Summer Bucket List

Are you all having a good summer? I love my summers, but keeping my boys busy is full time job! I feel like I really need to plan like I do for my firsties some days.  So I decided to create a summer bucket list for us.  I created cards, printed them and laminated. Then I threw them on a ring and now we have a plan.  A random plan, but a plan. Because I have two boys, they'll take turns picking an activity and when it's finished, they get to check it off.  I thought I'd share just in case you have babies that you need to keep busy.  So just click to download and it's yours.  

Dang..I have a blog?

You would seriously think I'd forgotten all about this little blog of mine.  I certainly haven't updated my family blog in what feels like a decade, but I'm BACK! And I'm going to get my act back together. 

First, my baby graduated from Kindergarten.

Then, when school ended I had a week to get Drew ready for graduation, pack and run around before we left for DISNEY! We just got back today and they aren't lying when they say, that is vacation you need a vacation from when you're finished. We go every year, and every year it seems like a wonderful idea, until I'm in 90 degree heat, in hour long lines, with people who forgot they aren't they only people in the park.  But all joking aside, I do love seeing my kiddos smiles and the joy they get from hugging those precious characters. 

Gotta love my sweet boys.  

Speaking of vacation, my poor little Drew got a two day break from school and this teacher mommy busted out the book! He was actually really excited about it.  I ran to Staples and for four dollars they bound my Staying Fit for First pack.  Now he has his own little book of review for the summer.  

Tonight and tomorrow both of my summer review books will be 15% off.  

I hope you all are having a good start to your summer. I'll be back soon, I promise.  

Sunday Smorgasbord

Hey all!

     I know...I haven't blogged in forever! The end of the year crept up on me and I don't think I slept at all last week. But I'm back.... and I'm on summer vacation.  I absolutely loved my little people, but hallelujah and Praise the Lord I don't have to get up at 4:30 am and I don't have to pick up my babies from sitters and school.
     I'm so sad though, because that whirlwind week also meant I totally forgot to take pictures of my end of the year gifts and such.  I gave my sweet babies sand buckets full of summer fun, like bubbles, yoyo's, clappers, pool toys, etc, as well as my Summer to Second Grade pack. Gotta keep those kiddos thinking. I also sent them home with a DVD of our first grade memories.  It got rave review from our parents.  I created my slide show with iMovie and iDVD. I created the movie in iMovie and then sent it to iDVD to finish it up and make it look professional.

I used three songs in my video:

We're Going to Be Friends by Jack Johnson

Better Together by Jack Johnson 

Let them be Little by Billy Dean (This ended the DVD and the tears flow)

We also ended our week with my Dollar Store Superlatives. Oh My Goodness! Did my kiddos get a kick out these. They were so excited to see who got what.  Each one of them was over the moon to get a prize with their award and they were so proud! 

And I have the sweetest of first grade families ever! Not only did I get these beautiful flowers and candy but I also received gift cards galore.  Two very sweet mommies collected money for a salon/spa gift card and Disney gift card for our upcoming trip.  

And other families just knew how much I love to eat! :) 

I hope you all have a great end of the year. I know these last few days can be hard.  Here is a freebie to give your little people something to do as you put away the books and take down the bulletin boards. I blew ours up to give my kiddos plenty of room to write. There are kindergarten through fourth grade version included.   The graphics are provided by Melonheadz and Moffatt Girls.  

Birthday Bash Giveaway

I'm not sure if you knew but I have bloggy birthday twin and her name is Deedee Wills.
She's not only a fellow blogger, but one of my very favorite kinder friends ever! 

So today, May 16th, is our birthday.  

We thought we'd give you a little present in honor of our twin birthday.  

So we have two really awesome birthday bundles for you.  

Here is a picture of my birthday gift to you. 

You can go HERE to see Deedee's birthday bundle.

If you would like to enter to win our ginormous birthday gift giveaway, then just enter below.  

You can also go to Deedee's blog to enter for her prize pack.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

5 For... and See my Shopping!

So I'm going to multitask with this post because that's what teacher mommies have to do.  And I'm going to link up with 5 for Friday and Blog Hoppin'.

So here are my 5 randoms:

{ONE}

First I'll start with all my TpT goodies I purchased.  I might have spent a bit too much.  

Yes...I am a teacher... and I shop too much!! I found some of the most amazing things for my classroom for the end of the year.  I also bought a few things to work on with my boys this summer and I purchased some amazing clip art! You can click any of the buttons below to check out the products.

{TWO}

We had our Mother's Day Tea on Thursday and it was absolutely precious! It was the first I've ever had and I loved every second of it.  First the mommies sat with kiddos and some sweet fifth graders and I served treats, lemonade and bottles of water.  Then the kids shared their precious Mother's Day books they made.  After that I read our "Why my mommy is the best" book.  I enlarged the papers from Cara's pack.  Next the kids sang four songs for their moms and finally the moms and kiddos made flowers for their vases.  It was such an amazing day. 

{THREE}

Landon has three preschool teachers and these were their gifts this week. They are so cute and creative.  You can download them for next year at Chickabug.

{FOUR}

If you still need something for Mother's Day tomorrow, there are some very cute printables at The Creative Girl.

{FIVE}

If you still need some items to end your year, here are a few of my products.

Sales on for Summer!

   I can barely believe that I have only a mere 12 days of school left. It's making me a bit sad and nervous!! Do you all have a million things to get done in about this--much time? Heaven help my soul! 

As you all may know, I put together a summer pack that I send home with my firsties to keep them prepared for 2nd grade.  It had lots of great feedback and many people asked me to make a kindergarten to first version.  As a first grade teacher, I want those kiddos prepared, so I listened and it's finally FINISHED!!! I tried to hit almost every Kinder Common Core Standard I saw.  So not only is this pack great for sending home, but it would also be a wonderful review or assessment for the end of the year.  Here is what is included:

As y'all know, I'm not a kinder teacher, so if there is something this pack is lacking, please let me know and I'd be happy to try to add it.  I hope you find it useful.  

I also have my End of the Year Awards, that I'm absolutely in LOVE with. I know my kiddos will be so excited.  These awards are great, because each of your students can be recognized, with or without a prize that fits their personality.  They also come in color and black and white, incase you prefer to print on card stock.  Here are some pictures of a few of the awards and their prizes. 

I'll be back with more soon. I'm off to shop for clip art and some other fun stuff for my last few days.  Don't forget to take advantage of the teacher appreciation sale on Teachers pay Teachers. 

And to all my teacher friends: 

It takes a big heart to shape little minds.  

Keep being wonderful! 

By now you have heard about THE sale of the year!

If you are impatient (like me) you can get a 20% discount on EVERYTHING in my store starting TODAY!

TpT's sale officially starts on Tuesday.

 Now, I like a plan of attack. Here are my plans as the sale approaches:

1.  Look at my past purchases.   Have I left feedback on these?   I love those points! Sometimes the TpT system slows down on big sale days, so I want to get those feedbacks in! I want to rack-up those beautiful points and turn them into purchasing power!  I am freely admitting that I don't NEED anymore clip art... but I always WANT more clip art!

  

This is also a great time to go back to those sellers and see what other treasures they have in their store.

2.   I move my items from my "Wishlist" over to my "Cart."   Seriously, I have this mental image of a puma ready to pounce on its prey.

3. Think ahead... As I think about my classroom instruction, what things will I want to implement for next year.   This is a great time to be reflective!

It is easier to "Keep Calm and Shop On" when you have a plan!

Sunday Stuff!

Hey friends! Sorry for the lack of blogging. Last week was a week!  It was one of those weeks where if things could go wrong, they did.  I have been working hard to finish units and be a good teacher in the midst of chaos. So I hope you all bear with me.

Last week we were busy preparing for our upcoming Mother's Day Tea.  I took quite a few ideas Drew's sweet preschool teachers. They put on a precious tea a few years ago, so we are running with their ideas.

Here we are making vases with fingerprints. 

We'll put our flower craft that we'll make with our mommies in these vases.

 These are teacups we decorated to put on placemats for the big day.

 We are creating a big book to read to our mom's at the tea.  This is from Cara's precious unit. 

 We've also been working on our Mother's Day books.  I love these every year! 

Our Mother's Day tea will be this Thursday. I'll be sure to post pictures.  I'm super excited. 

This week we'll be learning about plants.  I love a good schema chart and my friend Cara reminded me that this would be a great way to start our unit.  So I made this tonight.  

I also made a mini book for my books center. You can grab it by clicking below.

I made a sight word center as well.  Hope you can use it.

And for those of you waiting...

I PROMISE, even if I don't sleep to finish this pack. I'm very excited about what I got accomplished today.  So kindergarten teachers, hold tight.  This will be finished by tomorrow. Just in time for the big sale! 

Instagram (Teacher Talk Tuesday!)

Have you all heard about Teacher Talk Tuesday?  What the Teacher Wants and Apples and ABC's thought of a genius idea.  Each Tuesday teachers will post something fun going on in their room on their Instagram accounts.  You just include the hash tag #teachertalktuesday after your picture.  Fabulous in First is on Instagram, so don't forget to follow me. You can follow by clicking the camera below.

I'm super excited for Tuesday! 

Five For Friday!

I think this post should probably be called Fried by Friday, because this week has totally exhausted me. I feel like the end of April hits and my calendar gets OUT OF CONTROL! So hopefully this post makes sense and doesn't read as if my three year old wrote it.  

Here are my 5 Randoms for this Wacky Week:

{ONE}

Mother's Day is quickly approaching.  Are you all ready?  I'm super excited about it this year as I'm hosting my first ever Mother's Day Tea.  I can't say too terribly much about it, just in case some of my school mommies are following. 

a. Here is the invitation I sent home. 

I also sent home the page below. 

b. My kiddos will be singing a few songs while their moms visit.  I found some adorable, simple songs here.

c. We'll also be making a special book for our mommies.  You can click here to download it. 

d. My kids will also do some of the adorable activities out of Cara's newest packet.  Everything my sweet friend Cara makes is OUT OF THIS WORLD ADORABLE! And this unit is no different.  

e. I have some free centers in my TpT Store that are Mother's Day Themed.  You can click here and here to download.  

{TWO}

It was my student teacher's last day today.  We had a little going away party for her.  We got her a gift, cake and my sweet little people wrote her letters.  They each read their letter.  I promised Kate I would post the pictures of her crying. So here are a few happy pictures. 

{THREE}

I have had quite a few emails about this packet. 

This is my packet I send home with my firsties for the summer, to prevent the summer slide.  It's also a great review pack, if you just want to make sure your kiddos are ready for 2nd.  Anyway... I've been asked if I have a kindergarten to first grade version. And the answer is...YES & NO.  Yes, I'm working on it this weekend, but no it's not in my store quite yet.  My sweet friend Abby helped me name it, because she is genius.  

So here it is...COMING SOON.

{FOUR}

My Joy Cowley Big Book giveaway ends in a couple of hours.  So make sure you enter ASAP! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

{FIVE}

Here are some of my favorite pins from this week:

I think this outfit is pretty darn cute. 

                                 Source: womenssummerclothes.org via Michelle on Pinterest

                                       Source: thesmallthingsblog.com via Michelle on Pinterest

t

 Source: letscountblessings.blogspot.com via Michelle on Pinterest

And finally...As a thank you for being such supportive friends, I am going to giveaway 3 of my Dollar Store Superlatives.  The first three comments to this post will receive my end of the year awards.