Currently January 2015

I can't believe it's going to be 2015. Doesn't that feel like such a futuristic year? Maybe it's just me but I remember when it was New Years Eve 1999 and being so excited for the year 2000. I can't believe that was 15 years ago!

Listening- We've been binging on Netflix since we got home yesterday. My husband is watching "Crimes of the Century" right now while I'm reading "The Devil in the White City."

Loving- Our house is clean. I spent all week before we left (two weeks ago) making the house spotless so when we came home we would have one less thing to do and could relax. And now I've got my scentsy on with Christmas Cottage inside- best. smell. ever.

Thinking- about jury duty. We got home after 2 weeks of travelling all over the country (four Christmases) to a fun jury summons letter. Man, they don't give you much time to prepare! I'll have to take off a full week the second week we return to school. I am NOT looking forward to writing a week's worth of sub plans.

Wanting- I am going over to a friend's new house tonight for a party with lots of snacks, fun and games! Really looking forward to it and wishing it was 7:00 already!

Needing- More days off- I know. I'm greedy. I haven't relaxed at all yet though.

Yes to running- always my resolution!
Maybe to being open to opportunities.. more on that later in the month!
And I'm always wishing for a lifetime of happiness for my family and friends.
Happiness to me would be lots of travelling and memories in 2015!

December BarkBox + 10% off

My favorite day of the month is when the BarkBox arrives! We were out of town for the holidays so we just got to open the December BarkBox today! Sometimes I think I'm more excited than my pup...

This is our dog- Brooklyn! She's a 3-year old miniature schnauzer. We had her annual vet visit today so it was a great day for a BarkBox after a bit of poking and prodding.

I love the cute wintery paper that wrapped up all the goodies in this month's box!

Two toys and a bandana in this month's box! 

The christmas bulb toy is by Orbee, one of our favorite dog toy companies! It has a strong minty scent to it so makes your dog's breath smell great when they play with it and it's made of thick, durable, bouncy material. 

The Penguin's belly is filled with crinkly plastic, which our dog LOVES.

Two edible treats in this month's box!

The bag of treats is HUGE. They're lamb biscuits from Superior Farms and the best part is that they're gluten-free!

The other treat is a Yeti Dog Chew- also in the largest size available. Brooklyn has had a Himalayan dog chew before and really enjoyed it. I like that they don't stain your furniture/blanket/carpet or wherever your dog decides to chow down on the treat.

One of my favorite things is that BarkBox includes a card in each box describing each toy and treat so that you know what you're giving your dog and also so that you can reorder if you need to in the future! All the toys and treats are made in the USA or Canada and BarkBox doesn't send sample sizes- it's all the regular size products from companies that you'll find featured monthly in each box. 

If you'd like to get in on the fun, click HERE to order. By clicking through that link, you'll automatically get 10% off your order! Then your pup can be just as happy as ours on a monthly basis!

High-Interest Books for new, struggling or reluctant readers

I have a lot of students in my class that are English Language Learners (ELL). As fourth graders, they're drawn to books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Bone, Harry Potter and Dear Dumb Diary. Don't get me wrong, Harry Potter is my favorite book of all time, but I need my kids to be reading on their reading level and the vast majority of my students (22 out of 24, actually) are reading below-grade level.

For the past four years of my teaching career, I have consistently struggled to find high-interest books that intrigue intermediate readers but are also written at a lower lexile level for my ELL students.

SO!!! I would like to share with you this month's most popular high-interest book written for lower-level readers that was a hit in my classroom! My students were dying to have their turn reading this book, I even ordered more copies from Amazon tonight.

The Candy Corn Contest by Patricia Reilly Giff!

The book is called The Candy Corn Contest and it's appealing to all my fourth graders but is written at a 20 DRA level (Grade level 3.2; Guided Reading Level L). The book is a chapter book, is a good length (82 pages) and the text-size looks like a fourth grade-level book. I know that's a lot of details, but if a book looks too "baby-ish" to my kids, they often aren't interested in reading it. And it is, of course, perfect for October because it's about candy corn, but the book takes place in November after Halloween.

Here is the summary from Amazon: 
"It's almost Thanksgiving and Richard Best can't stop thinking about Ms. Rooney's Candy Corn contest. Whoever can guess the exact number of yellow-and-orange candies in the jar on ms. Rooneys' desk gets to keep them all. The only problem is Richard has to read a page in a library book for each guess. Smelly Matthew, who sits in front of him, knows they'll never win. "We're the worst readers in the class," he says. But Richard won't give up. He can already taste those candy corns."

Giveaway Alert!

Be sure to enter Melissa's 1000 Follower Giveaway at Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late! Today is only day 1 and already it's packed with prizes. In today's two giveaways, you can win prizes from 8 different TPT teacher sellers including a $5 Winner's Choice prize from my shop!

You can also enter to win the quietest pencil sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies!

Hop on over {here} to congratulate Melissa on 1000 followers and enter these giveaways! Don't forget to check back tomorrow for more!!

Currently September!!

Ok so here's what's currently going on!

Listening: My hubby and dog can fall asleep so quickly. I'm much more of a night owl so that explains why I'm awake at this hour. I am pretty much nocturnal over the summer when there's no alarm set.

Loving: I am loving this 3 day weekend. We were able to go up to Pittsburgh to visit my husband's grandma. We went to Ribfest at Heinz Field and hung out with my in-laws and nephew. We've been travelling a ton lately and it's nice to see them so often. We'll see them again in 2 weeks!

Thinking: Of course my mind is on Tuesday- it's our first day of school! Yep, that's right, we still haven't started school yet.

Wanting: Lots of fall clothes! I just signed up for Stitch Fix and spent the night on Pinterest making my perfect stitch fix pinterest board. If you'd like to check out Stitch Fix click {here}. It's like Netflix but for clothes from a personal stylist. They get your measurements and you create a personal style quiz. Then you can create a pinterest board for them to look at while they're styling a box of 5 items for you!

Needing: I have been DYING of allergies. I'm not sure if they're indoor or outdoor allergies.. I've never had allergies like this before. My eyes are swollen shut and I could barely breathe on Friday. I've been taking Allegra and medicated eye drops and I guess I'll just have to make a doctor's appointment next.

3 Trips: I've been to Italy but it has so many different cities, I'd love to go back. I also flew through Germany once and was amazed and so want to go back, but I wanted to choose places that were really diverse for this! So I chose Ireland, Bora Bora and Budapest. Ireland is my family's homeland so that's pretty self-explanatory. Oh and plus irish accents? Swoon!! The Hilton at Bora Bora is just too picturesque to resist. And then Budapest has always intrigued me. But if I could add a fourth it would be Greece because I love Greek food. Clearly I just need to backpack around the world.

Tried Teacher Tip: Life-Changing Product!

This might be something that most teachers already know, but this was a life-changing realization for me!

I used to buy magnet tape like this for my classroom:

Love that it was adhesive, but as we all know, by December, the adhesiveness is wearing off. And the fact that this tape is curved means that it's pulling away from the paper I stuck it to. I am always re-hot gluing the magnet tape to things in the middle of the day. SO frustrating. 

Finally I wised up and decided to order business card magnets from Amazon. They're intended to place on business cards to make them magnetic, but for me they're rectangles of flat magnet amazingness. I cut them into fourths and voila! My schedule cards, calendar, objectives posters and everything else that I need to be magnetized is done. There's no peeling away from the paper, so I don't foresee needing to hot glue or redo these in any way!

This set from Amazon is for a pack of 50.

Hope this changes someone else's life as well!

Two for Tuesday Sale {8.19.14}

It's time for Two For Tuesday time! These two products will be 50% off in my store TODAY ONLY! Everything on sale today will be chevron-themed!

The first item for sale is Chevron Name Plates. They are simple, clean and chevron to put on your students' desks. These are SUPER cheap so check them out {here}.

The second item for sale in my shop today is the Chevron Class Calendar cards. Use the included cards in this resource to display a calendar on a bulletin board, pocket chart or your board! I used to have a purchased calendar from a teacher store, but I lost a few of the cards so I had to make this one. This way if you lose a piece of your calendar (a month or a day..) then you can just reprint! Check them out {here}.

And speaking of sales, did you hear that TPT is having a ONE-DAY back to school BOOST sale?! It's tomorrow!!!! Every single item in my shop will be 20% off. If you use the promo code BOOST you can get 10% off on top of that! Check out my store {here} to start adding items to your wishlist for tomorrow's sale!