Five for Friday {May 15th, 2015}

Are you counting down yet?  (Have you been counting down since, like, the end of February?)  In my land of first grade, we have just ten more school days to go!  In celebration, I thought I'd get my Five for Friday on.  (Confession: I actually started this post on a Wednesday because some little sweetie decided to share his/her pink eye with me and I was home from work all day - yikes!)

Although the official Teacher Appreciation Week was last week, my school celebrates it this week so that it can align with our half day so the PTA can provide us with a luncheon (nom nom nom).  Here are a few things my students blessed me with this week (besides the pink eye, of course).  

Speaking of teacher appreciation, I became extra motivated and decided to order next year's Erin Condren planner ahead of time, since she was having a 25% off teacher appreciation sale last week. Needless to say I was jumping for joy when I saw the fun, tell-tale packaging on my front doorstep after work today.

This past year, I had the chalkboard planner.  For the upcoming year, I decided to lighten it up a bit and go with this fun design. I could not be happier. Totally worth the splurge, in my opinion!

And no Erin Condren product is complete without a little bit of inspiration!

Have you seen those cute, oh-so-organized teacher toolboxes around Pinterest and the blogging world? Well my little organized self finally decided I just had to have one.  I ordered the drawer from Amazon and purchased some adorable labels during TPT's teacher appreciation sale.  This product fit in perfectly with my woodland-y, camp-y classroom theme and it was editable so I could customize it to fit my needs.  I love my new drawers and how everything has its own place!

I also took this time to update my sterilite drawers that hold my weekly activities.  I love how everything matches!

One of the silly things I really pride myself on is frequently displaying different student work out in the hallway.  I knew we needed something cute to wrap up the end of the year, so I grabbed this cute craftivity from First Grade, Blue Skies.  I love how creative my kids got with their little cars and loved hearing about how much they enjoyed first grade even more :)

Happy Friday!

You Are SO Appreciated!

Growing up, my mom always said that every day should be Mother's Day. I'm thinking every week should be Teacher Appreciation Week! (For anyone who thinks differently, I dare you to try making it through just one day in a first grade classroom!)

Today I am linking up to show off some products that will be available to you during the big Teachers Pay Teachers sale this Tuesday and Wednesday.  With promo code THANKYOU you can receive 28% off every item in my store! Here is a quick glimpse at some of my favorite products:

1. Surfin' Into Summer Color by Addition Printables: Engage your squirrle-y friends through the end of the year while also solidifying those addition facts with these fun printables!

2. What's the Genre? Primary Genre Study: One of my top sellers that includes printables and activities to study the different genres. 

3. Light & Sound Science Notebook: My newest product and one that I am very excited about! An interactive notebook exploring light and sound through engaging printables and hands-on activities. Aligned to the new Next Generation Science standards!

4. Place Value Bundle: Practice adding and subtracting groups of ten with this money saving bundle.

5. Primary Performance Tasks: Get your students PARCC ready with these higher-level thinking performance tasks for addition and subtraction.

Stop by my store to see what other products I have and to grab some freebies as well! Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, friends!

May Currently

Anyone else feeling the simultaneous relief/panic that May is here? On the one hand, I am itching for the end of the school year. My firsties seemed to have checked out already and work is getting more and more stressful. On the other hand, I still feel like I have so much more left to teach them before they move on to second grade! When am I going to find the time?!

Here is this month's Currently, hosted by Farley.

Listening: Recently, the boy and I have been into watching Netflix documentaries. Last night was lions and tigers. Today? Nature's Great Events. It usually consists of me squealing over all the cute animals and being irrationally upset when something is killed and/or eaten.

Loving: This is the first weekend in what seems like forever that I have had no obligations and let me tell you, it has been wonderful so far! I love being able to have some time to sit around and worry about nothing. Just what I needed!

Thinking: Is it that time in my life? I feel like it's getting to be that time in my life. My rent right now is more than I'd pay for a monthly mortgage. And it's feeling silly that the boy and I each pay rent in our own places but are with each other all the time. Decisions, decisions. I've been stalking the Zillow website like a madwoman.

Wanting: I've had a lot of inspiration for some new products but am feeling a bit stuck. I know once I push myself to get going, things will get easier. Right now, I am working on some PARCC prep for primary students, some write and wipe math practice, and some major revisions on some older products.

Needing: See above. Do we seriously only have a few weeks left?

Summer Yes: The boy and I have planned a long weekend down in the Shawnee National Forest. We thought it would be nice to have a mini-vacation to look forward to. We rented a cabin and will spend the weekend adventuring throughout the area. I also will spend some time up at home with family and friends.

Summer Hope: I'm pretty sure I said this back during the January Currently with my hopes for the new year. Has it happened? Nope. Am I beginning to get frustrated with myself? Absolutely. Plenty of teachers are in good shape and find the time/energy to get their behinds to the gym. So what is my deal? 

Summer Dream: I'll be in two classes this summer. I will finish my Masters next spring and am already starting to feel the is-this-over-yet itch. Hopefully my classes this summer don't drive me too crazy.