Why thank you, thank you very much!

*Make sure you channel your best Elvis before reading the title of this post!


Well, Jennifer over at Herding Kats in Kindergarten awarded me the Liebster Award this week, and I have been so darn slow lately that Beth Ann over at Taming My Flock of Firsties gave it to me a few days later! Thank you so much ladies! I can only hope I do the award justice.


BTW have I ever mentioned that I have MAJOR nickname envy for the word FIRSTIES? There are absolutely no cute nicknames for Second Graders....


this is me challenging you to prove me wrong ;).


Anywhoooooooooo. Back to the Liebster Award. This award is for "up and coming blogs" with less than 200 followers. Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. Thank the giver and link back to them.
3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
4. Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers!! 




Here are my top 5 picks. I actually wouldn't call them my "top 5" but rather "5 blogs I have recently discovered and/or been obsessed with this week!"

I love that she has a GAZILLION photographs for every post!

Great Holiday ideas and amazing printable board games.

My newest favorite :)

Don't you just love her blog title?
Go check out these awesome ladies and give them some love :)

Pinterest Linky Party!

Michelle's Math in the Middle is hosting a linky party so you can follow people that interest you!


This is a quick and easy link-up.  All you need is:

1. A teacher blog, where you will write a quick little post telling your readers about this Linky Party ~ {Don't forget to grab the Linky Button!}
2. A Pinterest account
3. The Follow Me on Pinterest Button displayed on your blog.

Free For All Friday!

I'd like to share some games I made for word study with my tutoring students this summer. The lesson number correlates to the Words Their Way program. This freebie has 4 games and they are perfect to paste together and laminate, turn into a file folder game, or to keep in a binder. Click the link below the image to download all 4 games featuring vowels e and i. Also, don't forget to check out all the other great freebies at Blog Hoppin'!

Get it here!

UPDATE -  I have had many requests for these games so I have started to upload them to TPT. Click HERE to go to my store.

Three for Thursday

It's day 4 of teacher week!

My favorite font is hands-down...

I discovered it through a favorite fonts linky party. You can get it here!


My favorite online resource is.....

Duh. Pinterest. I know it's not technically a teaching resource, but I've found so many amazing things there that I can't resist choosing it as my favorite!


And I can't choose a favorite blog so here are a few of my daily reads...

Where it all goes down Wednesday

     So today for Teacher Week I was SUPPOSED to show you pictures of my classroom. So I went into school today and took my nice new camera and intended to get a whole lot done so I had something new to show you. BUT.... after being there for about an hour and getting a few small things accomplished but mostly making a big ol' mess, we had an EARTHQUAKE. Yep. 5.8 on the Richter Scale centered about 30 miles from my school. My school is near a rock quarry so we are used to feeling some minor shakes when they do blasting from time to time. This shook for a good minute or so, and I thought my Promethean projector was going to snap off. We all remembered our training and ran to stand in the doorways (but I think that was mainly to see what other people were doing). About 45 mins later the buildings were evacuated and we can't go back until risk management inspects the building. When it was all said and done, it was scary but more a minor inconvenience than anything else. No one was injured and our building seemed fine with no visible damage. Some older buildings in the area, including the National Cathedral and the Smithsonian Castle in Washington D.C. did have some damage.

     ANYWHOO... Since I don't have any new pictures of my room, I'm going to show you pictures of what I did instead of working in the classroom.

A friend saw my crayon rolls and asked if I would make her a crayon portfolio like this for her daughter. I found a free pattern here and changed it up a bit to get more crayon pockets.

I didn't have any crayons at home so I put in the color pencils just for the purposes of the photo but it was an epic fail. It holds 16 crayons and computer-size paper cut in half.

This I didn't make but I thought it was worth posting. My cousin is famous across the family for her aprons so I asked her to make me a craft apron for school. I love the bird pattern and the colors. Very my style.

AND if you MUST see pictures of my room, you can check out these posts!

Go to Blog Hoppin' to see who else linked up with pictures of their classroom. I have to say that this is my favorite day of Teacher Week and I'm sorely upset with myself about not living up to my own expectations, but I can't wait to snoop on other people's classrooms!

Teacher Talk Tuesday

Today I’m going to list some of the things I wish I had been told as a new teacher….

❤ No one can do it all. There will always be those teachers in your building who seem like Wonder Woman. Don’t judge your success based on the efforts of others but on the achievements of your students.

❤ Organize your life, your brain will thank you for it. I know there are plenty of teachers who are great at what they do and can do it even if they have piles teetering all over the room, but I am not one of them. And as a new teacher, your world needs to be manageable. So find a system that works for you and stick to it. Duplicating the procedures of others isn’t necessarily going to be the best fit for you, and that’s OK.

❤ Don’t lose sight of your vision and purpose. When you are up to your eyeballs in paper work, data, parents, meetings, and professional development it is easy to forget why you chose this profession.  I have to constantly remind myself of what is truly important, and that all these little annoyances are meant to help me reach my goals as a successful teacher, even if they don’t seem like it.

❤ Be open to change. It never fails…. Educational policy always changes just as soon as you think you’ve got a handle on it. Take it in strides and save your stress for the things you CAN change.

❤ Your professional team can make or break you. Make good working relationships with those around you, and use those relationships to your benefit. Understand that everyone has something to offer (even those fresh out of college) and that knowledge is meant to be shared. You are part of a village that is responsible for nurturing your students. It takes everyone to make the ship sail, and only takes one bad attitude to sink it.

See other new teacher advice at Blog Hoppin'

Win a FREE Blog Design

Kelly's Avenue Designs is giving away a total Blog Makeover! It is a $40 value and priceless for those of you just getting started (or if you're like me who did everything themselves and wants a more professional look). I'd love to see what someone (with actual blog design talent) can do with my flamingos! I haven't seen any other flamingo blogs, but if you know of any let me know!

Snack Time Linky Party

I am joining up with Mrs. Bainbridge's Class to tell you about snack time in my classroom. Check out her blog to see all the other snack time stories!

Basically snack has been the bane of my existence for years. I hate the mess and germs and allergy scares and sad faces without snack. I also had the issue of time management. I always felt like I was wasting time while kids snacked away.

Last year I decided to incorporate snack time with my Daily 5 rotations. As a class, we decided that "Read to Self" was a good time for snack, so when students are at that rotation, they know they may go get their snack and chow down while reading. This saves me from stopping to make an announcement and also keeps all 24 students from rushing over to their backpacks all at once.  Students know it is their responsibility to get their snacks during their Read to Self time and to clean up after themselves. Because they are already working  independently for Read to Self, socializing usually isn't an issue. Also, because the snack is staggered, students who didn't bring a snack are not "left out" of the snacking. There are plenty of students not eating snack just like them. :)

EEEK!

I just realized I've been playing around with Blogger for 3 hours! How did that happen? When I sat down, it was light out and I didn't need the room light. A few minutes ago I finally realized I was sitting in the dark and checked out the clock... oops :P

I know it's not that late, I'm just amazed at where the time has gone! Is there a support group for this? I guess I'm just a little excited since I have my first official follower! Thanks theapplebasketteacher!!!!

Grab My New Button!

I made my very own Blog Button!

<br /><a href=" http://flamingofabulous.blogspot.com "><img src=" http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z407/flamingofab/BlogButton2-1.jpg" border="0" /></a>

OMG TARGET BLOG ALERT!

Some GENIUS has created a new blog devoted entirely to Target! Hop on over to Target Treasures to check it out and enter her giveaway!

My first post!

I have seen so much great stuff on the teacher blogs I've visited recently. School has only been out for 3 weeks and I am officially experiencing creative withdraw! My neices are here visiting for three weeks and I always use this as an opportunity to try out some new craftivity ideas. I'll let you know how it goes and I plan to post about how I used technology in my classroom last year. I don't know how I ever taught before my Promethean board and flip camera came along!