14 days, 3 Mondays to go!!!!

Can't believe we're almost to another end-of-school-crunch! I feel like the minute I get everything up the way I want it's time to take it down again!!! I'm lucky to have such a great grade level to be a part of! There's SIX of us teaching first grade at my school... SIX!!!! On a positive note, the HSTA and State of Hawaii have FINALLY renegotiated our contract!!! So while it's the crunch time, I'm more excited than ever to see our hard work in practice next year. To everyone out there counting the days til summer: hang in there!!!! We'll be "bored" soon enough!

Meh

Well it's been way WAY too long (again) but I finally found some time to make a post. Unfortunate for me... It's at my doctor *sigh* on the bright side, I LOVE my new Essie nail polish "trophy wife" (although something mermaidish might suit it better). Thanks to my wonderful classroom neighbor (knight in shining!!!) it takes the edge of the sub stress mess. Anyone wanting to share some ideas I would LOVE to know!!! I'm always looking on ways to improve!!!!

President's Day Spark of Creativity

Well, the bad news is I made a mistake on my taxes (*GASP*)!!! I like to fix things ASAP so of course it is eating away at me that it's a 3 day weekend and now I have to wait to fix it! (This is pretty much the only reason EVER that I hate long weekends. So boo-hoo for me that I'm wasting away my nice weekend be stressed by something that was an HONEST mistake yet cannot be fixed for another 16 hours or so.

Such is life I guess?!

On a happier note!!!!! Look what I brainstormed while I was brushing my teeth!!!! The good news:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1Cgpq4peL8kR2Nja2o3UEhLbTg/edit?usp=sharing

(Yes I know it's random) but maybe I CAN get this stupid tax thing off my mind after all!

So go ahead and download it to use (IT'S FREE)!!! Best of all, the more downloads I see, I might not feel so terrible about messing up my taxes!!!

Community Helpers Unit Pack

Yippee! I FINALLY finished it! I made this unit pack to be workable with different books. Our school is WAY lucky in that department: PLENTY resources at our fingertips! Unfortunately, *and it's a BIG unfortunately*, we are too swamped to put it to as good of use as it should! There are times I even check a new book out from our library because I am convinced that I don't have it (of course I find it months later when I'm looking for ANOTHER book I'm convinced I don't have!)

But either way, its just super cute, fun, STANDARDS ALIGNED community helper pack to check your students understanding. I LOVE using 4 squares because it doesn't isolate the "glacial" learners. Students can draw, write, OR BOTH to showcase their knowledge of a particular community helper/worker. You can click on the preview below to have a look on my TPT store! Happy Wednesday y'all!

still trying!

To all you blogger buffs out there: I am still down on both knees in utter amazement. Why is it so hard?! I feel like there's gotta be something that I'm missing on this whole blog thing; (and I'm not ready to accept that the "something" is inside my brain!)

Anyway, I'm once again doing a MILLION things for school: report cards, prep for parent/teacher/student conferences, setting up my grade books and lesson plans for Quarter 2 (already?!), AND creating new things for my TPT store <3

I thought I'd take some time to share this pinterest gold that I came across for conferences (but could also be used for report cards to include in each child's envelope. Thank you, Kristin over at "ateenytinyteacher.com" A Teeny Tiny Teacher: Parent Conferences

Chevron Chic!

Hip hooray! I FINALLY found some time to finish one of the MILLION tasks I tend to start/take on at a time! Here's a preview of what I just uploaded to my TPT store AND my new "shop" over at the Teacher's Notebook! 

Feeling fabulous yet? 

Click on the image below to follow the link to my store where you can download the CHEVRON TABLE LABELS FOR FRRREEEEEEE!

Hall Passes!

So I couldn't resist the urge to get a little crafty this summer when I saw pics of hand made hall passes over on Mrs. Lemons page! They hadn't finished the floors in our building yet so I think it was "soothing" that I was still making something for school!

I just went to Wal Mart and bought good ol' craft paint for about a buck a piece! The wood shapes were there in the craft section next to the paint and they cost about 2 or 3 dollars each. The ribbon was also a Wal Mart steal--> about $3 for the spool! Before I attached the ribbon, I used a polyeurethane glossy spray to make it all shiny (and to keep any thing from taking off the paint!) I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the idea of using clothes pins because I cringe when I think about where all the hand held hall passes may be placed in the bathroom (need I say more? >.<) I attached the ribbon using crazy glue! and oila! hall passes that are fun... and FABULOUS!