Monday, December 31, 2012

RESOLUTIONS & A MONDAY MADE IT!


Look what I made!!!


Inspired by a pin on Pinterest from "The Idea Room", I made this using only a curtain rod, ribbon, wood (scrap 2x4's we already had laying around the house), family pics, and mod podge!! LOVE IT! 

And so easy.....the hardest part was going through the photo albums, scanning, and printing out the black & white photos. It adds a nice touch to my living room wall. 

Sorry I couldn't post better....and more photos, but my camera is broken, so all I have is the camera on my phone. 



Well it's NEW YEARS EVE!! 

Now to link up with a few of the "New Years" linky parties going on. My New Years Resolutions for 2013 are:

School: 
~~~Take more photos of my classroom & class projects. At school, I always forget to take the time to photograph. Then, I see things on other blogs & think "Oh, I've done that"......or...."I could share that," but guess what?.....I didn't take a photo. 
~~~Do more hands-on learning with my kiddos. I teach 5 grade levels & students with various disabilities, so planning can easily consume me & it can be difficult not to have to reinvent the wheel week after week, and year after year in order to meet everyone's individual learning needs. Time restraints just don't allow me to always plan & do everything I want to do with them. 
~~~Come up with a better filing system or way to organize my grade level resources & holiday items/activities more efficiently. I'm pretty organized, but just haven't found the "perfect" method. 

Blogging:
~~~Post at least once a week on my blog. 
~~~Share more resources with others on my blog. There are so many creative teachers out there. I tend to take, take, take, and feel guilty about not giving back more. I'm just not that creative and am still new to using ppt & clipart to design my own resources.
~~~Design a new blog button. 
~~~Get a new blog design. I currently use a free generic one & it just doesn't say "me" or represent who I am!
~~~Host a linky party.....which I have never done!
~~~Reach 100 followers & be able to host my first giveaway!! 

Personal:
~~~Take more photos at home....of my home projects and of my kids & our adventures. As my kids have gotten older, I've become terrible with taking photos. It seems the older they get, the smaller my photo collection becomes. 
~~~Set aside more time for my family. I spend toooo much time of my spare time working on school stuff that I know I neglect my family time way too often. It's not that I don't manage my time wisely.....there's just always sooooo much to do. I'm sure many of you can relate!
~~~Be more creative & design more things for my classroom. 
~~~Start a TpT store. I would so love to do this....but this is definitely a LONG term goal, cause I have to master the art of designing & start creating first....right?? I've always been a simple MWord kinda girl. I want to get better at using clipart and ppt to design. 
~~~Give myself more credit! This is both a personal and a blogging resolution! I think I'm too hard on myself sometimes. It took me alot of courage to start this blog in July.....because.....well with all the creative teachers out there, I always feel like my ideas are not that good & that no-one will want to read what I have to say or like my ideas. 

WoW!!! When I started writing this post, I didn't realize there were  so many things I wanted to work on next year. It really helps to put it in writing and will hopefully be an incentive!!

If you haven't already.....be sure to link up with at least one if not all of the New Year Linky Parties below!!! Hope everyone has a Happy New Year! Stay Safe!!


Teaching Maddeness



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Saturday, December 29, 2012

WHAT ARE YOUR HOLIDAY BREAK GOALS?


Yay!! It's after midnight....I can blog and link up again! Since blogging has apparently become a hobby of mine only during spring, summer, and winter break.....I can't help but go crazy with it during those times. 

So.....I'm linking up this late evening with "What I Have Learned" and her GOALS FOR HOLIDAY BREAK LINKY!!! 

So what are your goals for holiday break. My break is almost half over......and I have already accomplished a couple of my goals......and still have nine days left..............
but who's counting...........RIGHT??


Pinning.....which I think I have already increased my pins by about 150 over the last few days!! Done

Make at least 2-3 things I have pinned

Blog...........in progress

Clean out my closet

Clean out and organize my desk.....Done

Redo my morning Smartboard Program.......Done

Take down decorations.......will wait til New Year's Day

Organize my "Disability Awareness Day" I am hosting in Feb..........almost done! Had most of it done anyway! But would like to finalize it to propose to the principal following our return. 

Type an IEP that is due 2 days after I return from break

Clean my car.....it's such a mess!

I guess I'm not doing so bad......5 out of 10 done or in progress! I may just be able to accomplish it all! 




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Friday, December 28, 2012

12 Things I LOVED About Christmas

Okay....so I go from not having time to post or nothing to post....to posting 2-3 times a day, what can I say! 

But I just stumbled upon a linky party going on at MEL's FROG SPOT that looks like fun! Post the 12 things you loved most about Christmas! I missed all of the Christmas linky parties going on, so this is a good chance for me to grab some of the fun before the year comes to an end! 






1. Spending time with my beautiful family! 


2. Having Vacation with my husband and spending Christmas Eve and Day with him for the first time in 3 years! He has had to work the last 3 years for Christmas and we have celebrated it on a different day....whatever his days off were! So this....I really enjoyed!


3. Decorating the house and seeing all of the other decorations around town!!





4. Listening to Christmas music EVERY DAY!! Love it! I'm still playing it everyday!!


5. BAKING.....love baking for the holidays.....and seeing the kids still, even at 15 and 16, still having fun decorating cookies!!!! They did pass on the gingerbread house though this year!!




6. THE GIFT OF GIVING!!! I'm a giver.....I LOVE Giving heartfelt gifts to everyone and seeing their HAPPY faces! I don't do gift cards!! 


7. I LOVED that everyone got everything they wanted from Santa......even the dog!!! heehee!





8. SHOPPING!!! I love Christmas shopping! I'm not even a lover of shopping.....but love it at Christmas!!


9. My VINYL WALL LETTERING.......love it! Been wanting this......my favorite gift!!




10. THE FOOD! Since we do a big dinner for Thanksgiving.........at Christmas it has become a tradition to do a spread of our most favorite munchies and finger foods....and we cook a ham too to make finger sandwiches with. I must have eaten the entire pan of hot spinach artichoke dip myself. Boy was it good!!! 


11. All the Christmas cards, letters, and photos of far away friends and family!!!! I just love getting xmas cards. I get so excited! Ok...so it doesn't take much to excite me. :)

And lastly..............
12.  CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!!!!

Be sure to head over to Mel's "Frog Spot" & link up your 12 Faves!!


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A LITTLE XMAS CHIT CHAT


Hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you are all having a relaxing Winter Break.....I know I am!!! Doing lots of pinning and getting new ideas for the new year..........and last night freshened up my Smartboard program by adding some new pages and new songs. My current morning SB program was becoming a little monotonous for us all after having used it since last school year! 

I know I have been terrible at this blogging thing!!!! I love it so much though....and LOVE reading everyone else's blogs and seeing what everyone has to share.....

I had some great pics to share with everyone and show off all of the holiday things that my class made and that I made, but my memory card is not registering in my computer (could it be the glass of coke that was dumped on my computer last week.....aaahhhh.....maybe?)......and I can't find my camera cord to transfer them that way......Darn it....bums me out! 

Oh well, I'll share a couple of things I found funny on Pinterest, so I'm at least sharing something!







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Monday, December 3, 2012

BACK WITH A MONDAY MADE IT!

Hey, I'm back!! Feels good to be on my blog again and checking out all the other blogging I've been missing out on! I miss blogging everyday.....I just don't have the time when school is in session! It has been a crazy year!!! I just don't know how you find the time when you're working! Even at this very minute....I'm neglecting or should I say avoiding my report cards I should be working on that go home Wednesday!! I must admit though....I have still been sneaking around many of your blogs....getting ideas and pulling freebies from here and there when I can! 

Ok....so I'm not super crafty as many of you, but I was super excited about finally making my pompom dry erase markers today..........see what I mean.....saw this idea on Pinterest over the summer and am just now getting around to making them. It's nothing fancy, and I'm so out of the loop that many of you probably have already seen these.....and probably made them too!!

Anyway, I know....I know that this is Monday Made It Christmas Edition and that I am supposed to be posting a CHRISTMAS MADE IT. But, the first thing I thought after I made these tonight was, "HEY, IT's MONDAY"  and how I could get on my blog and link up with 4th Grade Frolics Monday Made It for the first time since August. I was so excited....then, I got to Tara's blog only to find that it was for Christmas ideas......so needless to say, I'm posting it anyway.....so don't rain on my parade and spoil my excitement, lol. Here you go!! And hey, btw, they are done in Christmas colors if that counts! 

My Monday Made It!!
Pompoms glued into the lids of my students' dry erase markers to use as their eraser!!! My students are going to love these! Just made them tonight in about 5 minutes, if that! So easy & cheap, yet so valuable in the classroom!!

'Tis the season to be crafty....even for those of us that aren't usually so crafty! So keep checking back because I do have a few Christmas projects I'm working on that you may like!

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