End 2011 with a FREE Download!

Check out my 2 new products in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store (Find the link on the left sidebar!). Both are Short Story Rebuses (Rebi? Rebis?).  One focuses on words from the -at and -an word families, and the other on words from the -et and -en word families.  I can't wait to use these in my class when we return next week!  Look for more products to come soon!

Hip Hip Hooray for Christmas Vacation!

Finally, Christmas Vacation is here...Yet my body is still on school schedule and refused to sleep past 5:30 am.  So here I am, the first Sunday morning of my very precious time off from school, perusing Pinterest for things to use in my classroom.  Sigh.  

Teaching during the holidays...

Tomorrow begins the first day of the first week of teaching during the 2011 holiday season.  13 weeks ago, I thought this day would never come, but instead it has slipped up on me once again.  We're three-eighths of the way through the school year, and I know I have yet to see and hear some of the craziest things kids can do and say.  Teaching during the holidays is always stressful:  You still have to plan your lessons, attend professional developments, complete the never ending mountains of paperwork, meet with parents, as well as balance all the holiday get togethers with family and friends, decorating, and shopping.  So, as things in my world begin to get even more stressful, I want to embrace the Thanksgiving spirit and reflect on a few things I am thankful for in my classroom. I have an amazing assistant who helps keep me going when I think things can't get any crazier (cause usually that's about the time a stapler or book flies through the air in a fit of rage...).  I also have great kids who say the craziest things and make me smile, even when I don't want to.  So, Here's To being surrounded by great people at work when the holidays begin.  Well, those 3 days off at Thanksgiving and 2 weeks at Christmas help as well.