Take a Second to Peek into 2nd

Hey Y'all! 

I am thrilled to be part of an awesome bunch of 2nd grade bloggers who are teaming up to highlight a different blogger each month. 

The best part is, an amazing product from that blogger will be put on sale the weekend they are featured! 

What What!

The Big Day! Classroom Reveal!

Hey Y'all! I KNOW I have been MIA, but we are now in our second week of school and things are beginning to calm down and fall into a routine, so I am happy to be back in the blogging world!

I have been stalking watching Ashley at Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd on Periscope for most of the summer and was super pumped when she rolled out the #2GETHERWEAREBETTER series. I knew instantly that I wanted to be a part of it! 

So here we go! 

Sunday Celebration- 3 things that are currently blowing my mind!

Hey y'all! I'm BACK!

Even if you haven't missed me, I have MISSED blogging and connecting!

I have been back from Japan for a week now and have finally gotten over jet lag, MOUNDS of laundry, and maybe infinite a little laziness!

In the past month there have been many things that have just made me so happy and deserve a shoutout! 

Kon Ni Chi Wa Japan!

HOLY MOLY

THE.TIME.HAS.COME

We have been planning our trip to Japan for 2 years and it's finally time to go!

Blog Redesign Giveaway!

 

Time to celebrate my new F-A-B blog design! I can not send enough Thank You's over to Megan at A Bird in Hand Designs for bringing my vision to life! If you are looking for a fresh face for your blog, I HIGHLY recommend Megan! 

I am also lucky enough to be teaming up with two other fabulous bloggers, Nicole at Adventures in the ATC and Marie at Once Upon a Classroom. Since we all recently received a blog face-lift, we decided to spread some joy to our followers! 

How awesome are we is that! :)

The BEST part is that there will be TWO winners, so DOUBLE your chances to win! Choose from either an Erin Condren or Amazon Gift Card! 

GOOD LUCK FRIENDS!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One Lovely Blog Award!

Many thanks to Stacy at Made with Love for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog Award! We have bonded recently over our love of travel and it has been a pleasure getting to know her, so be sure to check out her blog!

Five for Friday FINALLY!

I thought this week would never end!

EVER!

It  has been CRAZY BUSY and I have never been happier to celebrate Friday!

Thank you Doodle Bugs Teaching for bringing joy to my week!

Travelin' Thursday- Atlantis

Happy Travelin' Thursday everyone! 

How to Play:

1. Write your blog post (travel inspired) and place the image to the left in your post. Make sure to link your post back to this post.

2. Add your link up below

3. Share, Share, Share on Social Media

Atlantis

Jumpin' for June!

I am linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade for June's Currently!

I am loving Maroon 5's new single! I may just be THAT ready for summer to come!

I have had my Mac for 8 years! That is a LIFETIME in the eyes of Apple! I NEED a new computer! (insert husband rolling eyes here)

I am STILL on crutches people! It's been since May 6th! Please PRAY that I am off these things soon!

I have a packed summer, including 3 major trips. I am beyond excited for all the trips, just a little anxious about my injured knee/crutches/pain that I am dealing with. I have 2 weeks to get healthy, totally doable, right?! 

Have a great June everyone! 

Travelin' Thursday- New York City

Happy Travelin' Thursday! 

How to Play:
1. Write your blog post (travel inspired) and place the image to the left in your post. Make sure to link your post back to this post.
2. Add your link up below
3. Share, Share, Share on Social Media

New York City



So, even though I was born in New York, I had never actually made it to New York City until the age of 29!
I grew up in western New York, and the trip to NYC was about an 8 hour drive.
Once I got married, the hubby always talked about NYC and couldn't wait to take me.
We decided to go during the best time of year, Christmas! Boy, was it magical!

If you are planning on traveling during the holiday season I would think about a couple of things. 

Rockefeller Center is P.A.C.K.E.D

like sardines

BUT WORSE

I have never felt so squished in my life! It was also very uncomfortable rubbing up against all these strangers! 

So my advice...don't bring a stroller....or a small child..unless they are tied to you! 

Other than that one experience, the rest of NYC was not that packed. Everyone wanted to see the tree and take pictures, hence the enormous crowd! 

Another must-do for tourists is a rise-and-shine visit to The Today Show! I love Matt Lauer and absolutely HAD TO wake up at 3 a.m. to beat the crowd! My hubby was a trooper and came with me on HIS birthday!

Donald and I are wearing eyeballs on our head!

Did I mention it rained the entire time AND Matt Lauer wasn't even there that day!

Sad Times

The first trip was some of my favorite memories, I'll never forget seeing NYC for the first time and really getting out, walking around, and enjoying being in crowds of people. 

We have been back several times since then and have had many adventures. 

On our latest trip we used Pinterest to our advantage.  We found a self-guided walking tour in China Town that gave us tips on places to eat for less than $15 for the entire day! Check it out here. One of my favorite foodie finds were the pot stickers and they were 4/$1.00! What! 

We were also scoping out fabulous brunch places and came across this fab list! We went to Hotel Chantelle on the Lower East Side. They had .97 alcoholic drinks! What What! The food was also delish. Hint Hint...make reservations! We were VERY lucky to get a table at Sunday Brunch. 

I had the french toast and it was the bomb!

My favorite thing about visiting NYC is the diversity. We have been there several times now, and every time is so different. We experience different parts of the city and try different types of food. I love that we could go there 100 times and still experience something new! 

Thanks for stopping by!

An InLinkz Link-up

Technology Tuesday- Aurasma

It's that time again! Technology Tuesday!

Today's tech share is a free app called Aurasma.

This is a great tool to use in the classroom to create Augmented Realities. 

Five for Friday

I am STILL on crutches! 

TWO weeks later. 

I am not sure that I remember what it was like to teach B.C. (before crutches). Please pray that I get rid of these before we are out for the summer!

Traveling Thursday 5/21- Hawaii

How To Play

1. Write your blog post (travel inspired) and place the image to the left in your post. Make sure to link the post back to this post. 

2. Add your link up below

3. Share, Share, Share on Social Media

Tech Tuesday- Moby Max

I'm so happy to be linking up with Marie, at Once Upon a Classroom for Tech Tuesday.

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite math websites, Moby Max. 

Traveling Thursday- Alaska

How To Play

1. Write your blog post (travel inspired) and place the image to the left in your post. Make sure to link the post back to this post. 

2. Add your link up below

3. Share, Share, Share on Social Media

All Aboard! 

Grab your passports people!

 One of my many passions is travel.

I've decided to start sharing a tidbit each Thursday about a favorite destination and some tips! I'm thinking of creating a linky party so we can all share travel tips and become super savvy travelers to help find some great trips to spend our INCREDIBLY large teacher salaries on!

Sunday Funday- My Five for Friday

WHAT a week it has been! 

So many incredible and unexpected things happened in my life this past week!

Tech Tuesday- Blendspace

Happy Tech Tuesday! I love linking up with Marie at Once Upon a Classroom and sharing great tech resources. I have utilized so many of these resources with my kiddos and they l-o-v-e them!
Today I will be sharing about the phenomenal website,  Blendspace. I use this website as a way to enrich, supplement, and scaffold my students independent lessons.

"Hit The Pole, Hit, Hit, The Pole"

       

         If you have ever visited The Ron Clark Academy, then you will also have this song stuck in your head forever! I had the privilege of attending this magical place on Friday and feel like I have been transformed as an educator. If you have never been there, then STOP what you are doing and go sign up! It's well worth the $$ and the time. I was even more blessed by being able to travel with my 2nd grade teammates, Literacy Facilitator, and fellow blogger Kristin, at School and the City.

Liebster Award!

"I'D LIKE TO THANK THE ACADEMY...." :)

I was graciously nominated by Marie over at Once Upon a Classroom: A Teacher's Tales for the Liebster Award! This is so exciting! Thanks so much Marie! Teaching has been one of the greatest gifts in my life and I am just so excited to be able to share with other passionate teachers. 

This award is given to new bloggers who are up and coming in the blogging world! When someone receives this award, they have to answer 11 questions and then nominate between 5-11 other fresh-faced bloggers. 

Linking Words Their Way with Vocabulary A to Z

 

                      We have used Words Their Way all year long, and recently I found an incredible way to enhance the program and to deepen my students understanding of the vocabulary. My class has six different WTW groups, and some of the higher groups are very advanced spellers. This is great, however, some of them are spelling words and have no clue what they mean! I used to have them get out dictionaries and look up the meanings, but not only was it time-consuming, there were always lots of questions regarding multiple meanings and contexts. Well, Vocabulary A to Z has saved my sanity and I have discovered a great way to link it to WTW! 

I had such a full and fun week! It was my first full week of entering the teacher-tech world! I am really loving Instagram and the teacher community. I made a big decision to have Megan over at A Bird in Hand Designs design my blog. I am beyond excited about this, even though she is sooooo booked until July!  Click on her banner above to hop over and check out her blog.

Technology Tuesday-Krazy for Kahoot!

 Today my kiddos played Kahoot for the first time and went NUTS! They couldn't even stay in their seats! Talk about peeled to the screen! :)

 It was such a great way to front load or review materials. The kids were SO engaged, since they had technology right at their fingertips and could interact with one another. Let's take a minute to laugh at the names my kiddos chose for themselves! I am going to miss this group of crazy kiddos! I highly recommend using this FREE website in your classroom! It would work great in small groups too. Here are the steps I took to get my kiddos started:

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TPT Giveaway!

Who doesn't love a good GIVEAWAY?! That's right, it's time for some free stuff! Enter the giveaway below for your chance to win $100 to TPT! Woa! I know!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five For Friday

Of course I have to mention this is my first Five for Friday! This is how I feel about my week full of creating a new TPT account, teacher Instagram, and a blog! I am addicted to it already and am having a hard time peeling myself away to head to bed!

I can't decide if I like linking my blog to my google plus account. I haven't ever used google plus and I prefer my posts to reflect my blog name, rather than my actual name. Do you have a preference?

I have just started creating products for TPT, and am really enjoying it! The only issue is there are too many OPTIONS! #scatterbrain #focusamy

Has anyone joined Periscope? I LOVE it! I like to stalk a good celebrity, but this is even better! You get to see their live video feed and chat back and forth. Ellen is one of my favorites, she has great "commercial break" videos! Lots of dancing and fun, check it out!

I have a busy couple of weeks and weekends coming up! Traveling is a passion of my husbands and I. We are always movin' and groovin'. However, it makes for some hectic and sleepy Mondays!

Thanks for stopping by!