Getting It All Done....

Today was my first official day of summer vacation! I spent the day doing a delayed spring cleaning. I think if my house is clean and in order, then I can get on with my summer plans stress free!! I have a mile long to-do list for summer. This includes places to visit, activities to do with little man, projects to complete, and vacations to take. However, I always have this list and so little of it actually get accomplished. And little man starts getting bored. So how can I complete this list AND keep little man active? Themed Days of Summer is how I am going to do it. Here is how is will work (I hope)....
Make It Monday---each Monday I will do an arts and craft project with little man. I will also begin a craft or project for myself that I would like to mark off my list. This will also include making a new recipe.
Take a Trip Tuesday---Tuesdays will be devoted to making an outing. This could be to the park, library, ice cream shop, zoo, whatever fits into our interest and budget.
Work On It Wednesday-Wednesday will be used to catch up on any house work or yard work that might need to get done. This may also include school work for me towards the end of summer. On this day, little man will also help with work. But if he becomes a little too "helpful" this is a great day for him to catch up on some of the TV and Computer games I am going to limit this summer while I am working. After all, he needs a days to himself too.
Think About It Thursday---Think about something you wanted to do this week, but never got around to it. Do it today!!!!
Friendly Friday-- Little man invites a friend over to play on Friday!
I look forward to starting out summer schedule and seeing if I get more accomplished this summer than in summers past, including meaningful Quality Time with little man.

School is out & I am back!

WOW!!! I have not blogged in months!! This includes writing posts and reading blogs. I got on Google reader and discover that I had 1000+ posts in my reader to catch up on. There is no way I can make that happen, so I closed my eyes, cringed, and deleted 1000+ posts without reading any of them!!! YIKES!!! But now I am free and can start fresh tonight!
I discovered I have gotten some new followers in the months that I have been MIA, so welcome new followers. I'm almost to 400...holy smokes!
As the title of my blog says, I am a teacher AND a mama. Now that school is out, I am officially in MAMA MODE!! So many of my upcoming posts will include activities that little man and I are doing this summer. But before we know it, we will be back to school related posts. Until then.......stay tuned for fun summer time mommy posts! I look forward to sharing with each of you!

Thanks so much!

I haven't checked my blog all week, and to my surprise tonight, a couple of sweet bloggers left me an award! Thanks so much to the following bloggers:
Teachin' First  and Surfin the Second for the Lovely Blogger Award!
You all should chcek these new bloggers out!

Saying Good Things...

This past week was conference week at my school. Nothing out of the ordinary happened during conferences, I shared as many positives as I could with the parents and a couple of areas to work on. I always share data to indicate the growth a student has made in class, even if the student is still not reaching benchmark. After all, it is just as important that they are making progress. After this, the parents and I share a few stories and laughs, then shakes hands. If the student is with them, I give them a hug, and then it is on to the next conference. I count down the minutes until I can get home and slip into my PJ's, just to repeat the same routine tomorrow.
EXCEPTsomething different happened the next day this year......I had a note on my desk from a student who had attended a conference with her mother. This is what the note said.......

"Thank you for saying good things about me".......yes, I told her mom she was having a difficult time with some of our math concepts and there had been some "girl drama" that her daughter had participated in that we are making sure does not happen again. But what the student heard was me telling her mom that she is a great reader, hard worker, and very sweet. She also heard me say that I enjoy having her in my class.

I didn't think much about it, just telling her mom the truth. But to my surprise, the student was hanging on my every word and was happy to hear her teacher say such "good things" about her.

Just a reminder for all of us when we talk to or about our students :) They are listening!

Word Work Freebies

Hey All! I have seen several versions of word work posters through blog land. These can be used in a variety of ways, most commonly I have seen them for the purpose of ABC order. I use them, however, as brainstorming ideas in writing centers. However you see fit to use them in your classroom, please grab them for FREE and put them to use! Currently, I have February and March words available. I will have April words in a couple if weeks.

CLICK HERE for you FREEBIE!!!

CLICK HERE For Your FREEBIE!

Don't forget about the PARENT AND STUDENT GIFT IDEAS w/ PRINTABLES that I posted earlier! These will be GREAT for you during Spring parent conferences and/or end of year gifts for parent volunteers!

Click HERE to for more details!!!!!

Parent Treat Ideas w/ Printables

Valentines is over and many teachers are beginning to think about Cat with Hats and Lucky Shamrocks! Not me...not yet anyway. First, I must think of parent conferences. They are coming up next week. Luckily, I got everything prepared for conferences prior to our 4 day weekend.  Most teachers at my school provide some sort of treat for parents when they attend conferences, and each year I am trying to come up with a cute, but affordable treat idea. This year, I decided to create a packet of ideas and printables for future use. I thought you may be able to use it as well. The packet includes gift ideas to use for parents and students during:

*Open House

*Conferences

*Volunteers

*Rewards

  You can get your copy of the packet at my TpT Store or Teacher's Notebook Store.

I am so excited to now be using clip art from SCRAPPIN DOODLES!

CHEAP! Valentine Gifts for Students and Teachers

Check out what I bought at Target today for $5.99.......

And inside that bag are 20 of these individual bags...

That totals only 30 cents per bag!!! Heck yeah!!! And to make them cute for Valentine gifts for my kiddos, I am attaching these tags that say "YOU MAKE MY HEART POP"......

I wish I could give these tags to you for free, but I can't with the graphics I used from Scrappin Doodles. But you can get your own copy for just $1.00 on my TEACHER'S NOTEBOOK STORE or my TpT store.

However, I can give this to you FREE...... this is the tag that I will attach to a bag of mini powdered donuts that Little Man will be giving to his teacher for Valentine's Day.

CLICK HERE FOR YOU FREE COPY!

Be on the look out soon for a packet of gift tags to use on parent treats at conferences, open house, and more!