I'm linking up to a great collection of fall books and activities hosted by my friend Ashley from The Teacher's Treasure Chest. Here in South Florida fall is pretty much non-existent, but we join in on the fun anyway. Growing up here I have vivid memories of sweating off my halloween make up and planning the costume with the least amout of fabric possible. Writing this post sent me on a wild internet goose chase to find one of my childhood Halloween costumes. Anyone remember these? The whole costume basically consisted of a blow up decoration you tied to your head, a tube of face paint, and a plastic cape. I remember the make-up just dripping off of my face and the blow up bat slipping off with it. Ahh, Florida Halloweens...

Fun trip down memory lane! Now back to business at hand - Ashley's linky par-tay!

I sometimes obsess over things that really have no business occupying space in my brain. One year it was the theme for my Just Say No door decorating contest. Yes, really. The thought for my door popped into my head over the summer and I was just busting to put it up! It actually did come out pretty cute AND I won first place ThankYouVeryMuch! Just thought I'd share with you in case you're searching for something similar. Here's the winning door...drumroll please...

Don't Get Wrapped Up In Drugs! Cute right? Each kid made a mummy using a plastic spoon and a popsicle stick. The stick was broken in half and stuck to the spoon with glue dots to hold it in place. We had some help from a parent volunteer for that part. Then each stick/spoon combo was wrapped in toilet paper. To age it a bit, we used a small brown ink pad and dabbed it on the toilet paper. Add some googly eyes and a red ribbon - and there you have it! We brainstormed things we could do for fun instead of drugs which is on the speech bubble. I can't share the lettering I used for the title because it's against the terms of use for that site. Really, the mummies are eye-catching enough that any cute font would work.

Speaking of mummies, my friend and teammate Mrs. H made THE cutest storybook character pumpkin that I HAVE to share! Every year each class decorates a pumpkin and we display them in the main hall. We've all now started using the craft pumpkins because carved pumpkins in South Florida, well, let's just say they don't last very long and our creepy crawlies find them quick! Here is her display based on the book Where's My Mummy? By Carolyn Crimi.

Love all the details from the story! The little green blob, skeleton and Dracula are all characters from the book. There's a creepy tree to represent the setting and there's a little mouse in there too! The whole thing is balanced on some styrofoam pieces. I love, love, love it! This has me re-thinking my No, David pumpkin. I'm going to have to step it up a notch now!


Speaking of Halloween - feel free to check out my latest TpT unit. I finally created something to accompany MY personal favorite Halloween book - The Hallo-wiener. Click {here} to preview the unit.

I love this story so much that I almost forgive him for writing Captain Underpants!

Check out some other great fall books and activities by visiting the blogs below:

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I'm joining up with Latoya at Flying into First Grade for a super cute linky. 

You have to share three things you like using your initials.

So, first is D for my first name. That one was a no-brainer. 

D is for Drinking Coffee

If it's hot, then it has to be dark and bold with cream, no sugar. 

If it's iced, then it's Iced Venti 4 pump Vanilla Latte, with light ice. 

I *might* be a little particular about my coffee order...

My middle name starts with an M, so 

M is for Mac

I am a total Mac girl.My husband is a total Mac guy. I learned on a Mac and really just don't have any experience with a PC. Every now and then I'll try to play with one in the store and it's scary how lost I am! It was a sad, sad day in our house when Steve Jobs passed away.

My last name starts with a B, so 

B is for Blogging

I lucked out on that one, huh?

I've said it before, but I really believe that starting this blog and reading the blogs of other teachers gave me my second wind for teaching. I was at a major crossroads and needed to either find a way to love teaching or find something else to do with my life. Thankfully, something brought me to the blogosphere and the rest is history!

Hop over to Latoya's blog and check learn some new things about your favorite bloggers or share some things about yourself! 

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This week's Show & Tell Tuesday honors the great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I'll start the party with my "featured five" which are outstanding blog posts I've found that either offer great ideas, freebies or products that you may be interested in.

Latoya from Flying into First has this generous freebie that would be a great addition to your class 

activities. Click {HERE} to see Latoya's cute blog and download her activities.

Sally from Elementary Matters has an excellent set of book recommendations, video links and a really meaningful freebie to help the kids determine just from unjust. Click [HERE} to check it out.

Barbara from The Corner on Character shared this quote, which is one of my all time favorites:

She's also got a great review of the thought provoking book Ron's Big Mission along with some suggested discussion questions. See all that and more by clicking {HERE}

Arlene from LMNTree has also gathered some great resources for you, including literature suggestions, free printables, websites, a play and games. Visit her blog {HERE}

And finally, Laura at Corkboard Connections has an incredible free resource packet to accompany a Brian Pop video featuring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This one is especially useful for upper elementary grades. Click {HERE} to see the resources she's offering.

I sure hope you find something useful. Feel free to pass this link along to other teachers who might find it valuable as well.  As always, any blogger is welcome to link up to the party! The only rule is that it must be an MLK related blog post and it must include the button below that links back here, just like last week's party. If you have a suggestion for future Show and Tell Tuesdays, leave me a comment and let me know!

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Can you even believe that I missed my own baby's birthday? My blog turned one and the day just passed by like any other! How did I let that happen? This little blog of mine brings me such joy and happiness and I let its birthday pass by unnoticed. For shame.

To make up for it, I'm throwing a belated blog birthday party and you are invited! What's a party without favors, right? So I have some fun freebies to share with you. I have been eyeing up those Pixie Stick birthday balloons floating around Pinterest, but something inside of me is saying, "You're going to give your students a ginormous straw filled with sugar...are you INSANE!?!".  Until I resolve that disagreement with myself, I'm going in another direction. Although I've been known to change my mind so who knows what I'll actually do next August when I'm setting up the room again.

I have two alternate ideas, shown in the pic above. One does involve candy - but it feels a little less panic inducing than the jumbo sugar straw. This one is a birthday candy bar.  These would be pretty easy and relatively inexpensive if you buy the candy bars at Sam's or Costco.  You can just cut and wrap them all at the start of the year (and hide them from yourself during that time of the month) and you're ready for any birthday! There is a little poem on the back says A birthday treat is always fun, but it’s not over when the candy’s done!  Bring this wrapper back to class, because it doubles as a homework pass!

Click the pic to grab your copies!

The second one is a pencil flag. Kids love a new pencil, so you can quickly and easily dress one up for your birthday kid! Just cut the flags apart, pinch it in half horizontally and punch a hole to slide a new pencil through. Fun & super cheap easy on the budget.


So, we have a celebration, we have gifts, now we need guests! I'm throwing a little linky party so that you can all share your classroom birthday ideas! I'd love to see how you celebrate birthdays in your room. Feel free to share anything birthday related - birthday bulletin board ideas, parties, freebies (just not a paid product please). You can link up a new post or even a "vintage" post, but either way, please grab the image below and link back here to this page so that everyone knows how to get to the par-tay!

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With Earth Day upon us, this is a great time to share a little about my school. We have a school-wide theme that changes every two years. It used to be every year, but investing in a theme that was a one-shot deal was expensive and a LOT of work! Every two years is bad enough just fine.

So the theme for the past two years has been Get Into a Green Routine! Our school is located right on the edge of the Everglades, so we tend to gravitate toward environmental themes. I really liked this one and I'm kind of sad to see it go, it's pretty universal and I like to build on things instead of starting all over again at square one, but that's just me (apparently).

Let's start with my own room. We've been love-love-lovin' Amy Lemons' Earth Day unit. I pretty much {big pink puffy} heart anything Amy makes. I've told her this before, but my kids actually ask "Is this from Amy Lemons?!" when we start something they think is cute or fun. I get such a kick out of that! They know I'm Sunny Days so they look for that too, but I honestly think it's Lemons in the lead in room 852. These super cute books are from her unit.

I always have my iphone with me when I'm walking the halls so I can snap a picture of something that inspires me or I find share-worthy. Here are some that are great for Earth Day or if you're considering a theme like this for next year. 

This next genius idea comes from our fabulous, amazing PTA. Once a month we have a Trashless Lunch Day where the kids are encouraged to bring lunches that generate the least amount of trash as possible. Look at these great visuals they made for the kids!

Some other goodies from around the school:

As I was putting this post together, I intended to share some of the great freebies I've found for Earth Day, but there are SO many! I decided to host a linky party instead so everyone can link up and find all of the environmental goodness in one easy place.

Feel free to link up below! You can link straight to a free product or to a blog post that has a free activity or even just a fun idea. If you link to your blog, please grab this image at the top of this page and link back here. Can't wait to see all of your awesome ideas!

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I have really started looking forward to this cool little linky held by Farley over at Oh Boy 4th grade. Pop over to check it out and link up! I have some exciting stuff talk about and share, so I might break the blogging rule of posting once a day later, but I think you'll forgive me, right??

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Wait, what?! It's over? For Real? Yes, yes it's true. Christmas has come and gone yet again. All of that shopping, planning, spending, cooking, cleaning, wrapping...and it's over just.like.that. It's always a little depressing when it's over, right? So let's focus on the positive... As usual, my hubs spoiled me (and I hope he feels the same!). It was a hot Christmas this year, even by Florida standards, but we made the best of it and spent yesterday cruising the Intracoastal waterway on my brother-in-law's new boat. And, I have some fun stuff to look forward to this week! We're headed up to Orlando to check out Ice and then on to Ft. Meyers to meet up with my blog buddies Charity and Tamara.

I'm also hoping to find my creative mojo somewhere during the Christmas clean-up. Is it under the couch? In with the cute holiday sprinkles I never used? Is it in the garage with the last minute stuff I didn't know where to shove before my family came over? I hope it's not in the bag of sheets I gave to my sister after I cleaned out the linen closet. Wherever it is, I have GOT to find it! I'm usually brimming over the top with ideas for school, games, centers, units...but I think I must be in a cookie coma because I got nuttin'! I have a few ideas kind of hovering above my head in a little wispy cloud...I can kinda see it mixed in with what's left of the holiday haze, so I'm hoping some blog-stalking will help.

On my first stop over at Miss Kindergarten I found an interesting linky party. Perfect for a blogger with blogger's block <--is that a thing? Did I just make up a new term?? Let's all start using it so it catches on. It's so fetch! Here it is:

My friend Fern is having a cool linky called Top Three. It gives me a chance to reminisce over the past year to a time when I was actually on my game and killin' it (blogwise, at least). It's also a great way to show my new friends here that I really am worth hanging around for because usually I am witty and fun and have great ideas - really, honest!! So, without further ado, here are my top three blog posts of 2011. The number following the post is the number of hits that page has had. Click on the title to read the post if it sounds new to you. I'm going to read them again myself and hope that maybe my mojo might be hiding in there somewhere. Hop on over to Fern's blog to link up your top three!

Clip it Up   16,987
Ready Confetti 9,121
There's an Elf on my Shelf 8,124

Oh, and PS I'm having a sale at my TpT store though Wednesday - 20% off everything. Click {HERE} to see the fabulousness I'm capable of when my creative juices are fully flowing! Ah...the good ole days...

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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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