Thursday was not my friend until....

Today did not go as planned. Luckily I am quick to adapt and nothing but flexible, big requirements for a Special Ed Teacher. With all that being said I will not be posting about the Common Core like I previously had planned. I will have it up this weekend  along with a freebie though. I decided to take the night off and spend some time with the husband and then I got the sweetest email from Kristy over at The Phonic Phenomenon and she has nominated me for a Liebster award.

(Head over to Kristy's blog and check it out. She has wonderful ideas and I have really enjoyed reading her posts after I found her blog in a linky party.)

The Liebster Award is an award for new blogs. Liebster is a German word that means: BELOVED, CUTE, LOVELY, DEAREST, & WELCOME!

I thought I would hop on and accept since it was so kind of Kristy to nominate me.

Here are the rules of accepting the nomination-
To accept the nomination I must:
1. Link back to the blog that nominated me
2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers
3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator
4. Share 11 random facts about yourself
5. Create 11 questions for your nominees
6. Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

In the last couple of weeks I have gotten the chance to come across some wonderful new blogs. Not all of the blogs I am nominating are brand new brand new, but I think they deserve some recognition. I am excited to nominate the following blogs:

First up is Chicken Soup for the Autism Teacher's Soul. Sarah has a very cute blog and has been blogging for a while, but she is new to me :) I love finding new Special Ed blogs to follow.

Next up is I Think I Can... I Think I Can... Valerie is the sweetest and was one of the first people to link up to my blog once I finally started blogging on it. She is just starting her blog and just got a job teaching as a Resource Room Specialist.

Oh Happy Day is another great blog that I have come across. She has great ideas and I love her goal setting board. Again Oh Happy Day has been blogging for a while but it is a new blog to me and one that I think is worth highlighting.

Lovely Little Learners is the next blog I am nominating. Her blog is too cute for words. She has great ideas and I am loving seeing all her vacation pictures she has been posting.

My Life as a Literacy Coach is my final nomination. Kathi is one part of Hello Two Peas in a Pod (I love their work). She just recently started her own blog and I am excited to learn from her.

Now to Kristy's questions-

1. What is your guilty pleasure?
I would have to say I am totally guilty of watching some horrible TV. It is my mindless activity and normally is back ground noise while I work on stuff for school. I am actually watching The Challenge Rivals II (Real Worlds/Road Rules/MTV) as I am typing this with my husband. I can't help but watch the train wreck that is these people and this show. It does make me feel old because I don't know who half the people on it are any more.

2. What is your favorite technology toy and why?
I would probably have to say an iPad, because it has so many uses. There are very few things you can't do with one.


3. What is your MUST have for the upcoming school year?
I would have to say right now that it is Scentos. I feel like I have turned into a smelly marker hoarder. My husband would tell you I have a problem. My kiddos love them and are willing to do anything if they get a chance to use them. It is a really easy motivator.

4. What is your favorite APP and why?
I would have to say that one of my favorite apps for school is Puppet Pals. My students love making up stories on it. They can illustrate themselves or use the pictures they give you. Students record themselves telling the story and act it out as they go. They have a free version that I highly suggest checking out.

5. What is your favorite subject to teach?
I am not sure that I have a favorite subject to teach. I have recently really enjoyed teaching reading. My kiddos have made such progress and I love seeing that light bulb go off.

6. Are you a glass half full and a glass half empty person? Explain.
I would have to say most of the time I am half full. I do have my days where I can be negative or be down, but I can always see the bright side or find something good in the situation or in any person. I think in my job it is so important to always be able to see the positive and have that half full attitude.

7. What is your favorite TPT product created by someone else?
This is a hard one. I am not sure I can pick just one, there are just too many that I love.

8. Why do you blog?
When I started my blog I wanted to be part of the community and there weren't many Special Education Blogs that I could find. I am happy to see that community has grown. I am hoping to be a resource and also learn from others. I think it also challenges me to be a better teacher and gives me a chance to reflect.

9. What is your best organizational tip?
Keep it simple. Make sure you put an organizational system together that works for you. It is hard to stay organized if the system you put in place is a lot of work and you can't keep it up.

10. Do you have a favorite TV program? If so what is it?
Favorite TV show, that one is also a hard one. I would say I have three shows that I watch pretty religiously, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and Scandal.

11. What inspires you?
There are so many things that inspire me. I have been very lucky having a wonderful group of people that surround me and support me, they all inspire me.The teaching community that I have found in the blogging world inspire me every day. It makes my heart happy that there are so many wonderful teachers out there making a difference. I would have to say that the kids and the families I have worked with over my career are really what inspire me the most everyday. They push me to be a better person and teacher everyday.

11 Random Facts About Me:

1. I love photography. I like to photograph really random things and trash often seems to a subject of my photography.

2. Before my husband I was very against owning apple products. I don't know what I was thinking. It started with an iPad, which led to an iPhone, then a Macbook Pro and a iMac. It is all we have in our house now.

3. I hate tuna! I have never tried it, but am convinced that I wouldn't like it just because I can't stand the smell of it. I know it makes no sense.

4. I love Anthropologie. It hands down is my favorite store. I even registered for our wedding there.

5. My children's book collection is a little out of control. At last count I had over 450 of them and it keeps growing.

6. I love blankets. I am very particular about them, they must be soft and cozy. I don't sleep well if I don't have the one I currently have.

7. Dahlias and Peonies are my favorite flowers.

8. Sharpies and Post-its are two of my favorite things in life

9. I am kind of a night owl and it makes it really hard to wake up early.

10. I would have to say that teal is my favorite color.

11. I love vintage furniture shopping and old houses.

I am the worst at thinking of things about me and questions to ask others. Here goes nothing, my 11 Questions:

1. What was the first teacher blog that you read/followed?

2. What is your favorite lesson to teach your students?

3. What are your top 5 school supplies?

4. Favorite 3 classroom apps (if any)?

5. If you have a TPT store what is your favorite product of yours? If not what is your favorite product you have found?

6. What has been your biggest challenge as a teacher?

7. Funniest thing you have had happen while teaching?

8. If you could have anything for your classroom what would it be?

9. Favorite "Professional Development"/teacher book?

10. Favorite picture book?

11. What is one thing on your bucket list you want to complete before summer is over?

Head over and check out all these wonderful blogs and I can't wait to read everyone's responses.

Ten Pin Linky Party: Science and Social Studies Ideas

I couldn't help myself today. I have been working on a couple of blog posts, but I keep getting distracted by all of these wonderful linky parties. When I saw that today was Science and Social Studies ideas for Ashley's Ten Pin Linky Party at Just Reed! I knew I couldn't skip this one. I am planning on doing some more co-teaching in the classroom for Science/Social Studies and one of the things on my list for the summer is to find ideas of ways I can modify and adapt classroom lessons for my kiddos. This linky party is perfect for me to start looking around and brain storming ideas.

Here are ten of my favorite Science and Social Studies Pins/Ideas:

1. This first one is not just one idea, but it is too good not to share. In searching I came across The Science Penguin. Ari's blog and Pinterest have sooooooo many wonderful ideas all in one place. I suggest you check them both out!

2. I am loving this anchor chart from Amanda at One Extra Degree.

3. I love finding apps or websites that I can use to enhance my students learning. Brain Pop was super helpful last year in enhancing our understanding of topics. I was excited to find a list of apps from Playful Learning for science and will be checking all of these out.

4. Melissa over at Common Core and So Much More has an amazing packet of 140 Interactive Notebook foldables.

5. I love this idea from 2 Busy Brunettes for growing beans. I love the idea of using cd cases, I have had them sitting around in the past with no use for them.

6. I wish I would have thought of this. It is such a great idea! Katie over at Little Warriors has a great post on using Cheetos for pollination.

7. Another great resource I came across for both Science and Social Studies ideas is E is for Explore. On there side bar they have resource broken down by topic and the posts have the links back to the original source.

8. I love the visual piece of this pin. I just wish I could find the original post for it (if you know the source please let me know!).

9. I love all the products Ginger at Ginger Snaps creates. She recently just finished her Science Word Wall Packet and I am super excited to use this next year. The thing I love the most is that they are for grades K-5.

10. I wish I would have known about these apps posted on KidWorldCitizens for some of my kiddos last year. I am looking forward to checking them out and giving them a try.

I am excited to check out all of the other pins posted! Head Over to Just Reed! and link up. I am off to finish some stuff up and will be back tomorrow with a Common Core post and freebies!

Monday Made It

I am finally able to link up to this week's Monday Made It hosted by Tara at 4th Grade Frolics. My plans to get things done always seem to get delayed and I have been working on organizing our house and all of my school stuff. Today I was able to get a handful of projects done and if you follow me on Instagram you got a preview of some of them.

First up our my daily buckets. There wasn't much making done on my part besides doing some cutting, laminating, and putting together. I used labels from Cara's (The First Grade Parade)Chalk One Up For Being Organized Packet and buckets that I found at BigLots. I am planning on using them to organize all my needed materials for the day/week for all of my groups. I used folders last year and I always had to store things that wouldn't fit in the folder somewhere else. I am hoping this will work out better this next school year and will help me stay prepped and organized. The lighting in our house is not always the best for pictures, this was the best I could do.

Next up is also another project that didn't take much on my part. I had an extra three drawer desk chest that I had been using in my bathroom to store accessories in and I thought I would repurpose it. I have a wonderful team of paras that work with me and they are always looking for something to do if they have down time. Unless I have something right off hand I don't normally have time to gather the materials while I am in the middle of working with my kiddos. My goal this year is to use the the drawers to have projects that I can do, but also they can help me with if they have time. My original thought was to make the drawers be for my own personal use, but once I started thinking about it having it done this way would be a much better use. I made the Copy, Laminate, Cut labels myself along with the label for the other half of this project for the file box. I was really wanting to have a place to store things that need to be filed. Last year everything seemed to get piled on my desk until I could take care of it. When I was walking the aisle of Target this morning I came across this adorable snap together file box and decide this would be perfect for what I was missing. I am hoping that I can put a folder in the front and put papers in there and either I or my para team can file them as we have extra time.

My final project for the day is still a work in progress. I need to clean it up some and I am not sure if it is exactly how I want it to look. I found this wonderful idea on Pinterest and traced it back to Leslie at Kindergartenworks. I used her original post on Teach Junkie as my inspiration. I only used duct tape when making mine. I am playing around with how I want to use mine. I am thinking about posting a number of the day or sight word of the day on it for groups. I figure if I keep it simple it opens up the options I have for using it. I will update once I have it up and finalized.

I am off to work on a few more projects that I will be sharing in posts this week. Head over to 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It to link up and check out all the amazing posts and ideas.

Favorite Pins Friday!

I am linking up today to Cara's Favorite Pin Friday over at the First Grade Parade. I recently set up a interest board for the blog and have been doing some combining of my personal pinterest and the blog. I am always amazed by the number of pins I have and the amount of time I can spend on pinterest, its trouble- that is all I can say.

Here are a few of my favorite pins I came across this last week:

Teaching:

I love this board. I am totally going to use this in my room and have been thinking about how I want to use it. I love the way Teaching and Tapas uses it and was also thinking I could use it for checking for understanding or an exit ticket as kiddos leave the room.

I am always looking for new and interesting ways to teach/practice sight words. I am loving this idea from Growing Kinders- I feel like my kiddos would be all about stamping themselves.

So glad I found this pin! I always have subs or paras that ask how they can help or make copies. Most of the time I don't have everything organized and don't want to take the time to write out directions for them. This would make it easier for both them and even me. Thank you Evil Math Wizard!

Style:

To say I LOVE Marc Jacobs would be an understatement. When I saw this pin from Happily Grey I felt like this needed to me my next Marc purchase. In following her link for the bag I found out that it came in teal and I knew it was meant to be :)

I love all the different braids and buns out their. Sadly mine never look as good as the pins. I found this one over at Twist Me Pretty and I think that I might be able to pull this one off.

Food:

I love Rae and the Pioneer Woman. I pinned these a number of times and finally got around to making them. They are amazing- I could eat them by themselves for a meal.

I was just saying on Instagram today that the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from Potbelly are my weakness. They are sooooo good. I was so excited when I randomly came across a pin for a recipe for them. Thank you Pardon the Dog Hair, I can't wait to try these.

We love any thing mexican in our house. I am pretty sure that "Taco Tuesday" happens a couple of times a week in our house. I am was pretty excited to find these mini mexican pizzas from Dashing Dish and add them to our rotation.

I am sure I could keep going, but I am off to enjoy this beautiful summer night. You can click on my pinterest button on the left side to follow me- I am still working on switching items over to the boards and am looking for boards to follow! Head on over and check out Favorite Pins Friday!

Ten Pin Linky Party: Reading Ideas, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram

I am linking up to Ashley's Ten Pin Linky Party over a Just Reed today. I love this idea and how she has broken it down. I actually have been working on a pinterest page for the blog the last couple of days and have been organizing my pins into categories. My personal pinterest was a mess for classroom stuff, everything was in one big category and it would take forever to look or find anything. So with all that being said this linky party comes at a great time as I am a little more organized and I am excited to find some more pins to add to my reading board.

Here are 10 of my favorite reading pins:

1. I am super excited to use these reading posters from A Cupcake for the Teacher in my classroom this next year. I like how they break things down and include a visual for my kiddos. They will be great reminders to have hanging in the room and to be able to use to post during lessons.

(Source: A Cupcake for the Teacher)

2. I love the idea of using the iPad to retell what you have read from Kris over at I {Heart} Teaching. There are so many different ways you could incorporate the iPad into reading that I never thought about until I saw this pin. It also gives me a chance to partner students and have a recording of their work while I work with other students in groups or one on one.

(Source: I {Heart} Teaching)

3. This one combines two great resources from Lyndsey over at a year of many firsts. I love her products and I love her Let's Cut to the Common Core posts/resources. You can check out her amazing post for this by clicking on the link to her blog. To give you a quick description she has a wonderful packet she sells in her tot store that are common core resources and language art organizers. She added a resource that is a list of picture books that can be used with the Common Core and she also includes which of her graphic organizers can be used with the books and the standards.

(Source: a year of many firsts)

4. I love this next idea from Annie over at The Moffatt Girls. I tried this with one of my students I am tutoring this summer and they loved it. My student loved the interactive piece of it and we had done something similar when I was giving a sight word assessment. I did a couple of different ways, as you can see in the picture below there are a handful of words written multiple times for the them to erase. I also did it were we just had a bunch of words written just the one time. I am excited to do this during the school year and give it a try on my Smartboard too.

(Source: The Moffatt Girls)

5. I don't know what I would have done without these amazing book packets from Kara over at Sped Ventures. Two of my kiddos with Autism were not at all interested in reading group and they were not willing to take part. I love love love Mercy Watson and I thought maybe it would be a really good fit for them, as they had not enjoyed anything else I had picked. I came across Kara's two packets for Mercy Watson and it was a perfect fit. The girls loved the books and the packets. She also has a Cowgirl Kate one that we started at the end of the school year that they really enjoyed. I would highly recommend any of her packets (I have used a good handful of them with different groups of students).

(Source: Sped Ventures)

6. One of the big projects I have had this summer is common core related. Amanda at Teaching Maddeness has great free EQ posters for second grade for reading (and writing). I will be using this next year and am on the search for other grades.

(Source: Teaching Maddeness)

7. I like the idea of these cards that Really Good Stuff sells. I think for a lot of my kiddos the mission piece of it would be a really good hook for them.

(Source: Really Good Stuff)

8. The Inspired Apple is one of the first blogs I ever came across. All I have to say is I wish my anchor charts looked half as good as Abby's, she has some major talent! This is one of the many that I love.

(Source: The Inspired Apple)

9. Jen over at Hello Literacy has shared a wonderful packet for reading RTI.

(Source: Hello Literacy)

10. I am kind of doubling up- My last pin is from Hello Two Peas in a Pod. They have a great set of lesson plans for the year for phonological awareness that is text based and common core linked. If you visit their TPT store in the preview download they are giving a free lesson. I am looking at getting this for next year. They have sets for the whole year or monthly.

(Source: Hello Two Peas in a Pod)

That was a lot harder than I thought it would be. There are so many great pins that it was hard to just pick 10. I included direct links to all of these in the post so please go check out all of these wonderful blogs to get more information on each one of these. I would also love to have you come follow me on my new Pinterest account for the blog (it is a work in progress). I am hoping it will provide me with some new boards for me to follow too. Head on over to Just Reed and link up!

I have also added links to the blog for you to follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram Please come follow me!


Happy Wednesday!

Currently...

I am finally joining in for Farley's July Currently . I am excited to be taking part after reading them for the last couple of years.

Bloglovin

I have had this blog for a good year now, but this last year kept me so busy that I just couldn't seem to get things up a running. Enter summer, so first things first- I am joining bloglovin.

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/8660233/?claim=pc8tzq6tjec">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

I am also linking up with Tori over at Tori's teaching tips. She has a great post on setting up and transitioning to bloglovin.