Teachers Pay Teachers and the "3 Million Teachers Strong" SALE!

Thank you Krista!

Yep, the sale is almost here and I know all of us have a HUGE wish list!  Come on by and visit my TpT store and add a few more items to your list!  

The sale will run from February 27th to the 28th, this coming Thursday and Friday!  Don't forget to use the Promo Code TPT3 when you checkout!  

Here are a few items you might be interested in for your wish list from TpT:

 Click either image to view the product!

How about a BOGO?

I am only offering this to my special followers during the sale on February 27th and the 28th.  If you purchase the "Leprechaun Literacy Centers" from my TpT store and LEAVE FEEDBACK, I will send you the matching math centers for FREE.  

Please email me (Deb) at fabulouslyfirst@aol.com and let me know the date you purchased AND the user name it was purchased under for validation.  

This offer is only valid during the 27th and 28th during the TpT Sale!!!  Thanks so much everyone and have fun shopping during the sale.

An InLinkz Link-up

Five for Friday Linky with Doodle Bugs!

Happy Valentine's Day! It's that time again to link up with Doodle Bugs!  "Five for Friday" is one of my favorite times in bloggyland. I get to check in and see what everyone has been up to since the south became the snow capital of the US.
So here we go with #1:  

Yes, I am sick and tired of snow, ice and anything else falling from the sky in frozen form.  I do not want to see any snow for a long time. The one word that our loving news reporters used repeatedly was the word "catastrophic". I think I am more weary from hearing that word then the frozen stuff in my yard.  

My sweet baby girl turned five years (which means she starts school soon) old and I sent her a Teddy Bear that heats up in the microwave and stays warm for up to 4 hours.  She now has something from her Grandma to snuggle with that is warm and smells like lavender.  If you don't know what it is like to be a grandmother, it is the best thing in the world!  

How about some easy fun with your classroom kiddos?  Powdered donuts, chocolate icing in the tube and an orange slice cut into small pieces.  Pretty cute for a snowman head and an easy snack?

Do you have an iPad mini? I got one and I love it and it is so much fun to use. If you don't have one you should check them out! I had the iPad 2 and because of the way I interface with my laptop I just couldn't get connected.  The iPad mini is smaller and easier to use and I love mine.     

Last is the iPad mini smart cover that covers both the front and the back to protect it from scratches. Had to have it in the blue because it is my favorite color!  I am doing a lot of sketching on it lately to learn how to do graphics.  Well, time to close this week out and glad to do so!

See everyone next Friday!

Ever Heard of Festisite? Great Way to Have Fun With Writing!

When you first go to Festisite, these are the three pictures you will see.  Each one of them tells you what you can do when you visit that section of the website.  This is what you will see when you visit the website: 

Click the Image to go to the Website

You will have to register and then get a confirmation email before you can get started using the website.  It takes about a minute to register and is well worth it.  The first part of the website you can use that is fun is the "Poems and Rhyme" section seen below:

  

In this part of the website you can enter a word under the "Rhyming Dictionary" and find a word that rhymes with the word that you type into the site.  You can also see the latest poems submitted and submit a poem if you would like to.  

Under the "Instant Creativity" section you can put your face/students faces on the money from just about any country that you want.  I created one to show you what it looks like:

For 100 Day you can use this with the one hundred dollar bill for a writing activity:

You can even personalize a set of playing cards with an image or a logo can be personalized as well.  

The one you are going to want to do the most is under "Text Layout" in the above image.  When you click on "Text Layout" it takes you to a page that looks like this:

Make sure that you have clicked on the icon that the arrow is point to.  You should see a box where you can enter text.  I have already entered "You are my Valentine repeatedly and you will see why in just a minute.  You can change the font, the font size and the paper before you create your layout.  Click the "Layout Text" button and download what you have created.  On a Mac it goes into your downloads folder.  In windows it opens up for you to see what you have created.  It should look like this when it is finished:

As you can see there are endless possibilities to use this for a writing activity and there are more activities beyond just Valentine's Day.  Explore the website and see what you can come up with.  You can create banners with each letter that you typed into the box on a separate page.  There is an option for "spiral" writing and it looks like this when it is downloaded:

If you are having a snow day go on over and play with the website for a while and have some fun!  I don't know about you, but I have had just about enough of this snow, sleet and ice mix.  I am ready to get out and around and it isn't looking good for us until next week some time.  

Here's to NO more Snow Days and for MORE Sunshine in all of our lives!

Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!!!

 

 It has been a while since I joined in on a "Five for Friday"!  I have fun doing this linky and seeing what everyone else has been up to.  

Got two packages from Amazon today on items I had ordered this week.  I have officially ordered my second pencil sharpener for the year and here it is.  I have no false hopes that this one will last longer then the other one did.  

Now I am officially a PENCIL SNOB!  That's right I ordered my own Ticonderoga pencils and am going to try to win "The Pencil War" with my firsties!  Whew!

We have started our February with Black History Month and this week we studied George Washington Carver and here is Abigail's informational piece on this awesome gentleman!

While shopping at Amazon I found these adorable and long awaited wiggle eyes for my cuties during guided reading with me.  I can't wait to see their reaction when they see these adorable little creatures.

THIS is what happens when you turn a terrier loose on the packing bubbles in an Amazon box.  He proceeded to tear and pop every single bubble and left no bubble unpopped.  It caused absolute chaos in the house because the other three dogs don't like the popping sound because they think it is fireworks.  LOL

Okay, off to eat dinner that is sitting here waiting on me!  Wishing everyone a FABULOUS weekend!

Bright Ideas Blog Hop!

Best Tool Box Organizer E V E R and Welcome to FEBRUARY!

Click above to find this product on Amazon

I purchased this toolbox from Amazon and it needed a facelift.  This is it in the "newbie" stage and "before I  got some ideas in my head" stage.  If you have a theme in your room go to Hobby Lobby and purchase some scrapbook papers you like and don't forget their coupon before you go.  I wanted one where all the drawers were all the same size and some of you will get that and some will just say "good grief".  I had originally purchased the one with the mini drawers on top and the same size drawers you see here on bottom.  When it arrived I decided I didn't like it and gave it to my son to use in his wood-shop.  So I worked all day on this one and I had it all done except for one row.  I started with the first row and got the papers on but didn't think about putting the labels on until AFTER I had done the first row, UGH!  

I did not use a laminator to do the papers and used a large packing tape dispenser to eliminate some steps and work.  The tape works great but don't buy packing tape that is not the invisible kind because it pulls the paper off of the table with static electricity and ruins everything.  A few disasters along the way but the finished product looks like this.  What do you think?  Have you done a cabinet like this and what are your "TIPS AND TRICKS" to decorating one? 

Since I have used it a year now I can tell you from personal experience that it is the best thing I ever did for classroom organization.  My desk isn't cluttered with all of the things inside these drawers any longer.  Everyone that comes in and serves my kids loves it too because they know right where to go to get what they need.  Even my kiddos love it and know where everything is from band-aids to glue sticks!    

If you are looking for MORE great ideas, please visit the Tara's blog by clicking on her blog button below.  

Joined Up with Farley for "Currently"!!!

click above to go to her blog!

I love the silence in the house late at night and all four dogs are asleep and quiet.  I also love it when my grandkids are here and keeping me on my toes.  It makes me wonder how in the world did I ever raise four boys???

My grandbaby turned five today and I love her so much.  She and her brother Austin are the loves of my life.  

Yep, I am headed to bed when I finish this post and hook up with Farley.  I love, love, love staying up late so I can concentrate and get a lot of work done.  I think I get more done at night then any other time.

I am hoping that no one is able to guess my two truths and my fib.  I think it will be interesting to read everyone else's truths and fibs too!

I love hooking up with Farley and learning other things and being introduced to new and fabulous blogs.

ENJOY your weekend everyone and we actually get to go back to school on Monday!  

 

SNOW DAY IN THE GA and "Where Do I Find Those Stools"?

Okay, I am BEYOND excited because I had a snow day today and just received a text message from Remind101 that my school is having ANOTHER SNOW DAY ON THURSDAY!  YAHOOOO!!!

Okay, Time to focus on what this post is really about, and that is the most fabulous stools for your classroom that you could ever want!!!  Hey Amazon, I need to be reimbursed for doing shout outs for you!!!

I have been asked so many times; "Where did you get those adorable stools for your kids/classroom?"  

Well, this is where and I am posting the links so that you can go and purchase them too!  Please let me know if you have them already and what you think about them.  I use them every single day and they are wonderful.  They slide right up under my reading tables and don't stick out like regular chairs do and take up space.  They stack so easy and they weigh hardly nothing.  The great thing about them is they advertise that they will hold up to 300 pounds. 

Okay, here the stools are in black and they come in a set of five:

click here to visit the page

Here they are in turquoise which is what goes with Dots of Turquoise from Creative Teaching Press.  

click here to visit the page

Here is the set in multi-color which I LOVE!  I have these in my room and I love them and so do my kiddos.  

click above to visit the page

Check them out and let me know what you think!  Looking forward to hearing from you soon…

ENJOY!