Happy Father's Day!

I always feel bad that we are never in school late enough to celebrate Father's Day…
…dads, uncles, grandpas, male role models everywhere deserve to be acknowledged on their day!

Here's a little homage to all the "dads" out there, no matter your roles:

And especially MY DAD!

I love you, Daddy:)

Give a hug, a kiss, a high-five, pat on the back or special acknowledgment of your choosing to all those men who step up to the plate.
Of course, not to forget the Heavenly Father.
Thank you, Father, for all the "dads" in my life and others' lives!

Happy Father's Day!

Picture Book Linky & FREEBIE!

I am linking up today with the uber-talented Deanna Jump.

I think her Book Talk Tuesday Linky is pure genius!
I have a big heart for kid-lit, so I can't imagine I will ever blog about any other kind of books:)
Maybe a professional book every now and then, but when I go to Barnes & Noble or Amazon online, I never get out of the children's books section….
…anyone else with this problem???

File this away for October, but here is THE BEST (IMHO) Halloween book EVER:

My former mother-in-law and original inspiration for teaching introduced me to this amazing story. When she read it, she took two days. It lends itself to making predictions, and that's exactly what she did!
Of course, for the past 3 years I've taught, I totally stole her idea...and it has been a HUGE success with my kiddos!
They made very creative predictions for who they thought the Pumpkin Smasher was:)
I also l-o-v-e the black & white-with-some-color-accents illustrations:)

I have 2 copies: one that I purchased for $50 (yikes!) from Amazon when the book was out of print, and one that my mother-in-law used to read her students during her 39-year career as an educator.

LUCKY FOR YOU PEOPLE, this book has been reissued due to its huge popularity & demand!
You can now get it (in paperback) from Amazon…for about $13!
Click the image above to go there & get your own copy!
I promise, you'll love it:)

Mrs. Jump is giving away a copy of a cute book & her "3 Little Pigs" unit if you leave a comment on her blog!!!
This is the book I commented about today, so I decided to go ahead and blog about it, too:)

If you use this book during the Halloween season…or even if you don't…you can download this little literacy game to go with it.

This game can be used in small groups or at word work stations to practice consonant blends that start with 'S'.
ENJOY!

June 1st means….

….it's time for Farley's Currently!

Let's just get right to it, shall we?

I just love Netflix!
My oldest son convinced me to get it so he could watch shows, but I think I use it way more than my kiddos:)
I have been able to get caught up on shows I forgot about, like Grey's:)
And while I'm typing/folding laundry/watching, my boys are playing together…and not fighting!
There are probably very few days left where that happens.
Does anyone else have this problem?
Surely my kids are not the only ones at each other's throats all summer long!

Tomorrow, we leave for a week in Branson, MO.
I'm really looking forward to putting school out of my mind for a week and just having a good time with my kiddos and family:)
But as much as I love going on vacay, I really hate packing for it! Ughh!

What I really would love to do is NOTHING.
I'm talking about full-on veg-mode.
Binge-watch Netflix, Pinterest, Blogging, taking long, luxurious baths…with or without a glass of wine:)
….just nothing. For a week.
A girl can dream;)

However, a really need to start organizing my classroom from the ground up.
My principal asked me to work on a system for this year….I think she appreciates most of what I do as a teacher, but she sees:)
I need to have a better system for EVERYTHING!
I will be pinning-blogging for sure, but not for fun things:)
It will be for organizational ideas.
PLEASE LEAVE ANY TIPS/ADVICE/PINS that you find helpful below! & Thanks!!

After our trip to MO, we will also be spending a couple of days in OK.
My oldest son, cousin, and I will see "Wicked" there (cannot wait!!!!), and we have plans to go to the aquarium.
In July, we have one more trip to Branson planned with extended family, and there will be lots of fun Little League baseball games through out the next month:) love that!

I start training to be a mentor teacher for both my new colleague (bittersweet) and future interns.
I also plan to attend webinars and classes for all things Common Core so that I can prepare a spot-on presentation in August for primary teachers in my district.
That's right, people.
In less than 70 days, I will be speaking to a group of my peers & colleagues about Common Core Curriculum mapping for the primary grades.
Anyone have some go-to resources for this???

Thanks for any and all suggestions about organizing & curriculum mapping, and don't forget to link up for yourself!