First Grade Common Core

Y'all have probably seen this floating around the bloggy world and wondering, "What the heck?" Well guess what, I have something to tell you - this Common Core State Standards: First Grade Workbook has been released! According to the website, here's the description:

"This First Grade Common Core Workbook is the largest collection of resources for teaching the Common Core State Standards. This workbook includes over 550 pages of Worksheets, Activity Centers, and Posters that teach all the First Grade English Language Arts Common Core Standards and all the First Grade Mathematics Common Core Standards!"

Boy, are they NOT kidding! This book is filled, and I mean FILLED, with worksheets, activities, centers, posters, and so forth that help teach BOTH English Language Arts standards and the Mathematics standards in first grade. If you are running out of ideas, this book is there to help. If you need extra work for those students that breeze through everything else, this book is there! First Grade Common Core standards have made their way into the classroom, so make sure YOU are prepared!

Have a good day, y'all :)

Featuring Marie from Listening Rather Than Speaking

Happy Friday! We've finally reached another weekend! YAY! I hope y'all have some better plans than I do for the weekend (homework) and have beautiful weather! Today, I've got Marie on my blog from Listening Rather Then Speaking. Marie, thank you so much for guest posting on my blog! You've got the floor :)

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Hi! I'm Marie from Listening Rather Then Speaking!

So I wanted to write a blog that would reach hundreds thousands millions about the need to give back. As many of you know September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Cancer is something that hits my heart in a very sensitive way.

Baby's Feet By Theprodiqy

When I was in high school, I would volunteer at a hospital. It was an experience that I figured would be a give and take relationship. I would have volunteer hours on my college applications and they would have someone who could help out. I NEVER expected things to turn out to be a give-give-give-give situation. I volunteered on the children’s floor of the hospital. I would play with the little kids and feed the babies. I loved seeing their bright beautiful faces smiling and happy.

One day, I was following my “normal route”, I came across a room that had a baby that I never met nor seen. I was one of the volunteers the kids loved, because I knew all their names. He was crying, my heart melted. I slowly approached the crib and his little brown eyes, just looked at me. His name was J. for privacy reasons, I can’t talk about patients. I picked J up and he gave out a laugh. It was love at first sight. A nurse came by the room holding a bottle; I guess she walked away to make him one. The nurse handed me the bottle and said “I think you have things under-control, I’ll be back in a few”. J finished his bottle, just in time. It was time for me to head home. I placed him in his crib, and he began to cry again. I looked at his chart and it said he had not had any visitors for days! I wondered why. I picked him up again; the feeling of confusion and heartbreak entered my body. I wonder how someone could not want to see this beautiful baby’s face or just hold him. The nurse walked back into the room and grabbed him from my hands. She knew something was wrong, she looked over and said “Cancer”.

Baby Sam By Reskiy 

I made my way to the door and didn’t look back. That night, all I could think about was that little boy and how his family left him there to die. I wanted to just take him home with me and make the best out of the time he had left. I went back to the hospital the next day, J was gone. I had a blank look on my face, the nurse told me that he was down stairs getting testing done and that she would bring him to me. She told me that I would have to complete my chores and do them all with grade A effort. Within the first half hour of my shift, the nurse brought J to me. He looked so happy and gave me the same laugh. I asked the nurse; how long he had to live. She replied less the a month, if not a little less. I asked her where the family was, she told me that they said their goodbyes a long time ago. I cried.

I made a promise to myself and to J that we would make the best out of the time, he had left. I would go to the hospital early and on my days off just to see his face.

Baby Details By Juliephotography

Once my volunteer hours where up at the hospital  they told that I could no longer be allowed in J's room and I would have to receive permission for his family. I knew that this was goodbye. I agreed with the hospital and said my goodbyes. I knew that J would fight the battle for the both of us.

The updates that I would get from my school regarding J, turned into no updates at all. I figured it was time to just remember his adorable face and move on. I knew that he fought his battle with all the strength he could.

I recently thought alot about J, I thought about making a call to the hospital.

"To reach the children's floor press 6, 

Hi this is nurse xxx,  can I  help you?"

I talked to the nurse for about 15 minutes; she knew exactly what baby I was talking about and she shared the information that she could. She told me that J had beat the cancer;; he beat the cancer. He is now 3-4 years old, and is living with a foster family who is going thru the adoption process now. I cried. It was nice to know that J had beat his fight. It was nice to know that my prayers have been answer and that little boy will be okay. 

Cancer is extremely close to my heart, not only because of this baby, but because of how selfish i was.

I wanted nothing more then to have a clear well written application to college, and then this event happened. 

Baby By Pictureguy

I made the choice to give everything and any time I have to children and the fight to help them. This is the reason why if you check out my blog (click here) I have been begging people to donate to my fight to cure childhood illness and disease. I want to make a large donation on behalf of the followers/givers. Its a simple process ; you buy a box of coffee, we make the donation.   

As of right now we are shooting to give between 40% of all proceeds to the hospitals. We are looking to give these proceeds to the children's wing of hospitals. We have two hospitals in mind right now, but have not made a clear choice due to the fact that they are both so close to my partners and my heart. Both hospitals that where chosen are known worldwide.  We are making this donation for children in general at this time. We want there to be a cure for all illness and disease that children get/can get. We want a brighter future for their today and their tomorrow. At this time, we would like to try and raise $5,000 dollars. Once we reach $5000 dollars, we would like to go even further and raise more. 

I know that most people have a ton of bills to pay for and have a things to take care, but Im begging and praying. I'm asking people to save the lives of our future. Who knows maybe, we have another Elvis, or Maryrlin Moore among us. Or we have a child among us that will create the cure for cancer. We don't know what the future holds, but lets try and make it brighter for these kids.

Baby Born By Katie490

I have created little perks that people can receive,

Buy one box- i will send you a personal thank you letter/card

Buy 2-4 boxes- i will announce your name on my blog. And send you a personal thank you letter/card.

Buy 5-9 boxes - i will announce your name on my blog plus run ad, send you a thank you, and a surprise!

Buy 10 boxes- a huge surprise!

I have set up donation perks as well that people can receive,

$5-25 dollars - i will send you a personal thank you letter/card.

$26-100- I will announce your name on my blog. And send you a personal thank you letter/card.

$100+ - I will announce your name on my blog plus run your ad, send you a thank you and a surprise!

$500+ - HUGE SURPRISE.

$1000+ - SUPER SURPRISE!

These are just some of the little perks that I have set up to say thank you to everyone!

There is a high need for people to give back, and to spread the news about giving back. This is my way of trying to spread the news and helping people at the same time. I ask that you just take the time to give a moment of your day and really look at your loved ones. Now take other moment to imagine your life without them. It hurts like a million knives stabbing you over and over again. Doesn't it? Now if you could relax yourself and do one more thing for me? Please. Imagine the millions of families who need your help who don't know how to ask for help or begging for your help. 

I thank you for taking the time out to read this post, and I'm sorry for any tears that I have cause.

May your thoughts and prayers be answered today, tomorrow, and everyday. 

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Wow, what a post. Childhood cancer is one of the many monsters of life, but we can all do something about it! I am incredibly happy to have had you here, Marie! :)

Another dear friend, Lauren, is VERY close with the term childhood cancer, as her younger sister was diagnosed with the terrible monster of cancer. For the rest of September, Lauren will do a post about Childhood Cancer, and I suggest you check it out to become more aware of it.

Remember - pay it forward every single day. Have a good day, y'all!

Top 3 Product & Freebie Linky - WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Hi y'all! Happy Thursday! I hope your week has gone pretty well... I've been subbing my little booty off, but I love it. I'm learning a lot of what I will do for substitutes when it comes to me having my own classroom, that's for sure!

Anyway, my fantastic friend Brian who blogs over at Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings is hosting a cool little linky! I am going to show you my top 3 products I've sold in my TPT store and a freebie that's been downloaded the most.

My number one most selling product is my Monster Themed Coupon Set. I got the clipart from Melonheadz Illustrating and I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out. There's so many different ways to give reward to students, but I love coupons. This makes them feel special and happy when they can collect certain coupons to redeem at a later time! Click the picture below to be taken to the TPT page for more information.

My second top selling product is my Word Wall Words in Rainbow Diagonal Stripes. This set is made from the dolch word lists for each grade. I love these because they're nice and big, bright and bold, and absolutely kid friendly. They can be used by putting them on the word wall OR you can hole punch the corner and put them on a ring OR you can even just use them as flashcards! The possibilities are endless. Click the picture below to be taken to the TPT page for more information.

Finally, my last of the top 3 selling products is my Making Words - Yearlong Activities. I love this set. Each page has it's own word as well as 27 spots to write made up words. For example, one of the words is SEPTEMBER. Some of the words you can make are seep, beep, pet, set, bet, and so forth. Students complete these throughout the year, as there are about 80 pages of activities for the classroom. Use this as morning work, afternoon work, "I'm finished, now what?" work, and so on! Click the picture below to be taken to the TPT page for more information.

Finally, my most downloaded freebie is my Wanted Poster! I absolutely love this, as it was my first product ever created. I saw the idea somewhere and thought, "I can adopt that for my classroom" when I was in 2nd grade during internship. My students used it for a book report form about a mystery. You could tailor the form for many different things... this was just our idea! If you'd like to download the Wanted Poster, as well, click the picture below to be taken to the TPT page for more information.

If you'd like to check out anything else in my TPT store, please click here or on the link in my sidebar. I'm always coming up with ideas for products and adding them to my store when my Internet decides to work for me. I love having new customers & I'm here to make what YOU all want. Please let me know if you have any special requests for things you would like - I'll do my best to accommodate!

Please remember - if you download or purchase ANYTHING from ANY TPT store, please leave feedback! Not only does the feedback help the creator, if you leave feedback on a purchased product, you will get points. These points translate into FREE MONEY. What? Free money? Yes. You can use these points on future purchases to get yourself some more things! I've racked up a lot of points, and I'm saving them for the next big sale so I can get some amazing, amazing deals.

Now, what y'all have been waiting for! The giveaways ended yesterday at 11:59 PM soo... it was time to choose the winners! The winners of my giveaway have been e-mailed and if they do not respond within the next 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen for the giveaway where the winner did not respond! Congrats on winning to both Brittany & Gina!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check out Brian's linky and sign up for the Ohio Blogger Meet Up that's happening on October 7th - just 10 days away! :)

Have a good day, y'all!

Craft Swap - Give Someone A Happy Mail Day

First, let me tell you. I had THE best swap partner I could have ever gotten. Her name is KC and she blogs at Bits and Pieces. Before you even move on, you should probably go ahead and go follow her - you will NOT regret it. She also tweets @kcbitspieces - we've had a few twitter chats here and there.

Anyway, we participated in the swap put on by Paige at Artsy Anthropology. This was a craft swap, so I decided to make this for KC!

It's a wreath with a woodpecker and an owl. The two white pieces of felt say "Knock, knock!" and "Who's there?" - get it? Because a woodpecker knocks while an owl says whooo :)

But, then I opened her package and BAM. I got lucky!

She made me THREE different things AND sent me some of her favorite types of teas. Basically, she went above and beyond for me! Lucky, huh?!

The first thing she made was a headband that is brown, white, and blue. I absolutely love it and I think it's adorable. The colors mesh perfectly and they're very calming. Then, she also made some splatter paint canvases for me - in my favorite colors! Blue, yellow, and gray. Perfect. Finally, she made a bracelet with yellow and brown beads. AND it's a bracelet that I can take off and on to match with my outfit, which is perfect.

They are all beautiful things that I know she put her hard work and love into. I know exactly where the paintings are going to go when we move, so I just need to move so I can get them put up! As for the other two, they'll be worn when I wear the colors, definitely!

Thank you SO much, KC, for my fantastic swap items. I love them so much and I cherish them. And I'm so happy that I was partnered with you and got to meet you! You are the best!

The next time you have an opportunity to participate in a swap, DO IT. Yes, there's always some kind of financial contribution to be put into it (if you don't already have things on hand), but you can meet someone as kind and sweet and fun as KC. So my advice, participate!

Have a good day, y'all!

Challenge: Pay It Forward

Bloggy challenge! I've seen this floating around and I REALLY wanted to participate. So, here's the deal:

The first three people that comment on this post will get a gift from me within the next month (before I move!). All you have to do is follow the rules below.

1. Within a month, I will create something unique to share with the first 3 people that comment on this specific post.
2. ...but, in order for your present to arrive, you must play along. Spread the love on YOUR own blog promising to send a little something special to the first three that comment on your post.
3. You get 72 hours (that's 3 days) to re-post this SAME post, or I'll have to move on to the next person.
4. PLEASE, only comment if you are willing to pay it forward.

So, if you are interested, comment away! Please include the following in your comment:

Name
Blog address
E-mail address
Something about you to let me get to know you better! Could be your fav color, your fav season, favorite food, how many pets you have, how many kids you have, what you do for a living, anything! PS. You can leave more than one thing ;)

PS. Two days left to enter the giveaway! Also, don't forget about the Ohio Blogger Meet-Up!

 

Happy Pay It Forward, y'all! :)

EXTENDED FALL SALE - 20% Off!

Hi all! I have extended my sale in my TPT store to today. I could NOT, no matter what I did, get things to upload to TPT. So, I came to the library today to use their Internet and voilà, it works!

So, I've got a few products that are new - all within the same fall theme. First, I've got my Fall Themed I Have, Who Has? math games!

I have each file individually for sale for $1.50 each. I think this is well worth the money because of the amount of effort and work I put into making each file fun and attractive!
Click each picture below to be taken directly to the page where it is for sale!

BUT, if you would rather get the bundles (two different bundles for $2.50 each, a total of $5.00) and save $1.00 total, you could do that, too! Please click HERE and HERE for those bundles.

I also added a FREEBIE (this will last a week - until next Monday - grab it while you can!) titled Fall Themed Even and Odd Sort. After this week, it will go back up to the price of $1.50!

DON'T FORGET! The giveaway ends on Wednesday & the sign-up for the Ohio Blogger Meet-Up is still going strong! Even if you cannot attend, please sign up to have your name put on the list we will distribute to all who attend and those who cannot attend (through e-mail)!

 

I hope y'all enjoy the new products and have a fantastic week!

Sunday Social

1. What is something that you have wanted to do but are afraid of?

I have always wanted to branch out and start creating something, but I'm afraid of failing. Like opening a store with crafts, but I'm afraid I won't succeed! Same with baking.. I've always wanted to bake, but afraid it'll taste bad!

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I see myself having already been teaching for a while, living with Cody with Socks and a pup (possibly Sam!). We'll be on our way to making our own family :)

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2012?

Moving to Alabama with Cody! It's official - we move in November! This is the real start to our lives and I couldn't be more excited :)

4. What are your hopes for your blog?

I hope to continue to grow and gain more readership, as well as meet many new people that I can network & become close friends with.

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city?

Nope! See question 3 :)

6. What is your morning routine?

I wake up, check AESOP and gmail on my phone. Get out of bed and go straight to the shower. Get out, get dressed, come out to the living room and watch some news. Make breakfast, watch more TV, and then leave! 

See you next Sunday for Sunday Social! :)

 

Have a good Sunday, y'all!

Happy Fall, Y'all! Sale, Giveaway & Meet-Up!

Today is the first official day of Fall! In honor of this day, Casey at Second Grade Math Maniac decided to host a LARGE TPT sellers sale! She worked out a ton of details and was able to get OVER 50 sellers to participate. AKA this sale is HUGE. Each seller is holding this Fall sale with up to 20% off at their stores! At the bottom of this post, there's a linky with EACH seller participating. Make sure you check out all the stores & score some good deals!

I have a few products that I'm really proud of. I've got my Monster Themed Coupon Set with clipart from Melonheadz Illustrating.

I also have many varieties of my Ultimate Teacher Planner, but my favorite is the black and coral damask!

Finally, I've recently created my Student Word Wall Book that could be INCREDIBLY useful when you have those students coming up to ask how to spell the same word each and every time!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway that will end on Wednesday! You could win your own binding machine OR a $30.00 gift card! Get to entering!

ALSO - the sign up for the Ohio Blogger Meet-Up is still going strong! You've got a little while longer to sign up - we'd LOVE to see you there!

Check out the list of sellers below and get to shopping!

Wait, TWO Giveaways?!

Okay, I know some of you have been patiently waiting for this post to come about.. well, here it is!

I was contacted by MyBinding.com to review some sort of awesome tool. I chose to review the Book Binding Machine since I already have a great laminator and a paper cutter. I also have been interested in a machine to make books for my future students rather than just putting a paper clip on the top or stapling the edges and being faced with crumbled papers. SO, I asked to review the binding machine!

This huge box showed up on a rainy day. I actually missed it walking inside the house because it was off to the side... but I was expecting something so I went back outside to check for it. Low and behold, there it was!

I cut open the box and was faced with this. WHAT?! Did I really just get my own binding machine to make books, calendars, etc.?! AND the box came with tons and tons and TONS of supplies like binding combs, clear covers, AND embossed paper? Yes, yes, I did.

So, I decided to break it out and play with it some! It's a pretty lightweight machine that's REALLY simple to use once you get the hang of it. It being my first time using it, I actually followed the directions. But, now that I know what to do, it's as easy as pie! The BIG gray handle is the hole puncher (in a sort of way). There's a little gray sliding tool on the top there to the right, that's the lock. So, the machine locks and unlocks for safety. Definitely a good idea, in my opinion, so that things don't get punched that you'd prefer not to get punched!

You unlock the machine and the gray handle pops up to allow for you to insert sheets of paper to be punched. I used my Student Word Wall Book as a sample for this project to see how it works. The only thing I didn't like about this part is that I could only fit 8 pages in at a time... kind of disappointing BUT it works great nonetheless! Since my document had a total of 17 pages, I just had to punch through twice. When you're punching through, it sounds like the machine is breaking BUT do not worry. This is good! The handle also does not pop back up by itself.. you have to pull it. You should have seen me trying to figure out how to get the handle back up... what a concept to just pull back up!

Once you've got your holes in, now it's time to set up your comb. The comb confused me at first, too (you'd think I had not experienced anything in life before with me trying to figure out this machine?!). Anyways, you set the comb up so that the teeth are closer to you than the machine (see picture below). You have to physically push the two levers on the side of the machine to spread the comb open (bottom picture), but it's much MUCH easier than sitting there trying to open each tooth to separate it from the continuous spine (does that make sense?). I absolutely love the ease of this step, as it only took me about 30 seconds to do.

Then, place your product on the combs so that each tooth has gone through each sheet of paper. This step has to be possibly the easiest, yet most frustrating, step. I have an issue with things having to go on at the SAME time, so if some of the pages missed some of the teeth, I made myself start all over again. BUT this step is the easiest, so don't over think it like I did!

AND voilà! There you have it. You've made a book in as short as 1 minute. Once you've got things figured out, you'll whip out your books in no time. These are also going to be very helpful when you need to make books for your students to take home for presents, to give to your parents as a thank you gift, and so forth. There are MANY different things you could use this binding machine for, and guess what?

MyBinding.com is giving one of you, my readers, a chance to win your own!

Please enter the Rafflecopter below to have a chance at winning your own Binding Machine with supplies, FREE! Isn't MyBinding.com so generous to be doing this?!

You must do all the required entries. They WILL be verified. If you do NOT complete something that is required, and your name is drawn at the end, you will be disqualified. HONOR SYSTEM, Y'ALL!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ALSO: At the same time, I'm hosting another giveaway for hitting 300 AND 400 followers! Please enter the giveaway below for a gift card from me for $30.00. The gift card will be of YOUR choice, all for hitting 400 followers on this little blog of mine

Examples could be Starbucks, Target, TPT, TN, Etsy, Applebees, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, whatever you'd like (that I am able to either buy online OR go to the place and buy).

RULES ARE SAME AS ABOVE. Must complete all required entries. Entries will be verified. HONOR SYSTEM, Y'ALL.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GOOD LUCK!

*All opinions expressed on this post are of my own. MyBinding.com supplied me with free products, but opinions are 100% my own.*

PS. Don't forget about the Ohio Blogger Meet Up! It's happening on Sunday, October 7th, 2012! We'd love to have as many of you that would like to join! Goody bags, good conversation, and new friends!

Have a good night, y'all!