Make Your Masterpiece

It's week 3 of the #tptsellerchallenge & I recreated our first day of school activities that I do each year with my class.

Okay. Let me start off by asking... Does anyone else still keep or organize their weekly activities in large tan envelopes? I didn't think so. Here it goes. I will admit it. I do! I'm totally saying this with my hands covering my face now. lol. Whew. That kind of feels good to get of my chest but it's all changing this year. Where am I getting at with this? Well most of the activities I do with my class are from when I created them in handwriting (oh yes I did- face hiding in my hands again) or from the computer in arial font and very plain. How did lessons or activities exist before learning how to create resources with cute font, great graphics and TPT or TN? My goal this year is to recreate all my activities and resources in my large tan envelopes. My goal is to turn them into masterpieces.

 

First Day Activities with the Gingerbread Man is my first masterpiece that I am pulling out of that large tan envelope. I haven't decide if I am going to start filing my lessons & activities for each week in sheet protectors in a binder or in these plastic file storage containers. I would love to hear how you organize your originals prints, lessons & activities so please share. :)

 

You can get the First Day Activities with the Gingerbead Man HALF OFF for the next 24 hours.

Looking for some first day of school activities that will allow your students to explore, build friendships and make memories? The First Day of School Activities with the Gingerbread Man will allow your students to explore the school during their hunt for the Gingerbread Man, build friendships as students search together, and get to know some of the staff while on their search. Students will go home after their first day of school eager to tell their parents all about the fun they had and excited to come back to school the next day without being scared. Students also enjoy baking gingerbread man cookies, decorating a gingerbread man craft, reading their gingerbread man reader, creating a gingerbread man classroom and creating a gingerbread man hat.

 

My students absolutely love (like puffy heart-love) searching for their missing gingerbread men. It's so much fun to see their faces light up when they help solve the riddle as to where the clue takes us next on the search for their cookies. This is one of my favorite activities to do with my students.

 

Have a masterpiece to share? Go check out these lovely ladies and link up.

 

 

 

Dare to Dream

Does anyone ever start a blog or Teachers Pay Teachers Store with a dream in mind other than to meet other educators that inspire you to be better and to learn from? I honestly did not begin blogging or creating resources for Teachers Pay Teachers with a dream in mind or an end goal. This week's topic in the #tptsellerchallenge is to dream big.

While I may not have ever dreamed of anything other than finding inspiring blogs & learning from other educators, all of those wonderful blogs I found on this thing called the internet (lol) helped me see that there is more to dream for. Three years ago I moved to Canada with my husband since he is a Canadian (back story- we met in Mississippi when he played hockey), but when we moved here I couldn't work or teach for that matter. The first thought that came to mind when I realized I would have to go a year without teaching was....SAY WHAAAT?! I am not someone that does well without working. I like to stay busy. When August came in 2012 and I did not have a classroom to prepare I kind of freaked out. After reading a few blogs and learning about TPT I created a blog and opened up a TPT store.  

Do student loans ever get paid off? Well it's been 6 years and I am still paying them off. Since I couldn't work or teach when we first moved to Canada opening a TPT Store helped me make my monthly payment to pay my student loans. It would be amazing if I could pay them off.

Speaking of paying things off.... It would be great if I could also pay off our car. We went down to one car since my husband's new job gave him a work vehicle in hopes to lower the bills. Hey, maybe in 6 more years we will have both my student loans and our car payment paid off. #wishfulthinking

I would like to build a better blog and TPT store brand. What I mean by that is that I would like to eventually begin my own online business of teacher goodies like planners, notepads and those type of special items with a modern touch for Canadian teachers. That is a BIG dream of mine and seems far fetched but you never know. Along with that I would like to improve my blog and TPT resources.

Another BIG dream that I have is to eventually move back to the States. I miss the South and everything about it. When me and my husband had to make the decision to stay in Mississippi or move to Canada we pretty much had no choice but to move to Canada. As newly weds our choice was to: stay in Mississippi while he applied for his U.S. permanent residency which means he couldn't work for as long as it takes to get which is over a year, live with my parents and live off of my sad sad teacher pay of $1,800 a month & the small tips I made waiting tables on the weekends. Option #2 of moving to Canada where he could make more than double the pay that I would teaching in the U.S. and I not work but take a Canadian history class to work towards my teacher application for Canada. Now that we have our sweet baby girl it makes me miss my family that much more and it is really hard on me when I think about how my family is missing out on quality time with my daughter since we are so so far away. We both miss the South and would like to move to Texas. 

Those are my top four dreams. What are your dreams? I can't wait to read all about them.