Common Core Giveaway

Heather over at Second Grade Perks is having a giveaway for her HUGE common core pack.  We've just started common core this year so I am really hoping to win.

Go check it out and register to win yourself if you want.  (But remember I'd really, really like to win!)

Wanna Win?

My vacation is over.

I'm so sad.

It's been a blast having three whole days off from school but all good things must come to an end.

My couch and computer will miss me deeply.  My pj's will miss me.

I will miss them much more though than they'll miss me.

On a happier note, the Honey Bunch is having an April Fool's Day linky.  If you share your favorite April Fool's joke, prank, or story you could win half off of a package 2 design which includes a background, header, sidebar titles, signature, post divider, and button.

So run, don't walk and enter now!!

Winner, Winner, Time for Dinner!

Just a quick post to announce the winner of the Starbuck's gift card.  Then I'm off to eat dinner...not chicken though!

Thank you to all of you who entered my giveaway.  I wish I could afford to buy you all a coffee and then we could sit and chat for literally hours!

Yeah, yeah, get on with it, I know!

I will send you an email anash and get your address so I can mail your card tomorrow!  Congratulations!!

Giveaway #1 & Awards

Yippeee!  In my week-long absence I've gone slightly past 300 followers and received a plethora of awards.
Actually two probably doesn't count as a plethora, but I did get those two awards from a plethora of people.  So that counts.

Plus, I just love that word, plethora!
It reminds me of one of my favorite students, a boy with Asperger's who had an amazing vocabulary and a true love for words.
This young man taught his classmates words like brackish and plethora in a way that I never could have.

So, on to the giveaway.

As mentioned before I am giving away a $25 Starbuck's gift card to one lucky person.

Here's how to enter:
1)  Follow my blog.  (1 comment)
2)  Blog about this giveaway.  (2 comments - be sure to leave a link to your post)

That's it!
Do one or both it doesn't matter to me.

Giveaway ends on Saturday, March 17 at midnight mountain time.
The winner will be announced on Sunday.

Now onto the awards.

I was gifted with two wonderful awards by some amazing bloggers.
A few of these bloggers are new to the bloggy world so please show them your love by checking them out.

I received this lovely from Rebecca at Teaching First, Michelle The 3am Teacher, Krista of Stellar Students, Chrissy at Buzzing with Ms. B, Vicky from Traditions, Laughter and Happily Ever After, and Chrissy at Read Write Sing Kindergarten.

The rules for this award are to:

1. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award.

2. Pass the award on to 15 other lovely bloggers.

3. Follow the person who sent it to you.

I am passing the "One Lovely Blog Award" on to these blogs (which are new to me):

Brenda

Tiff at Family of Educators

Courtney at 2nd Grade Snapshots

Barb of It's About Time Teachers

Mrs. K.

Jessica

rk at dear wellington

Pam at My Second Home

Ms. Jordan

Kayla

Sandra

Kris

Ms. Pretzel

Patricia at Primary Practice

Keri

This little award came from Latricia at Wild About Second Grade, Jessica from Glitzy in 1st Grade, and Marissa of WILD About First Grade.
,

Now I get to pick my top ten blogs.

Not easy to just pick ten.

Here they are in no particular order.

Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher

Chrissy at Buzzing with Ms. B.

Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files

Kelley at Buggy for Second Grade

Stacy at 2nd Grade Paradise

Jennifer at Herding Kats in Kindergarten

Holly at Crisscross Applesauce

Laurie at Chickadee Jubilee

Courtney at Swimming into Second

Haley at Following Optimism

Now if you've stuck with me this long, thank you very much!

Don't forget to enter my little giveaway.

(If you're like me lately you can use all the caffeine you can get your hands on.)

Keepin' It Short

I was home yesterday with a stomach flu.  You know you're really sick when you don't feel up to reading or blog stalking.  What a waste of a good sick day!  Between trips runs to the bathroom all I did was sleep with my fur babies.  Today I am slightly better, but still not eating solids.  On the plus side I could lose a few pounds.  :)

A co-worker called to tell my how yesterday went for my sub.  She said my sub about freaked when she realized I didn't have a teacher desk!  :)  I got a good chuckle out of that.

I spent today napping and then quickly caught up on blogs.  There are some great freebies out there.  Here's a couple that you should check out.

Sarah at Adventures in Teaching is having a giveaway of some beautiful homemade (by her) Valentines to boost her number of followers.  The cards are lovely as you can see.  Go check out Sarah's blog, enter to win, and show her a little love!

Heather at Swinging Through Second Grade is giving away a $10 gift certificate to TpT.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Back to the Grindstone & Giveaways

First day back to school and I am beat!  The kids weren't calm or tired at all.  What the *&%%!

I was pleased that they were excited to come back to school though.  I love it that they love school and learning.  I sucked up the hugs and sweet words like a vacuum.  :)

Everyone was so sad about the guinea pig dying.  There were tears and a bagillion questions.  When did she die?  How did she die?  (Don't know I'm not a vet.)  Am I going to find out?  Like on TV, one kiddo asked, when they cut up the person?  (Uh, no, do you know how much an autopsy would cost.)

Then of course they want to have a funeral.  Oh golly.  Anyone know how to handle that one.

Then I read Houdini Was...  a book written by a second grade class when their hamster dies.

While I was reading it, the kids were practically shouting at me "We could do that!"  "We need to write about Antonia!"  I kept reading and then when I finished, I said, "You sound like you really want to write about Antonia."  And we did.  There were more tears and a lot of adorable pictures and interesting sentences.

Then the next big questions.  When will we get a new pet?  Will it be another guinea pig?

We'll see.  Maybe.  Probably.  But not right away.  We need a little time.

So the ideas for the New Year that I collected from all of you amazing peeps were put off until tomorrow while we deal with this death.  One little sweetie even filled out a form to see the counselor.  Aw!

On to some giveaways you need to check out.

Jen at The Teacher's Cauldron has reached 200 followers and is having a giveaway for a $25 gift card.  The winner gets to choose TpT or Amazon.  (I think it's so cool that she's letting the winner choose!)

Tammy at Klinger Cafe is having a 100 follower giveaway of three amazing things.  You have to go check it out for yourself.  (Or don't so I have a better chance of winning!)

And last but not least, Leanne at Spend a Day in Second Grade is having a giveaway for a Starbucks card and a new unit!  Her stuff is awesome!

Now I am off to bed.  I barely slept last night since my a.m. and p.m. are totally confused.  I feel like someone poured sand in my eyes and have a lack of sleep throb going in the head.  I hope to be back on a normal sleep schedule in a couple days.  But it takes a while.

BTW, my bra and shirt felt like they were chaffing my skin by lunch time and my feet hurt.  It was h-e-double toothpicks having to wear real clothes today.

And I started going through my desk and getting rid of anything I don't need or use.  I AM getting rid of that thing by Easter or I'm going to die trying!  I bought some more plastic storage drawers and am putting things into them as I clean it out.  When it's empty...BYE BYE!

Happy New Year & The Winner Is...

I can't believe it is 2012!  Happy New Year to all of you.  Hubs and I went out to a wonderful dinner with his sister and her husband.  Then we went to a comedy show to benefit the local zoo.  We laughed ourselves senseless!  Best of all, we were settled all snug in our jammies by the time we started to hear fireworks go off.  We haven't ventured out on New Year's Eve in years, so it was fun.

So on to the giveaway. 

I used the random number generator thingie-ma-jobbie, but am not tech savvy enough to figure out how to get an image of it on here.  So trust me, the winner was...

Number...

64...

a new blogger...

Latricia at Wild About Second Grade.

Latricia, leave me a comment with your email address and I'll get in touch with you to make arrangements for you to get your prizes.

If you are sad you didn't win (and I know you are), there seem to be a gazillion other giveaways going on out there.  Here is one to go check out.

Kelley over at Buggy for Second Grade is having a giveaway in honor of reaching 100 followers.  She is giving away a  beautiful wreath that would look absolutely wonderful in my classroom, so I seriously hope I win.  And even though I really want this crafty creation, I still think you should go over and enter, too.

I broke down and told the Mr. about wanting to get rid of the new-to-me desk he set up for me in August.  I told him while he was driving.  That way I figured he'd be a little distracted.  I wish I'd had a camera.  First I got a look that said "I misunderstood that."  Then, instantly, it changed to a look of shock that could only be interpreted as  "WTH? The desk I just..."  And then a look of "HA!  You had me for a minute!" Finally, it became the one of resignation "Oh, do what you want.  Why am I surprised?"

Mind you this all took a mere three seconds before he turned back to the road.

But, being the wonderful hubs that he is, he told me to do what I wanted and thought was best for my room, class, and me.  And he meant it!

Now, how do I get him to help me move it out on Monday (his day off, too) without killing me?

Well, I've got a day to contemplate that.  Strategy, that's what it's all about.

A New Blog & Giveaways Galore!

I've been thinking about starting a blog that is all about books. A place where people can share a little about what they are reading so that my fellow bookworms and I have a place to go for ideas for new reads.

Well last night, since I couldn't sleep (the wind was blowing about 100 miles an hour and I had slept in a little too long that morning), I decided to get up and go to work on it.

At this point, I am using free blogging stuff so it's not too hot and I don't even have a button, but if the interest is there and it takes off I will probably have Project 3 Designs create a custom blog design for it.

But to make it work, I need all of you readers to help. Anyone interested in being a contributor should leave me a comment with an email address. You can recommend any type of book or author that you want.  It is not just for teachers and children's books...so share with your fellow reader friends.

But before you decide go over and check out the first post. I guarantee you'll be impressed because I used a lot of bigger vocabulary words than I normally do on this little old new blog! HA!

It is called The Best Endings, but you have to go over to read how I came up with that catchy name.  :)

If you decide to follow this new little blog, you can go over and leave a comment for another entry in my first giveaway.  If you become a contributor too, you can leave two comments for entries!  And if you have no idea what giveaway I am talking about, you better get after it!

You should also head over to Mandy's Tips for Teachers and enter the mega giveaway that she and several other bloggers are hosting.  Yikers!  It's amazing!

So whether you have a kindle, nook, or just read the old fashioned way, I hope this new blog is something you might enjoy.

Now I'm off to read a book the old fashioned way!  

My First Giveaway!!

I woke up Christmas morning with THE migraine from hell!  I was so sound sensitive that the humming of the fridge about killed me.  But last night I finally began to feel better human...and...jury duty was canceled!  There must be a God!  And he doesn't hate me.

So, now that things are looking up I'm ready for a giveaway.  As most of you know, I recently reached 100 followers, which I wan't sure would EVER happen!  Yee Haa!

And I promised a giveaway.  Better late than never, right!

I spent hours perusing etsy looking for something perfect.  I found a ton of things that I loved, but I wanted something different that also fit my sense of humor.

So, drumroll please...

da, da, da, da, da, dum!

One lucky winner could win this car sticker that reads "I'm a teacher!  What's your super power?" and a mystery item!  (Don't you love hate that I won't tell?)  I may give some clues over the next few days if I'm feeling generous.  ;)

It cracked me up!  I know money would be better, but decided that it's fun to get something you wouldn't normally buy for yourself too.

So here is how to enter:

1.  Follow my blog and leave a comment.

2.  Follow Mandy's Wall Candy etsy shop and leave a comment that you do here.

3.  If you want to blog about this giveaway you can, but I don't want anyone to feel pressured.  (I hate pressure, even though I work well under pressure.)  If you do, leave 2 comments with a link.

The giveaway ends on New Year's Eve at midnight!  Good luck friends.