Hello!

Wow! Has it really been almost two weeks? That's crazy! 

With getting my daughter off to college, trying to finish up my room, meeting with my new student teacher, getting my other kids to practice or games, cleaning out the attic to make an office, and family time (what's that?), I have been a little too busy to blog. 

Wow! That is a long list. 

Oh, and did I mention? I finished my graduate class. Phew!

I worked on a lot of Daily Five things this summer. 

The course I took was phenomenal. Who knew that I had been doing Daily Five wrong, not to mention not even understanding CAFE. 

I highly recommend taking this course if you are interested in Daily Five. I had been doing Daily Five in my classroom for three years. I have learned an amazing amount of material and taken away so much from this course.

Check out Upper Iowa University.

It's an online course. The instructors are very helpful and you get to have discussions with your colleagues. 

Here are some products I created while in the class. 

My room looks fabulous with all of these additions.

They are all free. Please contact me if you would like a different theme. 

Here's a little picture of what they look like in my room. 

A little crooked. :)

Banners and Card Titles

Click on the pictures to download. 

CAFE Posters

Click on the pictures to download.

Have a wonderful day!!!

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Oh My Goodness!!! TpT Sale!!!

So, I shopped...not once...not twice...but three times at the TpT Back to School Sale!!!

I bought some papers from Mel. 

Oh, I love Graphics From the Pond!

I have no idea what I am going to create with these, but I can't wait!!!

I am so excited to use these! Wait 'til you see what I'm going to make!

These will go so well with Mel's chalkboards! 

This little packet, by Vicky Moore is going to help me keep those little ones busy on the first day. 

There are some really great activities in it!

Of course, some owl stuff. :)

Kelly, this is ADORABLE!!!

I really needed some desk plates and then I found all of these! Woo Hoo!

Look at these little cuties by Melonheadz!!!

Oh! The Possibilities!!!

That's one day of my purchases. 

What did you get? 

I am so curious!!! I do have 4 and 1/2 hours left to SAVE!!!!

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Saturday Snapshots and BACK TO SCHOOL SALE AT TpT

I am linking up with Miss Neslon again. I look forward to this each week. 

I have been laminating like crazy since I got my laminator in the mail.

Have I told you, "I am in love!".

We were driving to get my daughter's college things. She leaves in four days. OH MY! Sniff, Sniff!

My youngest took this on the way.

This is another scene we had on our way to pick up her college things. 

Beautiful!

My youngest was going through the cupboards in my classroom and came upon a bag my mom had given me of all my grade school projects. This was from Kindergarten! 

My Best Frind :)

I won a book from Miss Nelson. It is so cute I cannot wait to use it in my class this year. 

TEASE MONSTER by Julia Cook

In this book, Ms. Cook shows you the difference between Mean Teases and Nice Teases.

"Mean teasing is bullying and not a good thing. The ones that do it are trying to be mean."

"A NICE tease bite is positive (+), and it adds to your life. It multiplies your strength and your voice that's inside."

"Sometimes when you nice tease, your words go too far. You just have to realize how powerful they are."

"It's always a good thing to watch what I say, and understand everyone hears things in different ways."

There are tips in the back for Parents and Educators. 

I find that in my school kids sometimes don't know the difference between nice teasing and bullying. Bullying is such a huge problem right now.

I want my firsties to be advocates for themselves and for others to know that words hurt. 

Thank you Miss Nelson!

Don't forget the HUGE Back to School SALE at TpT!!!

I am going to empty my cart right now. :)

I am so excited I am tingling! 

Have a wonderful day!

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CAFE...Some thoughts

We have finished up reading CAFE and are writing a reflection paper on what we have learned throughout the course. I have so much to say. I am not sure I can keep it to the limited amount of pages that is required.

Here is the beginning of my paper:

When I decided to take this course, I thought I had known quite a bit about Daily 5/ CAFE. I was so wrong. I understood a teeny, tiny bit of Daily 5 and understood nothing about CAFE. I am now confident to implement both of these into my classroom this year. 

As I have gone through many phases of implementing Daily 5 into my classroom. Beginning with my first year of pretending that the centers that I had were part of Daily 5 to last year really working at implementing it to the best of my ability without guidance. I have grown as an educator, learning and understanding the different aspects of Daily 5 and CAFE. I admire Ms. Boushey and Ms. Mosher as they go through their adventure in finding what works for them. 

I will be sharing my journey with you in the next coming weeks. 

If you would like to add anything or be a guest blogger, I would LOVE it! 

Please email me. :)

I couldn't have gotten this far without help.

"Work smarter, not harder."

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Let's Talk About Me Monday

I am linking up with some amazing Bloggers over at Blog Hoppin'!

I am a day late. Go Figure! :)

Monday was Meet the Teacher Day.

Ten Fun Things About Me!

1. I am a mom of three teenagers. Janie is going to be a freshman in high school, David will be a junior in high school, and my oldest, Katie will be a freshman in college. She turned 18 this summer. YIKES!!!

Here they are. :)

2. I LOVE Running! I will go out and run in just about anything. 

I have completed two RAGNARs and the Seneca Seven Relays. So much fun! I would do those anytime. :)

I went out to run with my daughter. She came back in time...I did not. :)

3. I have had a few surgeries. 

Back

Hand

C-Section

4. I am clumsy when I run. I have hurt my ankle and gone to the emergency room two times. UGH!!!

Therefor, I NEVER run without my phone. :)

5. I love PHISH!

6. I have a part-time photography business.

BAK Pack Photography

I really love taking photos. 

This is a wedding I did a couple weeks ago.

7. I took my son to his first concert at Tanglewood.

BareNaked Ladies

Ben Folds Five

Guster

We were center stage, four rows back. WOW!!!

8. My colleague and I have done the school garden again this year. 

It is hard work!

9. I play softball. We have to call it "old ladies" softball because my daughters both play in their school. 

My oldest daughter has played with us for two years. I LOVE it!!!

10. I have a skirt obsession. I have to wear running shorts underneath though. :)

I hope you had fun learning about me. 

Head on over to link up. :)

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Saturday Snapshots on a Monday...Yep!

I am linking up with Miss Nelson. Saturday Snapshots...I know on a Monday. But we just got back from vacation! So, here you go. Nothing school related! I am going in this week to get things started. 

We had so much fun in Cape Cod. We had terrific days at the beach. 

First one in the water!

There was a lot of reading going on too! :)

The girls had so much fun riding the waves!

These two had the same bathing suit! So funny!

Janie didn't have any fun!

We had a wonderful walk at Race Point. Janie collected rocks in my hat. :)

Katie being Katie. :)

Fish vertebrae.

Of course there was some sand burying and beard making. 

These two spent a lot of time just talking. College roommates. :)

We had a terrific time. Now back to reality. 

Go link up. :)

Have a wonderful day!

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Vacation

I am on vacation with my family. I will be back next week to talk about some fun things! Have a great week!

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Currently August

Where on earth did July go? I was stalking blogs and I totally forgot about Farley's Currently until I saw all the posts. Holy Cow!!! I guess I am just trying to pretend that August is not here yet! 

My dryer has been going non-stop. I have to get it all done before we leave tomorrow at 5:30 am. 

Woo Hoo! Can you tell I am excited? 

My daughter's boyfriend and his "associates" painted a couple rooms that have been in dire need of a paint job. Some of them have not been painted since we moved in (12 years ago). YIKES!!!

They look fabulous!

Seriously...August?

Did I tell you that we are leaving for vacation? Tomorrow. Yep! We are going on vacation!!!

I have to edit the photos I took at a wedding last week. There are so many!

I also have to get my work done for my grad class so that I can really enjoy my vacation.

I am working on it right now...can't you tell? :)

ESSENTIAL B2S

I love the sticker for my laptop. We are searching for one for my daughter's now. 

If you search for them on Amazon, they are very inexpensive. :)

Have you seen Miss Nelson's "Happy Notes"? They are so cute! She is so inspiring!

They are on sale right now! Go! Go! Go!

I am obsessed with pens. I am also a pen snob. When I found these I was giddy with joy!

Not only are they so cute, but they write well too! REALLY!

Head on over to Farley's to link up!

Have a wonderful day!

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