Make Your Masterpiece: TPT Seller Challenge Week Three

Oh, my! This week's seller's challenge was just perfect timing as I have finally been motivated to create the "masterpiece" I've had spinning in the back of my mind for the past two years.  My sweet Miss Elliotte is four and super, super interested in learning to read and write, so she and I have been doing some preschool activities at home this summer. Now that she's old enough, I've been wanting to introduce her to some sight words, but I wanted to do so in a fun and exciting way that I knew would keep her attention. Which is not always easy to do, haha! I've been planning on creating a sight word and phonics curriculum to use with my struggling firsties for a while now, and Ellie is proving to be the perfect test audience!

Hence, here is the first edition my my newest unit, Soar into Reading: Preprimer Sight Words...

Here is are some pictures of my sweet Ellie doing the Read&Write and Trace&Build activities. She was really excited to get to do a little cutting and gluing, and also sooo proud to show me her neat handwriting as she wrote her new words! 

I had been making this unit as she and I worked together, but I finally bit the bullet and completed the whole thing! Ellie has a few weeks left before she earns her Superhero Masks and Cuffs featuring the words in the Preprimer list, but she's been really enjoying collecting her new words on her Superhero Word Ring!

I cannot wait to reassess her to see how she does in the next few weeks...Momma's going to have to get started on the next word list soon...oh, and Soar into Reading: Short Vowel Word Families is in the works as well!

If you'd like to check out this unit at my TPT store, I'd really appreciate your feedback! So far, Miss Ellie and I are enjoying it, and I'm excited to share it with my new firsties in a few months!

Thanks for stopping by--if you want to check out more Masterpieces, visit the linky party at Teach Create Motivate, Peppy Zesty Teacherista, Third in Hollywood, and Sparkling in Second.

Dare to Dream! TPT Seller Challenge Week Two

Happy Monday! I woke up super excited to learn about this week's Teachers Pay Teachers Sellers Challenge put on by Teach Create Motivate, Peppy Zesty Teacherista, Third in Hollywood, and Sparkling in Second. This week's challenge is all about dreaming big. As a planner at heart, I love to make goals, so this week's challenge is right up my alley! 

In honor of this week's challenge, here are my big dreams for this school year!

1. Create - I truly enjoy creating new activities for my students, products for my store, and freebies to share, but I've just been so busy the last couple of years, that I never could find the motivation to get things going again. Now that I'm getting back into things, I'm remembering how much I enjoy creating, sharing, and collaborating, and I cannot wait to do more over this next school year! I also really love creating things other than on TPT--I love to sew and embroider cute outfits for my girlies, and I also enjoy decorating cookies (although the baking and clean-up are not my favorite!). I hope to do more of these creative type things this year since it really does bring a lot of joy to my life!

2. Save and Give - Although I think we're off to a decent start, I'd like to really beef up my savings this year. Also, I'd like to make giving more of a year-round activity rather than something that my family does around the Christmas season.

3. Student Loans - While they finally seem to be shrinking a little bit, I am so tired of having to send this money off each month. I'd really love to be able to pay those babies off this year to start saving the money for other things.

4. Disney World - Our girls are getting a little bigger, and we've been talking about going to Disney World next Fall Break. This year, my goal is to save for and plan our trip, then get it all paid off so that once it's vacation time, we can truly just enjoy it!

What are your dreams for this year? Link up and share 'em or feel free to comment below!

Five for Friday June 19, 2015

Happy Friday! This Friday, I'm joining in on the Five for Friday party with Doodle Bugs Teaching. I'm already three weeks into my summer, and it has been busy! Here's what I've been up to so far!

My big girl, Miss Elliotte, finished up her very first soccer season, and boy was she excited to get her first trophy! I'm not sure if there will be a lot of soccer in her future, but she sure had fun running around and playing with new friends! Her favorite parts were wearing her big bow and the concession stand, of course!

My wonderful in-laws purchased a swing set for our little sweeties, so we spent about a week putting this baby together! Lots of work, but the girls absolutely love it, and so do I! I cannot wait to use this play set to build lots of memories for many years to come!

We took Miss Neely on her first official trip to the zoo, and she loved watching the fish in the aquarium, while big sis loved using the zoo's splash pad! Wish we could have one of those in the backyard, too!

Ellie took two weeks of swimming lessons, and today was her last day. It was a lot of driving due to being about a half an hour away from home, but totally worth it (plus there was a Starbucks on the way--lots of mocha frappuccinos for me)! This girlie went from being scared to death to get in the water to jumping in on her own and loving chilling in the pool with her floaties on! So proud of her!

I'm celebrating an especially productive week with my very favorite White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.  This week I updated my favorite back to school activity during the Makeover Madness Seller's Challenge, and I also added a new All About Your New Yeacher Editable Book Kit to my store. After a two year break, it feels great to be getting back into the swing of things!

Here's to a fantastic weekend--and the fact that I still get to enjoy the other half of my cheesecake tomorrow! Have a great one!

Makeover Madness! TPT Seller Challenge Week One

Well, after about a two year break, I'm back! Finally! A new house, new job, and a new baby later, I'm finally ready to return to the world of blogging! To keep myself motivated, I've decided to kick off my blogging this summer by participating in the TPT Makeover Madness Linky Party being put on by the wonderful Emily over at Third in Hollywood, Amber at Peppy Zesty Teacherista, Ashley at Teach Create Motivate, and Jen at Sparkling in Second Grade. I have been really wanting to spice up some of my favorite products and even my own storefront, so this is just the motivation I needed to get going!

Here it comes...my favorite back to school activity...the All About Me Paper "Bagpack!"

Feel free to check out my "Bagpack" in my TPT store - it will be on SALE for the next 24 hours! Also, feel free to join in on the linky fun if you've got some sprucing up of your own to do! It felt so great to update one of my old favorites, and I'm looking forward to updating some of my other goodies soon! Also, just as a little side note...I am going to the TPT Conference in Las Vegas this July, and I cannot wait! It will be my first big trip away from my girlies, but I am so excited! Maybe I'll see some of you there!