Life Cycle of a Pumpkin

I am OBSESSED with all things pumpkin.  Can I get an AMEN?!  October/November is the perfect time to integrate science into your lesson plans to teach about the life cycle of the pumpkin!  I want to share with you a pumpkin flip book that I made that will be perfect for your young learners.  The best part is, the students get to make a pumpkin shaped book!

Each page contains a different stage of the growing pumpkin.  You can have your students glue (or you can staple) the top of the pumpkin pages together to make a sequenced pumpkin book! 

 To better meet the needs of all of your learners I included three different versions of the book.  The students can either:

-color

-draw

-write

Find all the details in my TpT Store!

Back to School Gift with Udderly Smooth

I am partnering with Udderly Smooth to show you a back to school gift idea for your teaching team!  I love giving my teammates a small gift at the beginning of the year to encourage them the first day of school and to let them know I'm excited to work with them!

I am constantly washing my hands all day long during the school day and I really try to use lotion after I wash my hands.  The school soap is hard on my hands, so I like to keep my hands moisturized.  I figure lotion would be a practical gift for my teacher friends!

I created little tags to add to my Udderly Smooth lotion!  I found the cute baskets at Target in the party section, they were the perfect holders for the gift.

I think this gift will be Udderly AMAZING for my teaching team! ;)

You can enter to win an Udderly Awesome Prize of Product and a 100% gift card to Walmart!  Enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Back to School Pencil Buddy Freebie

On the first day of school, I love having a little treat on the students' desks.  Often times, they are nervous for the first day, so when they see the small gift they feel welcomed!  You can grab this Back to School Pencil Buddy in my TpT Store!

I found the neon pencils at Target!  They are much cuter that the standard yellow. ;)

Grab the free printable HERE!

Next Year- Big CHANGES!

I have an exciting and BIG announcement!  This last year has been a wild one for me.  I have been juggling motherhood (my baby is one in August 2016), family and friends, teaching, blogging, TpT-ing, blogging for Oriental Trading, etc.  My plate has been too full, but it's full with things that I love.

Originally when I went back to work after having my son, I was really enjoying being a teacher and a mom (you can read my reflection here).  I was able to keep my identity as a working mom, and I loved coming home to my little man.  As the school year went on, it became apparent to us (my husband and I) that something had to give.  I couldn't do it all.  It's been disappointing that I can't balance everything gracefully, because like I said, I love all of my different passions/responsibilities.

Then it happened.  God literally paved the way for me to share a teaching contract with one of my real life best friends Layla from Fancy Free in Fourth.  Did you notice her blog title?  I will be teaching 4th grade with her!  (ok don't freak out yet, let me tell you more!)  I will work Thursdays and Fridays, and she will work Mon-Wednesday.  We are BEYOND excited.  This means I get to stay in the classroom, but have more time to raise my baby and work on my other projects.

I want to share some facts about Layla:

1.  She is the queen of inside jokes.

2.  Her love language is giving gifts.  

3.  She is amazing during interviews. (like, she will for sure get the job)

4.  She is insanely creative and an amazing 4th grade teacher.  I really am blessed to learn from one of my best friends.  One thing I love about teaching is that you can teach a different grade and it's like changing careers.  Not completely, but it's a whole different world.  To get to work with her is a dream come true.  (sorry for the tangent on that one)

5.  She will for sure steal toothpaste. (I threw in an inside joke cause she loves them)

6. Ryan's earring (another inside joke)

If you have been following my blog you might remember that I randomly taught 4th grade a couple years back.  It was out of the blue, and I went right back to Kindergarten after that year.  That one random year really made this shared contract possible.  It gave me experience and credibility to step into Layla's classroom ready to teach and collaborate.  This is one of the few times in life that I've been able to look back and recognize why things happened the way they did.

I am really sad to leave Kindergarten, but I know it is only temporary.  And I am excited to sacrifice my love for kinder to get to spend more time with my little man.

So what does this mean for my blog?  I plan on actually having time to share content!  I have a laundry list of blog posts I never had time to write, and well as resources that never made it to TpT.  You can expect to still see primary ideas, but I'm sure 4th grade ideas will slip through as well.

Thank you for taking time to read my blog and staying with me through life's transitions.  Don't worry Kindergarten, I'll be back.