Capturing Kids' Hearts! - HELP!

Believe it or not, today I actually walked out of a professional development feeling fueled and inspired to improve myself and my teaching!

Today was a fantastic day! Not only is it my second day in a row to blog (Oh, how I've missed thee!), but today I got to attend the first part of the professional development Capturing Kids' Hearts! I have never been before so I was super excited to attend!

I got a call from my principal yesterday saying that a spot opened up and that she signed me up- which is AWESOME- but it was such late notice that I can't find a babysitter for the second and third days of it!  Darnit!  #mommyproblems

So I need some help!!!  What I want is to be able to pick your brains and get some info from you!  I got some really good starter info about CKH, but I want to know more!  Can you help me out??

Haha I love this meme!
All day all I've been thinking about is what I can do to be a better teacher next year!

Have you been to CKH?  What did you learn?  What were your favorite parts?  What specifically do you implement in classroom?  Did it make building relationships with students easier/more meaningful?  Any insight would be helpful!

Thank you!

40 Fridays!

It has been (about) 40 Fridays since I have even logged on to blogger!  

But I am finally back in the blogger-game!

I AM OUT OF SCHOOL FOR SUMMMMMEEERRRRRRRRRRR! 

I literally could not be happier!  I had by far the roughest year I could ever imagine.  Student behavior was awful and I found myself continually trying to connect with the boys in my class all year long with no success.  I truly felt like a failure most of the year, but I am ready to put last year in the past and start anew this upcoming school year!  Despite how hard it was, we had some good times as well!

Creating gas!

Created flotation devices to 'rescue us from Planet X'!

We made GAK!

Many times this past school year I needed to 'escape' my reality- so of course I picked up a good book to help me do it! Here are a few of my faves!  If you click on the book below it will take you to the Amazon review page!

This is an awesome book with a historical side that bounces you back and forth between past and present while a young girl fights to figure out a mystery she has uncovered about her own past!

Similar to Fifty Shades, but I liked it better.

This is a heart-wrenching book that will creep you out, give you the chills and keep you wanting more!  I'll never look at a flower the same way!

Incredible book!  I was so engaged in the story that I didn't want it to end!  Definitely check it out!

This is what I am currently reading.  This is the third book in the Callahan & McLane Series and I can't put it down!  I have read most of her books, including her Bone Secrets Series (LOVED IT!!!) and her Novella titled Veiled.

My best friend moved away last summer and she came back last week for a visit! I couldn't believe it had really been a year since I had last seen her, but it truly felt like no time had passed at all!!!

The biggest excitement in my life right now is that we are prepping our backyard for an above ground pool!  It is a ton of hard work and I am more than thankful for my wonderful husband and his best friend who have done the majority of the work!  Now just to get the ground all nice and level, top it with a layer of sand and then construct the pool! I CANNOT WAIT!!

backyard prep!!!

What our pool will look like!

Now it's play time with my baby girl! Hope everyone's summer is off to an exciting start!

New New News!!!! {MMI Linky!}

I am soooooo excited to announce that we will be able to start the new school year in our brand new building!  The architects have been WAYYYY behind and we were almost positive that we were going to have to start the new year in our old building, which would've been awful.

We have no furniture, the parking lot isn't ready, and no playground, but I am CRAZY STOKED to be able to get into our building to FINALLY start getting my room ready on Thursday!  All of the other teachers and I have been going insane all summer about it!!

The kiddos start on Tuesday and I have a whole lot to get done by then!!!

Now for my Monday-Tuesday Made It!  I am linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics for her awesome linky she has every Monday!

I began working on a new blog design yesterday, finished it and finally got it up and working. 

BUT...

Then I decided that I hated it.  So I had to redo it.  Along with my TpT banners and pinterest pic.

Don't you LOVE my new design???!!!!!!

I sure do!

Now I've got to get on Pinterest and look at all the fun stuff I've been pinning over the summer and bring those to life for next Monday's linky!!!  And hopefully get to bed before 3am because 5:30am wake up for professional development is going to come super early!

Meet the Teacher!!! {Linky}

Good afternoon!  I am linking up with 

Falling Into First for her Meet the Teacher Linky!

FIRST, a little bit about myself!  I am known as 'mama' to my beautiful and crazy 2 year old baby girl!  I have absolutely LOVED spending my summer with her.  I don't know what I'm going to do when I go back to school on Wednesday and don't get to laugh incredibly hard when I find her like this during the middle of the day! BAHAHA!!!

I am known as "Wifey" to the most magnificent man in the entire world.  He was my high school sweetheart and we have been together ever since.  I am so blessed that I got to grow up and get to grow old with the man of my dreams.

I am known as "Mrs. T" to my students.  I am really excited to get a new year under way! 

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

Reading.  Netflix.  Eating.  Cooking.  Teaching.  Mexican Food.  Taking Pictures.  How I Met Your Mother.  My new S5 Active Phone.  Zumba.  Shopping.  DIY-ing.  Blogging.  Country Music.  Moscato.  Air Conditioning.  And to quote Stephanie from Falling Into First, “Every show Shonda Rhimes has ever created”. 

 IF YOU WEREN'T A TEACHER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE?

If I weren’t a teacher I would want to be a stay at home mommy.  I always hoped that I could stay at home just like my mom did, but I’m not quite as lucky. L

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU.

Outgoing.  Determined.  Organized. 

FINISH THE SENTENCE, "________,  SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!"

“I can’t wait to stay late for that awesome staff meeting!”

Q: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE {DEAD OR ALIVE} TO THE PARTY. WHO ARE YOU INVITING?

Barbara Walters.  She’s met everyone in the world and must have some good stories.

Q: IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?

Laugh at yourself.

 Q:YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER. WHAT IS IT?

 Mind Reading.  Duh. 

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

No one ‘deserves’ anything.  You must earn everything through hard work and dedication.

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? 

 “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey!  Journey is my second favorite band of all time (right after Hanson!) and I even got engaged at a Journey concert! 

 Q: ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?

Once I get into the school schedule I am definitely a morning person.  When I get into the groove of waking up every morning I definitely become a morning person and can’t stay up past 10pm.

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCE THAT YOU'VE CREATED IN YOUR TPT SHOP?

My most favorite resource that I’ve recently created is my 2x1 digit Multiplication task/Scoot cards with self-checking QR Codes!  They are super cute cards and my students love them because they get to use their ipads to check their work themselves.  Check it out in my TpT Store!

 Check it out HERE!!!!!!!

Q: SHARE SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU!

You may not know that I just created a new blog design! I love it!  It only took me a few days (full days) but was totally worth it! (Sorry this image is a little blurry!)

I am so glad that I got to link up!  I heart comments!  

Linky, Linky, Linky!!!

I am linking up with 3 linky parties today!

1.  Positive Thinking Thursday with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings

2.  Throwback Thursday with The Teacher's Desk 6

and it will be my first time ever linking up with

3.  Technology Thursday with The Teaching Trio!

For Positive Thinking Thursday, I went through my "Quotes and Funnies" Pinterest board and found this quote that I recently pinned.   Sometimes I find it hard being 'me' and this quote is a great reminder to just be myself no matter what other people think.

Up next is a Throwback Thursday post about Technology in the classroom!  Last year I fell in LOVE with an app called OverDrive.  Here is an overview of the app and the link to my throwback post.

OverDrive is an app on which you can download FREE books from the public library to be read.  There are never any late fees and books get returned at the end of the 7 or 14 day lending period.  I really enjoyed using it with my class last year and will definitely use it again this year!

Check out my Technology/Throwback Thursday post HERE!!!!!!

I heart comments!  Don't forget to follow me on BlogLovin'!

TpT B2S Sale- What I bought!

Today I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' to show my fellow bloggers what I bought from the 

TpT B2S Sale!!!  And if you haven't finished your shopping yet, please go check out my store HERE!!!

This year I will only be teaching math and science so I am wanting to implement a LOT of math centers!  I bought this math stations set from Laura Candler and I can't wait to use it!

I also bought this set of task cards from Rachel Lynette!!!  My students always need extra help with word problems.

I bought a quite a few of these sets of task cards from the One Stop Teacher Shop!

I purchased her "I Can" Measurement, Operations with Decimals, Place Value, and Multiplying and Dividing Whole Numbers Centers from her! Whew! Now I just need to get them printed and set up!

What did you buy?  Any 5th grade leveled math centers that you love?  Let me know in the comments!

Oh, and don't forget to check out my TpT B2S Sale!  Use code B2S14 for an extra 10% off!!!!

Currently and TpT SALE!!!!!!!!!!

It's hard to believe that I haven't blogged in 3 weeks!  

But it's even harder to believe that my summer is almost over!  

Better late than never to link up with Farley's Currently Linky!

Listening:  Our air conditioner has been on the fritz lately.  It has frozen up numerous times and got up to around 85 degrees in our house!  In the Oklahoma heat that is absolutely NO GOOD!  We had a really nice guy come out and service it and it's been working perfectly since then!  Thank you, Lord!

Loving/Thinking:  I created my first ever teacher binder this week!  It has way more pages than I thought and I am almost done with it!  I have a few more pages I need to add in and then I want to get it printed!

Wanting:  I desperately want to get into my school and get my classroom ready!  We are moving into a brand new building and it is not quite done yet.  In fact, we have no idea when we will be able to get in there. My coworkers and I are super frustrated but we know it will all happen in good time.  We may have to spend the first week back in our old building, so that will be crappy, but at least we will have a beautiful new building to look forward to!

Needing:  So, I had to have surgery this week to have a tumor on one of my parathyroid glands removed.  Long story short, I was producing 4x as much calcium as I should have been because of my tumor.  Now that it's removed my body is basically calcium starved and my limbs keep falling asleep!  Thank goodness it's not the painful needle-like feeling, but it's quite uncomfortable.  Hopefully my body will begin regulating calcium properly and my 'asleep' feeling will go away asap!

I am so conflicted about going back to school.  I love my summer and hanging out with my baby girl but I am super excited about going back to school, meeting my new students and seeing my friends every day!  Hopefully our first day back will be a great day since it's my birthday!

AND WHO ISN'T SUPER STOKED ABOUT THE TPT BTS SALE?!!??!?!

I have some great items for sale, such as a bunch of math task/scoot cards and a few other goodies!  

A few of my favorites are my 2x1 digit multiplication task/scoot cards with QR Codes 

and my colorful chevron chalkboard word wall letters!  

Go check it out and start buying! :-)

And to those of you who go back to school tomorrow, best of luck!