The longest post in the world to explain the big mistake

I made a BIG mistake this past week.


HUGE. MISTAKE. 


I went to Books-A-Million..........TWICE.


Yes, twice. (shivers)


I first went Wednesday night. My kiddos have gotten into the "Geronimo Stilton" series and they were begging me to get more. I only had about 6 of them and they had read them all. 

Sure. No problem.


I had a plan for myself. I would go into the store with tunnel vision. I wouldn't look around or browse the aisles, especially the "new" section. I kept hearing Mark's voice in my head, "WE CAN'T FIT ANYMORE BOOKS IN YOUR CLASSROOM TANYA!!" 


I had my game face and Cubs baseball hat on. I pulled it tightly over my face in hopes that it would block my eyes from darting to shelf to shelf and opened the front door of the store.


"Walk FAST, Tanya," I said to myself. "Go, go, go......but wait, what is that display of Dr. Seuss books over there?" 


NO YOU HAVE ENOUGH DR. SEUSS BOOKS! JUST KEEP WALKING. I sniffled a bit in disappointed but kept going.


After what felt like an hour walk to the middle of the store, I finally arrived at the kids' chapter books section. 


I suddenly realized my plan was flawed!


How many do I get???????


I never thought of that!


This dang series has close to 50 books in it...in addition to special editions....in addition to Geronimo's sister, Thea who has her own series....in addition to some spin off character named "Creepella" who has her own series!!!


I was beginning to hyperventilate. 


My gut was telling me to take my arm and slide it across the shelf holding these books and watch them all fall into my cart. 


And then I heard it......Mark's voice. "WE CAN'T FIT ANYMORE BOOKS IN YOUR CLASSROOM, TANYA!!!"




He's right ok....I'll get 3....well 7......ok 10 13. I picked the ones that looked the best and headed for the checkout. 


SUDDENLY I felt a violent gravitation pull to the children's picture books section.


NO. I. CAN'T. 


well ok I can....


"Tanya, you will just LOOK." That's it. Then you will leave.


Ok, I can do this.
BUT WHAT IS THIS? LIBRARY MOUSE HAS A NEW BOOK!!!!!!!!!!


I. LOVE. LIBRARY. MOUSE.


If you aren't familiar with this series, please get familiar ASAP. 

My kids ADORE this series. We have read all of them. In fact, Mark read the last one when he came to visit earlier in the year. Even he enjoys them.


So naturally I had to get the new one. It was a basic life necessity. 

And I wasn't worried about Mark because he is a fan too. 

Although it's a hardcover. YIKES on the price. That fact lasted literally 2 seconds in my head but then I was over it. THERE WAS ONE COPY AND IT WAS ALL MINE.

I know I should have left....

....and been satisfied with my great find.....

but....

.....I kept looking.

WHAT IS THIS? A NEW MIXED UP FAIRY TALE!!!!!!!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?

It's called "The 3 Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot."

IT'S AWESOME. 

After hugging it for 20 minutes I put it into my cart. Another hardcover...oh life is so unfair.

NOW TANYA YOU ARE LEAVING!!

Then I remembered that the new "My Weider School" book came out earlier in February but when I went to go get it a few days after its release date, it wasn't there and I had several disappointed students in my class. 

Go ahead Tanya and look because it's not going to be there. 

Of course, it was. My cheapest purchase though.....$4.00. I breathed a sign of relief. No problem there.

Then I ran to the checkout. LITERALLY RAN. Several people turned their heads as the sound of my cart speed past them, but I had to get out before I lost my mind with excitement. 

Library Mouse saved my life with Mark. He was so excited that I found a new one that he didn't realize the other 437 books sitting in the bag. He did however make me promise to hold onto the book and save it for when he comes to read at the end of the year. *sign* Okay.

Here is a picture of my finds:

Penny approved the loot. :) 

Then today Mark and I were out shopping...

...and then he said something that opened Pandora's Box.

"You know...your kids are like INSANE readers that read everything in sight. They will tear through those chapter books you got in a few weeks. I know you're just dying to get more of that Geronimo series to finish your collection. We should just go to BAM and get the rest of the ones you need"

HOW DOES HE KNOW ME SO WELL?

I have been plotting all week how and when I was going to finish that series.

"OKAY!" I said.

16 books later...I have a stack of books which comes to my knee and this long post to show for it. 

BUT in my defense today was all Mark's FAULT. Blame him. I sure am. :) 

Awards I don't deserve

I am a terrible blogger. These past few weeks I have had NO time to comment on other people's blogs, comment on the comments I receive and post every day. I'm feeling like a blog loser.


I felt even worse when I read through my comments and realized several people had given me awards this week. :( I am so grateful. How sweet to think of this terrible, loser blogger. 


Natalie over at Teachery Tidbits gave me the One Lovely Blog Award. She is so fabulous! Please check out her blog. She teaches 1st grade and has AWESOME resources.

Julie over at 

 also gave me the One Lovely Blog Award. Julie, you rock! Julie teaches 3rd grade (same as me). Her bulletin boards are precious. Thanks again Julie!

and finally, Ashley and Erica from 

gave me the Liebster Award. Thanks guys! I'm so glad you did because then I discovered your adorable blog! I'm your newest follower!
Where's my award for "Worst Blogger Ever?" I really should have been given that.
I spent 7 hours yesterday editing and putting together my kids' "mixed up fairy tales" movies. Now I'm burning 18 copies which is taking FOREVER!! If only there were 45 hours in a day. Their excitement tomorrow will reassure me that it was all worth it. :)

WINNER!

Here is the winner of my first giveaway...

Congrats Erika! Please send me your email so I can send your gift card.

Giveaway ends tonight!

Remember my giveaway ends tonight when I fall asleep, which is 7:30. Just kidding, it's Friday so around 11. I'll announce the winner tomorrow. 

Click on the image to get more details.

I'm going to go take a nap and then head out to dinner with Mark. Long week = no cooking.

On "sort" of a roll and 100 FINALLY!!

Hi friends. Hope you enjoyed your weekend. I have been literally working on "school stuff" all day and I feel as though I don't have much to show for it. Do you ever feel like that? At times the responsibilities of a classroom teacher seem never ending. Oh wait, that's because they really are. :)


I put together two sorting activities this weekend for my kiddos. One is for sorting obtuse, acute, and right angles, because that's such an EASY concept for 3rd graders. <insert sarcasm > Angles are such an abstract concept and hard to master. For the most part my kids are "Angle Masters" but I wanted something that they could do this week to keep the skill fresh. We are 7 weeks away from FCAT! *GASPS* I'm doing everything possible to keep EVERY skill we have done this year current and remembered.  If only the school day lasted for 18 hours....then it would be no problem! 

The 2nd one is for transformations: flips (reflections), turns (rotations),

and slides (translations). 

Both of these products are in my Teacher's Notebook Shop

and will soon be in my TpT store as well. 

TN Shop

Check them out! 

Now for some earth shattering news... I have finally reached 100 followers. *MORE GASPS* Alright, Go Ms. V! Of course that means GIVEAWAY time!

I am giving away a $15 gift card to

I heart MyGrafico. They have great clip art collections and I can always find just what I need there. OK, here is what you can do to enter:

1. Follow my blog and comment that you do. If you already follow my blog, just leave me a comment saying so. (One entry)

2. Follow my TN Shop (one entry)

3. Follow my TpT Store (one entry)

4. Add my blog button to your blog (one entry)

5. Blog about the giveaway (two entries so leave two comments)

**Giveaway closes on Saturday night right before bed.**

That's it! Off to go work on more "school stuff" or maybe go pay attention to Mark. I'm starting to forget what the guy looks like. 

Sort it out!

To review symmetry I created a sorting activity for my students. This activity contains 84 different images which students can sort into two categories: symmetrical and non-symmetrical. There are also headers to sort the symmetrical images based on how many lines of symmetry they each have. This activity can be used for whole group instruction or as a center activity and it's now in both of my stores. :) Check it out!

TN Shop

TpT Store

New Inventory

Hello friends. Hope you had a great teaching day if you didn't get the day off. I spent the day running errands, having lunch with Mark at our favorite wing place, and doing spurts of nothing!


On Saturday Mark and I went down Ft. Myers. I have a credits and debits system in my classroom for behavior management. Students can earn credits for positive behavior and sadly, earn debits for behavior that is the opposite of positive. On Fridays when they are at Specials I write them checks for their credits. Then, they can take their checks to the bank and receive classroom cash. (I will do a LONG and DETAILED post about this whole system one day...just not today. lol) Every two weeks the class store is open. Students can buy various goodies and small trinkets with their class cash. Mark and I had a blast furnishing the store over the summer. I spent $200+ on the store but I wanted to ensure that it carried me at least to Christmas break. Fortunately it has brought me past Christmas break. Don't get me wrong, I still have a PLENTY in the store but you know how kids are...you have to keep them guessing and keep things fresh! So Mark and I set out on Saturday to replenish our inventory.


I don't know why we enjoy doing this but we do. It's fun to analyze children and how they think. We ask each other "Would you play with this if you were a kid?" "How much would a child pay for this?"  We spend hours in dollar stores, party stores, dollar sections, anywhere!! 

Here is our loot from Saturday's endeavors:

Please disregard the baby tub in the back. It's a gift for someone.

The noise putty (the jars in the back) sells out every time we put it in the store, so we keep raising the price. :) HAHA. It makes for a great economy lesson! Supply and demand. Apart from the noise putty and bouncy balls (what is it with kids and bouncy balls?), everything else are new items. Over the summer we talked about selling candy and how we felt about it. We wanted to stay away from it as much as possible. We do sell lollipops but the kids are over it. We are moving to Air Heads. We are getting desperate! LOL

I also made "Eat with the Teacher" Coupons, which aren't really coupons

because they cost $100. Students can purchase these as well. 

I'll have to take pictures of my class store. It's pretty cool. It covers my entire back table.

Work tomorrow....already? WOW, that was the fastest 3 day weekend ever. 

My New best friend

A package was delivered to our room today. A very important package. Our MimioView document camera. *gasps* We were so excited. 


I carefully opened the package as my kids watched in amazement. It was like Christmas morning. I took the camera out. Everyone gasped which was then followed by intense silence. Finally someone said "SOOOOOOO COOOOOL!" 

Here are some pictures:

Of course then the inevitable question arose, "Are you going to plug it in now and starting using it? Pleaseeeeeee!" (oh boy. I don't work well under pressure with 18 pairs of little eyes watching me, especially with technology) It was time for centers and the group that sits with me on Wednesdays promised that they would quietly read their reader's theater scripts, so I could switch out my old camera for the new one. I agreed and they were true to their promise. Installation for this precious gem was as easy as pie. I plugged the USB cord into my laptop and BOOM! Here are some pictures of the camera on my media cart. To avoid overusing my kiddo's expression of "SOOOOOOOO COOL," I will use my own. SUPERRRRRRRR COOOOOOOOOL. This camera is better than I anticipated. I am in love. Maybe more so than the love I feel for my classroom library. Hmmmm. I may have to think about that longer. 

I can use all the tools within Mimio Notebook while using the document camera. I can use the pen tool to write on sheets under the camera without actually writing on the sheet.

I am in love. <3

Here are some videos. Please don't mind my kids and I...

we sound ridiculous but we were so pumped! 

Let me leave you with this last thought...if you have any say or pull in what technology your district buys in the future, I ask that you consider DYMO Mimio products.

Their products are Kid Tested, Teacher Approved. :) 

Off to go lay down, I FEEL TERRIBLE (Sick again!) but I had to post about our fabulous addition to our class family. :) 

I HEART YOU PINTEREST

Pinterest...what was life like before this incredible gift? I'm totally addicted and if they had AA for Pinterest, I would nominate myself as the door holder for every meeting. 


I was feeling bold and "heartfelt" tonight, so I decided to do my Valentine's Day gift for my little darlings.

This is what I saw on Pinterest. I said to myself "Hey you can totally do this. It's so simple," and self said back "You got it kid. No problem." Well self was half right..half wrong.

I grabbed my crayons, knife, and cutting board and was ready to SLICE. Right after I put the camera down I had a "HELLO LADY!" moment. Uhhh, Tanya you have to take off the wrapping. OH. For some strange reason that step never crossed my mind. Its as if my prior knowledge on crayons strictly remembered seeing only "naked" crayons. So weird. After I got over my stupidity, I started peeling. WOW. Peeling wrapping off of crayons with nails = NOT A GOOD TIME. I still have crayon under my nails and this was a few hours ago. At first I tried doing it the dainty, girly way but after crayon #2 I was tearing into that thing like a lion who hadn't eaten in 7 days. (Of course this simile is not to be confused with me tearing into the crayon with my teeth but more WITH MY NAILS.)

After some time...no more than 40 minutes...this is what I had. 

I got the molds from Target. Target you are the glue that holds my life together.

There were so many questions during this endeavor....

"Should I cut the crayons into smaller pieces?"

"Should I cut the crayons into bigger pieces?"

"What colors would work the best?"

"Will I ever get the crayon out from under my nails?"

"Why do crayons have a weird texture/feeling to them?"

"I should have tried a recipe from Pinterest instead of a craft on a school night!"

The last sentence wasn't a question, but more a statement I pondered quite a few times...

I popped my little hearts into the oven at 250 degrees for 15 minutes.

13 minutes in, my oven started to produce an INTERESTING smell. 

Highlight of the night: "EW. I'm not eating whatever you have in the oven." - Mark (he missed the whole chopping crayons up bit and had no idea what I was doing in the kitchen. Oh to be a man and oblivious to life.) 

This is what they looked like when I took them out of the oven. I let them cool completely and then the popping started! 

Finished product:

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. So worth it!! I know my kiddos will love them, and thanks to this craft, I now have built-in crayons under my nails. Go me. 

Off to go work on the template which the heart will sit on and to snuggle with Penny. :) 

Me? WINNER?

I received an email from Mimio last night informing me I was a winner for the Winter Lesson Contest! A BIG ENORMOUS thanks to everyone who helped and voted. My kiddos and I greatly appreciate you! 

This will be the newest addition to our classroom products family:

I'm can't wait to get my hands on this baby! This document camera takes photos and videos which can easily be uploaded into Mimio Notebook. My kids and I will ensure that this camera is put to good use. THANKS AGAIN! 

Mixed Up Fairy Tales!

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year....the week where we examine all different versions of classic fairy tales. This unit always bring laughter, enjoyment, and creativity! 


We started examining mixed up fairy tales back in November when our weekly reading story fell into the fantasy genre. I had just gotten a new mixed up fairy tale to add to my collection and much to my amazement (to my wallet's disappointment), I discovered that there was a whole set of fractured fairy tales! I called my dear friends at BAM and had them order me the set ASAP. 

My students LOVED THEM! EVERY ONE! Can't say I blame them...they are adorable and hilarious.

They joined our already existing mixed up fairy tale family...

I have others (like 15 more) but I am starting to lose my memory. Hey, it's Monday. So with the idea of mixed up fairy tales on our minds, my kiddos decided they wanted to make their own fractured fairy tales for our new set of class movies. They started today and they are THRILLED! I can't wait to see where these movies take us. 

MY FIRST FREEBIE!

Hello there! Hope all is well. Notice anything new on the right sidebar of my blog? I finally created a TpT store and Teacher Notebook shop! *Gasps* I feel so up to date now. Granted both have hardly anything in them, but its a work in progress. 


I created two fold-able geometry books which I used with my students this week. We worked on plane shapes and polygons this week. Earlier in the week my kiddos were feeling overwhelmed. This group feels as though they need to conquer the material the SAME exact day I introduce it. I explained to them that geometry is complicated, especially the skills that require abstract thinking. Chapter 9 is LOADED with vocabulary. Introducing 4-8 new vocabulary words a lesson is A LOT for little minds! To add some fun and spice to our lessons later in the week (we made Thursday and Friday review days), we worked on these two books. 

Both of these PDFs are available at my Teachers Notebook shop and TpT store. Both books are 2 pages each and I will give away one book to 5 people! The 1st 5 people to comment with their email address and the name of which book they want will get MY VERY FIRST FREEBIE! *another gasp* 


My kids were so into them. I was thrilled. At the end of Friday one of my darlings said "Oh Ms. V I feel so much better about geometry now." (Happy teacher!) 


Personal update - last night I got an iPhone 4. I'm finally cool. :)