price was $18.22!!  My daughters are way too old to enjoy this but it will be perfect for my four year old niece!!
5. I'm not sure if you heard the screaming or not a couple of hours ago but if you did it was me cheering on my Hoosiers!!  OMG!  I cannot stand nail biters!  Luckily we were able to push ahead at the end and are now headed to the Sweet 16!

That was my week or at least the five most exciting things that happened!  Now I'm off to wait on the 6-10 inches of snow they have predicted for tonight.  A snow day at the end of March...CRAZY!!  I would like to give my "Pocket full of sounds" away to three lucky winners.  Just leave me a comment below telling me who you think will win the NCAA tournament and I'll pick winners tomorrow!  Have a great evening!

Hop Along the Hippity Blog Hop for Freebies and a Giveaway!

Welcome to the Hippity Blog Hop hosted by Learning with Mrs. Leeby!  I'm stop number 6!  A great big thank you to Khrys from Keepin' It Kool in KinderLand for directing you to my blog!  I hope you enjoyed her blog and her freebie.  I have a little freebie for you as well!  We've been talking about symmetry in my classroom so I made a fun activity for students to do during math workstations.  It's called Symm-EGG-try Fun!  Students work on symmetry by drawing the other half of the picture.

Click on the picture to download your freebie!!

Now head on over to Cindy at Granny Goes to School for stop number 7.  

She has a freebie waiting for you!  It's her Spring Flowers Graphing (soooo cute!!).

Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway at Learning with Mrs. Leeby.  She is giving away a $25 TpT gift card and items from each blogger participating in the Hippity Blog Hop!  My Writing Workstation Jar for Spring Writing Prompts is part of the giveaway.

Whew! Writing Prompt Jars for Every Season (and a quick giveaway)!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I finished my Writing Workstation Jars for every season yesterday and got them uploaded in my TpT/TN stores today.  What a long process!  I always seem to have trouble getting thumbnails on my TpT listings!  After making my Spring Writing Prompts earlier in the week, I decided to go ahead and make one for the other season so I could bundle them.  Buyers will save by purchasing the bundle instead of each individually.
Here's a quick preview of each:
Spring...

Summer...

Fall...

Winter...

I was thrilled yesterday to open the Teachers Notebook newsletter and see my Book Detective Jar as one of the Featured Items of the Week!!  I'll feel like I hit it big time when I make the TpT newsletter!

This one is one of my favorite products!!!  I love it so much that I would love for others to have it!  I'll email it to the first four who comment!!  Enjoy the rest of your St. Patty's Day!

Five for Friday with a little bit of everything (and a quick giveaway)!

It's so hard to believe that it's Friday!  This week has been a blur!  Seriously, I can't even remember what I wore to school on Monday.  I'm not complaining!  I'm happy it's Friday and to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching.  Here are five things I do remember from this week!

1.  Have you ever noticed that as a teacher you look at things differently than the average person? Especially in the dollar store!  When I go shopping there I'm always on the look out for odd items.  I was at The Dollar Tree this week and this was my odd find. 

To the average person, these are just weird useless coasters.  To a teacher... a writing prop!  As soon as I saw these coasters I thought of this awesome set from Michelle at The 3AM Teacher!

I mean, these were meant to go together!  I can't wait to do a lesson on adding details or paragraphs and use the two together!!

2. I have been cranking out products since my last Five for Friday!  I have an idea list that is a mile long.  This week I listed three new items and I have one more that is almost ready.  How often do you have creative spurts like this??  I'm taking advantage of it while it lasts!  Here is my newest product...

You can preview it here or here

I'm eager for Spring to get here and so are my students!  My students will start using these writing prompts during workstations next week.

3. Last week we finished our first round of state testing.  Each morning my students walked into the classroom to see a motivating message and a treat on their table.  This one was my favorite.

It's really hard to read but the message says "You can do it!  This is your time to shine!"  My students each had glow bracelets on their table.  They were thrilled!  Note to self though... buy extra glow bracelets in case some do not glow!!

4.  This has been a tough week for me mentally.  Very soon I will have to decide between two completely different teaching positions for next school year.  There are pros and cons to each.  At this point I'm not quite ready to reveal my options (I'd hate to jinx it) but I was just wondering if any of you have been in the position where you had to decide between to two different teaching assignments.  How did you choose and do you feel like you made the right choice?  I'm a firm believer in things happening for a reason, so I know the right choice will soon be clear to me (let's hope!).

5.  I love March Madness and my Indiana Hoosiers!!  This will be a basketball filled weekend with the Big Ten Post Season Tournament taking place.  My 3rd ranked Hoosiers (1st in my book) had an easy win today against Illinois!!  Bring on the Badgers tomorrow!!

In honor of today's Hoosier win, I would love to give my Spring Writing Prompts Jar away to the first person who comments with the correct year that IU won their last NCAA championship.  Good luck!!