Wordless Wednesday!

Today I am linking up for Wordless Wednesday with a picture that I took of my daughter today at lunch. While watching her drop her broccoli on the floor (thank goodness that I have placed a towel under her chair) I started to wonder how I am going to balance being a new mommy, a wife and a teacher!! Not to mention how I will manage to keep my house clean, laundry washed and food in the fridge.

So my question to you is...how do you manage to balance home life (with or without children) and school? What are some of your tips to help keep things from turning into a hot mess?

Monday Made It...

Hi again!! I'm back from a fantastic two week holiday with my family. We put on the miles this trip, driving down to the very hot Okanagan and then out to the beautiful Vancouver Island and home again.

This is a picture of me exploring the tidal pools at Gabriola Island.

 I felt like a kid again!!

The camper is mostly unpacked and the laundry pile is slowly disappearing so I figured it was a good time to jump back into school planning mode. Being that it is Monday I thought I would Link up and write a Monday Made It!!!

Returning to the classroom after being home with my daughter for a year is like having a fresh start! I have been busy planning, creating and most of all collecting amazing ideas from Teacher Bloggers and Teachers Pay Teachers. I am happy to share some of my finds with you today!

Morning Work has always been a part of my daily routine. Typically I would have my students complete a Calendar Journal as well as another small extra practise activity (sometimes this was LA related and sometimes Math) which I would photocopy for each day and my students would put them into folders. By the end of the year of each week I was tired of photocopying morning work. So imagine my excitement when I came across THIS Rise And Shine Binder. Reagan does a fantastic job of explaining the binder on her blog so I wont go into detail.

These are two of the 21 binders that I have put together.

These are some of the pages I have included for the beginning of the school year.

I am looking forward to seeing how they work for me and my students! 

You can find this binder HERE on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love organization!! Whether at home or in the classroom, being organized makes life so much simpler. One way that I keep my classroom organized is with...LABELS!! So in preparation for the school year I found these super cute labels to help keep all my student's books organized this year.

Don't get me wrong... I always have labeled them, but they just didn't look as cute as these.

You can find these labels HERE for Free!!

My third Made It Monday item is something that I made previously and dug it out of my poster bin to give it a facelift for the coming school year.

At the beginning of the school year I like to take my students picture with this DIY Frame that I created using a x-large picture mat, ribbon and lettering. (I still need to update the lettering for this school year as I will be teaching second grade). I use these pictures, along with a self portrait of each student, to create a bulletin in the hallway.

I will post more about this bulletin board when school begins and the bulletin board to completed!

Well that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed reading my Made It Monday post. You should hope on over to 4th Grade Frolics to check out other great Made It Monday posts.

New TPT Product

It's another great day...I posted my second item on Teachers Pay Teachers today.

Need a fun activity to teach your students the location of objects in the classroom?? This scavenger hunt is just the thing you need! Students move around the class reading clues, locating classroom objects and completing a writing sample of "All About Me" at the same time.

I already have my copy printed, cut out and ready for the first day with my students.

This is what the student page and sentence prompts look like. I will collect these after the scavenger hunt and use them as writing samples for the beginning of the school year. It will also be a great way to learn about my new students!! Check it out and let me know what you think!!

New Websites = Excited

I think I am addicted to blog hopping...I just can't get enough of checking out the great ideas that are posted by other teachers. This evening I ended up hopping over to

and was thrilled to find a post about some of her favorite websites. New websites are always exciting to explore...so I just couldn't resist. And now...well I can't wait to use them in my classroom this year. I suggest that you check them out HERE just click on Technology and you will find her post. Erin does a great job of describing each site, she also has a super cute blog. Have fun!!

1st TPT item "Finally" posted

Wow what I night!! My dear friend Angela joined me once again to help me through the steps needed to post my first TPT item. Four and a half hours later I managed to download a new program to work on, asked way to many questions, said a few choice words when things weren't going my way and still managed come come out with a great looking product and a smile on my face. So here it is...

I love the way the cover page came out! You can find this item for FREE in my TPT store, just scroll down my blog and look for the link on the right hand side on the page. Thanks for reading...and please don't forget to leave me feedback when you check out my item.

Five For Friday

This is my first time doing a Five for Friday Link up but I thought I would give it a try. I always look forward to Fridays for numerous reasons...hubby comes home early from work, more time spent with the family on the weekend, time to plan some fun weekend adventures, and now the chance to share some of my week with the readers of my blog. So here it goes.

The most exciting thing that has happened this week is the creation of my own blog. I stress how excited I am to have a place to share all my creations and ideas. Again, a big thanks goes out to my friend Angela for her time and patience, thank goodness she has patience :) There is so much to learn about this new world of blogging and I am so thankful that she is my "go to girl" for help. I am looking forward to seeing what the world of blogging will bring!!

In a weeks time I will be heading out with my family on a 2 week summer vacation. We will be camping, visiting friends and family, attending weddings and celebrating my 30th birthday with Kayaking on the ocean. Anyhow, I started shopping for the trip this week and got the most important part of the whole trip.

SMORES...Sorry about the flipped photo, that is one thing I need to figure out how to fix.

After being off for a year on mat leave I have been spending a lot of time lately trying to get myself organized for the upcoming school year. I found these great containers at our locate Dollar Store and plan on using them for holding crayons, pencils, etc.. I love that they match the colours of my other classroom bins.

I love a good Thrift Store find!! This week I was looking through one of our local stores and in addition to finding some cool items for my niece I found this great little lamp for my classroom. I can't wait to fix it up and add it to my room in the fall. Should be fun :)

And last but also most important...I have spent my week with this little cutie!! She is on the move now, crawling everywhere and getting into anything (including mommy's plants). Being a mom fills up most of my days, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I hope you enjoyed reading!! That's all for now :)

Busy Busy Busy

With my blog up and running, I have turned my attention to recreating some of my favorite activities for the beginning of the school year. I will soon have my Teachers Pay Teachers Store up and running and look forward to sharing them with you, but for now here is a SNEAK PEAK at one of my items!! I'm sure you would agree that the first couple days of school are so important when it comes to making new friendships and building a positive classroom environment. My "Find a Friend who..." activity is a fun activity that gets students chatting with their classmates, learning names and making friends. My students have always enjoyed this beginning of the school year activity! Makes sure you check back to find the finished product, as well as other great activities to start the school year.