Organization - I Treated Myself!!!!

Ok, I love to be organized and I LOVE pretty things that organize me.  Well, last year about this time, while I was blog stalking and super new to blogging, I came across a post by Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade about Erin Condren planners.

I'm one of those people who likes to see lists and things written down...sure, I have a phone that can do all that but it's not as fun and I'm not super good at it.  I NEED it written down, I NEED to cross it off my list, I NEED to see progress and times and dates and did I say I need to write it down?????  Anyone with me??

Well......can you say obsessed anyone???  I wanted one of those yummy Erin Condren planners in the worst way.  Like really bad.....but then, I did what I always do.......I said....you don't need it, you can live without it, save your money, you don't need it.....

I don't usually spend money on things for me (like hardly ever....mostly on kids or house but rarely me)...........well, peeps..........I DID IT!  I have lost a chunk of me (weight) so decided I deserved a treat!  Here it is:

Fun box!  I about knocked the FedEx guy over to get it!!!!!  I have issues!!!  See, told you I don't treat myself often.

Wrapped so pretty!!!  Makes me happy!!!  The wrapping AND the fact that I didn't knock the FedEx guy over!!!!

TaDA!!!!!!!!  There it is:D Can you stand it????

                                     

Out of the box on my chippy not dirty desk!!  (See Farley's post here)  (I have several chippy pieces because I love shabby chic, remember, chippy not dirty)

Peek inside!!!!  It's so pretty I am scared to write in it!

Love this!  It's right inside the cover!  Now I'm off to go stare at it!!  LOL!  

Just kidding.....I don't have that many issues but I am stinkin excited!!

I am linking up with my bud Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B, for her Fabulous Finds linky!  Now, I know I just got this but after

two seconds with it, am pretty sure that I can't live without it:)

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Shopping Linky and I Have an Issue....

Hello all!  Um, well, my name is Tara and according to the following pictures, I have a HUGE problem!!!

It's called shopping........and shopping for my classroom!  Thank goodness I'm not alone!  I am excited to be linking up with my dear friend Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files for:

So buckle your seat belt and here we go:

Exhibit A:

Super cute bins from Hobby Lobby...clearance!!!  Woop! Woop!!

Exhibit B:

Little zipper pouches I'm going to use to put word work pieces in.  Dollar section Target:)

Exhibit C:

Black/White file folders - 3 different patterns - Staples

Exhibit D:

Duct Tape for my new quilt that I haven't made yet - Walmart

Exhibit E:

The little black things are expandable files.  I'm going to use those to hold letters and again word work pieces. - Target Dollar Section

The picture frames were on clearance at Hobby Lobby:D  

Exhibit F:

More little cute zipper pouches for pieces of something.....little containers for dice and microfiber clothes to cut up for dry erase boards. Staples (Thanks Molly!!)

Exhibit G:

Yummy new border additions to my black/white theme I started last year from Creative Teaching Press. Loving the gray!!!!   I love their black/white section and before it is all over....I will own all the pieces;)

Exhibit H:

More yumminess from Creative Teaching Press!!  Library pockets, name plates, and cut outs for cute framing of ......I'm not sure yet.

Exhibit I:

Kohl's has Skippy jon Jones books and stuffed animal!  Can you stand the cuteness?!!!

(Thanks Erin for the heads up)

So there you have it!!!  My haul for June and the majority of it bought on clearance or in dollar sections.

Ok all.....gotta run, the hubs just pulled up and busted me with all this in the living room.  Oops!!!  It was all in a big bin before, you know, hidden, camo, piled........................

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Monday Made It #4

I can't believe this is already the 4th Made It!!!!!  That means for me, my summer vaca is almost half way over:((  Luckily I started this linky to get me on task or as spazzy as I am,  nothing would get done............

And what a wonderful time to have one!!!  I'm down here blowing away in Florida thanks to my friend Debby!!  Ok, I'm not blowing away and we aren't even close to the "target" but boy is it windy.  Yesterday a wind gust picked the metal basketball post out of it's base and blew it down.  We are in store for lots more today so great time to be blog stalking and getting inspired!!

Again, THANK YOU all for linking up and all the wonderfully yummy ideas!!!  It makes my head spin with joy!!!

I have 2 Classroom Made Its to share today:

The first was inspired last week from Confessions of a Teaching Junkie's post about the magnetic poetry kits she made using the wonderful Jen's awesome kit at Runde's Room.  Jen's kit is brilliant and free!!!  Gotta love that!  Now............who knew there was such a thing as magnetic paper?!?!?!?!?!?  Not I!!!!!!!!!!!
Are you kidding me??????  Oh, the possibilities!!!!  (you don't want to be in my mind right now.......lots of chaos!!  See??  Spaz!!)  Anywho, I was totally inspired to make my own kits
I am calling them Poetry Pots.

They will be oh so fun to use during Work on Writing in our Daily 5.  (or word work for that matter!)

These are set to go.  I have several cookie sheets in my classroom waiting for these cute sets:)

Classroom Made It #2:  A welcome sign to hang outside my classroom door.  Now this was inspired from Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten and if I'm understanding the post right, her sister's classroom.  I have had this baby pinned for a long time and finally got around to figuring out how I could make it and doing it:))

(p.s. you can see the new color of my walls here behind the sign)

I have had a few of you ask me to put some of my Made Its in my stores......well, the ones with digital papers are too big so I have to figure out how to do that.  The welcome sign I have added to my store.

There are 3 color themes.  One with bright colors and backgrounds with black (the one in the pic).  I also made a Black/White/Gray themed one.....

and one with a Chocolate theme:

If you want to check them out, you can do that HERE.

Home Made It:

Now, last week I missed my Home Made It.  Well, I am making up for it this week!  I have 2, but one you are only gonna get a small peek at one of them........

WE painted my bedroom!!!!!  Amazing what a little coat of paint will do!  My bedroom is now a yummy gray color:)))  It's called Pewter Mug from Home Depot.

I also painted a vintage dresser that was in my bedroom to......guess what color????????

Turquoise!!!!!  I LOVE it!!!!  I painted it and then sanded it in a few places and then waxed it.

The color is Martha Stewart's Lagoon.

(People, these pictures don't show the true color..it's brighter than the pic, and so fun!!!)

Now, the glass knobs are vintage.  The silvery ones are from Hobby Lobby but I am missing 2 until next week:((  I hate waiting!!!!!  God is growing me in the patience department;)  So when it is done, only the top drawer will have the glass knobs, the rest will be the metal pulls.

If you look closely, you can see the gray color of my walls:)

Now grab your java and let's get our craft on!!!!!!

Update woopsy!!!  If you already posted could you pretty please  come back and grab my cute button by The 3 AM Teacher.  I was in such a hurry this morning to get this posted and run before the next bad batch of rain came through, I forgot to add it:/  Well, I didn't beat the rain.....I can now cross running in a Tropical storm off my bucket list!!!  Kinda refreshing BUT I couldn't see where I was running.....thank God the drivers could:)

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Do You Use Kidblog?? You Should:)

Hello everyone!  Happy Thursday and can someone please slow this summer down?!

 I am enjoying my relaxing and projecting and crafting, but WOW.....June is almost over which means I only have July left and thanks to all my wonderful friends in bloggy land joining my Monday Made It I am not going to have nearly enough time to get it all done!!!!

Seriously, thank you all for making this linky so fun!!!  I already can't wait until Monday:)))  Also, you don't have to join on Monday....you can join anytime during the week.  Each linky is open for a week and then I start the new one:)))  I still have to get my projects done for Monday!!!  EEEK:)

Ok, I wanted to chat today about KIDBLOG.org  Have ya heard of it???  Do you use it????

Well, I hadn't until about the last few months of school....then one of my friends/coworkers put a little blurb about it on our school email.  I clicked on it ever so briefly.  Just briefly though.......here's why......follow my lovely little mind if you can...................I don't have time to do this.............I have a million end of the year assessments.............we have projects to finish.......it's something new...........did I say assessments...........
the list goes on and I've shared in the past that I am a stinker when it come to change.  (welcome to inside my head!!!!  Sometimes, not a pretty place!!)  Even if the change is awesome, I need time to process......(I have issues, I know)

THEN my friend asked if I had checked it out and set up my class, she had and her kids loved it.  I told her "No", for the reasons above and she said "Oh it only takes a second".  Well, thanks Ash for the push!!!!!

People, it does only take seconds and my kiddos LOVED it.  I introduced it to them and just started with a blog post for them to comment on.  It's a wonderful tool to use during and after read alouds.  We used it right after I finished reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  They all shared what they liked or didn't like about the book.  They loved reading each other's comments and I feel learned from each other too.  I stuck this right into our Daily 5 routine.  We didn't do it everyday, just every once in a while.  When we used it, I plugged it into the Work on Writing segment of Daily 5.

Another way I used it was with literature circle responses.  Again, they commented on a post I made about how they liked literature circles, tell me about what they were reading  and if they could change anything about literature circles, what would it be?  (a really neat sidebar here.....I had several comment that the only thing they would change would be to make it last longer.  WHAT?!!!!  AWESOME!!!!  Thanks Book Whisperer!!!  If you haven't read this book, you MUST)


Finally I taught them how they could do their own blog posts on there.  There are SO many ways to utilize this in the classroom!!  Also, the teacher has total control of what is posted.  Every comment has to be approved.  I told my kiddos this and they took it very seriously and their comments are responses were very thoughtful:)  It's wonderful!  So give it a look.

Once last neat thing about using this.......I have been able to stay in touch with my kiddos this summer and their reading.  I told them I would be posting over the summer and would love for them to check in.  Well, 3 of them have!  I know, I know.....only 3?  Hey, 3 is better than none:))  It's neat!  First they checked in to tell me what they are reading.  2 of them started their own blog posts asking their classmates for book recommendations for the summer:)  I love it!!  Go give it a looksy:)  If you already use it, I would love to hear other ways to incorporate it in my classroom:))

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Monday Made It #3

Thank you everyone for entering my Blog B-day Giveaway and all the super sweet comments!!!

Thank you all so much  for linking up with my Monday Made Its!!!  I think people are getting all kinds of great ideas and inspirations:)  I know I am:)

So here we go with my Classroom Made It:

I have 2 things to share.  The first was inspired just last week by Misty at Think, Wonder, & Teach and her adorable birthday balloons.  I loved her crazy straw idea! I put a little of my own spin on my "birthday bouquet" and here's what I came up with. (I know they aren't balloons or cakes or cupcakes or anything birthday related.....owls?  Yep!  Owls!  I had to use these adorable owls from The 3AM Teacher again!!!  I just love them:) )  

I recycled a flower pot from my garden, painted it black with chalkboard paint and added some ribbon.

If you like my little owl birthday buddies, they are in my store for FREE:) (teehee, having another Oprah moment....you get some owls and you get some owls...., sorry, no coffee yet...no focus)

 Just click HERE for the freebie:))  I made them in 3 different color sets:)

My other Classroom Made It is my teacher binder.  I have seen several and knew I just had to make one.  I had a binder last year.....you know, the one with the super cute, colorful cover.........but let me tell you, that was where the cute ended!!!!  Inside was a mess!!!  My mess and most of the time I knew where stuff was.....papers sticking out the top, data in the back, more data in the front, lesson plans in the middle, other important info. here and there........

Enough already.....I'm embarrassed to admit that mess.  Well, no more:)  I made this with sections specific to my needs (I'm sure I may be adding more later, so this is a total work in progress) and can't wait to be binder organized this year.

I have also seen lots of fun names for them......Mrs. Eiken's Lesson Plans bored me and it is going to be so much more than lesson plans.  When I taught 3rd grade my kiddos had T.E.A.M. binders (together everyone achieves more) so I thought.......why not come up with a cute acronym like that???

That is when Mrs. Eiken's T.O.T. was born:)  (Teacher Organizational Tool)  Now, if you have heard of that before, don't burst my bubble.........I swear I came up with it all on my own:)

Update!!!!!  I have had several of you ask about the dividers/sections in my T.O.T.  I"m a spaz.....I made them with yummy digital papers and frames I purchased from 2 shops on Etsy:

Lilly Bimble

Aesthetic Addiction

Here are the dividers/sections I have so far....

These sections are self explanatory:

Calendar: Monthly - calendar at a glance 

Lesson Plans - I do mine on the computer but print a hard copy and will keep it here

Student Info. - how the kids go home, accommodations...

Student Data - all of our lovely assessment info will go here

Parent Contacts - chats/conf. with parents

Meeting Notes - notes from staff and team meetings

I smooshed all the pics together so my post wouldn't be forever long:)

I didn't get a Home Made It done because I was dying with strep throat (drama queen!!!)......I'm all better now and will hopefully have one to share next week:)

So, now it's your turn!!!  I'm like a kid the night before Christmas with this anymore.....I can't wait to see what everyone has made!!!!!!  Don't forget your coffee:)))))

(P.S.  I am wrestling with Rafflecopter to give me a winner....it says I have one, I just can't find it....too early, no coffee.  I will update this blog post as soon as I figure it out with the winner)

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Bloggy Bday Celebration and Giveaway!!

It is hard for me to believe that one year ago today, I started my little ole blog.  I remember how nervous I was and how I had no clue, technology wise what I was doing!!!  Now it's a year later and I have no other words to say besides "THANK YOU!"

Blogging and blog stalking has truly blessed my life both personally and professionally.  I have been encouraged, inspired, made friends, laughed with friends, learned, and hopefully along the way, given back:)

For my bloggy birthday we're having a party!!!  (Oh, how I wish everyone could come to my backyard for cake and ice cream!!!!!  Let's pretend, ok??)  Instead, I am having a HUGE, FUN,  giveaway!  Several awesome friends have jumped aboard with me with some awesome prizes.  One person will win the entire jackpot!!!  3 items of your choice from my store and all these yummies from my bloggy buds:

3 Items of your choice from my store

My store (HERE)

$10 Target Gift Card Her store (HERE)

Vocabulary Strategies Posters

Her store (HERE)

Sing to Learn Sight Words

Her Store (HERE)


Primer Break the Sight Word Code from AnnieHer Store (HERE)


Classroom Supply Labels w/ Small Dots Her Store (HERE)


Party Time Math Pack from Ms. T Her Store (HERE)


Sarah's Read, Think, Match Mega Pack
Her Store (HERE)



Homophone Pairs from Jen Her Store (HERE)


3 Items of your Choice from Farley's store Her Store (HERE)


$20 Starbucks Gift Card

Product of your choice Her Store (HERE)


Mor's Awesome Interactive Student Notebook Her Store (HERE)
I'm gonna try Rafflecopter for this giveaway.  There are tons of ways to enter (most of you probably already follow the blogs and stores of these awesome bloggers ).  To hopefully make things easier, the buttons link to their blogs, the text underneath to their stores:)  Giveaway ends at midnight on Sunday and then I will reveal the winner (or maybe I won't maybe Rafflecopter does that????? ) in myMade It Monday Post!!!!
Good luck to all and thank you so much for a year of tremendous blessings:)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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