Got Barbies?

Hi all!

I will begin this post by saying THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TEACHING but teachers will probably enjoy it.

As I have mentioned before, I use to be an avid scrapbooker.  Now I am mostly digital and  occasionally dabble in the hands on method.  Anyone who have ever scrapbooked anything knows that there are OODLES AND OODLES of supplies out there; and, of course, at one time, I HAD TO OWN ALL OF IT!

I have a scrapbook room/office that houses most of  these products that are now just sitting silently waiting to be used again.

Well, recently my eight-year old daughter and I have started tapping into our right brained selves and using some of these materials.  However, we are not scrapbooking.

We were inspired by a little girl on Youtube who was making a barbie house out of a shoebox (I can't even find the little girl's video again to give her credit for the inspiration.).  My daughter stumbled upon her video one day while she was bored.  She said "Mom!  Can we make one of these?  I have an old shoe box."

I said "sure" and we proceeded to create what we referred to as "A Barbie in the Box."  Our first one turned out....um....well...it just turned out.

But now, after many hours of thought, contemplation, research and burnt finger tips (Darn glue gun!), I am ready to reveal our second product.

Here is... "A Barbie in a Box."

 Here is what the room looks like.  

The box is from Tuesday Morning.  

It is one of those designer boxes.

It was $9.99.

 Here is a closer look of the room.  

The embellishment on the wall is from Michaels.

It was 99 cents.

I used one piece of scrapbook paper for the walls. 

It was 59 cents.

 Here is a pillow.

I made it from some left over felt I had sitting around.

The flowers are scrapbooking embellishments that I hadn't used.

The bead is from one of my daughter's bead collections.

 Isn't this the cutest?

I made this tray from a circle cut from a piece of silver scrapbook paper.

Then I added some bling embellishments.

The perfume bottle is one large bead with a toothpick hot glued into it.

I drew on the spritzer with a black sharpie.

I made a poof out of some left over scrapbooking threads I had.

The nail polishes are made from three small beads and toothpicks.

 The lamp.

I used the top from my hair spray.

Three beads from one of my daughter's sets.

A bottle top and a toothpick.

I added some more bling embellishments.

The flowers

I started with a cap to one of my body sprays.

Lined it with hot pink polka dot scrapbooking paper.

Added some stuffing to the inside.

Used toothpicks for the stems.

Hot glued on some small paper flowers that I had from my scrapbooking days.

Hot glued a yellow bead to the center.

Added some paper leaves.

It is hard to tell from the pick but I made the bed out of a piece of wood.  

The trunk was bought at Michaels for $1.00.  I painted it black.  

The night stand was found unfinished at the Dollar Tree.  I painted it black.  

The dresser is a box covered with black duct tape and the drawers are left over pieces of scrapbooking paper.

I would say...Barbie in a Box #2 turned out pretty darn CUTE!  My daughter loves it but, unfortunately, it isn't for her.  

IT'S FOR ME!  

No...it isn't even for me!  

My niece saw the first original Barbie in a Box and asked for one for her birthday.  

So, of course, I had to see what I could whip up for her.  

She will get it tonight at her birthday party.  

Do you think she will like it?

Happy Blogging!
Ann

My Christmas Blessings

These are a few of my favorite things....

 My handsome and charming son

 Collecting Shells

 Paddlesboarding

 My beautiful, free spirited daughter

 My caring husband (who is an excellent father)

 Building sandcastles

 Flowers

 Dolphins

 Walks on the beach

Photography

My family!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

from The Greene Family.

Happy Blogging!

Ann

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from my house to yours!

Merry Blogging!

Ann

22 years

Happy 22nd Anniversary!

This is my WONDERFUL husband!  My best friend!  The father of my children!

He is the reason I became a teacher!  He was the ONE who believed in me.  He believed that I could do anything I wanted to do and be anything I wanted to be.

He is my strength!

I love him!

Happy Blogging!

Ann

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Love it!

Happy Blogging!

Ann

Silence, Prayers....and tears

December Currently

Hi all!

It is December and you know what that means!

It is time for Currently with Farley.

Here's mine...

Here is my beautiful grand niece...

She is in Kindergarten.  She loves Hello Kitty and anything princess!  Isn't she adorable?

The family discovered in early November that she had a tumor on her kidney.  From that moment of discovery, it has just been a whirlwind of activity.  She had to have emergency surgery to remove the tumor which is malignant and she will begin chemotherapy treatment this coming Tuesday.  We are all staying positive and praying for her daily.

She loves to receive cards. If anyone would like to send her a card, just put your e-mail in a comment below and I will e-mail you her address.

Happy Blogging my teacher friends!

Ann

Kindergarten Conference.....and November in pictures

Wow!  What a day!

I took the day off!

Well, kind of!

I spent my day in Orlando at the SDE Kindergarten Conference.

I'm telling ya, there is nothing better than hanging out all day with a bunch of kindergarten teachers!  

I learned SO MUCH!  

Oh...and here is just one of the wonderful presenters I saw today...

 Yes, that is THE DEANNA JUMP!  

What an inspiring and creative teacher!

I can't wait to use some of the wonderful ideas that she shared in my classroom.

So, that is how I spent my day!  I am one happy, but slightly overwhelmed girl right now!

Anywho...Can you believe that this is the last day of November?  Where did this month go?

We have been busy, busy, busy learning!  We are at that time of the year that I just love.  You know...the time of year when procedures have become habitual...when the classroom can pretty much run itself.  That time of year when you can just sit back and enjoy the "hum" of a classroom filled with fully engaged learners.  IT IS THE MOST HEAVENLY TIME OF YEAR.

Here are some pics of what we have been doing this month...

 Pattern Block Math Numbers from Making Learning Fun

 Seasonal Number Cover Ups

(leaves are table scatter from Dollar Tree)

(Number cards came from a blog, but I can't remember where. If you know, leave a comment that way I can give credit where it is due.)

 Ten Frame Building Cards

(leaves are table scatter from Dollar Tree)

 Seasonal Number Cover Up

(I love how this child incorporated patterning as well into the cover up game.)

 Native American Craft

(notice the patterned headband)

 Our cute turkeys

 Native American Head Bands

(notice the pattern on the front)

Fall Wreaths

The poem on the wreath was at our pocket chart center for them to practice reading.

(yellow paper plates and leaves from Dollar Tree)

Well, that's just a taste of some of our learning in November!  

Now onto December!  We will be kicking the month off with our Gingerbread Man Unit.

Do you have any cute ideas to use with The Gingerbread Man?  I would love for you to share.

Happy Blogging!

Ann

I'm Thankful

Hey there!

I know...I know...it's been awhile.

I would like to say that I have a good reason....but I don't!

Just life and work getting in the way...but it is all good!

I decided to take a few minutes to link up with Lyndsey.

She is hosting a fun linky party where you get to share what you are most thankful for right now!

So here goes....

#1  I am most thankful for my family.  It is so nice to come home and spend time with them.  We love to travel, play games, watch movies, and visit Disneyworld (we live way too close).

#2  I am thankful for my job...I love being a teacher!  Although I complain a lot about being exhausted and overworked....I know I wouldn't want to do anything else!  Teaching makes me happy!  Here is a pic of my home away from home.

#3  I am thankful that I have awesome friends who just happen to be my co-workers as well.  Here I am with Julie, Melody, and Mel...we are all dressed up in 50's gear for Melody's 50th birthday just this week (Don't you just love how her crown says she is 29?).

#4  Lastly, I am thankful for you...my blogging friends.  Blogging has completely changed the way I teach.

After teaching for 20 years I was feeling a bit...well...let's just say in a rut.  You know...same old...same old.  Then I found the blogging community.  All of you have inspired me to be a better teacher.  However, I do believe I have gone through 3 printers since I started blogging....anyone else have this problem?

Reading your wonderful ideas that you post on your blogs get me so excited about teaching.  I rush to school, eager to share with my team...and then they get excited too!  Thank you for inspiring me and my co-workers!

What are you thankful for?  Go link up with Lyndsey at A Year Of Many Firsts and share what you are thankful for.

Happy Blogging!
Ann

November Currently...and Overwhelmed

Hi all!

Wow!  It is November...already?

Where has the school year gone!

It seems like this school year is passing by so quickly for me...and I can't seem to fit everything in that I want to... or get caught up for that matter.  Ugh!!!!!

Anyhoo....it is that time again.

You know...Currently time.

Currently with Farley.

I thought I would at least take a moment or two for my little blog (who I have been terribly neglecting) to share what is CURRENTLY going on in my neck of the world.

So here goes...

Outside of teaching....did I mention that I have a family?  Yes, I have a wonderful husband who is so supporting of the astronomical amount of time I spend at school this year.  I have a intelligent/handsome son who is in middle school and a beautiful daughter who is in 2nd grade.

Does anyone feel like it is difficult these days to balance the expectations of home and school with all of these common core expectations?

I know I am currently living for the weekend because that is the ONLY time I really have to do laundry, clean house, and spend time with my family.  It seems that during the school week, I am so swamped between teaching, meetings, parent/teacher conferences, lesson planning, etc. etc. etc.  I come home and literally FALL into bed completely exhausted.

I keep searching for a happy balance...but I haven't found it yet.  I am sure it is out there...let me know if you have found it and please give me a clue of it's location.  LOL!

Enough of that!

Here are a few pics for you of what I have been doing in school...(unfortunately, I can't remember if I already shared these...blame it on the STRESS...so if I already did...please excuse me).

These images are of some of the Math Workstations that I have been using for the month of October.  Not sure at this moment where I got them from but I am sure I can search it down if you are truly interested (just let me know).

My students have been working on fluency to 5 and after giving assessments last week, I had 100% mastery.  I am so proud of them!  Now we are moving on number through 10.

Of course, I have to go in to school tomorrow to change out my math workstations.  If I remember, I will take pics and share the new workstations.

If you have stuck with me for this long post, thanks for reading!

Oh, and don't forget to link up with Farley and tell us what is currently going on in your life.

Until next time...

Happy Blogging!
Ann

I've Been Boo-ed

Michelle over at Inspired by Kindergarten has Boo-ed me!  I know that sounds like a bad thing...but it is actually something good.  It's a Halloween themed linky party.

Here's what up with the Boo-ing...

If you've been booed, copy and paste the above pic and these "rules" into your post.
 

1.  Give a shout out to the blogger who booed you and link back to their site!

 

2. Share 3-5 October activities, books, products (yours or someone else),

or freebie(s) that you love!

 

3.  Share the Boo love with 5 bloggers- make sure you check this link to make sure you don't boo someone again:

http://toristeachertips.blogspot.com/2012/10/ive-been-booed-fun-october-linky.html 

And don't forget to tell them that they have been BOOED!

 

4.  Link up {HERE} so that others can find you and read about your October ideas!  And while you are there... check out the other great blogs!

Since I completed step one (Thanks, Michelle!), I will move onto step two.

My favorite books to read during October...

Here are some of our crafts that we do:

Here are some of the interactive charts I use:

Also, here are some GREAT freebies that I have found that I am using at my math workstations to teach number sense to 5:

 This one can be found HERE.

And these two can be found HERE.

Lastly, every year our kindergarten has a storybook character parade.  For this activity, the child must dress up like a storybook character and bring in the book that matches their costume.  We get to parade around school, be on the news, and get our picture taken for our class yearbook.  It is always great fun to see what character everyone comes as.  This year I am working on a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom costume.  I will have to post a pic when it is done.

Now, onto step 3, I am passing on the "BOO" to the following bloggers:

Sharing Kindergarten

Young and Lively Kindergarten

Sunshine Sand and Scissors

Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten

Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten

I can't wait to see what my blogging friends share.  You can check our all who have been Boo-ed HERE. 

Happy Blogging!

Ann