Ten Pin Linky & a Giveaway

I'm linking up with Just Reed for her ten pin linky party.

I've love stealing seeing everyone's pins!

This week is science and social studies related. With science, I don't have much flexibility in what I do. We get three FOSS kits, human body, earth materials, and water. I barely have time to get through those lessons, let alone supplement with other things. With social studies, we have a little more wiggle room. We touch on communities around the world and map skills. As I've said before, I take the lead in science, while my partner takes the lead in social studies, so I have way more science pins.

[If you don't already, follow me on Pinterest using the button on the right.]

I'm a pinning machine!

1. I don't do anything involving animal tracks, but this is so creative. I'm sure I can figure out a way to incorporate this! [Original Source: Still Parenting]



2. Our first kit of the year is human body. Our kids don't have to memorize all of the bones in the body, but we do make sure that they can identify around ten of them, such as the skull, femur, ribs, etc. This graphic is awesome, as it may help some more visual students in memorization. [Original Source: I Waste So Much]



3. Another great visual for older students! As a project, students could make up a game using these cards. Love it! [Original Source: Buzz Feed]



4. We teach figurative language. We teach human body. Love it! [Original Source: Mark Aaron TPT]



5. This pin makes me wish that I taught constellations. [Original Source: Nature Watch]



6. And this one makes me wish I taught animal adaptations. [Original Source: Ashleigh's Education Journey]



7. When teaching earth materials, we talk about properties of minerals. This is a great visual from another blogger. [Original Source: Nyla's Crafty Teaching]



8. At this site, you can look up any issue of the New York Times. How neat to go back and see authentic news source of historical events. [Original Source: New York Times]



9. This pin says it is spam, but it is a mummification of barbie dolls. The picture is great, and I'm sure you could find directions somewhere! I studied this in high school and would have loved doing something like this!



10. This is another great source for research. Learn more about our nation's national parks! [Original Source: Girl Scouts]

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Before I go, I wanted to let you know that my friend Kelly at Koonce's Korner is having a giveaway! Click her image below to check it out. A winner will be announced on Monday, and you can win a ton of products, including any item from my TPT store!

Talk soon!

Favorite Pins Friday!

Hello, all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, filled with good food, family, and most of all, appreciation for those who fight for our freedom everyday! I had a low key holiday. I haven't been feeling all that great, so I just hung out at my dad's house.

Here are some pins that I've found recently that I'd love to share. Not much related to school. Maybe next week? ;)

1. Billy has an early dismissal. Kimmy is a car rider today. Today is our PBS shopping day. Name 15 other changes that happen throughout the day that I'm bound to forget. I usually just write this stuff on the corner of the board, but having a dry erase sign like this [mine will be smaller] next to my door would be much cuter. [Original Source: Clutter Free Classroom]

2. You need to check out this site. It's also a blog that you can follow. I've seen a lot of friends posting about integrating math into real life situations. These blog posts do just that! There are also videos, a book, and an app. You won't be disappointed. [Original Source: Bedtime Math]

3. This quote means a lot to me. At 26, many of my friends are married and starting to have babies. I'm just not there yet in my personal life. I need to remember to not compare my life to others in all aspects. [Original Source: Home Fries]

4. Um, I just love this. I pinned this when I was babysitting my sister's kitten, my fur niece Maxi. And this pretty much applies to every foster kitten or puppy that I've ever had! [Original Source: Tastefully Offensive]

5. Can you say YUM! My boyfriend & I were really close to attempting this, but then we got lazy and ordered out. Yeah, story of our lives. [Original Source: Key Ingredient]

6. How can you not love this commercial? I need this shirt. [Original Source: Skreened]

7. How cute & creative. Flip an end table upside down, decorate, put a bed inside. Love it! [Original Source: Unknown]

Click the button below to link up!

Let's Get Acquainted!

Seriously, how cute is this linky? I've seen so many people post, I had to join in on the fun. Plus, I hope that I have some new friends who may have stumbled upon the ol' blog through blog lovin'.

So, this week, you had to choose three topics from the tic-tac-toe board to talk about in your post! Here's what I chose:

#1. I attended Lock Haven University. It is a small school located in central PA. If people ask where it is, my typical response is, "about a half an hour from state college [Penn State]." That usually does the trick. It is a small school, which fits my personality. It's about three and a half hour from where I grew up, so it was far away from home, but not TOO far away!

As for the second part of the question, I don't think I could pick one memory. My favorite memory of college was my experience as a sister of Zeta Tau Alpha. It taught me how to be a leader and work with others, and it allowed me to participate in tons of community service and social activities. I'll spare you the silly sorority pics, though! =)

#2. My favorite subject to teach is math, math, MATH! I could teach math all day. I can so easily integrate every other subject area, and there are so many ways to get the kids excited about the content. It stems from the fact that I've always been a math kid, not necessarily a reading kid. 

I did my student teaching in a fifth grade classroom, and I loved that content so much. Third grade is great, too, because you are both setting the foundation and exploring more complex topics. I got certified to teach middle school math, even though big kids kinda scare me. My love for math works out great because I take the lead in math, science, and writing in my TAM classroom, and my partner leads reading and social studies. If you don't yet, you should follow my math pinterest board by clicking the link in the top right hand corner of my blog.

I'm a pinning wild woman.

#3. My dreaaaam vacation? Well, last spring break I went to Jamaica over spring break for a couple days. It was beautiful! But, funds only allowed me to go for a few days, it ended up raining for one of them, aaand I went with my ex. So for my dream vacation, I'd love to go somewhere tropical, for a week or so, with someone new! Buuuuut I'd also love to sightsee in Europe. I've been to Ireland, but I'd love to explore Italy or Greece! As far as a dream vacation goes, though, with no expectations, I think I'd like to sit pool or ocean side with a yummy drink.

Head over to Flying into First Grade and link up! =)

Talk soon!

New Blog Design!

It's that time of year.

Blog design ADD.

I wanted to go for a more simple look, so I went with a one layer background and a white middle. I updated my button, so if you feature my blog on your blog, feel free to switch it out. I have to admit, it didn't turn out as cute as I had hoped, so I may be tweaking some things.

Any suggestions?

As always, if anything looks funky or doesn't work on your computer, please drop me a comment!

Credit to Jiovannas Creations for the background paper and Carrie Loves Design for social media buttons. As always, all elements of my design were freebies.

Talk soon!

Currently

Hey guys! Popping in to participate in Farley's currently. I've been on a currently hiatus for a few months. Luckily, it's like riding a bicycle. =)

Listening: Self explanatory. However, for giggles, I went and looked at my July currently from 2012, and I wrote almost the exact. same. thing. What can I say, homegirl likes her air conditioning. So predictable.

Loving: Similarly, I changed my blog design at right around this time last year. I have blog design ADD. But, I'm hoping to finish up and install it within the next week. One great thing about blog lovin' is that more readers will get to see it. Yay!

Thinking: I'm going with my mom to pick up her new foster dog from a transport van that brings animals up from the south. I went with her last time, and it nearly brought me to tears that all of those babies were getting a second chance at life.

Wanting: I don't cook. There, I said it. Well, scratch that. I could cook, if I wanted to. But I don't. So, I have sandwiches for lunch pretty much every day. I feel like my life would be so much more fulfilled if I had a chef to cook me different healthy, but yummy, stuff every day. A girl can dream!

Needing: On the last day of school, my teaching partner [and one of my best friends] got news that her husband is sick. I don't want to go into too much detail, but they are going through a lot with appointments and stress. They have two small boys at home. So extra thoughts and prayers for this sweet family would be appreciated!

Tips, Tricks, or Hints: I only make resources/products that I use myself, so I always test my products out on my kids before I put them in my store. It helps to iron out any kinks, catch mistakes, and assess the worth of the product. If you make things that aren't applicable to your grade level, ask a colleague [blogging or real life] to give it a test run. At least, let another set of eyes look it over. What else are husbands/boyfriends for? ;)

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Random news and thoughts...

1. Be on the look out for my Career Research pack. It is internet based and geared toward grades 3-5. It should be finished soon! My kids loved it when we did it in May, so I'm sure your kids would love it to as a beginning of the year or end of the year research writing piece.

2. Any baseball fans out there? How are your teams doing? Mine, not so hot. But last night was hilarious. Sorry if there are any Dodgers fans in the house, but geeeez. The Phils haven't scored that many runs combined in like two weeks worth of games. BTW, because the games are on the west coast, these late nights are really messing with my sleep sched!

3. How are you enjoying bloglovin'? I hate change, but I think I'm coping well. If you haven't yet, please follow me using the link on the top of my sidebar. I'm like the only person in blogland who didn't do the bloglovin' giveaway thingy. I sometimes have this complex that my stuff isn't worth it, so I get gun shy with giveaways and such.

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Okay, now go link up! I'm hoping to get in under 100. [yay, #62!]