Sunday, October 07, 2012

200 Follower Giveaway!

Hi friends!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! And for my Canada friends, your 3 day weekend! :) yay!

The time has come for my 200 follower giveaway!!! Hooray!!! Thank you to all my followers! I love knowing that people are actually reading me and most of all... I love all of your comments!


Some really sweet bloggers have joined me to offer you some wonderful prizes!

So here is what you have a chance to win:

From Katie and Lisen over at Second Grade Smartypants



Writing Journal for the Year


From Sara over at Miss V's Busy Bees

 Miss V’s Busy Bees

Any product from her TPT store

From Lori over at Teaching With Love and Laughter


Her Does Your Story Answer These Questions? posters



From Lisa over at Growing Firsties

Growing Firsties
Her Personal Narrative Unit

And last.... but not least!

From me

Any 2 items from my TPT store


To participate, just use the Rafflecopter below. You will have until next Sunday, October 14th to enter.
I will choose one lucky winner. Good luck!!! :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Until next time,

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Currently OCTOBER!

Hi everyone!

Yay! It's time for October currently! I am so excited that October is here: I love this month! And from what I've been reading, I am not the only one :) Fall is definitely the best season! So I'm linking up with Farley for my currently:



1. The new season of Revenge has started last Sunday and I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. I shall wait no more as tonight is the night I get back into The Hamptons drama! And also later tonight.... The Big Bang Theory.... yay!

2. Temperatures are cooling down and I love it! I can take out all my cute new sweaters and boots! Fun! Fall clothing is so pretty and comfortable. And I love being able to wear a little jacket outside.

3. Grade 6 is fun but it comes with lots of correction! My kiddos have just finished a writing activity that I've got to correct... and some math stuff too! At least I've got some super cute Halloween stickers I'll get to use once I'm through with correcting :)

4. My next ultrasound is on November 15th and I can't wait! We will finally find out if we are having a baby girl or a baby boy. Or like Friends' Pheobe would say: Is it a Pheobe or a Pheobo? Ahhh I miss that show!

5. My house is decoration-less at the moment! I need to get working on my decorations! I love pumpkin carving but for now I'm just going to put them out with no carving and do it later or else they won't last until the big night! :)

6. My favorite Halloween book is Boo! by Robert Munsch. Love all of his books so much!

So there you have it!

Until next time,



Saturday, September 29, 2012

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 :)


Sunday, September 23, 2012

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,









Friday, September 07, 2012

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,


Saturday, August 11, 2012

Back to school SALE!

Hi friends!

A quick post to let you know about the Back to School Sale TPT is holding this weekend. Starting tomorrow (August 12th) everything in my store will be 20% off! But wait! If you enter this code at checkout: BTS12, you will get an additionnal 10% off! This means up to 28% in savings! The sale will last until Monday August 13th. Enjoy! :)


Check out Blog Hoppin' for a list of stores joining this sale!

Until next time,


Monday, August 06, 2012

Currently and a fun BTS activity [and FREEBIE!]

Hi everyone!

It's time for a new currently! (ok well it was time a week ago but I'm late.... so sorry!)

So here we go for August:


1. Watching the Olympics... it's pretty much all we've been doing since they started! But I love it! I love the fact that everyone is watching the same thing at the same time and rooting for their country! Right now it's boxing... not my favorite but still! 

2. I can't wait to go back to school! Every summer, when August rolls around I'm ready to go back! I know I know... hello weirdo! I mean I love summer and I really LOVE not having to wake up early in the morning, being able to spend entire days by the pool not worrying about a thing, spending the day in my pjs! Yes, I love all those things but now, I've had enough :) And I love the first weeks of school! I love decorating my classroom, meeting my new students, getting to know them, explaining procedures, rules, activities...etc.... So I'm excited to go do all of that!

3. I started my summer off thinking I would accomplish SO many things! Wow have I been lazy! I really need to pick up the pace!!

4. Back to school shopping (for clothes!) is so much fun! I love started the year with a few fresh tops, pants, dresses and shoes! It makes me love bts even more! I've purchased a few items over the summer that I haven't worn because I'm keeping them for school. I've had to refrain from wearing them which was very difficult. But if I wear them now, then they don't feel new anymore once I start wearing them in September... so I've been good :)

5. I am in need of a fresh pedi! For me that means it's a week old. I re-do my pedi and choose a new nail polish every week. Sometimes I'll go get it done but I get tired of the color so fast that I'd just rather do it myself! I'm thinking I'll go with a coral polish next :)

6. I need TONS of laminating sheets! So many things I want to laminate! Also, my adorable lunch box past away last year and I ended the year using plastic grocery bags...not so fashionable! I want to go shopping for a new one and hope to find one as cute as the one I had! And last, I need bins and baskets to decorate and organize my classroom. 

Head on over to Oh'Boy 4th Grade to link up!

Next, I wanted to share a fun back to school activity that I just love doing with my kids! I try to do it on the first day of school but if you do it during the first week it would still be fine :)
I call it: The Time Capsule!!
Students fill out their time capsule with the favorites of the moment (color, food, movie, etc.) Then, I pick up all of the sheets and hide them somewhere in the classroom where they won't find them. On the very last day, I take out the Time Capsules (which sometimes they didn't even remember they'd done them!). I give them the same sheet as in September (a new blank one) and they fill it out again. Then, I give them the one they wrote in September and they can compare their favorites! Students love it! They laugh when they see what they'd written and how they favorites have changed! You would think not much would change in 10 months but oh boy! It does!

If you would like to do this activity, which is pretty quick and simple, here is your Time Capsule FREEBIE!
Click on the image to download it with Google Docs.


Ok well time for breakfast!

Until next time,