TpT Sale Wishlist Linky!

Hello, friends! I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and you were able to keep your sanity on Black Friday! The hubs and I finished up our Christmas shopping, but we didn't venture out until about 9 am. Sleeping in, still finding fabulous deals and getting to sleep in.... that's what I call a win!!

Maybe by now you've heard of the upcoming TPT sitewide sale...

...but have you entered to win one of the five $25 TPT gift cards yet? Today is the last day to enter. If you win, that extra cash will come to your inbox just in time for the sale! Click the image below to enter if you haven't already... winners will be announced tomorrow! If you haven't checked out some of these teacher authors you need to! I know I frequent their blogs and stores for ideas and resources for my room!

Now, let's get down to business! What is on your wishlist? I love seeing what other people are buying for their classroom. As if I need any other excuse to buy products from TPT...

Feel free to grab the banners and link up, too! Share two items that everyone has on their wish list from your store and one item that you have on your own wish list that you'll buy during the sale.

The number one thing people have wish listed from my store is my Differentiated 4th Grade Place Value Centers. There are 6 centers with differentiated games to reinforce what your students are learning about place value!

The second most wish listed item is my iPad Interactive Notebook! There are graphic organizers for each of the literacy standards. Videos, tutorials, and app suggestions are included. However, you can also print and use the graphic organizers as well (though not quite as interactive as using the iPad to enhance them.)

I like to try and make my ELA writing projects a little on the holiday-themed side this time of year. I think it helps to keep my kiddos engaged (as if they are not already thinking about the holiday season!) The Gingerbread ELA Mini Unit from Pinkadots Elementary looked perfect! A nonfiction text paired with comprehension questions, research opportunities, and graphic organizers. Looked like a pretty sweet deal to me!

What do you have on your wish list? Be sure to link up, I'm always curious to see what others are buying so I can load up my car even more!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to drop in to say I hope that you and your families are enjoying a season of rest and thankfulness. We are counting many blessings this year in our home including our faith, family, friends, and health.

I am also truly thankful for YOU! I'm thankful for so many friendships, the depth of knowledge, and wealth of ideas brought on by this blogging and teaching community.

May you have a truly blessed day (and an abundance of good deals if your a black Friday shopper!)

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Way Back Wednesday

Have I mentioned that I haven't been the best blogger lately? This school year has been a bit different than the last couple of years and blogging has taken to the back burner a bit for me. We started a new curriculum Journeys and it's taken awhile to get used you. I'm going to try and update you all on the goings on in my classroom over the next couple of weeks.

For "way back Wednesday" how about going all the way back to the beginning of the school year?

Here is a peak into my room. Same color scheme as last year with a slight change in furniture placement. *Hopefully* a year from this December our *new* building will be complete and I'll redecorate then. For now though, it works!

A look from the front of the room. 

 

 

 My desk space. 

 Bookshelf love. All separated and organized by genre. 

I cannot claim this wonderful idea. I found it on Instagram. As soon as I can remember the account I'll let you know... or if it was you, please holler!

 My goofy group. They are fabulous! 

Thanks to my friend Jivey, I learned of "Saving Fred" last year. It's still my favorite team building activity at the beginning of the year. 

More to come! I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!

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Need Some Extra TPT Cash?

We are so excited for the holiday season that we couldn't help but spread some love! Lots of your favorite TPT Teacher-Authors and I have teamed up to give YOU some TPT spending money. We love you and appreciate you (and we wish we could give all of our fabulous followers some money)!

Enter the Rafflecopter below by simply following our TPT stores, and you will have a chance to win one of five $25 TPT gift cards! Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Blogging Hiatus is Over & An Adoption Story

I can't believe that I've went almost a third of the year without blogging. A few things have come up this school year and I've just needed to step away from the computer a bit, I'll touch on things more in a later post, there is something too important to share today.

A little over 25 years ago, my life greatly changed. At two weeks of age, I was welcomed into the loving arms of a couple who had tried for many years to conceive, but had been unable to. Adopted into a family that has never treated as anything but their own flesh and blood. A family who loves and cares for me greatly and who has given me all the support that they possibly could. I am forever grateful for their love and unwavering support.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to bond with a baby for 9 months and then, due to life's circumstances, choose to give my child up. I cannot imagine the pain of coming to realize that I could not take care of my child in the way that someone else could. Coming to this realization and being able to act upon it by giving a priceless gift to someone else, is the ultimate show of love in my humble opinion.

I am truly grateful, knowing some of the circumstances around my birth, that my biological mother chose adoption as opposed to terminating her pregnancy. Having a child was not suppose to happen, there was no way for this woman to raise a child, and she chose the best possible option.

One of my blogging buddies, Nick & his wife, are seeking to adopt. I was more than happy to come together with other bloggers to help raise funds for the adoption fees. Although, a truly wonderful and beautiful thing, adoption is costly. Being able to donate proceeds to a cause so near & dear to my heart, has been wonderful. Be sure to check out this bundle, only a few days left, and help support this growing family too. If purchasing a bundle isn't feasible for you, shoot up some prayers, good vibes, or crossed fingers for a smooth (and quick) process would be appreciated too.

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Five for Friday: Back to School, Sales, & Giveaway!

I cannot believe it's August. Already. Wasn't May just yesterday?

At least it's Friday, which means one of my favorite linky's is going on, and *gasp* I'm linking up! I've had really good intentions most of the summer, but too many fun things happen on Fridays, Saturdays go so quick that my good intentions usually end up incomplete, but not this week!

School is rapidly approaching at warp speeds. I'm slowly warming up to the idea that my summer sleep schedule is about to be gone. This past week I've worked with the ELA staff and title teacher to figure out how we are going to tackle the new Journeys curriculum with our 55 minute blocks. I think we've finally come up with a solution that's going to make me less leary of having a basal this year. Yay!

It's rodeo and fair week. Love it, and the weather has been drop dead gorgeous for this time of the year. The bull riding is definitely my favorite part. So far a ride of 88 has taken tops.

Classroom "App"lications is back this month, along with a new product I hope to post by the end of the day. Super excited for this school year.

Have you heard? A sale is coming!!! Luckily for me, it's before my school year truly starts this year! Much printing and laminating ahead friends. We're talking arthritic fingers from scissors in the near future. My store is going to be on sale too!

A few of my blogging buddies and I are giving away 3 TPT gift cards in time for the sale to help ease the bill a bit :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do you have your wish list filled out? I know I have a rolling wait list of items I see throughout the year (many purchased as needed with or without the sale), but in case you're looking for ideas I have a few to share!

Click the images to see these items, learn more about them, and maybe you'll want to wish list them too!

A bundle for super sentences looking at and working with simple, compound, and complex sentences.

#1 best seller of mine, perfect for the beginning of the year. 6 Centers that are differentiated to help all of your students with place value. 

My students need good nonfiction to hone their skills. I'm so excited that the gals from Collaboration Cuties have a new set of articles out on the nation and government. Mixing some social studies with our ELA time + activities = perfection!

An InLinkz Link-up

I hope you enjoy the weekend, and next week's sale!

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Classroom 'App'lications: Interactive Notebook

Another month, another link-up for all the apps you use in the classroom. I'm excited to see how things go this year with this linky, I'm going to be doing more with technology this year and helping to support the 4th grade staff. I have a few ideas floating around, and I'm excited to try some new ideas out.

One such idea is for my ELA classes. I *LOVE* interactive notebooks. My students go back refering to them, they are engaged, and their learning is enhanced. Wonderful! However, as I used elements I didn't use the iPad much. My district is blessed to be 1:1 iPad, and I don't want this tool to sit and become a glorified paperweight. I want students to utilize this wonderful tool.

Over the last two years, I've come across many tried and true apps: some free, some paid. Together, my students and I, have used them to find ways to learn beyond a worksheet. We do some neat projects to showcase learning, but they get saved here and there, it's hard to access them at a later date.

Taking into consideration this tool, my student's love for interactive notebooks, and all the neat products my student's produce on the iPad I wanted to create something for them to use this coming year: an interactive notebook for the iPad.

{Here is where you will have to forgive me, it's not quite posted on TPT yet. *Hopefully* by Friday night. Too much end of the summer craziness and I want to add a couple of video tutorials before posting, but here is a taste. I hope you will stop by later to learn more!}

What you will find in this labor of love:

• Over 40 graphic organizers for each of the 4th grade Common Core Literacy Standards. Easy to print and use paper and pencil. However, with an iPad and the help of a few apps, you can transform these images into something truly interactive.

Not every graphic organizer has lines for typing or writing. Many have a blank area for pictures and videos to be placed from camera roll.

• A list of tried and true apps to get you started. As well as additional apps that you can use with a brief idea for its use connect to the Common Core Standards. 

•  Written narratives, screenshots, or links to use the main apps of the notebook. These give you a basic tutorial in the app use. However, I strongly suggest just playing with the apps (and giving your student's a chance to explore them maybe with a simple task. Believe me, if you don't figure out all the in's and out's of an app, your students will!)

•  An example of what the interactive notebook could look like for you and your students.

I'm very excited to use this notebook this school year. Not everything we do will be completed on the iPad, but the iPad's won't sit on the sideline as often either. If you don't have 1:1 iPads I still think that this could be helpful for small groups, a partner assignment, or a way to document your class' learning throughout the year.

Whether you are part of an iPad school or Chromebook school. It doesn't matter if you have one machine or a class set of machines. Please link up your favorite apps and how you use them in the classroom!

To see even more ideas, please click the tab at the top Classroom 'App'lications. Ideas linked up each month are collected there!

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

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Last Eating, Drinking, & Linking for the Summer

A little under the weather yesterday, and back to school prep, my poor little linky is a little late. My goal is to get all of the recipes that have been linked up this summer added to my Pinterest board for this link up. I'm surprised at how much traffic was driven to my blog from a few recipe shares; I hope this does the same for many of you!

The hubs and I just got back from Sheboygan, Wisconsin this last week. A work trip for him, family friendly, with time for us to explore a bit. So I thought I'd share a couple of the restaurants we tried. This has been one summer full of travel, so I actually have place to recommend, not just recipes this go around. Kind of fun to know of new places to try when out and about!

Before we made it to Sheboygan, we stopped in Madison to meet up with a friend from college. He took us to The Old Fashioned. It was on the capitol square and a fun place to grab a bite to eat. Best parts of my meal were the shoestring onions and deep fried cheese curds.

Once in Sheboygan, we tried out a couple of places. The first was Il Ritrovo Pizza. Certified from Italy. Wood fire. Delicious. The Wisconsin made root beer was really good too!

The second place we ventured out to was Rupps Downtown. Hands down the best loaded baked potato I've ever had. Maybe it was the Wisconsin cheese.

Overall a really fun and tasty trip!

One special stop on the way up was to see a good friend and blogging buddy, Diane from Fifth in the Middle. Tony and I really enjoyed breakfast with her and her family. If you haven't bopped by her blog before you should. She is celebrating two years and 2,000 followers with a fabulous giveaway check it out here!

 

I know it's delayed, but if you have any end of the summer eats or treats, recipes or restaurant recommendations to share, please link up!

An InLinkz Link-up

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