Happy Fall Ya'll Sale

Happy Fall!!!!  I'm joining up with Second Grade Math Maniac  in her blog hopping Fall sale!

Thanks Casey for making such a cute graphic for the sale.   I LOVE fall and am starting to decorate my house today.

My Soil Unit has been one of my best sellers!  Get yours on sale now :)

My Long Vowel Racetracks are another great item!  5 games that cover each long vowel pattern.  Perfect for Daily 5 Work on Words!

My biggest seller recently has been my I Can Statements.  I have the for K-5 in Math and ELA.  I have created Science and Social Studies  for 1st-3rd the match the NC Essential Standards.  These are free!!! I will have K, 4th and 5th up this weekend!

I can't wait to go shopping at my favorite shops!  Fill up your shopping basket :)

Freebie Motherload

I have been busy creating all kinds of things to help my teachers in their classrooms and you guys also get those benefits!  I have created I Can Science and SS statements that are aligned with the NC CC Standards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.  I will be working this weekend on finishing up K, 4 and 5 this weekend.  If you want to pick up your free copy, visit my TpT to get yours!

In addition to the I Can Statements, I have also been working on Word Wall Cards that align with the CCSS.  Our district created pacing guides and gave words to use.  I thought it would be best to have all the math words be one color, all high frequency words (k-2) be one color and so on.  I also have these for free at my TpT.  I have completed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.  I am working to get the other grades done.  

The last freebie I have for you is a great conference form for Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop.  I like to have reminders right there with me when I am conferencing.  

Click on the pics to get your copy!  

Happy Friday :)

When It Rains, It Pours

I need an umbrella for all that has been raining down on me this week!  I feel like Winnie the Pooh and the Rainy day.  

This rain started with the news that my great uncle had passed away.  He was in his 80s, but was still difficult.
The monsoon came when I took my daughter, Raegan, to the Dr. on Tuesday to get a CT Scan.  She has had a misshapen head since birth and wore a helmet for about a year.  Her pediatrician was concerned that it wasn't getting 100% better and wanted us to get a specialists opinion.  Well when the results came back, she has premature fusion of her skull plates.  This is why her head shape isn't improving.  To fix it requires surgery.  This mama didn't like hearing that!  They will do a cranioplasty and remove a portion of her skull, reshape it, turn it 180 degrees and reattach it.  My child's brain being exposed....NOT COOL!

I know that if we don't fix it, there will be cognitive problems later, so I am just trusting the Lord is going to  take care of her.   I realize now, that my new position is a blessing from Him.  If I had my own classroom, I would still take time off to be with her, but it would be much more stressful to prepare lessons for a sub and prep my kids for a week long absence.

Yesterday the tsunami hit when my aunt told us that her Dr. found a small lump in her breast and the test confirmed that it is breast cancer.  She told us it was small and was caught very early and a lumpectomy would be performed and she would have radiation.  This was a huge shock to our entire family.

On a more postive note, I do have a freebie for those of you who stuck with through this whole depressing post!  I have my word wall cards for 2nd grade.  They include, math, high frequency, social studies, and science words.

 Tomorrow is Friday, YAY!!!!!!!!!

Taco Tragedy!

It is Monday night and for me that is ALWAYS my Taco night.  Well tonight I have to skip it!!!!  I have not missed a taco night in months!  One of my twins, Raegan, has to have a procedure done at Baptist hospital in Winston-Salem and we have to be there at 6:45am, so we are going to spend the night tonight.  I am soooo sad that I can't see my taco buddies and eat my delicious tacos, and Taco Bell is good, but just not the same!  

I am linking up with Farley once again for her infamous Currently!  

So she has the favorite things on there this month.  I have the twins, duh!  Wouldn't have such a catchy blog title without them!  The Hunger Games DVD I have watched it a dozen times by now!  And my cricut.  I know many of you are onto the Cameo, but I am still lovin' my Cricut!  

Make sure you head over and link up.  

I have also FINALLY finished my Harry Potter lapbook!  I used it in my classroom last year, but didn't have it 'polished' for sale.  It is now up in my store.  

Click the picture to see the unit.

My kiddos loved this unit last year!  

Carolina Blogger Meetup

This weekend was ah-mazing and just what I needed after a bad horrible week!  Amber and I started our blogger meetup on Friday by heading out to meet Elizabeth who we both felt like we had known FOREVER (but had never met!) We all began our blogs around the same time and continued to keep up with each other.  Only at a blogger meetup would you ask to spend the night at a strangers house because you KNOW them, even though you have never met!  As Amber and I pulled into Elizabeth's driveway we were very excited and kept saying, "its going to be fine.  We know her!"  Well as soon as she opened the door, she was exactly like we knew she would be!  We spent the evening drinking wine (2 bottles to be exact!), chatting about school, and discussing the fact that all our real life friends thought it was strange just plain weird that we would meet up with people we only talk to on the computer.  The running joke was that Amber and I could have tied Elizabeth up in her sleep!  

It was a great night and that continued the following day at our 'official' blogger meetup! It was great to meet up with so many fab ladies at California Dreaming in downtown Columbia. 

 Rebecca at Landing in K did a great job of putting everyone's name and blog in, I am borrowing it!  

Make sure you go follow all these awesome ladies!!!!

from left to right- sort of!

 Autumn, Ashley, and Tammy from Fanatical in First Grade

Kim (starting her blog soon, right Kim?!?)

Ginger from Gingersnaps Treats for Teachers

Elizabeth from Fun in 4B

Gretchen from Always a Lesson

Hope from 2nd Grade Shenanigans

Dana from 3rd Grade Gridiron

Shasta from The Loop

Heather and Juli from Simple In Second

Amanda from Teaching Maddeness

Amber from Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher

Rachel from The Tattooed Teacher

Elisabeth from Twins, Teaching and Tacos

Rebecca from Landing in K

Natalie from Teachery Tidbits

Lacie from Polka Dots & Pencils

I have already started my blog stalkin' and am happy to have so many new bloggy friends. I vote for the next meetup to be at the beach...Who's with me ?!?!?!?
Happy Stalkin'!

Raining On My Parade

I have learned with my new job that there are going to be ups and downs.  I went from feeling great yesterday to feeling like crap today! I have not felt like this in several years.  I guess the good news is, I am growing.  Becoming better at something isn't always comfortable, and boy was I uncomfortable today!  Huge growth has got to be coming, right?!?!?!

In more positive news, my 2nd grade team is great!  We are using the Lucy Calkins Writing Workshop this year county wide and my team asked me to do a model lesson for them!  It takes a great teacher to admit when they need help in an area, and lucky me, I have a whole grade level of them!

Obviously I needed to have my pride knocked down a few notches and am going to let God show me what He wants in this situation!  Tomorrow is a new day, thank goodness!!!!

Valadation

Since I have been in my new role as an Instructional Facilitator, I have really missed teaching a class.  Today I taught my first class!!!!  I was honored to be asked by our math Specialist for my district to model a 3rd grade math lesson.   Hello, I LOVE me some 3rd grade!!!!  Even though I had taught this exact lesson last year in my own classroom, I was super nervous.  I had never met these teachers, been in this building, met these kids, and they were videoing me!  No pressure, right?!?!?

I was immediately set at ease when I met the principal.  He was actually my AP when I was in Jr. High!  I went down to the classroom and got ready to teach.  As soon as I began the lesson it all came back to me!  The lesson was AWESOME and the kids really had a good understanding of the concept. That's right folks, I still got it!  I had no clue which kids were EC, ESL, AIG so it was neat to just teach without knowing which label belonged to which kid.  There was one girl who kept showing me all her work and she was getting all the answers right.  She even took it to a level that I hadn't expected.  At the end of the lesson she came up to me and said, "I had never shared out in front of the class like I did today."   I was ecstatic to see that I could walk into a room with kids I've never met and get that kind of reaction.  After the lesson we had a debrief with the teachers and found out that the girl who had exceeded my expectations during the lesson, was EC!  I told them I would have never known that if I hadn't been told.

 Today validated my move out of the classroom, and I am finally finding it easier. I did go by and visit my previous school to see Sonya and Rebecca (who I love!).  I had a great convo with one student who asked, "Mrs. Haywood, when are you coming back to teach here?  Because I need you to be my teacher again."  Talk about melt my heart!  This was a kid who I struggled with all year, and had no idea I made that kind of impact on him.

This week is slammed for me, so I am sooo excited to have a blogger meetup this weekend!  I can't wait to meet and hang out with some of my all time favorite bloggers.

Amber and I are having a sleepover at Elizabeth's house!  We are going to be like teenagers again! I don't think she knows what she agreed to :)

Thanks to all my awesome followers I have hit 200!  Be on the look out for a great giveaway soon.

Whirlwind, Freebies, and Camping, Oh My!

WOW!  I am beginning to think I am never going to recover from week 1!!!!  I have not
even had the energy to blogstalk, pin things on Pinterest, or look at all the fab new things my fave sellers have at TpT and TN!!!  What.is.wrong.with.me????  Oh yea, the first week of school just kicked my butt!!  I have been coming home daily and crashing and not moving off the couch or the bed until the next morning.

I am LOVING my new job as an Instructional Facilitator.  Using the bathroom when I want, having lunch alone(no kids spitting on my food, hovering over me) and I have more time to spend with my twins.  Don't get me wrong, I am busy, but there isn't the same pressure to have everything ready for the kiddos the next day.  Check out this cute treat I made for my teachers!

I got this cute graphic from Pinterest (before starting work!)

As I have been busy getting things ready for my teachers, I have a few freebies to give you.  First, I have a Daily Five choice bookmark.  I created it for my teachers because they wanted to choose which Daily Five rotations their kids attended daily.  It also includes Meet with Teacher, which allows for you to have guided reading as a choice.

Click the pic to pick yours up!

 The second freebie is Word Wall Cards for 1st grade.  These include math, reading, science and social studies words for first grade.  If you want them click here to pick them up.

Over the holiday weekend, we went camping with our extended family and some close friends.  We tent camp and had the best time relaxing in a hammock, creek stomping, and catching up on my Kindle reading.  I will post more pics when I get the energy to get up and look for the camera cord.  Enjoy these few for now!

 My girls the morning of our camping trip.  They get the lazy idea!

Our weekend home!  It did rain, but it was ok!

I'm off to catch up on my 1,000 plus on Google Reader!  At least tomorrow is Wednesday!