My first Five for Friday and a FREEBIE!

This is a busy, yet fun time of year, so this post is going to be full of information! With that, I figured it was the perfect time to join in Doodle Bug's Five for Friday, especially when I realized I already had 4 things!

1. We always have reading month during the month of March, and this year's theme is Where the Wild Things Are. I love that little book!

We always have a door decoration contest, so I was trying to think of the best way to decorate my door. My favorite saying from the book is "I'll eat you up, I love you so", and I thought it would be cute to do something related to that. Here's what I finally came up with:

And I surprised myself with my artistic talent. I hand-drew this big guy. It took me a LONG time though!

Then I decided it would be cute to do tally marks for the books read "eaten" in my class.

Since I'm mostly push-in, we are shooting for 100 books (already at 33) in 3 weeks. If the school as a whole reads 40,000 books in 3 weeks, each grade will have a "wild rumpus". I'm not exactly sure what that will entail, but the kids are excited!

2. Since today was the last day before St. Patrick's Day, we did my Lucky Seven craft (how funny that I ended up having 7 kids complete it!). I thought they turned out pretty cute for the most part! Some of my kids are just going to throw something together no matter what, and I guess I just have to accept that.

You can get that craft at my TN or TPT store for $3 if you still want to do some St. Patty's Day activities next Monday. Don't forget to join my Lucky Seven linky as well. I'm up to 5 link-ups and hope some more of you will join in!

3. Today, I decided I needed to go ahead and put together my Easter craft. I went really simple, but it's what I wanted to do for this one. Click the picture or links below to pick this up for FREE!

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4. I am trying to finish up my Spring Literacy Centers. The clip art has been changed out (I used Krista's Creative Clips this time and LOVE her stuff!), but I still need to work on changing everything from St. Patty's Day theme to spring in general. Keep an eye out for it soon, though! I'm hoping to have it finished by next week.

5. This is my 100th post! I can't believe that I've had 100 hopefully useful things to say since I started this blog back in August. I feel like I'm growing so much as a blogger, TPT seller, and, most importantly, a teacher. You guys help with that so much!

Is anyone doing anything fun for St. Patty's Day this weekend? Steven and I had talked about doing a little party at our house, but we just haven't gotten anything together. Maybe we'll work something out and have a few people over, but he has grad school work to do (6 more weeks!) and never has free time. We'll see. Hopefully we can at least do something!

Lucky Seven AND another mystery packet!

I mentioned yesterday that I was working on a craftivity that was inspired by my newest linky party, and I was able to put the finishing touches on it this morning! I had to change the hair for the girl option so it would work with the leprechaun hat. Then I was having some trouble with sizing, so I had to keep printing and putting it together to make sure it fit and looked right.

Then I had my helping otter put one together as an example for my students. I need to run out and get some construction paper for them to do it, though, because I have learned that I have some slow and/or lazy colorers. Have you found this to be true in your class? When they did my Valentine craft, I actually had some 1st graders walk by and say, "Those are really ugly! They can't color." That's pretty bad. I teach the oldest kids, and 1st graders think their work looks bad. It did, though. I was a little embarrassed to hang it up, and I only left it up there for a few days. So I think I'm going to make it easier for them to complete this time. I'll take pictures (if they turn out right), but here's my helping otter's example (isn't it cute?):

I posted the craftivity on TN and TPT. Please feel free to pin away! I love finding my items on Pinterest!

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Don't forget to go link up if you haven't already!

Then I decided to make another drawing conclusions mystery after reading a request for more like my Case of the Secret Admirer. This one is a St. Patrick's Day theme as well, and I changed it up a little. This one includes a map of Ireland, and students have to use directional sense to help them solve the crime.

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I bought my clipart to start working on spring literacy centers soon, but those usually take a few days to finish, so I won't have them up until sometime next week. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day, so I think I'm going to head on to bed. I haven't had a full work day since Monday with my meetings and a delay this morning!

My Lucky Seven

I'm finally doing it! I've wanted to host my own linky party for a while now, and the time has finally come. For those of you who have followed me for a little while, you may already know that I LOVE St. Patrick's Day almost as much as Christmas. It's just a really fun holiday to me! So I created a linky for the entire month of March. I hope you'll join in!

Graphics from www.mycutegraphics.com

The rules to this linky are simple. List 7 things in your life that you are "lucky" or blessed to have. Then please copy the button and link back to this post! Oh, and let's do the rule of 3. Comment on the two people who post before you and one after so we can meet new people!

Here are my seven:

My husband, Steven

This picture is from a wedding we were in a few years ago, but I love it!

My husband has become my best friend, and he really is AMAZING! He takes care of me, showers me with love, stands up to me when needed (I AM stubborn, so I need this a lot), and is a wonderful daddy! I couldn't have been any luckier when finding the man I want to spend the rest of my life with!

Keagan

Christmas 2012

This little goober has only been a part of my life for a short time, but he has become my pride and joy! He melts my heart and makes me want to pull out my hair at the same time. Having a child really is a great way to have even a glimpse of the love that God has for us - that unconditional, I-love-you-even-when-you-poop-all-over-me-and-my-last-clean-pair-of-pants kind of love! And yes, that did happen shortly after I brought him home from the hospital.

My family

Thanksgiving 2012

I don't get to see my family too often because they live in GA (and my sister in MS), but they are the people who helped shape me into the woman I am today. I'm doubly blessed though, because Steven's family has accepted me as one of them, and I really am proud to be a Dalton!

My in-laws

My sister-in-law's wedding a few years ago

I hear so many horror stories about in-laws, but honestly I can't say one negative thing about mine! I truly feel like I'm a daughter. Steven even jokes that if something went wrong, they're more likely to take my side! Becky and Steven's parents have especially done so much for us, taking care of Keagan, helping with errands, and spoiling our child ROTTEN! They're the best!

My small group

Halloween 2012 with most of the kids from our group

It's been great to be a part of a group who are all in about the same phase in life. We had babies within months of each other and are now raising small children together. There are four couples, and we are finally beginning to add adults (we think they were scared to join because they might get pregnant ;-). These couples have become some great friends, and I really enjoy spending time with them each week. I'm even sad when I have to skip out of group.

My job and coworkers

A few of the girls hanging out to celebrate the weekend

I've worked at the same school since I graduated, and I can honestly say that the majority of the time I'm very happy there! I have a principal that lets us try new things to see what works (this year, we went almost entirely to CAFE and Daily 5, and we were encouraged to basically throw out the basals!), and I have some pretty awesome coworkers, too! These girls are great teachers who would all fit right into this whole blogging community (a few of them are blog stalkers already), and they've got amazing ideas! I love that they inspire me to be a better teacher!

My God and faith in Him

I stole this picture from a girl at our church. She's a GREAT photographer!

I wouldn't call this luck by any means, but really none of it is. I was blessed to be raised in a strong Christian family and given good Christian friends along the way to help me grow. With that, God has continued to protect me in every way. I've never really been in need for anything. Good health (rarely visit the doctor), enough money to make ends meet (although college was pretty tight), a safe place to live, etc. I know that being a Christian doesn't necessarily mean that everything will go well for me. I mean, look at Job in the Bible. Still, God has chosen to bless me beyond measure! Too often I forget to thank him for that.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my lucky seven, and PLEASE pass this along to your friends! I'd love to have a good turn out for my first linky party!

New Magic Tree House pack

I'm a little afraid to say it after the past two weeks, but the Dalton household seems to finally be on the mend! Now I'm praying for warmer weather to stick around (most days this week have a high of 50 or more, so I'm hopeful) because this girl is TIRED of cold, dreary days. I don't know what I'll do with myself with a full week at school, though! It's been a little while between holidays and doctor visits.

This morning, I finished my newest Magic Tree House series! Isn't it cute? This one seems to be on a little higher level, and I had a lot of fun making it. Very cute story! I may even go back and add more to this unit because I thought about adding a biography sheet for Lady Gregory. You can click on the links below to find it.

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I'm keeping it short tonight because it's my favorite night for TV. How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, and Biggest Loser. I missed everything last week because I felt like crap and went to bed when Keagan went to bed. Got some catching up to do this week!

New products

We had yesterday off for President's Day, and there were great plans for the day. First, we took Keagan to Keagan's, this fun little Irish restaurant (we had the name picked out first). Then we were going to go to the Children's Museum. Keagan really deserved a chance to play and enjoy himself INSIDE so he wouldn't get sick anymore. But after we finished eating, it was too close to his naptime and we didn't want to waste $16 when he didn't even get to enjoy himself. Then I started feeling crappy. Still not sure what it was, but I went home and took a nap. THEN I went to bed at 7. I missed all of my Monday night shows, and I still felt kind of bad when I woke up this morning. No fever or anything contagious. Just really weak and feel like I can't eat anything. I had crackers and a banana for lunch. And lots of water. Hopefully whatever it is will pass. I hate feeling crummy...

Anyway, before Monday, I had a wonderful weekend and actually got a few things accomplished.

I finished my St. Patty's Day centers! This time around, I use graphics from Ashley Hughes. Aren't they adorable? Steven even read over this pack for me and was very impressed. Maybe that will help when I'm spending hours blogging or working on new products. At least he's now seen what I do and likes it! Just like the other packs, there are 4 comprehension centers (fact and opinion, cause and effect, main idea and details, and drawing conclusions) and 4 word knowledge centers (suffixes, synonyms, antonyms, and guide words). Please feel free to pin as well!

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Then I finally finished my literature pack for this book.

Have you read it? It's a great Roald Dahl book for lower readers because it's short and funny (like all of his books). Did you know that you can't include the cover in your units, though? I had no idea until Kate reviewed my unit for me. Thanks for letting me know, and now I'm working to take out the book images in any other packs I have. Oops!

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Hopefully I will be able to add a few more units soon. I'm working on another Magic Tree House unit: Leprechaun in Late Winter.

Then I have a writing activity planned. AND I even have an idea for my very first linky party! Can you tell I love St. Patty's Day?

School craziness and some St. Patty's Day fun

This has been a CRAZY week! How about we spread out a few holidays so we have time to do everything? Not only did we have Valentine's Day, President's Day, and Mardi Gras (well, I did a little something for that), today was the 100th day! Oh, and did I mention that not only was I out Monday, but I ended up being out again yesterday? This week might has well have been a wash, and it's a good thing that Monday is a holiday.

Then I come back today, and we have TWO big incidents. First, a kid gets hit by a bus. Really. A kindergartener. I don't know exactly what happened because I missed bus duty while trying to catch up with teachers about what we were going to do (I would've done this yesterday had I been here). He's fine, but he's got a big bruise. The parents let him stay at school though. But WHILE this is happening, a fourth grader started choking and they had to call 911. Apparently he looked really bad, and his teacher (my former neighbor and teammate) was in hysterics from everything. She had to go home. Everyone was pretty shaken up from it, so it must've been a big deal.

So I know everybody at my school is very ready for this weekend. If it decides to snow Monday night, we might even take that, too.

Anyway, I have been working on my next products, and I've got a few things coming! I want to do something for Dr. Seuss's birthday, and I'm leaning toward some activities with his very first book, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

 

 No real ideas yet, but if you have suggestions or things you'd like to see, let me know!

My second favorite holiday is coming up soon, and that's what I've been working on this week. I finished my St. Patty's Day Literacy centers, and it's going through the editing phase right now. It should be posted by Monday. I think it's adorable. I used Ashley Hughes' clipart, and I love it!

I'm also working on two new literacy units. The first, Fantastic Mr. Fox, is one that I'm starting with one of my groups of kids. I LOVE Roald Dahl books, and this is a great one for struggling readers in the upper grades. It's a level P, but the story line is easy to follow, and the book is short - like 81 pages. I need short books with my groups because we only have 30 minutes (if that) AND mine check to see how much longer the book will take.

The other unit is related to St. Patty's Day again. I forgot I had a copy of Magic Tree House: Leprechaun in Late Winter. I emailed both of these to myself to work on this weekend, but we'll see how much I actually do. I am at least to chapter 5 for both, so it's possible! I'll probably ask for help reviewing both of these packets when I finish, so make sure you follow my Facebook page to get this chance!

Okay, now I'm going back to work on those packets some more. Steven's helping his dad, and Keagan's down for a late nap, so this might be the only chance I get to work on them this weekend! In case I don't get back on here this weekend, enjoy your long weekend!

By the way, if you want a chance at a free blog design, go check out Ruby Slippers Blog Design. She's having a giveaway!