Fourteen in '14 Linky

What a fun link this will be to reflect back on 2014's highlights!  I am linking with Hadar, Kristin and Traci for this fun celebration of 2014!  It has been a fun year, and every year I try to focus on all the blessings that God has granted me.  So, with that, let's get started...

My favorite quote is actually a scripture verse that I have reflected on many times this year.

I love this and this has encouraged me to stay grounded, stay strong, and stay on my life's path.

Scarves.  Please tell me I'm not the only one obsessed with scarves, tunics, leggings & riding boots.  That's pretty much my go-to outfit.  It's so comfy though and from someone who is almost always cold, it keeps me nice and warm!  

Tough ONE!  I love all kinds of movies, and watch a lot of different genres.  If I Stay was a tear jerker and a very good one!  I'll go with that.

This one is so easy for me.  Without a doubt, Scandal!!!!!  TGIT, right?!?

Hmmm, I think PF CHANGS ranks among one of my all time faves.  

Well, it's not new, but it is new to me.  This summer I got myself a FitBit and LOVE it!  I love tracking my steps, calories, all of it.  It's a one stop place to keep dibs on your healthy (sometimes my not-so-healthy) habits.  

My husband got me this 2 days ago for my birthday.  This is special because it is so not typical.  We have 3 small kids and you all know how it goes.  Their needs and wants come first.  We never buy something that "big" without researching, saving, and saving some more etc.  What I thought was so sweet though is that he got it b/c our other laptop was a dinosaur and he acknowledged all I create on TPT, I deserved to have a better laptop.  AW!  That appreciated and support meant the world to me!!  I think I'll keep him!

Here is the link to this original pin.  I think this would be so fun to do in our basement for our young kids.  I think I would have spent every living second playing school and color coordinating those crayons as a child!!  :)  ha ha.  

I am guessing this means my own blog post?  There are too many other good ones to remember or list.  I think my favorite of mine then would be my Interactive Alphabet Notebook post.  I created this product this Summer and use it in my class this year.  The kids LOVE it!!  

Click here to see the post.  

My blog.  I started up my blog in February, 2014.  I enjoy blogging and getting so many ideas from so many talented teachers!!!  You all are great!  I have not been blogging as much as I have wanted but with a laptop now that works, it is a 2015 goal to blog more!  Thanks to all who stop in and check things out!  

I'm limited on my photos right now b/c I haven't converted all the photos over yet, but knew I would want one of my 3 kiddos.  This was November at the Zoo.  

class"nopin"

When I think back on 2014, our family vacation sticks out in my mind as one of the most memorable.  We went with some good friends of ours to Navarre Beach, FL.  It was so nice.  Blue, blue waters and  white sand, it was just gorgeous!!  We also had an exciting adventure while in the ocean one day, we got evacuated b/c of a shark swimming near by.  Later that evening, we found on you tube a video someone took of a hammerhead shark swimming RIGHT by this lady.  The person taking the video was up on a pier and caught it all on camera.  We were literally on the other side of the pier.  

A sea turtle we spotted while up on the pier.  Look at that beautiful water!!

Sunrise with my 7 yr old daughter

Reeeelaxin'!

The littles playing in the ocean

I have 3 goals for 2015.  First and foremost:

After reading 1000 gifts this summer, it has changed the way I think and live!  Truly a great book that inspires us to look at everyday life with gratitude and thanks.  I will continue to work on my own 1000 gifts and try to live daily with a joyful, thankful heart.  

Second, I want to continue to make efforts for a healthier lifestyle.  I have my own personal goals with this, but basically want to continue to move more, eat less/better.  

Lastly, I want to update my blog more.  I like to blog and just need to schedule it into my week's activities.  I love hearing from people and sharing ideas with each other.  

And with that I will end with wishing each and every one of you a 2015 full of PEACE!  Merry Christmas to all of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  Yes, it's a miracle...I'm blogging!!  And yes, no less on Thanksgiving day.  :)  But it's early in the morning and the kids are still asleep, so blog I shall.  Let me start by showing some of our Thanksgiving crafts.  

These crafts were from Kinder By Kim.  Her faces were on paper plates, but I find it easier to have them glue on a circle.  She has such cute ideas!!  

As a big fan of Asian cuisine, this child speaks to me.  :)  This same child on their "Save a Turkey, eat more_________" craft also put "crab rangoon" in the blank.  YUM!

In one of our lit centers, we also did some Native American symbol writing.  

As for my long absence in the blogging world, I got nothing.  Other than, I just been busy getting our guided reading up and going, and the other tasks that pull at you daily.  I'm going to try to be better about this though.  Although I haven't blogged, I have taken some pictures of what we have been up to the past month.  We have dove into Guided Reading, which I am really loving!  I love the one on one you get to spend with the kids and the specific skills you can target that are geared to where they are at in their reading journey.  

Here is an emergent reading book that I put together (and is in my TPT store) for one of my groups.  

Here is my goodie supply carrier for Guided Reading.  Pointers, wands, wiki sticks, strategy bookmarks, letter tiles, you name it--it's in here.  I believe I got the idea to keep all of this in this scrapbooking carrier from Mel D at  A Seusstastic Classroom.  

Last, but not least, we are working hard on our word families.  We love to have visuals as we chunk those sounds together, so this is one way we do that...

The beginning sound starts off farther away and as we blend the sounds together he connects with the  word family who always stay hooked together.  :)  

This class loves to build these words on mats.  It is fun to watch them get excited about spelling the different words.  

Well, there you have it.  There is a brief summary of what we have been up to lately.  I hope you all have a terrific Thanksgiving with your families!!  Count your blessings today and everyday!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Made It

I am finally doing another Monday Made It!  Yay!  I missed it.  To join this link up go to 4th grade Frolics for

I love October!  LOVE October.  Fall is my favorite season, I love the cooler temps, and the cute Fall clothing ( I officially got the boots out last week!!!).  One of my favorite parts of October are the cute, cute, CUTE Halloween clip art and crafts.  We are doing Spider week in my classroom, and I had some cute clip art I wanted to use, so I decided to make a literacy center with that and a skill we will be working on this week--the _at word family.  

One of my favorite things for the class to do (and it's my favorite b/c it's one of their favorite) is QR codes.  They love them!  So I made my _at center very versatile.  You can either use the picture cards, the QR codes, the word cards, or make any combination of them depending on where your class is at.  

How cute is the web bowl, btw?  That was in the Target $1 aisle and I knew I could find a use for it!  #teacherproblems!

You can find this on my TPT store if you like it!  

On to the next.  Now the next 2 aren't really school related.  Well, one is related, ..anyway,  here is my

My daughter is really good about doing her homework, and I am so grateful for that.  She has been complaining lately that she needs a more private space.  I completely understand her point.  She has been doing it at the kitchen table but that is right in the middle of traffic in our house.  That's also where her 2 younger and very active brothers will run through the house and make lots and lots of noise, so I had a craft table I decided to double as a little homework station for her.  It is off in a separate area of the house, where it is a bit more quiet for her.  I needed an area to hang some of their important art work or homework, because with my middle child in preschool now, the art work is filling up my fridge.  This is what I came up with.  

Here is a closer look at the supplies.  

I gotta say,  I'm very happy with how it turned out and it was a very inexpensive conversion.  

Ok, next.  It's RED OCTOBER here is St. Louis!!  The Cardinals are in the play offs and we could not be more excited.  Our little family all sat down to watch the game last night and I decided to make a little snack that I saw on Pinterest.  Caramel Marshmallow Popcorn!  Click here for the Pinterest link.   YUM!  

It was a hit!  AND the Cards won, so WIN-WIN!  

Back to school stuff.  I made these this past week as my class is going to start the Accelerated Reader Program.  I had a blog post about the whole thing.  Accelerated Reader is used school wide in our school, and I needed some better organization with it, so this is one of the things I came up with.  Having a testing day so that I didn't have 16 kids ready to test on the same day.  

Well, that's all I have, I can't wait to see what you all have as well!