Monday, February 25, 2013

Giveaways Gone Wild!

Who needs some new goodies?  LOTS of new goodies?  Goodies that are SPECIFIC to YOUR grade level?  FREE goodies! Then you came to the right place!

Our bloggy buddy Alyssha over at Teaching and Tapas: 2nd Grade in Spain (we are sooo jealous...how FUN would that be to pick up and move to Spain to teach!!!) is having a GINORMOUS (My hubs says that's not a word...it annoys my hubs when I say it...but he's not here...so ginormous, ginormous, ginormous...plus it really IS a word) and I mean it in EVERY--SENSE--OF--THE--WORD!

There are over 100 products total...around $500ish dollars worth to be non exact! ;)


And that sweet woman has even separated them out by EXACT grade levels so that you don't get a bunch of stuff you don't really need!  Can I get an "Amen"!!  She has even made it super easy for us to share her giveaway with you!

 If you trust me when I tell you that these products are AWESOME...then you can enter right here!  If you are like me, and you want to get an up close and personal look at EVERY product included, then be sure and visit Teaching and Tapas for product images and more info!

Here's the product we donated to the giveaway.  It's our Addition and Subtraction Math Unit valued at $12.

Here are the giveaways specific to Kindergarten and First Grade:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you are more interested in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th-5th giveaways, then head on over to Teaching and Tapas to enter those!

While you are in the GIVEAWAY mood...don't forget to enter our very own 1st EVER giveaway.  It's a baby step for us, not quite as brave as Alyssha yet, but this is our practice run for a MUCH BIGGER giveaway soon!  So be on the lookout for some fantastic goodies to be given away!

Here's our very OWN bundle with products worth $23!
 Short Vowels Bundle:  Word Work MEGA Pack!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Short Vowel Word Work GIVEAWAY!

 OK...so we are still on  our winter break.  Only 2 days left!  So I figured while I had some extra hanging out, drinking coffee, and wearing my PJ time...I might as well be productive and try out something new!

That's right.  Going out on a limb here and giving Rafflecopter a go!  I know, I know...all the cool kids use it!  What can I say...I have just been a wee bit intimidated by it.

So we are going to go pretty basic on this first attempt.  We are going to give away one of our OWN bundles with products worth $23!

If this goes well (here's crossing our fingers), then we'll do a HUGE giveaway when we hit 200 blog followers!
So...here's what we are giving away!
 Short Vowels Bundle:  Word Work MEGA Pack!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for entering our first EVER Rafflecopter giveaway!  Good luck!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Winner, St. Paddy's, and Great Books!

Thanks to everyone who left us a comment about our St. Paddy's Word Work pack!  The winner is Cherie! I think she MUST have the Luck 'O the Irish! :)

If you didn't win this time, we are always giving away our new packs...so we'll cross our fingers for YOU next time!

Anyhoo, we are out for the week for winter break...and I have to say...been a LITTLE bit lazy!  Ran some errands, cleaned a few piles, decorated for St. Patrick's Day, but mostly...slept in, drank a lot of coffee, caught up on TV...not EXTREMELY productive.  But that's ok every once and a while!  Plus my kiddos actually had the nasty stomach bug for 3 of those days so I HAD to stay home and not do much, right???

Here are a couple of pictures of my St. Paddy's decorating!  Pretty cute, I think!  Do you decorate for holidays?  If so, leave us a comment and share your awesome ideas!



 I think I am going to go back to Hobby Lobby and buy a Y so that it says LUCKY on my mantle!  I think it will just look better!

I had to take the bottle outside so you could see it a little better, but it normally sits on my kitchen table.

That's my dining room next.  I swear we don't drink THAT much wine (there seem to be bottles in ALL the pictures!) but we have friends that DO!  It pays to have wine drinking friends! ;)

The tree is WAY cuter in person, it looks pretty drab in the picture...but ALAS, I have an IPhone 3 and that poor baby DOES NOT have a flash...it's sad people! :)

And lastly, here are 2 new books we discovered at our latest book fair at school. I don't think either is officially a new book...just new to us.  So in case you haven't seen them either, here you go! The kiddos think these are just too funny, and I have to say, we do too!

"Swapped at birth!"  "Princess is a pig!"  Can you imagine the headlines when there is a mix-up at the palace nursery!  Can the piglet pull off being a princess?

The Underpants Zoo
The title says "underpants"...need I say more? ;)

Leave us a comment and let us know if you have discovered any new books lately!

Hope you are having a great week!

Monday, February 18, 2013

St. Paddy Pack, A FREEBIE, and One Lucky Irish Winner!


So we are off for the week!  Wahoo!  Who doesn't love some presidents!!! :)

I will be staying in town hanging with the fam, while Page is kickin' it old school in Disney!!  That's right...Disney!  First a week of fun.  Then the Princess 1/2 Marathon!  Gooooo Page!!!

So while chicky is out laughing, smiling, eating cotton candy and other tasty treats, poor little me has been left behind to CREATE!!!!  Seriously...I actually LOVE getting left behind sometimes.  True! ...peace and quiet...long stretches of time to make new stuff...creative juices get to flowing!  Seriously...I'm a little bit nerdy in this regard!  But I stand proud none-the-less!  NERDS UNITE!  (OK...so maybe I am still a teensy bit jealous that I'm not in Disney...but maybe Page will bring me a set of those Minnie ears or something!)

So...what have I been creating you ask.  Or maybe you are not asking, but you KNOW I am gonna tell anyways! :)

I just finished our St. Patrick's Day Word Work pack this morning.  Here's a sneak peek!

And...as always the BIG peek if you are interested!

Click any image to take you to our TPT store!

We've also bundled several of our word word packs by request!
This means 20% savings for you!
Click on any of the images to take you to our TPT store!

Here's our latest Letter Word Work Pack!

So please leave us a comment to let us know what you think about our newest St. Patrick's Day pack or any of our other packs.  Please especially leave us a comment letting us know how a pack is working for you, or what you would like for us to create.  You are our bosses! :)

We'll choose 1 LUCKY IRISH winner from the comments that are left! (No need to literally BE Irish..that would just be plain unfair!)  You'll WIN our St. Patrick's Day Word Work Pack! Wahoo!

Remember to leave your email in the comment in case you have the LUCK 'o THE IRISH!  (OK---I can't help myself with the Irish speak...I've been in this little computer room working for days...getting a little loopy in here people!)  We'll pick a winner in a couple of days!

And for those of you UNLUCKY people (clearly no Irish blood, huh?), you get a FREEBIE---because---well---we can't ALL be lucky---just ask the clerk at the gas station who sells me those BUM lottery tickets!!!  Hee!  Hee!


Happy Week!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

"Sugar 'Em up and Send 'Em Home" and "Soil Samples!"


We know you will agree when we say Valentine's Day should only be on a Friday or weekend.  That way we can celebrate on Friday because instead of one crazy day, we had 2!  Really it was our fault because we did sugar 'em up good on Thursday and sent 'em home. But bad news for us, the parents sent them back to us on Friday!  Hee! Hee!

Our Valentine's Day was super fun though! We did a service learning project. Before writing poems, we listed all the staff in our school who work hard, but may not have their own class  like the nurse, janitors, principal, etc... Our list included 30 staff members. The kiddos wrote poems using the Roses are Red format except choosing anything they want to fill in that is red, blue and sweet. My favorite poem this year read:

Firetrucks are red,
Blue jeans are blue,
Donuts are sweet,
And so are you.

After the kiddos wrote their poems, they made gift baggies of Hershey Kisses to go with each poem. It was so awesome! Kids counted out bags and kisses, then cut and tied ribbons! Every part of this project was done by them. When the gift bags were stuffed and ready, we divided up into 2 groups (one group with me and one with theNatalie) and set out to deliver poems. Each child read his/her poem to a different staff member then gave them the poem and goodie bag. The staff loved, loved, LOVED this small treat!  When reflecting at the end we discussed how it felt to give the treat. The kiddos kept saying they felt happy and great! We asked why they felt that way when they didn't get a treat in return? One friend said, "Their smile made me happy because I knew I had made them smile" :) LOVE!! 

In the afternoon was our party! We had a blast decorating cupcakes and drinking pink floats with ice cream and pink soda with cute straws :). 


No worries about being sugared up and returning to school Friday because we just pretended we were scientists and collected soil samples, used magnifying glasses to observe the soil, then recorded what we observed. The kiddos did awesome and had a blast being scientists! If you would like to use our recording form, just have your kiddos collect samples, put some glue, then sprinkle a different soil sample on each side and write what they observed! Click the recording form below to grab it :).




Who is ready for Monday AND Tuesday night???? WE ARE!! Looks like Sean will have some tough times on the hometown dates!! Can't wait!! Yikes I almost forgot, you guys may have to fill me in because I will be at Disney with the husband and kiddos. Maybe Cristy will text me during the show if she is allowed to watch (hee! hee!) and keep me posted. I don't like to wait and find out when I watch at a later date. Maybe I should try to find some spoilers!!

Thanks a bunch!!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Princess in Training and W FREEBIE!

Just 2 weeks until the Princess half marathon at Disney!! Woohoo I can't wait! Just finished my last long run before the race; 10 miles in 2 hours and 1 minute! I know 12 and some seconds per miles is kinda slow, but when you have a back like mine, I am just thankful to be running, no matter the pace!!

We decided since we run in my neighborhood with treacherous hills, that 10 miles here would be plenty training for 13.5 flat :). What do you think? Will I make it to the finish and get the beautiful finishers medal?
Check it out! So awesome!!  Don't worry, I have my tiara and hot pink tutu ready! Also have my pink polka dot knee socks on stand by just in case they make the outfit PERFECT!!



OH MY!! What an episode last night on the Bachelor!! Yay for Sean!! Finally a man who doesn't pick the evil step sister!!! It's about time!!! Thank goodness for his brilliant sister!!!

First of all I have to tease Cristy because I texted her so we could vent about Tierra and guess what? She wasn't even watching because her husband wouldn't let her!! What!! Are you kidding me!! Who is the boss in that house! At my house, my husband and oldest were in the bedroom watching Bigfoot.
Cristy was supposed to be my sounding board so I would not feel like an idiot yelling at the tv, which I did quite a bit until...... He finally sent that whiney, high maintenance, CrAzY home!!! Yahoo!! I was celebtating while texting Cristy to get ready for a heart attack!!!

I was scared for Ashlee at the rose cermony. I know it is stupid but I for real had an upset stomach for her! I really do love that girly!

Oh the W Word Work and FREEBIES! I almost forgot while ranting! We will be doing w word work very soon and thought you may like to check out our preview! We also thought you may love to grab the sight word board game and crossword puzzle. It is our first crossword puzzle. We can't wait to try it out on our kiddos!! Let us know how your kiddos do!


Click on either picture below to grab it! Let us know what you think? 


Hope you have an awesome week!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Friday...ahhhh! and a Giveaway!

Whew!!!  Thank goodness it's Friday!

***Read all the way to the bottom...a freebie is up for grabs!  I have to say this in emails I send to Page.  She only reads the first line or two and then moves on!  I have learned my lesson! :)

We had an awesome week at school, but these 2 chickys (is that even a word?) have been staying up WAY too late at night!  Thanks to Tierra (that woman is a crack-a-la-kah!) over at The Bachelor.  Can you say train wreck????

But--can't--take--our--eyes--off!!!!!  Must--look--away!

Brain--cells--getting--sucked--out--as--we--watch!!! ;)

So we are super excited about staying up late again tonight...just because we CAN...and sleeping in in the morning!  Well... maybe me anyway...Page has a little one at home that DOES NOT believe in sleeping in!!!  What's up with that little man?

Hope you all had a great week and an even better weekend.  Here's something that might make it fun!

There is a little (and I really mean BIG) giveaway going on over at Lessons From the Middle!
Lessons From The Middle

 Krystal Mills did an awesome job on this one, because she included 9 different packs for her giveaway.  She divided up the goodies between grade levels!  Awesome!  We know we have followers from ALL grade levels, so there should be some excellent goodies for everyone!

Hop on over and check out the giveaway!  It's a quickie...only runs through Monday!  Hurry up and head on over!  We donated our S Blends Literacy Station Word Work Pack!  It's one of our very best sellers!

Good luck!  We're crossing our fingers for you!

And just in case you are not the big winner over at Lessons From the Middle...leave us a comment here and we'll choose 1 winner and send out the pack when the Giveaway closes on Monday!  SCORE!  Be sure and include your email in the comment!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Fabulous Math Video and Fun Number Combination Stations!


Check Baby, check check baby....Oh sorry, I guess we are still singing!  This awesome song we found helps teach our new Common Core Math Standard that requires students to know when adding numbers 0-9 what is needed to make 10.

WARNING!!! This song will get stuck in your head, so if you have a tendency to lose sleep because a song constantly replays through your mind, you may not want to check out the link below.  The song is called...

What Makes 10
Thumbnail

So this week we started stations for decomposing numbers or in the olden days we would say building
number combinations! The kids are having a blast. However today was KUH-RAY-ZEE!!! Can you say we introduced too many different stations and kids were everywhere!!! They were working hard and we love organized chaos, but today was a definite reminder that sometimes less is more :).  So below are some of our featured stations that we got from Math Their Way or the Frameworks from Common Core. 








We did make our own recording forms for stations so that all the kids could use the same form no matter what math manipulative they were using.  The only time they need a different form is when they move up to building combinations for the next number. We start everyone at 4 and test them for fluency after completing 2-4 stations. They advance at their own pace. If you need cards to track the numbers that your kiddos are working on or forms for stations, check out our....


Happy Birthday Jake!! He turns 10 years old today!! I can't believe double digits!! Yikes!! I am so lucky to be his mom!! He is a fabulous kiddo that makes us proud everyday!! Love our Jake! (Love our Brooks too!!!)  Jake is the best big brother ever!!

Thanks for reading!!! Let us know if you have any great ideas for practicing building number combinations!!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

"Buy 3, Get 1 Free" and Currently!

So tomorrow is the BIG day!  My cart overfloweth!

We can not wait to grab up some goodies that we have been eyeing for quite some time now!

How about you?  Does your cart overfloweth too?

Well... if so... we hope we can lighten the load a bit! 

We are offering 20% off ALL of our products!

Enter code SUPER at checkout and you'll save another 10% off the sale prices!

AND...for EVERY 3 products you purchase from our store on February 3rd, you can choose ANY product priced $5 or less for FREE!  SCORE!!!

Simply email us at foglem@bellsouth.net after making your purchases.  Be sure to include the name you purchased under (your TPT username), your email address, and the item/s you would like as your FREE choice ($5 or less).  That's it!  Easy, right!

On another note...it's FEBRUARY!  And you know what that means...it's CURRENTLY time!  We LOVE these things so darn much!  It's fun to write them, but REALLY fun to hop over to Farley's at Oh Boy! Fourth Grade to READ all of them!  We usually crack up at all the crazy things folks post!

So...here goes!  We hope you enjoy reading our FEBRUARY currently!

So who doesn't think Adam Levine is hot?  Normally I go for big burly types, solid men, salt of the earth kinda guys...but I have to tell you...if I ever switch to the lanky, tender, falseto voiced, slightly feminine guy...then ADAM LEVINE is my guy!   Something about that man just exudes sexy!  (Shhh!  DO NOT tell the hubs...please see "thinking" on the Currently!)

What are brown bag delight lunches you ask...oh...my...goodness!  They are my new favorite thing.  Some wonderful woman decided to start a small business where she provides brown bags lunches to local school teachers each week for $5 per lunch.  PEOPLE...do you know what this means!!!!  I DO NOT HAVE TO PACK MY LUNCH 1 DAY EVERY SINGLE WEEK!  And...I DON'T HAVE TO EAT THE MYSTERY MEALS FROM THE CAFETERIA ON DAYS WHEN I AM TOO LAZY TO PACK SAID LUNCH!  I am so sorry I had to yell...but that is just PURE joy and excitement coming at ya!

Any good ideas for hubby gifts?  I did find an awesome ROCK CLIMBING Groupon that I already bought for him...but now I am kinda at a loss!  HELP!!!!!

Me likey food!  Me likey to eat!  Me likey to think about what's for lunch while I am still eating breakfast!  Me no likey that I gained 12 pounds from Halloween to the current day!  WHAT???  Yes people...it is possible to eat things...a lot of things...even if they are nailed down! ;)

So...now here we are.  Jeans are squeezing me!  Muffin top in FULL effect!  Girl scout cookies are BANNED from my home!  It's a SAD day people!  SAD, SAD, SAD!  But...alas...there is hope!  I am going to make friends with my treadmill and my tennis shoes...I promise!

And finally...what's up with that?  Smacking drives me CUH-RAH-ZY!!!!  I am not sure how so much noise can come out of a small 9 year old boy...but dang it if it's not a cacophony at EVERY meal at my home!

How's it going in your neck of the woods?