All I want for... BLACK FRIDAY!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING BREAK! Are you off for the entire week? I hate to brag but... I AM! WOOT! If you're not, I'm so sorry. May the kids be QUIET, the week FLY BY and you have plenty of REST and GRUB on your days off!

Today I'm liking up with The Primary Pack  for a fun Black Friday linky! 
I'm not really a Black Friday shopper. I'm a lay in bed and eat leftover Thanksgiving food type of girl. I will do online shopping though. And MAYBE if I've had a lot of coffee, I might stop by Target. Buuuuut... That's not likely. It's more likely I'll eat pumpkin pie for breakfast, a turkey sandwich with a moist maker for lunch (any Friends fans out there?? lol) and then have "Leftovers" with the family on Friday night. "Leftovers" gets a capital letter because it is an official event with my family. We heat up all the leftovers and re-do Thanksgiving - no decorations this time though, and we use paper plates..... And no fancy clothes, just elastic pants... My family is a bunch of FOODIES, y'all! Haha. I can't wait!

Enough food talk. Back to shopping. My own personal Black Friday list consists of two things. New pots and pans and EVERYTHING HUNGER GAMES. I just KNOW there will be some online shopping deals on pots and pans.... There HAS to be.... Why the need?? You see, I was watching a Bill Nye video the other day with my class. He told me that if the non-stick coating on your pots and pans have cuts in it, when you cook with them all the chemicals that make it a non-stick get released into your food... and like everything else, THAT CAN CAUSE CANCER. I swear, I haven't cooked with my pots and pans since I saw that (well, really, I just haven't cooked because I hate cooking... Take out menus, please?). Anyway, I NEED NEW COOKING THANGS.
Also, I NEED all of the Hunger Games movies. I'm not a big movie person. Like, I'll watch one every once in a while, but there are only a few I can sit down and watch all the time. Over and over. Again and again. Hunger Games is one of them. I LOVE KATNISS. I don't understand why she can't be real so we can be besties....

For my classroom Black Friday wish list, I have a few FANTASTIC items on it. They should really be on your wish list too (don't worry, I'll link them so you can put them on there).
-  If I had a Million Dollars Project by 4MulaFun. Jennifer is SO STINKIN' AWESOME. Love her products. Recently, I've let my students do more PBL type of learning' and it has been AMAZING. This is the next project I want to do with my class!
- Reader's Notebook Response Pages by the Thinker Builder. THANK YOU PINTEREST for helping me find Michael. Everything he makes is AWESOME. He completely changed the way I take notes for Guided Reading Groups. I NEED these response pages!!
- Christmas Labs by the Science Penguin. Why do kids love science? BECAUSE IT'S SO COOL. My kids are going to LOVE me when I bust out with all this awesome Christmas science!

Now, here are some fun things Christmas items from my TPT store - I'd love for YOU to put on YOUR Black Friday TPT wish list!

- Design a Christmas Tree is HOT OFF THE PRESS! I just created this activity after my students LOVED my Thanksgiving Meal Planning project. In this set, you will get 4 pages of "store ads". Students will shop the store ads and purchase items for their dream Christmas Tree. There's a lot of math included in this set but it's disguised as FUN. The kids won't even know how much learning they're doing! HEHE! I've included some problem solving questions as well. It's only $1.50 right now... GO GET IT!
- Snowman Math Glyph is a favorite of my kiddos EVERY YEAR. This is actually the first math glyph I made. All sorts of skills are included in this - what makes this so awesome is each answer has the kiddos coloring their snowman a certain way. My students loved it so much, it's inspired a ton more Math Glyphs!! Go check them all out!
- Looking for a way to give students or coworkers a cute and low cost holiday gift? Go get my Holiday Gift Tags! These cute little signs fit on a snack sized baggie. Then pop in a few sweet treats and BOOM, Christmas shopping is done, son!
- My Christmas Activity Pack and Winter Activity Pack are perfect for your holiday party day to keep the kiddos occupied... ;) SO much fun inside both of them!

Oooohwee! All this shopping talk is making me EXCITED!
Want to join this link? YOU SHOULD! Get over to the Primary Pack's blog and LINK UP and ENTER to win like, a TON of fabulous items.

Whatever you do this holiday, I hope it is full of FUN, FRIENDS and FAMILY.
Wishing you tons of Thanksgiving blessings!
xoxo

1 for ME Linky Party

Today I'm linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for a "1 for Me" resolution of sorts.

Last New Year, I decided I'd eat better. 

Eh-hem. 

Didn't happen. 

This year, I'm deciding to WORK ON MY STRESS LEVEL. I have all sorts of awesome aches and issues because of stress.... I have neck, shoulder and back issues. I've seen doctors, chiropractors and physical therapists. I grind my teeth at night, which also led to jaw issues. I don't really think my body knows how to "relax"because I'm constantly tense. To sum it u, I'm a giant ball of STRESS MESS. So this year, I'm going to find ways to relieve stress. I'm going to start with yoga. I LOVE YOGA. A few years ago when I actually did exercise, yoga was my favorite activity. I remember how my body would hum after a yoga sessions - every muscle was used, stretched and relaxed. I need that back in my life! So my "1 for me" is RELAXATION through YOGA! Yay!  

Happy 2014 my friends! Don't forget about my fantastic TPT sale that starts today and runs through Jan. 4! Just click HERE to go to my store! And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Let's Talk About Me Monday

Happy Teacher Week! I'm joining Blog Hoppin's Linky Party and sharing ten fun things about me.

1) I have two AMAZING boys who rock my world. One is going into 8th grade and the other 5th. I had my children VERY young - in fact I was still in high school when I had my first. My boys changed my life for the better- I am who I am today because of them!

2) I have ELEVEN tattoos. My favorites include a cupcake on my finger (see #9), a bible verse (written in Greek) on my wrist (Matthew 6:34 - LOOK IT UP!), my boy's initials on my shoulder blades and my wedding bouquet on my left arm.

3) I was born on Halloween. ROCKIN' RIGHT?! I absolutely love that holiday and I LOVE to dress up!

4) My love for dressing up does not stop at Halloween though - it flows over to Christmas and other events, like my sister's Jersey Shore birthday!

5) The sweet man in the above Jersey Shore pic - maroon bandana - passed away on May 31st. Robert Garner was a Houston firefighter, and lost his life in a horrible call. He is missed by SO MANY!  I am a better person because I knew him!!

6) I have two dogs and two cats. We used to have a monkey, too. I kid you not. Her name is Matilda and she now lives in a sanctuary in San Antonio, TX. She now has monkey friends! Yay!

7) If I was stranded on an abandoned island, I could live off of broccoli cheese soup and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. All food groups are there - veggies, dairy, protein and fruit.

8) I am 100% addicted to any and all Real Housewives of _____. I know, it's trash TV. But I. Don't. Care.

9) During college and student teaching, I baked on the side. Check out my goodies on my Facebook page - KJ's Bakeshop!

10) I could not live without my Swiffer Sweeper Vac. Like I said above, I have two dogs and two cats. This means uber amounts of animal hair on my beautiful wood floors. My hubby told me the other day that I can handle crazy amounts of stress, but not a non-charging Sweeper Vac... It's true. I even Swiffer during parties!!

THE END!

My 5 Fav Teaching Items

Today I'm linking up with Teacher Idea Factory to some Rockin' Reasources I cannot live without. Woot!

1. CLASS DOJO
Class Dojo is FREE "Behavior Management Software" that I found through Pinterest last year... You have all your students listed and can add points for good behavior / subtract points for misbehaviors (and they get a cute monster icon). I use it while I have a small group and students are working independently. I project it onto my projection screen through my computer (I don't have a SmartBoard) so all students can see. If a student is working nicely, I add a point. If I notice loud voices, off task behaviors, I subtract a point. WORKS LIKE A CHARM. The kids are so stoked to see their names high lighted on the big screen for positive points that I RARELY ever have to subtract a point... Ready for the icing on the cake?? You can access it through your smartphone!! I downloaded an app onto my iPhone that allows me to add/subtract points with ease. No stopping small group and no running around to manage behaviors. It's AWESOME. There are so many other features to Class Dojo that I cannot even begin to list here so GET TO IT and CHECK IT OUT!

2. RORY'S STORY CUBES

This is a new purchase that I cannot wait to use! I've already blogged about theme here so to make a long story short, my friend Rachel A. found these at Target and I immediately ran out to purchase them! So fun to get kiddos minds churning when writing. I created story titles/ themes to use with mine so my kiddos choose a prompt, roll the dice and get to writing!




3. MARCY COOK CENTERS

At CAMT I attended a session with Marcy Cook. Before this I had no idea who she was... I know, I know, shame on me. I mentally head slapped myself when KIM SUTTON mentioned Marcy Cook inspiring here when she was a classroom teacher (I adore Kim Sutton and hang on here every math word!). After attending Marcy's session, Rachel A. and I bought the following centers: Place Value, Area & Perimeter and Hundred Chart: Missing Numbers centers. CANNOT WAIT TO USE THEM! I made my number tiles instead of purchasing them from Marcy because I KNOW this is something my kiddos are going to lose... I've made mass made them!



4. DOUBLE DICE

I have an odd obsession with dice... Perhaps it's because kids love them?? Whatever the reason, these double dice are a STAPLE in my classroom. I pretty much own all of Kim Sutton's dice and love using those as well... However, these babies have gotten the most use. I use them for creating division problems, multiplication problems, creating numbers when working with place value, and basically whatever game my brain comes up with. If you don't own double dice, get some! They're kind of loud but their multitude of uses make up for it.




5. COFFEE 

Best part of waking up? Literally, it's Folger's in my cup... I cannot teach without my vat of coffee each day. My sweet students know that I MUST have my teacher juice on hand at all time. I have even appointed a "coffee go-getter" (for when I wander off from it) and a "coffee cleaner-upper" because as my babies know, it's not IF Mrs. J is going to spill it's WHEN. My students also know if their papers have coffee spills on it, it means Mrs. J loves you!!!