Five for Friday on a (*GASP*) Friday!

Are y'all pooped like I am?  I mean tee-total, ready for a break, my coworker asked me if I'd been crying cause my eyes looked tired, ready for a break?  Cause this girl is!!!  Here's my 5 for Friday linking up with Doodle Bugs:

The combination of a new puppy and a five year old that STILL sleeps with us and I haven't had a good night's sleep in weeks.  I told said five year old that she sleeps in her bed with said puppy starting tonight!!!

Exhibit A:

  See how messy my house is in the background?  Yep, it's bad right now.  Too tired to clean up in the evenings!  LOL

The puppy is actually doing really well with housetraining and sleeping, but it's still much like having a newborn.  I've kicked myself and asked "What was I thinking?" more than once!!

Another thing that's making me tired?

We recently bought the house behind us to fix up as a rental.  We basically just wanted to own the lot behind us.  But it was sold AS IS.  And when I say AS IS, I mean AS IS.  So hubby has been working feverishly over there.  He had to take out the entire outside bathroom wall because it was rotten, so this is weighing on us right now, too:

  This is the view from the bathroom of the rental house...you can see our house in the background.  OY!  It'll be an adorable little cottage when it's finished, but until then there's gonna be lots and lots of late nights!

Now on to some exciting stuff... I won THREE!!! (yes I said 3) giveaways/drawings this week.  I couldn't believe my luck.  I won this amazing bundle from Deedee Wills' friend's blog (Learn+Play=PreK)

 

Y'all, I was seriously BLOWN AWAY when I opened the packet.  WOW...Deedee and her friend Janet have totally outdone themselves.  Their writing is phenomenal, the graphics and clipart are adorable, and everything is so useful.  I can't wait to use it to practice fluency with my firsties next year.  Y'all have to go check it out!

Then, I won the cutie patootie Annie Moffatt's fabulous K review:

 

Once again, I was blown away when I opened it and looked through everything!  Uh-mazing.  I'm going to do several pages with my PreK'er this summer, and I'll use lots of the pages for a back to school review with my firsties.  I was so excited.

Then, in our faculty meeting we had a drawing for several door prizes donated by one of the fundraising companies, and I won a gift certificate for a magazine subscription of my choice!

I never win anything...let alone three AMAZING, FABULOUS, TO DIE FOR prizes in one week!

 More good news....I ordered a Silhouette Cameo for my Mother's Day/Early Birthday present.  I haven't even gotten it out of the box yet.  I ordered it from Overstock.com on ebay.  It was $30 less than on the Silhouette site, plus I not only got the $10 gift card they offer but got a bonus $25 gift card for buying designs online.  I'm pinning tutorials and ideas like crazy on pinterest so I can really dive into it when school gets out.

Finally, I had a few Weekly Reader/Scholastic News we hadn't gotten to yet.  I love that magazine for increasing Nonfiction reading in the classroom.  I let my students be scientists searching for information.  They had to use a magnifying glass to read the magazine with a partner and the fill out a flip book with 3 facts they learned.  They loved it!

 

     Here's a freebie foldable for your kiddos to do this:

 

Prepping for Next Year! Fry Words!

I've been trying to get my act together for next year.  This year was my first time teaching first grade in ten years, so I kinda got my feet wet this year.  I've decided to go with the Fry Words for next year instead of the Dolch words because I feel that the Fry Words better cover written language and they are based on more recent research.

Anywho, I uploaded a Sight Word Stars Packet to TPT a few weeks ago but something was missing.  I went back and added two more packets into a zipped file.  I've added a Power Point slide show of all of the First 100 Fry Words.  This will be great on my interactive whiteboard next year.  I've also added word wall cards for the first 100 words and assessments for each 25 word set as well as the cumulative assessment.  The file has gone from 85 pages to 200+ pages.  I'm excited to give you a sneak peek:

I plan to create similar packets for the next few Fry lists.  I also posted a while back how my students will be using mustache, lipstick, and eyeglass props from Oriental Trading as they play the "Lights, Camera, Action!" game.  I'm excited about implementing this all this Fall and posting lots of pics of the program in action.  

You can check out the packet here:

  I'm also working on a Linky Series for this Summer.  It'll spotlight our favorite Pinterest Pins on a variety of topics including reading, math, classroom management, back to school ideas, classroom decor, and more. Each week will have a different focus. I'm super excited about getting linked up with more of you on Pinterest and seeing the wealth of ideas you have!  Look for this linky party starting the first week of June!

 Now for those who have stuck with me this far, how about a quick little giveaway?  Leave me a comment letting me know when your last day of school is, and I'll choose one random winner to win my Sight Word Stars Packet.  Giveaway ends Friday!  FYI, I get out at 12 on Friday, May 24! :)

It's not even summer and I'm already tan AND buttiful!

Where to start, where to start?

I'll just cut to the chase.  Now don't get jealous guys....really.  But apparently, I'm tan AND Buttiful.  Yep, you heard me.  At least according to my precious firsties.  Now before you get all happy for me, let me explain.  My kiddos are doing our Blast Off craft and reflection on the year, and today they had to brainstorm 9 words to describe moi.  And, one little precious described me as tan.

Now, some of you are Fifty Shades of Grey fans...am I right?

Well, I'm fifty shades of white...no joke.  Paper white, lily white, off white, alabaster, porcelain, take your pick.  Tan I am NOT.  But this little friend is even paler than me, so in his precious eyes I'm tan.  First time in my life I've been accused of being tan, but I'll take it.  In fact, I'm basking in the compliment....lol.

As far as being buttiful, I knew what this little friend was trying to say.  He was just spelling phonetically.  But you see, I am getting kinda butt-i-full these days.  Going for the J-Lo look right now.  I even corrected the spelling for him before he recorded it on his real page and, you guessed it, he STILL wrote buttiful.  So apparently this is a sign that I need to start walking at night..and lay off the Little Debbie Cakes.  Oy.

If you want to see what your kiddies thought of you (and their year) you should check out this craft.  Here are some pics of the sample.  And I'll post pics of their projects later this week.  Click {HERE} to check it out on TPT.

This unit is suitable for grades K-5.

Now that I'm feeling all tan and buttiful, let me share a few goodies with you.  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to send home any workbooks or summer activity pages with my kids.  I bought some awesome first grade review books at this bargain store in North Carolina last year, but I haven't driven by there lately.  They were the Bridge to 2nd Grade/Summer Learning books and they reviewed EVERYTHING.  I got them for $2 or $3 each (regularly $10-12)...a total steal.  I'm a bit limited on copies right now, so I may not get to buy and copy anything from TPT.  Although I'm lusting over Faith Wheeler's cute new set {HERE}.

But I did get around to creating a summer reading log for my kids.  I kept it simple...no listing the book titles, pages read, etc.  They simply read for 15-20 mins, add a mini sticker from the Dollar Tree, and have their parents initial.  They can bring it back to me in the fall and if it's *mostly* full, I'll get them a treat.

Here are pics.  Click the pic below to download from TPT:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Reading-Logs-FREEBIE

Finally, here's one last freebie.  How many of you buy the little H2O basters from the Dollar Tree? 

These are a huge hit with the kiddos.  You can buy the short ones or the long ones.  This is one of the items that I'm including in my kids' goodie bags, and I've created a cute little tag to place on them.  Simply cut the tag and attach it to the blaster with bright ribbon.  I'm working on the other items for their goody bag, and I'll share the labels as I make them, so keep an eye out.  You can download it from TPT by clicking below:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Have-a-Blast-Summer-Student-Gift-Tag-FREEBIE

I'll leave you with one good look at my tan.  See, guys, I told you the kid was right.  ;)

I

Now I'm off to celebrate my tan butt-i-fullness with a well-deserved Little Debbie Cake.  I kid you not.

5 for Fraturday

 

Linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday (on a Saturday!)

 

 

1.  I totally redid my Me on the Map packet to include a circle project and a rectangular project.  I also added some of Krista's cute Doodle a Face clipart so the students can personalize their project!

 

 

2.  Our preschool/K students had their annual Storybook Ball celebration.  The students all dress up like a book character and enjoy a full morning of story telling, games, activities, refreshments and more.  We even had someone come down from The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta and do some puppet activities with the kiddos.  Here's my little Ladybug Girl:

 

 

3.  My kiddos are loving my Reading Response Graphic Organizers (available in my TPT shop).  This week we were Nonfiction Know-it-Alls:

 

4.  Here's another look at the Storybook Ball with the kiddos (and teachers) in all their costumed glory:

 

5.  Finally, I can't do just ONE picture of this little cutie.  We picked up our sweet Morkie, Oreo, yesterday in Gadsden, AL from www.lighthousepuppies.com.  What a sweet girl.  She is 6 weeks old.  Only two potty accidents so far.  She's using her paper and using the potty outside like a big girl.  She slept with Morgan in her bed last night (first time my child has slept in her own bed all night since she was 9 months old!).  She is a doll.  I feel like we've had her forever!

 

 



 Notice that tiny little tip of white on her tail and her white toes?  Looks like she dipped them in white paint.  So cute!!!

Here's what I bought! {TPT Sale!}



I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' to share the goodies I bought this week at the FABULOUS TPT Teacher Appreciation Sale.  It was all about clip art for me, and Ashley Hughes and Krista Wallden made a little bit o' money off me this week...lol!



I bought Ashley's adorable alphabet image bundles!  My daughter will be in K this coming year, so I'm incredibly excited about working on some K products!

I also bought Ashley's CVC bundle.  And I'm super excited about this Christmas bundle I bought from her:

Here are some of the goodies I bought from the FABULOUS Krista Wallden:

I also bought Krista's Alphabet Bundle.

And from the precious Annie Moffatt I bought these little cuties:

From the fabulous Reagan, I bought:

Those were some of my favorite purchases this time around.  What about you?  Link up with Bloghoppin to show your purchases! :)