Good morning!!  I am linking up again this week with Christina from Sugar and Spice!

I do have to say, this link up has been my favorite one to make sure that I participate in each week!

In Vegas I was able to see the amazing Rachelle from What the Teacher Wants.  I didn't really know who she was at that point, so I started looking more into these teacher celebrities.  :)  I was blown away by where Rachelle came from, and her journey over the past year.  If you haven't read about it, you should find out more here!!

I have been motivated to start eating healthier, so I have been trying to have a salad EVERY DAY!!  I know it may not seem like a lot, but it is a step in the right direction.  (Don't mind the hot dogs in the corner of the picture, those are for baby girl!)

So, my Wordless Wednesday question, that has been a little wordy, is, what is your favorite salad or salad topping!?!

Read more »

Cassandra

Good morning everyone!!

I am excited to be linking up with Trina from Ordinary to Extraordinary Classroom.

This week we are talking about our motivating workout tunes!!

I don't know how much help I can be this week, because I have a confession . . . I don't workout!  I hate running, hate it!  We have an elliptical in our garage, but we can't use it.

During the school year I would try and walk two to three nights a week, but I would walk with my neighbor, and of course we would chat the whole time!

When I can work out, or I should say, when I DO workout I love music that has a fast tempo so it keeps me going.  I like a variety of music too!

I can't wait to see what some other people are listening to when they work out, and hopefully it will help me get my act in gear!!

I am also excited to be participating with The Teaching Tribune again this week for Two for Tuesday!

Today I am putting my best seller, and my newest product 50% off, just for today!!  I love both of these products, and am so excited for you to love them too!!

The first one is my best seller, Superhero Math!!

I made this product for us to use on Superhero day at school.  It is a set with activities for both first and second grade in mind.  The skills included are adding, subtracting, multiplication and division fact families.  You would then be able to use this between 1st and 4th grade depending on what time during the year you wanted to use it!

The other product 50% off today only is my newest product and one I am super excited to put to use in my classroom this year!!  My thankful cards are a great addition to your classroom so you can remind students how much we have to be thankful for!!

As of right now there are 25 cards in the pack, with 12 color cards, and 13 black and white versions.  I am planning on using these weekly and then displaying them and putting them together for students so at the end of the year they will have a collection of things they are thankful for!!  Look for my classroom reveal coming up and you will see how I display these in  my classroom!

Make sure to head over to the Teaching Tribune so you see what else is 50% off today!!

Read more »

Cassandra

This is my 100th Post!!  Oh goodness!!  I am so excited that I have been doing this for about a year, and that I have written 100 things so far!  It's amazing to look back at this journey and see how far I've come!  Thank you for joining me on this fun journey I call LIFE!!

I am so excited that this is my first week linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made it!!

I am excited to finally have at least one thing done in my classroom and ready for the first day of school!  I wanted to move where I displayed my student work, so after debating what to do, and a few trips to the Dollar Store, I really like how it turned out!!

It was quite a process, making the numbers, printing them, gluing them to card stock, and then cutting them out!!  Then I laminated them, and had to cut them out again!  I saw the great idea to glue my smaller pieces to my laminate before feeding it through the laminator on someone else's blog, but I don't remember who!!  If it was who, then let me know and I'll give you credit here!!

After I cut them all out, then I used hot glue to put them on the clothespins.  Some clothespins were already on the mats from before, and some I had to hot glue up on the wall again.  It took a long time since these are hanging above my white boards, and that is why there are no pictures!

This week I spent a lot of time trying to get my clipart organized!  I feel like I have a lot of clipart, but I forget what I have!  Especially with the amazing Summer VIP, and monthly surprises from Creative Clips!  There are only a few days left in July, and then her July club won't be available any longer!  If you love clip art at a good deal, then I would suggest picking this up!

Is it bad that just my Krista Wallden sets are 18 pages long!?!  Don't tell my hubby!!  I do use a whole page for the monthly clubs too, since there are no official preview pages, I made my own in Picasa, so I can only fit four on a page.

I need to finish this for the rest of my clip art favorites, but my car ride was only so long!

The last thing I made this last week, was my TO DO list!!  I don't know about you, but I have ONE WEEK left of summer!  We return to work next Monday, August 4, and our kids come back to school on August 11!!  We have to have our rooms FINISHED by Thursday, August 7 because we let kids come in to drop of their supplies.  If we don't have them finished, they at least need to look like they are finished.  I am hoping to have my room done by then though, so then I can concentrate on planning for the rest of the weekend!

I came home from Vegas with so many ideas of things that I wanted to try to get done, and that is the massive list you can party see on the left side of my binder.  The list on the right side is everything I want to try to get done this week!!  I created this new desktop organizer using some amazing clipart by Krista to help me keep track of what I am working on, and to know what I still need to print for school!

If you like these planning pages, or the TPT Expense page, you can pick them up in the amazing Ashley's store, from Schroeder Shenanigans in Second!

I plan on doing a future blog post looking at how I stay organized a little more in depth in the near future, so look for that if you are interested to see how I use both of these amazing products!!

Thank you all for sticking around this long, and I can't wait to see what the rest of you have made so far this week!!  Don't forget to check out Tara's blog for even more amazing bloggers who create some amazing things every week!!

Read more »

Cassandra

Good morning!!  I know I keep saying it, but I can't believe how quickly this summer flew by!!!  Next week is my last FULL week of summer.  I know some of you are like me, and have already been back in your classrooms, but it feels so nice to know that I can come and go as I please!  It's crazy to think that starting August 4, I'll be back there FULL TIME!!

This morning I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

I am so thankful this week for my amazing hubby!  We are both teachers, so we understand when the other begins to get stressed out about school stuff.  This week we have been tagging teaming who gets to go to work when.  My wonderful hubby even let me sneak out to Starbucks one morning this week so I could get some work done while he stayed home with the kiddos before we had friends over for the day!

This week I am so thankful for the friends that we have in town.  It has been so hard being away from our friends that we went to college with.  My best friend from college had a baby girl about a year ago, and then my best friend from home had her baby earlier this year.  We hardly ever get to see these wonderful ladies, and they have helped make me who I am today!  We have made some amazing friends here in Arizona too, but it seems like we had a wonderful friend moving away EVERY YEAR!!  Last year we lost TWO amazing friends in the same week!!  AWFUL!!  I am very thankful for time that we are able to spend with the friends we have in town, and that we are able to have our kids grow up together.  I don't know what I would do without these amazing moms who know what it is like when I want to pull my hair out because my little man just doesn't want to listen! Plus it's nice to have a friend to go thrift store shopping with, or get a coffee with kids in tow!!

Going into my classroom has been a SLOW process.  During the summer they stack all of our furniture up, so when I went into my classroom before Vegas it was still all against the wall.  While I was there the guys told me they would move it back for me.  Well, a week after Vegas and it was still all against the wall.  I spent an hour Sunday night moving furniture back, and removing one bulletin board to change it out!

I am so excited for my new idea that I am going to be using my classroom this year!!  In the past  have spent about a week in November talking about what we are thankful for with my class.  This year,  I am excited that we are going to do this WEEKLY!!  I think I am going to call it Thankful Thursday!!  Every Thursday I am going to give my kids one of these cards, and they are going to write or draw something that they are thankful for.  Then, at the end of the year they are going to have these awesome look books of things they are thankful for!  I can't wait to see how they turn out!!

This last one is very sad for me, and something that I have slowly come to be okay with over the course of the week.  I started a teacher Pinterest account, after realizing that I was pinning a lot to do with teaching.  I would go on binge pinning events where I was pinning stuff for my kiddos, my sister's wedding, and other non school related events.  I created two Pinterest accounts then, using two different emails, and even kept them on two different browsers.  Earlier this week my personal account DISAPPEARED!!  I don't know what happened, or where it went.  I was so sad though because I had YEARS worth of pins on there, and so many amazing recipes that we LOVED!!  Somehow, it reappeared on Wednesday afternoon!  I was on a new personal account I had made, which I have now deactivated, and I was able to find my old account.  Earlier in the week it wasn't showing up at all!!  I am SO HAPPY it is back!!  My teacher Pinterest account is starting to look pretty though, with custom boards and everything.  :)

Read more »

Cassandra

I can't believe I only have one more full week of summer!!!

This morning I am linking up with Christina from Sugar and Spice!

I love spending time with my babies during the summer, and not having to worry about how long it takes us to get things done.

What is something you do during the summer that you don't normally have time for during the school year?

Read more »

Cassandra

Good morning everyone!  I am so happy to be linking up with The Ordianry to Extraordianry Classroom!

This link up was one of the first link ups that I did last year when I started this blogging journey!  I was so happy to see on IG last night that it was back!!

1. What's your summer teacher persona? 

• Slacker Teacher:catching up on every episode of everything you wanted to watch during the school year 

• Mommy-On-The-Go: consumed with your children's extracurricular activities

• Summer Fun Teacher:hanging with friends and traveling the world

• Overachiever Teacher:Making TPT products, proparing your classroom, you never really took a break

I have been a mixture of things this summer.  I have been the mommy on the go, but not taking my kids all over the place because they don't have extracurriculars yet.  Being 3 and 1 they just keep me on my toes ALL DAY!  Our day typically starts around 6, and ends around 7.

I was also on the summer fun teacher kick in June!  We did all of our big traveling as a family then.  I went to Vegas in July too, so that was A LOT of fun!!

2. It's a sunny day in July. Your schedule is wide open, so you decide to?

If our day in July is really wide open then we tend to spend the day at home moving from one activity to another.  We like to watch some toons, play with blocks, puzzles, eat some lunch and snacks, and then end our afternoon in the pool!  My little guy needs to be doing things, he isn't one to just sit around and watch TV all day.  He has learned how to work our iPads though, so we set limits on those!

3.What is your favorite summer thirst quencher?

My favorite summer drinks vary depending on my mood.  Here in the desert we tend to always be drinking something.  If I haven't had water yet that day, a LARGE glass of water in the afternoon always sounds so amazing.  I too like Sonic slurpees for an afternoon treat between 2-4 for happy hour!  My favorite is a lemon raspberry slush!!  At home I have been trying to cut out the soda, so I've been drinking ice tea or koolaid.  I also have Simply Lemonade in my house.  :)

4. Where will you be soaking up the summer sun? Have you planned any vacations?

Since my summer is almost over, we have already done all of our vacationing!  As a family we went on a long road trip.  We headed to Vegas first, then Lake Tahoe, then the Bay Area, and finished a few hours in Orange County.  It was so much fun to see all of my besties and babies on this trip, but we were so happy to be home!

Then my hubby went to Africa in the beginning of July for 12 days, and I headed up to Vegas!

5. Any summer reads, professional and personal?

I have been reading a TON this summer!!  I have been reading both professional and personal books! I love reading, and I am so excited that I am able to catch up on so much reading during the summer. It's easy when we are on these long road trips, my hubby does all the driving, and I am able to crack open a book (usually on my iPhone) and just read!

6. What does your summer TV habits consist of?

This has been the first year we have had DVR, so we have actually watched a lot of TV this summer.  We also found out about a way to watch the last season of How I Met Your Mother, so we were able to finish watching that!  We have been hooked on So You Think You Can Dance, 24, and of course I've been watching The Bachelorette!

7. Favorite Summer song of 2014?

I don't really have a favorite summer song.  I don't tend to listen to the radio with the kids in the car because you never know what is going to come on.

Read more »

Cassandra

I can hardly believe that i am beginning my eighth year of teaching.  It doesn't seem like it has been that long.  Maybe that is because I have taught something new every year, whether a new math, vocabulary, spelling, science or way of teaching something.

We have THREE new teachers starting at our school this year.  I know for some of you that may not seem like a lot, but we are single graded through, so that was almost half of our staff.  None of the teachers are going to be first year teachers, but there are still new things to learn when move to a new school.

I am linking up with PAWSitively Teaching to share my three key words of wisdom for new teachers.  I wish that I would have known some of the things I know now then, but that is why we all learn from each other!

My first piece of advice is to find someone that you can talk to.  You want to make friends with those around you that you work with, but if possible try and make at least one really good friend.  There are going to be times when you need to vent, whether that is crying, screaming, laughing or sharing a cute story about something that happened in class.  You want to do this with someone that you know will be there for you, and someone who you can trust.

Set limits for yourself.  Your work is NEVER going to be done.  Eight years later and I think my To Do list is now longer than it was when I started teaching.  We are not super humans, we cannot do everything.  As much as we hope that we can, we can't squeeze everything into our day, night or weekend.  Set limits for yourself with how much or how often you are going to be in your classroom. Then tell someone, and have them hold you accountable.

Take a moment every day (or week) and reflect on what worked and what didn't work.  This way when it is time to start planning the next unit, month, or year you will know what worked and what didn't work.  When you take the time to do this as you go through the year, when it is time for the same activity the next year you will remember what it was that was AWESOME, and what things you need to iron out before you try again.

Good luck new teachers, or everyone getting ready to go back to school soon!  I hope these pieces of advice will come in handy for all of us!!

Read more »

Cassandra

Good morning!! Today I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching again for Five for Friday!

I can't believe I only have two Fridays of summer left after today!!!

Earlier this week I drove up to my parent's house because that is where my kids were staying while I was in Vegas.  While I was there my mom and I did some back to school shopping!!  I love that my mom is excited to help me get ready for school!  We went to Target because someone said they had composition books on sale for 40 cents!!  I picked up enough for a class set in green and blue.  THEN I started calling around to see where I could get them cut in half!!  Fed Ex wasn't the cheapest, $1.45 a cut, but they could do more than one book at a time.  Office Max told me they could cut them too, but $1.09 a cut!  I am so excited to now have a class set of my books cut in half!!

After spending the week in Vegas working, working, working, and then coming home and trying to get a ton of things done school related, yesterday I didn't DO ANYTHING school related.  By the end of the day my to do list was running through my head, but we had so much fun it was well worth it!!  We went to a friend's house and played ALL DAY!!  It was amazing!!  She is a stay at home mom, who has way more creativity than I do, and there were so many fun things to do at her house!  Check out this water wall that my Bubs just LOVED!!

I'm so excited for this link that I saw on Ashley's TPT recap blog!!  Ashley is an amazing creator, and sells some amazing things, so if I can learn any tips from her I will take them!!  She shared this hyperlink site that she learned about in Vegas, and I used it the other night to add hyperlinks to my products on TPT.  IT IS AMAZING!!  If you were struggling to figure out how to do it, check out this site, IT IS SO EASY!!

I started working on my thankful cards in Vegas, and I am so glad that I finished them (for now!)  I plan on adding to the set as the school year goes, and I find new clip art I love, or a new reason to add another card.  Right now the set has 12 colored cards, and 13 black and white cards.  Each card is different, and I can't wait to use these on the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!  I am hoping to do this at least once a month, but I am aiming for once a week, so that way at the end of the year I'll have a nice collection of things that my students have been thankful for all year!!  The cards are blank inside, no lines, so students can draw or write what they are thankful for which makes this great for any grade level!

I am so thankful to have spent so much time with my family this summer!!  I know that during the school year the time just flies by, and I am too busy to take things in and enjoy!  I am hoping that in the next two weeks of summer I will be able to take at least two more days where I do NOTHING school related and just spend time with my kids!!  I know this is going to be hard, my classroom is NO WHERE near ready, but I need to do this.  My babies only stay babies for so long!

Read more »

Cassandra

I am linking up with Sugar and Spice this morning for Wordless Wednesday!

I love this link up because it is easy and so fun to see everything summed up in a picture and one question!!

What is your favorite coffee place, and your favorite drink!?  I love Dutch!!

Read more »

Cassandra

I am so excited to be participating in the HUGE scavenger hunt going on right now!!

If you haven't heard about it yet, you need to go check it out here!!

You can check out this page and you will be able to see all sorts of other pictures that people have been posting!  Or, if you go check out IG, search #bloghoppin2014.  You will find TONS of pictures and you can see what everyone has been up to!!

It was so fun to take pictures in Vegas, and my roomie definitely helped me take some super sneaky ones!!

Our goal was to hit 50 by the time we left Vegas!!  By Monday night we had 46 I think! It was so much fun wandering around trying to find things!!  I'm so glad she didn't mind walking up holding my sign either so I could get some of these crazy pictures!!

Back to school shopping at Target, Walmart, Office Max and the Dollar Tree helped me find some more things on the huge list this week!!  I am so glad that my mom has gotten so into the scavenger hunt too!!  She drove up and down the aisles in the parking lot while I ran into Staples yesterday!!

When we went out tonight we walked the aisles again, and my mom even turned the car AROUND so I could go get a picture of a red door we drove by!!  (When we were going to drive by again it was going to be too dark!!)

I hope you've enjoyed these pictures, and if you haven't started already, I hope you join in the fun!!  You have until August 6 to play!!  If you don't join in and play, stay tuned to see what I win!!  :)

Read more »

Cassandra