New Product and Blog Challenge!

I just uploaded my Reading Review Folder to Teachers Pay Teachers! Remember this post? It talks more about this little gem. I will have the Spanish version up within the next week...My fabulous translating friend is busy partying it up tonight and watching fireworks :) 


And, I am so excited about participating in this blog challenge during the month of July...

So check back in and if I haven't posted, keep me accountable! :) 

See ya soon! 

FIRST Teachers Pay Teachers Products are UP!

Ok, I'm excited. Probably overly excited since most of the blogs I follow have talented teachers with approximately 23456765432 products on TpT BUT I have uploaded 4 products (2 freebies) to my store! 

Check out my store! 

I have added library labels (which I totally use in my own classroom), questions for guided reading and a "How to Avoid the Summer Slide" handout you can share at the end of NEXT school year. (Late, I know but hey, it's finally done.. AND it's in English and Spanish. Boom!) 

I am finalizing the formatting for the product I am most excited about right now. My Reading Review Folder! You can read about this little gem here. Well guess what?! I have decided to share this beauty with the world. AND AND AND, it's going to be available in Spanish. You're welcome. 
I mean, let's be honest, I didn't have to do the hard work of translating..I left that up to my talented friend Mrs. D. But SHE is awesome and we are an awesome team :) 

Anyway, check out the stuff I've added and make sure to check back next week as some other fun stuff is FINALLY being posted. :) 

Throwback Thursday ...on a Friday

Yes it's technically Friday. 
Yes this post IS titled Throwback Thursday.
But let's be honest...days of the week don't exist in the summer for teachers.
Am I right?! :) 

I couldn't resist this linkup and Thursday got away from me! 

This is me in 5th grade. 

Listen, I LOVED 5th grade. I finished the school year and declared I wanted to be the 5th grade GT teacher when I grew up. (Spoiler alert: That's my position next year!!) 

I knew after 2nd grade that I wanted to be a teacher. I had the most amazing teaching in the world, Mrs. Smiley, and she just completely rocked my world. I hope one day to be someone's "Mrs. Smiley"--the teacher that impacts their life so immensely that they keep in touch for the next 20 years :) [[Mrs. Smiley sat with my grandparents at my wedding--that's how special she is to me!]] Anyway, I knew I wanted to be a teacher forever but Mrs. Turner in 5th grade just really made reading so fun! 

So there's my throwback Thursday :) I'm hoping to try and actually participate in this fun linky series this summer, so check it out next week!! 

5 for Friday--First Week of Summer!

This week was the first full week of summer...and although I did work, not waking up until 6 was awesome. I've decided to link up with Kasey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for a little 5forFriday action!

Ok, ok...I didn't actually feel like it was summer when my alarm went off Monday morning but I really love my curriculum team (Shout out to Amanda "The Boss" Ramos and Amalia "The Newbie" Ayers!). We worked our little buns off this week and cranked out the 4th grade Gifted and Talented ELAR curriculum for our district. It almost makes me want to teach 4th grade again (but I have grown fond of 5th, so...) Although my brain was totally fried by the end of the first 2 days, I still really enjoy doing it (and it's good money so that's a bonus!)

Since my hubs is a teacher too, (he deals with the scary middle schoolers), he also was supposed to start his summer this week, but instead he spent it getting certified to drive a school bus..yay. He coaches so he has to drive the teams too...Who would want to drive 60 sweaty 7th and 8th grade boys around? Not me. Gross. But alas, he got certified and now he is stuck with them! 

Now that we are both "home" for the summer, my baby J can be at home! :) He is 9 months old as of yesterday! I'll be honest there were weeks days that I felt like he would NEVER be past the crying 20 hours a day phase and I actually looked forward to him being "older", but now it's going so fast! He is adorable (yes, I'm biased, but it's true). He cracks me up and is such a character. 

I have lost 8 lbs so far. (yayyyy!) I'm not "doing" anything other than eating better and trying to be more intentional about moving during the day. We started walking around the neighborhood tonight and Jackson seemed to like it (although he got impatient about 40 minutes in...) so hopefully that will help me shed some more of this baby weight (and then some!) 

Today the reading vertical team at my school went to NTCTELA (North Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts) Conference-which was conveniently 15 minutes from my house..I LOVE living in the middle of DFW. It was an amazing conference and I learned so much, plus hanging out with some of my besties wasn't half bad! I'll try to share some of the amazing wisdom imparted on us in another post :) 


Alright, that's it! We are headed to visit my grandparents this weekend and I am excited to not have a major "must-do" list hanging over my head...it's nice when the to-do list is for the whole summer! 
Have a great weekend!

Random Sunday stuff

I randomly found this linky party and it is perfect for all the stuff swimming in my head right now, so I decided to join! 

{one}

 School is out! I'll be honest, I love summer, but I also love my job, the routine and my kids...so I'm still in that in-between phase of being excited about summer but being sad because I had to say good bye to my fab 5th graders. womp womp. Give me a few weeks, some pool time and a vacay and I'll be wishing for a longer summer. :) 

{two}

Tomorrow I start a new round of curriculum writing. It is seriously so instrumental in making me a better teacher because you really have to immerse yourself in the standards. It's hard work but I love my team! I'm ready to get started! 

{third}

Check out my "Books I Want to Will Read This Summer" stack! 

This actually isn't all of them since I left my 2014-2015 Bluebonnet books at school :( I am going to try to sneak in tomorrow and grab them. (Side question: Do you have to turn in your keys at the end of every year? We do and it always causes a minor panic attack for me because I can't get my stuff if I need it over the summer!) Anyway, what is in your "must read" stack for the summer? Before Jackson, I used to spend hours poolside reading, so this summer will be a little different but I still want to read as much as possible--no summer slide for me! :)

{fourth} 

My brother has started designing and formatting some stuff for TpT for me! (I know I've been saying this for a while but it's really happening)...My to-do list of stuff I want to make is insane but I have it bundled into more manageable pieces. If I get it all done this summer, my life next school year will be monumentally easier. So get ready Mrs. Davis--our pedicure and planning sessions will start soon! :) [[Mrs. Davis is the amazing 5th bilingual reading teacher at my school and she is going to mirror my products, but in SPANISH!]]

{fifth}

I get to go to a reading conference with Donalyn Miller on Friday. Be jealous.

That's all for now! I'm totally digging the randomness of this "smorgasbord" linky.