NEW JOURNEY

Happy Monday everyone. It's been awhile since my last post. I've had so many things going on in my life, including a job hunt! I have been driving two hours a day in order to get to work and after having a baby I am DONE with the drive! I applied to a new county (the one I live in) and finally was offered a job!! 

I currently teach 3rd and will be moving to 6th grade special education. WHAT.A.CHANGE.

Although I am super nervous because middle school is a whole new world, I am excited to try something new :) If you have any tips for a first year special education teacher I would greatly appreciate it! I will be co-teaching in an inclusion general education class. Needless to say, the style of this blog will be making a shift into the middle school special education world. I still feel that many of the games and centers I have made can be differentiated for most grade levels. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and an awesome summer break!!!

April GIVEAWAY!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I am in the "springy" mood today and feel very giving :) I'm trying to build up my shop on Teachers Notebook, as well as my new Instagram account. Follow me on IG @theelementarylife to see how I run my classroom, new products, activities, and other exciting things going on in the life of this teacher + wife + mommy <3

Head on over to my Teacher's Notebook shop HERE and enter in my giveaway for a Sentences and Fragments Bundle! There will be FIVE winners so don't miss it! It will run from tomorrow until Sunday. Please follow my shop on Teachers Notebook and get more opportunities at sales and giveaways!

CURRENTLY FEBRUARY 2016

I haven't done a CURRENTLY in awhile. I want to get back into it. It's a great way to discover new blogs and communicate with other bloggers! Here we go...


Want to participate and discover some new blogs? Head over to:
Oh Boy It's Farley!

Sponsored by:

1. Listening: I am LOVING listening to my little 6 1/2 month old babble. She is sooo close to saying mama and I love it! I know...more exciting to me than anyone else ;)

2. It's Friday and I am so excited to spend time with my baby girl. Hubby works weekends so this is our special time!

3. JUNE. What more can I say? I'm a teacher...a teacher who is looking to stay at home next year and work from home...let me know if you hear of any work at home opportunities for teachers!

4. I want to make some more products for my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Between working full-time, raising a baby, AND going to grad school, that doesn't leave me much time.

5. Zulily..need I say more? It's a problem.

6. Swooning over my baby. Constantly. Here she is...

Copy and paste this picture into Paint so you can fill in your own info!

Teacher's Notebook Shop GIVEAWAY & Valentine's Day Ideas

Happy Friday! I'm not sure why I am JUST NOW discovering Teachers Notebook...I love the layout, the products, and the great features it includes. I have my own Teachers Pay Teachers store that you can check out HERE but I decided to create a shop on Teacher's Notebook to have another place to put all my products. I'm including paid digital products as well as freebies! :)

Teacher's Notebook GIVEAWAY for Black History: GIVEAWAY HERE!

Next subject...Valentine's Day! <3 I have a couple Valentine's Day products that you can find at my TPT store. If you're not into Valentine's Day literacy and math centers, I've included some great blogs that have craft ideas for your kids!

Fireflies & Mudpies

Rainbow Heart Suncatchers

This craft would be SUPER easy to do in a busy classroom. Click the link to find out how to make them :) I'm definitely going to try these with my third graders!

 

Crafts Unleashed

Pom Pom Monster

Um...how freakin' cute! These take a little more work but are so adorable for any kid!

Crafty Morning

Handprint Monkey Valentine Craft

This would be great for the younger kids. This blog has step by step directions with pictures to get the perfect product!

Comment below with a link to your Valentine's Day crafts! I'm going to do one with my kids next week and post it for you guys! Thanks for stopping by :)

TPT Sale!

It's been a crazy few months since I've posted. Life has been crazy with a 6 month old and 16 third graders! My entire TPT store is 20 percent off for you all! Click HERE to check it out! I will be posting soon with some Valentine's crafts that you can do with your kiddos! :)

Veteran's Day Freebie

Hi everyone! I'm back in the classroom with all its hectic glory! I was nervous about coming back after maternity leave, but I got into the swing of things quickly! Veteran's day is coming up this week and I wanted my students to have a few writing prompt choices. Have your students color the borders and clip art, too :)

 

Click here to head to my TpT store and grab this freebie!

Back to Work and TPT Sale

My maternity leave is coming to an end, which makes for an emotional week for me. I've been dreading this. I've been brainstorming how I can stay at home and quit my job. Downsize? Cut our cable and sell a car? After all of this contemplating I came to the conclusion that I need to go back to work. This isn't just for me, but for my daughter as well. I want her to look up to me and see the difference that I am making in children's lives everyday. As fellow educators, you know that this is one of the most special jobs one can have. We don't make a lot of money, so sure, I could probably survive after quitting. At  this point in time, I don't think it's the right decision for me or my family. I've spoken to many friends and family as well as cried to my husband how I can't leave my baby girl. It's a hard decision, but this teacher has got to get back to work :) Once we get into a routine again I'm sure I'll be okay! All mothers go through this, right? :)

I love my job and am excited to get the new school year started. I'm nervous about coming into my classroom after other rules and routines have been established. I will do another post a few weeks after I go back and give you all an update on how it went and tips for returning after maternity leave.

So because this is my last week on maternity leave, I'm throwing a sale for fun! My entire TPT store is 15% off. Click HERE to get there! I hope you find something that you like :) Check out the freebies, too!

*The sale will run from October 3rd through October 5th

 

Here is my daughter, Bailey Rae. She was born on July 26th, 2015.

 

Have a good weekend :)

Multiplication Freebie!

Hi everyone! I was due with my baby girl on Monday and STILL no baby! So I needed something to do to pass the time. I created a multiplication freebie for all of my teacher friends. It's up on my TpT store now! You can grab it HERE!

My third graders struggle with mastering their multiplication facts so I'm always looking for new and interesting ways to get them engaged in the process. We play lots of multiplication centers so I need to have a good supply of materials so they don't get bored of the same old games. This center can be played a few different ways. I've included a cover page, directions, and 44 facts. Let me know what you think!

Back to School Already???

Happy Summer Break!!! As I'm preparing for my maternity leave, I wanted to get something made up for my substitute to do with the kids for the first week. This packet can be given to almost any elementary grade level, although it might be a tad too easy for 4th and 5th grade.

Check the product out here at my TPT store!

End of the Year Sale!

Happy Friday!

My entire TpT store will be 10 percent off from May 29th to June 1st! I am so excited for summer break so I wanted to share my excitement with you. I will be working hard over the summer to add more products to my store for use next year. I will be on maternity leave until October so that should hopefully give me some more time :)

Check out my store HERE!

Also...I've opened an Etsy shop! Ever since becoming pregnant I've been searching for printables to decorate the nursery, gender announcements, and all other things baby! What I didn't realize is that I can make those things right in my living room...so I opened a shop up to share what I've created :)

Here's a little peak at what my Etsy shop has to offer! Head on over and let me know what you think!

Check out my shop HERE!

As always, thank you for stopping by!

Fact and Opinion Bundle!

Happy Wednesday! I just posted a new product on my Tpt Store that I LOVE! This fact and opinion bundle includes a poster, two worksheets, and a center! Head on over to my store to grab it! You can use it as a center or a mini-lesson. I have an assistant that works in my room during our literacy block so this will be super useful when teaching my students about fact and opinion. Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for stopping by!

                                                                               

TpT Sale!

Happy Monday everyone! I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that my Teachers Pay Teachers store will be 20 percent off on February 25th and 26th! Make sure you head over and check out some of the products!

Some popular ones this month are...

Click HERE to snag this!

Click HERE to snag this!

Click HERE to snag this!

Click HERE to snag this!

Thanks for stopping by!

                                                                                   

Fractions on a Number Line Center

It has been MONTHS since I've written a blog post. This school year has been by far the most stressful one yet. This week we have had two snow days so I really focused on getting another product created for my TpT store!

Your kids struggle with fractions on a number line? Here is a super fun center for your kids to work on! Click here to head to my store and grab the product!

My Classroom Tour!

Phew! I made it through the first week of school! I am now as ready as I'll ever be to reveal my classroom for the 2014-2015 school year!

 

This is my reading focus wall. I don't have that many bulletin boards, so I used contact paper to create a board behind my guided reading table. I then hot glued clothes pins to hold up my laminated paper. I put Velcro up as well so that I could change out the labels if I ever wanted to. The pocket chart in the center is for my vocab words for each group!

This is my FAVORITE spot in my room. This is my reading corner. I haven't finished the bulletin board yet. I got the purple rug from Wal-Mart for about $15. The cute chevron table was $10 from Ross and the rest of the furniture is old. I covered up my wooden doors with contact paper to create a super cute and bright Word Wall. The shelf on the right has all of my book baskets that are sorted by genre.

It's kind of hard to see, but the banner that I made says "Math is a Hoot!" Looking at it now, I'd like to have lighter paper so that the letters could be more visible. I do not have the time or energy to fix it at the moment :) My bulletin board paper is actually wrapping paper that I bought from the dollar section at Target.

I found this awesome idea on Pinterest! Like I said previously, I don't have much bulletin board space, so I created this one with contact paper. I hot glued clothes pins to the wall so that I can swap out student work. This also shows my mailbox system which is a hot mess with all of the first day packet stuff :)

Try dressing up your door or bulletin boards with mix/match borders! I love this!

My job board is on a door that leads to the outside. I covered it with contact paper and it looks so much better. I love this!

I'm going to end my classroom tour with my favorite desk skirt that I made a couple years ago. This was super easy and didn't take much time at all. If you like that big chunky letter on my desk, they are 50% off at Michael's Arts and Crafts! :)

 

I'll post more classroom pictures very soon! :) Leave a link to your blog so I can check out your classroom!

DIY Project

Summer is coming to an end, so I'm gathering all of my new pieces of décor for my third grade classroom this year! My latest project is a writing table. I found a super nice wooden table for $10 at Habitat for Humanity. I transformed it into a bright yellow writing table! I will post more pictures when I get it all set up in my classroom! :)

I used:
sandpaper
spray paint primer
yellow spray paint (you could use paint and primer in one)

FREEBIE and TPT Sale

It's that time to start getting our classrooms ready for school, so that means a Teachers Pay Teachers SALE! My entire store will be 20 % off August 4-5. Click the image below or click here to get to it! I've also got a new FREEBIE that you can download here! My next post will be all about the first week of school and fun activities to do in your classroom so stay tuned! Have a great weekend!!!