I Wish I Was in Vegas but...

I'm joining School and the City's link up... I wish I was in Vegas but...

I would love, love, love to go to TpT conference in Vegas. It would definitely put me out of my comfort zone, going to a huge conference all by myself, but I think it would end up being fun meeting all these great bloggers and sellers and I'm blog stalking all the time:)

What are you doing instead of Vegas?

Teachers Write! July 9

For our writing lesson today, we were to take one of our characters and work on voice. In order to do that, our guest mentor asked us to think about some questions related to the character and write answering these questions for a certain time period - like 2 minutes or 4 minutes, etc. What I'm posting here is about another character that enter the room where the main character, Molly, is currently.

Excerpt from today:

Molly's grandmother came into the room to see if everyone was ready for lunch. She loves to feed people; this is her way of taking of those she cares about and nurturing them. Granny is smart and so kind. She's Molly's favorite. Molly looks similar to Granny. Molly has always thought Granny was beautiful. She has brown hair, but when you look closely at it, which Molly does often because she loves "doing" Granny's hair, it is actually made up of all different colors. She has red, brown, black, blonde and some gray, though Molly doesn't think Granny will ever go completely gray - she has WAY too much hair. Even though Granny is only five years younger than Grandaddy, she looks twenty years younger. She has beautiful, wrinkle-free skin. Her eyes are funny. Sometimes they are blue. Sometimes they are green. Sometimes they are gray. It is dependent on her mood.

Monday Made It - July 6

I'm excited to participate in 4th Grade Frolics' Monday Made It for the second week in a row. Yay!

I'm posting my Monday Made It just a little bit late:) I made a few items for school this week. (They're terrible quality pictures - sorry!)

Made It! #1- I made was a bookmark to give all my kiddos on the first day of school. It is just the beginning of letting them know how much I value reading and that our classroom is full of readers.

Made It! #2 - a set of birthday toppers. I printed and laminated these and will attach them to some crazy straws I got at Michael's. The kids love these. The Birthday Toppers and Cupcakes are in a set I have for sale on Tpt (just click the link if you're interested). It includes 12 different colored Happy Birthday circles and 12 different colored cupcakes. I print and laminate the cupcakes, then write each student's name and birthday one and post on one of my cabinet doors.

Made It! #3 - the boy's and girl's bathroom pass. I will attach these to the hand sanitizer. This works great because instead of interrupting something going on in the classroom to ask to go to the bathroom, the student will just put the hand sanitizer on their desk. It's a visual for me to help remind me who is out of the room (only 1 girl and 1 boy at a time) and they get the reminder to actually USE the hand sanitizer when they return. Win, win.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep checking things off my list. Monday Made It! is a great motivator! What did you make?

Teachers Write! Day 1

Wiggles...

Sometimes sad
so cute
"just a baby"
cat-loving
best friend
follower
food-lover
milkbone chaser
silly
funny-runner
tail-wagger
expressive face
blueberry eater
garden pest
fawn-colored
constant-sniffer
non-stop licker
gallant greeter
adventure seeker.

Top 10 Favorite 10 Shows in July

As I was reading my blogfeed this morning on Bloglovin', I found this fun linky - Top 10 Favorites and this month is tv shows hosted by The Third Grade Nest. Honestly, I watch a lot of tv - I hate to admit it, but for the most part, I'm working on school work - creating something for the classroom or lesson planning or blog reading/posting. So, really it's background noise, but these are my top 10 right now.

So without further ado...

What are your top 10 favorite shows?

Favorite Things in July

I don't know how I've missed this link up, but today I'm joining Teaching Trio for their Favorite Things linky party.

Here goes...

I love being able to spend time with both of my kids, but my son stayed in his college town to work this summer. I'm thinking last summer was probably the last time he will be living at home. (Insert tears here!) I have two more years with my daughter before she heads off to college. She's working this summer and spending time with friends, so I take my time with her whenever I can get it!  She's such a great kid - pretty, smart, fun, loving - great to spend time with doing anything! I'm lucky:)

I am an animal lover! We used to have 3 dogs, 3 cats, 1 lizard, 1 fish, and 1 rabbit. We're down to just one dog and one cat. My daughter has been begging for another cat, but I'm not giving in. She'll be out of the house in two short years, and as much as I would love to have another cat, I am thinking long-term and know I want to be able to pick up leave to go see her or her brother whenever I can. That being said, I love, love, love my sweet little ones that I currently have in the house.

Finally, making new connections with other teachers. I'm participating in a book group I found on Facebook about The Reading Strategies Book by Jen Serravallo. The book is awesome, but the conversations are even better! We're connecting using the app Voxer. I had never heard of it before - so already added some new technology to my toolbox:) The conversations have included book talk but so much beyond that. I am loving it!

What are three of your favorite things?

Currently July 2015

I'm linking up with Oh Boy 4th Grade for her Currently July 2015 linky party.

#1 - This sounds a little strange, I know. My poor dad was in the hospital for a serious bacterial infection. He was discharged a week ago, and I've been spending the days at my parents' house to help out. He's recuperating slowly and that means sitting in his chair in the den and snoozing off and on:)

#2 - I love connecting with other teachers. Anyone participate in Twitter chats? Love those. I'm participating right now in a book club of sorts using the Voxer app. It's been great connecting and hearing thoughts and ideas of others!

#4 - I keep thinking of things I need to do in order to be ready for next year. I don't know why this list is growing at the rate it is, but I keep working and the list is getting longer rather than shorter. Anyone else have this problem??

#5 - I'm a single mom with two kids - one in college, one in high school...need I say more? I didn't think so...

#6 - Please see #5, hahaha

#7 - I love to tackle a good problem. If you need some ideas, I'm your gal. I have a hard time in limbo land. If I have a problem, I like to come up with a plan - it doesn't mean the plan can't change, but I definitely like to have a plan.  I will say, it drives me crazy to hear people complain and not try to solve the problem, but I do understand some don't want a solution:)

What does your July look like?