It's A-MAZE-ing.....I'm Back

I am surprised to find out my blog is still here! It has been waaaaaayyyy tooooooo long but sometimes life just gets in the way! Hopefully, I will be back to share my heart, my passion for engaging lessons, and some *freebies*!

School starts for us in the middle of August and my brain is already starting to think of ways to welcome my little ones into Our School Family.

I LOVE to notice my little ones when they are showing kindness and making smart choices. I love my kiddos even when they might be acting like little turkeys but we do talk a lot as a class about making someone's heart smile.

I found some smiley face mazes on Amazon and knew I needed to find a way to use them. Attach the maze to the gift tag and you have a quick and easy way to celebrate your kiddos. :)

Click here to grab this *freebie*!

Grab the smiley face mazes here!

Buuuuuutttttttttttt..........

We all know that there are going to be times that are difficult...difficult students and students that have a hard time getting along with others. I try from the beginning to let them know that we are ALL there for each other no matter what happens. WE ARE A SCHOOL FAMILY!!!

So, this little *freebie* will remind us of that!

Click here to grab this *freebie*.

I'll be back soon to share some new ways I will be implementing Conscious Discipline into my classroom and one of our first classroom visitors. You can check him out here!

I hope you are enjoying your summer and getting ready for the 2018-2019 school year!

From My Heart to Yours,

Your Class List: Whine and Wine

Do you get a class list before school starts? I don't know about you but I am always anxious to look at my class list to see if I will be getting the annoying sweet younger sibling I have heard stories about. My heart also skips a beat with fear joy for "that student" that I have been hearing about that is just a "perfect fit" for my room. That is when you run to your teacher buddies and start the WHINE of "You'll never believe who I have in my room!" or "Oh My Gosh!!! Let me tell you about this kid that's going to be in my room this year!" And when you go home that's when you pull out the BIG WINE glass!

Click on the picture if you want to check it out!

Now, I am giggling as I type this and trying to bring a little humor to thoughts you and I just might have felt before. My Firsties go to Kinder at another campus so I really don't recognize some of the names. But when you have taught for a long time you eventually DO HAVE siblings and cousins AND see names that bring flashbacks that cause you to twitch! There are times when I try and use my phonics knowledge to decipher a name that I am anxious I will not be able to pronounce correctly. And I already feel bad for the kiddo that I am sure will have to help me numerous times say his/her name correctly.

At Meet the Teacher, I have a special system of codes I mark next to the names on my list of students that I am meeting. There have been numerous times when I have watched in fear as child has hit his mother on the head numerous times with a HUGE pointer and did not stop when he was told to....or when a child seems so active that I am ready to tell the mom that I am happy to drive her to the doctor to see if the child might need a prescription for some calming "vitamins". And those 2 times were like the children had been invaded by the Body Snatchers because the kiddos that showed up on the first day of school were sweet, obedient, calm, and respectful.

There have been countless times when I have sadly been judgmental and let a bad attitude get in the way of seeing a child the way that God does...and the way He sees me. What gives me the right to judge a student on what they are not when I am so thankful and blessed that God does not judge me by my short comings??!!??!!??

We are always going to have students that challenge us. There have been years when that challenge has left me in tears, frustration, and a state of feeling completely helpless. There have been times when I breathed a sigh of relief when that child was absent because the entire dynamics of my classroom changed but at the same time felt horrible for feeling that way.

Many of these challenging kiddos come with more baggage than we have even carried as an adult. For some, school is their safe haven. And whether we realize it or not, these kiddos are often VERY perceptive and can pick up the vibes we give off.

I remember the child that completely changed my whine and wine. He was retained and put back in my class for his second year. I vented to a friend that I was very upset he was in my room again. I was going into my 4th year of teaching and was able to attend a Ruby Payne workshop that fall. It changed my teaching and my heart forever. God knew I needed that workshop so He could show HIS love through me to some of the people who needed it the most. She said something that I also learned again when I read about Conscious Discipline. Are you ready for this???

And this is another wonderful reminder...

The student I mentioned above completely lost it on the last day of school of his second year in my room. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me he was going to miss being around someone who loved him as much as I did. He gave me many, many, MANY opportunities for me to practice patience yet he still knew I loved him. At the time I saw his name on my list for the second time, I did not want him in my class but I am blessed that God gave him to me again.

I am not perfect and still feel frustrated and helpless when I don't know how to help a child that is crying out for love. I then have to remember God put each child in my room for a reason...to love that child with all of my heart and help that child be successful in every way possible. And in the end, it is often me that has learned a valuable lesson from God.

I pray that as we start a new school year that we remember this:

Thank you for stopping by for this week's Heart Start!

From My Heart to Yours,

Sunday's Heart Start: Pause and Pray

As I get ready to start a new school year, I am overcome by so many emotions. The beginning of the school year is so exciting but also stressful. I know we sit in teacher meetings wanting to flee to our classrooms and mentally adding things to a To-Do List that seems to grow and grow and GROW! We are juggling our lives at home with our lives at school and we often neglect taking care of ourselves.

As much excitement as there tends to be, there is also a bit of negativity and complaining...and I raise my hand that I have been there and whined that! I often forget that my principal is being told a BIG list of things she must do with us and my complaining about it does not make it any better. I know when I have heard some of my kiddos in class grumble about something they have to do we stop and talk about our attitudes and about showing respect. Yet, as grown-ups we are horrible about it.

I know at the beginning of the year, doubt creeps into my heart. I stare at my new little group only remembering how I left my previous group in May. I wonder if they will ever behave, listen, learn to read, follow directions, and show helpfulness and kindness like my group last year.

I look at the kiddo that I know will try my patience and wonder if I am going to develop a drinking problem! Lol!

I get irritated with others I work with yet I forget to look at myself and realize I am irritating others by my own behaviors.

I get caught up in the emotions of situations and react instead of being proactive. I forget that God is using each child, parent, staff member and situation as a tool and moment to shape me into who He wants me to be.

We cannot go into our classrooms and be ready to face all of the overwhelming challenges without praying and without each other.

I have to remember that before I reach their heads, I have to touch their hearts I want each of you to know that Because of YOU, a difference is being made.

As you prepare to start a new day or a new week, remember to Pause and Pray.

From My Heart to Yours,

Books for Building Your School Family

I kind of forgot I still had a blog over here! Blog posts constantly run through my mind but I seem to lose my way when I see the blank screen before me. After reading Teach Like a Pirate this summer for a book study, I remembered that I really do love blogging and sharing my heart for teaching and my kiddos. :)

As I see the days of August slowly fading away rapidly flashing by, my mind is thinking of those first few weeks of school. Those first few weeks are what I call BOOT CAMP (with love). The importance of those few weeks in establishing rules and routines is critical. You lay the foundation for your entire school year. These weeks are also when I start building Our School Family. Even though we jump into our curriculum week 1 day 1, I am more focused on bringing out the kindness and respect I want (and expect) EVERY member of Our School Family to show.

One of the best ways I start to build Our School Family is through literature. This really helps the kiddos because I can refer back to one of the books we read. I want to share some of these books with you. :)

My Mouth is a Volcano, Interrupting Chickens and Lacey Walker, Non-Stop Talker are all great books for talking about interrupting others. We talk a lot about how everyone's words are important and when you talk over someone you are not showing that person that you value what they are saying. We also talk about how students cannot listen and learn if others are talking or talking over the teacher. I tell my kiddos that my ears cannot catch everyone's words if everyone is talking at once.

Decibella and Her 6 Inch Voice is a great book for talking about the volume of your voice. Students learn about using no voice, a whisper, a 6 inch voice, table talk, a strong speaker voice, and an outside voice. This book is so cute and necessary because I ALWAYS have a screamer future public speaker. :)

There are so many voice meters that you can find on Pinterest that give the students a visual of where their voice volume needs to be during different parts of the day. It is good to remember though that talking can be GOOD if that talk is about learning. :)

After reading this book and talking about the volume of our voices, we also have a HUGE talk about the tone of our voices. Little kiddos often cannot pick up on voice tone cues. I like to turn with my back facing them and say something like "I am so happy at the choices you are making!" BUUUUUUTTTTTT I say it in a mean, angry voice. The kiddos have to tell me how they think I am feeling based on the tone of my voice. They LOOOOOVVVVEEEE this and like taking turns doing this too! We talk a lot about how the tone of our voice can communicate our attitudes and ALL of us have to be careful about this.

I LOVE Me First! Pinkerton Pig always wants to be first until he meets a Sand Witch. Pinkerton has to do many unpleasant chores for the Sand Witch and quickly learns that being first is not always best. I know you might (ha! ha!) have had a student before that always wants to be the first to line up or the first to finish their work. I think they think they will get a prize for finishing first and often don't do their best because of this. After reading this book, we practice slowly and safely lining up. We also practice different times when they can offer to let a friend go before them. This might be when I am passing things out or when I have a couple of students waiting to tell me something. We practice using sentences stems like You may go before me or Go ahead. I'll wait until you are finished.

Tattle Tongue is great for addressing the ever present issue of tattling. The book gives students a funny visual image of what happens when your tattle. I also love how the book gives students examples when it is okay to tell a teacher/grown-up what happened. When my kiddos come to tattle whine tell me something that happened, I usually ask them these 2 questions:

*Have you tried to solve them problem yourself?

*Are you being helpful or hurtful by telling me this?

Now, I only ask these questions after we have practiced, and practiced, and PRACTICED using sentence stems to talk to someone. Some of these sentence stems are:

* I don't like it when you ______. Next time please ______.

*I don't like it when you ______. Please stop.

*You accidentally ______. Please be more careful next time.

I never really even have to ask Are you being helpful or hurtful by telling me this? because usually they turn around and go talk to the person after I've asked Have you tried to solve them problem yourself?

If they have already talked to the person and there is still an issue, they ask me to help them solve a problem....and my ears don't have to hear tattling. Sometimes I joke around when someone forgets and starts to tattle by telling them I see their tattle tongue growing and changing colors. Sometimes being silly and getting that student to laugh helps me when I help them solve the problem.

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? is one of my favorite books. I love the mental image it gives kiddos about filling a bucket with kindness or dipping into a sad bucket when someone is being hurtful. We have a class bucket that we fill with helpful hearts. You can read more about that is this ancient blog post...This is when I first started blogging and was taking pictures with an ancient cell phone! Happy to see how far I've come. :)

You Get What You Get...and you________??? I know we finish that sentence with AND YOU DON'T THROW A FIT! After reading this blog post by my sweet friend Holly, I too changed what I said. We read this book and then discuss how we are no longer 2 and we are big, smart, kind, and respectful boys and girls. We can feel disappointed when something doesn't go our way but we can take a deep breath, calm down and know it will be okay. Our new saying becomes YOU GET WHAT YOU GET AND YOU APPRECIATE IT! :)

The Recess Queen is a fun book to talk about being kind and safe on the playground. It is also helpful when talking about bullying. I love this craftivity from Smitten in First!

Chrysanthemum is hands-down my favorite Back to School book because it is our anchor lesson for talking about hurtful words and behavior. From this book we talk about our Heart Word and Heart Promises. You can read all about those in this blog post.

These are just a few of my favorites. There are so many more! I have found some AWESOME books this summer that I am soooooo excited about! I cannot wait to share with you how I'll be using them. :)

It has been FOREVEEEERRRRRRR since I shared a *freebie*! So, here is a little activity I will be using at the beginning of the year for letter recognition.

Thank you for hopping over here today! Wishing you an awesome year full of blessings!

From My Heart to Yours,

Sunday's Heart Start: Getting Your Room Ready

Hi sweet friends. This week was so hard to be here in Texas while all of my teacher friends and teacher inspirations were in Vegas. Let's just say I have done a lot of stalking scrolling through pictures.

I have LOVED seeing everyone's pictures. So to make everyone jealous about where I was, I went up to my classroom to start setting it up. While there, I thought of what this Sunday's Heart Start would be about.

I'm not sure about y'all but seeing my furniture all piled into one LARGE jumble is not my favorite sight to see...especially working when there is NO a/c.

This is the first year EVER that my stuff was not piled to the ceiling! I usually have to climb the Mt. Rushmore of furniture to begin setting my room up! And this is not an illusion....this is the ACTUAL size of my closet classroom.

In a few weeks, everyone will start sharing the beautiful pictures of their classrooms. I LOVE seeing them all and get so many ideas. I also have to say a few prayers to not be jealous! Lol! :)

I LOVE creating a warm, friendly, inviting home for my kiddos and myself...and let's face it, our classroom IS our 2nd home. But I also know I have to caution myself to not get caught up in lots of little details. I have to remind myself that there is more to a classroom than all of the Pinterest projects....especially when you are craft challenged like myself and take FOREVER to make anything!

I have to remind myself as I am crossing off things on my to-do lists that I need to be spending equal time planning lessons and activities that will build Our School Family and reach the hearts of my kiddos. I want my kiddos to know that when they walk into our classroom, they walk into my heart.

For many of our kiddos, our classrooms are safe havens. Our rooms might be the one place during the day where they feel loved and safe. Because of that, I want to encourage and build a caring and supportive home. Here is one way I build that environment where kiddos feel safe.

I'll be back to share about this special box. Yes, I am teasing y'all! :)

As you start getting your room ready, be sure to take time to get your heart ready.

From My Heart to Yours,

The Kindness Recorder-A School Family Job

I cannot believe summer is almost over. A new school year always makes me nervous and excited. One of my favorite parts of going back to school is building our new School Family. One of the best ways to do that is through Our School Family jobs. So many of the jobs encourage and foster kindness.

The Kindness Recorder is one I adore!

We start by reading the story Mrs. Spritzers Garden.

We talk about how to take care of a garden and flowers and what Mrs. Spritzer did to take care of her garden of children. I tell the kiddos that to help others grow into something beautiful we need to treat them with kindness. We then brainstorm a list of ways we can show kindness to others.

We also listen to the song "Looking for Kindness" from this Conscious Discipline cd.

The job of the Kindness Recorder will be to add kind flowers for the helpful and kind acts that they notice others doing. I bought the flowers at the Target Dollar Spot.

When the Kindness Recorder adds a kind flower they tell that person:

I am going to add you a kind flower for __________.

The person it is being added for replies:

Thank you for noticing that.

I also bring in 2 different flowering plants. One we take really good care of and the other I will pull petals and leaves off of when I see or hear something mean. I won't say who it was and I never do it right at that moment. I might say "When we were down at the restrooms, I saw someone snatch the paper towel someone had just rolled and they didn't roll that person more. Was that kind and helpful?" As the week goes on, we look at the two different plants and we talk about the difference between caring for one with kindness and being hurtful to the other. This makes a HUGE impact on the kiddos.

The Kindness Recorder brings a smile to my heart daily. It amazes me how quickly the kiddos start to notice kind acts from others...even me. At the beginning of the year, I do a lot of modeling of this job before I turn it over to the kiddos. I also will help the Kindness Recorder "notice" these kind acts if they might be having a little trouble noticing those acts themselves....but the other kiddos are good at pointing them out too!

There might be times when one of my "toughies" is showing kindness that I really want to celebrate and notice....or I might want to celebrate the kiddos who are always putting others before themselves. So, I made some little notes that you can send home with any of your kiddos to celebrate those sweet kind hearts.

Conscious Discipline says that what you focus on you get more of and what you strengthen in others you strengthen in yourself. So, think about adding some kindness to your classroom this year with the job of the Kindness Recorder. :)

It is easy to forget how just a little kindness can bring a huge smile to someone's heart. :)

From My Heart to Yours,

Who am I? Looking from the Heart

Our first day of school is on Monday. Early in the summer I already knew who many of my new kiddos would be. I also knew in which classes each of my kiddos from this past year would be (and the classes many other kiddos would be as well). Knowing those 2 things I must admit something to you....I realized how easy it is to make some judgments.

Have you ever looked at your class role and felt a little bit depressed or nervous by a name you saw on there? Have you ever wanted to go tell the next year's teacher about a particular child before they even have the chance to meet them? I typically don't put a lot of value into what another teacher has to say about one of my in coming kiddos because I know so much can change when the dynamics of a classroom change...but I am also guilty of telling a 2nd grade teacher about a child that *might* be a stinker even though I might also be telling that teacher of ways to reach that child that worked for me (and others) and made a huge difference.

I also realized earlier this week that I have been guilty at different times in my career of talking about a class that is really __________ or __________. I know that myself and others have shared about a student that is __________, __________. and __________.....and many of the adjectives that fill those blanks might not always be very positive. Those descriptions are also usually strings of letters that make us twitch- ADD, ADHD, ODD, ED...and our brains are thinking OMGoodness! :)

I thought about what it would be like if my principal were to call each of the parents of my new kiddos into to her office to share about all of my faults and weaknesses before they even had the chance to meet me. Would they be able to see my strengths when they finally had the opportunity to meet me? Of course not....they would always be seeing those faults first.

I then remembered one of the most profound sentences out of the Conscious Discipline book...."What we say to a child becomes their inner voice for the rest of their lives." Think how easy it is to remember the negative words of just one teacher...but stop and realize for a minute that even though you might not have said mean or hurtful words to a child that our attitude and thinking effect our body language and interactions with that child.

How can we really help each other when we focus on the weaknesses or use those weaknesses as an excuse instead of pushing ourselves more to make a connection with those students we often see as "difficult"?

Each day each one of us has the potential to be the ONE person in a child's life to make a difference. If we are not working to make those connections and touch the hearts of each child in our room than it is easy to head down the road to becoming an ineffective teacher. After a child has just 1 year in a class with an ineffective teacher, it takes 3 years for that child to make the gains that were lost.

Our Superintendent today had us pull out our phones and find a picture of the most important child or children in our lives. We then had to imagine how we would feel if that child was placed in a classroom with an ineffective teacher. I don't even have to tell you where our thoughts and hearts went with that.

Imagine what a difference could be made if each child in our classroom thought they were a priceless treasure to their teacher....a teacher who loved them even when they really were being a stinker.

The children in our classrooms are only going to be as great as we believe they can be....how we see them and treat them will be the legacy they take with them when they leave our classrooms.

From My Heart to Yours,

Our Heart Words

I big {PUFFY} heart manners. It could be because I am a Southern gal but good manners make my heart smile. So, several years ago I started teaching my kiddos about heart words. These are the words that Our School Family considers very important because heart words show others that you care about them and respect them.

Since the first day of school, we have talked about being helpful or hurtful to others. To help us out, Squawkers left us the book Chrysanthemum to read.

Before the story, I cut out a large paper heart. As we read the story, we crumpled the heart each time we heard someone in the story say or do something hurtful. We passed the heart around as we read the story so each child had a chance to crumple the heart. We talked about what the hurtful words were doing to Chrysanthemum's heart. When the story was over, we tried to fix Chrysanthemum's heart.

We realized that even though we tried very hard to make it better her hurt was still a wrinkled mess because words can be hurtful.

We then thought of helpful words that we could say to Chrysanthemum. Each child had a band-aid with his/her name on it. As they said the helpful and kind words they put the band-aid on Chrysanthemum's heart to make her heart feel better. This helped us learn that we can make mistakes and be hurtful at times BUT we can then change our choices and try to make it better. Even though our heart was hurt, it can start to heal.

We then wrote about the heart words we want to use in Our School Family with interactive writing. I LOVE how my district encourages interactive writing since I am not capable of creating cute anchor charts. =)

You can get the adorable Chrysanthemum heart mouse from First Grade WOW. 

Check out Nancy's blog....you will LOVE it. =)

I also want to share with you the door to our room....I think it is a-door-able! =)

I will be back soon with The Great Paw Hunt with Pete the Cat, Lips the Fish, and a lesson on Growing Kindness. If you have a few minutes, I would love for you to leave me a heart note. =)

From My Heart to Yours,

A Visit from Chester

I feel as if I have been too tired to even think about blogging. I was afraid if I actually stopped that I would fall asleep right then. Going through the first week of Boot Camp building your School Family is draining on my mouth. By the end of the day I feel as if I have met my word limit for the day. =)

Squawkers has really been watching and keeping his parrot eyes on us last week.

He sent us another package with shaving cream to practice writing letters, color words and word wall words. In the package, he also sent marshmallows for a lesson on using our marshmallow toes and marshmallow voices. Squawkers also told us a new friend would be visiting. This friend LOVES to sleep during the day. We brainstormed a list of animals that are awake during the night.

FYI: Be prepared for learning interesting information about what some of your babies see and hear during the night.

When we returned from lunch on Friday. the book of The Kissing Hand was on the rug. At the end of the book Chester left a note sending us on a Scavenger Hunt around the school. As we traveled around the school, we practiced using directions to tell us which way to go next. The last Scavenger Hunt clue led us back to the classroom where Chester had left us a package. We even spotted HIM!!!!!

In the package was a recipe. We had to follow the recipe telling us to add a certain amount of what was inside each bag (I am sorry for no pictures of the bag and the recipe). After following the recipe, Our School Family realized we had made Chester! =)

Aren't those so stinkin' adorable??!!????

the ingredients are:

*a rice cake

*icing

*apricots for the ears

*prunes for the mask

*purple grapes for the eyes and nose

*a banana slice for the mouth

Chester also left brain workout activities to help the Smarties in Our School Family exercise their brains. Here is one of the activities.

I would love for you to take a few minutes and leave me a heart note. Each one brings a smile to my heart.

From My Heart to Yours,

More Than a Teacher and a PACKAGE from Squawkers

Hi sweet friends. I have missed checking in and sharing with you all that has been happening...let's just say CRAY CRAY.

*MRI and EEG for my mom...and we are still praying for answers
*a sister who broke her ankle in 3 places and had surgery PLUS  heading back to school with 3 girls and she is unable to drive
*a classroom makeover
*Back to School for me
*Stress because of the family health issues which then causes me not to sleep and triggers my Chrons and migraines

BUT God is great and has blessed my family in so many ways this past month. =)

Today we had our 1st day of school. I already love our sweet School Family. =)

I loved seeing all of my little ones come with ready confetti and jitter glitter in their hair. This is an activity I will do every year...so stinkin' cute!!!

We drank Jitter Juice and the BIG NEWS was the mystery package. I am sorry for no pictures but it was from Squawkers the Parrot (We are Price's Parrots). Squawkers is a parrot who visits our room. He watches for friends being helpful and kind. He moves and hides all over the room and even in different places in the school. He tries to trick us by pretending to look non-living. He helps us start our year long investigation of the different animal families.

In the package, he shared with us several parrot books for us to read. We will make a venn diagram comparing parrots(birds) to us (mammals). He also left us our names on sentence strips and a HUGE box of goldfish to play name bingo and other cover up games. He left us a color word poem puzzle, individual little jars of play-doh to practice making letters, numbers, words, and our lunch/id numbers.

He left parrot straws and magic balls.

The magic ball changes color if you are going to have a good school year. =)

I have made the magic balls for at least the past 9 years. The kiddos LOVE it and you don't even have to do it the first day. One year it was the second or third week. I still get a little paranoid that there will be one magic ball that I forgot to add the food coloring to...but my OCD has me checking and checking! Click here to go to the original link.

grab your magic ball poem by clicking on the picture above

As I started this year, I remembered that God put each one of my kiddos in my room for a reason. It is easy to forget with more rigorous standards and the pressure to dive into your curriculum as soon as possible every single day that we are met each day with little hearts that are fragile. We are MORE than a teacher...we are the Safe Keepers of the BEST each parent sends us...remember- They are not keeping the "good ones" at home on the shelf. =)

So, take a few minutes to read this poem and remember you might be a child's biggest blessing....you are leaving heartprints that will last a lifetime. =)

From My Heart to Yours,

Ready Confetti and Birthday Bubbles

Next Thursday I get to meet some of my kiddos at Meet the Teacher. Before they leave, each kiddo gets to take home a special card that says:

When they open the card, they see this. =)

In the little baggie is ready confetti mixed with jitter glitter.

There is an adorable poem about sprinkling the ready confetti and jitter glitter under your pillow on the night before the first day of school. This will help our little ones not be nervous before the BIG day. The poem also says that I will sprinkle it under my pillow too. On Monday morning, we will all have ready confetti and jitter glitter in our hair. =)

I used the tiny jewelry bags that I found at Hobby Lobby. I bought a couple of different kinds of confetti and put in a few spoonfuls of silver glitter. I mixed it all up and put a spoonful in each baggie. =)

Thank you Pinterest for helping me find out about jitter glitter from Mrs. Miner and ready confetti from Sunny Days in Second Grade.

grab your copy here

For some reason, the second page is not folding in half evenly. Part of the rainbow frame gets folded. =( I tried fixing it but decided to not waste time. I printed the page and trimmed it. I'll glue it in the middle of the first page. There are different pages depending on what day you start back.

100 kinds of adorable right??!!?? =)

During one of my frequent visits to Target, I saw these adorable microphones that are also bubbles. HOLY CUTENESS! I had an instant brain pop and thought we can use them to sing Happy Birthday to my kiddos and then they have a fun birthday present to take home. I found a cute container and made these little tags to go with the bubbles.

I did not get the chance to finish tying the tags on the bubbles but I can do that in all of my free time. Teachers have TONS of free time right??!!?? We get the summers off and only work until 3:30! =)

I am at the hospital with my mom right now. =(

I might have to go buy some bubbles for next year! =)

We "officially" start back tomorrow. I think I develop ADD when I enter my classroom. I seem to hop all over the place and work on about 20 different things at once. Please let me know if you have any questions. My mind is thinking of so many things right now...I am afraid I did not explain things very well.

I would love for you to take a few minutes and leave me a heart note. They always make me smile. =)

From My Heart to Yours,