Morning Work

Apparently I am losing my mind.  I have been using this fabulous morning work all year, and I thought I had shared it with you, but apparently, I never uploaded it.  I apologize!  I guess this is what happens on winter break, when you have time.

Anyway,  this year, we were limited (even more) on our paper usage, so I scrapped the one page a day worksheet for morning work and made my own.  My morning work is now one page back-to-back each WEEK.  Yes, I said for the week!

Grab the Morning Work {HERE}

Here is a sneak peak of it.  There is work for Monday through Thursday.  On Friday, I have a "Quick Check" that my kiddos work on.  This is the part I grade.  It let's me know that they understood the skills throughout the week.  During the week, we go over the work, so that students can ask questions or I can put the skill in during interventions.

My kids actually look forward to doing this because it is not overwhelming and they can actually complete it in the time they have.  They feel successful with this.  And since I don't require them to turn it in until Friday, they can pull it out and work on it if they finish their work early.

Head over to my TPT store and download the preview.  It includes 3 FREE weeks.  Test it out and let me know how it works in your classroom!

Updating and Reorganizing

Those of you who pop in on a regular basis, have probably noticed I have been revamping the blog and my TPT store.  I started this blog several years ago, and it was time for an update.  I am still going to keep it simple and clean, but I am working on adding images to every post for you.  I have also added a button for you to share and if you hover over my images, you can pin them!  Yes, pin them to your own board and have a quick reference to them later.

I am excited to get back into my classroom and share more pictures of what I am doing to educate my students!  

Get Organized Series

I am starting a "Get Organized" Series at my TPT store.  The first item in the series are some calendars.  I like to keep my work calendar separate from my personal calendar, so these calendars are only Monday through Friday.

Grab these calendars {HERE}.

These calendars are in black and white.  You can print them on colored paper, but I chose to color them in.  They say coloring is good for you, right?  Each month, as I am filling in my calendar, I treat myself to a few minutes of coloring the top.

How are you keeping organized this year?

My Caffeine-Free Journey

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I had gone caffeine-free.  I started this in August of 2017.  I was never a huge caffeine drinker in the first place, so that made this a lot easier.  I was one of those people who enjoyed a cup of coffee or tea in the morning (which, technically, I think it was more than a cup) and a Diet Coke in the afternoon.  I also liked to order pop (Chicago girl here) whenever we were out at a restaurant.

I decided to stop drinking caffeine "cold-turkey."  I was fine the first day or so and then I would start to crave it.  I replaced my morning drink with caffeine-free tea.  I already had my Keurig, so I was going to continue to use it.  I had not found the K-Cup I wanted yet, so I was just brewing hot water and putting the tea bag it.  It worked just fine.

Then I found these!  If you are into hot apple cider, you have to try these!  I know this is technically not tea, it made me feel all warm inside.  My biggest issue with this transition has been the craving of the Diet Coke in the afternoon.  I need, or thought I needed that afternoon pick me up.  Some people drink coffee all day.  I could live off of Diet Coke.  But, I decided I was going to change and I stuck with it.  Rarely, I will have a caffeine-Free Diet Coke, but again, that is very rare!

It is kind of funny, because as I write this post, I have a headache.  I don't think it is related to not having caffeine, but it seems a little ironic.

People ask me why I started this journey when the school year started, but without getting into too much detail, it seemed like a good time as any.  If I was busy working, I wouldn't be thinking about it.  That actually made it a lot easier.

How much caffeine do you drink each day?  Do you have a favorite K-Cup?

When Do You Go Back?

I go back to work on January 8th.  So I have one more week of "free time."  This makes me really excited.  The hubby is back to work and it is just a week for me!

I went to the mall today.  It was crazy.  You would think that they were giving away free stuff.  That's how busy it was.  I never go to the mall, especially this time of year, but I saw all the sales, and I couldn't help myself.  Not that I bought anything exciting, but I love to people watch.

Do you ever stop and people watch?  I had not seen the mall this crazy in years!  I love to go into Dillard's.  They have really good sales.  Today, their sales were so crazy, that they had police and security guards there in the handbag and shoe departments.  If you wanted to shop those sections, you had to stand in line.  They literally had it blocked off and were limiting the number of people in at a time.

I get it.  People go crazy over great deals.  So, out of curiosity, I stood in line to see what the big deal was.  Once I got in, the shelves were picked over and the styles I like, were not included in the sales.  I couldn't even get help, it was so busy.  I was not upset though.  I really shouldn't be buying a new handbag right now anyway!  But, I did enjoy looking at them.

I did go to the clothing section too and found two shirts on clearance.  I spent a whooping $12.00 for two shirts!  Didn't I say that Dillard's has good sales!?  I would never buy something there at full price, but when they have sales, they are steals!  You do have to be patient and sometimes you have to sift through, but you get a good deal and good quality.

Where do you love to shop and what is your weakness to shop for?

Holiday Baking

I know my last post was about eating healthy, but I did do some holiday baking this season and I wanted to share.

I was going to be good and stick with the healthy eating.  Besides, having everything prepped, made it super easy to stick to it and I got to sleep a few minutes earlier.  I found that I was either getting up earlier to get my meals ready, or I was grabbing something I really shouldn't have been eating in the first place.

I digress...Onto my holiday baking.  Those of you that know me, know that I love to bake.  If I was not in education, I would probably own my own bakery.

This year I was not in the mood for a really sweet cookie.  I didn't even make gingerbread cookies this year.  But then we had a cookie exchange at work and the baker in me had to join in.

So I played around with some shortbread cookies.  Which, by the way, are really good with coffee or tea because they are not too sweet.  I ended up making shortbread cookies that I shaped into little snowmen and then dipped them in chocolate.

But once I started baking, I was in the mood.  So then I made Russian Tea Cakes, which most people refer to a Mexican Wedding Cookies.

Both recipes were super easy.  I put them in clear party bags.  Then I drew the faces and buttons on to make them look like little snowmen.  They were a big hit and again, they were super easy.

I also got some great recipes in exchange.  But  I have to share my favorite one.  Remember how I didn't make gingerbread cookies this year?  Well one of the cookies that was exchanged was like a lighter, chewier version of a gingerbread cookie.  It was fabulous and it will be my new go to for years to come.  You can find the recipe here.  This is not my recipe and I do not take credit for it in any way.  One thing that I will add is that you can make these decretive by dipping them in white chocolate and adding any decorations you like.  Let me know what kind of baking you did this holiday season!

Winter Break

So as most teachers this time of year, I am on winter break.  This winter break has been very quiet around here.  Which, for me, is very unusual.  I thought I would be board, but it has given me time to get back to some things I enjoy outside of education.

While I know most people who read teacher blogs, are, well, other teachers, I have decided to blog about my life outside of education as well.  And since it is winter break, and I am not currently teaching, I figure now is a good time as any to start.

So here is what I have been up to.  Like many teachers, I LOVE pinterest!  But the time I have spent on pinterest has not been looking at education ideas.  I have been looking are recipes.  I don't know about you, but I have been getting board with eating the same old stuff.

A few months ago, I started getting better with my meal prepping.  I invested in some bento-type boxes from Amazon.  Here are the ones I use.  I like the three compartments, but chose something that you will use.

On Sundays, I laid out boxes for breakfast and lunch.  I am one of those people who you might refer to as a FOODIE.  So for me, this was a challenge.  In no way, is what I do going to work for everyone, but I am the type of person who counts calories.  I have been doing it consistently for about a year now.  The reason I started with counting calories is because I knew that I would not stick with it if I could not eat what I want.  For me, it is about a balance and potion control.

This is a sample of one of my bento boxes.  This was based off of a Starbucks Protein Box.  This was enough for me for lunch.  I also have a few ideas for breakfast as well.

The basic idea is to have some sort of protein and then add fruits and vegetables.  Fruits and veggies are typically low in calories, but filling.  I tend to use what is in season at the time, but you can use what you prefer.

You can also use dinner leftovers.

I made meatballs one night with mashed potatoes and broccoli.  Since I made everything from scratch, I was able to count the calories for the portions.  I use MyFitnessPal to help me do that, but I also look for recipes that include nutritional information.  While I know this is not an exact way to count calories, eating better starts with getting a general idea of what you are eating.

While I do not have pictures of all of my boxes, I have included a limited list of ideas I have tried.  Remember, you can eat what you like within limitations.

• Water Crackers, Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge, Blueberries, Apple
• Cheese, Crackers, Fruit
• Cottage Cheese, Cheerios, Yogurt
• Banana, Toast or English Muffin, Hard Boiled Egg
• Sandwich, Blueberries, Pretzels
• Chicken, Green Beans, Apple
• Cucumber, Hard Boiled Egg, Yogurt

The other thing that has helped me be successful in the past is the amount of water I drink.  I was not always good at drinking water.  I started slowly by tracking my water in take and now it just comes natural to me.  In fact, I prefer water over other drinks lately.  For my birthday, my hubby bought me a new water bottle that holds fruit.  Did someone say strawberry flavored water!?  That kicked my water in take up!  It tastes SO good. 

Once I got my water in take all set up, I started kicking out caffeine.  I know you are asking yourself how that worked and if I have been successful, but that is for another post.