February Pinterest Pick 3 Linky

 It's linky time! As I browse Pinterest I am always on the lookout for a great pin I want to share on this pick 3 linky.  Here are my top 3 for this month! I hope you enjoy them.

When I found out Target was selling these I just had to run out and grab them! What a great way to practice spelling words during the month of February! The kids love them and it definitely changes the pace up a bit.

Is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen! I like to do a bear unit with my kids and this is a great snack to create with my students or with my family at home. I love it!

Making cupcakes for your class? I find this simply genius! It is just a marble! Who knew!

I love these ideas, don't you? Come on by and visit my pinterest boards! If you would like to join any of my collaborative boards they are the ones at the top that match. You can't miss them! Just follow the boards you like and leave me a message with your pinterest ID.

An InLinkz Link-up

Leibster Award!

I was thrilled to get a message today from Stacie from Smocus Smocus saying that she had nominated me for the Leibster Award! For anyone that doesn't know, the Liebster Award is a blog award that travels around the blog community to recognize newer blogs.

I love that others are loving my blog! Thank you so much!

Here are the questions I was asked today.

Why and how long ago did you start blogging?

I started my blog not long after I started my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  I wanted to have a way to share teaching ideas and products. And I think a blog is a really easy creative outlet because it allows me to show photographs as well as write about what I do.

What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?

Creativity! I get to be creative and show myself off. I think my blog not only shows off my teacher side, but also shows off my other interests (like camping!)

Is there something you learned late in your blogging journey that you wished you had known before?

I wish I had hired someone early on to design my blog. I waited and tried to do it all by myself. It's not easy to design a blog and some things I could never figure out.

What's your favorite past time other than blogging?

I obviously love camping! We have a trailer that we love to take out every spring, summer, and fall. It is a relaxing way to vacation. When I am camping I love to read! So you can definitely add that as a past time too!

How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog?

I have been increasing that steadily. So maybe 5-10 a week now depending what I have to do.

What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?

I like posts that have pictures that show how to do something easily. For example, I follow a blog that shows step by step photos on how to do technology. I like that. It helps to see those pictures.

Where does your clog inspiration come from?

Mostly my classroom activities. I have permission from my student's parents to put them on my blog so they are all over it!

Which post have you written are you most proud of?

To tell you the truth I don't have one particular one that stands out yet. I will have to get back to you on that one.

Is there any post you have been planning to do but you have been postponing? 

Yes, but I don't want to give my secrets away! LOL

What is your favorite aspect of blogging?

Sharing ideas with other teachers.

Which recipe, project, or idea from my blog would you like to try yourself?

I would like to read some of the books that you have listed on your bookshelf!

I now nominate the following bloggers for the Liebster Award:

Mandy Heart of Kinder

Hannah TalkTeachingToMe

Emily A Neighborhood Kindergarten

Abbie Steppin Up to First Grade

Cristina A is for Adventures in Homeschooling

Mrs. Dunn Flamingos and Butterflies

Olwyn Teaching in Turtlepond

Now that  you have been nominated,  you must do the following to receive your award:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated you.
2. Answer the questions I answered above.
3. Nominate 5-11 blogs that have less than 200 followers. You may give them 11 questions or they can answer the same questions you did.
4. Let your nominees know they've been nominated and provide them with a link back to your post so that they can accept.
5. Send your nominator a link to your post so (s)he can learn more about you as well. (You can just put your post link in the comments below.)

All done!! Thanks again Stacie!

Farley Currently for February

I'm linking up with Farley! Come join us by clicking on her name!

Listening: We have Hulu and Netflix so we watch a lot of TV and movies. Right now we are watching Scandal. Awesome show!

Loving: I managed to fold ALL the laundry! Some weeks it stays in the basket! Talk about being busy!

Thinking: I am behind (big surprise!). So I am thinking about what I need to do today and this week. This week I have my favorite day which is the 100th day of school so it is a big deal!

Wanting: More time. Is there anyone that doesn't need more time?

Needing: To exercise. I want to do this regularly, but I haven't been able to get that in my routine.

Pageant Title: Miss "Can-Find-It"! I can find anything! I want to know a name of a song, something that happened a long time ago, whatever! I can find it! I am really good at it.

Product Swap!

Thank you Melissa for hosting this product swap!

I have had a great time product swapping with Andrea from Reading Toward the Stars. My 2nd graders tried out four of her wonderful products and we enjoyed them all! (Yes, it's true! I couldn't just pick one.)

I was excited to meet Andrea and find out that she is from my home state of Virginia. And not only that, she lives a hop, skip, and a jump away from my father's hometown! Andrea is a Reading Specialist and will be trying out a few of my products on some students she works with.

Each product was a game that my kids played in a small group.
St. Patrick's Day Context Clues Game
Cause and Effect Concentration 
Main Idea and Detail Concentration
Poppin' Fact or Opinion Game

Here are some photos of my 2nd graders using her four products.

You know a game is a keeper when kids ask to play it again the next day or the next week! And yes, this happened!

If I have to focus on one I would say that our all-time favorite is the St. Patrick's Day Context Clues Game! This game is a must have!!! What a great game for this time of year with St. Patrick's Day approaching. It's a great learning game or review game to use with your students. And I just have to say that my class does not play enough games. We need more games like this one! Keep em' coming Andrea!

Here is how it works. The player draws a card and reads the sentence. Then the player figures out what the bold word means. If he is right, he rolls his dice and moves that many spaces. First one to make it to the end wins! One awesome thing I love is that there are answer key cards! Woo-hoo! (Cause sometimes the teacher is tired and needs an answer key. LOL)

Would you like to win Andrea's St. Patrick's Day product? 

Enter below! 

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out all the other blogs participating in the product swap!
K-1 is at the top and 2-3 is at the bottom.

The 100th Day of School is Coming Up!!

The 100th Day of School is my favorite day! Today, as I was going through my photos, I found pictures of previous '100th Day of School' celebrations. I thought I would share. Most of these kids I had in kindergarten two years ago. I now have them in my 2nd grade class. Enjoy!

Valentine Exchange

My class has been working on their Valentines for the Valentine exchange! They are super excited! After doing the Gingerbread Man exchange, they were super eager to participate again.

I purchased some assorted puffy sticker hearts for my kids to decorate their Valentines with. When the glitter was broke out, the mess began! I have a standing rule to only use glitter at Christmas time ONLY! Well, I broke that rule this year. As you may have guessed, I am not a big fan of glitter. By the time we finished I had glitter all over my pants (and probably in other places too!) And I was all dressed up and planned on going out to dinner with my husband right after school. I will say that their hearts came out pretty well.  The children were pleased with their work. Here are some photos to highlight their work and show our process.

Love the frames I used for my pictures? Check them out in Ashley Hughes store!

What Does Your Teaching Bag Look Like?

Here is my teaching bag. Look familiar? I lug that thing back and forth around with me each day, but as the school year progresses the bag gets fuller. I was just thinking the other day that it was time to clean it out.

My full, messy teaching bag really leads to a bigger problem. I think you already know what that is! We, as teachers, accumulate too much paper! It's true! How many times have you attended a meeting or a workshop where you were given a stapled handout and you never, EVER looked at it again? I know some of you are nodding your heads. You know exactly what I mean! Sometimes those papers end up in a file somewhere. Sometimes those papers end up in a stack on our desks. Heck, some of those papers are in my teacher bag right now and you can see them in the photo above! Ha ha!!! When we start out as new teachers we think we are supposed to save everything. So we do and it ends up being a bad habit. And boy do we need to break it!

Now don't get me wrong, I have attended workshops where I actually needed or wanted to keep the handouts and booklets that were given to me. But let's face it- those are few and far between. I have tried really hard to get in the habit of throwing things away if I am absolutely sure I will never need it again and holding the others for a few months just in case, then tossing it. The key is to purge! Why on earth would I need to hold on to a document from fifteen years ago on a computer program that no longer exists??? Believe me some teachers do. I know because I have moved into their classrooms and have to clean out all their...well, let's say "stuff" that they have so conveniently left behind while they are lounging on a beach somewhere in the world with their retirement clothes on and a icy drink in their hand. (I know, they probably aren't really doing that. They are probably at home sleeping in.)

So I have shown you my bag. I looked through it to see what was actually in there and here is what I found.

*My two notebooks that I use daily
*School Keys and Badge
*The documents from a workshop I attended at the beginning of December
*A bag of cough drops
*PTA meeting documents
*A form I used when I was interviewing new teachers last summer
*My class list (Oh! I need that!)
*Paperwork from a meeting I attended last June
*Beginning of year documents and schedules (what are those doing in there?)
*My Halloween file (ok, now I'm embarrassed)
*A game for R-Controlled vowels
*Another workshop document
*A document I was supposed to fill out and turn in months ago (Opps!)

What's in your bag?