Teachers of Instagram Linky Party!

I love Instagram! I love taking pictures and pretty-fying them with the different filters and I love using hashtags. Sometimes I just lose track of time while looking at all the pictures under #teachersfollowteachers. In fact, that's how I found this linky party. That's also how I found some wonderful teacher bloggers that linked up. So, I'm linking up with Elizabeth from Kickin' It In Kindergarten with my favorite Instagram photos from the year. I'm still new to blogging, tpt, and using my instagram for not just personal photos, but classroom photos as well, but I'm getting there! 

Anyway, here are my favorite Instagram photos from 2013:

 This is of the mister and me after finishing the Warrior Dash. This was on an extremely cold, rainy April day. You can never predict Kansas City weather. I'm pretty sure the weekend before was perfectly warm and sunny and then the next weekend- the weekend that we are running obstacles in mud, it was absolutely freezing. I am amazed that I even finished that race honestly.

My little sister got married in June and I was her MOH. Her wedding was just beautiful- outside on a lot of land with a country-like feel. She looked just so beautiful.

What I came home to on a Friday night after an exhausting, long week- a week that I pretty much wasn't home and when I was home, I didn't feel like I was mentally. 

A more recent photo... Christmas! 

My sweets themed classroom. This is actually what my classroom looked like at the beginning of the year (Back to School Night to be exact). Unfortunately, due to low numbers, I was moved to a different school on the fourth day of school. So, this is not what my present classroom looks like exactly, but all the same stuff is used... Just in a different space! I was heartbroken in the move and so therefore, never took a lot of pictures when I moved and so never instagrammed them :) I absolutely love this classroom theme though. Good thing because I plan to keep it a while :)

You can find my Instagram at 1happyteacher!

Happy 2014, everyone!

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Oh, How I LOVE LOVE LOVE Break!

Can you tell from my title that I just love being on break? I love teaching, I really do. But, I think that even people that love their job love their days off as well. We go back on Friday for professional development. Le sigh. That seems so soon, right? My firsties will be back Monday. 

I wish I could say I've been super productive, but I haven't. I've shopped a lot. I've sat on the couch a lot. 

I bought this little hanger thingy-ma-jig at Hobby Lobby Saturday while shopping with my mom. I've seen all over pinterest that you can make them, but really... Come on. I love to be crafty, don't get me wrong, but I also love when cute things are already made for me. FYI I love love necklaces if you can't tell. 

I've also spent some time with these two guys. Well, kind of. I bought the mister an XBOX One for Christmas so let's be real, I haven't seen much of him. 

Does anyone else have a dog that opens his gifts? I wrap Jasper's treats and he opens them. I mean, i only use one piece of tape so he can easily do it, but he totally uses his little paws and teeth to tear the wrapping paper off. While growing up, our dog did that too. I thought it was normal until I was told that it really isn't...

 So happy with his little squeaky toy.

And, I have been somewhat productive. I finished and uploaded a new product. It's my biggest product yet and I'm pretty pumped about it. You can click on the picture to take you to my store :)

This pack meets the skills of unknown partners with addition and subtraction, one more/ one less, and true/false addition and subtraction equations. When we left for break, we were working on the unknown partners and my goodness, that is a tricky one! I know we will need lots of review when we come back from break :)

Hope you all are enjoying your break!

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13 In 13! {A Linky Party}

Can you believe that 2013 is nearly over? In a way, I'll admit... I'm a little relieved. My family and I had some unfortunate events happen this year and I think a fresh new year will be a nice change and offer some hope. However, I'm excited to link up for a fun linky party that I have read in the past. I didn't have a blog at the time so now that I do, I'm excited to be able to link up for it!

 

13. {Favorite Article of Clothing}

Oh my, how can I choose? I need to just say my favorite outfit of the year... That's definitely leggings, a long cardigan, brown riding boots, and an infinity scarf. Nothing makes me feel more comfortable or pretty than that outfit! Plus, it was the perfect Thanksgiving outfit because I was plenty comfy after eating two Thanksgiving meals! I get my leggings at Maurice's. Actually, I get that whole outfit at Maurice's. Actually, I get all my outfits from Maurice's. I have a slight obsession with Maurice's.

12. {Favorite Movie You Watched}

Hands down. Catching Fire. After seeing this movie with my best friend, you bet we looked at Pinterest for all the fun memes and ecards created about the movie. Every night, I received a pin sent to me from my BFF and when I opened it up, they just made me smile. Love that little 'send' button on Pinterest.

 

11. {Favorite TV Series}

Ahh! How do I choose? I love tv. I really can't choose one. The one my dear boyfriend and I love to watch together though is The Walking Dead. We love Daryl.



And, my DVR is full of shows that I enjoy watching by myself. My all time favorite {and this will make me sound like a 14 year old girl} is Pretty Little Liars. Ah, the scandal. The sneakery {is that a word? It is now.}. The trickery. The lies. Eek so good.


For real though.

10. {Favorite Restaurant}

Hmm... This is tricky. Boyfriend and I eat out a lot. It's kind of sad. We love to eat Casey's pizza every Sunday. It's our thing. Normally Taco Bell or Chinese sometime during the weekend too. How we don't weigh 600 pounds, I wonder sometimes.

However, I'm one of those crazy hamburger people that is determined to find the best burger in Kansas City. This summer, Boyfriend took me to KC Smoke Burger. Holy Moly people, it is tasty. So far, definitely the best burger.

9. {Favorite New Thing You Tried}

Ah, easy peasey lemon squeezy. BLOGGING and Teachers Pay Teachers. Definitely addicting and definitely all completely new to me! I love it though. I love meeting other teachers through this outlet.

8. {Favorite Gift You Got}

Considering the amount of baking I've been doing yesterday and today, this seems easy to answer. Definitely my Kitchen Aid Mixer that Boyfriend got me for my birthday this year. Love that thing!

7. {Favorite Thing You Pinned}

I'm a pin-aholic. I need an intervention. One of my favorites was this little elf ninja... Because admit it, it's funny. Unfortunately, Jingle did not get this creative this year.


Another was this picture of bouncy balls wrapped in cellophane. It inspired me to wrap my Chinese lanterns in cellophane to make candy in my classroom for my sweets theme.


 And last one... Because it's such a stinkin' cute outfit.

6. {Favorite Blog Post}

Well, I haven't been blogging for too long. I started in September, but am still a newbie and still am trying to get the hang of everything. So, my favorite post was probably Sunday Night... Already?. It was where I posted my very first paid product for TPT. It's the most viewed entry that I have and it just makes me so happy that I actually accomplished my goal of becoming a seller on TPT. I have a lot to learn, but I'm getting there!

5. {Best Accomplishment}

This kind of goes along with the previous, but my biggest accomplishment this year is going from buyer to seller on TPT and actually making sells. It warms my heart that teachers actually purchase the things I have created for my own classroom and that they leave such wonderful feedback. Here's my very first product {my baby}:

4. {Favorite Picture}

My boys. It's actually my background on my phone and it just cracks me up every time. My little Jasper is just such a happy puppy.

3. {Favorite Memory}

There are so many! However, one was throwing a surprise birthday party for Boyfriend at a Royals game in June. It was so windy that I actually didn't take any pictures, but having all our friends there and having them meet one another was a great and enjoyable time.

2. {Goal for 2014}

Hmm... To follow through more- whether it be with my workouts, this blog (it really needs a real design), etc. Hey, and graduate with my MASTERS in May! Whoop whoop!

1. {One Little Word}


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!

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The Last Week with Jingle + A New Year's Giveaway Bash!

Well, friends... I made it! Made it all the way to our winter break and I could not be happier. We have been under a freezing rain advisory and winter storm advisory basically all weekend, so I used that to my advantage to relax at home. It's been wonderful. I haven't worn real pants since Friday. I love yoga pants so so so much. 

Anyway, last week was Jingle's last week. He sure was busy. Here's his week in pictures:

Monday, my friends came into the classroom to see Jingle had rummaged through our board games and found the very popular game, Headbanz. He was playing with the Happy Feet penguin and Skippy Jon Jones. 

 On Tuesday, Jingle played a prank on the kids and moved all their clips down to red. And, my oh my, they came in flipping out. They flipped out more when they asked if they could move them back to green and I was cranky, mean teacher (hey, it was the last week before break... They definitely had been hyper) and said Jingle must've moved them there for a reason and they needed to behave in order to move them up. Thankfully, all the kids moved up. Some even made it to Bubblicious at the top :)

 Just hangin'.

 Unfortunately, Jingle went back to the North Pole in the afternoon. Just because some made it to Bubblicious doesn't mean that it was a good morning for sure. The kids were sad. They missed Jingle and wrote apology letters for being noisy. So, the next day they were excited to see Jingle dangling from a lamp.

 

And they found that he added our name to our word wall. 

 And, on the last day he left them a letter.

 And some Elf Kisses :)

 

Also, there's a great giveaway going on over at Tailor Made Teaching. Nearly 50 teachers participated in the giveaway so I recommend checking it out! My Build A Snowman Literacy Pack mentioned here is included in the first grade pack. Click the picture below to take you to the giveaway!

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Jingle the Elf- Week 2 With Our Little Elfy Friend

Well, it's official. My firsties and I are beyond ready for our winter break.

Ready, I tell you! READY. I have been so busy and worn out that I have not devoted as much as I would like to my blog or my TPT store. Then, when I'm not so busy, I'm just tired! Like, curl-up-on-the-couch-fall-asleep-by-8:30-tired.

Every morning, they search for our little elfy friend, Jingle. They love him, I tell you. They really, truly love him. 

On Monday, Jingle decided to get into our word work area and stamp some fun names. Then, he realized the stamps didn't work and decided to write them in his favorite colors, red and green of course.

Jingle took over our You Rock board because let's face it, he rocks. The kids loved this. One said, "He makes really good smiley faces!" :)  

Here, Jingle made up his own days for our Morning Meeting Board. So, the class insisted that we read the days as Jingle wanted us to. That's totally academic, right?

Jingle got into the barrel of monkeys. This was after a day where I thought I may lose my voice or my hair. Those little ones have been so chatty this week so Jingle's note said, "Behave! No monkey business!" They got a kick out of that one. Jingle does a good job with a play on words. 

And, then Jingle came in like a wrecking ball on our piece of candy. 'Nuff said on that one.

I wonder what shenanigans Jingle will get into this week!

For more elf shenanigans, make sure to check out the fun linky party!

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Jingle The Elf And A {FREEBIE}

Coming back from Thanksgiving break was a struggle this week. I was one tired teacher and I had a class full of 18 pretty tired kids. That was just Monday. Their exhaustion lasted about 3 minutes. Mine lasted all week.

Their exhaustion ended right when they saw a new little friend in our class. 

Our elf appeared! When the kids entered, he was sitting on top of my stereo on top of my desk. With him, he brought his Elf on the Shelf book and an official letter from Santa. Surprisingly enough, no one saw him! I was so excited that he was there and then no one saw him! Then, next thing I know, he is on the ground! He fell right off the stereo onto the floor and boyohboy that caught some attention!

One little one ran over and began to pick him up and then realized who it was! "It's an elf! We have an elf! You guys, we have an elf on the shelf!" Immediately, there were excited, thrilled, and no longer exhausted. So, we sat down with the letter and book and after reading them both, we named our elf. I wish I would've taken a picture of the different names, but I completely forgot. I really need to get used to taking pictures for the blog. They decided on Jingle. I was pleased with the cutesy name and thankful it wasn't something completely out there!

When we came back from lunch, we discovered he had moved! Sneaky little guy.

He didn't move far though. He was going for a ride on our class pet, Sparky, who was snuggled in between the stereo and dvd player. The kids loved it. They just adore Sparky after each of them got to take him home this past semester. 

The next day, the kids ran in like wild zoo animals that escaped their cage came in to the room to find Jingle reading with all his buddies. They really got a kick out of the fact that Jingle was reading Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer upside down. One said, "Silly Jingle, he knows how to read!"

The next day was a little friend's birthday and she, along with the rest of the class, was super excited to find a surprise from Jingle on her desk.

 On that same day, they found Jingle had TP'd our tiny little tree!

This day was a very talkative day. A VERY TALKATIVE HEADACHE KIND OF DAY. So, the next day they found Jingle in the morning with a headache. He made a bed out of our tissue box and laid in there with a tissue blanket and tissue pillow. He left a note that said, "Yesterday, all the talking gave me a headache!" I wish I had taken a picture, but unfortunately completely forgot. That morning, the kids were on their best behavior. They wrote Jingle notes saying how sorry they were for giving him a headache and all morning they kept reminding one another, "Shhh... Not too loud. Jingle doesn't feel well." Precious. They don't feel that way about me when I get a headache, but hey... I'm not an elf that reports back to Santa each night. 

 

So, after reading all those notes while the kids were at lunch, Jingle realized he no longer had a headache. He moved and the kids came in afterwards to see him reading all their letters. On the board he even wrote, "Thank you for making good choices" and left them the book, Katie the Candy Cane Fairy. They were very excited. What a good way to wrap up a Friday!

 

Even with all the elf fun, we have been able to get some work done. We did a procedural writing piece on how to blow a bubble. They are all super cute, but yet again, did I take a picture? No. But... I will this week :)

Free in my TPT store right now is "How to Have A {Safe} Snowball Fight". Have to add {Safe} in there... Don't want any dangerous snow ball fights out there... :)

For more Elf on the Shelf fun, check out the linky party!

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Cyber Sale (!!!) & Build A Snowman

It's time to start wishlisting so you can shop 'til you drop tomorrow (and Tuesday)!

 

My store, along with many others, will be 28% off after you enter that promo code (CYBER). I know that I have some items on my wishlist that I am very excited to buy tomorrow. 

Also, I just finished a product that I know my firsties will love! 

It includes Snowman Bucket Fillers, How to Build a Snowman activity, Nouns and Verbs Sort, Plural Nouns, Write the Room, an OW board game, etc. 

Also, you can grab the Snowman Bucket Fillers for free! This long weekend of shopping has me in a giving spirit (mainly because it made me a tad broke!)! :)

Hope everyone has a smooth week back at school!

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