Bloglovin and a Giveaway! :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 

Have you heard the news?  Google Reader is no more and we’re all moving to Bloglovin.  Have you moved yet? 

 

Make sure you are following my blog on bloglovin so that you can get all of the updated information!



I spent last week in Panama City with my boyfriend and his family.  Although I was on crutches/in a wheelchair, it was still an amazing trip!  It was so relaxing.  I didn't even take my laptop! (That was a struggle!)  Here are a few pictures from our trip...

My favorite purchase!  #loveduckdynasty

 

While I’m healing from surgery in my pretty purple cast {yuck!}, I’ve been adding a LOT of items to my TPT store.  Especially all of my camping theme items!!!!  I am SO in love with this clipart from Maree Truelove.  I also learned (thank you pinterest) how to save my files into a zip file.  So now I am starting to bundle all of my décor packs.  It’s a great way to save money and get everything you need!  WAHOO!  {GO HERE} and check it out!  Are you doing a theme in your classroom this year?  What would you like to see?

 I've decided to do a giveaway! How about an item of YOUR choice from my TPT store? 

1. Follow my blog on Blog Lovin

2. Follow my TPT Store.

3. Follow me on instagram.  (longc2013)

 

4. Leave a comment and let me know what item YOU would like to win!

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway Go ahead and enter.  What are you waiting for??

 

Smiles and Snapshots!

June Currently

Happy June!   I’m linking up with Farley over at Oh Boy 4^th Grade for her monthly currently.

 

Listening:  I love the Big Bang Theory.  I own every episode but still watch it on tv ALL the time.  My favorite shirt would have to be my “Bazinga” shirt with Sheldon’s face on it.  Oh boy.  Love.

Loving: We only have one more whole day and 3 half days of school left.  Many of my kiddos will not come this week so I did our whole class gifts yesterday after awards day.  Here’s what my room looked like before they came in. I was so excited.

 

I got sand buckets at Dollar Tree and painted their names on them.  I filled them with goodies that I got from Oriental Trading (a jump rope, bubbles, and a beach ball). 

 

 

 

Their morning work was to blow up the beach ball and have their classmates sign it with the marker that was in their bucket.  They looked at me like I was crazy!  “No writing morning work?  What?”  I also put a DVD in their buckets with a iMovie of all of my favorites pictures from the school year.  This is probably my favorite thing EVER!  And then I used the candy awards from over at Shenanigans in Second.  They loved this and ate their candy while we got to watch our DVD.  I will certainly miss my kiddos!

Thinking: I have a lot to do!  That’s an understatement.  And here comes the big news {drum roll please….} .  I am moving schools!  I will still teach 4^th grade but I will team teach.  I have the amazing opportunity to teach ELA and SS all day!  Oh man.  I’m PUMPED!  So I am in the midst of getting everything packed up, finishing up the year, scheduling surgery (ASAP), and etc.  But I am so glad that this door has been opened and I am excited to begin the 2013-2014 school year at my new school.  WAHOO!

 Here's a peek at the chaos right now.

 

Wanting:  So I broke down and ordered an Erin Condren planner.  I’ll be honest… I am a planner snob.  I write everything in it.  I have it color coded for the various items.  I keep hearing how AMAZING this teacher planner is and I kept telling myself that I would be ok with my normal little planner (usually from Target).  However, I watched the video on Erin Condren’s website and I knew I had to have it.  Seriously.  So right now the status on my account says “In Production”… hurry up.  Get here.  I can’t wait to color code you! {Nerd Alert!}

Needing:  I have started my TPT to do list for this summer.  I am going to be in a cast post-surgery so I will have a LOT of time to make items for my store.  But I have some things I am already working on and need to finish.  I had a request for a Paisley theme pack so make sure you head over to my store and check out all of the paisley items that I have added.

Vacay Essentials:  My phone... I love my iPhone and I am an instagram addict.  Go look me up! (longc2013). 

I have the best beach chair ever!  It’s a Tommy Bahama chair that I got from Costco.  It has a pocket on the back, doubles as a bookbag, and has several holders.  I’m in love with it.  And my lovely hat... I got the cutest monogrammed hat!!!!!  I can’t WAIT to wear it on the beach this year… or just on trips to Walmart when I don’t feel like fixing my hair.  Can I get an amen?? :)

 

 

 

Head on over to Farley’s and link up with your own Currently!

Smiles and Snapshots! :)

Teachers Notebook Bundle

Teachers Notebook is offering a bundle that is worth over $1,800!  The proceeds will benefit those in Moore, Oklahoma.  What an amazing opportunity to help support those in need!  The bundle of donated products is available on the site now and is priced at $20, $25, $50 and $100. Regardless of the amount you contribute, you will receive access to all the donated products.

Click HERE to get to the bundle!

 

Smiles and Snapshots!

Memory Books plus a Foldable Tutorial :)

12 days is all the separates me from S.U.M.M.E.R!  Don't get me wrong... I love my job, love my kiddos that I've had this year but I desperately need the summer to get here.  I am completely jealous of people that I blog-stalk follow who only have a few days left.  But we have a lot to get into the next 12 days (and 3 of those are 1/2 days!).  One of the things that I want to finish is this End of Year Memory book that I put in my TPT and TN stores last night. 

 

 

 

It has numerous fill-in pages and grade-specific covers.  I can't wait to see what my kids put!  I definitely think this is something that parents will love to read as well.  Grab it HERE or HERE!

 

We have worked SUPER hard on our trioramas this week for Social Studies.  My students picked one event from 4 (out of 7) of our SS units.  Here's how you put it together....

 

You can use a regular sheet of computer paper.  Cut off the end to create a square.

 

 

 

Fold it in half.

 

 Fold it in half again.

 

When you open it back up,  you have 4 sections.

 

Cut between two of the sections.  I told my kids this made "legs."

 

This is when my students added the information for their project!  It's MUCH easier when it's not glued yet. :)

 

Tuck one of the "legs" underneath the other and glue. (Yep, that's a Christmas book on my desk.... I was going through my classroom library!)

 

 

This is how one section will look when it is put together.

 

You can staple the pieces together and create the triorama.

 

This is one of the FANTASTIC projects that one of my kids did!

 

 

 

 

My kids really loved this project and I'm sure that you super creative people can think of multiple uses for this foldable. :)

 

Off to grade papers... grades are due tomorrow!

 

Smiles and Snapshots!

 

 

May Currently

It’s MAY!  Not too sure where April went.  Now next week is PASS testing and tomorrow is Relay for Life.  And then field day and a field trip and cookout day and soaring stars day and move- up day!  WOW!  I’m whooped already!  Cookout day is the day when we ALL each lunch outside as a school community.  It’s a great time to see everyone together.  Hopefully it won’t rain! J  Soaring Stars is something that we do one time each nine weeks.  We celebrate those kiddos who have soared to success through grades and character all 9 weeks long.  Last 9 weeks we took them to the movies to see “The Croods” but this 9 weeks is a water day!  They are going to be soooooo excited when they find out!!!!!  Move-up day is one of my favorite days of the school year.  My fourthies will move up for 30 minutes and meet their 5^th grade teacher.  I will get to meet my class for next year.  I usually play an introductory game with them and tell them a little about myself.  May is going to be fantastic and I’m ready to get it going.

And with it being the beginning of May that means it’s time to link up with Farley for her CURRENTLY!



 

Listening: Lady Antebellum is one of my favorite country groups.  I was stoked to see Hilary on “The Voice” too!  I try to harmonize with them in the car…. Everything sounds better in the car! J

Loving: So I was pinteresting… my favorite hobby… and I stumbled upon an app called “Level It.”  It’s $2.99 and I normally don’t buy a bunch of apps but this one was calling my name!  This app scans the barcode of your book (or you can manually enter the ISBN) for it to level the book!  You can save your search and build your classroom library in the app.  I typically use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all of my books but this also has a system where kids can check books and in and out from your library!  OH MAN!

Thinking:  I need to study for my Reading Specialist test on Saturday.  I’ve made flashcards but I really need to do some heavy duty studying!

Wanting:  I saw the cutest skirt EVER at Target that I must purchase.

Needing: Surgery on my foot is upon me.  I am having it done AS SOON as school gets out for the summer.  I will recover for 2 months with no weight on it at all.  BLAH.

Summer Bucket List:  Because I’ll be off my foot all summer, it gives me the opportunity to make lots and lots of products for my TPT store!  My family has scheduled a trip to Ocean Lakes and my boyfriend’s family has scheduled a trip to Panama City… I REALLY want to go on both.  Major to just sit in the house (OL) and hotel (Panama) and chill.  Hopefully there is Wi-Fi!  And recover.. quickly!

 

Smiles and Snapshots!

Vocabulary Fun

My right eye is officially twitching which means… PASS testing (our state testing) is near.  Very near in fact.  Tuesday.  I’m like 40 kinds of nervous and anxious but ready to get this over with.  My kiddos have worked their tails off but it’s my first year of testing so I am allowed to be anxious, right?  Yikes! 

I have had a huge focus on vocabulary this year.  I’ve been trying out some new things and it was even my focus for my Masters Practicum.  I have lived and breathed vocabulary this year.  But of course it took until April to really sink my teeth into Flocabulary. 

 

It has 10 words which are also the spelling words for the week.  It has a rap with all of the words in it.  Cutest raps ever!  The fourthies BEG me to play it more than once a day.   I’m ok with that…. They are SUPER catchy!  I have also been using Word Nerds…

This book has some awesome activities, games, and even celebrations to use for vocabulary instruction.  It’s great and my kiddos have been so excited the past few weeks.  I wish I would have known about the greatness that is Flocabulary earlier in the year.  It also opened up a great opportunity to whip out our nifty cameras that we got from Donors Choose.  Definitely added another level of complete excitement for vocabulary!  I had my students get into small groups and create silent skits (charades) for 2 of their vocabulary words.  We passed cameras around and them video the skits.  Oh man.  So stinkin’ cute!  I also played them as a way to review the words near the end of the week.  GREATNESS!

So I’m in love with my smartboard… But I have been saddened to discover that not everyone has a smartboard.  Ok, I already knew this but it became an issue when I uploaded my Writing Curriculum (Smartboard version) to my TPT store.  So not only can you buy the PDF version or the Smartboard version now BUT it’s now also available in PowerPoint!  YAY!  It has all of the forms that the PDF version has (attached) but you can use the PowerPoint to model the writing with your students.  Go over to my TPT store and grab a copy for yourself.

Smiles and Snapshots!

 

April Currently

Oh man… it’s April!  Hard to believe.  I swear, March felt like the longest month EVER but probably because I have anxiously been awaiting Spring Break (which I am currently enjoying!) WAHOO!  I have done a whole lot of absolutely nothing on Spring Break and I’m definitely okay with that.  One of the reasons March felt like it lasted forever was that I gave my first state testing.  You talk about nervous OH MY WORD.  (and that was ME.. not the kiddos!)  Two days of writing and the rest of it will be in May.  :)

With it being the beginning of April can only mean one thing! Farley’s Currently has once again made its lovely appearance. 

 I love these things and I love to read what others are up to.  That’s the reason I got into blogging in the first place!  Here’s my Currently for this month…

 

*Listening: I used to be an American Idol junkie but a few seasons ago I jumped ship to “The Voice.” Goodness gracious I’m addicted.  So I’m getting some work done on one half of my screen and watching “The Voice” on the other half.  That’s do-able, right?

 *Loving: that I’ve brought the Mac back out.  I LOVE using my school laptop (PC) and therefore my Mac has been feeling a bit neglected.  I bought it a few years ago but have never really made products on it.  I’m trying to get the hang of it. But “Donald” (get it.. Mac Donald! LOL) is a wonderful computer and I’m glad to be using it again.

 *Thinking:  Spring break is wonderful, great, fantastic!  I love my job but Spring Break is 12 different kinds of wonderful. 

 *Wanting:  FOOD!  Seriously.  I’m hungry.  It’s 4:48pm.  Is that too early for dinner?  Yikes.

 *Needing: to start getting my spring clothes out!  I think the cold weather is over for us here in SC…not that we had TOO much of a winter.

 *Advice: Proofread. So you’ve spent hours… days…. weeks… on a new product for your store. Your blood, sweat, and tears are in this thing and you are anxious to get it uploaded and talk about it on your blog.  My advice is to get someone to proofread what you are putting out there.  If you are like me, once you have been pouring over this for however long, you don’t see mistakes any longer.

 Go link up your Currently and join in on the fun!

Smiles and Snapshots,

Courtney