Tell All Tuesday! Two Truths & One Lie

With summer approaching, now is a perfect time to get to know each other!  There are so many new bloggers on the scene and we want a way to get to know each other.  Why not put a little spin on it?!  

Let's get to know each other by playing "Two Truths and a Lie!" In your blog post, tell us three 'facts' about yourself.  Make two of them true and one a lie.  In the comments section readers will guess which ones are true and which ones are not.  After three days, come back and tell us which one was a lie!  We can't wait to play along with you and learn something new about our readers and fellow bloggers!

I am so excited to be joining this fun linky party this summer!  This is such a great way to make new friends! :)  

Let's get started.  After you read my blog post, please comment below with the 'Lie' and the first one who guesses correctly will win my new product, Blends Interactive Notebook.  Oh yeah!!!

So let's see if I can trick you, bwahahahaha!  

1.  I am a twin.  I have a twin sister named Anna that lives about 30 minutes from me.  She has two daughters, just like me, and her daughters are often confused to be belonging to me.  Because they look like me, too!  Being a twin is fun and I would've loved to have twins of my own!

2.  At our 10 year anniversary trip to Vegas last week, my husband and I got matching tattoos.  I was scared to death!  But they turned out pretty cool! :)

3.  Before I went back to work as a teacher, I stayed at home with my daughters and tried to become a children's book author.  I have written a few stories and sent a letter or two to publishing companies, but never taken it farther.  It's kinda scary to put yourself out there like that!  But TPT has given me that creative outlet that I need and I am so grateful for that. :)

Soooo, do you think you can figure out which one is a lie???  Comment below with the number 1, 2, or 3.  The first one to comment correctly wins my Blends Interactive Notebook!  Happy Summer Y'all!!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Craft Space Linky!

Hi everyone!  I'm linking up with Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Lucky Little Learners today to show off my craft room I created for my daughters.  This was a Christmas Day surprise and such a better idea than a bunch of big toys!

This room is definitely filled with my daughter's creations!  I actually had to move the 'creations' out of the way to declutter for the pictures! One thing I picked up from my IKEA trip in Kansas City was this awesome drawing paper roll and holder.  I am pretty sure this was less than $20.  I love it because I can pick it up and store it to make more space plus its the perfect drawing space for girls + friends!

Next is my fabric storage.  I swear it used to be neat and folded, but chaos happens when a child has to make a blanket for her new beanie boo. :)  I used these Sterlite drawers so that the girls know exactly where their favorite fabrics are.  

Next is storage for all of our art supplies.  I had these little white tin pails from Wal-Mart left over from a birthday party, so I spray painted them a nice yellow, blue and pink.  We sorted the supplies so that they are easy to find.  The coloring books and other paper activities are held in these awesome pink and white totes I scored from Ross.  I swear I spent under $15 for the three of them!  I love getting a good deal! :)  Ross and TJ Maxx are great places to look for cute storage containers.

And finally is our cute wall art from where else, but Ross again!  This time I only spent $12 on both.  And I love the chalkboard on the owl so we can change our sweet messages. :)

The wall art above is actually a new piece I created for my daughters' bedroom.  I am in the process of putting together a gallery wall above their bed.  I decided to share this printable so that you can use this adorable quote in your own little girl's room!  Just click here to download it through Google Docs.

Make sure you check out the other awesome blogs on this creative link up!

An InLinkz Link-up

Five For Friday + Five Products Giveaway!

It's Five for Friday peeps!  With two weeks of summer under my belt, I have gotten a lot done.  I decided to get all of the home decorating out of the way, so over Memorial Weekend I painted the dining room, hallway, and my daughters' room.  Here are some pics of the neon madness that my little sweeties picked out!

 The desk turned out so cute!  And it's already filled with supplies for all of Lily's 'creations'. :)

 These are before and after pics of my mom's flea market finds.  My daughters wanted nightstands and I am not a person who can just go out and buy furniture.  I would much rather make something cute and unique...and cheap!  They turned out cute and funky!  

Wow, this rain has been pounding Kansas/OK/TX for FAR too long!  But a plus side of the rain is finding critters that love to be wet!  We have a box turtle (Shelby) held hostage right now and this pic is of a monster toad we found in our flower bed.  My daughter took this pic, pardon the blur please. :)

I am jazzed to find a PERFECT Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe!!  I found it on the blog of The Girl Who Ate Everything.  I want to be best friends with this gal! ;)

I'm going to Vegas baby!  But not for the TPT Conference, maybe next year.  This year is me and my hubby's 10-year anniversary and he surprised me with a trip to Vegas.  Bellagio, here we come!!

To celebrate Five for Friday, I am giving away 5 products in my TPT Store!!

Just fill out the Rafflecopter below and follow my TPT Store to be entered in the giveaway!  You can take a peek at some of my brand-new products, like my author study over Mo Willems, at my TPT store here.  Good luck!!

Have a great weekend and don't forget to check out the other fabulous bloggers here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five For Fraturday! Phonics + WBT = Happy Kids!

Happy Saturday to me!  And I say that because I am celebrating the first weekend of summer vacation!!  I am soooo needing a mental break from school, but I still can't help thinking about a few things I want to work on over the summer. :) Teacher problems....

I love my ELA block because we always start with some phonics fun, Whole Brain Teaching style!  I fell in love with WBT last year and now I include many strategies in all subject areas!  I started using the Scoreboard, Mighty Oh Yeahs, and the Super Improver Wall and never looked back. :)

I had a sweet para record me while we had our phonics voices and gestures of the day.  (Please excuse the lounge wear, it was garden planting day!)  I use Kristen Smith's Phonics Mastery and absolutely love her phonics gestures.  This works perfectly with WBT methods!  Now my class and I have tweaked  a few to our own tastes, but most are from her pack.  

I always begin with "hands and eyes" to make sure all eyes are on me and hands are quiet.  Then I give a "mirror check" as a warm up.  Kids love this!  And after we learn a new phonics sound/gesture, I always ask a student to come up and model for the class.  They love to give the mirror check to the others.  Who doesn't like being bossy once in awhile? :)
Here's a quick clip of how we start our daily phonics, WBT style!

Here's another clip of more phonics sounds.

My Mother's Day weekend was spent running these two darlings around :)  Love my girls!!

I don't know about you, but the last two weeks of school are tough.  I mean TOUGH!  Sometimes the classroom rules go right out the door and you have to have a plan, a yummy plan. :)  Our bribe, I mean, incentive to finish the year off right, was an ice cream party where you earn your toppings.  It was totally worth it. 

I used my Superstar Student Awards and Medals last week and it was a total success!  Parents came to see their kids on the first grade 'red carpet' and don their medals for all to see!  You can take a peek at the pack here.

Just a pic of my fav softball player + coach ;)  xoxoxo

Winner Wednesday!!

I'm so excited to share this awesome new linky party with you today!  The sweet Jennifer, from A Dab of Glue Will Do, created Winner Wednesday!  The first Wednesday of every month, a product will be given away at each of our blogs linked at the bottom.  Enter and have a chance to be a WINNER!!

The product I chose today is my newest pack, National Parks: Road Trippin'.  This groovy pack contains passages and review sheets over four national parks: Carlsbad Caverns, Everglades, Redwoods, and Padre Island.  

One of the games is on conjunctions.  I don't know about you, but I always leave this skill until the end of the year with my firsties.  I think it's an easy concept, but I usually just have too much to do besides this!  Pardon my crummy iPhone photos! :)

Here is a pic of my Carlsbad Caverns passage.  This kiddo did a great job numbering the paragraphs and highlighting important info!

These pics include my favorite part of my pack: the map skills!  I put a national park key with the USA map.  Students will solve T/F questions on where the national parks are located on the map, using cardinal directions.  We did this today, and I was pleasantly surprised at how many kiddos knew their directions!  

The next pic is my landforms memory match game.  Although I don't have a pic of this, I think the students are *lovin* the National Park Passport books.  They get to take a 'selfie' of themselves at the national park, write about what they would do there, and then add their 'national park junior ranger stamp' to each section.  

So let's get this giveaway started!!  Enter the rafflecopter below with your name.  The contest ends at midnight tonight, so follow the links for more chances to win on Winner Wednesday!!  

Have a great week!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We Love Teachers Blog Hop!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week!  Does anyone else feel like it's Christmas for teachers???  I love this week, not just for the snazzy gifts, but just the sweet comments from students and parents.  We are loved!! :)

A few (18) of my awesome friends and I want to give YOU some appreciation!  How shall we show our love???  With FREEBIES!!!

Each of our blogs will be featuring an original product, and a Freebie for you.  Hop from one blog to the next and your lesson planning will be taken care of. :)


Here's a little info about my product, World Traveler Road Trippin': A close reading unit over U.S. National Parks.

My firsties will be starting this unit next week and I am so excited to take my kiddos on a 'road trip' to visit: Carlsbad Caverns, the Redwoods, Padre Island, and the Everglades.  We will start the week with  my gorgeous anchor chart ;)  I am definitely not an artist, so I am good friends with my projector!

Some of the activities include conjunctions, landforms memory match, and my fav, using a map key! My firsties are pretty new to this, so I hope it goes well!

You can find your freebie about the Carlsbad Caverns here.  

If you are interested in the whole pack, find it on TPT here.

Check out your next freebie here at the wonderful blog Tales of Teaching with Tech!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Five For Funday + End of the Year Student Awards!

It's Five For Friday time and I'm a *little* late!  Whoops....

The most exciting part about this weekend is my oldest daughter did her first presentation at 4H today.  We made dirt cups and it was too cute!  Oreos, pudding, whipped cream all over the place.  She did a great job, I'm so proud of her!

We have 14 days left of school, people!!!  I am trying to squeeze so much in the last few weeks.  We will be covering dogs this week, and I'm so excited to use an awesome pack by Amy Lemons, A Boy and His Dog.  We will be reading three different Henry and Mudge books, hooray!!

Our school is *thinking* about getting a new reading series, and it sounds like we might be getting Journeys!  So pumped for new readers with color pictures, woo hoo!  Does anyone have Journeys now?  Any comments???

I'm stoked about my teacher appreciation gifts I made this week.  I used awesome chalkboard frames from the talented Krista Wallden to create some cute graphics.  Slip them in some $2 document frames from walmart and bingo!   A cute and cheap teacher gift!

Finally, I set up a mock awards ceremony in my classroom today to show you how to celebrate your kiddo's success over the last year.  My Superstar Student Awards and Medals are finished and I'm so happy with how they turned out.  Here's some pics from my room:

Our class mascot, Baby Dolphin, did a fab job modeling the lovely medals. :)  You can also use ribbon for the medals and that would look great too.  I am planning on doing this the day before the last day of school.  IF I have time, I would love to laminate the awards, but we shall see.  

Have a great week!!