The Best New Year Yet! Blog Hop and Giveaway

 So here we are looking 2014 right in the eye.  Have you decided on a New Year's Resolution yet?  Is it to get in better shape?  To de-stress your life?  To amp up your teaching game?  Well, whatever it is, we're here to help you...although we all think you're perfect just the way you are!

I have teamed up with several fabulous teacher bloggers to bring you The Best Year Yet Blog Hop and Giveaway. 

From New Year's Eve until January 2, you can hop around our blogs and grab a FREEBIE from each of us.  Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter at The Teaching Tribune for your chance to win one of these fabulous prizes.

Today I am offering the product below as my freebie.  Simply click on the picture to take you to my store to download it.

While you're at my store you may also want to check out these products, just perfect for those first few weeks back at school.

And as a special treat, my store is currently on SALE!!! Everything is marked down 20% just for the event!

            

Be sure to continue the circle on the blog hop by clicking the button below.

We truly hope that 2014 is your best year yet and that it brings you good health, happiness and many other good things.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT and a FREEBIE!

Howdy Ya'll! I hope everyone had a spectacular Thanksgiving holiday. I know I did! My husband works in retail so we didn't get to do our big get-together until today. Let's just say that the Butterfinger Cake in my fridge might be calling my name in just a little while. Even with a full week off of work, I still feel like I could use a few more days. I just can't seem to get caught up...and I still have some Christmas shopping to do...ugh...

Most of the gifts are stashed away in the house somewhere, a few others are on the way from Amazon, but I'm at a TOTAL loss as to what to get my husband for Christmas. He only likes four things in life...and I call them the 4 G's--games, guitars, guns, and golf. And to tell you the truth, I know nothing about any of them and stink at even attempting to shop for those. So as of right now, all he's getting is a set of novelty Pez dispensers (a gag gift) and some socks. I could use some help! Anyone have any ideas for me?

But since the shopping isn't done, I'll still be pouring some time into the Internet search for the perfect gift...but it won't be happening tomorrow or Tuesday. Why? Because there is a much bigger event happening over on TPT on December 2nd and 3rd! It's the annual Cyber Monday and Tuesday sale and my cart is stocked! Lots of goodies there to be had, at a great discount too!

Just so you know, I am also participating in the site-wide sale. Every item in my store (even the $1.00 ones) is going to be discounted 20% for the full two days. Along with my discount, TPT is offering an additional 8% when you use the coupon code CYBER at check out. It's a great way to snatch up those products cluttering up your wishlist at a great price.

I've spent some time this week adding some new holiday themed items and another big project that I was finally able to complete. I thought I would share a few of my most recent additions, as well as a fun little freebie!

        

   

Can you tell I've been burning the midnight oil this week? There's something that I find relaxing about creating for my classroom. Some women shop, others sew, or knit, or cook.. But creating is my hobby and I LOVE it! And since your here, I've got a little something for your time. This week you are getting a fun little freebie that I just added to my store! I hope you like it!

Just click on the image above to head over to my store and grab those up. I hope you'll enjoy them and have a ball shopping during the big TPT sale! As always, thanks for stopping in and I'll be back soon to share all of the Christmas fun I have planned for the next three weeks!

Have a great week!

Snap It Up Saturday! What a Week!

Good Morning everyone! I think it's safe to say that I have been neglecting my poor little blog over the past two weeks. We have had SO much going on that I haven't had time to blink, much less blog. I was trying to hop back on last week but then my mom went into the hospital and scared us all...BIG TIME! But with a lot of prayer and some fantastic doctors, we finally got to bring her home on Thursday. She's still weak but gradually returning back to her old self.

I don't know about anyone else, but my kids at school have been OFF THE CHAIN the past two weeks. I think there must be something in the water. This is by far the most rambunctious and talkative group I have ever had. There are times when I repeat directions four or five times before we actually all get started on a task. It's enough to make me want to pull out all my hair and sit down in the corner and cry. Needless to say, I'll be glad for a fresh start after Thanksgiving break. One Week to Go!!

This week I have a fun little freebie for you. I whipped up a little set of Borders/Frames to use on some task cards I was making and thought that I would share those with you. Just click on the image below to Snap Them Up! I hope you like them!

As always, thanks for stopping in and I hope you will continue to do so. If you haven't already, stop by my Facebook page as well. I do lots of flash freebies and also have a "Just for Fans" tab where you can find something new about every week or so. You can find my page here.

Have a great weekend!

Big Time Educents Event and Pin It to Win It!!

Alright all you clip art fanatics! I'm popping in today to tell you about something BIG happening over on Educents today! If you LOVE clipart and you LOVE a great deal, you should definitely stop in soon and check out the newest Educents deal! They are currently offering a great deal on a massive amount of high quality clipart designed specifically for teacher-authors and scrapbookers. Click below to pop in and check it out!

Very excited to be a part of the bundle with Educents!  I know you will love my Make Your Own Color By Number Clipart Collection. These fun little graphics are easy to insert and use to create your own color by number, letter, word activities. In the set you get black/white versions of all of the images seen in the preview below. It's really as simple as inserting them into your program of choice and using text boxes to create your handouts. I've used them for all sorts of applications!

There are 35 other products in our bundle to get your kids learning!  Literacy, math, science, social studies, and so much more!   Hop along to see all the goodies you will get!  

But that's not all!   I am giving you a chance to Pin It to Win It (well you win any item from my store.)  Pin any image from my blog and enter below to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
The deal won't last long so head over now!

Trick or Treat Blog Hop!!

Trick or treat! This is Lacey from The Fabulous Life of an Elementary Teacher, and I am taking over this blog today as my trick. Keep reading to get your treat!

Some of my blogging buddies at The Teaching Tribune have joined together for this Trick or Treat Blog Hop. You will find many more tricks and plenty of treats as you hop from door to door!

My treat for you is a brand new product that I just posted to my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I plan to use this rounding activity to help my students review before taking our benchmark test in the next couple of weeks. Your students will love playing this rounding matching game :) Click the picture below to grab this freebie!

Now it's time to go "next door" to discover the next trickster and collect another treat! Click on the picture below to take you there!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great time Trick or Treating with us!

Oh Boy! Some Tricks and Treats are in store!!

Hey ya'll! Just popping in to let everyone know about a big event that is coming up real soon This is one that you won't want to miss. It's going to be SCARY good! Make sure you drop in again soon to find out what's happening!!

I'm super stoked about this one and can't wait to get in on the fun myself! Have a great rest of the week and see you real soon!

Ya'll come back now, ya hear??

Oh SNAP!! A SALE IS ON!!

Wow folks! Two posts in one day, but I just have to spread the news. The TeachersPayTeachers Facebook page has reached a whopping 100,000 likes and they are celebrating in a BIG way! From now until the clock rolls over to October 14th, they are throwing in an additional 10% off of everything when you use the coupon code below. My store is already marked at 20% off so you can get anything you want for a great discount! Make sure you stop in and check out the new additions!

Button Graphics by Bubbly Cute and The Hazel Owl

Snap It Up Saturday! Our Government may be shut down...But we're still learning!

Yep...our Government is still shut down. The ridiculousness is touching the folks in our area like never before. I have several coworkers who are already feeling the strain due to having husbands who work in government offices. If they would hurry up and get those political panties out of a wad, we would all be in much better shape. 

But even with the shutdowns, we are pressing right on through and have jumped into our unit on American government feet first. This is such an abstract concept for third graders and we REALLY struggle to keep things organized. No matter how many Brainpop videos and SchoolHouse Rock tunes we learn, it still just doesn't click for them. But we teach it anyway, and we are trying something new this year. We are working on a lapbook activity that I created for class and the kids are really enjoying all of the foldables and things we are adding. Want to see what I'm talking about?  Below are pictures of a completed lapbook that I made to show my kids before we started. 

 So far it is going well...But again, government is a really abstract concept. Sometimes I wonder if it is developmentally appropriate for third graders, but hey...who I am I to create a curriculum. Anyway, for this week's Snap It Up Saturday! post, I've decided to give away this little foldable pack to all of my fantastic followers! I hope it is something that you find useful and your kids find a little more fun than traditional note-taking. Click on the picture below to head over to my TPT store and Snap It Up!

 I've also been working on other materials for my classroom, a few clipart sets, and a couple of bundles to add to the store as well. And I still have lots of work to do! Below you will find some of my most recent additions. There might be something you can use!

It has been a very busy week and I'm positive next week is going to be much the same. It's hard to believe I'm getting ready to write my first set of report cards already. The year is in motion and it is flying by. But now, I'm off to take the little girl fishing for the day. The weather here is beautiful and I'm going to take advantage of it!

Have a great weekend!

Snap It Up Saturday! Saturday Morning Scramble

Yikes! What a week I've been having and I am so glad to say that this one is over! You would think it was a full moon again because my class seems to have forgotten all that stuff we did the first two weeks of school. You know, all those rules and procedures. Sheesh!

I think I have the cause pinned down though. You see, we got a new student on Monday, and let's just say this little guy is a trip! Anything he can do to get a laugh out of the class or a rise out of me, he's gonna do it. Some of his antics this week included tying himself to his chair with his shoelaces (not with the ends of the strings, but with the part down near the toe) I'm still not sure how that happened--I'm thinking he unlaced his entire shoe, tied it to his chair, and then relaced afterwards. And then the next day, he felt the need to glue his math assignment to his desk. Needless to say, it is entirely possible for one student to change the entire makeup of a classroom.

But, regardless of his antics, I'm going to love him and teach him anyway. We just have to get to the point where we see eye to eye and he knows my expectations, which are high.

I spent all of last night scrambling to get homework finished for my Gifted Endorsement class and haven't even started with lesson planning for the week. So I guess you could say I'm knee deep in the Saturday Morning Scramble! 

And that's where this week's Snap It Up Saturday Freebie comes in. I have a fun little font for all of you to used and it's called--you guessed it!--Saturday Morning Scramble! It is a fun little whimsy font that looks cute on all sorts of applications and its also Commercial Use Friendly...So yes, you can use it on TPT documents that you sell--as long as you shoot me a quick credit right back here to my blog. Just click on the image below to Snap It Up!!  I hope you enjoy it!

And that's it for today folks! I've got to jump right back into lesson planning and get that all wrapped up. Thank goodness for a fantastic team because we know where we're going and all it takes is a few clicks in my planbook and I'm all set for the week! Have a great weekend and enjoy the day off!

Best wishes!

Randi

World Gratitude Day! Blog Hop and Giveaway

September 21 is World Gratitude Day – a relatively unknown special day, but a great opportunity for us to have a quick chat to those that we teach and love – and tell them what we are grateful for! 

I am grateful for so many things – First and foremost, my family. I have an amazing daughter and a wonderful husband. I am grateful for our home and everything in it--even in its haphazardly organized state. I see my students every day coming from homes that have holes in the floors, no heating, and are infested with all sorts of things. It's just so sad. I am grateful for the joys that I have in life and thank God every day for them.

One of my joys in life is creating. I've always had a knack and a love for making my own classroom materials and I truly love sharing them through my blog and TeachersPayTeachers store. . Every time I blog, I always thank everyone for following and I really hope that everyone understands that I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I love what I do, and do what I love. So in honor of World Gratitude day, I have turned one of my most recent store additions into a flash freebie for you today.

Head to my TpT store to find my a great set of task cards FREE for today! Click the image below.

Then hop around to see some of my bloggy friends and find what surprise they have in store for you! At the end of the hop, please enter our rafflecopter to try to win a $50 TpT voucher!! 

Thank you for visiting! Click below to head over to my friend Cyndie at Chalk One Up for the Teacher and pick up another fantastic freebie!

Have a great weekend!

Randi