Let's Get Acquainted!

Love LaToya's fun linky party - I missed it the last few weeks, but I'm on it this week!

Favorites Survey!

Favorite Place to Shop

For cute work clothes:

And for everything else: 

(These are both photos of the actual stores I go to)

Fun fact: I worked at this Target as a college student when it first opened. My job on grand opening day: show people how to use the "Vermaport" - i.e. escalator that takes your cart to the 2nd floor. You would not believe how many people tried to send their cart up with their kids still in it!!

Favorite TV Show

It's a tie!!

Favorite Sweet Treat

Mojo Crepes! This is a local hole-in-the-wall that makes crepes with ice cream. I always order the Fudgin' Good crepe: peanut butter, banana, chocolate sauce, cookies & cream ice cream, and whipped cream all wrapped up in a crepe. yummmm

Favorite Food

The gourmet veggie pizza from Papa Murphy's! I'm not even a vegetarian, but I LOVE this pizza.

Favorite Restaurant

The restaurant with the red roof in the picture below is the actual location I go to. Look at that view! And can you say crab nachos?? I'm making myself hungry!

A Bunny Blog Hop

A Tisket, A Tasket, Freebies for your Basket!

Several phenomenal teachers and bloggers are joining forces for an amazing bunny blog hop!  As you follow us along the bunny trail, you will visit some of your favorite blogs and discover a few new blogs too!  Each with a fabulous freebie just for you!

Thank you for hopping on over to my blog! 

My freebie is pretty awesome! I'm offering up my brand new 21-page April Activity Book (the first in a new series I'm working on). Click on any of the images below to get it FREE from Google Docs!

 In celebration of Easter and spring finally being upon us, I'm also throwing a 20% off sale on everything in my TpT store this weekend only! Friday-Sunday!
Happy Easter friends! =)

Thanks for stopping by and visiting!  If you are new to my blog and liked what you see, don't forget to follow me.  A Tisket, A Tasket, next up with a Freebie for your Basket is Kristy from The Phonics Phenomenon.  Hop on over!

Just in case you didn't join us from the beginning, here is an ordered list of all the participating blogs.

Stephany from Primary Possibilities
Sally from Elementary Matters
Lory from Fun for First
Linda from Primary Inspiration
Nicole from Mrs. Rios Teaches Second Grade
Brian from Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings
Liz from The Happy Teacher
Jennie from JD's Rockin' Readers
Sarah from Learning is for Superstars
Teresa from Fun in K/1
Nikki from Teaching in Progress
Faith from Kindergarten Faith
Renee from Fantastic First Grade Froggies
Amy from Happy Teacher Heaven
Leah from Learn with Leah
Nicole from Teaching's a Hoot
Kristy from The Phonics Phenomenon
Rich from Mr. Giso's Room to Read
Susanna from Whimsy Workshop
Amy from Motivate to Learn
Lola from Preschool Wonders
Kimberli from Mixing the Next Batch

Young Authors' Night + freebie

My school hosted a Young Authors' Night last week. Families were invited to come in the evening to their child's classroom to view their best writing. It was my first time participating in this event, so I was scrambling for fun ideas. I decided to use folders and decorate them with these cute pages I made using Scrappin Doodle graphics:

 I made boy and girl versions of each worksheet. The kiddos colored and completed all of the pages, then glued the cover to the front of the folder, the "about the author" page to the back, and slipped the "author dedications" page inside with all of their writing samples. I also stuck their school picture on the bio page and laminated all of the folders. They turned out so cute! 

 As I was looking up ideas for young authors' night on Pinterest, I came across the idea for a journal page with self-editing check boxes and decided to make my own:

 Just click on any of the images above and you can download these pages for FREE from Google Docs!

And I recently posted My Little Book of April Words on my TpT store! Just for fun, the first 3 people who comment will get it for FREE! Just leave your e-mail address in a comment! =)

Just click on the image above to go straight to my TpT store. =)

St. Patrick's Day fun

I love any holiday - just another excuse for fun with my students!

Since St. Patrick's Day falls on the weekend this year, we celebrated on Friday. 

First we read this book:

and worked on my coordinating mini-book, which is part of my "There Was an Old Lady" pack.

At the end of the day, we had a special snack: leprechaun cookies (i.e. Oreos with green creme).

 FYI - these are soo good - the kids loved 'em!

and we finished up our rainbow craftivity, which I posted for free here.

(please ignore the super messy tables! ha)

 Don't they look so colorful and fun in the hallway??

A sale and a freebie!

Just for fun, I'm throwing a TpT sale for St. Patty's Day! Everything is 20% off Sunday only!

Just click the banner above to go straight to my store and check out Mrs. Wheeler's blog for more people hosting sales today!

Now, onto the freebie! It's that time of year when my students are getting antsy and needing a review of rules and expectations. We do everything in my class to positively promote good behavior- earn beads in a jar (full jar = a reward!), pass out "Super Citizen Awards" (which I have as a freebie here), earn table points, etc. 

I really wanted a way to recognize a few students each week who went above and beyond in class, but always ran out of time at the end of the day to write personalized notes home, so I created this "Star Student" award. It's designed to print two to a page to conserve paper. I print it out on neon-colored paper to make it flashy and comment throughout the week when the kids are getting crazy, "hmm...I wonder who'll be a Star Student this week." I still left space for some personalization, because I think that's important.

Just click on the image above to get it FREE from Google Docs!

Linky Party!

I'm joining in LaToya's "Let's Get Acquainted" Linky Party over at Flying into First Grade. Her blog was designed by the same person who did mine, which is probably why I'm IN LOVE with her blog design. 

I haven't done a linky party in awhile, and the idea for this one is so fun! 

Share 3 things about yourself that you like or like to do using your initials.

My initials are NMJ, so here goes:

N - NEW THINGS. This past year has been full of new things for me: joining TpT, starting my blog, amassing my new clip art collection, joining a gym (lost 37 lbs and counting!!) and falling in love with Zumba. Today I tried 3(!) new classes at my gym and boy, am I going to feel it tomorrow!

(Thanksgiving morning Zumba party. That's my beloved instructor Mariemma in front with the hat. She's an ESOL teacher by day, Zumba jammer by night! Inspiration.)

M - MAKING CARDS. This is my summertime hobby, because it's the only time I can fit it in! Then I make a whole year's worth of cards. Some cards I've made in the past:

J - JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE. Okay, I really couldn't think of anything for J, then remembered I just watched him on SNL! Did anyone else see this? I *died* when he dressed as a giant piece of tofu singing "we fell in love in a meatless place". LOL

March freebie!

For this week's Manic Monday freebie, a preview of my newest TpT product: a set of emergent  reader mini-books for each month of the year.

Just click on any of the B&W pictures above to get the March book for FREE from Google Docs. :)

I also wanted to share about a brand-NEW educational site that I just found out about!

Educents is a daily deal site like Groupon or Living Social, but for students, educators, and parents. It will offer discounted software, online courses, curriculum, and other educational materials. The best part is that if you click on the picture above, you can register on their site for a FREE $15 gift card to use when their site goes live in April! I've already signed up for mine!

And an update for my St. Patrick's Day craftivity freebie from last week's Manic Monday! A picture of the finished product:

If you missed it, simply click on the picture to download it from Google Docs. Enjoy!

ABC Mini-Books & a Freebie!

For Manic Monday this week, I have a cute St. Patrick's Day craftivity to share. 

I had in mind what I wanted do with my kiddos, but couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I made my own and decided to share with all of you! Just click on the picture below to get it from Google Docs!

And I am SO excited to post about my newest TpT product, because it's been in the works for the past month. This is definitely the biggest project I've ever taken on (500+ pages!).

Mini emergent books - which are quickly becoming my favorite thing to create - are included for each letter of the alphabet. This project definitely fed into my clip art craze, as I had a good reason to buy even more! In fact, PayPal thought I was purchasing too much clip art online because it temporarily suspended my account, thinking it had been hacked! haha. Ah, the addictions of a teacher. :)

A quickie preview:

This pairs perfectly with My Book of ABCs I posted last week!