Congratulations

Congratulations to Sarah!!! She is the winner of $50 worth of products from Creative Teaching Press!

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If you would like to purchase products from Creative Teaching Press, please visit this link to locate a store near you!!!

Be on the look out for more wonderful products from Creative Teaching Press!  I will be sharing ideas about how I use their products for organization in my classroom!!!!

Creative Teaching Press 50th Anniversary

I am so excited to be part of Creative Teaching Press' 50th Anniversary!  Creative Teaching Press is celebrating 50 years of teachers helping teachers.  I am beyond ecstatic to be part of Creative Teaching Press as an Exclusive Blogger and help launch their new collections and giveaway $50 worth of products!!! As a veteran teacher of 20 years, I am grateful for having a company like Creative Teaching Press.  I have used their collections and products in my classroom for so many different things.  Don't forget to enter the giveaway of $50 worth of products from Creative Teaching Press!

I especially love using their Painted Palette Behavior Clip Chart Bulletin Board Set for keeping my students on task and organized. Not only is the clip chart bright and cheerful, my students love that they can keep track of their behavior and are held accountable for the choices they make daily. I really love the Stop, Think, and Act organizer.  We use this in our classroom daily and students are stopping before acting. Students also have a personalized Desktop Behavior Clip Chart for their desk.  This desktop chart helps the students to visually see their progress throughout the day and week. My students love having their own copy to help remind them of their behavior choices.

                            Behavior Clip Chart Bulletin Board Set                     Desktop Behavior Clip Chart



The new Painted Palette Paint Chips Jumbo Library Pockets have been a lifesaver for my personal library. Students enjoy checking out books and bringing them home.  I label each pocket with the students' name (I like to laminate the pockets so I can use them each year). When students want to check out a book, they place an index card in their personal pocket.  The index card has the title of the book and date checked out. My students love this system!  It has helped me to keep track of my personal books and my library is always so neat and organized!

                                           Paint Chips Jumbo Pockets




Enter the giveaway of $50 worth of Creative Teaching Press products!! Please hop over to The Adventures of Miss Elisabeth to check out other wonderful collections and products from Creative Teaching Press and to enter again for a chance to win $50 worth of products!

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Changes...& more

I have been MIA since June 2014!  I really have no excuses EXCEPT...I started a new job and got married! Both of these changes kept me from my little blog!!!! I am finally able to sit down and give a little love to my blog! 

Moving to a new school was a MAJOR change for me. For the last 19 years, I taught in Catholic Schools.  This year is my first year teaching in a public school. I went from teaching 23-28 students self-contained, regular ed to teaching two classes of 24 students, math & science only, inclusion. GUESS WHAT??? I absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt, LOVE, LOVE my new job!!! Don't get me wrong...I loved teaching in a Catholic school; However, being in my current teaching position has opened up my career to paths I thought I would never take.  On a daily basis, I am reminded why I chose teaching 25 years ago!  Yes, it is hard some days when the students are climbing the walls, but I wouldn't change my decision!  

Changes are happening in my career too.  I was chosen to be trained in leadership/administration by my principal.  I may not see administration in my near future, but I can definitely see a leadership/mentor position.   

Here are some pictures of my current classroom.  Of coarse, Creative Teaching Press helped me decorate! Thank you!!

    

cubbies for my pm class

cubbies for my am class

calendar 

science board (skills change weekly)

dry-erase board

behavior & jobs

Gerald and I got married on December 6!  Our wedding day was perfect. Everything went as planned and the weather was gorgeous! We had a small, intimate wedding with close family and friends. 

Thank you for sticking through the entire post with me!  I promise to blog often and offer more creative products!   Here are some posters I made for my classroom.  We use the CUBES Strategy for math.  Enjoy!! 

                               Teachers Pay Teachers, (Click Here)

~~Summer is Coming~~

6 more days...I can't believe this school year is almost over.  It seems like only yesterday it was the first day of school.  I am beyond ready for the summer, but I will truly miss my precious babies!  It is amazing how much they grew since August, not only academically but socially.  I wish all my students a very happy, safe, and blessed summer vacation--You deserve every minute of it!

I am still in awe at all of the awesome and amazing products  Creative Teaching Press has for Back-to-School.  All of the new products are due in CTP's warehouse any day!  Not only were you the first to see the new items, but you can be one of the first to receive them!  You can order your items now and have them shipped when they arrive in the warehouse.  Check them out (HERE) and place your order now!

I want to thank Creative Teaching Press for having me as one of their Exclusive Bloggers!  If you haven't checked out their website, please stop by and browse their online catalog.  You will be amazed at all of the products they offer for teachers!  I can't wait to get my hands on all of the new products and more!!!

~~Winner of CTP Giveaway~~

I'm very excited to announce that my sweet friend Laura @ Love to Teach  won all of the amazing Creative Teaching Press products that I featured!!!  She will be one of the first teachers to get her hands on the new Back-to-School products before they are available for purchase! All products will be live online during the week of May 26th.  Please check out the new products (HERE).



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Guess who I met on Mother's Day in New Orleans???  Heather from Creative Teaching Press and the crew!!!  I had the chance to meet up with CTP at the International Reading Association Conference.  I was beyond thrilled to meet everyone!  I had the opportunity to check out the conference and watch the talented CTP crew in action!!!!   AWESOME...is all I'm going to say!!!!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone! I hope your day was filled with love and laughter! I want to wish my beautiful mom a very Happy Mother's Day.  You are always there when I need you!  Thank you for the countless hours you spent helping me make and wrap gifts for my students for the past 19 years.  Also, thank you for helping me with just about everything!!!! 

my beautiful, sweet mom with my crazy, awesome daughter

~~Giveaway Time~~

Don't you just love all of the Creative Teaching Press Back-to-School products? I can't wait to get my hands on these products for next school year.  As a CTP Exclusive Blogger, I can share all of the new products with you.  I can even let you win a copy of EVERYTHING you see!  These new products are going live on the CTP website May 13th.  Why wait?  You can win them here!!

I am totally in LOVE with these chevron books!  I am definitely using them next school year!!

How cute are these cupcakes?!  

Can you say "Chalkboard Adorable"?! These will be perfect in any classroom!!!

OMG!  I can't contain myself with these letters!  I LOVE them all!!

Look at these awesome 5-Star Common Core Charts!

I'm in love with these borders and bulletin board set!

You can win EVERY product you see!  For chances to win, use the Rafflecopter below to enter!

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For more chances to win, enter at the following CTP Exclusive Blogger's Pages!

 

An InLinkz Link-up

~~So much News~~

Oh my ...I have been so bad to my little blog!   My life has been super crazy for the last few months. Where do I even start?!   First of all, I enjoyed a family vacation to Disney World during our Mardi Gras break.  Mom and Dad came with us and had a blast.   Spending time with them was great and so many memories were made at Disney.  I must say....My absolute favorite characters are Mike and Sully!!!!  I couldn't wait to meet them!!!  Here are a couple of pictures from Disney.

  Mardi Gras Day with Mike & Sully

Mom & Dad looking precious

Dinner with Tigger & the gang

Now...for some sad news...I made the decision to leave my current school and will not return in August.   A lot of thought and prayer went into my choice, and I have mixed emotions about leaving.  There were several deciding factors that went into play on why I am leaving.  But, I do know that I'm very excited and sad at the same time.  To be honest, I am very upset about leaving my team in 3rd grade, especially Laura.  We have worked together for the last 5 years and became very close.  We know everything about each other, we're like sisters.   When Judy joined our team this school year, I knew that she would fit right in with us!  Judy was in 1st grade last year and moved up to 3rd this year.  The 3 of us rock 3rd grade!!  I am going to miss my buddies dearly!!!  And if you are wondering...NO, I do not have a job lined up for August.  I am still looking and hoping to find a job soon. I am open to whatever challenge God puts into my path, teaching related or not.

Some VERY overwhelming and exciting news...I am officially a Creative Teaching Press Exclusive Blogger.  I couldn't be more thrilled to be working with CTP and their awesome products.  I just received my first package in the mail this week.  Check out all of the products I get to preview and try in my classroom. Today my precious students were able to make "cootie catchers" or fortune tellers in math.  We have been learning about perimeter and area so I was ecstatic to see a fortune teller math book in the package.  Guess what??  There was one on data and perimeter. The look on every one's face was priceless when I told them we were making "cootie catchers".  They had no idea what I was talking about until someone yelled out, "You mean fortune tellers?"  LOL  My students had an awesome time playing with their fortune tellers.  They even played them during recess outside!!!!  Definitely a hit with my class!!!

Look at these awesome products I get to try out

area & perimeter cootie catchers

Whew....that was super long for a post!  I can't wait to share more Creative Teaching Press product reviews with you soon!!!  Keep checking back!!!