SPRING BREAK and Growth Mindset

I am so excited to be on SPRING BREAK!  This year is the first year we have two weeks (minus one day) for break and I think it will be wonderful! A much needed break for the children.... and teacher.  I am still doing a terrible job of remembering to take pictures of all of the neat things we are doing in the classroom but I promise you we have been doing fun things.  We had school on March 21 and with only one day we knew the kids would be excited and not want to sit still.  We did some of our regular routine but instead of doing Daily 5 in the morning we did centers, had an all grade movie (including 'Ice Pudding'!) in the afternoon and ended the day with an Easter egg hunt.  For the last day before spring break I would say it was very successful!

I'm now on my last day of break... my boys are napping and I'm finally getting to the things I wanted to. :) Better late than never.  We are working on some new programs for next year and I'm wanting to work on them. The first is working on implementing the 7 habits of highly effective people into our school and I personally am wanting to work on giving my kiddos (at home and school) a growth mindset.  

My littles all dressed up for Easter!

My husband reads everything, or listens to audio books of many different topics. He is interested in EVERYTHING.  Sometimes he wants to talk about what he has been reading or listening to and I pretend to listen, but this time it was different.  It made sense to me and I wanted to hear what he had to say.  The idea of a growth mindset got me excited for what I could do in my own life and in my classroom.  As a teacher I want kids to feel worthy and like they can accomplish anything. It's hard to make them feel that when I feel the pressure of getting them all to read by the end of the year it's hard to focus on the fact that they are 5 or 6 years old and I need to be giving them a positive start.  

The book he listened to was Mindset The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. 

Here are a couple of links to videos that give a brief explanation of it.

Khan Academy

Championship Newsletter

Carol S. Dweck

As a teacher, I just fell in love with the idea! I WANT my kids to love learning, and not shut down when things get tough! I WANT them to try new things and not take the easy way out! But I had no idea where to start... so this is it! I am going to work on adding the 7 habits into my classroom and working on a growth mindset.  I am VERY excited to get started and see what comes of it! 

I went to school over break and got somethings ready for the next couple of weeks! I've been working on creating somethings for word work and centers as well. Here are some sneak peeks into the next couple weeks!

 

50% off Friday- Colors Pack!

Today, and today ONLY I'm teaming up with A Dab of Glue will do to offer my brand spankin' NEW colors pack for 50% off!

I am seriously so excited to offer this product and use it in my own classroom this fall.  It offers so many options... check out my earlier blog HERE to see what all is included and stay tuned for real pictures of how I'm using it in my classroom. It is the perfect beginning of the year product for Kindergarten (and even first grade!) students.  It offers fun pictures, familiar songs, and fun activities to get them excited about colors, writing, and back to school. 

Spotlight Saturday: Blog Planner and Social Media Calendar

Today I'm linking up with Kindergarten Dragons for her Spotlight Saturday! This is a great way to find some new products and see how people use them before you buy them! Today I'm spotlighting Sweet, Sweet Primary's Blog Planner and Social Media Calendar.  

Since I've just recently (like three weeks ago!) started this blogging and social media venture I wasn't sure how I was going to keep track of what all I needed to do when I came across this awesome product! It goes from July 2015-July 2016 so I can plan out a whole year! It will help me keep track of when I need to do each social media venue: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and my blog. I have already written out a framework for my curriculum and know approximately when I'll be doing each unit so I can also keep track of that if I'd like or at least know that there are certain ideas from my classroom that I want to display through my social media.  It also has a place for notes, and End of Month numbers to keep track of how many followers you have and your TPT sales.  

Here is my work in progress as I'm starting to write things down in my planner along with my Krista Wallden (Creative Clips Paper you can buy on Etsy!) and my new FAVORITE pens available at Walmart or Target or other office supply stores haha. 

If you are new (or experienced) I would definitely recommend this product to help keep (or get!) you organized for all of the potential with social media! 

Dare to DREAM!

This week's challenge from the TPT Seller Challenge is a tough one... My husband has asked me a few  SEVERAL times, "Honey, if I made a million dollars and you didn't have to work any more, would you?" My answer is always the same, yes. Truth is, I love my job.  Is it always easy? No. Is it always fun? No. Is it always where I want to be from 7:30-4 (when I have two sweet boys at home)? Definitely not. But I do enjoy it, and really can't picture myself doing anything else. Possibly, stay at home mom, but I think it's good for my kiddos to go to daycare, and spend some time away from me. So I'm ok with being a working mom.  In thinking about what I want the Teachers Pay Teachers money to do for me, it doesn't have to eliminate me working... I like my job and the people I work with (my MOM!) So I had to think about other things that I wanted for my family.  In doing that I came up with this list... 

1. Family vacation EVERY year!  
I want to be able to show my children this wonderful country we live in.. New York, Washington, D.C., Florida Keys, Grand Canyon, Seattle, Hawaii, Mount Rushmore, Disney World... all of it! I want to give them some wonderful experiences that children in my class never get. I was able to do this with my family and have some very fond memories of our trips on the road. 

2. College funds for Jaxton and Hendrix.  
While these two sweet boys are only 2 and 4 months old and are vastly unaware of the possibilities of the word out there, I am thinking about them growing up too fast and that they will one day need a higher education (if that is what will make them happy). My mom, bless her heart, has already started a fund for my oldest, Jaxton. While I will be happy to apply that money to his education, I would like to help out myself and not just rely on my mom, and student loans.  I was blessed to be able to come out of school with only a few student loans (which just got paid off in April! woo hoo!) and I want the same for my two children. 

3. Pay off ALL debt.
This alone would ease the financial burden that I sometimes feel and would free us up to be able to do numbers 1 and 2 on this list.  I know that extra income would help with this goal and it would be wonderful to have the feeling of being debt free. I am so glad we have the house (with new windows coming soon!!), cars (which are mostly paid off), and educations that my husband and I have (his student loans still aren't paid for!) but it would be nice to not have to pay, and pay, and pay, and pay for them. 

4. Help family in any time of need.
My husband and I have been blessed with wonderful families that are willing to help us in any time of need.  Buying our house, my grandparents helped out. My husband needed a new car, his grandma was there with money , no questions asked. We needed new nursery furniture and carpet, my mom was there. New fence for the yard so my two year old can play without us having to herd him outside, my father-in-law helped out. Because of this, we have a wonderful life, but I would love to be able to give back should a time come when they need our help as well with nursing homes anything in the future. 

5. Pay it forward
This kind of goes along with 4... There have been many people willing to help us out when we needed it and I would love to give it back without anything in return.  I would love to make someones day by paying for their dinner, groceries or even just a coffee, unexpectedly.  

I have enjoyed, immensely, thinking about all of the possibilities I have with the supplemented income from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Thank you to the company for starting, Amanda Bryant from A Traveled Teacher for being supportive and polite when I have some OODLES of questions about the social networking world, and the ladies who put together this wonderful TPT Seller Challenge (Sparkling in Second Grade, Preppy, Zesty Teacherista, Teach, Create, Motivate, and Third in Hollywood).  Without this challenge who knows how much longer I would have been putting off wanting to start blogging, Facebook, Instagram and Teachers Pay Teachers all together for Shakin' it up with Mrs. Shannon.  I am in love with this journey and love the support I have received so far. 

Makeover Madness and FIRST post!

Soooo excited to start this blogging adventure!  The TPT Seller Challenge came at just the right time! I have been eager to start this journey and didn't know what to do, so this will give me a great opportunity.  Here is my Makeover Madness product. I created these 5 senses books a couple of years ago right at the beginning of my ventures on TPT and looking back.. WOW... not attractive. haha.

So I've revamped them (all 11 of them!) and bundled them up here for everyone to enjoy :) They're also available as individual books here.  I'm loving the new look and I've been wanting to bundle them forever, so I'm glad that's done as well.  Looking forward to Week #2 challenge!