When I was at Michaels shopping around for my #Create2Educate Sweepstakes, which you can read more about about here, I loaded up my cart with a lot more than I needed for to make my Get to Know Me Necklaces...

Under that pile of awesomeness, are two packs of paper that I just couldn't pass up. I'm a sucker for chevron and polka-dots and I love buying packs of paper that are coordinated so that I know they'll all mesh together if I use them on a project.

I really had no idea what I was going to use them for and then I got this baby for my birthday! I had mentioned to my hubby that I wanted to make one of the famous "teacher toolboxes" and he remembered! awww...

I had originally planned to use these super adorable labels I found on Fun in Room 4b, but when I printed them out I realized they weren't quite the right categories that I wanted and they were a bit more pastel than the rest of my room. So I set about making my own. All those posts that say how easy breezy this project is...well, I'm not gonna lie. This was an all-dayer for me. And I'm pretty crafty!
So, if you're contemplating making one, let me tell you some things I learned along the way to maybe make it a bit easier on you. First, here's the finished product, which I love:

Some of the labels look a little crooked, but I think it's because the drawers aren't really in correctly.  I did not paint the outside, although I did want to and not-so-secretly still want to, but really I think I'm going to just leave it be. I think. Maybe.

One of the hardest parts was deciding what would be in each drawer! Mine is going to be more of an extra supply holder behind my desk. I keep some paper clips, binder clips, and things in or on my desk, but I have the extras stored away. So, I had to really give some thought to what things I wanted to store in there or what things I don't really use every day but want to keep handier than in the closet.

Next was figuring out how I wanted to label them. I decided to go bold.  I just printed out those labels and cut them out to put on top of the chevron paper. If those labels float your boat, you can download them here but they're nothing fancy. I just printed them on paper and cut them out.

Then I cut a bunch of the chevron paper to the size of the boxes, which is 2x4 for the larger boxes and 1 1/4 x 2ish for the smaller ones...

I thought I would just randomly put the colors in, but it looked too mish-mashy that way, so I came up a bit of a pattern that didn't offend my OCD sensibilities too much:

At that point, nothing was taped in. One at a time, I took out the chevron square, added the label, and then taped it inside the drawer. I just used regular scotch tape on the inside of the drawer. It's not so pretty, but you can't see it from the front and it gets the job done. To top it all off I added a couple of owl stickers from the Carson Dellosa boho birds theme that I have going on in my room.

So that's my teacher toolbox! I'm glad I did it but it was definitely a little more of a pain in the badonkadonk than I imagined it to be. But it's done and I'm happy. And I'm not going to paint it. The blue is fine, really. Right?

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I'm finally linking up to Doodle Bug's Five for Friday Linky. Yay! I love reading everyone else's, so I'm super happy to finally have some pictures of my week to share!

1. On Monday we had a field trip to the International Game Fishing Association Hall of Fame. 

Field trips are always fun. Exhausting, but fun.

2. My kids have started to bring in their own worksheets! No lie. The little guy on the top was the trendsetter. One day he brought in a maze that he made and copies for everyone. Of course, we did it right away and he was thrilled! Then we had two more days of student created worksheets, complete with copies for the whole class. How awesome is that? I have a feeling this might continue for a while. Fine by me! The best part was watching the creators of the sheets walk around and help the other kids. I definitely heard a little of myself coming out in them, all good, thankfully!

3. I've simplified my center rotations and I'm in HEAVEN! I was trying to squeeze in two centers every day while keeping it aligned with our specials schedule, which goes by Day 1-Day 6. So on Day 1 on the specials schedule, we'd do both Day 1 centers. The problem was that if we ever missed a day, we'd be two centers behind. Then I'd try to get all four in that day. And I also had 4 kids at each center and I was changing out activities every three days! Now I have two kids at each center and the rotation lasts for TEN glorious days. Best.change.ever.

4. Wednesday was our 14th anniversary. Hubby sent me these beautiful flowers at work. The roses are a pretty hot pink color and those stargazer lilies are my favorite flower (and were also our wedding flowers) awww....

 5. My formal observation was this morning. As far as I can tell, it went really well. I won't know how it all looks on paper until next Wednesday, but in my heart I know I did the best I could and my kids got a lot out of the activity, so it's all good with me! More info on the whole project coming soon.

So, that was my week in a nutshell! Link up to Doodle Bug's party and share your week :)

Can I sneak in a #6? My friend Gina over at Beach Sand and Lesson Plans is having a fantastic birthday giveaway. Enter to win some great prizes including any product of your choice from my store!

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Don't mean to cause alarm, but dang did I get the cutest glasses from Dollar Tree! I was at a loss of what to do for my volunteers this year when I was roaming around the 'Tree, considering maybe picture frames with the kids signatures or something, when I spotted these cardboard tube gift containers. Super cute, right? I had no idea what I could put in them (although I debated with myself for a while) so I left them on the shelf and kept strolling. As soon as I turned the corner, I spotted the glasses! Of course, I turned around, jumped over the pile of marbles spilled on the floor, knocked over some off brand soap on display and sprinted back to the cardboard tubes and by some miracle, they fit perfectly inside! I scooped up 5 tubes, searched out 5 perfect glasses, got some shreddy stuff and made a beeline for the register. I may be embellishing the speed at which that all took place, but that's what it felt like...

I had 5 volunteers that I really wanted to acknowledge with a little something, but even a little something starts to add up when you have five gifts to buy. Even so, I felt like I cheaped out a bit with just the glass and cute container. I toyed with the idea of a liquor store gift card, but in the end I remembered seeing these really pretty bottle stoppers at Pier One a while ago. Luckily, they were still there! They were about $7 each if I remember correctly. I just snugged the topper into the shreddy stuff in the glass then slid the glass into to the perfect little cardboard tube and added a little personal note.

So for under $50 total, I was able to recognize my volunteers with something that I hope was a little unique and thoughtful.

P.S. They also had "congratulations" and "happy birthday" glasses. So, go...go on, run before they're all gone!

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My reflective post yesterday on TBA about my blog birthday has got me reminiscing about the last year. One of the many big leaps I made was joining Teachers Pay Teachers as a seller. That was a huge one for me, it was a very difficult decision, but one I'm glad I made. One of the best parts of being a tpt seller is getting some free materials into the hands of teachers across the globe. I know it's appreciated from the crazy awesome, totally heartfelt emails and feedback on tpt. My friend Angela Watson recently wrote a great post on this very subject. I've gotten to know Angela a bit over the past year and she always impresses me with her clear-headed, straightforward thinking. She speaks her mind freely without being swayed by others, which is a trait that I admire more than I can say. So, yeah. I'm a big fan of Angela...Fangela, maybe? Maybe not...click here to read her article.

As I was thinking back, I was trying to remember the first item I ever posted when I realized It's actually still my featured item.  I'm not sure how many of you may have seen it. TpT did a site redesign a while ago, and while I love it for the most part, one of the things I don't like is that the featured free download kind of blends in and is easily overlooked because there are not thumbnail images, see? It's a little lost down there. It just says "free download".

So I thought I'd take a minute today to share it because (if I do say so myself) it's a pretty good one! I think having such a unique, useful freebie as my very first item was one of the keys to my relatively quick start on TpT. I really had no contacts, no help, no idea what the heck I was doing but I submitted this freebie to be featured in the newsletter and it was featured the first week I was a seller! It also got noticed by some other bigger sellers who promoted it as I was welcomed into the fold. I distinctly remember Rachel Lynette sharing it on Facebook and almost passing out from excitement! So, to those of you thinking about venturing into tpt, there's my little nugget of advice - have a fantastic freebie to get the ball rolling. I've received several emails from readers asking me how to get started. I know I've answered some and not others. The reason is that it's not an easy question to answer. It's a lot of work, a lot of hours, a little talent and a little luck. I spend at least 4 hours a day (usually more) beyond my full-time school day working on TpT products - both free and paid, blogging and networking every single day. But the one thing I know for sure, is that it's totally worth it. Be prepared to face others who disagree with your decision as well because you will face at least a little bit of that from time to time.

So, on to that first activity. It's a set of task cards that can be used with any book club order form. If your kids are anything like mine, they freak over those forms! Even though a lot of the kids don't actually order, they love looking through it. I decided to capitalize on that excitement with these cards. It's a favorite center for sure. It also gets them excited about books and introduces them to new series and authors they might not see in the classroom or school library.

Lots of different literacy skills are represented along with a few math skills as well. 

So, if you haven't yet, you can click {HERE} to get to my tpt store, then just click on that  Free Download button to get your copy. So, thanks bunches and bunches for being here with me through this first year of my journey. It's been an incredible experience venturing outside the walls of my own school and into the limitless arena of the internet. It's a journey I hope to continue for many, many years to come and I hope you'll all be along with me for the ride!

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Hey friends!

Why does it always seem that the short weeks at school are the busiest? I'm seriously only teaching for one and a half days this week and it's been nutso with all the other stuff I've had to squeeze in. Well, such is the life of a busy and fascinating teacher such as myself. What am I talking about? Well, looky below and you will see that this little ol' blog of mine has been nominated for two awards! The first one is the Busy Teacher Award (Best Teacher Blog) and the second is the Most Fascinating Blog of 2011 (Teaching Blog). Now I know, you're thinking - well isn't she all full of herself all of a sudden?! No, not really. I'm not exactly sure of the pristine nature of these fairly new awards, but it's kind of neat nonetheless. I certainly am busy, but fascinating...well, my little seven year old nuggets think I'm pretty cool. 

If you feel like making an extra click or two to vote, I'd appreciate it. I think you can vote once a day, but I won't hound remind you every day.  In this case, I kind of feel like that old cliche' feels appropriate - it was an honor just to be nominated. Ok, cue the violin music...

Oh, and before I go be sure to check out this great contest over at First Grade Ala Carte! It's Kathy's blog birthday and the prize package is unbelievable, including one from yours truly. 

 There are some freebies for everyone as well. 

Click on the balloons to join the par-tay!

I've got some great February freebies coming up, the first of which I hope to have ready for you tonight! See you soon!

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I have been blessed to receive the Blog On Fire award from three different bloggy buddies. I've been a very bad blogger and haven't passed on the award as I should have. Mea culpa, my friends. Better late than never, right? So big thanks to my friends below who passed the award on to me:

Besides passing this award on to seven other deserving bloggers, I'm supposed to tell you seven interesting things about myself. That's the part that had me stumped. I've told you all lots of things about me and it was hard to come up with seven more "interesting" things! But, I gave it some thought and for better or worse, here are seven interesting-ish things about me that you could probably live without knowing, but get to read anyway!

1. I can not drink tap water. I can't even think about drinking tap water. I am the kid who totally used to drink from the hose outside in the summer, so I'm not quite sure what happened, but If I even think about drinking tap water straight from the sink, it makes me gag. It's all mental. I'm a weirdo.

2. Along the same lines as the tap water, is toothpaste. If I swallow even a teensy bit of toothpaste when I'm brushing my teeth, it's all over. If someone on TV or in a movie is brushing their teeth and TALKING at the same time, it's all I can think about until they rinse. And if they don't rinse or heaven forbid, swallow, I totally get nauseous. Again, weirdo.

3. I have Restless Legs Syndrome. Now this one is not mental, although I'm sure some people think it is. I've had it as long as I can remember, but it was only about 5-6 years ago that I found out that it had a name. I can't even describe what it's like, but it's the most awful sensation that you just can't keep your legs still. It comes on during the night, just when you want to relax, and the more tired I am the worse it is. Going to the movies at night is unbearable and I'll often have to get up and stand or walk around in the back of the theater for a while. I take medication for it daily, but it doesn't really take away the symptoms, it just makes them a little more tolerable. Kind of connected to my restless legs are my feet. Well, of course they're physically attached, but I also have an issue walking around barefoot. I hate it. I don't know when that happened either, because when I was a kid, I NEVER wore shoes! Now I can't stand to be barefoot, unless my toes are in the sand, of course.

4. On the subject of medical problems, I've recently started getting migraine headaches. They were my fortieth birthday present. I've checked. They didn't come with a gift receipt or they would sooooo be going back!

5. Here's a strange one. You know how you have two lines on your palm that are kind of curved? I have one line that goes all the way across and is perfectly straight. I also have a freckle on my palm. Maybe I need to consult a palm reader to see what this means. I was going to take a picture of this and show you, but I recently got my nails done by someone other than my normal nail girl (how dare she take a vacation!) and they are not pretty my friends.

6. I am repulsed by cockroaches. I think I would handle a seeing a snake or bear in my house better than I do when I see a roach. Remember those bug spray commercials that made it look like a roach was crawling across your TV? Yeah, those were fun. I freeze up and can't move when I see one. It's like we're in the middle of a tense stand-off until I summon the courage to run for the can of bug spray which I then use to create a small river on the floor (my husband just loves that part). If he's not home to pick up the carcass, I cover it with an upside down paper plate so I don't have to see it until he gets home to do the dirty work. Mind you, I live in South Florida where these gross creatures are fairly common. My husband has heard me scream, "Big bug, big bug!!!" more times than he can count, yet I still freak every. single. time. (See above posts labeled "weirdo")

7. I sometimes know things that I have no idea how or why I know them. I once knew that a certain part of a car was called the catalytic converter and I'm the LEAST mechanical person I know! When there are Trivial Pursuit cards on a restaurant table, I'll know strange, random facts that I don't ever remember learning. Same thing with Jeopardy. My mom was actually the same way. Yet, sometimes I can't remember what I ate for dinner the night before or the ending to a movie I just saw a few days ago.
So strange how our minds work, right?

So, now know you know a little more about me. I'm really a pretty low-maintenance person, but I do have my quirks. But that's what makes the world go round, right?

The next part of this award is to pass it along to seven blogs worthy of the Blog on Fire distinction.
I really tried to search out some that have yet to receive the award, so here they are in no particular order.
Stop by and visit these blogs when you get a chance, they're all written by fantastic educators and they have so much to offer!

1. Rachel at SubHub
2. Mel D at Mrs. Dillard 1st Grade (who has some exciting changes coming soon!)
3. Sally at Elementary Matters
4. Selina at Classroom Magic
5. Terri at Terri's Teaching Treasures
6. Jen at Kidzmet
7. Caitlin at Kindergarten Smiles <-Caitlyn is all kinds of fantastic. We work together and I've seen her awesomeness in person. I'm sure you'll love her too!
8. Ohh. I had to sneak in one more (see I AM a bad blogger!) Visit Debi at Just 4 Teachers. She is very cool and she teaches at a school about 10 minutes away from mine. She's the fab friend who gave me the wood to make my crate seats this summer!

Here's the award ladies- copy & paste onto your own blogs, then you know the drill. Think of seven interesting things to tell your readers and pass the award on to seven bloggers that are "on fire"! (Metaphorically, of course).

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Happy Sunday!
Just popping in for a quickie post in between enjoying a family birthday, playing with my new laminator, and working on the most awesome {freebie} activity to share with you! I'm seriously so excited...it's one of those ideas I've had rolling around in my brain that finally actually made it into reality.

I didn't have plans to blog today, BUT my fab friend Jenaya aka The Lesson Plan Diva is having a Facebook linky party, so I thought I'd join in! I can not pass up a good linky. If you are not currently following me on Facebook, I'd love if you'd join me there. I do share some things there that I don't necessarily write a whole blog post for here.

I'm pretty much obsessed with teaching blogs - definitely an addict, Facebook, Pinterest and TpT. So, You might as well benefit from my addiction by following me on those other sites too :D.  If you miss the links in this post, just check out the icons on the right to join me in my other travels around cyber space!

*Here are a few examples of things that I've shared in just the past few days*

This little genius idea I found on Pinerest {addicted!! Feel free to follow me there too!}
Great way to keep dice from "accidentally" flying around the room during math games:

I also shared a free Smarboard attendance file perfect for International Day of Peace coming up this Wednesday. Click on the pic to download your copy :)

And one of my most favorite things to do on Facebook is share other fantastic resources that I find while blogstalking my blog buds and favorite TpT sellers like the ones below.

FREE place value from my blog bud Ashleigh. Click on the image to download and check out her blog here too!

And the ever amazing Mrs. Lemons who shares the most crazy incredible stuff like this free bunch of noun printables - click on the pic to go right to the post with this awesomeness:

Ok, pulling myself away from my trusty Mac to enjoy some real-life life before my friends start planning an intervention for me...

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I have been cooking up this scrumptious surprise for a little while and I'm so glad I can finally spill the beans! I have been trying to think of a cool way to celebrate each time I reach another hundred followers. Thanks to you all, I've had to come up with the ideas pretty quickly! This time I think I may have outdone myself!! So, I present to you my Freakishly Fabulous Four Hundred Follower (Plus It's My Birthday) Giveaway Contest!! Ok, I know that's not so catchy, but my friends - truer words were never spoken.

One lucky reader will win a Teachers Pay Teachers shopping spree of epic proportions! The TWENTY-SEVEN sellers below and I have all agreed to let a winner choose an item of their choice from their store. That's right - if you win, you get to shop till you drop and receive an item of your choice from each of these amazingly generous seller's stores! Twenty-eight free items will be yours! I wish I could say that's one for every year of birthdays I'm celebrating, but I'd need 13 more prizes for that. Hey - stop doing math - now! You will definitely recognize some of these names if you are a TpT shopper.  Even if one of the shops is not quite your area, you can always shop for a friend!

Feast your eyes on this and then scroll down to enter!

Here's the how-to. You can earn one entry by doing each of the following:

1. Be or become a follower of my blog.

2. Be or become a follower of my TpT store.

3. Blog about this contest.

4. Post this contest on Facebook. 

Bonus Entries:

Earn one entry for each TpT store and/or blog you choose to follow from the list below. I removed the word verification thingy so you won't have to type in "stinkus feetosis" or something similar each time you enter.

Leave a separate comment for each of the ways you decide to enter. Enter once or use every entry choice, it's up to you! I'll leave you alone now, you've got a lot of clicking to do!

Contest ends Thursday, July 21 at midnight EST. I'll choose a winner with the random number generator using the numbered comments. Good luck Friends!

Rachel Lynette's TpT Store & Blog

Victoria Leon's TpT Store & Blog

Lesson Plan Diva's TpT Store & Blog

Charity Preston's TpT Store & Blog

Deanna Jump's TpT Store & Blog

Ashleigh's TpT Store & Blog

Lisa Pagano's TpT Store
Vintage Teachers TpT Store & Blog

Brain Bender's TpT Store

First Grade Brain's TpT Store & Blog

Rundes Room's TpT Store & Blog

Shelly Gray's TpT Store & Blog

Krystal Mills TpT Store

Wise Owl's Factory's TpT Store & Blog

Brooke Beverly's TpT Store

Teacher Tam's TpT Store & Blog

Science Etc's TpT Store & Blog

Effective Teaching Solution's TpT Store & Blog

Karla Banks TpT Store & Blog

Science Stuff's TpT Store & Blog

Secondary Solutions TpT Store & Blog

From the Pond TpT Store & Blog

Masketeer's TpT Store

SciPi's TpT Store

TchrBrowne's TpT Store

KinderKay's TpT Store

DijoBaker's TpT Store & Blog

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Our year-end party this year was based on the TV game show Minute to Win It.  I've actually seen this brought up around the blogosphere a lot this summer, so it's catching on. That's awesome because my kids had the best time with this and so did I. (Big thank you to my most awesome room moms!)

If you try this, a great tip is to pull up the clip of the actual game and show it to the kids before they try it. Go here to see a computerized explanation of each game and a clip of an actual show participant making it look much easier than it is! (There is an annoying commercial at the beginning of each one, but my kids liked them! Go figure,)

First up was Face the Cookie. This one made sense considering our Oreo addiction this year. The kids had to lean their head back and place a cookie on their forehead and, using only their facial muscles, move the cookie down their face and into their mouth. I wish I had video for this one, because to watch it was freakin' funny! Here's our champ:

Up next was Noodling Around. The kids lined up penne pasta at the edge of their desks and tried to pick up all of them with one piece of spaghetti that they held in their mouth. I thought for sure the spaghetti would break, but it held up. They loved this one and kept trying long after we had a winner. Such concentration!

I don't think the next game was on the actual show. The kids had to suck an m&m onto the end of a straw and drop it on the plate to make a smiley face. At first I had heart palpitations imagining one of the m&m's being sucked through the straw and lodging itself in a little windpipe, but apparently my physics skills need a brush up because there really was no danger of that happening.

Next up was A Little Dicey. In our case it was a little fruity, as in Froot Loops. The kids had to balance five Froot Loops on the end of a popsicle stick in their mouth. (Just a tip - don't use colored popsicle sticks, unless of course you want a room full of rainbow tongues that the kids MUST show each other.)

  

Finally was the Slimy Nose Relay (ok, I'm making that up. I forget what the real name was). Basically, the moms put a dab of vaseline on the tip of the kids' noses. That in itself had a high teacher entertainment factor. Look at these faces! Ugh, love them!

The entertainment for the kids was the relay part. They had to use just their newly slimy nose to pick up and transfer as many cotton balls as they could from one plate to another.

I can see this being great for a kid's birthday party or even just a way to chase away the "I'm bored" refrain echoed by so many kids around the second day of summer! Don't miss my blog buddy Reagan's free download {HERE}. She kinda rocks my socks off.

 Here's a link to a few more. A quick Google search will yield tons of games to try without having to buy an actual game or special supplies. Really, all of these games could be played with things you probably already have on hand. (Except the m&m's of course, those don't last very long around here.)

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Just poppin in to let you know that my blog buddy Fern Smith (you may remember her name from here) is having a contest to celebrate her 100th follower. Yay Fern! I love her blog because her enthusiasm is just contagious - and she's inspiring me to one day become a coupon queen like her!

Stop by and see what she's offering up & wish her a happy birthday too!

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