Freebie Friday!!!

   I'm so excited to share this birthday freebie with you. This is how I celebrate birthdays in my classroom. For this birthday activity, you have two options: first you could print page 2 and have the birthday child cut it out. Or option 2, you could have the birthday child cut out page 3 and color it to their liking. Page 4 are sparkle statements. I place one strip on each child’s desk. They have to write a sparkle statement to that child on their birthday. I tell the kids I don’t want them to write Suzy is nice. I want them to think of good qualities about that specific child. We usually have a lesson before. Then when they are finished with their sparkle statement they bring it to my back table. I usually do this first thing in the morning. I make the strips into a chain. I attach the chain to the picture of the cake. If your going to print this off. I would suggest using card stock because it's flimsy without. :). My students have always loved this activity. If you want  to grab a copy of this click on the picture!
 

If your looking for some more FREEBIES check out my TPT Store. I have a lot of them!!

                                My cutie N he didn't really like being the example but he was a good sport. 

Check out Falling Into First to link up with your birthday ideas.

Therapeutic Thursday

How do I unwind on a stressful day? Well first I am the type of person that has to talk it out. My mom and I are very close and I usually talk to her almost EVERY day! She is so supportive. I also have to say that my husband is such a great listener as well. He gets me. He just knows the right thing to say in any circumstance. I'm very lucky to have him.                                                                            

Have you ever eaten at Kneaders? I absolutely LOVE Kneaders. I don't think they're in every state but there are a lot of them here. They have the best food. I love their Turkey Cranberry  Salad. Plus it has tryptophan in it so it helps on those stressful days when I just need to go to bed. 

Plus you can't resist one of these. I always tell myself it's okay because I had a salad right?

My exercise of choice. It reminds me of the days of when I used to dance. I love dancing.

Who doesn't love to shop to unwind.  How do you unwind?

Where I teach Wednesday.

 My room is finally done for the most part. We came back from Summer Vacation and it took a lot of cleaning on our part to get things ready. My classroom is all bees. I love the black and yellow look. I'm so lucky to work part-time. I work on Thursdays and Fridays and rotate every Wednesday. My partner teacher is AMAZING!! I love her. This is her last year, she is retiring at the end of this year :(. So if anyone is looking to go part-time with me come apply. I really want to stay part-time at least until my two little ones are in school. 

You may be wondering WHAT FIRST GRADE???? Yeah me too. We found out we're teaching first grade. However. I will still be posting second grade stuff too. Because I LOVE SECOND and I really hope next year I might be able to go back. 

Don't you love vinyl lettering. It's so adorable. My teaching partner found these sayings.

Found these darling bee lights on Etsy. 

Front of the room. 

We handed these out at back to school night. I used my template below and wrote. We're pleased to pieces that you will (bee) in our classroom this year. They were a hit with the kiddos. I love me some REESES. 

Back of the room. Don't mind the mess on the back table. 

We call this area the hive. I love our kiva. My dad built it for us. I do a lot of teaching from this area. See that fan. Yeah we don't have air conditioning. So the next month is going to be HOT!! I feel so bad for the kiddos when it's HOT!
What's your favorite thing in your classroom?

Teacher Week Technology Tuesday

PBS Kids is one of my student's favorite sites. If they have free choice they always choose to go to Pbskids.org. In fact my 5 year old is watching me type this and he wants me to go to their site.

Game Goo is one of my favorites. It's great for grades k-2 

I found this great site. It is so awesome, especially with the new common core. Sometimes when I read the standards. I might teach it a different way than on the core test. So this site is great for teachers, it gives you specific examples of what each standard means. I love it. I found it off of a blog. However I can't remember who's . I would like to give credit where credit is due.  So if you know who's let me know.If you would like to go to any of these sites just click on the picture or the words under it. One or the other will take you to the correct place :). 

What do you use for technology in your classroom? 

Teacher Week

I'm linking up with What The Teacher Wants on Must-Haves Monday. Here are a few of my FAVORITES!

I love these mouse pads off of Etsy. I like to be able to customize them to my liking. :)

A lanyard, the more bling the better. Plus it goes with everything. We are required to wear our name badge. So of course I have to have something cute and blingy to go with it. What girl doesn't?

I know I know I've mentioned these pencils before . But they are my absolute favorite.There is still time, order them from Star fall. I actually ordered about 1000 of them to start school. A teacher can never have too many pencils. 

Coat Hanger Labels

I love the blog Queen of the First Grade Jungle. She has been getting her room all set up and has made the most adorable locker labels. I copied her idea and made some for my classroom. I didn't know if anyone else would like them as well. So I posted them on TPT for free. They are editable too.{ I hope so anyways} I tried it out for the first time. If you download them will you let me know if it worked for you? Check out Katie's too. Hers are way better than these. I love the chevron print she put on hers and she made the most adorable teacher gifts with them too. Click on the picture if you want to download them :).

Back to School Jitters Linky Party

I'm linking up with A Turn To Learn on  Jitters. Oh how I feel like the summer just flies by. It makes me sad. I have two children and I feel like you only get about 18 summers with them. Now another one is gone. I try to spend so much time with them during the summer because I feel like the school year is so busy and your running from one place to the next. It makes me sad to think one more summer gone. 

Giveaway Winner!!

The lucky winner is Katie from I want to be a Super Teacher. Thank you so much to all of you who entered. Katie email me and I will get your info and get your tile to you. :)

150 Giveaway

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Enlightened-Elephant

Home Studio was kind enough to donate one of their tiles to one of you. You only have to do two things to help your chances. 1 follow this blog. 2. Post about this giveaway on your blog to help your chances. Please leave your link in the comments section. I love these tiles. I purchased one for a teacher friend and they're so cute!! They have so many choices and Home Studio said that you could pick any tile of your choice if you are the winner. Yippeee!  I'm so sorry for some reason my rafflecopter is sick so I had to take it off. So if you entered through rafflecopter just leave a comment. So Sorry to those that entered already!!! Oh and the giveaway will end on Sunday 8/12

Currently

I'm linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade
Currently I'm......

I'm loving May books. I ordered the calendars. I found them off of Mrs. V's busy bees and I bought two. Groupon is having a great deal on these right now. You can order two for 25.00. If you ordered two off of  their site it would cost you about 40. 00. They 're so cute and you can personalize them. I ordered them as a gift for a couple of my teacher friends. Farley they do have MUSTACHE ONES. They are super cute and I thought of you!

Washi Tape who doesn't LOVE all the CUTE colors!! The endless possibilities!!

I can't wait to use my crayon sharpener. All the crayons go so dull in my room by  November so this will keep them sharp all year!! YIPPEE!!