Halloween is coming! And a little giveaway too!

And that means I am super happy! I LOVE Halloween! October is just such an amazing month!

Inspired by Teri over at A Cupcake for the Teacher, I've created my very own Halloween countdown! Ok so maybe it's not as cute as hers but I love it! It's such a fun idea! It was quite long to make but worth it! Here is how it turned out:

I've decided that I will draw a student's name each day to be the one to remove the magnet. And the lucky student will also get a special treat! I bought a big bag of delicious Maynard's candies! (which I will for sure probably be stealing from ;)

I also need to get my classroom ready for Halloween. I've got some shopping to do! Do you decorate for Halloween? I don't tend to decorate my house that much... only a few pumpkins here and there. But my classroom however! That's another story! And kids are so so so excited when Halloween comes around I just find it makes them happy to have a Halloween classrom :)

And speaking of Halloween, I have just finished my latest TPT product: Let's Get Spooky!

Let's Get Spooky! is a set of fun Halloween activities to do with your students, during the months of October. The activities can be used in centers or as whole group activities.

Includes:

-Spooky Words (making new words with the letters from Halloween)

-Spooky Scrambling (scrambled words)

-Spooky Sentences (scrambled sentences)

-Spooky Rhymes

-Spooky Nouns and Adjectives (students must place words in full moons, either the nouns moon or the adjectives moon)

-Spooky Alphabet (students must cut Halloween picture cards and place them in alphabetical order)

-3 writing activities: My Favorite Halloween Treat, A Very Spooky Store and My Halloween Costume

-Spooky Word Search

Grab yourself a copy HERE. If you do so, let me know what you think! :)

Want to win a copy? Leave a comment telling me you follow my blog.

 I will choose 2 lucky winners tomorrow during the day!
Congrats to Sara and Lisa R.! I will be emailing you shortly :)

I love fall, a fun project and a little chalkboard tip!

Good morning everyone!

I am so happy that fall is finally here! I am in love with this season. And so is my boyfriend! So we go a little crazy when fall gets here :) A good crazy! I absolutely adore everything this season offers us every year. I am talking fall food (anything with apples, pumpkin, spices, everything in the slow cooker...mmmm), fall weather (the joy of having to put on my leather jacket that I love so much or being able to put a cute sweater over my t-shirts, not having to sweat through school days where students can barely sit straight because it's so hot and uncomfortable), fall celebrations (Halloween and Thanksgiving! fun!), fall smells (thank you Bath and Body Works for always being able to make my home a little more fallish.... last year with the delicious smell of Pumpkin Patch and this year with Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin.... oh my gosh! I've got the soap, the candle and the plug-in! smells so comforting!) and let's not forget, the fact that all the good TV shows are coming back!!! Welcome back to Revenge, The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother :) YAY!

And also, this year, fall comes with another great surprise for me: The beginning of my second trimester! My nausea and fatigue are still here but I'm doing much better! I see light at the end of the tunnel :)

I wanted to talk to you about a fun project I am doing with my kids for Halloween. I've done it two years ago and for some reason I do not remember, I did not do it last year, and I missed it! My sweet little 6th graders had to choose a country they wanted to research. ( And no, in grade 6some of them do not know many countries and they think Europe is one.... ;)Not that I was any better at 12 years old! So I had to provide many options for them to choose from!) Now, they have to research the country and they will present us their findings on Halloween. Here is the fun part: They must dress up with traditionnal clothes from their country and bring a traditionnal dessert too, for the whole class to taste! Students are extremely excited about the project and have already started working on their costumes and testing out recipes at home. I can not wait to see what they come up with. Two years ago, the presentations were amazing! We had so much fun! And wow did I eat! Donuts, cakes, cookies, pies.... and because I'm the teacher, they always wanted me to get a bigger piece so let me tell you I was pretty full by the end of the day! I'll be sure to share with you how it all turns out! :)

Also, I wanted to share a great chalkboard tip with you. Washing my board has always been quite the task. I wash it daily, as I always want it super clean. but it takes FOREVER and sometimes I have to go over it a few times to remove all the chalk residues and the end result is not always as perfect as I would want it. But now, I've found an amazing solution! Lemon oil!! Have any of you every tried it? Any lemon oil should do the trick, just make sure it's not soap. I have the Pledge kind. Put a few drops on a washcloth that you will keep in a little ziploc bag. If your board is really dirty, you might need to do a quick wash with a sponge before. But if not, the lemon oil should be enough. So you simply go over your chalkboard surface with the lemon oil and voila!! It makes your board super shiny and it looks soooo clean! And you don't have to rinse the washcloth! You just put it back in the bag! I wanted to take a picture to show you a before and after shot but of course I forgot! Lemon oil can be found at the dollar store or Wal-Mart or probably Target (but not that I would know as I do not have the luxury of having one here yet :p) If you try it, let me know how you like it! Be sure to put only a few drops though because if you put too much the board will stay oily and you won't be able to write on it for a few days... Happened to my colleague!

I'm currently working on my 200 follower giveaway! Yay! A few bloggers have agreed to join in and give away some great items! Let me know if you would like to participate as well! The more the merrier! :) Just email me at misselementary@gmail.com

And for those of you interested... tomorrow is my first ultrasound!!! I don't even know if I'll be able to sleep as I am so excited! It feels like Christmas! On Thursday, I had my first doctor's appointment and we heard our little baby's heart :) If I was super excited about that, I can't imagine how I'm going to react tomorrow when I actually see the little bundle of joy! :)

Have a good day everyone and for those of you in love with fall... I think a little stop at Bath and Body Works will make you smile :)

Until next time,

MIA Much??!! But some great news! :)

Oh wow!!! Talk about MIA! I'm sooooo sorry for the lack of posting! But no worries, I'm still alive and so is this blog! I do have some great news to share however, which is part of the reason for my absence:

[www.justinbuzzard.net]

I AM PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay! So exciting! We found out a few days after my July 26th birthday. Best birthday present EVER! :) I am  so beyond overjoyed to be having a little spring baby. So so so happy! BUT...... no one told me it would be this tough! Holy macaroni! 

First, nausea. And now I'm not talking some little morning sickness... no no! I'm talking full on 24hrs a day 7 days a week intense nausea. Wake up in the middle of the night nausea. Can't even stand the scent of my deodorant nausea. Can't eat a thing nausea. My doctor has given me a prescription pill to help with the nausea. It does make it better... at least I can eat! But the feeling is still present :( 

Second, fatigue. Extreme tiredness is more like it! Plus, with back to school! Oh my gosh! I can barely get through my school days! BTS is tough enough as it is.... but now... ouf! 

Third, hello major acne explosion!! I feel like a teenager with a pimple situation gone wrong! really wrong! Thank you Clinique products for your help :)

Now I don't want you to think I'm whining or anything but it feels good to let it out a bit! Anyone else out there who's been through intense nausea? I've had so many colleagues swear they've had zero, NADA nausea.... seriously?! 

Anyways so I've been really out of it blog-wise with this little baby being created in my belly. I've barely even blog stalked, I feel so out of the loop! But I'm going to try to be more present, I promise!

I also want to share some back to school stuff and pics but now I'm too tired to actually upload the pictures. And also, I've seen a few  amazing classroom reveals and now I'm embarrassed about my room! Ok maybe not embarrassed but still.... some are AWESOME! :)

It's currently 7:20pm over here and my bed is calling me. I'm off to get some rest (I feel like I'm living on a 10 year old schedule!). I'll be back very soon!

In the meantime, I wanted to share my baby name ideas! My boyfriend and I agree on the same names which is great and I love them!! yay!

So, if it's a baby girl: Emma

If it's a baby boy: Nathaniel

I can't wait to know if it's a boy or a girl! I have my first ultra-sound on September 24th. If we're lucky, we might find out then!

Oh and also, I've reached 200 followers! Welcome to my new followers! This means giveaway time soon! Wanna join in? I would love some help to make it a good one! Let me know :)

Until next time,