Thank you!

Holy cow, you guys are AMAZING!! It was a good thing I could check my email more frequently because there was a steady flow all day starting with almost 10 waiting on me when I got up for you true night owls (or maybe those of you on the west coast where it was only 9, not midnight). Or maybe it's just that most of you are already on summer vacation and don't have to worry about getting to bed at a reasonable hour for work in the morning.

I will be working on getting those emails out, but it may take me a little while since I have NINETY-EIGHT emails to send out. Good grief! Oh, and I'm up to 360 followers - over halfway to 400 in just a day! Plus today is actually going to be Field Day #2, so I'll be a little wiped. Maybe I'll get some pictures though.

Anyway, I want to take a minute to thank those lovely ladies who donated items to my flash giveaway. Please stop by their blogs and shops to follow them if you don't already because this giveaway wouldn't have been nearly as awesome without them!

Jessica is a 4th grade teacher in Georgia.

TPT Store

Diane teaches 5th grade in Iowa.

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Sara just moved to Alabama and is looking for a job.

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Amy is a Title I reading teacher from Ohio.

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Nikki is a first grade teacher in Virginia. TPT Store Andrea is a reading specialist (like me!) on the other side of Virginia.

TPT Store Jessica is a 5th grade teacher in New Jersey.

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Sara is a kindergarten teacher in Minnesota.

TPT Store Amber is a 4th grade teacher in Massachusetts. TPT Store Mary teaches in Tennessee and works with 2nd and 3rd grade students. TPT Store

Donna is a 5th grade teacher and fellow Virginian!

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Laura teaches 4th grade in New York

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I also decided for my addition to the flash giveaway, I wanted to do something that was fun and new. My drawing conclusions mysteries have become some of my most popular products, and I finished this one yesterday specifically for you!  However, if you were one of the poor, unfortunate souls who missed my giveaway and didn't have a chance to comment yesterday, you can still purchase it by clicking on the links below. I have so much fun making these, and I plan on making even more!

TN or TPT

300 follower FLASH giveaway!

Can you believe it? Once again, I have reached a milestone, and it's only been 9 months since I started this little blog! I really wanted to have a big celebration this time, so I decided to do something a little different. Instead of having a bunch of donations and only one or two winners, I am having a FLASH giveaway!

That means that all you have to do is follow me and leave a comment below by midnight TONIGHT! Don't forget to include your email. I will send an email (or more depending on the size) with all of the products you win. Then be sure and show your appreciation to their blogs as well! I will post later and list all of them (first I want to make sure I have everything nailed down - plus it will be a nice surprise, right?) thanking them for participating!

Don't forget to pass this along to your friends as well, but they have to comment by MIDNIGHT! It will be over in a flash!

A few random things on my LAST MONDAY!

**Make sure you read to the end!!**

It's the last Monday for the kids this year, and I'm so excited! Today was supposed to be Field Day #2 and I even made it to school dressed for field day, but we had to postpone again. The weather has been nasty since Friday. Last night, we were actually under a tornado warning. Somebody snapped this picture at the Lowe's not even a mile away from my house.

Our power had flickered, but everything was fine. I think it jumped around a few times, though. We were at my in-law's about 5 miles from our house and noticed it was really windy. I think we were very close to the tornado there. Craziness! Fortunately tornadoes in Virginia are nothing like the ones in the Midwest, though.

Have you heard about Sara's big 1 year celebration? She's had a giveaway every day for the past 5 days, and I'm involved in today's giveaway. Winner will get their choice of any item in my store, and you could choose my brand new summer literacy pack! Sara actually was one of the lovely ladies who reviewed it for me. I posted it in both stores this morning.

TN or TPT

Since I'm not running games today, I will be busy working on end-of-the-year progress reports, and I may even work on packing up my class. I'm dressed to work, after all!

Oh, and if you're still reading...did you see that I've reached 300 followers? So excited! I have a little something planned to celebrate. Just be sure to check out my blog tomorrow.

Five for Friday - June 7

It's a WET Friday, but we only have 5 more school days! I'm linking up with Kacey again to talk about my week so far. Now that testing is finally over, it was actually a more interesting week!

Monday was a personal day for me since we went to Chattanooga for my college roommate's wedding. It was so much fun! I had my camera, but I didn't end up getting any pictures during the wedding because Keagan was quite the handful. We also got to spend a little bit of time in Knoxville visiting Steven's brother and his family. I snapped this picture before we got on the road. These kids are SO sweet, and I wish we could see them more often! Marissa was my flower girl almost 7 years ago, and I can't believe she's about to be in middle school (5th grade for her school), and Jacob was born about a month after Steven and I got engaged. They've grown so much!

When I got back on Tuesday, it was time to get in full swing for running records. My para and I worked on these all day Tuesday and Wednesday, and we're trying to finish helping some more teachers today. Hopefully we'll be done by the end of the day because I want to focus on end of the year packets and progress reports next week.

Wednesday morning right at the end of first lunch, the fire alarm went off. The strange part was that we had had a fire drill the morning before. I figured it was popcorn burning again (isn't that almost always the culprit?), and it turns out I was right!

For some reason, though, the alarm didn't trigger and call the fire department, and there was some confusion with the SRO as to whether it was a drill or an actual incident. The fire department didn't get there until later because of this, and we ended up being outside for about 30 minutes. When I walked back in, they were still in the teacher's lounge with huge fans trying to blow out the smoke/smell. Since this is not the first time we've had this happen (burnt popcorn, that is), these flyers were placed in our boxes and by every microwave in the building that afternoon.

Oops!! Guess I'm not doing a popcorn party anytime soon!

Yesterday was Field Day #1 (for K-2), and I was in charge of running the Sponge Relay. It was the perfect day for a field day! Overcast and warm with a slight breeze. The kids had a blast getting completely soaked!

Today was supposed to be Field Day #2, but...

I should have taken a picture of where I was standing for bus duty. I chose to wear flip flops instead of dealing with my rain boots (regret that decision), so just walking out to bus duty was disgusting. I stood on the sidewalk where the water had already reached the bottom of my feet (it's the lower part of the parking lot) to keep the kids from walking through it. By the time they had passed, only a few minutes later, it was almost to my ankles. I had to quickly roll up my pants to keep them from getting soaked.

We're supposed to go out with our small group tonight to celebrate my birthday (next Thursday) and one of the other guys' birthday, but it's in "the bottom". I really hope it's not flooded down there because I REALLY want some Bottom's Up pizza!

Try to stay dry this weekend if you're in Andrea's path. And for those of you who are already out (and I'm aware that number's growing), I'll be joining your ranks NEXT Friday!!

I'm a guest blogger!

Not going to make a long post today (it's Field Day #1 for us), but I did want to share that I did a guest post for Tina over at Mrs. Crofts' Classroom yesterday. She's such a sweetie, and I was thrilled to blog for her. Go check it out!

I'm also only TWO followers away from reaching 300 (can't believe it happened so quickly!), and I have big plans for a giveaway. If you would be interested in helping, check out this form to sign up. I already have eight lovely ladies on board!

June Workshop Wednesday

I'm linking up with Jivey for her monthly edition of Workshop Wednesday! Instead of every week, we'll do one each month.

This month's theme is one I can get behind BIG time because it's all about Pinterest! I'm sure there are tons of you with me who are crazy about Pinterest, too. I spent a long time last summer reorganizing my boards and probably have about 8 boards that are related to teaching only. Please feel free to follow me here! Now for the pins. I didn't do any math pins because I don't teach it, however I do have a board for math, science, and social studies ideas that I made when I was teaching 4th grade.

Reading:


In the upper grades, it's such a huge thing to focus on your thinking as a reader. Since I work with the struggling readers, I see this need even more. Many of my students just rush through a book and never stop to think about what's going on. I love this anchor chart with codes for thinking.

Writing:


In fifth grade for VA, students have to take the writing SOL. We have some very weak writers, and so I want to focus on expanding sentences to make them more interesting. I also plan on using Jivey's Mentor Sentences. I've already pinned her second pack that she just finished, and I'm hoping to buy it soon!

*June* Currently

Update: Apparently my brain wasn't completely caught up with the fact that the month of JUNE is actually here because I just noticed my post was accidentally titled "May Currently". We're on the right track now!

I know this is technically my second post of the day, but it's the first with some substance. Plus you know I have to link up with Farley!

Listening:  We had a wedding for one of my best friends from college earlier today, and Keagan missed his nap. Plus he's sleeping in a pack-n-play since we're traveling. Makes for one very restless little boy! Hopefully he'll be out soon.

Loving: We (almost) finished up Friday, but I won't be there Monday as we travel back home. So glad to be done!

Thinking: My college friends are still some of my closest friends, so I love any chance to see them. Hopefully there will be another chance very soon.

Wanting: If I could take a picture of my phone with my phone, I would show you how terrible it looks. I dropped it about a month ago (the good news is that I didn't drop Keagan, who was in my arms as well), and it suffered greatly. We're not quite up for an upgrade, but I think we may pay NTelos a visit and see what we can do. I certainly cannot afford a new phone at full price.

Needing: Self explanatory

3 Vacay Essentials: I love to wear comfy dresses when on vacation, and sunscreen is a must for this girl. Then who doesn't love to read a good book on the beach?

Go link up!