Trick or Treat Surprise Sale!

Hello friends!! I have decided to link up with some bloggy friends and have a trick or treat sale at my TPT store. You won't even have to smell my feet! ;) The sale runs through Sunday!!

Here are just a few things available:

 

 

Also on sale: common core resources, teacher's time savers, clipart, room decor, posters and more!! Hope you enjoy! 

Guest Blogging and Freebie Friday!

Today, I have the awesome privilege to guest blog for a fantastic Homeschooling Mama over at the Enchanted Homeschooling Mom blog. My post really deals with what you can do when you hit monotony and need to recharge your excitement! I hope you will head over, check it out, and tell me what you think!


I would also like to link up with Teacher Blog Addict's Freebie Friday! Can you believe this is the last Friday of the month?! O_O   Can... Not... Believe... It!

Anyhoo, I have an Ordered Pair Halloween Freebie that I am offering! It is something I created for my little third grader and thought you might enjoy it as well! Just click on the link to head over and pick it up for free!

I am a Guest Blogger on the Other Side of the World!

Technology and blogging consistently amaze me and today is no exception! I have been invited to guest blog for Brooke, a fellow blogger who lives in the lovely country of Australia! How amazing is that?!! You met Brooke during my Blogger Showcase and I love her blog! I am so excited to be a guest with her today.

I have written about something that is near and dear to my heart: MUSIC! In particular, the importance and ease of using music in the classroom!!  I hope you will head on over to her blog at Teachable Moments to check it out. :) Just click the link below:
Happy Blogging! ;)

Disconnect to Reconnect :)

As you have probably noticed, I have disconnected from my blog a bit over the past few days. In fact, I would say that I have disconnected from my internet life over the past few days. :) Over the past few weeks, I have plugged away and spent more hours than I can tell working, publishing, networking, and writing. However, I noticed that I had been letting a few things slide. One in particular is the time I have spent with my girls. Sure, homeschooling was still being accomplished and we did things together. However, even while I was going places with them, I wasn't really WITH them! Do you know what I mean?

While I may be driving down the road with my little ladies, I would be contemplating my next project or blog post. While sitting on the couch with them to watch a movie, I was drawing clipart or sitting with the laptop in my lap making notes. So, it was time to restore a bit of balance in my little world. To do this, I decided to DISconnect in order to REconnect. How have I been doing this?

First, I have not created anything new in the past few days. I haven't drawn anything nor taken any notes. I have simply been giving my brain a little bit of a break. And my brain has replied, "Thank you very much!"  :)

Secondly, I have not been blog hopping or even really blogging over the past few days, even on into last week. What have we done instead? We have explored a few antique shops, been in the woods, driven around on a buggy, joked, played around, and laughed. I have enjoyed my church and the wonderful people there! We have been to a fall fellowship, played volleyball, and we are heading to a pumpkin patch in a few days. My older girls have been in the deer hunting stand with their Daddy and Papa while I have taken my little Lillee on a bit of a shopping spree with my Mom.

You see, in disconnecting, I have been able to reconnect with what truly matters the most.

So what have I learned:
hmmmmm...

1.  The Bloggy Universe did not implode from my absence. teheheheee Such a relief! ;)

2.  My store has still done well without me. Of course, that has been from my past hard work but now I am simply relaxing and letting my hard work actually work for me! Know what I mean?

3.  My family is still my most precious resource!

4.  God can do more while I rest than I could do from my hardest efforts. That is so encouraging and faith building!

So, my friends, just wanted to let you know that I haven't dropped off of the bloggy world and I am still looking forward to networking, connecting, writing and creating! However, I find that I work best when I have put all of my priorities in order. This is me having a priority check, which I am sure will need to be repeated in the future. LOL
Happy Blogging!

Fall Fun and a New Technology Resource

Hello, friends!! What a week!! I hope you have all had a fantastic week as mine was great but very busy. The weather has been beautiful and we have had our A/C off and the windows open most of the week. For my Floridian friends, you know this can't be done too often so we are really enjoying it! This is also the time of year that we have a Fall Fellowship at our church. We will be having a volleyball tournament and yummy food so there has been quite a bit of prep going on this week for the day on Saturday. I am very thankful that I was able to fight off the sick minions from earlier in the week. :)

For my post today, I wanted to share with you a great new online program that I have found that is absolutely free!! It can be used for school educators as well as homeschoolers. This week was the first I had heard of it and after a quick registration, my kids got to work! I am loving it!! Want to know what it is?

This is a program for K-6 that is aligned with Common Core standards. It creates practice problems for each of the standards and records their level of mastery. As a teacher or parent, you can generate reports and find which strand the child struggles with. I can also assign homework for Math, Reading and Spelling for them to accomplish by a particular due date. For instance, the student may have to complete 4 Math, 4 Reading, and 2 Spelling practices by the end of the week. You can choose which strands you want them to work on as well as type in the spelling words for them to study. I love this new site and the girls have really enjoyed it as well. I have my oldest in 6th completing the 5th grade as a review. So far, I have only found practice for the concepts on the site, not actual teaching; this is still left to the instructor. It is simply a way for the teacher to assign practice for whatever the student is learning and having assessment numbers at your fingertips! Cool, huh? 

One of my girls' favorite features is the classroom wall that we can all post to that resembles a facebook or bulletin board wall. They can also choose a cute avatar and change their mood for the day. We are still exploring the program and I am really impressed with what I have found. 

Have you heard of ScootPad? If so, how do you integrate it into your classroom?

Wednesday Reflections and Fighting Sick Minions

Hello, friends. As I type this morning, my body feels as if it won't be able to sit up much longer. :( Sickness seems to be flying around our city like crazy and I am really feeling it today. So, I thought I would give a quick update on our homeschool progress.

NatNat (3rd)- currently working on graphing (bar graphs, plot graphs, circle graphs, pictographs) I love working with graphs as I am a very visual person. :) Expect to see a unit on graphing soon! She is also working with the parts of sentences and writing a letter. I am so pleased with how she is doing this year. She has really flourished and I am excited to watch her growth.

Em (6th)- currently working with lowest common multiples and factor trees. Greatest common factors and lowest common multiples can be a bit hard to grasp without getting them confused; but, we are having a pretty good time with it.  I LOVED doing factor trees when I was her age so it is fun to do them again. She is also working with sentence structure and labeling. Let me just say, predicate nouns and predicate adjectives boggle my brain sometimes! lol

Lillee- currently working on the letter A and the letter R. She has been recognizing them on signs, etc, so this is exciting for me. She is also counting up to 10 while pointing to objects. She has finally been understanding the 1:1 ratio. lol  She is also coloring (she has fantastic eye/hand coordination) and has mastered naming most of her colors. Her imaginative play has expanded and she is much more willing to play on her own. This definitely helps while the girls are working in school.

All in all, this has been a very successful year. The girls are not behind and seem to be grasping the concepts well. I still do not regret the semester schedule and I think it has really allowed more opportunities to spend time together and increase their time in other areas, like HOME EC! lol Chores are being completed, usually without grumbling, and my girls made the most fantastic, melt in your mouth, cupcakes I have eaten in a long while all while I rested in my chair. *sigh* Gotta love it!

Now, I am off to rest and see if I can fight back the evil minions that seem to be wanting to make me sick. Happy blogging!

Manic Monday Freebie!

Hello, friends! I have been a busy beaver for the past few days! This past weekend was exceptional and the week is full of exciting plans including a Fall Fellowship this weekend at my church. It will have a low country boil and a volleyball tournament with another church. Woohoo!

Tonight, I have decided to share one of my freebies with the Manic Monday Freebie linky party over at Classroom Freebies, Too! Morning meetings are such a fun way to review so many skills every day! Here are a few forms that I created to go with a bigger set. Just click on the pics below to get these for free! I hope you you can use them!

My Fellow Bloggers, We Need YOUR Vote!

Hello, friends!! We need your vote on the funniest link for my latest linky party. What do you do?? Simply click on the link below, visit the posts and vote for your favorite! The winner will receive a free item from my store.  So, would you vote, pretty please!!!  Click below!  Thanks, Leah

Have you Linked Up with the Funniest Linky Party Evah?!

Okay, friends!! Time is almost up before the linky party closes tomorrow! After the linky submissions close, you will be able to vote for the funniest link!!! Join up today and explore the other funny links. Believe me, it is the perfect ending to the weekend! :)

Boo! Did I Scare You?! teheheehe

Hello, friends! I love October! Have I said that already? ;) Florida is a beautiful place to live in October. The weather is perfect! Today is a fantastic day only made better when I opened my blog and found that:

Maggie from From Grade and Fearless made my Saturday an exciting one! So give her some bloggy love and tell her I sent you. ;)  Here are the rules!

Here is the blog link where you can check out the linky party!  http://toristeachertips.blogspot.com/2012/10/ive-been-booed-fun-october-linky.html

So, here are a few of my favorite October delights! Number One is a few non-educational items that just makes life so much more  pleasant. :)

1.  Spiced Pumpkin Candles, Fall Decor, and Starbucks... Need I say more?!

2.  The Lonely Scarecrow children's book is one of my favorites. I go back to this book every year in October. When it was time to create a fall unit, this book was the first one I grabbed. If you want to see my unit, just click one of the pictures below!

  

3.  Here are my freebies! The first is a Math Center for Kindergarten. As we are beginning to do a lot of counting with my Sunshine, this is a lot of fun! Just click on the link to download! Hope you enjoy!

Another October Freebie is my Pumpkin Clipart! They are too cute and can be added into so many types of documents. I have been using them everywhere.

4.)  Here is my best seller in my TPT store. It is for primarily 3rd grade but I have had 4th grade teachers tell me that it is a great review. It is a packet of Math worksheets with a Spooktacular theme. :) Just click the pic to check it out!

5.  Finally, one of my favorite days at school was the day we dressed up like book characters and had a parade! Here is a fun activity that you can do with your class that showcases their favorite book character! For older classes, a historical biography pack is available.

Now, to boo a few blogging buddies... Here they are! You should definitely check out their sites!

1.)  Donna at Working 5 to 9 Math and Science

2.)  Nicole at Lanier's Lions

3.)  Hooty at Hooty's Homeroom

4.)  Brooke at Teachable Moments

5.)  Terri at First Grade Princess

I'm off to "knock on their doors!" Have a fantastic Saturday everyone! And don't forget to link up with my hilarious linky party! "If You Can't Be Deep, Be Funny!" is still open and we will begin voting on Monday!! Winner will receive a free item from my store. I hope you will join in on the fun. Just click the link below to head on over!

Freebie Friday Literature Response Form!

Hello, friends! Have you checked out the hilarious pinterest posts from those that have linked up with my linky party?! Bwahahahahahahaa!!! That is all I have to say. You can see them here:

Don't forget to link up your favorite funny pics that best describes you! Voting will begin on Monday for the funniest link and the winner will receive a free item from my Learning 4 Keeps TPT store! 

For this Freebie Friday, I have included my Cut and Paste Literature Response form that assists students in writing a summary. This page is included in my new winter unit that revolves around the book The Biggest, Best Snowman by Margery Cuyler. This is one of my favorites to use every year! You can check out the entire unit by clicking the picture below:

Here is the Freebie! I hope you enjoy it! Just click on the link below to head to my TPT store and download it for free.

Also, check out my Learning 4 Keeps Design page as I have updated it with a new snowman clipart set!! I LOVE snowmen so this was a fun set. Enjoy!

If You Can't Be Deep, Be Funny Linky Party #2!

Hello, friends! I woke up this morning feeling ready to have another If You Can't Be Deep, Be Funny linky party!!

<center> <a href="http://learning-4-keeps.blogspot.com/2012/10/if-you-cant-be-deep-be-funny-linky.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Learning 4 Keeps" src="http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w401/learning4keeps/Slide1-1.jpg"/></a></center>

I had so much fun with this last time. It is great to giggle on a Wednesday, isn't it?! This time I have added another great feature! We will be voting on the funniest link! Here's how it will work:

1.) Blog about your favorite funny pics from Pinterest. Grab my button above to add to your page and encourage your bloggy followers to vote!
2.) Come back here and link up!
3.) Explore the other funny links and voting will begin on Monday for the funniest link!
4.) Voting ends on Wednesday and a winner will be announced! Winner will receive any item of their choice from my store!

The theme for this week: THAT IS SO ME!

Here we go!

 Haha! Yep!

 

Every time!

 Finally, someone gets it!

 Oh, yeah!! This is so me!

 Tehehehee... 

uhum.... I have been saying this for years!!!

 I knew this was a super power!!! I am so relieved! Whew!

 Oh yeah! I have so done this!

Now, it's your turn! A recap of the steps are listed below. :) Have fun!

Out with the New... On with the Old! :)

Hello, friends! As you can see, my blog header has been through a bit of a change this week. :) I liked my new header with my caricature but to be honest.... I missed seeing my three angels' smiling faces as soon as I open my page. Call me sentimental but there you go. In many ways, this blog is dedicated to them. Homeschooling was never our first plan but it has become our favorite. The opportunity to spend time with my children every day is one that I treasure. Better yet, I get the privilege of using my passion for learning and reading to impact my own children. How cool is that?!

This blog has become a place for me to share, learn, and grow all while I seek to guide my children in their education and values. I love the fact that I have a smiling 6th grader rather than a moody and stressed middle schooler. I have a 3rd grader who is unafraid to be herself and never meets a stranger. My three year old gets to learn from two of the smartest young ladies I know and tries so hard to be just like them.  I enjoy watching my girls interact with one another in love (most of the time :)) and support each other throughout the day. I enjoy watching them learn something new and know that I would miss it if we ever needed to do something different.

The faces of my children bring joy to my heart and for that reason, I dedicate this blog to them. We seek to view everyday as an opportunity to learn... together. :)

Happy Blogging my friends!

Celebrating Columbus Day and Sweetness from my Hubs!

Hello, friends! Today has been a bit of a rough day. I have been feeling sick for a few days. Yuck! But I have still managed to check a great majority of items off of my "It's Bugging Me Till I Can Get It Done!" List. You know the one I am talking about!! You don't want to do it but you have to and when you finally do it, it is not as bad as what you thought. Oh, yeah! That one! My list now only holds 1 more item and I don't have the strength to tackle it today. So, I have moved that to my procrastination file. tehehehehee Don't judge! ;)

Here is what my day started with from my sweet hubby:

That is a yummy Caramel Mocha, a new file box, sharpies and paper for my new clipart endeavors! Sorry, ladies... he is taken. ;) He even remembered the new hanging files to go IN the file box. Sigh... true love my friends, true love!

Next, the girls and I completed a unit on Christopher Columbus. I have thoroughly enjoyed the great resources on TPT! Our day included an interactive lesson, comprehension fun, internet scavenger hunts, a board game, vocabulary game, and writing activities that focus on Christopher Columbus. Even my Lillee got involved by coloring and creating a telescope. Here are a few pics!

Hope you have all had a fantastic day! Did you do anything for Columbus Day?