Meet the Teacher

I absolutely love the "back-to-school" excitement. I am not necessarily saying that I'm ready for it just yet, but I love the thrill of it all. It is exciting to experience it as both a mama and a teacher.

As a teacher, I love to see these timid, tan faces come to my room, arms full of supplies, hopeful for a little buddy to sit next to. They are too shy to talk to to me, but that never lasts long. I try to create a welcome and warm environment for both students and parents. Because as a mama, it can be a bit unsettling to watch your child walk away into the arms of someone, who is often, a complete stranger. During my first year of teaching, an amazing administrator told me, "The two most important things in an adult's life are their kids and their money. You have one of those for eight hours a day." I want parents to know that I will do everything in my power to love their children as my own. I'm big on first impressions. For my teacher friends, I am sharing a few of the things I use to welcome parents and students alike. Although I wish I could take the credit, none of these are my own ideas. Sharing is caring, right?

I am using these stations to guide my parents and students around my classroom. The great thing about these stations is they are totally editable!

I have these cute little FREE tags tied to water bottles for parents. These came from Erica's Ed-Ventures.

For the students, I give out a "Back to School Snack Mix" with a sweet little poem. This came from Elementary Shenenigans

As a mama, school feels different. My stomach is in knots as I let my little ones walk into the care of someone else for so many hours a day. My mind wanders with the "what ifs" and I just pray that they feel safe and secure. Because I know first hand the work and care that goes into loving on little ones, I want to give my kids' teachers something that lets them know that I appreciate them and all that they do for my personal children. I snagged this idea from the fabulous Cara Carroll. I didn't do the fancy pots, I just picked up some cute plastic crates from Target. Almost all of the goodies can be found in the travel section at Target. You can print the cute "First Day Survival" list from her blog. :)

Happy Back to School! :)

Oh so thankful...

I am oh.so.thankful.

At this moment I am particularly thankful that I have ONE day of school left for the week. So even though it's Monday, it feels sort of like a Thursday. Plus tomorrow is payday. I'm smiling.

I need to apologize for being absent from blog world. As you all know, life is crazzzyy. I'm hoping to get a few good posts in during my Thanksgiving break. I have been doing a lot of cooking and baking, but it would take four or five posts to fill you all in, so I'll let those come as needed or when I'm simply out of blogging ideas.

Since Thanksgiving will officially be here in 3 days I'll share some of the cute school things we've done in my classroom.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at school this year by having a "snack" and not a actual feast. At first I was really saddened by this because so many children don't get to experience a real Thanksgiving meal, but I can say that my students had a blast today and I don't think anyone went home disappointed. We made quite a few snacks that they really enjoyed and of course finished it off with Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.

#1 TeePees
These adorable snacks were pinterest-inspired and super easy for the kiddos to make.

#2 Pilgrim Hats
These also were incredibly easy. We do a "witches hat" version at Halloween using a Hershey's kiss instead of the Reese's cup. We just used yellow M&M's for the buckle on the hat.

#3 Crunchy Cornucopias
I've done this snack for the past 3 years and it always turns out so cute! I don't have a picture of these (sorry!) and I couldn't find one on pinterest...

You need:
Trix cereal
Ritz crackers
Cream cheese or peanut butter
Bugles

Spread your cream cheese or peanut butter on top of the cracker. Place the bugle on top with Trix pouring out.

Super easy and very cute!

For those of you that are already finished with your cute Thanksgiving treats, save these for your 2012 files. I'll be posting a great recipe for a yummy and easy sweet potato casserole later this week. Also, be on the lookout for a pumpkin cheesecake recipe. :)

Cutest Idea Ever!

Okay friends, I came across this idea tonight while I was searching on Classroom Freebies. I stumbled upon one of my favorite blogs and I found this idea from The Inspired Apple. I honestly think it might be the cutest idea ever. Get ready....

The Candy Corn Bandit.  Read her blog for the details. I'm also becoming a little seasonally overboard in the classroom and I honestly can't wait to get this going in my classroom!!

So thankful for the land of blogging!!!

Teacher Post: Freebies!

For my teacher pals:

I'm finishing up our unit on place value and money, so I and this little flippie as a final review for my kiddos. Here it is for you if you want it!

We are also studying stars and constellations. I created this flippie as a "study buddy" for them to write about the stars' size, brightness, and patterns in hopes that they will be able to tell me about them on the assessment (fingers crossed).

I hope you enjoy and that they make your lives a tad bit easier.

Stayed tuned, I just found a recipe for Reese's fudge pie and I might just have to make that this weekend. I'll be sure to post if I do. :)

Fall Weekends...

Much needed.

Fall, not the date, but the weather, couldn't have come at a better time for me. Work has been incredibly overwhelming this year. I can't get my head above water and I'm spending my nights planning the next day's lessons because I don't have time during my work day. I told Russ one day this week that if it wasn't for Jesus, I know that I would be crazy by now and probably on 10 kinds of anxiety meds and sleep aids. Thank goodness for sweet Jesus who fills me with hope and purpose for each and everyday.  Long story short, the weather and beauty of today came at a perfect time.

Lily Rain and I stepped outside this morning to go on our weekly excursion to Publix and were greeted by the most refreshing, crisp, cool weather. Even Lily Rain made the sweetest comment when she said, "Jesus gave you this beautiful day!" Yes, He did and Mama sure needed it.

Fall is simply wonderful. I love all the seasons and what they have to offer, but you just can't beat the coziness of fall.

Right now the girls are sleeping, I'm curled up on the couch (putting off next week's lessons), sipping coffee. My "sweet cinnamon pumpkin" candle is burning and I'm "pinteresting" for fall recipes. Tomorrow I am making an Apple Cider Cake that I found here. If I can get my tired tail out of bed in the morning, I'm planning on making these pumpkin waffles that I found here. 

Stayed tuned. Right now, I'll leave you with a quick and easy weeknight dinner recipe that the hubs and I both found wonderful.

Easy & Cheap Chicken Parmesan


1 Package Chicken Breast or Tenderloins
1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce
Grated Parmesan
Italian bread crumbs

Put the spaghetti sauce in one bowl and the bread crumbs and parmesan in another. Dip each chicken breast in the spaghetti sauce and then dip into the bread/cheese mixture. Place each piece in a baking dish and bake for 25-35 minutes. We served this with long grain rice and steamed green beans. It was great for a weeknight dinner when you need something quick and easy.

For my teacher friends that are equally overwhelmed, head on over to this devotional website for teachers. My friend, Leigh, at Precious Perks first introduced me to this website and it's very encouraging.

Enjoy this wonderful fall day!

I heart good blogs.

I've been following lots of teaching blogs lately, almost too many to make it useful. I can't seem to keep up with all of them!

I've been following Mrs. Lemons blog for a while. She always gives great freebies! For my Georgia teacher friends who are currently teaching place value, she has included three different blogs in her latest post with three different, super-cute freebies! Check it out! I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do!

My new favorite cooking blog comes from another teacher who likes to spin her wheels in the kitchen as well. I especially love the title of her blog : Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour! All of her recipes are easy and seem super yum!!

My Favorite Things (at school)

It has been awhile since I've done a teacher post, so I wanted to share some of my favorite teaching/school things with the rest of the blogging world. I am thankful for blog land because I've gotten SO many wonderful ideas from it. Here are my top five favorite things in my classroom:

1. Hand Signals
     I established this routine three years ago and it has worked beautifully. One of my pet peeves is to be interrupted during small group instruction for questions like, "Can I go to the bathroom? Can I get a sip of water? Can I go to the library? Can I get on the computer?" So we have hand signals...
     1 - Water
     2 - Bathroom
     3 - Library
     4 - AR test (computer)
     5 - Question
This way, I can simply look at the student and nod or shake my head without the class/lesson being interrupted. It really does work beautifully!

2. Behavior Labels
     I just started using these this year, but boy do I love 'em! I use this behavior chart that I found this summer on pinterest.

I wanted to document each child's behavior without taking 1.2 million hours to write in everyone's agenda. So,  I just stick one of these labels on the agenda and we are good to go! If you use this system, you can download the labels here. They work on Avery return address labels (not sure the number)


3. Weekly Copy Box
I started this system in 2009 when I was pregnant with Lily Rain. I used it for my long term sub and now I don't see how I every managed without it! I put little labels on file folders using the weekly dates (ex - August 15-19, August 22-26, and so on...). I also put a "1st six weeks skills" folder and "1st six weeks centers" folder within each six week set. At the beginning of each six weeks period, I simply put the folders in this weekly copy box. As I am planning and making copies, I can just file them here until I am ready to use them for the week. This has worked so well for me because I am a planner. I like to plan for the six weeks and be able to put away my copies and ideas in an organized way. I know this wasn't the best way of explaining it, but if you would like more clarification, please just ask. :)

4. Early Finisher Center
This is my best friend. I can put anything and everything over here and it keeps all of my early finishers occupied. I change out the books every couple of weeks or so. I rotate the file folder games depending on the skills we are covering. The kids enjoy having a place to go with so many choices and I enjoy having a place to send them when they ask, "What can I do now?"

5. Command Hooks
Okay, who ever invented these deserves the millions they are probably bathing in because they are wonderful little inventions. :) I use them for just about everything, but one of my favorite places for them is right outside my classroom. I keep two posted outside of our classroom to hang class books that we made. Currently displayed are "The Important Things About Mrs. Crawford's Class" (which is a wonderful first week activity from Mrs. Bainbridge) and our All About Me book from the first day of school. It is a great way to showcase a ton of student work in a confined space.

Finally, my most favorite.....

These cutie pies, even though I can't take them to school with me. :(

Please, please, please share your favorite school things!

Free Fonts!!

Teacher buds,
You all know my love for cute fonts. I stumbled upon this website tonight with TONS of free fonts!
Have fun!