New TPT Product and Craziness

Hello friends! I'm sure you all have seen this picture before, but I had to share because it brought me a good laugh.

WHEW! This year is flying by. Is it really almost Thanksgiving break?? I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed...sort of like the last pic above! Which reminds me...I left the MOUND of papers I  need to grade at school. CRAPOLA! Oh well, there's always tomorrow! Anyways, due to the lack of time and energy, this little blog has been greatly deprived!

Anyways, I wanted to let you know just uploaded a new product to my TPT store. If you are a first grade teacher and use Scott Foresman Common Core, you may be interested! I use it as a fluency activity in my classroom in a variety of ways. Click the link below to check it out!

Thanks for reading!  

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Don't y'all just LOVE Fall? I love EVERYTHING about it! Cool air, pumpkins, baking, warm soups in the crock pot, Halloween, CANDY,  hot cocoa, leaves turning...man I could go on and on! It seriously gives me the warm fuzzies! At our school we have a huge fall festival each year. Friday our fabulous PTO members decked the school out in Halloween decor! Although the kids get a little crazy and from Monday on I will be asked every day "Miss Nelson!! Is tomorow Halloween?!?!" or "Miss Nelson!!! Is tomorrow the fall festival?!?!?", I love it! With all the hard work and expectations we have for our little kiddos, they deserve to have a little more excitement around the school, and by golly if Halloween decorations is what does it for them, I'll take it! I included this picture because it listed many of my favorite things about fall and it ended with thankful. We have so much to be thankful for and 'tis the season to be reminded of that!

Well I would make another excuse for why it's been so long since I've posted, but I will give you a freebie instead! Head on over to my TPT shop to pick up a free leader in me themed Notebook Cover. I have included covers for grades K-8. All I ask in return for this freebie is to rate my product!

 Click here for the FREEBIE!

It has been a busy few weeks in Miss Nelson's classroom! I plan to include lots of pictures in my blog post tomorrow of what all we have been doing in first grade. I am also working on a new TPT product that I will include a link for too! :)

Happy Saturday and thanks for reading!

Oh Hey...Remember Me???

Hey there! Remember me? The new blogger? No? Oh, well maybe that's because I have SERIOUSLY been neglecting my little blog since the back to school madness began!

I don't know about y'all, but I.am.BEAT! 

This is week 3 for my district and we are finally getting in a good routine in my class. Tuesday felt like the first day of school again. I don't know if it was having Monday off for Labor Day or what, but my kiddos were insane in the membrane!

 

One of the main reasons this little gem has been neglected is due to the number of hours I have been putting into teaching, lesson plans, making flip charts for our new reading program...the list goes on! Let's just say if I was paid by the hour, I would be rollin' in the dough for the major OT I have put in the past month or so! But this isn't new to the teachers reading this! That is the story of our lives during the school year!

I am working on uploading a few things to TPT. Tune in later this week to get info about my new products!

Thanks for reading!

 

Oi Vey!

Man, oh MAN! The past week and a half have been a whirlwind and I have been surviving just by the hair on my chinny chin chin! ::insert 1st grade kiddo giggle::

I hate to admit, but OBVIOUSLY my little bloggity blog has been low on the totem pole with the craziness that has been the beginning of the school year! Inservice week was a whirlwind. The first two days of school are a daze. All I can remember is having to soak my feet for hours once I made it home and going to bed around 7pm. We made it through hump day and it was our first GOOD day! It was like REALLY good. I have so many sweeties in my class. One in particular makes my heart swell with happiness every time he giggles at my jokes. I must be REALLY funny, because he sure does cackle! :)

Well, here are a few pictures of my finished classroom. Sorry they are so small. I tried making them bigger but for some reason it made them pixilated & I just don't have the energy to try and fix it!I am going to keep this blog post short and sweet because let's face it, it's 8:30 and that's past my bedtime at this point in the school year. I may or may not be having to hold my eyelids open with pencils while I write this beloved blog post. HEH!

Thanks for reading!

Hope you all had a great kick off to your school year if you started this week too! :)

MIA & Blogger Exchange!

 

WHEW! This has been a week for sure! So sorry I have been M.I.A from the blogging world. I have been fighting off some kind of respiratory infection and feeling like poo. Not to mention, I have had a lot on my plate this week. Let's just hope this prepares my immune system for the beginning of the year germies my sweet firsties are going to bring in with their unsanitized hands! Despite the sickness, I have been working HARD this week and have been somewhat productive in the classroom! I am ALMOST finished! Just a few more minor touches (I'm very much a perfectionist) and I will be able to share some pics with y'all! Woop!

Now it's time to share my Back to School Blogger Exchange goodies I received this week from  Molly! There has been a little confusion with my shipping from FedEx, but hopefully I have it figured out and she will receive her goodies tomorrow!! It should have been there on Thursday :-( So sorry it's later than it was supposed to be, Molly! Hopefully you will still want to be my blogger buddy after this!

Well, I am in LOVE with my new back to school goodies she sent me! Isn't that chevron notebook adorable?! I was needing a new notebook :) And the SCISSORS?! TOO cute! I am all set for back to school and have already put those pens to good use! I am usually a flair kind of girl, but I LOVE the way these write too! Can't wait to see all of your goodies! Thanks to Ms. Smith & Covered in Glitter & Glue for the awesome idea!

Tomorrow I will NOT be going to work in my classroom. I repeat. I will NOT let myself go. I REALLY want to go. But I need a day away from school. Maybe I'll go for a few hours on Sunday :) Instead, I have a wonderful day of laziness planned with my sweetheart and then he is taking me to Bonefish Grill and a movie for a much needed date night! I'm a lucky girl :)

Thanks for reading!

Currently!

I'm linking up with Farley for the first time and posting my August Currently! If you haven't already, head on over to her blog and join up...with the other 500 people! :) 

{LISTENING} Ok. So I watch ALL the Real Housewives. It's a guilty pleasure. Kind of like honey Boo Boo! It really makes me feel better about the non existent drama in my life! You know you watch it too!! ;-)

{LOVING} My new fossil watch! Ok. So I may have a watch problem. This is my SEVENTH Fossil watch to date, but it's better than having a Michael Kors problem, right?? I mean, if I wasn't a teacher and could afford MK, I would totes have a bazillion of his! I have been wanting a black watch because, well, that's about the only color I didn't own! HA! Anyways, what do you think? I'm pretty pumped about it.

{THINKING} This is going to be a challenging year for me for many reasons that I probably shouldn't post on the Internet.  I am going to have the best attitude that I can and try my best every day that I walk in my classroom. I know that this will be a huge year of growth and learning for me as an educator and I am looking forward to meeting my sweet firsties! ::deep exhale::

{WANTING} I mean I really REALLY need to get my classroom done this week so I can focus on my lesson plans and activities for the first few weeks of school! Not to mention I need to get my meet the teacher materials together. Sheesh, where does the time go!?

{NEEDING} Enough said: infinite time and denero! I think this is every teachers pain! So little time and money to do what we need and want to do in our classrooms! We CAN do it! :)

{B2S Must Haves}

1. Flair Pens -- I am all stocked up and ready to go!

2. White Zinfandel -- Sometimes we just need a glass of wine to simma down!

3. Regan Tunstall's Teacher's Math Resource Units! They are awesome and are going to help me keep my math instruction in check all year long!

I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday! I am off to take the little bro to hit some golf balls, work in my classroom a bit, and then help Zac study for an English placement test he takes tomorrow! Prayers for him will be much appreciated!

Thanks for reading!!

Monthly Goals: Back to School Edition Linky!

I am very excited to be linking up with Jess over at  I {heart} Recess for her super fun linky party today! This was great for me to set a few goals for myself rather than have A ZILLION and one things in my mind that I would like to do!

Personal: Something I always put at the bottom of my list: me time and workouts! I want to focus on RELAXING when I can and boy-oh-boy do I need to get back on the workout and healthy eating bandwagon! I think I can...I think I can!! )

Organization: This may is hard to admit...but I am TERRIBLE about waiting until the last minute to post my grades! I mean I grade things every week, but posting online...not so much!  Please don't tell me I'm the ONLY one!

Planning: Two words: stay ahead! I am a professional procrastinator... I think I work better under pressure. Well, that's my excuse!

Professional:We are required to keep a class website at our school. Here's the thing though: of ALL websites, ours is without a shadow of a doubt the HARDEST to navigate of ANY website EVER! I am pretty good with technical stuff too. Did I mention I have been to two website trainings...that weren't even required to figure out the dang thing? UGH! Now that I have entered the bloggy world, I don't want to give it up! I love all the support and ideas we share as teachers. I think once a week is an achievable goal...don't you?!

Students: One of my goals every year is to instill the love of learning in my little nuggets. I try to make our learning as fun and engaging where they can't wait to learn something else. Another goal is to help them understand that we are all different and learn differently. Some of us learn quicker than others and some subjects are easier! Last year I had a child who came around January and completely disrupted our mojo we had going. He was the kind of student that all the teachers knew around the school and not because I had told them about him, he showed himself to them! I had so many students get frustrated with him because they didn't understand that he was "different" and couldn't catch on like they could and sometimes couldn't control his actions. I even found myself frustrated at times. I hope to create a learning community where my kiddos are loving and accepting to every one...even the ones who are "different."

Motto:"Every day may not be good...but there is something good in every day." This is such a positive outlook and I LOVE it! We all have those days where everything we would like to achieve in the classroom just doesn't happen how we plan it. Good news is that every day we get a fresh start!  Don't you love that?!

Can't wait to read all of your goals! If you haven't already, head on over to Jess' blog to link up! She does an awesome job of explaining how to do so! :)

Thanks for reading!

Sunday Smorgasbord!

Hello friends! Time to share the randomness of my week with you again! If you haven't already, head on over to Fabulous in First's blog to join up and share your random happenings of the week too! :)

 

{ONE}

 

Well, sadly I didn't accomplish much in my classroom this week. AH! What is the deal?! I still have a few weeks, but a lot to do. Maybe if I quit promising pics of progress, progress will ACTUALLY happen?!? Good thing stressed is desserts spelt backwards! Mmmm...Extreme Moose Tracks sounds good right about now! ;-)

{TWO}

Before

After

Although I didn't accomplish much in the classroom, I did accomplish some things around my house! This year I purchased and built my first home! I have lived in it about 5 months and thought it was time for a little sprucing up! This weekend I added a little curb appeal to my flower beds with the help of my not-so-little brother! I am pretty happy with how it turned out! :)

{THREE}

I bought a sewing machine in March and this summer I have finally had the time to try out a few sewing projects! I began by sewing the ever-popular chevron pattern curtains for my bedroom and now I have taught myself to sew burp cloths! I can't even count the number of my sweet friends that have little buns in the oven, so I thought this would be a good project to try! Here is my VERY first burp cloth! I am pretty happy with how it turned out...just don't look too close! ;-)

{FOUR}

I went to my hometown, Birmingham,  Friday night to spend some time with some of my closest friends! It was such a great time! Now that I am living in Huntsville I don't get to see them as much as I would like, but when we do get together we just pick up right where we left off.  It's funny that our gatherings usually end up with the boys downstairs (watching some kind of sporting event) and the girls upstairs (snacking and chatting), so there aren't any boys pictured here lol! I guess when you get married boys still have cooties! ;-) And by the way...this isn't the best pic, but we were trying out an app. Meg & Cindy might kill me for putting this on here lol! SOWWIE! <3

{FIVE}

Do you Birchbox? I just got my first one in this week and love it! I am currently on the waiting list for Ipsy. I heard the only difference is they send you real sized products instead of sample sized. Once I get an Ipsy box in I am going to decide which I like best and let ONE of the two be my treat each month! We all need to "sharpen the saw" every now & then...right?! What do you guys prefer? :)

{SIX}

Last, but not least, I wanted to remind you that I created and uploaded a few products to TPT this week! If you have a super hero theme or are a whole brain teacher, head on over to my TPT store to check them out! :)

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL week! Can't wait to read your posts!

Thanks for reading my randomness!! 

New TPT Product!

Hello friends! Friday is here again I am baffled by how quickly the summer is flying by! I seriously just had the ::dunn, dunn, dunn:: sound go off in my head! Ha!

Ok. Am I the only one who feels like all they do is walk circles in their classroom?? I was there today and seriously, I think all I accomplished in 3 hours was making a larger mess!! Hopefully next week I will get my act together and get some things DONE!

Now time for a shameless plug... Last night I uploaded a new TPT Product! It is a super leader themed poster pack for Stephen Covey's 7 Habits for Happy Kids. If you're interested, head on over to my TPT store to check it out!

Hope y'all have an AWESOME weekend! 

Thanks for reading!

 

I'm Diggin' It!

 

I am linking up with Christina tonight to share some of the things my kiddos were diggin' last year!

{1]

I lucked up last summer and scored some of these babies at Walmart to use for a classroom incentive with my kiddos! My "Special Supplies" reward was a favorite last year!! I even had to add a second set of super supplies because they were such a hit! Seems like these can hardly stay on the shelf now in stores! If you don't have any in your classroom...RUN!

{2}

This was one of the MANY craftivities we completed last year! I can't tell you how many packages of construction paper and glue sticks we went through! It was so cute to hear my kids excitement when I told them to take out their scissors and glue! :) This craftivity was adapted from the product created by the fabulous Amy Lemons! She is not only an amazing teacher, but such an inspirational christian woman!

{3}

Last year I did a celebrity theme in my classroom! My kids could hardly wait until it was their week to be the "Celebrity of the Week"! I am changing my classroom theme to Super Leaders this year. Looking at this pic makes me want to change my mind because they loved it so much! Let's hope my new kiddos enjoy the new theme just as much!

{4}

What teacher ..ahem.. student doesn't LOVE Junie B?! This series has ALWAYS been a favorite in my classroom. I love to read in my best Junie B. voice and listen to my kiddos giggle! Is there anything better than the laughter of a child?

{5}

 

My kids LOVE the Whole Brain Teaching chants! Last year was my first year full force with WBT and I was amazed!

Right now I am diggin' the teacher blogging gig! 

What did/are your kiddos dig in your classroom?? I can't wait to read your posts!

Thanks for reading! 

WBT Super Leader Rules

Happy Wednesday! I love Wednesday's during the summer because that means I am done with my summer job for the week! I work summer care at my school, and as much as I love my littles, it wears. me. OUT!

Well, last night I posted about my first TPT product! I wanted to show you how I decided to display it in my room to give you a better idea of how it could be used. At the beginning of the year, I spend the first few weeks focusing on the class rules, words, and gestures used with WBT. I hope this is a great tool to refer to while teaching my students the rules. I am also working on a few other super hero themed products that I hope to post in the next few weeks!


So, what do you guys think about my first TPT product? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading!