the BIG sale

I am still very new to Teachers Pay Teachers. And I'm trying to find the balance to now much time I spend creating products and how I get my products out there; how I use my blog and how I document the use of my products in my own classroom. It has definitely been a learning process, and obviously one that I continue to learn! 

When my friend Tara from Little Minds at Work mentioned the "BIG Sale" I was like whaaaaaat??" and NOW I get it.... There's a BIG sale happening! Friday and Saturday! So... fill up your carts, and get things big-time price reduced, so that you can be ready to conquer the rest of the school year OR have your stuff ready for Christmas for next year or whatever! Stock up! You can get up to 28% off 

Click the picture and it will take you to my store!
Just think, 3 million teachers all having their stores on sale for YOU! How awesome!

Enjoy your week! 

Advocare Days 3&4

I have decided that I like this. 

And that's a big step.
Even though I haven't lost any weight yet; at least anything that is showing on the scale; I like the way I have been feeling.
I haven't had an urge to go get a soda or fast food. (the thought crossed my mind -- but that's because it was a 'routine' I would have had, and I had to tell myself to forget it)
I am drinking so much water, I stay full. And I always have enough food prepared that I have many choices to pick from when meal time comes.

It's only been four days, so I am not concerned about the no weight loss thing. I know that a lot of that is more than likely because I haven't been exercising. At all. I know that I can, and should, but I also made a conscious decision from the beginning that I wanted to get the nutrition part down pat before trying to do both at once. 

I now know that I can do this routine during a busy school day with meetings and after school tutoring. Or a day where we have a carry-in lunch. I can do this routine on a weekend day when I stay at home and work. And I can do this routine on a normal school day. So now, there are no excuses. 

(and I'm almost half-way done with the cleanse phase!) 

Advocare Days 1&2

Like millions of people out there, I struggle with my weight and health. With teaching in the classroom and coaching, I struggle to have great nutrition and get good exercise as well. I have always been heavier, since I was little even -- and my genetics don't help that. I have never really let it get to me, but now that my job requires me to be so active I want to be as healthy as I can be. And with my schedule getting busier and busier, my energy level has gone down and down. So I finally decided I needed to do something about it. 

I know there are hundreds upon hundreds of diets and exercise programs that offer success. I have half-way tried a few. I never devoted myself completely to any of these efforts. And I know that is why I "failed." 

SO ... I had a bunch of friends that were doing this crazy new thing called Advocare. And a lot of them were very successful. They said they had more energy. They said they lost a lot of weight. They said that they were happy, that their skin was more clear... etc, etc, etc. 

So I did a bunch of research and read a lot of blogs and then read some more. I wanted to be sure that it was something I could actually do and not excuse my way out.

I decided to do the 24-Day Challenge. It starts off with a 10-Day cleanse and ends with a 14 day "max" phase. For six days of the cleanse phase, you drink a fiber drink -- and you get to eat, but the goal is to eat CLEAN. There is a daily guide that comes with the pack so you know what and when to eat. You also have to drink TONS of water. Like... half your body weight in ounces. Needless to say, I've been drinking TONS of water. 

So, I've done two days of the cleanse. I am not zooming around with extra energy by any means. And actually, right now I am struggling to keep my eyes open. I told myself that I would get the nutrition down really well before I tried to start up exercising as well. I have been learning a lot about what and when to eat. Over the years, I have learned so much about nutrition  -- But I have never applied it. 

These two days have gone well. No negative side effects. The biggest change has been preparing meals and snacks to take with me so I'm prepared and don't crash; also making sure I have the right supplements and drink mixes to take, and making sure I take them at the right times! 

Conferences

Well, we just finished our "spring" conferences. And let me tell you if there was ever a down to the last minute sort of feeling, these conferences were it. We had six snow days going into them, so we barely got the conferences scheduled with the parents before coming back to school from the "snow break." Just a mess. However, by some marvelous intervention, I only had two kids not show up for their conference so that is a major positive! 

Since our conferences were at mid-term this year, I basically just showed how much growth they have made since the beginning of the school year, what their goal is for the end of the year and how much time they have left to accomplish that goal. We talked a little about expectations for third grade and any areas of concern. Most parents with concerns we are in contact with on a regular basis, so they are in the know already. 

With our newly adopted math curriculum, we have had a problem with new kids moving into our building and not having the background knowledge that our kiddos do. That was a big topic of concern tonight at conferences. What our plan would be to get these particular kids 'back up to snuff' so to say. It can be frustrating as a parent to see that you child has just flat out missed concepts and we as a district aren't slowing down! I have had to think about this, and so far I haven't come up with a prominent solution.

I know other teachers will sympathize with me when I say "I'm glad they are over!" ... I became a teacher so that I could talk to kids all day. Not so that I could chat with adults. Adults are not my forte, for sure! I'd rather hang out at the kids table and color and read books! ;) 

Because conferences are over and because tomorrow's Valentine's Day, I'm going to throw a SALE in my store! EVERYTHING is 15% off!! 

Working Not at Work

Even though I've been on snowdays forever... I've still been working: creating tons of things for my classroom. I have been concerned about our calendar routines fulfilling what they have been intended to in order to compliment our math curriculum. 

ALSO, because I am the only "math" teacher, and because all the other teachers are doing calendar, I wanted it to be consistent. Sooooo.... The Calendar Task Cards were born. 

I made a set of Regrouping Problems: We started the year teaching regrouping and that was it. The curriculum does not spiral. There is no review. AHHHHHH! I can hear those third grade teachers now: "how exactly did you teach this???" lol Basically the cards are intended to be done one card per day with our calendar routine (these sets are for one month). But I've made them so that they can be done as "task cards" in a math center (there is a recording page as well).
Click on the picture to find them: 

Along with that, money is a big concern. Money with regrouping (and where we have to add/subtract with decimal points) is also a concern. SO I did Money Word Problems Task Cards. Click on this picture to find them:

I've also been working on a HUGE spelling test packet for those using Journeys materials. 

Tomorrow's our first day back to school... and it's Friday! :)  

SNOW DAY

Tomorrow marks snow day #4 THIS WEEK for us. 

I am thankful primarily because I cannot get my little car out of my driveway (I'm hypothesizing, I haven't actually tried). And I seem to have come down with some kind of sickness that makes me wish I had someone to take care of me.

HOWEVER I am dreading how the kids are going to come back. I know having days off for break is like pressing the reboot button, and students come back like they haven't seen a school before. 

With all the snow days, it will move our 100th day back and our PTA has rescheduled our Valentine's Parties. UGH. Valentine's Parties. 

So now, the parties will be on Tuesday- the day before we start Parent Teacher Conferences. 

So to paraphrase: I'm glad we're having snow days .... but they are making things a mess. 

Sleep Room Printables

I have been thinking about putting some printables in my bedroom, because there is nothing on the walls in my bedroom at all! 

So I took some time today (in between grad school assignments) to create these really quickly, and I thought I would share them with you! 

They're just for fun, so click and download! 
Have a great night!