Teacher Appreciation Sale

It is TPT's Teacher Appreciation sale!!

We are gearing up for the end of the year here in Kansas!  We have a little over 2 weeks left and have all of our favorite end of year activities ready to go. If you are looking for something fun to do with your kiddos for the end of the year click on the pictures and check out some of these favorites!

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Money Task Cards

Since life has been so much busy at home I haven't found time to work on anything new in quite a while!  My husband was off Monday and was home with the kids while I went to Professional Development.  We ended up having flex time in the afternoon, and since I had gotten grade cards done before Spring Break, I decided to hide out at my parent's house and actually work on TPT related things!
I was so excited to actually complete something.  It has been over a year since I have added a new product!  I ended up creating something that my 2nd grade team needed for an upcoming math lesson.

Click on any of the pictures to head over to our TPT store and grab this set of task cards for only $1.50!

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Job Share Part 2

Well apparently my assumption that I would have more time for life, blogging, TPT, etc once I was part time, was laughable!!! With 2 four year olds and a 2 year old at home my mornings FLY by! Add to that the fact that we have decided to homeschool and mornings are even more nuts! It was almost a year ago to the day that I wrote my Job Share Part 1 post!  I meant to come back and blog about what our day looks like within a week.  Oooops! :)

Going part time was still the best decision that I could have made though!  I love everything about being home with my babies in the morning and then getting to head in to school in the afternoon and teach my 2nd graders. 

I am blessed to be able to job share with one of my very good friends of 15 years.  We really enjoy working as a team and have so much fun laughing when we both end up at work together over plan time or at our PD days. It is also a complete bonus to be able to brainstorm ideas together about everything from a behavior issue to lesson ideas. This was our 2nd year job sharing and we were just approved to continue again next year!

Here is what our days look like

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TPT Teacher Appreciation Sale!

It is finally here!

 Katie and I both usually stock up during this sale.  We pick up items we have had wish listed for awhile and also those last minute, get me through the end of the year items!

If you are looking for something engaging to get your kiddos through the end of the year check out these great items!

Now I'm off to do some shopping of my own!!

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Educents Marketplace Launch!!!

Have you heard the news!? Educents is opening their MARKETPLACE! What does that mean? That means that besides the already AMAZING deals they offer on a daily basis, you can now purchase items from seller's stores, also on a daily basis! WHAT!? That’s right! Over 500 sellers have already created stores in the Educents Marketplace, so you are sure to find some money-saving deals anytime you need them!

Some great bloggers and I are joining together on a blog hop to introduce ourselves and show you the great products we have in our stores!!

I have been teaching for 14 years.  This year has been my first year job sharing and I love every minute of it!  I am home with my 3 littles in the morning and then head into work for the afternoon.  It is truly the best of both worlds!!  I have spent all 14 years of my teaching career in 2nd grade at the same school.
My husband and I have decided to homeschool our own children and my almost 4 year old twins have been doing preschool at home with me this year.  They call it "mommy school" and never want to stop learning.  The only thing better as a teacher than watching students have that aha moment is watching your own children have those moments!

Spend time with my family!  I have 3 little ones and and a hubby who loves the outdoors. My kiddos favorite thing is when we tell them that we are going on an adventure.  At 3,3, & 1 pretty much anything we do can easily become an adventure and they can never get enough!

Here is a little information about our FREEBIE. 

 Our kidds are constantly asking for a bookmark for their books.  They will grab pieces of scrap paper, sticky notes, really anything they could find to mark their spots.  We decided that we would sneak a little bit of learning into the bookmarks since they were going to use them so often!  We now keep a bunch of these ready to go in the classroom so that kids can grab one whenever they need a bookmark.  It is so fun to watch and hear them talking about the question on the bookmark and relating it to whatever book they are currently reading!  Click on any of the pictures to head over to our Educents store to grab it!

 You can buy a LOT of educational materials with that kind of money!  And, there are several groups of bloggers who are joining the LAUNCH, which means multiple ways to enter.

Educents Marketplace $50 in Edubucks Giveaway #3 - Second Grade Stores
After you check out our  Educents store (and FREEBIE), be sure to check out some of the other stores listed below too.

An InLinkz Link-up

If you are still with us please leave a comment below telling us which number follower you were on Eduents (click the little gray heart on our Educents page) and what item you would pick from our Educents store for a chance to win that item!  

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Job Share Part 1

Hello!  It has been awhile since I have actually gotten a chance (had the energy:) to sit down and write a meaty blog post.  This year it has been mostly random sale posts!  I've planned this post out in my head several evenings as I am drifting off to sleep, but haven't actually gotten it typed up until now!
If you don't know I have almost 4 year old twin girls and an almost 2 year old son.  They are the most wonderful part of my life and are definitely the apple of my hubby and my eyes! Our world is busy, busy, busy, but so much fun.  There really and truly  is never a dull moment!

The reality of teaching, even after 14 years in the same grade level, is that it is exhausting!  You are just truly mentally and physically exhausted at the end of every day.  Since my girls were born I have been so completely torn.  We couldn't afford for me to stay home at that point, but I came home exhausted every day to newborn twins.  I don't feel like I got to enjoy them as much as I wanted to!  My hubby was able to be home with them 2 days a week and my parents watched them the other 3 days.  So really the only days I got to be mommy 100% was on the weekends.  I couldn't have asked for a better situation than to have family watch them, but I was miserable.  I felt like I wasn't good at anything that I was doing! I wasn't the teacher I wanted to be or the mommy I wanted to be.
Then 2 days before my girl's 2nd birthday we had our little guy.  Now I was a mommy of 3!  Even more exhaustion and mommy guilt followed that first year of his life.  So my hubby and I decided we needed to figure out a way to allow me to be mommy first and teacher 2nd.  We spent the 2013/2014 school year scrimping and saving and following the Dave Ramsey plan so that we could afford for me to be home more.  It was, and still is, a ton of sacrifice, but soooooo worth it!
The timing was perfect because a good friend of mine had come back to teaching fourth grade after spending many years home with her own kiddos.  It was a rough start back to teaching and she was ready to do something else.  We chatted and decided that we would love to job share in second grade!  Our district is very job share friendly and our principal totally supported us staying at our school and job sharing!  We were approved at the end of last year and this has been our first year job sharing.  It has been amazing!!! 
After the first week of school this year I went in to my principal's office and thanked her for allowing me to love my job again.  I was able to be the mommy I wanted to be and also to continue doing what I love...teaching!  I come to work every day excited to see my kiddos and to teach! 
More to come on the logistics!!!! 
Lisen:)

One more day to get up to 28% off at our store!

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