An Award! For Me? Thank you!

How exciting!  I started this blog a week ago and I had no idea how fun and rewarding it would be to connect with all of you.  So, needless to say I was super surprised to be nominated for my first award!

A BIG THANK YOU to the awesome ladies over at Fashionably in First Grade, Pocketful of Centers, and Back in Fourth for nominating me!

As per the rules, I have to share 7 random facts about myself:

1.  I always set 3 alarms and have my mom call me on the first day of school to make sure I wake up.  For some reason I always think I'm gonna oversleep even though after 10 years it's never happened.

2.  I have a self diagnosed case of OCD in concern to leaving things on in my house.  It never fails, I get down the road and think " Oh NO!  I left ____ on" and then I turn around to find that the iron, curling iron, fan, Christmas lights, etc. are all turned off.  Never once have I come back to something plugged in, but I would obsess over it if I didn't and ruin my day.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this:)

3.  I am absolutely terrified of snakes and all things reptile. I once drove a friend back to college with her very large pet snake in a pillow case in my back seat.  Worst car ride ever!!!

4.  It takes me forever to get out of bed in the morning.  I check my e-mail and make my moves on the countless games I'm playing before getting out of bed. Gonna have to break that habit.

5.  I think I could eat a burrito bowl from Chipotle EVERY DAY for the rest of my life. 

6. I want to marry a man with the last name Bradshaw, so I will be Carrie Bradshaw!  SJP has some killer style.  I was C-R-A-Z-Y about S.I.T.C. to the point that I bought the cutesy merchandise when the show was in it's hey day.  

7.  I LOVE all kinds of music and if I ever win the lottery, I'm gonna take all my besties and travel the world going to concerts.

Now on to my nominations:

4th Grade Haps and Hacks

The Bomb Diggity Classroom

Teaching with Meaning

The School Potato

My Silly Firsties

Clever Little Birds

Teaching With Z

Teacher and a Mom

First Grade With A Cherry on Top

Polka Dot Firsties

Owl See You In Third Grade

Tanner Tales: Life in Room 24

Keepin It Core

Teaching With Hope

Fantastic First Grade Friends

Follow these rules to to claim your award:

1.  Thank who nominated you.

2.  Include a link back to who nominated you.

3.  Include the award image in your post.

4.  Give 7 random facts about yourself in your post.

5.  Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.

6.  When nominating, include a link back to their blog in your post.

7.  Let the bloggers you nominate know by leaving them a comment.

Have a great day!

~ Carrie 

Two Linky Parties!

Today I am joining up with TWO linky parties because well...they are so much fun! The first is
where you share one memory from the grade you teach.  My best memory of 1st grade besides having the most AMAZING teacher (she was a ROCKSTAR teacher in the days before the internet and pinterest) was our Halloween party.  It was the 80s and apparently we weren't concerned about germs back then because we were all taking our turns bobbing for apples.  Gross huh? Everyone putting their open mouth in the same barrel of water EWWW!!! Anyways, I remember it being super fun except that I had recently lost all 4 front teeth.  If any of you have every bobbed for apples you would understand that by not having front teeth I was at a serious disadvantage in this little competition.  Yep that's right, we were being timed to see who could do this the fastest.  Well, after about two tries with no luck and no front teeth my super competitive mode kicked in and I literally put myself into the barrel to get an apple!! Funny that I don't remember if I won or not (I probably didn't) but I DO remember being soaked like I had just jumped into a pool.  I seriously wish I had a picture to share of my toothless grin, it was quite a sight!  Needless to say, I don't think bobbing for apples will ever be part of my Halloween classroom festivities.   I'm also linking up with I haven't been able to get into my new classroom yet, so I'm not in full on back to school craft mode.  I did work on a much needed Book Boo-Boo Bin for my library area.  In the past I have kept the books that need to be repaired under my desk in a old copy box.  Well, I realized I needed to make something to put out in the classroom because at the end of this school year I had Halloween books still needing repair!  OOPS:)  Next year, my little repair bin will be in the classroom library and  since it will be visible, I will hopefully (fingers crossed) remember to take it on our weekly library trip.  While my kiddos are checkin' out books I can fix mine with all the tools in the school library.  Here she is and sorry for the horrible picture quality. I just slapped the sign onto the front of a bin I got at
Target for a dollar.

You can download the little sign here

I also made this little sign for my desk, but I forgot to save it of course. I love this little message that I've seen all over pinterest.

Can't wait to see what you all made!

Newbie Bloggers Blog Hop

Whew! I had absolutely no idea what I was doing trying to make a thumbnail to link up to Janis from Third Grade is the Place for Me.  I didn't get what I wanted as my thumbnail, but at least I get to link up to her fabulous blog and maybe just maybe get a follower or two:) fingers crossed!! 

So since I was semi-successful in my link up process, I guess I have to be a rule breaker and do a double post in a day ( I doubt my millions of followers will mind lol).  Here are my answers to the blog hop questions:         

1.  I live in Michigan & teach in Ohio

    2.   current teaching position = I will be 1st grade next year!

    3.   teaching experience = I have taught 2nd, 6th, 5th, & 4th 

    4.   started blogging = about a week ago, but I've been blog stalking for about 2 years!

    5.  share a blogging tip / blogging resource = I think I'm too new to be giving any tips other than I have been able to figure most of my questions out by googling "how do I _______ on blogger".  How did we live before google???

Once again a BIG THANK YOU to Janis for starting this newbie blog hop.  Now I've got some reading to do ...

Pete the Cat is Back!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Pete the Cat books and so do my students!  I'm SO excited that a Christmas version is coming out soon!  The Amazon review says that it's a "rockin' new spin on the traditional tale 
The Night Before Christmas".  Well, I don't know about you, but I must have this book to add to my collection.  You can preorder a hardcover copy at Amazon right now for 10 bucks (it comes out in September). I can't wait to read this to my class!
http://www.amazon.com/Pete-Saves-Christmas-James-Dean/dp/0062110624/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343587875&sr=1-5&keywords=pete+the+cat

Conference Update

So I went to the Daily 5 and CAFE conference this week and it was awesome. Holy Moly do they shower you with their favorite things!  It's like your on an episode of Oprah's favorite things. I left after two days feeling really energetic that I can implement this into my classroom.  If you are thinking about starting these programs in your classroom, I would recommend attending they are highly entertaining.  
1.  Super cute owl clipboard to use when checking kids in for D5 choices.  You can see the back of the clipboard in the picture the front is polka dots and note cubes to match!  All purchased at Home
Goods.
2 & 3. Loot from the conference.  Love that check-a-roo, it's much better than the paper ones I've made before.
 Now I'm on the hunt for the perfect binder for my pensieve and fun sticky notes for my CAFE board.  
Here are some owl signs to match the CAFE signs I posted earlier these are also made with clipart from Michelle T. from The 3am Teacher. http://the3amteacher.blogspot.com 

Click the link below the picture to download!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9-Y1EbfcCR2MGRzY0NSeXk5Y1k/edit

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Let's Get It Started....

Here we go... my first blog post for my zero followers. Ha.  Well maybe soon I won't be writing to myself.
ANYWAYS, back to school is soon upon us.  I laughed out loud today when I saw the music teacher is back on the Target commercials this year singing once again about denim.  Here it is in case you haven't seen it.

Maybe it's just me, but that's funny stuff.

  With about a month of vacation left, my brain is already starting to think about next year.  Probably because once again I will be tackling a new grade level.  After 3 years in 2nd grade, I'm off to a new school and a new grade.. FIRST!!! I'm super excited, mostly because I know my new team is going to be AWESOME and everyone is in the same boat since we are rolling out the new common core standards in our classrooms for the 2012-13 year. I'm also super excited to implement the Daily 5 and CAFE next year.  My teaching partner and I are going to a two day conference with "The Sisters" tomorrow.  

I have been thinking about my classroom set up for next year and decor.I've decided to keep my polka dots from last year ( I <3 polka dots!!) but I will be adding some owl accents.  I'm obsessed with all these owls I'm seeing everywhere.  I made these cute little CAFE signs to use in my classroom.  They were made with clipart from Michelle T. from The 3am Teacher. http://the3amteacher.blogspot.com

Click the link below the picture to download!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9-Y1EbfcCR2R2J0TWptUnJ3elU/edit

I'll be back with news from the conference and Daily 5 posters to match as soon as I get them finished.