Long time, no blog.  I'm not quite sure where my time went, but I am back!  I am so excited to get back to my little blog!  Poor thing feels so neglected.

I plan on sharing some pictures of my classroom later this week, but I wanted to share what we did today in class.  Tomorrow, of course, is the election.  We have a Staff Development Day due to the schools being used as polling sites, so today we had a little election in our classroom.

The first thing that we did was read this great book.  I just love Duck and all the antics he gets into.


After the story, the students made their own Voter Registration Cards.  We discussed how adults have to register in order to vote.  The students did such a great job on their cards!  You can find them here.

 I finally finished sorting my books very late last night.  I ended up with 68 {yes 68} categories.  I was shocked to say the least.  Some of my categories are pretty pathetic though.  I only have 2 Curious George books and only 1 Earth Day book.  What in the world is up with that? At least it gave me a heads up on what books I need to buy, and which ones I have enough off.  Can we say "no more books about apples and leaves" anyone?  lol

This is what a guest room looks like with over 500 books in piles. lol

I was also finally able to go into school and get my keys.  I took some "Before" pictures to share with you.  Be sure to notice my plethora of doors.  {Side note:  I just love the word plethora.  lol}

Door 1:  Closet Door 2: Out to playground

Door 3:  Out  to playground Door 4: Closet

Door 5:  To girl's bathroom Door 6:  To hallway

Door 7:  To hallway Door 8:  To boy's bathroom

I'm so excited that I get to start putting my room back together tomorrow!

Here is my list of back to school jitters. {Love the Lego guy icons.  I was immersed in Legos last week at Legoland.  :) }


*Every year I get so excited to see my class list.  I love to see if I have any families from the past.  Last year I had a little girl that I knew from when she was 2 and her brother was in my class.  This year I know that I have a boy whose sister was in my class a few years ago.  {I haven't actually seen my list.  They caught me at the grocery store.  haha}

*I want to be organized this year.  I say it every year, but this year I am going to be organized.  I have a plan in mind.  Let's see if I can stick with it.  :)

*I am in love with my new blue and zebra theme this year!  I love my pillows for my library area, my book bins, my alphabet line, etc.  Can't wait to put it all together!

*I became a teacher to teach children.  I think sometimes I let other "stuff" get in the way of that.  My main goal this year is to stay focused on my students and their learning.  I feel that if we step back and remember why we became teachers in the first place, we will find that the "stuff" is not so important.  {I hope that this isn't too cryptic or a downer.  I just needed to get that out. :) }

Jump over to A Turn to Learn to join the Back to School Jitters party!

I mentioned in yesterday's post that our family had just returned from San Diego.  One of our stops in San Diego was the zoo.  I have very fond memories of going to the Topeka Zoo growing up.  I loved seeing the animals and learning all about them.  Well, I wanted Colton to have the same kind of memories.  Turns out, he's not into animals.  :(

We walked around the zoo for a little while.  Colton basically took about a second to look at each animal and then he wanted to move on.  We finally decided to take the bus tour so that Mommy would at least be able to see most of the animals.  Colton decided that we were going to sit on top of the double decker bus.  We got our seats and we were off.  As the bus driver/tour guide drove us around the park, we realized that we sat on the wrong side.  All but one of the animals were on the right side.  We sat on the left.  Yes, you could stand up to check out the animals, but it was difficult to see over all of the other people.  I told my husband that I was kind of disappointed and that next time we should sit on the other side.  Not more than a minute after I made that comment, we came up to the giraffes on our side.  I was so happy to be able to see them well.  Turns out we had the best seats in the house.  That morning a baby giraffe was born.  Our tour guide told us we would probably not see the baby.  A second later we saw this cute little guy {or girl - they didn't know yet} come from the building with his mother!  Your should have heard all of the excitement.   I have to say that this is probably one of the cutest things that I have ever seen!


Well, yesterday I couldn't get that cute baby giraffe out of my mind.  I remembered seeing a giraffe clip art picture at My Cute Graphics and I just knew I had to do something with it.  I came up with numeral, number word, and tens frame matching cards for numbers 0-10.  I also included two skills sheets.  One sheet has the students coloring in a tens frame to match a numeral and the other has the students cutting out number words to match to tens frames.  You can get the packet {here}.




Also, don't forget about the big Back to School Sale at Teachers Pay Teachers!  My store is 20% off today and tomorrow!  Use the code BTS12 to get an extra 10% off my sales price for a total of 28%.

Thanks again to A Turn to Learn!

My poor sweet little blog has been greatly neglected as of late.  School is starting up very, very soon so I'm sure my blogging mojo will be back soon as well.

I thought that I would give you an update on my classroom library project.  I finally got all my books logged into Booksource.  Now, I say finally but really it shouldn't have taken so long.  I guess I took the words "summer vacation" to heart and took my own sweet time.  All said and done, I entered over 575 books into Booksource.  I know that I did not bring home every single book in my classroom, so more will be added when I am able to get back into my classroom.  {Can I say I am super jealous of all of you who are able to get into your classroom early?  Hopefully on Monday I will be able to get my keys.}

I am beginning to sort my books now into different categories.  I have decided that I don't want to put all my books like in years past.  I feel like changing out the books monthly/seasonally will keep the library area fresh and new for the students.  I am using my scraproom {aka as the guest room} to sort my books.  {Really, this wasn't my first choice, but my husband apparently did not want the books in the dining room.  lol}



Once I have my books all sorted, I plan to use these buckets to put the books in.  I have had my old buckets for years and I wasn't a huge fan of them.  The books always fell down and it drove me nuts.  I saw on a blog {if it's yours, please let me know so I can give credit} that someone was using ice buckets as individual book boxes for students.  I loved this idea!  So I ran to Wal-Mart and bought out the ice buckets and then ran to another Wal-Mart to get more for a total of 15 buckets.  I then put this blue zebra ribbon around the top.  My theme for this year is zebra with blue, black and white as the accent colors.  This ribbon was perfect!!!  You should have seen my face when I saw it!  I am currently working on labels for my containers.  I have to wait until I am done sorting so I know what additional labels are needed.
I am excited to for the big Back to School sale on Teachers Pay Teachers.  My wishlist is quite long!!!  I probably won't be able to get everything, but I hope to put a dent in it!

Everything in my store will be on sale for 20% off.  Adding in the 10% that Teachers Pay Teachers is giving, that is a total of 28% off! {Make sure to use the code BTS12 when checking out.}

Thanks to A Turn to Learn for the cute graphic!

And if a sale wasn't good enough, how about a $25 gift certificate to Teachers Pay Teachers.  Tonya over at Tonya's Treats for Teachers is having a flash giveaway!  Run over right now to enter her drawing.  It ends tonight at midnight.

I am linking up with Susan over at TGIF in her What's Cookin' Good Lookin'? linky party.

We are pizza lovers at my house.  We eat it at least once every 2 weeks.  If Colton had his choice, we would have pizza every day.  lol

Quite a few years ago my husband and I would buy those tubes of pizza crust at the store to make our pizza.  One night we really, really wanted pizza, but neither of us wanted to run to the store.  So my husband went digging on the internet and found this recipe.  I wish I could share where he got this recipe, but honestly I haven't seen the actual recipe in years.  This is one of those recipes that we use so much that I have it memorized.  If you know who's recipe this is, I would love to give credit.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or one small packet)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup hot water
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Steps:
1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Put yeast and sugar in a bowl and add hot water.  Let rise for 10 minutes.

This is what it should look like after it rises.

2.  Add flour, salt, and olive oil.  Mix until it forms a ball.  (I use my trusty Kitchenaid Mixer.)  Let rise another 10 minutes.

Before mixing.

After mixing.

3.  Spread dough out on sprayed pan.  Then cook for 8 minutes.

Before cooking.

After cooking.

4.  Removed from oven.  Add desired toppings and return to oven until cheese is melted (approximately 12 minutes).  

With toppings before being cooked.

Ready to eat!

I've been having so much fun reading everyone's Tell Me More posts that I decided to link up with Amy Lemons in her Tell Me More Linky Party.


1.  I grew up in a very small town in Kansas, like 250 people small.  I loved growing up in such a small town.  Was it hard sometimes because everyone know everything about you?  Yes, but I have found out that Las Vegas is kind of like that too.  lol

One of my best friends posted this video on Facebook about a year ago. Biff Henderson from the David Letterman Show visited my hometown.  It was fun for me to watch this and recognize everywhere he went.  The school that he walks into is the school I attended from Kindergarten through 8th Grade.  Yes, I know he's spoofing on a small town, but it's fun all the same {even if he pronounces the town's name incorrect the whole time  lol}.


2.  I married my husband on my parent's farm.  Actually it's the farm that my dad grew up on.  My parents moved there when my Grandma moved into "town."   We joke that people come from all over the world to get married in Las Vegas and we left to get married in Kansas.

3.  Disneyland is my son's "Happy Place."  Truth be told, it's mine too.  I love watching Colton enjoying himself so much.  He has such a great time and is able to do everything that "normal" kids do.  He enjoys riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  On our last trip, the couple behind us got such a kick out of Colton screaming as the roller coaster went around the curves and down the hills.


4.  I like to decorate cakes.  My favorite cake that I have made to date is my son's 2nd birthday cake.


5.  I love lighthouses!  I didn't see my first lighthouse until I went to Oregon with my husband.  I fell in love instantly.  My favorite lighthouse is Haceta Head Lighthouse.  For our honeymoon, we stayed in the Haceta Head Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast.  We plan on going back next year for our 10th anniversary.

The view of Haceta Head Lighthouse from our room.

6.  I have one puppy.  Ok, really she's not a puppy anymore, but she sure acts like one.  I always wanted a cocker spaniel growing up and had to wait until I was 27 before I got one.


7.  I'm addicted to sugar.  No, seriously I love candy, cakes, cookies.  Every time I go to the grocery store I tell myself I'm not going to get any candy.  It never works. lol  Some of my fav candies are Starburst Jelly Beans, Mike & Ikes, and Twizzlers.

8.  I'm also addicted to diet pop {or soda as I have to call it now}.  My faves are Diet Sunkist, Diet Dr. Pepper, and Diet Coke.

Wow!  I should probably stop now.  I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about me.  Have a great Friday!