Valentine's Day!

It's time to link up for the Valentine's Exchange, which was put together by the fabulous Caitlin and Sarah from Teacher Blogger Exchange! First, a look at what I made for Colleen from Mrs. Patton's Patch: 

I made her a set of magnets from scrapbook paper and little pictures of ladybugs, since her class team is Ladybugs! I made a little card from a heart stamp I carved, and I also sent her a Valentines frame and a little pink bucket that had Heath bars, book plates, and lotion in it! I'm glad I was paired with her because I didn't know about her blog before the exchange, and she has some really great ideas (like this one - QR codes in the classroom + Xtranormal videos = genius!).

This is what I received from sweet Bonnie from Living a Wonderful Life: 

Nail polish and a Starbucks gift card! The shade she picked out for me is PERFECT - I can't stand bold color on my fingernails, but I like it better when my nails are painted because it keeps me from picking them, so the subtle shade of pink she sent me is something I will definitely use! Same goes for the Starbucks card - looks like I'll be leaving home a little early tomorrow so I can start my day off with a nice, hot chai tea latte! Thanks so much, Bonnie! Your gifts helped make my Valentine's Day much sweeter (and I'm following your blog now, too!). 

We had a great little party this afternoon in my class, but I was so busy running around I didn't take any pictures. Oh well! Today was also made more fun because of the Hey Girl Teacher website (please tell me you know about it!!). Yesterday was my co-worker's birthday, so I printed this one out and gave it to her in lieu of a card. Our principal just so happens to be the coolest, most fun, best principal ever, and when she saw what I'd printed, she took it from there and printed a TON of pictures from the website and scattered them all over the tables in our teacher's lounge today to show us some Ryan Gosling love and appreciation. It. Was. Awesome.

I hope you all had a wonderful day with your students, and are now taking it easy like I am! Glee is on, and my friend Emily is on her way over - my boyfriend is out at the observatory (again!) and her husband is also out of town, so we decided to make dinner together rather than spending the evening alone! It'll be nice to cook something that doesn't involve chocolate - I had enough of that today to last me for the next month! Happy heart day, y'all!

Happy Crafty Things and a Linky Party!

I've been in a crafty mood this weekend, and I wanted to share a few of the things I made!

First, I made myself a little valentines collection box to use at our party next week - my class is the Rockets, and the inspiration for my box came from the cute little wooden rocket a student made me! I made my box after school Friday because I wanted to be sure to have an example to show the kids tomorrow - I told my students a few weeks ago that they'd need to make something at home to collect their valentines in for our party, and on Valentine's Day, we're going to be voting for the collection boxes we think best match each of the 4 categories I created: the best Valentine's Day theme, the best 3rd grade theme, most colorful, and most innovative. It was optional for the kids to make something for our party; obviously any old bag, envelope, or box would work, but this is way more fun! I heard a lot of my students talking about their creations last week during recess, so I can't wait to see what they've come up with!

Then, I made a few things at home: teeny tiny valentines and envelopes to send to my brother and the kids I used to nanny for; Scrabble magnets using the tiles from my grandmother's game; thin mint truffles for my principal, assistant principal, and my friend for her birthday (and there are a few extras that I'll be enjoying sharing at school tomorrow).

 

Now, to link up with Jeannie from Kindergarten Lifestyle - You Know You're a Teacher When... Here's what I came up with: 

There's no other job quite like teaching, is there? The accidental "mommy" calling especially trips me out, because I don't have kids of my own yet! Check out some of the other entries; they're just as true!

Happy Valentine's week, everyone!

Another Valentine's Day Freebie!

Last night, instead of grading, I played around again with the Artrage app on my iPad to create a few Valentine's Day graphics. Then this morning, I set aside some time to finally set up and open my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Right now I've only posted things that I've already shared on my blog, but I've also uploaded the Valentine's Day graphics I created last night. Since this is my first go at Teachers Pay Teachers, I'm only linking it there instead of also uploading on Google Docs, but I might include both in future posts. I'm really excited to integrate TpT to my blog, and to also start following all the terrific bloggers I already follow here on TpT as well! Do you have a TpT store? If you do, let me know in the comments and I'll make sure to follow you!

If you're interested in downloading the graphics I created, just click the picture below and it'll take to you my store where you can download it for free!

Enjoy!

 

Valentine Freebie

Good morning teacher friends! Today I have a science training, and since it doesn't start until 9:00 (SCORE!), I thought I'd get a quick post up this morning to share the valentine I made to give to my kiddos this year. I made this on my iPad with the app Artrage, and I really like how it turned out - easy and simple. I plan on printing them 4 to a page, then gluing or sewing them to patterned scrapbook paper. If you'd like to use this for your kiddos, just click the picture below to download a copy from Google Docs.

Enjoy!

Be My Valentine Exchange + Ashleigh's Education Journey Giveaway!

I've got several things I've got to get done tonight, but before I dive into that, I wanted to let y'all know (if you didn't already!) that Caitlin from Ms. Preppy and Sarah from Kindergarten Korner are hosting another fun holiday exchange for teacher bloggers! I participated in their Holly Bloggy Christmas exchange, but I never linked up/posted on the end result because my computer ate my photos, and I just figured no one would want to read a post with no pictures (however, I'm now thinking I should have at least posted something, as I definitely didn't mean to come across as ungrateful - I loved my gifts and I'm happy that my partner, Mrs. L, liked the gift I made her!).

Anyway, this new exchange is for Valentine's Day, and I'm so excited about it because Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate, at least at school - it's a great time to remind ourselves that we need to be thankful and loving towards one another, and it's a good excuse to have a little celebration! If you would like to participate in the exchange, the deadline to submit your info to Caitlin and Sarah is Sunday, January 22nd. They're also hosting a class Valentine exchange, but my class is doing our own thing with our first grade learning buddies, so I don't think I can handle adding that to my plate! If you want to join in, be sure to check out the info here!

PS - Ashleigh from Ashleigh's Education Journey is hosting a giveaway - you could win a $25 gift card to Amazon! I just got a gift card to Amazon for Christmas, and spend it all immediately - the only hard part was deciding to buy things I wanted or things I needed! If you'd like to enter to win, head over to her blog to find out more!