I was a good girl!

So, what did I buy during the big sale? Well, as the title says, I was a good girl. I only bought the following items.

Believe me, I could have bought more. My wishlist is definitely not cleared out. But...my daughter is taking a trip out of state this summer and will need spending money. So, I have to be super careful. Oh yeah, did I mention that my PayPal account is almost zeroed out? That has a lot to do with it also!

Share what you got!! Click the link below to head over to Blog Hoppin' and link up.

My favorite field trip...ever

Today my second graders went on what is always my favorite field trip: The Dallas Arboretum. It was absolutely lovely! If you ever visit the Dallas area the Arboretum is a must see, especially in the spring. I got lucky in that only 14 of my students attended, and I had two chaperones. So I ended up with only 7 little people in my group. They whined about being tired a little bit, but other than that they were great. Take a peek:

All-American Selection Trial Gardens 

 Irises and Roses

 More Irises

 More Roses

For some reason, one of my students is fascinated with poppies, so we stopped and looked at poppies whenever we found some. Aren't they beautiful?

This silly squirrel would stand on his two hind feet and stare at me until I tried to take a picture. Then he'd move. This went on for a while. As you can tell, he won.

I actually remember the name of that rose behind the handrail: Belinda's Dream.

The magnolias were blooming.

White Rock Lake. That white building directly in the center across the lake is the Hunt mansion.

The Poetry Garden

As you can tell, the weather was great - in the 80s. These pictures really don't do the Arboretum justice (I took a bunch more, but I don't want to bore folks with "vacation" photos). You know the best thing about this trip? We just had fun. No TEKS objectives to worry about, no worksheets or questions to answer. Just good old fun for fun's sake and appreciating all the beautiful gardens for what they are.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Karen

Feedback...that is helpful!!

Okay, so I really should be working on my homework assignment in which I outline how I would implement inquiry science for the life cycles of: seed germination, complete and incomplete metamorphosis, photosynthesis, and respiration. But....I'm not. Blogging is soooo much more enjoyable.

Christina over at Buntings, Books, and Bainbridge is hosting a fun linky party. All you have to do is link up and then blog about some of the positive feedback comments that you have received on your TpT items. You can check mine out below. Here's the fun part. If you are one of the folks that left these great comments, just contact me (leave a message) and you can receive any item from my store...free!! 

So here goes:

greenr01

The kids loved these! They each completed one and we glued them to a large green paper to resemble a Christmas tree! All the staff love the display! Thank you for such a cute learning experience!!!

amazona0104

I am going to it out with my second graders, I will not use the multiplication piece just yet, but the idea of the ice cream flavors combination is great and appealing to them :)

amortiz

These were the perfect addition to my science program. I love how these teach children that literacy and science work side by side.

You know, we don't hear these kind of comments often, but aren't kind, uplifting, and positive words what truly makes us feel appreciated?

Click below to check it out.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!

Karen

p.s. I don't know how these image backgrounds got so jacked up. It's late.

More Teacher Appreciation!

Hey everyone, the teacher love continues. Don't you wished we were loved year round? I'm just sayin'. Anyhoo... Miss Math Dork is having a huge math linky party. Check it out, because lots of sellers are posting links to their math products, but they are also required to pin freebies!! I'm all about free. Ha! 

Also, did you know that TpT is having a huge Teacher's Appreciation Sale? Well they are! May 7th & 8th, I (along with many other teacher sellers) will have my entire store on sale for 20% off. Just enter the promotional code, and you will receive an additional discount for a total of 28% off!!



So, one whole week of love!

Have a great day!

karen

A Comedy of Errors...Life on the Farm and Teacher's Appreciation

I used to have a farm blog, and after today's misadventures I just may have to revive it. I have one particular friend that keeps telling me I need to (she seems to think that the crap that happens on our farm is funny, and she's kind of right!)

Anyway, let me tell you two important details before I launch into this story.

1.  My house is under serious construction - total mess
2.  My house keys are missing somewhere in this total mess.

Okay. This morning my husband and I get up at the crack of dawn because he wants to load a trailer full of sheep and take them to the sale. We got the trailer hitched up and the sheep loaded in a record 28 minutes. Then my son and I drove my daughter to school because she had an activity she was going to at A&M Commerce. I dropped her off at about ten 'till eight and asked her what time I needed to pick her up. She just looked at me "I don't know." So I gave her my phone (she's the only teenage girl in the civilized world that has no use for phones), and told her to call her daddy when she is on her way back to the school. 

So, I'm driving home thinking that I had already accomplished quite a lot this morning. Then about a mile from the house I remembered two important details:

1. I didn't have my house key.
2. My husband said he might actually stay for the sale instead of just dropping the sheep off and coming home.

Since I had only been away less than thirty minutes, I felt pretty confident that he probably hadn't left yet. But when I pulled through the gate guess what? He was gone. So, I then convinced myself that he probably hadn't locked the door to the house. But when my son tried to open the door, guess what? You guessed it - it was locked. And I had no phone to call him to tell him to come straight home after he dropped off the sheep.

I decided this might be a good chance to catch a little shut-eye (break of dawn...remember?). So I sat in the car, reclined the seat, and went to sleep. I woke up about an hour later. My son was sitting (barefoot and still in his pajamas) outside enjoying the weather. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up and looked out the window. There were sheep in my yard! And large livestock dogs!! And three baby chickens that my students had hatched in the incubator at school!!! I was hollering at my son that he had left the gate to the yard open, and he was hollering back that he hadn't left the gate open. When I got over to the yard, I saw that the drive-through gate had blown open in the wind. The last people to use that gate were the guys that are working on our house. They must have forgotten to chain it.

I ran over to the yard, chased the sheep and the dogs out and proceeded to look for chickens. No luck. Now this kind of thing happens on a farm. You get used to it. I don't like it, but it happens. So, I'm sitting there in the yard about thirty minutes later when I hear a little "cheep-cheep", and guess what. One chicken!! It was fine but pitiful. The poor thing actually came up and crawled in my lap! (not normal chicken behavior). So my son and I sat around some more (it's getting close to lunch by now), and it is by now painfully obvious that my other half stayed to watch the sale. So, I put the chick up in a wagon and we decide to go wait in the parking lot at the school. (As a teacher, I have a phobia about not being there to pick up my kids when they arrive somewhere).

We drove to town, and I realized that my poor boy hadn't eaten. So I drove to Dairy Queen since they have a drive through and we are both still in our pajamas . He gets a Hunger Buster meal and I get a large dipped cone. (I figured that I deserved it). We drove to the high school and waited about another hour and then here comes my daughter, with my phone. Hallelujah! We drove home, passed my husband (who had come home by then, couldn't find me, tried to call me on my phone and couldn't get me because my daughter had it and she refused to answer it, and then panicked -- he's like that). We got everything all worked out, got home, and guess what? Those damned dogs had gotten back in the yard somehow!! I guess where there is a will, there's a way, but now the final baby chick is a goner as well. AAARRRGH!!

Anyways... on to other things. Did you know that to celebrate Teachers Appreciation Week - Teacher's Notebook is having a sale! It started today and ends May 10th. You can also enter to 
win a $100 gift card from Oriental Trading! Every day!

                                   

And finally, Mrs. D over at The Third Wheel is having a huge math give-away to celebrate 500 followers. Isn't that awesome? I applaud all the teachers that have giveaways. I've thought about having one, but to be honest it intimidates me a bit. So, I just try to contribute to other folks' giveaways!

I hope everyone has a great week. We've almost made it!

Karen

AWOL!

I have been out of touch for the past two weeks. I flew to San Antonio on the tenth for the NSTA science conference. The conference itself was pretty awesome, but the trip to SA was awful. There were weather delays, and to make a very long story short, I was supposed to get there at about 8:45 pm, but I didn't actually arrive until about 2:00am. The final part of my trip was in one of those long skinny "mini" planes, we hit turbulence, and it was seriously lightning outside. I felt like I was trapped inside a plastic model airplane attached to strings that was just bouncing around in the sky. OMG. Needless to say...I started the conference exhausted, and I'm still catching up.

I came home to find that my best boy Boss (my dog) was gone. I was seriously bummed out about it. I just knew he'd been killed. I checked the pound, searched our pastures, and drove all over looking for him. Then about four days later, he showed back up...skinny, tired, dirty, and smelly. No matter, he was home. Then yesterday, he was gone again. I think he has a girlfriend.

I did manage to complete a product that I just posted on TpT. I have been creating little mini-activities for measurement that have been working really well with my kiddos. At the same time, I was working on some activities to accompany the book "I'm a Caterpillar" by Jean Marzollo. So, I had all of these different powerpoints scattered all over my desktop when I realized that they would make a great set of literacy centers. 

Can you believe the school year is almost over? I can't. But, I tell you what - I'm ready!!

Y'all have a great week!

Karen

Awesomeness!! and a Giveaway

Happy Weekend Everyone! I don't know about you, but I was ready for this weekend. In fact, I've reached the point where I'm really looking forward to summer (if you know what I mean). This coming week is going to be great because Wednesday evening I'm flying to San Antonio to attend the NSTA coference. I'm really excited. If you have never been to San Antonio...well let's just say it's awesome!

Speaking of  awesomeness, Nicole from Mrs. Rios Teaches Second Grade is having a huge giveaway (over 100 products in all!) to celebrate 1000 TpT followers. Congratulations Nicole! Click on the link below to check it out. I am contributing a "winner's choice" product as part of the giveaway :) .

Anyway, y'all have a great weekend!

Karen

Let's Get Acquainted!

It's that time of the week again! I really have enjoyed this linky party.  Latoya over at Flying into First Grade has posted the most recent installment of "Let's Get Acquainted".

This week it's all about favorites. So here goes:

Favorite Place to Shop:

Anywhere online. I love getting packages in the mail and opening them to reveal my goodies.

Favorite TV Show

Right now it's The Vikings on the History channel, but during Downton Abbey season, well....

  

       

         

Favorite Sweet Treat

Chocolate. Don't stick anything in it... No gooey, messy, marshmellowy, cookie doughish, chunks of stuff in it. Just plain ole' chocolate.

Favorite Food

Just about anything Mexican. Enchilada. Tacos. Chiles Rellenos. Chips and Salsa. I must stop. Now. My stomach is growling!

Favorite Restaurant

I have four.

1. Los Rancheros, a little family owned Mexican place in the Casa View neighborhood of Dallas.

2. La Familia, another little family owned Mexican place in Paris (Texas).

3. Chipotle

4. Fuzzy's Tacos

By the way, did I mention that I like Mexican Food?

Now it's your turn!! Click on the link at the very top to get to Latoya's blog to join the fun!!

Karen

Yay!! for Dolch...

So, I'm not a reading teacher, but two things inspired me to create my Dolch card products. The first  was this great post by Ashley of The School Supply Addict fame. This one little video tutorial about how to "unsquish" images/pictures when we use them to fill a shape was soooo helpful. I'll let you in on a little secret. I didn't know that you could fill shapes with anything other than the colors on the powerpoint tool bar!! After I read that post, I got to messing around with that little tip, and I've been on a roll ever since. 

The second thing that made me want to create some Dolch cards is the fact that using flash cards are my earliest memories of learning to read. Reading was a struggle for me when I was little. I lived in Germany and went to school on an Army base. My family moved stateside toward the end of my first grade year, and I kid you not...I could read and write only one word: my name! My family was experiencing a bit of "turmoil" and my poor mom had nary a clue that I was lost as a goose. My new teacher told my mom, and then my mom made a set of good old-fashioned index card flash cards and we drilled. And drilled. And drilled. You get the picture. By the end of third grade I was reading pretty well, and by fifth grade I was reading everything in sight. I'm still an avid reader!

  

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Karen

Spring Cleaning Sale!

I know that you know that I'm not talking about my house. Real Spring Cleaning? Don't make me laugh. But...that wishlist I have going over on TpT, well that's another story. I'm linking up with a lovely bunch of bloggers and participating in the Spring Cleaning Sale over at TpT. Everything in my store will be 20% off, so head on over, check out your favorite sellers, and give your wishlist a good once-over!

 Isn't the linky button cute? You can still link up and get your own cute button from Kristin at the Creative Chalkboard. She creates some of the cutest clip art... Thanks Kristin!

Have fun!

Karen