New Year's Chance for a Give Away

Today is the last day of 2012. . . I've had a good time with this year. A lot has happened. . . and before it ends, I'm sure a lot more will happen.

The best part of this year is adding my granddaughter to our family. At 6 months old, she is so full of life and fun to be around. How can you NOT smile when you see her?

 Having all my kids around at Christmas was a huge thing. Thank God for family.

Worrying about my parents will be a normal thing from now on. Mom is still hospitalized and goes up and down. She says she is ready to go. She knows and we know she doesn't want to live a life in constant care by someone else. But ultimately, God gets to choose when she is ready to leave this Earth. Dad is now sick with a pretty bad upper respiratory infection, but he is on antibiotics and will wait for him to heal.

My blog anniversary is coming up soon. . .very soon. I can't tell you how happy I am that I started doing this. If anyone else is wondering IF they should make one. . . I would say "Go For IT!"  I've met people, learned things, shared things, created things and felt compassion for others here. It's a great safe place to go when you want to get away from your day job!

Speaking of creating. . . I bought some cute Valentine trains from Scrappin Doodles and thought I'd make something for my son-in-law's classroom. He teaches Kindergarten in Texas. I'm not sure if this activity is right where kinders need to be, if it's too easy, or too hard. I guess some of you will have to tell me.

It's a counting, sorting, and sequencing activity. It's bright, colorful and 

I've used some of my clip art from DJ Inkers. 

You can check this out in my TPT Store. 

I will also give 3 of them away by the end of tomorrow, the first day of 2013. I need you tell me about your favorite blog, or your own blog, or a new blog you just found out about. I want to see if there's a great blog that I haven't heard about that I should be following. Don't forget to follow me and leave your email address.

Happy New Year!
Patty

Sequencing and a Giveaway. . yup a chance for free.

It snowed beautifully this morning. . . Just like in a snow globe! 

That's the kind of winter I like.

I decided not to go to the hospital today as two of my other sisters were going to be there all day. I think it got confusing and overwhelming for mom and dad to have so many making decisions and talking. So my baby sister (she's no baby, believe me. . . she's 48!) stayed home. We'll both go tomorrow.  Mom had the scope today. They found 2 ulcers, put clips/staples in one and cauterized the other. Now we need to work on her blood pressure, and hemoglobin.

  I tell you what. .. . I know more about our bodies than I ever cared to know about!

In my  extra time here at home, I felt the need to create. So I made these cutsified sequencing activities. I had just purchased the clipart from Scrappin Doodles and knew that I needed to be productive today!

This set has numbers from 100-300.

This set has numbers from 300-600. They are very simple. Kids just need to arrange them in order from smallest to largest. Shouldn't take very long for them to do. There is nothing for them to write down, but there is an answer key if they want to check their work.

I'm selling each set for $2.00 each at my TPT Store.

I will give three of them away. Leave me a comment telling me which set you'd like, become one of my followers, leave your email address,  and I'll have my husband pick 3 random numbers to see who gets them.

I'll announce the winners tomorrow night sometime.

Have you visited Sos-Supply's Blogoversary giveaway yet? 

If not, you better get over there. Great prizes and all for free!

Patty

Blogoversary and Update On My MOM!

I'm joining Sue at SOS Supply for her one year anniversary give away! I know you'll want to stop by her blog and enter it. . . Wait till you see all the fun things that you could win! And I mean FUN!

I also want to share that I've been MIA for a couple days. . . my mom was admitted to a hospital on Christmas night and I've been with her and my sisters since then. My time is a blur. Long story . . . shortened. . . She has internal bleeding, found an ulcer, continues to bleed, change to a bigger hospital, throroughly go over all the questions. . . and put her into a new room. Tomorrow morning they'll do another scope to see if the ulcer in question looks same, different, or what?

I have felt the prayers of many many oodles of friends around the country. Boy that truly helps. At times I thought we were losing her and then she'd perk back up. . . I feel like we are in a good place right now and that she will get over this and be able to come home. Time will tell. But when you are 89. . . 90 in January. . . how much more of this can you do? My dad is worried. . . but tries to be the valiant one. . . what man wouldn't? His stubborness will help him through this.

I've seen a lot of great things going on while surfing the web on my ipad at the hospitals. . .but feel numb to take advantage of anything. It's funny how something like this can shadow over what used to be fun. I'll get back into it. . . . For now, I just want to say I love all of you and all of your support and the warm fuzzy feelings you give me.

It also causes me to think. . . if I feel this way about possibly losing my mom. . . how do all those parents in Newtown feel? Hmmmmm?

Now go over to SOS-Supply and support her celebration!

Patty

Blog's Best & Brightest

I'm joining Christina Bainbridge in her Blog Best and Brightest Linky Party.

I love this idea. It gives all of us a chance to see what we may have missed during the year. There is no way that I can catch every cool idea that fits my needs. A linky party like this will help you and me refresh our memories and find some way cool things to do with our kids. 

I started my blog in January and my blogaversary is coming up soon. 

Come back in January for a fun give away.

As I looked back over my sales I have a couple that stand out as my best sellers. I started selling in August and while I'm not on the top ten list or even the top 100. . . I think I do ok for me. I make things that I can use in my classroom and love to share them with you too. If I make a little money on the side than I'm as happy as a clam!

My best seller was the Christmas Fact and Opinion Actvity.

The second biggest seller was the Pumpkin Pronouns. 

One of the messages that got the most traffic was my First Sale on TPT. . .

but it was actually Free! 

It was an activity in practicing how to spell the other tenses of verbs. 

Click here to get it for yourself for FREE!

 I would be horrible if I didn't mention the highlight of my year. . . The day my first grandchild was born! She is now 6 months old and continues to be so fun to be around and gives this old woman a huge smile and lump in my heart when someone asks about her. . . I'm MUSH! 

I am indebted to so many of you for helping me, encouraging me, and giving me ideas to jump start my teaching. I know that after 34 years of teaching 2nd grade I needed something to make me last a few more years. 

YOU did it! Thank YOU!

Some of the blogs that I love to follow are the same ones that you do too.  Here goes:

Christina Bainbridge. . . . is not only a close friend through our Blogs,  but also lives within 20 minutes of me! I owe a ton of debt to her as she has been a marvelous mentor to me! MUAH! 

Kristin Oldham is the Teeny Tiny Teacher. She is such a good writer. I swear she could write the phone book and make it interesting to read.

Corinna Gandara is from Hawaii and she is creating delightful things, clipart, and so much more!

Michelle Tsivgadellis is the 3AM Teacher. She is very creative with clipart and has such a nice warm personality. 

Holly (I can't begin to spell her last name, so I just call her Holly Wally!) has a blog called Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade. I met her one day this summer and we became INSTANT friends. I love her!

Some of the new friends that I have that you will want to get to know are: 

Amber Polk is Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher

Kate Daniel is from Second Grade Sparkle 

Gina Szczodrowski  at Third Grade Tidbits 

Tanja Tlusty is from Journey of a Substitute Teacher

That's it. Those are my highlights. Thanks for reading them and don't forget to stop by 

Christina's and get attached too!

Patty

Christmas Movie & Book Party

Every year my family of 3 sisters and their families gather at each other's houses to see their decorated houses and to have some fun of course.
We all live in the same county about 20 minutes apart from each other. We all happen to like each other . . . I know. . . that IS strange isn't it? We spend a lot of time together so this gathering is just another reason for us to see each other . . . .

and EAT!

We started making themes to the parties a while back. . . There was the Ugly Sweater Party, Color Party, (each family dressed in one color), and this year was A Christmas Movie or Book Party.

Everyone immediately thinks of Christmas Vacation with the white sweater, black dickey, bathrobe and hunter's cap.

But NO one did that one!

My sister and her family all came in their pajama's and they represented T'was the Night Before Christmas.

. . . my other sister did nothing really. . . (party pooper!) But they all had Santa hats on and were full of spirit! (That's more important!)

My 3rd sister had to go to her in-laws so she wasn't there. 

And my family did Alvin and the Chipmunks. . . Except we changed it to Malvin because my husband's name is Mike!

My daughter and her husband arrived in time from Houston, but my son was with his wife's family for their Christmas. It is so hard to get everyone that you love all in one place! 

So in the meantime we have fun with who ever shows up. 

Now one more picture. Our families are growing and that means more babies!

 I just have to show you this little cutie! 

His name is Dexter and don't cha just love those lashes! 

He will be so handsome when he outgrows his cuteness!

Did you know tomorrow is Christmas Eve? OMGoodness! 

That just can't be! So I'm outta here to finish wrapping! 

I want to wish you all peace, safety, love, security and

 above all God's presence in your life!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Patty

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

Patty

Christmas Joy for Teachers and Staff

First I have to pray. . . . Dear Lord please watch over those children who came to you way too soon today. Comfort their families and hold them in your arms and help them find some way possible to cope one day. I can NOT imagine how they are dealing with this.  I am so sad for them and the children and parents around the world. 

Does your school have a way to celebrate with gifts among the staff? We've tried many different ways, but this has been the biggest hit so far! Maybe you'd like to try it. . . We call it Christmas Boxes.

It's probably too late for this year, but you could always tuck this away for next year. . . maybe you'll remember it. . . maybe. . . and maybe I'll remember to remind you of it early next December.

Here's how it works: Each staff member buys a $10.00 gift card to anywhere in the area. They put their gift card in one of these boxes. They are tied up with a knot so no one can open them until it's time. They also give me $5.00 cash. Two of the boxes have a note inside that says CA$H. 

For the entire week we will trade, steal, swap, switch, or take the boxes from each other. You never know which box is your original because several are the same design. 

Teachers keep them on their desk, in their mailbox or somewhere that is convenient for other staff members to switch them. The kids are told not to bother them and they don't (remember we are a K-2 building). 

We have used the kids to do the swapping before though. "Here, take this box to Mrs. T's room and trade it for the one that's on her desk."

On the last day we meet and open our boxes to see what we get. 

We all will have a $10.00 gift card to someplace. 

BUT 2 people will end up with their gift card AND some cash. The amount of the cash depends on how many people participate in this. This year I think we will have 16 people doing it. That's $80.00. We'll divide that in half and if I've done my math right. . . . 2 people will also get $40.00 extra!

 That's a pretty nice little extra stash. 

We all have a lot of fun trying to hang on to the boxes because we think WE have the winner, but they truly don't know until they are opened. This year, I put in a piece of candy in a couple boxes or a penny, . . . . 

something to make a noise so they think IT'S the lucky one!

I found the boxes at Michael's, but one year we used paper bags. So if you are interested in doing this still this year, you could put it all together real fast if you wanted to. And you wouldn't have to do it for a week, you could do it for a couple days if you'd like. 

I'd love to hear if you try this idea or share with me what you do with your staff. In a stress filled month where every one feels way behind on everything, this is a little lift for all of us!


Peace be with all of you. Hug your loved ones a bit closer tonight.
Patty

Merry Giveaway . . YOU Don't Want to Miss This!

Wednesday is my big day over at Primary Punch! It's the day she's giving away my Snowy Story problems.
This is an activity my kids need LOTS of practice with. They can't seem to remember whether they should add or subtract to find the answer. Be sure to check it out!

I know you'll love entering this contest as well as all the others she is having every day until the 12th day of December. I'm Day 5, so you have 7 more days to enter!

I just love Ashley Hughes drawings.  She is so creative and colorful. Check out this place value activity that uses her clip art with Christmas trees!

The student must look at each tree and figure out what the 3 digit number is that is made with the expanded notation numbers.  I've added this to my TPT store and you can see more of it here. It works great in a center and can also be used as a Scoot game. 

I hope you enter Primary Punch's contest. . . and I really hope you win!

Patty

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway

Parent Teacher conferences are done. .. . CHECK!

Well, at least I only have 4 to do for the people who didn't show up.

Report cards are done. . . . CHECK!

Well, at least I only have 2 more grades to put in, then they will be done!

My house is decorated for Christmas. . . CHECK! AND OH I'M SO HAPPY TO CHECK!

My husband's cousin has arrived from Houston. . . CHECK!

Oh we are having so much fun! She is a Premier Designs Jewelery Consultant. She is training my sister so she can sell it. (Remember that my sister is 9 years younger than me and she decided to retire from teaching this past summer. YOUNGER than me and retired! That is just too weird!)

Have ya'll ever seen Premier Designs jewelry? OH my goodness. It is so pretty, fashionable and very versatile! If anyone wants to know more about it, contact me. In the meantime, I get to wear all kinds of fun jewelry while she's here! This morning before church, she asked if I wanted to wear her jewelry to church. . . so she placed her 5 cases out on the counter and I got to pick WHAT EVER I wanted to wear! What fun was that! I felt like a kid in a candy store. . .

I do love Bling! and Glitz!

We also saw the movie Lincoln last night. I agree with all the critics that Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field will probably win Oscars, but it was a little long of a movie for me. I like a bit of history, but that was just too much for me. . . I think if you're a history buff or if you like to know more about the civil war or the end of slavery then you would enjoy this movie.

Oh but the popcorn was perfect! I would go to the end of the earth to get movie popcorn. . . Wouldn't you?



Did ya'll have a lot of fun (did you catch that I can't help saying ya'll all the time?? hee hee!) at the cyber sale? I did. . . I bought more clip art. I am stoked to get working on it so I can share it with you! Have you seen Ashley Hughes art? She is very creative, has neat lines, bright colors, and cool pictures!

That link takes you to the Christmas trees, but once you get there browse around to her other works.

Don't you just love these pretty trees! Can you imagine all the pretties that you could make with them? 

Stay tuned. . .I am already creating something with them.

One of the big sellers during the Cyber Sale was my Christmas Whisperings.  

It's a Fact and Opinion activity that doesn't take long to copy, laminate, or cut up. 

There are 13 pages so it's a quick one to prepare. 

Another activity is called Snowy Story Problems.  

My kids have a problem knowing when to add and when to subtract. This is another way to practice which number model you would use to solve the story problem.

You can find both of those at my store.   

Or you can enter a give away and maybe win the Christmas Whisperings Fact and Opinion. Deanna at Primary Punch is having a 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway. Enter each day and you can win from me and lots of other people too.

My day is Dec. 5th, but check in every day to win from someone!

Happy blogging!

Patty

One More Newbie for my Store

I am so excited to be able to participate in my FIRST EVER Cyber Monday Sale online. My blog isn't a year old yet, and I've only been selling since August. Not doing too shabby if I say so myself. I'm not going to be able to buy too many pairs of shoes with my earnings, but I feel confident that someone likes my stuff enough to buy it!

I have several things in my wish list. . . Have you got yours started yet? You better get to looking. . . there's a lot of good stuff out there.

But then it hit me!

WHAM!

Right between the eyes. . .

BAM!

When am I going to SHOP?

I have to teach all day Monday.  . . .

And Tuesday. . . .

And I only have one break that is 25 minutes long (other than lunch)

But I can't shop during lunch, . . . Oh woe is me. . . I've scheduled a parent conference on both days at lunch time.

And I have parent conferences on both nights until about 7:00. . .

Oh NO!

What have I done?

Maybe I'll get up at 5:00 am just to get this done.

How long will it take me? Does anyone know?

I'll just have to cross my fingers, talk fast to the parents, eat fast during lunch and maybe I can get this all in.

Where there's a will, there's a way!

I have fallen in love with The 3AM Teacher's graphics. Have you seen them? She is so creative, and she is just as nice as she is talented. I'm a huge DJ Inker Fan, (They are having a 25% sale right now too!)
but I'm being easily swayed to other creative artists.

So I took some of her snowy back grounds and made some story problems for my students. They just don't get story problems. They can't remember the magic words that tell them whether to add of subtract. I do have all the wonderful posters all over my room that share those magic words.  But for some kids it just takes them much more practice.

So my newest activity is Snowy Story Problems. The student reads the story problem, then decides which letter matches the number model they will need to find the answer.  There is a recording sheet and an answer key if you want to put this into a center. It also would work well in a small group with an adult supervising it.

You'll find them in my TPT Store and if you grab them on Monday, you'll get them even cheaper. So add them to your wish list if you like them. And I hope you will.

Here are some more blogs to check out. 

Each of them are putting their things on sale!

Patty

Cyber Monday $ale!

In Honor of Black Friday, Small Town Shopping on Saturday and Sit Back Sunday, I'm going to be a part of the Cyber Sale Monday! I have several things in my store that I'm sure you'd love to have 28% off. One of them is my Christmas Whisperings. It's an activity about Facts and Opinions. Perfect for any 2nd grader getting ready for their Opinion writing for the Common Core.

 Another activity you might want to take a peek at is my Here's the Cause, What's the Effect activity.

It's great for 1st graders, but I think 2nd and 3rd could benefit from it too.

Do your kids get confused with the OW and OU spellings? Mine do! This activity helps them visualize which words looks right.

You can find these and a whole lot more in my TPT Store. I hope you find something that you love.

One of the things that I'm going to be buying is made by Corinna Gandara from Surfin Through Second . It's her Christmas borders and I think you'll like them too.

Another thing I'm going to get is from Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher. She has picture cards for

  Antonyms and Synonyms.  They are made with DJ Inkers clipart and are very good for my 2nd graders.

Don't forget to use the special code. . CMT12. . . It will make your wallet even better.

I sure hope that you find something to buy from my store or one of these other ladies. Blogging and TPT is a wonderful friend to have.

 I know that the way I teach has been re-energized since finding these blogs and all the friendships here. 

I'm joining Michelle at 3am Teacher. She is having a linky party so you can see who else is having a big sale!

Patty

Christmas Whisperings Fact and Opinion

I know that many of you have this whole week off. . . I wonder . . . Are you the same people who had Veterans Day off too?
We did not have any days off for that. . . but we do have to teach only 2 days this week.

And thanks to all of you, I know exactly what I will be doing on those two days. Did I tell you that I have 2 college students from Trine University in Angola, Indiana? They have been with me for 6 weeks and have been learning more about how to become teachers. They are GREAT! Tuesday is their last day. So for the next two days, they have to pretend they are subs in my room and I get to do some DRA2 assessments while they follow my lesson plans. . . isn't that the bomb? I'm uber excited to be able to get some of these done while having someone else cover my room.

Some of the things they will be doing come from YOUR blogs. I have grabbed many things from you and will put them to use on these two days. That will be fun, informational and very helpful to my students and to these two college students. They will go back into their college classrooms until Christmas and then one of them will do her student teaching in January. The other one will student teach next fall. They are ready!

I am just like the major retailers and I'm going to show you a Christmas activity that I made even before Thanksgiving is done. . . I know. . .I know. . . I should be patient. .. but I just can't! And if I know you at all, I know that you too are looking for some Christmas things early so you can copy them, laminate them and cut them out so they are ready for your kids to use all during December.

I have made facts and opinion cards before. . . these are very similar . .  but they are all about the Christmas and winter activities. These are called Christmas Whisperings. Just click on the link and it will take you right to my store. 


I hope that you find this helpful and that your kids learn something from it. 

Have a good week, no matter how many days you have off. Watch what you eat. . . . drink. . . and shop! Oh yea! I'll be out there shopping but not at the crack of dawn! Look out Kalamazoo. . . Here we come!

Patty

Thanksgiving Freebies that YOU'LL Want to Have!

Today my kids played a game that Heather Price is giving away! You SHOULD go and get it. . . NOW . . . before Thanksgiving is a past holiday! It's simple and quick and these first graders loved it  and had to think to find the answers.  This group is my RTI group that we call Reading Shuffle. They come to me everyday for 25 minutes and I use only the center activities that I pick up on TPT or here on other people's blogs. Well, I do use the things that I make too. . I just wanted to highlight some OTHER fun people who make cool things.

You see, one of the things that I'm truly thankful for, is all the friends that I have made in this blogging community. So helpful, caring, giving, and receiving too!

So you'll need to go over to visit Heather Price at Heather's First Grade Heart and pick up her Thankful Turkeys. These picture cards have words with the missing digraphs of wh, th, sh, and ch. It's a great practice for those who love a good game.

These kids love to pose for a picture. . . what oh what have we done to children that they are so fascinated with getting their picture taken, and then saying, "Lemme see!" right away!

Then we got out this compound word activity from  Sliding into 1st. 

Cait made these cute little weiner dogs and cut them in half to show the two words of a compound. These would be good for first or second graders. 

I picked this up last year, but it's still a good one to use. 

Those are NOT my blue fingernails. . . I wouldn't ever wear blue!

If you haven't already ventured over to Let's Talk Turkey, you need to do that soon too! That's where you'll find some cool and fun Thanksgiving activities to use before the Holiday is over!

Patty

Let's Talk Turkey Linky Party

Let's Talk Some Turkey!

I'm joining Gina at Beach Sandand Lesson Plans. 

She is having a Let's Talk Turkey Linky Party!

When you're done reading my blog, hop on over to hers and link up! Don't be chicken. . . I mean Turkey! It's pretty easy and well, helps to share the love of the season too!

1. One of my favorite things to do is my Thanksgiving Pronouns Activity.

It's a skill needed by 2nd and 3rd graders and only costs $2.00. 

It's easy to copy, laminate, cut and let the kids try to connect the 

pronouns to the proper noun.

And the clipart is made using DJ Inkers clip art & fonts. © www.djinkers.com.

2. One of my favorite books to read is A Turkey For Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting. 

Who doesn't love anything that she writes!

It's so fun to see the surprise look on Turkey's face when he finds out that  he. . . oh wait, I'm not going to give away the punch line!

 You'll just have to read it. 

The pictures are by Diane De Groat. 

She writes the Gilbert Series of books. 

Which brings me to a second book that I love to read at this time of year. 

Gilbert always learns a big lesson in these books. 

The other reason that I love this series is that she has a character in the book named Patty! Isn't that great! Very few authors use that name any more. . . . 

and well, it's just such a lovely name!

Now while you're out blog hopping today, don't forget to stop in at Third Grade Tidbits You'll be able to see what Gina has to say about Talking Turkey!

And if you're still here, you have time to pick up my freebie for you! 

It's an adjective paper to celebrate the season. 

I am grateful for having over 300 followers and today I hit a milestone! I hit the $100.00 mark! That felt so good. Thanks to all of you who have purchased my things. 

You are truly a.maze.ing!

 Patty