Spirit of Giving?

(I wanted to name this post
The Stress Spirit of Giving, but you can't do that little crossy outty thing in the title)

Wow- December 2nd!
Can you believe it?
Are you totally in awe that the end of year has come so quickly?

Well, you shouldn't be!
It comes the same time every year!

(That's what my dad says!)

It doesn't matter. It's still a shock.
Each. And. Every. Year.

Each year I think I am on top of things and I start my gift shopping in July.
Yes, July.
I have to!
With three Littles, you can't let the holidays creep up on you!

And I have major FOS!!
FOS?
(When I was a  waitress for all those years, we would go up to the window and yell
"I need an FOS ! On the FLY!"
For those of you who are curious, FOS is French Onion Soup. And the FLY is fast- like super fast- like CRAP I forgot to put in their order Fast!! )

But in this instance, FOS is NOT French Onion Soup.
It is my holiday disorder
( I have many and I like to spread them out).
FOS=FEAR of SUCKING!

Each year, I feel like I am going to let someone down if their gift is not as good as or better than the gift that I bought them last year.
It can't happen!
They sit around my Christmas tree and they anticipate something great!
They know that mom, daughter, wife, aunt, sister-in-law Squirrels isn't going to let them down.
At least they hope I'm not.

So I always have to start early, so that I can space things out and not take such a hard hit on the ol' wallet each year.
I can't wait to tell you what the Littles are getting.
(I would tell you now, but I know for a fact that 1/3 of the Littles enjoys my posts.
That is my favorite Little.
That Little might get a better present than ANY of the others at Christmas.
That Little might even get to open one or two before every one else.
 That Little better get their Little hiney  off of the computer and get in the shower and if it looks like "That Little" is snooping again, That Little is going to get CRAP!!! and COAL!! and for Christmas....)

..... I will now insert enough time for That Little to close my computer and walk away.....

But do you see what I am saying?
You don't want anyone to "not love" what you are getting them.
You want them to talk about it for a long time to come.
You want them to say "Oh, my, goodness, it was just what I wanted!" or "How did you know? It's PERFECT!"

It's very stressful to suffer from FOS.
It almost makes a little (yet completely heard) part of me not want to "do" Christmas at all.

But we are.
We have the tree and the decorations up.
The children are super excited because their advent calendars started this weekend.

It is INCREDIBLY hard to know that in various places around the living room there are decorations that hold almost a months worth of candy- although, to be honest, I could go through that "month" in one sitting.

While they are happy about them, "someone" in the house is a little sad that he was left out of the daily treat thing.
Thanks to Kristen, I may have to go shopping for a puppy advent calendar- do they even make those?

I guess I would be happy to wake up and mark each day with a "little something".
Do they make advent calendars with shotglasses in them???
They should make one for the WHOLE YEAR for TEACHERS ONLY!!
(I'm coming up with some million $$$$ ideas here tonight folks!!)

Maybe it would calm me a little and relieve my FOS!

When the holidays are here, the only thing that acts up more than my FOS, is my LOP.
LOP?
Love Opening Presents!!!
OMG! I LOVE opening presents!
I love guessing what is in there!
I love shaking it to see what's inside!!
I love opening it to see if I'm right!
I love being surprised!
(I also love tearing the paper back a little if said present is in my house to make sure that the present I bought for that person is of equal or higher value.....again with FOS!!!)

There are a few things that make me NOT love to open stuff though.
It's when the giver has a history of giving me something that is not thoughtful at all- or is "work" on my part.
I will give you my two best examples that I can think of right now.

So not thoughtful! (And gross)

and

Too much work on my part!!

Not just the year that it was so graciously given to our precious little family, but EVERY YEAR AFTER THAT FOR A STRAIGHT 10-12 YEARS.
Some people get less time in jail for involuntary manslaughter!!!!
I think every relative who "gives" this book and elf to a sweet little family, secretly HATES the family they are giving him to-
Seriously!!

(I could go on for days and give many details about this little guy- and if they ever invent the advent calendar with Shots for Teachers in it- I might.....BOLO for that)!

I decided that part of my gift giving this year to some of the teachers in my building would be VERY thoughtful and NO work AT ALL!

There is only one teacher I know of in my building who follows me (HI!)
so I am not worried about spoiling their gifts here in this post.

I am in the process of printing, laminating and cutting some centers for them!

Truman says Hi!

Now these centers happen to be ones that I made- BUT my reasoning for giving them to them is this.
1) if I send the file, they will most likely never print them.
2) If they do print them, they will have to do all the cutting and laminating.
3) It is a school wide goal to get these kiddos fluent in their facts to ten!!
So my buds in K can use them with a few higher ones. My second grade pals can use them for intervention, reviews. And my first grade friends can use them, period.
And I am also putting them in sheet protectors in a folder with the cards that match the board inside!

Whew- now I have a couple of people marked off my list.
They are not the people who will be here around my tree this Christmas, but they are people who count- and they are people who do not need any more candles, bottles of lotion, tree ornaments with their name on them, or mugs with I heart my teacher.

With all this talk of giving, I have to go look at my list, check it twice, and possibly cross off "THAT LITTLE" who may or may not be still hanging around reading this post!
Have a wonderful week-!

Great Minds Think Alike!!!

Have you been shopping yet?

I. Can't. Stop. Filling. My. Cart.

I had to take a break!
The MR asked "How much do you need?"

I calmly answered, "ALL! I NEED IT ALL!"
The only thing that has saved my bank acct is the fact that I had to work today!!

If you promise to keep a secret, I will tell you one-

I'm going back tonight!

Because the sale is going on today too!!!

There are a few things that I didn't get last night that I have thought about all day.
Those things will haunt me if I don't go back and get them.

I was going through some of the items that I purchased last night and I noticed something that I thought was a super co-inky-dink.

So many of the packs/units that I fell in love with have similiar elements-

Falling into First

Falling into First

First Grade and Fabulous

First Grade and Fabulous

Did you see them?

I noticed it in the credits-
lots of the fonts, papers, and borders are the work of these two
Teacher Extraordinaires!

Tessa Maguire

and

Jessica Stanford

Not only are they creating awesome activities for us to use in the class- they are also designing the fonts, borders, and papers that many of the other teachers are using to create with!

If you are feeling creative, head over there to each of their stores and stock up while it's all on sale!!

Jessica's Store

Tessa's Store

I have already printed out my teacher rewards for ink so that I can get everything printed and get my month planned out!!

If you haven't taken advantage of the sale yet head over there-
This is it.
It's the last day.
For Realsies.
They aren't kidding!!

While you are planning for your holiday, don't forget to pick up a few things that can be used year-round as well....
I just happen to have such a thing..... (no co-inky-dink there)

Happy Shopping!!!

Lies, Lies, Lies...

What up!?!? It's been over a week-

I haven't been around because I have been so busy getting school work done.

(That's a lie).

I haven't been around because I have been spending quality time with the Littles.

(That's another lie).

I haven't been around because I have been getting my house ready for the holidays and finishing shopping.

(That's yet  another lie).

OK, I haven't been around because I have been busy eating 6-10 meals a day,
rotating into comfy "kajama" pants,
filling up my coffee cup,
 shifting from one spot to another in the living room,
 taking a number for my turn to take a nap,
and
hiding from the Littles.

There. That's the truth. I have been the epitome of lazy  these last five days!.

I did manage to have time to play with our newest addition:

 Meet Barkley.
(He dressed up for the introduction).

We have not had a puppy in the house in a long time!! He keeps us very busy. But no matter what he wants- we do.
We just can't resist this face.

A few times while he was sleeping I was able to go into the office and work on a game that has been in  my brain for a while.
I finally got it all out!
(My brain is officially empty now).

I am pretty excited about it! Our goal in first grade this year is to have every child FLUENT- like, drop.of.the.hat. fluent in facts to 10. There are many ways we are doing this, one of them is really dissecting numbers and looking at the parts.

Let me show you a game I created to help with practicing facts.

 All you need after printing this pack is a bag of two color counters or two different color cubes. Each player chooses a color and as the cards are picked, they place one of their pieces on the correct number.

 If we are playing on the gameboard for 5's and I pull a 2, then I will place one of my pieces on a 3- because 2+3=5. The Super Power cards make it fun because if I pull one of them I can put one of my pieces on that space OR move my opponent off of a Super Power space and take their spot!

And then the first one to fill a row, either up or down, wins!
There are 12 games total (two for each number 5-10). And the cards are labeled to keep them organized!
There are also practice sheets for each number!

You can click on the cover below to add it to your cart while you are getting ready for the BIG SALE!!!

I KNOW you've heard of the BIG SALE:)

Graphics by Ashley Hughes

Susan @

has put together a great linky! Get your clicking fingers ready!!!
Check out these other great ladies who are having sales in their TPT stores !

Turkey Toupes and Weekly Woes

Happy Thursday!
And I am posting so late this evening, so it might be Friday before some of you read this- so
I will give you a Happy Friday to go with your Happy Thursday...
and I might even raise you a Giddy Saturday and a Glorious Sunday..
The Weekend is upon us!!!
What! What!

This has been a trying a week- for sure.

I was getting dinner ready for the Littles Tuesday night-
(they are uber lucky that  I am functionally able to feed them at the end of my day)
and I got a text from a good friend.

She asked how my day was

(that was her first mistake)

because I was very honest.

It had just been "a day".

So she then asked if it was an
"I-need-an-ice-cream-day"
or an
"I-need-a-coffee-day"

I immediately replied COFFEE!!!

Within a few short minutes she was at the end of my driveway.
Just a few minutes more and we were in Starbucks.
It couldn't have been more than a 20 minute span between the first text and the the first sip-
yet, somehow- I was better.

First she asked about what was going on, and I shared as much as I could without having to go into too much detail
(do you find it exhausting at times to vent to a NT- a NON TEACHER
There's just so much to explain! You can start with one topic and in just a few minutes you are somewhere else because you have to give the back story or you have to explain what this certain strategy is or the difference between anchor standards and core standards or basal vs non basal.....it can be a ton of explaining.)

So sometimes it's just easier to say
'I had a bad day",
drink the coffee,
and change the subject.

I did all three.

I knew in pretty quick that things would be better.
When I went in to order, this is what I saw-

The Holiday decorations at Starbucks!!! I just love them- I may have to go back in and ask for them when the Holidays are over- ya'll be on the lookout in case they are in your neck of the woods:)

We both have a child in high school- so we gabbed about that. Talked about Christmas coming and Black Friday Shopping
(she wants me to go at 3am....ha ha)
and we talked about her daughter (who was in my class last year.....no names, but remember the cutie patootie who ALWAYS made her hair curly in her craftivities???)

It was just what I needed!!!
I raise my mug (full of coffee, not spirits) to kind hearts and squirrel friends everywhere!!!

--------------------------ME!--------------------------

We had a lot of fun in math today working on a Turkey Craft from Susan @


We are using a 'program" called Developing Number Concepts and it gives the students the opportunity to work in a "range" of numbers. Their range might be 4-6. That means he is fluent with parts of 4, is developing fluency for 5, and needs practice with 6.
They were able to choose anyone of their range numbers to complete this activity in Susan's Turkey Day Activity

They did exceptionally well.
A few snapshots of their work:

This turkey ate seven pieces of chocolate cake...I would be smiling too.

Elvis Turkey has nine jellyfish.

This turkey needs a support group.

"We're eating turkey when?!??!"

Not only am I the President of Hair Club for Turkeys, I'm also a client.

So much fun! And so many ways to show that you can represent your understanding of a number! Many of us have two- three days next week- your kiddles will love it!
You have plenty of time to check it out:) Click the pic to head over-

I must flee from the computer chair, as tomorrow is a "jeans" day and mine are currently in the washer!
See you 'round this weekend:)
Smoochies!

New Words, New Friends, and a Lunch Date

I am a word hoarder.
 Once I hear a new word, I want to use it often.
A) it makes me look smart.
B) it makes me look smart.
I like new words. While watching Big Bang this week, I heard the word "Kerfuffle". I was able to use my context clue finding skills to determine that it meant a "commotion or fuss". I repeated it over and over.
Kerfuffle.
Kerfuffle.
Kerfuffle.

Words are fun.
I also heard a word this week, that was not especially new to me, but it was one that is not in my regualr vocabulary.
Peruse.

I like it.

It sounds much better than the alternative 'browsed" "Looked over" "read"....BORING!!!
So now I am going to look all smarticle and use my new word....

As I was perusing google reader, (see how  I did that?)
I stopped for a long time on one blog in particular.
I have been there before, but today I got really comfy.
I took off my shoes- I stayed awhile.
A LONG WHILE.
This is the part where you say
"Squirrels, where were you???"

I was over at Jenn's place:

Have you been there before?

I was transfixed!
I couldn't stop reading and learning about Jenn and her work.
You know when you hear a teacher talk about this wonderful resource they have in their building and you are sooooo jealous???
Jenn is that resource!
We are going to have to meet IRL for me to pick her brain!!
(Jenn and I are destined to meet because we are in the same state:)

I lifted this little bit of info from her blog- 

Jennifer has taught for 18 years, 13 of which were in the inner city with at-risk elementary-students.  She married the love of her life and lives happily with her husband, 2 children and 2 cats.  Part of the time, her two god-children live there also.
Jennifer has three degrees:  B.S. from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Multi-Cultural Education K-4 with a certification in K-8, a M.S. in Education K-12 from Tusculum College, and finally, an Ed.S. degree in Education:  Administration and Supervision from Tennessee Technological University.

Jennifer has always been interested in curriculum and development and has worked in her school district to promote the use of standards and with developing curriculum maps through backwards design.  She has been the lead literacy teacher in her schools.  At this time, Jennifer is both the lead literacy teacher and a second grade classroom teacher.  She is responsible for professional development in the areas of literacy, word work, and writing.


Jennifer also writes for Blog Hoppin, Simply Centers, Lesson Cloud, and Connect-a-Blog.

 
I also headed over to her Tpt-
Jenn has a HUGE collection of free and paid items for EVERY SEASON and Holiday! I have filled up my cart!


Maybe we will be lucky enough to get our Misters to drive us to a mini meet up!

I would invite her to my house.
Like to eat.
And hang out- but we are currently trying to rid our house of a smell.

A smell?
Yes, a smell.

My friends tell me that I need to ease up and let the Littles do more for themselves.
So I thought I would give them some choices other than chips and such for after school snack.

I purchased some EASY MAC AND CHEESE mixes and gave very explicit instructions on how to prepare this very EASY MAC AND CHEESE.

This was the end result:

We have taken the microwave apart, bought a new filter, and doused the kitchen with baking soda- thank goodness for pretty days- we were able to open the windows!!!! The smell of burned noodles is AWFUL!~!!!!

Anyone wanna come over for lunch?

Needless to say, they are now back to chips and such for snacks:)

Have a Terrific Tuesday!!