Take a Second to Peek into 2nd- October!

I'm so excited! It's another post for the Take a Peek into 2nd series this school year. {Again, big thanks to Katie at Pop into Primary for starting this!} Know what I'm so excited about October? Because this is MY month!

I'm a very young teacher, and I have to say that I love my job! Last year I taught third grade, and in August I started with my sweet second graders. We have such a fun time!
I did not always live in Bowling Green. I grew up in Northern Kentucky about 10 minutes from downtown Cincinnati, Go Reds! I went to Western Kentucky University where I majored in elementary education. I'm an Alpha Delta Pi through and through, and I currently advise for my chapter.
I met my wonderful husband my first week at WKU and we were just married in December. He's a minister in town and we just love the married life!

For the next two days I'm pumped to have my rounding bundle for sale! This is a growing bundle, which means I plan to update it periodically with new sets. The best part is that when you buy it once, you never have to pay again! So hurry over and get this set now!

I have a Facebook page, Instagram, and you can always email me!

Please leave some love below. I would love to hear all about you, too!

Take a Second to Peek into 2nd!

This is the first post in a series throughout the school year where you will be able to meet some awesome second grade teacher-authors! Huge thanks to Katie at Pop into Primary for arranging this whole thing! I'm so excited!

This week, take a second to meet Jackie from Neat, Sweet & Hard to Beat!

 This is what Jackie shared about herself:

"I have been teaching for over 5 years in Fairfax County, Virginia!  I was born and raised here and attending FCPS schools myself.  Most of my experience is in the primary grades but I will admit teaching 2nd grade is my favorite!  I love teaching and creating engaging lessons is my passion.  I believe that learning should be hands-on, meaningful, engaging, and collaborative! We can't learn alone, we learn the most when we work with others! Believe me, my classroom sure isn't the quietest one on the hall because we are constantly up moving, learning and interacting!

Outside of school I am a wife to a wonderful guy and a mom to our new baby girl born in May of 2015! I love working out, spending time outside, and being with my family.

I got the name for my blog because it is teachers that are neat, sweet and hard to beat! Teachers make this world go round! Teachers are the most caring, creative and kind people I know!"

She has also put her This or That Cards on sale until Sunday! You can click the cover photo to head to her store, as well.

Check back every 22nd {we had some technical difficulties this month, oops!} to meet another amazing second grade teacher! I heard the October teacher is pretty cool :)

It's Not Too Late...

Seriously, it is not too late! Have you entered Brinca Into Bilingual's {HUGE} giveaway?

She has SO many gift cards and bundles you could win! Check out this one:

 

Do you see it??? My rounding task cards are in there! You could win ALL this for FREE! Can I win?

Make sure you don't miss out! I'd love to hear if you have entered, leave some love below.

Sunday Scoop- 9.20.15

It's Sunday again! Which means... Sunday Scoop! I'm so glad Teaching Trio started this link up. I feel like I'm able to get some thoughts down before another crazy week starts!

 

Also, have you signed up for Brinca Into Bilingual's Giveaway(s)?! If not, you're missing out! Good thing there's time left ;)

I've also been working on a set of vocabulary games that align with the Journey's Reading series. Do you use Journey's? No matter what reading series you use, how do you get your students to learn vocabulary while having fun?? Please leave some comments below, I would love some input!

Giveaway Party!

Yay! I just love a giveaway! Brinca Into Bilingual is celebrating 1,000 followers and she wants you to win!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

ALL GIVEAWAYS WILL RUN FROM SATURDAY 19TH (6AM CT) UNTIL TUESDAY 22ND (12AM CT)


Mrs. Nicolau is giving away TWO DIFFERENT items of your choice!
Here are your choices (click on the link to see the dimensions and more details):

Let's giveaway a gift card!! Enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a $25 TPT Giftcard! Remember the more entries you have, the more changes you have to win!!!









While we are throwing the house out the window, let's also celebrate with a $21.00 gift card from the AMAZING Melonheadz!

Last, but definitely not least! I have many blog friends that have joined me to celebrate this amazing event! They have all joined me to giveaway bundles by grades!!!

The first bundle is for our Bilingual teachers!

Next is the K-1 Bundle in English!

Last is our 2-3 Grades Bundle in English! {I'M IN HERE! WOOT WOOT!}

Are you excited enough?! We sure hope so! Stop by Mrs. Nicolau's blog to enter on all these great prizes!!!

While you are there, drop a note to her. She LOVES hearing from her readers! :)

Click on Brinca into Bilingual

The Sunday Scoop {9.13.15}

Happy Sunday! It's definitely my favorite day of the week. This week I am linking up with Teaching Trio for The Sunday Scoop.

3 things I have to do...

• I haven't finished a few of my plans for next week {EEK}. I was so proud of finishing my reading plans quickly, that I scooted on home on Friday. I need to finish those math and science plans!
• I like to have a general idea of meals for the week before it all starts. My husband and I are super busy most of the time, so really an idea of meals means "When are we going to be home?"
• In college, I majored in sorority life elementary education. My sorority was a HUGE part of my life for those four years, and it continues to be! I was Chapter President my senior year and fell in love with the impact a sorority can have in each of it's members. I recently started advising for the same chapter I was a member of, and it's great! We have a board meeting tonight so I will be heading out soon for that. 

2 things I hope to do...

• I am making my way through the study Seamless. It's a bible study that tells the story of the gospel and puts it all together. A lot of people know individual stories of the Bible, but do you know how they all fit into the big picture? Angie Smith does an excellent job of putting it all together to understand. I first heard Angie speak on a small devotional CD I keep in my car. She is so funny and so encouraging at the same time. PLUS, she's coming to my church in November! I am PUMPED! If you want to get your own copy of Seamless (and I suggest you do) check out her website here.
• It's Sunday, the week is about to start, my mind is in a million places, but all I want to do is lay on the couch! So, I hope that I can get some TV time to myself for just a little while today.

1 thing I'm happy to do...

•  My husband is the college pastor at a fairly large church in town. Western Kentucky University is right down the street, so we are ALWAYS with college students. At first, I wasn't excited to spend so much time with people that are in a chapter of life that I've closed. However, God has really slapped me in the face. I love it! People are always playing Mario Kart in our living room or coming over for some free food (because, seriously, who didn't love free food in college? Especially homemade). I'm so happy to do life with them and show them what it is like to leave college and still be involved in the lives of others.

So that's my Sunday Scoop! What is your scoop? Link up and leave some comments below so I can read your scoop!

It's September, what??

I have to start this by saying I am sitting on my couch, watching TV, and not worrying about a thing. The past two months have been crazy! And I'm sure of that because I haven't blogged since July 13th, eeeek!

To start, I have to jump for joy because my husband and I are currently living in a house. Yes, A HOUSE! We had been homeless from May until the beginning of August {many thanks to a pastor's family who let us live in a spare bedroom} and we are FINALLY living in our first home! Needless, we don't officially own the home {thanks, bank}, but we are so grateful for God's timing and allowing us to still move in. Here's our new abode!

This is before we did a COMPLETE overhaul. Our yard looks so different taken care of!

The house was a little under-par dirty when we moved in, and we have done so much work. Every wall repainted, hardwood completely re-stained (which is the whole house), all new fixtures, etc. Doing this at the same time as school starting has made me simply exhausted! But, I love it. However, it has forced me to neglect my blog, Instagram, and Facbeook! So, those are going to be put on the front lines now!

For now, you'll have to wait for classroom pictures. Trust me, I'm eager because I'm really proud of how it looks! But look at this treasure that was passed down to me from my mentor teacher. A life size Jack and Annie! I snapped this pic this summer while I was trying to get everything set up. How to be a FRIEND signs are from Digital Divide and Conquer.

 

A quick snapshot of our class, we have been learning about comparing numbers in math. As we are trying to drill home place value, we are also having fun with some games! The kids always love to write on their desks, so we partnered up and tried to quiz each other. You can use an Expo marker on a desk and Clorox wipes take it right off.

 

This week in reading we focused on Author's Purpose. We made these cute paper pies to study with! I prepped all the 'pies' by putting a brass fastener through two paper plates (use a pen to stick a quick hole through first) and then cut the top plate into fourths. We put 'Author's Purpose' on one flap, and P, I, and E on the remaining. Under each flap they named the purpose and wrote what it means. Afterward, they could color the top to look like their favorite pie! I wonder what kind of pie this was?

       

It's a three day weekend, so I think I will sit on my couch for a while long and watch the Jurassic Park marathon. What have you been up to in your classroom? Post the link below, I would love to find out!

Monday Made It- The Toolbox!

Happy Monday, everyone! I was actually looking forward to this Monday because it is my first link up! I'm excited to link up with 4th Grade Frolics and share what I've made recently!

I have seen these teacher toolboxes all over blogs, Pinterest, and instagrams. Finally, I decided that I wanted to create one as well. Boy, am I happy I took it on! My current classroom is smaller {much smaller} than my classroom from last year. I wanted my supplies in one place and easy to locate. This was perfect! But it was also EASY.

I chose the 18 drawer toolbox from Lowe's. I had seen some that had different sizes of drawers, but I don't mess around. I need my stuff to fit. And for a $3 difference, it wasn't even a question!

 My class colors are going to be blue and purple, and I just couldn't find labels that I liked. So I made my own :) I'm working on getting them up in my TpT store!
To get the labels in my the drawers I just used transparent tape. SO EASY! I probably finished the whole thing in 30 minutes.

 You can't see the tape!

And before I knew it I was finished! I am SO happy with it. Now, all I need is to get the hubby to come hang it :)

I've been trying to get this new room ready. I don't like staying at school for a long time, so I've been trying to chunk it. A little bit at a time, right?? Plus, laminating in the summer is the best! No lines and no rush! Can you see the How to Be a Friend posters from Digital: Divide & Conquer? You can get those here. I am so excited to hang them above my second grader's cubbies! You can grab the purple alphabet posters from my store here! Like I said, I've been specific with colors. So I made my own! {PLUS} everything is still a dollar in my store, so get it fast!

 One of my goals for the year is to increase high order thinking. I love when I can get the students to really think about their work. I snagged this cute thing at The Dollar Tree! I'm excited to put it to use.

That my was project this morning, and now I'm on to shopping with a friend! Tell me what you have made, I would love to know!

It's Such a Wonderful Summer!

Hello! I am SO excited to be on this journey and to start blogging. First, I have to brag on Shanon and Courtney at Blogs Fit for a Queen. WOW. They created this amazing page and were so easy to work with! If you're looking to start a blog or revamp your own, they are the girls to talk to.

It is currently summer, so I have been working on re-vamping everything for TpT, making some social media sites, and just loving being a newlywed! It's been so much fun that I wanted to do something special for my blog reveal! Everything in my store is going to be a $1.00! Click HERE to go straight there. This is a limited time offer, so do not miss out!

Thank you for taking the time to stop by, I hope you will continue this journey with me!