Currently… loving summer!

I just have to thank you for the love on my last couple of posts. I’m going to step off the soapbox for now and share a little more lighthearted look at the last few days!

I spent a lot of hours (over 25 for sure) from Monday- Thursday working on my classroom. I worked on organizing my classroom library (again)… and spent a lot of time going through the supplies left in my closets when I moved in last year. Sooo good to do a little purging and get it all packed up!

A lot of hours at work for the first week of my “summer off,” though!

Definitely shared a lot with #teachersummerwork  : ) Thanks to those of you who have joined me! (Not sure what I’m talking about? Read more here!)

Now that I’m done in my classroom for a bit, I’m linking up with Farley to share…

{listening} – Yep, I love Netflix. Suggestions for my next show are very welcome : )

{loving} – My husband works 2nd shift, so we don’t usually get a lot of time together during the week. My dog is also loving a little extra time with her people!

{thinking} – I need to set some goals or I won’t get everything done! The To Do list is so, so long… including lots for my class, even more for home, and some TpT projects, like a few updates to Text Detectives, finishing Text Detectives Jr., and creating a new product series!

Hint, hint…

{wanting} – There’s a teeny chance we could be moving and I hate not knowing for sure! Fingers crossed that I know soon!

{needing} – To get healthier again! I’m back to tracking what I eat- just makes me more aware- by using MyFitnessPal, and I use my FitBit to track my daily steps.

In full honesty, I should mention that today I ate Graeter’s ice cream… and the kids’ families gave me about $30 more in gift cards there.  So… ice cream is gonna happen. But I’m going to try for balance!

Why yes, those are chunks of peanut butter cookie dough and chocolate... love me some Buckeye Blitz. #graeters #summermeansicecream #teacherlife #teachersummer

A photo posted by Jenny (@luckeyfrog) on Jun 7, 2015 at 6:44pm PDT

 

I’m so excited to blog more this summer! I’ve missed writing about teaching and connecting with other teachers. Thanks for reading along and commenting!

March Currently & Winner Announced!

March is going to be a CRAZY month for me- but a very good one!

The month includes: a baby shower, awesomely bad movies with friends, finally seeing Wicked, taking my husband on a surprise trip with friends, seeing my little brother & mom, a blog conference, a visit from a friend, maybe a trip to the ballet, my birthday, AND the start of Spring Break!

Of course, it also includes parent-teacher conferences, lots of standardized testing, and finishing the yearbook, but it ought to be a good month, even if it IS super busy! And since it will be so busy…

Please email me (see link above and to the right, with the little mailbox!) if you would be interested in submitting a guest post. I’ll especially consider those that focus in the 2-3ish grade band, or focus on organization and/ or helping new teachers.

I’m linking up with Farley for Currently…

Can you guess my missing question?  : ) You can link up with Currently at Farley’s blog here.

One last thing- time to announce the winner of my Text Detectives March giveaway!

Thanks for entering! Of course, you can still pick up the Seuss passage for free by downloading the preview here- and if you like it, the pack’s just $4. Be sure to check out my Feeling Lucky? Multisyllabic Word with Prefixes game while you’re there, too!

Happy March, everyone!

Text Detectives- December & More!

You would think that by fifth grade, kids could find proof in the text for their answers… but not all of my intervention kids can! They are really improving with practice, though. If you love using Super Text Detectives like I do, be sure to check out the brand spankin’ new December edition!

This pack will be especially useful if you do a Holidays Around the World unit because I include lots of passages about winter holidays. Check out what’s included here:

I’m currently working with a lot of kids who really need any extra schema I can give them, so I have really tried to integrate science and social studies content to help build your students’ background knowledge.

Be sure to check out the preview in my store here- it includes a freebie passage for you to try out! My kids really love the color-coding- even the older ones think it’s more fun when we get out crayons and colored pencils, but it’s really giving them terrific practice too.

Of course, like everything else in my store, it’s on sale until midnight tonight. Make sure you use the code CYBER for 28% off!

This is also a great time to pick up my Reach for the Stars fluency folder if you’re thinking of adding it in next semester (or if you put it on your wishlist!)

In other news, it’s DECEMBER already!

{Linked up at Oh Boy Fourth Grade}

I think I may have more Christmas CD’s than I do non-Christmas CD’s. It’s ridiculous- but awesome. And the Candy Cane Kisses that Hershey puts out this time of year? So delicious!

You will also want to make sure you have liked the Luckeyfrog’s Lilypad Facebook page because this weekend will be another Freebie Frenzy! That means a chain of Facebook pages offering free goodies for our fans, so be sure to check it out!

One more thing before I go… time to announce the winners of my giveaway! I will be contacting them tonight :) Congratulations, Lori Schafer-Lee, Gina Hutton Underwood, Melinda King, and Cecile Henderson!

Don’t forget to stop by TpT before midnight to pick some things up on sale! :)

Currently October- and one of my favorite things :)

Fall sure flies when you're a teacher. I missed last month's Currently with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade, so I wanted to make sure I caught October's!

This month's going to be a little different for me. I'm still settling into a new area and don't know many people, which hasn't been so bad so far...  but now my husband's switching to 2nd shift, which means that if I'm spending a lot more time home alone. So far, I'm not loving it.

We do have plans every weekend this month, including a surprise mini-vacation for our dating anniversary at the end of the month. He won't tell me yet where we're going, but I am so excited!

As for my "treat"... I highly suggest the Lemon Escape lotion from VS! It makes me smell just like a lemon Starburst and I am in LOVE!

Currently in August

Is summer seriously coming to an end already? WHEW- moving and job searching has made the days FLY by. I’m welcoming August with Farley’s Currently linky…

Listening: Sara Bareilles is crazy talented. Have you heard her version of Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay? My goodness. (See below.) And she’s self-taught. Sara aside, I’ve been listening to lots of “old” 90’s music like my “Retro 90’s” CD. Ugh- are the songs of my childhood really “retro”?

Loving: Project Runway is back! Does this show make anyone else want to run to Dollar Tree and Goodwill and attempt to make useful things out of random stuff? …No?

Thinking: I got the chance to work with Scholastic this year, and one of our major tasks in NYC was to give our thoughts about upcoming changes to the Scholastic Book Clubs program this school year. They’ve started sending out information, updating the website, and putting our ideas in action, and it’s incredible to feel like I’ve been a part of that!

My blog also recently passed half a million page views, and the fact that that many people have cared to read what I have to say about teaching just blows my mind.

THANK YOU!

Wanting: Job searching has been… interesting as of late. I have been blessed with some interviews and even a few offers for aide positions, but it’s still early enough in the back-to-school game that I’m really hoping a teaching job can still come through! It’s left me with some tough decisions and I ‘m anxious to know how it’s all going to turn out!

Needing: I don’t need a job. Yes, I really want one… but what I truly need is patience to wait for whatever’s coming, trust that it’s the plan, & persistence to keep up the job hunt (even though I’ve retyped my resume’ about a thousand times by now and I’m sick of it!)

Back to School Must-Haves: I always get a new outfit. I’m no fashionista, by any means, but having one or two new outfits I feel great in really helps take the stress out of getting ready for the first day of school and open house.  Dress Barn has been my go-to spot for this the last couple of years, but I found a couple of dresses at Penney’s that I love this year! (Just in case :)

I also love getting my teacher binder and lesson plan template all ready to go for the new school year. I’ve been creating custom lesson plans for a few teachers the last few days and it’s such a great way to get organized early! If you’re interested, check out more about my free lesson plan template or customized lesson plans by clicking the Lesson Plans tab at the top of the blog!

Finally, there is nothing like the feeling of colorful new pens in a fresh school year calendar or markers writing on that first page of a new pad of chart paper. I’m a school supply nerd.

One way or another, I’ll need to start work soon, so I’m trying to enjoy my summer while it’s here.  Last night I got to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday by listening to a Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concert synched up with an incredible light show called Lumenocity that used Music Hall’s building façade as a canvas. Did I mention she and a good friend of mine were part of the team to put this event together (that probably 20,000 people will see this weekend)? I have some amazing people in my life.

What are you “currently” up to? Does school start soon for you? Anyone still job searching like me? :)

Week of Doom Approaching, in 3, 2, 1…

Some weeks you try out a new pin, and it works.

<a data-pin-do="embedPin" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/142074563214256792"></a>

This was my Pin of the Week. I started with a sore throat Sunday night, and got gradually worse until scrambling for sub plans on Thursday to get myself to Urgent Care.

See, I didn’t get anything ready because we just have too much going on for me to be absent. But, well, my body didn’t really listen to that, but let the sinus infection take charge.

Once I was medicated, I came back to school but didn’t eat a big enough breakfast, so my medicine did not agree with my stomach. Friday morning I had a lovely Teacher First and, well, got sick right in front of my class.

Yeah, nothing helps kids focus on their work like their teacher over a trash can in the back of the room.

I went home at lunch.

(Please tell me I’m not the only one who has traumatized her class in this way? They were so concerned. Of course, they were so concerned right in the moment when I needed them to be independent for just a minute please, but it was still sweet.)

ANYWAY.

Everyone else seems to be excited that we are almost to the end of the year. For me, there are FOURTEEN days left. And while I’m ready for a break, holy cow. There is WAY too much to get done in fourteen days. Plus, I might be moving away from my school this summer and I’m not ready to be done teaching here. I’m a nerd, but… I love my job, and I love knowing I’ve done it well, and I need more time for that!

Surely I’m not the only one who feels this way?

Next week we will be doing our state testing (which should have been done last week, but the testing company our state paid $95 million to had major computer issues). As a member of the social committee, I’m also helping with our retirement celebration on Wednesday. On top of that, it’s our Young Author’s Week- we will have a visit from an author (Keiko Kasza) and share our (unfinished) books with a first grade class. The rest of the week will be spent finishing our books, creating our Mother’s Day gift, and getting ready for the lemonade stand my class is running on Friday during a schoolwide running event, after seeing an orchestra performance in the morning and enjoying the pizza party they earned on the same day.

So yeah, sinus infection, there is NO TIME for you.

Oh, and my husband graduates college that same night and his family is coming to visit for the weekend.

(Hence all the question marks about my summer/ future. Husband is still looking for a job, so… life is sort of up in the air until that one falls into place. Crossing my fingers that I don’t have to work this summer- I’ve never done gone a summer without working!)

I have been a terrible blogger, but I plan on posting tomorrow to recap some ideas from this time last year (because most of you weren’t following me then, which is actually pretty awesome).

I super hope that your life is a bit less crazy right now. To be fair, other than the sick, most things in my life are going really well and are super exciting- it’s just a lot at once! :) Make sure you link up with your Currently with Farley!

Currently & Tips for Pin-Worthy Photos!

April already? Whew. When did that happen?

This past weekend, with my birthday and Easter, was amazing- but considering I doubled my daily calorie limit on my birthday, I’m trying to scale back again this week! I’m loving the free app MyFitnessPal (still) and before this weekend I’d lost 9 pounds in about a month. (If you’re on there, add me- I’m Luckeyfrog! :)

On Thursday, I’m leaving for New York City! I am SO excited. I picked up a couple of springy items this weekend, but I have been wanting to shop like crazy lately (and it’s so not like me!). I just started Polyvore (as luckeyfrog), but I have no idea what I’m doing!

As for blogging advice… I wanted to post the advice to be patient because you never know when something will take off- my lesson plan format had this mediocre response and then months later took off on Pinterest- but everyone’s saying that. So- my blogging advice is to keep Pinterest in mind when you post!

1. Use a camera when you can.
   
   
                                    iPad vs. Camera- Clearly, there’s a difference!
   
   It doesn’t have to be a DSLR (and I say this as a person who loves mine to pieces). But a real camera is probably going to make photos come out better than a phone most of the time, so when you can… snag a camera!
   
2. Crop and lighten your photos.
   
   
   
   Even iPhone/ iPad photos can look brighter and more appealing with a little bit of a touchup! If you’re not on a tablet, I totally recommend Picasa. It’s a free program from Google that is simple to use. I make almost every photo lighter and brighter (especially using Fill Light/ Highlights/ Saturation) before I post. I also try to get close to the action both when I shoot and crop!
   
3. Think about vertical/ horizontal.
   
   
                               See how horizontal means it shows up smaller?
   
   Remember that Pinterest only has a certain width for each column. If you have a super-pinworthy photo but it’s horizontal, it’s going to show up smaller on Pinterest. Your best bet is to make logos, title photos, etc. vertical so they’re more pinnable!
   
4. Add text to make a great pin image!
   
    
                    See how easy readability matters? Thanks KevinandAmanda :)
   
   Give a great title and make it clear and easy to read. (Cute fonts are great- but it’s more important that the words are big enough and clear enough to read when someone scrolls down the page.) Picasa offers a super-easy way to add text on top of your photos, or find some cute frames (like the free one above from The Hazel Owl). Some powerful words to include? Easy, simple, how to, tips, top ten, etc. If you don’t do this, make sure your image already clearly shows what your post is all about!
   
5. Pin your own image to Pinterest- with a great caption.
   
   
   
   Pick a time when Pinterest is pretty busy, and pin your own post. (As long as you don’t do this constantly, it’s okay!) Think about keywords, and being persuasive. If I’m posting a picture of my teacher binder, I want the keyword “teacher binder” there for searches (both on Pinterest AND Google)! Words like “Common Core,” or specific words to the content you’re teaching, are really important for searches, too. You also want to make it sound useful. Think about what makes you believe something is worth clicking on!

I’m still learning, of course, but I’m finding things that help drive more traffic to my site. I check my Blogger traffic sources through the stats page to figure out how people are finding my blog, and I also check http://pinterest.com/source/luckeyfrogslilypad.blogspot.com to see all the things pinned from my blog.

(You can put your blog address in place of mine to see what’s been pinned from your blog, too!)

Any other tips for creating Pinterest-ready blog images?

P.S.- Clearly, I’m addicted to Pinterest, so if you want to follow me… here I am :) And of course, link up to Farley’s Currently!

It's March! :) Yaaaay!

It's my birthday month! I'm also hovering neeear 500 followers, it's been about a year since I really started up my blog, and Spring Break is within sight! If you'd be interested in helping me out with a giveaway in a couple of weeks, please let me know (comment or email!).

Anyway...

 I think half of my Currently's have the same "listening." But the reruns are better than the recent episodes!

Dinner last night was delicious. (You can check out the recipe by clicking on SkinnyTaste's photo below.)

 

I'm addicted to using my own fonts. Does this happen to everyone? P.S.- If you haven't picked them up, they're FREE! :)

I feel like such a grown-up. My husband asked if there was something specific I wanted or wanted to do for my birthday, and I couldn't think of anything. (Well, anything reasonable.) Any suggestions?

There's nothing like getting wedding photos back from a friend's wedding and feeling like a cow to make you want to SERIOUSLY start getting in shape. It also helps when a high school friend you haven't seen since invites you to her "fitness accountability" group on Facebook. Uh, thanks for the subtle hint... So yeah. Any apps/ websites for easy tracking that you would suggest?

I am enjoying this jammies morning! :) This past week of test prep has helped me remember how much joy I *usually* get out of my job, and I am hating these test prep jitters. I'm nervous about testing, but my kids worked hard this last week and I think they're ready. And I'm ready... to be done with it! :)

I'm also excited about the first weekend of NEXT month... I got some amazing news this week, but I'm not sure if I'm free to share it with you yet. Let's just say I'll be able to cross something off of my Teacher Bucket List, and visit NEW YORK CITY for the first time in the process. So excited!!!

Make sure you link up with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade! :)

Currentlyyy

Already a month into the new year… and I’m still writing 2012.

Since making this a couple of days ago, we got Hulu Plus and totally caught up on Modern Family.

Funfetti and puppies are both hard to resist!

Seriously, people who use the wrong its/it’s, people who don’t use a turn signal, and people who are just plain RUDE drive me crazy. I have had a little too much of that last one this week!

On a happier note, my PTA is awesome about sending in our Box Tops, but actually divides the money earned by class. My class earned over $50, and my class and I picked out lots of new books with some of that money and my Scholastic points/ promos.

Today, the books arrived!

Pretty great, huh? I bought the “25 Books for $25” collection and lots of others. My kids were SO thrilled. 54 books for about $50 was fantastic!

We took a break from our normal afternoon routine to open the boxes, read our new books, and separate them by genre. I’m getting nervous about our testing (coming up in about a month), but it felt amazing to take a day off and let my kids just plain be excited about reading!

Currently, Confession, and Question

DECEMBER already!

I am so excited to get out my Christmas music. I have about as many Christmas CD's as I have normal CD's. I just love Christmas music- but it's definitely a little weird to listen when it's suddenly gotten super warm here again!  (Totally not minding a little break from needing to scrape off my car every morning, though!)



Thanks Farley! :) You can link up with her here.

Does anyone else watch Buying Alaska? It's like House Hunters, but less prissy ladies I want to punch in their over-Botoxed faces (and lots of gorgeous Alaska wilderness). Yes, I am a judgmental HH fan, but seriously, if I see one more trophy wife who doesn't realize how easy it is to change the $2 cabinet knobs in a $5 million vacation home in the Caribbean...

On Buying Alaska, the dealbreakers are things like having to troop 500 feet to an outhouse in the middle of the night in bear country where it regularly snows a few feet at a time. Oh, you don't really want to do that? I don't blame ya, lady!

Moving on, I, um... I have a confession to make.

Elf on the Shelf?

SO. CREEPY.

Please tell me I'm not the only one, and that I'm not going to get kicked out of Teacher-Blogger-dom.

Speaking of, I probably should post at least a little something about teaching, so here it is. For the last couple of months, I've been trying to shake up the attention-getters in my class. In October, we did "Hocus Pocus, Everybody Focus" and in November we did, "Turkey Turkey, Gobble Gobble."

Any ideas for December in a totally secular, non-holiday specific way?