2017 - 2018 Classroom Reveal!

I have been anxiously awaiting the chance to enter my new classroom all summer! This week, I got to and I got to see what my new space looked like! This past week was filled with early mornings, late nights, and lots of coffee. I'm so glad that my mom was able to take off 3 days this week to help me move in and my brother was able to come up a couple times and help move heavy boxes and hang things from the ceiling. This was THE quickest move in and set up I've had to do to date!

The before, with a few boxes the previous teacher still had to move out.

P-I-Z-Z-A!

A while back {like, a year and a half ago} I posted about homemade pizza dough, but never had the pizza I made to go along with it! Don't worry, I'm getting better at remembering to take pictures while I cook! 

Today's a treat, because I have not one, not two, but 3 different pizzas made using this DELICIOUS dough. Although, only 1 of them is detailed. The others are pictures I managed to take after pulling them out of the oven on family pizza night.

Here's The Tea ...

This post may get a little TMI for some of you ... so that's your heads up!

Back to School!

August is just around the corner, so you know what that means ... time for Back to School sales!

For 2 days only on TeachersPayTeachers, enjoy 20% off EVERYTHING in my store, PLUS and extra 5% off when you use promo code: BTS2017 at check out! Now is the PERFECT time to get all of those resources you've been adding to your wish list and holding out on.


Visit my store by clicking here, or in my drop down menu by clicking on My Products and then TPT. Remember, it's only August 1st and 2nd!

Happy teaching!

My Crazy Summer!

Hello all! I haven't had my typical teacher summer this year. That is to say, I haven't really had off  this summer to work on too many teacher things! I moved back to Dallas at the end of May {Memorial Weekend to be exact}, and after taking 2 trips to gather my classroom and household items ... because I was given the wrong sized moving truck - I was able to enjoy about a week and a half off before starting work at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children for the summer. When I was in middle school, I was a junior volunteer {candy stripper} and in high school, I was a Human Resources summer intern. It's definitely one of the best places to be! Teachers, take your kids here on a field trip! Get a tour of the hospital, have a picnic outside and play in Alan Shivers Park, get some of the best popcorn you've ever had, make a day out of it!

Teacher Planner

I know, I know, it's June and officially summer time for most of us teachers! No one is trying to think about school for the next 2 months. BUT, if you're like me, then you want to spend a little time planning and organizing for next year while you don't have to worry about meetings, parents and assessing. That's why I was so excited when I got my reminder email yesterday from Malia at Playdough to Plato. She JUST uploaded the new 20117 - 2018 teacher planner! And if that wasn't exciting enough ... it's free! 

I used her lesson plan book template last year and loved it! It's brightly colored (which anyone who knows me will know suits me to a t!), editable and has just about every checklist you could think of. Did I also mention that it's free??

Now I will admit, it took some getting used to to be able to break away from the computer for everything. On days when I just didn't have time to turn the computer on or didn't have an iPad charged to use while walking around, this planner was a life saver! With 11 classes of 32-42 and sometimes 50, I need to be able to jot down which groups students were in, who was working on what and keep track of a lot of different activities and areas. Perfect. Tool.

Head on over to Playdough to Plato and get your free teacher planner for 2017 - 2018! 

I like to use this planner in a binder and in conjunction with my adorable Blue Sky planner (I get mine at Target, but you can peruse all of their different planners here). I find it best to place some of the pages in plastic sleeves and use a Vis-a-Vis wet erase marker so write on it. That way, I can reuse a lot of the pages without having to worry about wasting so much paper! It's also helpful if I need to make notes about what did and did not work for certain lessons.

As soon as I have my things unpacked, I'll upload some pictures of my planner!

Happy Planning!

Free STEM Lesson Plans!

AFTERNOON UPDATE:  I did find, after all, that as an educator, you are able to set up a free Microsoft Educators account with your school email. This would have been good to know a year and a half ago so I could've saved some money each month! Lesson learned ... research more than you think you are.

Microsoft Office for Educators

This week at Ulta!

Spinach Pesto

I cannot WAIT for it to warm back up so I can have my fresh, fragrant basil in my kitchen. It's been way too long without homemade margherita pizza and homemade pesto! To get me through my basil dry spell I tried using other green herbs and veggies. The first trial pesto recipe I tried was using parsley.

Grilled chicken and penne with parsley pesto

Apple Pie Parfait

I can't even remember what I was looking up when I came across this little gem from Claire at A little Clairefication. It looked so. GOOD! So I thought I'd give it a whirl. And I'm glad I did. This was definitely an easy dessert that was satisfying. As someone who loves apple pie, this is the prefect dessert year-round.

Ibotta

I know this isn't exactly teacher related ... but I LOVE this app and thought I needed to share! Ibotta is a rebate app. You see what rebates are being offered for different stores, add those rebates to your list, then claim them once you're done shopping! There are a ton of stores to choose from. I frequent United, Walmart and Target.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Gal-entine's Day! I miss getting to see Leslie Knope every week.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, I have 2 NEW products in my TpT store!

The first one is geared toward our Pre-K friends! Grab some heart beads and pipe cleaners from Hobby Lobby (or cut out hearts on different colored paper and laminate) to have kids make their own heart patterns!

There are 9 different patterns to choose from with a "create you own" pattern card as well!

This week at Ulta!

I don't know about anyone else, but I am OBSESSED with Ulta! I can't wait for my weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) email telling me what's new in the store and what's on sale! Soooooo ... I've decided to share the sales I get in my inbox each week.

Before I get to this week's sale, let me just say if you don't have the Ulta app already, download it NOW! It's so convenient to see how many points I have, what products I've seen and what to try out lately, what's on sale, buy things online, and play around in the Glam Lab. I'm just sayin.

Time for a SALE!

Don't miss out! For 2 days only, catch all of my products on SALE!

Product update!

Happy February! 

I've been working on updating some of the products in my TpT store and finishing up some new things for Black History Month! I've been thinking my products are looking a little dated and like a newbie, so it was time to spruce them up!

Here's update number 1:

Here's the before...

and here is the after!

My FAVORITE Teacher Blogs!

I don't know about you, but this year has been a whirlwind for me! Don't get me wrong, I love that I get to see every kid in the building, but there's so much content! Pre-K through 2nd in several areas ... I may have hit overload. To help ease the transition and find amazing and meaningful activities for my kiddos, I pulled together my teacher blog resources!

FREEBIES!!!

Over winter break I FINALLY got the chance to work on some of my products that have been sitting on my computer since this summer! I got a lot of them uploaded and even had a chance to update some of the old products in my store! Click the link to visit my freebies page for a list of freebies OR go here to see posts I've made about freebies that are a little more detailed! You can also check out my TpT Store for other freebies that I have not posted about.

Whatever you do, enjoy your ...

Happy downloading!