What are you in LoVe with? Linky Party

Jennifer over at First Grade Blue Skies is hosting a "What are you in love with?" Linky Party! What a great way to see lots of really cool stuff all in one spot-great idea girl! Be sure to check it out!

Well, I have become addicted to fun animal print. I'm doing a "Wild About Learning" jungle theme this year so everywhere I look I see ZEBRA print!!! I found this cute pattern about a month ago when I made a quick stop at the teacher store (I know! I know! What the heck was I doing in the teacher store just a couple weeks AFTER school got out???? lol) Anyway, here it is.... COLORFUL LEOPARD by Frog Street Press. I think I bought EVERY coodinating piece they sold!!! Love it!

I also really love Lettering Delights! It has some really cool fonts-{WARNING: the font thing can get a little addicting!!!}

Speaking of "Adorable Animal Print," I am almost finished with my newest classroom project: a jungle-theme canopy for my doorway. I will be posting the pics very soon {it is turning out soooo darn CUTE!!} Time to get back to my project!

Hip, Hip, Hippo-Ray FREEBIE!

I love the zoo! Visit the St. Louis Zoo if you ever get the chance-it is soooo cool! My friend and I ventured out yesterday morning with our kiddos for an 8 hour visit at the zoo. Yep! I said 8 HOURS at the zoo with 4 kids...Whew! We were lucky enough to have free passes for absolutely everything so we decided to take advantage of it. (Thanks Dad! We love ya!) Feeding the stingrays was the cOoLeSt thing ever! 

 I was sure to take lots of pics and check this out...I'm already finding a good way to use one of them for a back-to-school activity!

This lil back-to-school writing activity was inspired by our zoo trip (and it goes great with my jungle theme!) If you'd like this FREEBIE, just click here: Hip Hip Hippo-Ray for Summer!

Be sure to follow my blog so you don't miss any FREEBIES! Hip Hip Hippo-Ray for FREEBIES!!!

Don't forget to leave me a comment! Love that "Chit-Chat"! :)

Blog Mixer Linky Party!

Denise at Yearn to Learn is hosting a Blog Mixer Linky party! So...I thought I'd join the party! Everybody loves a good party-right!?! Right! :)

Here are the rules:

1.  A blogger who is a "New Kid on the Blog"
(Let's say someone who has blogged 2 months or less and has less than 200 followers)

2.  Post a blogger in your same grade level

3.  Post a blogger in a different grade level

4.  It's all about the button. Find a cute blog button and post it.

Here I gooooooooo... 


1. New Kid on the Block goes to Funky in First.

2. Same Grade Blogger  goes to Mrs. Berg at First Grade School Box. I’m really excited to have found her blog! 

3. Different Grade Blogger goes to Kindergarten Crayons. She has oodles of super  ideas and freebies. LOVE IT!!!

4. So Stinkin’Cute Button goes to Teaching Blog Addict. Dr. Seuss is just irresistible! (And I am addicted to Thistlegirl!)

There were sooooooo many more blogs that I could list here-I just love this bloggin' thing!!!!

WILD ABOUT SCHOOL! Jungle unit just posted! plus a FREEBIE!

Woo Hoo!!! All of this computer organization stuff is acually coming together! You know how it is during the school year...trying to be organized but just can't quite seem to get there. Well, I'm feelin' pretty darn good about finding most of my jungle unit stuff-yeah! I just posted my WILD ABOUT SCHOOL unit on my store at Teachers Pay Teachers and also on my new lil shop on Teachers Notebook. If you haven't visited Teachers Notebook, you need to check it out. It's similar to Teachers Pay Teachers and...they have FREEBIES too! Gotta love those FREEBIES!!!  Our school-wide theme is "Wild About Learning" this year and I'll using these activities right away in August. So, I'm sure I'll be creating some more activities to add to it. (Can't help it...I'm addicted to all that stinkin' cute clipart!) If you purchase this unit, please give me a shout out and I'll email you any additions that I come up with.

And speaking of FREEBIES...here is a FREEBIE from the Wild About School unit! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!!!

Click HERE for your Sentence Scrambler FREEBIE!!!

Happy Summer!

Funny Quotes about Teaching!!!

Well, it's another HOT day (110 degree + heat index!!!) Whew! Now that's hot! So...I went back to my computer for a little more organizing and ran across these funny little Jeff Foxworthy-type sayings online that literally made me laugh out loud. Need a little giggle this morning-check it out!

You know your a teacher when...

1. You want to slap the next person who says "Must be nice to work 8 to 3:20 and have summers free."
2. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.
3. When out in public you feel the urge to snap your fingers at children you don't know and correct their behavior.
4. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.
5. You love decorating ... a classroom, not your home.
6. Your classroom is decorated nicer than your home.
7. You've trained yourself to go to the toilet at two distinct times of the day: lunch and prep period.
8. You believe the teachers' lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine.
9. You have a frequent shopper card at the local "teacher store".
10. You've mastered "the glare".

Hope that put a smile on your face! I've also found another "hidden" file on my computer-so that means I will be posting another FREEBIE soon!

Classroom Rules with Officer Buckle FREEBIE!!!

Yes! It's a FREEBIE! I've uploaded some of my back-to-school/classroom rules activities. These hot summer days are forcing me to spend a little more time inside so...I decided to start organizing some of the stuff that had been so quickly saved on my computer during the past school year. (I hate it when I can't remember where I have saved something!) During all this "technical organizing" I will be posting more of my activities and units so check back often. The first things that I ran across were activities that I use with Officer Buckle and Gloria,  (by Peggy Rathmann), at back-to-school time. The kiddos love this silly story and it's a super fun way to introduce classroom rules. There are 7 pages in this download. One page is a copy of a venn diagram, which I also like to put up on the SmartBoard. I have this in a Smart Notebook file if you are interested-just email me and I will share it with you!

Click here to get your FREEBIE!!!

Color Word Fun Unit Posted!

Happy summer everyone! My summer can now officially begin since summer school is over! Yeah!!! I am really excited to have my "Color Word Fun" mini-unit posted on Teachers Pay Teachers. I always start right away at the beginning of first grade with color word activities so...I decided to put some of these things together in a mini-unit. This packet has a fun word work page for each color, several different math activities and a reproducible mini-book. Let me know what you think! Hooray for summer!!! Click here to take a look at "Color Word Fun".