Five for Friday: July 31st Edition

Hi friends!  It's Friday and you know what that means...linky party with Doodle Bugs Teaching!  Here are my top five from this week...

1. I just got home from two back to back vacations!  Vacation #1 was in Tampa...long story short I was supposed to go to Texas with my inlaws to introduce my husband's family to our girls but before we left Ben's grandmother passed away.  So instead of Texas we all went to Tampa for her funeral and as sad as it was, it was also wonderful family time.  The day after I got back from Tampa I headed to the beach with the babies to hang out with my parents for a few days!  You can read about my vacations here on my family blog.  

2. My hair seems to finally be growing!  My hair was getting pretty long and my girls had started grabbing at things (mainly my hair) so at the end of June I got it cut.  I told the girl shoulder length, kind of like a long bob...she must've not heard the shoulder part because it was chin length.  I can finally pull it back into a pony tail meaning it's growing out!

3.  I have two weeks of summer vacation left but school is already starting to take over my brain.  I am already thinking about how I want to set up my room next year, what I need to make/buy, needing to go to Ikea, making my pins on my Pinterest boards become a reality, getting some more items up on my TpT store.  My brain is going full blast!  I am sure my fellow teachers know what I mean!  I am hoping to remember to buy a notebook at Target today so I can start writing all of this stuff down and hopefully free up some brain space.

4.  Teacher T-Shirts...have you seen these before?! A few teachers last year had some of her shirts and I really wanted a first grade one and I finally ordered one yesterday!  And I ended up getting not one but two!  Check them out...she has a ton of super cute shirts!

The black one says "I <3 My First Graders" and the blue one says "Kindergarten is SO last year...First Grade Rocks!"

5.  I'm excited to take part in the TpT Back to School sale that's happening August 3rd-4th!  This will be my first sale so if you've wishlisted anything, make sure to grab it then!  Everything is 20% off in my store.  I am working really hard on getting my newest product up by then!  I'm working on some writing journal prompts for whole class writing.  These prompts can be glued onto a notebook or be made into a notebook with paper.  I set out two a month for students to write in and when the month is over, I put the notebooks in our classroom library for the students to read the rest of the year.  They love them!  This year I'm cutesifying them in hopes that someone else would like them (and pay a few bucks for them haha!)

Cover under construction for my newest product.

Peek at some of my writing prompts!

That's it!  My Five for Friday!  Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out my store during the TpT Back to School Sale!

All About Me! book for Back To School

As I sit here looking at the date, I keep thinking, "Ugh, I'm going to be back to school in less than one month!"  and yet, I'm already thinking of what I need to get for my classroom, or things to print off, or products I want to upload to my TpT store.  Why is it that teachers can never turn their brains off, even in the summer?

I have been a little slower making and uploading products the past week or so.  My husband's grandmother passed away last week so we have been working through that and preparing to travel (she lived in Texas).  I also keep getting distracted by two cuties who happen to live with me ;)  Trying to soak up every second of summer with them!

I've also been working on a book for back to school time that has taken me awhile and I FINALLY finished it!  I have used similar books in the past but none ever had exactly what I wanted so I made my own.  This is a 15 page book that comes with a cover and a table of contents.  It's a great way to get students started off with non-fiction writing at the beginning of the school year and what better to have them write about than themselves?  I like to have my students complete a page each morning for their morning work while I take attendance, look through backpacks, make sure lunch boxes are where they need to be, etc.  It is perfect for occupying students while I deal with the beginning of the year chaos...you know what I mean?  (And all the teachers said AMEN!)

Since primary grades have varying degrees of writers, I created a few different versions of the All About Me! book.  My product includes a book with blank lines, a book with handwriting lines, a book with blank lines and sentence starters, and a book with handwriting lines and sentence starters.  So there's a book for everyone!  Click here to take a look!

Happy Monday everyone!  

Five for Friday!

Happy Friday friends!  I'm back to link up with Doodle Bugs for her Five for Friday post!

1. Celebrating my daddy's birthday!  His birthday was Wednesday and we met my parents in Annapolis for dinner at the Bonefish Grill...so good!  I had never been there before and my friend had recommended to me the Bang Bang Shrimp as an appetizer.  That. was. DELICIOUS!  Definitely get it if you go.  Ben wasn't able to go because of work but my brother met me at our house and we rode to dinner in our new minivan!!!  Which brings me to #2...

2. Our new minivan!  Since finding out we were having twins, Ben and I knew that we would have to get a bigger vehicle eventually.  He has a 2 door Acura RSX (sporty looking car) and I have a 4 door Honda Civic...neither one is a good sized car for four people and a dog!  For awhile we were going back and forth between a small SUV, like a CR-V or a minivan and I finally decided on the minivan.  I've never wanted a minivan but have decided to embrace it and it's pretty nice!  This past weekend we found a 2013 Toyota Sienna that we liked, went to look at it, and bought it!  We said goodbye to my car, Ruby, and hello to the minivan!  Name is still pending...

3. I had my first TpT sale last Friday!  I was so excited to get the email!  (Never mind that I made 90 cents...a sale is a sale!)

4.  I don't really call this a favorite but it is a check off of my Summer To-Do list.  I took Riley to the vet yesterday for her yearly shots.  I had to get them in ASAP because we are anticipating a trip to see family in the near future and I need her up-to-date to be able to board her.  I was planning on taking her on a weekend so Ben could watch the girls but I needed to reschedule her appointment so I had to figure out how to take her and two babies into the vet's office.  So I tried out our TwinGo Carrier!  I've used it a few times before but the awesome thing about this carrier is that it can be worn as two front carriers, two back carriers, or you can snap them together and wear two babies at once!  I've used them as front carriers before but Thursday was the first time I used them as a double carrier.

5.  My last one does not qualify as a favorite but as an unfavorite.  I mentioned on Wednesday that Ben's grandma isn't doing well.  She lives in Texas and his dad was able to get there on Wednesday so all of her kids are with her.  We are in the process of making plans to travel to Texas soon to be with family.  So please keep her in your prayers, that she is at peace and as pain-free as possible.  And also for us as we plan to travel by plane with two babies for the first time.  Thank you!

Happy Friday and enjoy the weekend!

My First Sale!

Hello friends!  Friday night I got an email saying that I had my first sale on Teachers Pay Teachers! I was SO EXCITED!!!  (Never mind that it's only 90 cents...that's besides the point!)  Someone bought my Face Off! math game!  So, whoever you are, thanks for buying my game and I hope you like it!  And if you didn't, then you should really buy it...cause that's what friends are for...and we are friends, aren't we? ;)  Just kidding, you don't have to buy it if you don't want to.  Though I'll love you forever if you do!

What a great email to receive!

So anyways I'm trying to think of what product to do next and I was thinking something for language arts but I don't know what to do.  I am very much a math/science person so if anyone has an idea for language arts for me, feel free to share!

Hope you're having a great Tuesday!  It is Tuesday, right?  I seriously have no idea.  All I know is that I have a brunch today with my team and brunch is awesome.  Anywho, have a good day, whatever day it is!

Five for Friday: July 10th Edition

Hello everyone!  Today I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching's linky party, Five for Friday!

1. I have another product added to my TpT store!  This is a favorite with my first graders and is also great for enriching kindergarteners and reaching lower second graders.  Click here to check it out!

2.  My family celebrated my mom's birthday by ordering a half bushel of steamed crabs!  If you're from Maryland, then you know how amazing these are.  I love me some crabs!

3. My girls had their 4 month professional pictures done!  Look how cute they are!  I have to pick 25 images to keep out of 52...how am I ever going to decide?

4.  (I am hoping this works) Here's a video of my baby girl laughing and squealing!  This was the first time she has laughed so long and it is so darn precious!

5.  Today, the love of my life and I celebrate 5 years of marriage!  There's no one I'd rather do life with than this guy.  He's an amazing husband to me and awesome father to our little girls.  If you want to read some more and see some pictures of us from way back when, check out my family blog at The Alvarez Family

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend and enjoy it...summer is flying by too quickly!

Back from the Beach!

Hi friends!  Sorry for the absence but we took a family trip to the beach to celebrate the Fourth of July!  My parents have a condo there and it was so much fun to get together with my entire family for a few days.  I can tell you, it is WAY different going to the beach with babies than just by ourselves.  Babies need a lot of stuff!

Anywho, I am hoping to have some new things up in my TpT store over the next few days so make sure to check it out!

Have you seen the Desk Fairy??

No?  Haven't even heard of her??  Wow, I can't believe it!

That's what I say to my first graders when I pull out the Desk Fairy cards for the first time.  In our school, kindergarten doesn't have desks so their first experience with desks is in first grade.  And after a few weeks, their desks are a MESS!  So I bring out the Desk Fairy!  I tell the students that the Desk Fairy is like the Tooth Fairy...she comes in at night when they are home asleep and checks each and every desk.  If the desk is neat and clean, she leaves them a card to let them know she was there!  And it's not just any card, the card is good for a special prize!  My school does a ticket system so the Desk Fairy card is worth three tickets...that's SO MANY TICKETS in their little eyes!  So when they come in and find the card, they turn it in to me for tickets and I hide the cards when they aren't looking!

So I wanted to share my little fun with you all and hopefully you will enjoy the magic of the Desk Fairy with your students too!  It is so much fun to hear them come in in the morning and exclaim to their friends that the Desk Fairy picked their desk.  Click on the link below to check out my Desk Fairy cards for free!

Desk Fairy Cards

With that I am heading to the beach for some time with family.  I haven't decided yet if I will bring my laptop or not so you may not hear from me for a few days if I leave it behind.  See you next week!

Happy Fourth of July!

Measuring Fun!

Hi friends!  Like I promised yesterday, I was able to post my newest product, Measuring Fun!  My Measuring Fun packet has some great activities for measuring.  In this packet are several different ways students can use non-standard units to measure different objects. Activities include measuring with unifix cubes and paper clips, scavenger hunts, and graphing data. These activities are perfect for whole group, partners, or individual work. Simply give each student cubes or paperclips, a paper, and time to complete the activities!

Included:
2 outside scavenger hunts
2 inside scavenger hunts
2 body measurement activities
3 graphs
2 sheets of data questions

Check out my newest packet, Measuring Fun  and I hope you will enjoy it as much as my students do.  

Make sure you follow me on Bloglovin' and Teachers Pay Teachers for more items!  Thanks for stopping by!