The Power of Positivity

 Check this out! 3 Days! 3 Posts! I am on a roll! My New Year's Resolution is to post at least once a week. I think that Gina's new Linky will help with this for sure!

This idea is brilliant! We always talk about being Positive not Negative. Well this Linky is all about the posivitive things that happen in our lives each week! How easy is that?

So, here is my week. At first I had a hard time thinking of things that I did this week. I blame it on holiday brain!

 Monday: Three of my good friends and got together to do some Social Art. I had never been before, so I was super nervous. If you take a look at my blog you might think I'm kind of artsy. Well the truth is that I'm not at all. 

This is how it works. We met up at Milestones with about 30 other complete strangers, and this lovely lady took us step by step in making this amazing painting! I was super happy with how my painting turned out. Social art seems to be a new fad! But, it's soo much fun. You should definitely check it out!

  Tuesday: I worked on a puzzle with Anna. Anna is my eight year old daughter. She is growing up so fast. I really enjoyed working on something with her! She was so excited to solve the 150 piece puzzle!

  Wednesday: We are not big partiers in my household. But, we put on a wicked Dance Party, every New Year's Eve. We set the timer on the Microwave, and turn the tunes up! The girls even made their own playlist! When, the timer goes off we count down from 10. The best part is the girls are still in bed by 9:00! I don't think they quite understand that New Years is actually at midnight. PLEASE!!!! DON'T TELL THEM!!!!!

  Thursday: We had dinner with my teaching partner's family. Her daughter is sooooooo cute, and my girls love playing with her. It is so sweet watching them be the big kids!

  Friday: We got together with old friends, and I mean "old" friends. Adam and his friend have been friends since grade 3!!!! And let me tell you Adam is no longer a young guy! (He had a big birthday last year!) Although they don't live too far away, we don't get to see them very often. So it was nice to catch up!

I hope you link up with Gina from Miss Peluso's Kindergarten every Sunday! It should be a great time!

Thanks for stopping by!

January Pick 3 Linky

 I'm linking up with PAWStively Teaching and Insired Owl's Corner to bring you Pick 3: This Month's Top Pinterest Picks. 

What I love about this linky is how easy it is! I'm already busy on Pinterest planning for the month of January, so why not share some of the items that I pinned! If you want to take a look at my Pinterest boards click HERE.

When we head back on Monday, I'm going to start of with Snowmen as our theme in Language. There are so many great books about Snowmen.

One of my favourite snowmen books is "Snowmen at Night" by Caralyn Buehner. 

I did this art activity with my Firsties last night, and it turned out amazing. So I will definitely do it again this year.

Another great snowman book is "Snowzilla" by Janet Lawler. It is a perfect way to teach perspective.

This is such a cute idea.! This is my lesson for Monday morning! What a brilliant activity! Students create their own snowman and then describe him/her. It will make a great bulletin board display!

Check out my Snowman board for more great Snowman activities and ideas.

An InLinkz Link-up

Is it really CURRENTLY January?

Happy New Years! I can't believe that it is actually January! The holidays seem to be flying by! I head back to work in three whole days! 

It's been a while since I have linked up with Farley! Let's be honest it's been almost a month since I did any blogging whatsoever!!!!! But it's an new year! I thought I had better start off on a good note! 

Listening: I'm currently listening to my cats purr. Seriously! My girls are in bed. My husband is on the iPad and I'm sitting here surrounded by three purring cats. The peace and quiet is absolutely amazing. After a day of visiting friends, I need this. 

The girls received homemade Elsa and Ana hats from Grandma for Christmas. Do you think the cats are enjoying them?

Loving: I'm loving being home and getting to spend time with my girls. We are so lucky that Adam, my husband is off with us as well. We've had so much fun.  Between trips to see my parents up north (in the Barrie area), to day trips to movies, shopping, doing crafts, and puzzles and New Years Dance Parties! We have had a blast. 

New Year's Selfie! LOL

Thinking: I'm really wondering if 9:00 is too early to go to bed during the holidays? Especially since, I slept in until 10:00 this morning. I'm usually a night owl but right now I'm exhausted.

Wanting: I'm really wanting one more week of holidays. Trying to visit everyone is exhausting. 

Needing: I'm needing an Advil. I've been battling a headache all day I'm ready to give in and take one!

Yes: I plan to take up cross country skiing this winter. If that doesn't work out, I might just stick to snow shoeing.

Maybe: I would love to make it to the TPT conference this year! Not sure if it's in the budget though. Especially since, I would have to stowaway Adam in my carry on. :)

I wish: I really wish that I would reach my first TPT milestone! Wishful thinking? I hope not!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Few of My Favourite Things

Laura from Where the Magic Happens offered to host a new blog hop to get us ready for the holidays! Remember that super huge giveaway that happened in August? Well this one might beat it ALL! Check out the end of this post to see what amazing prizes have been donated for you to win. But, before we get to that...check out some of my favourite things!

My favourite restaurant has got to be Boston Pizza! Have you ever tried their Spicy Perogy Pizza????? It is by far my most favourite meal. I'm sure the rest of their menu is amazing but I've never tried anything else! They also have a great kids meal.

My favourite stores??? Hmmm...this is a tough one. I have so many! My favourite children's clothing store has got to be Bonnie Togs/Carters. The quality of their clothes is fantastic and my girls love their style. I'm sad that Anna is almost too big for their clothing.

My favourite clothing store is Laura. We have an outlet by my house! Who doesn't love spending $20 instead of $100!

My favourite online store is Amazon! No matter what I'm looking for they have it. Not to mention their shipping is super fast! Since Amazon is one of my favourite online stores I am offering up a $20 Amazon gift card as part of the amazing giveaway below!

 One of my favourite things about the holidays is spending time with my family. Each year my mom makes everyone gingerbread houses to decorate. It started off being all of my cousins and my sisters, but now it's usually just a close family affair. Even Adam (my husband) gets to decorate a gingerbread house.

 The family working hard on our gingerbread creations.

 Lizzy and my sister decorating their houses.

Anna is very focused on her house. Adam is still working on his 

gingerbread house decorating skills. 

Here are some of my favourite school items! 

Flair Pens

Angie Olson from Mrs Olson's Lucky Little Leaners got me hooked on these pens! I love the variety of colours, and how they write. I'm a bit of a pen snob...if I don't like the way it writes I won't use it. Click HERE to check out these amazing pens on Amazon.

Mr. Sketch Markers 

I remember these markers from when I was a kid! I still love them! Some of the new scents are pretty cool too! Click HERE to find them on Amazon!

I hope you enjoyed checking out some of my favourite things! Here is the best part...my featured items are 50% off. Click HERE to go to my store or search #myfavouritethings2014

Because we value our followers, and wanted to treat you to our favorite things Oprah style, we have put together the best giveaway of the season! My bloggy friends and I welcome you to the best, biggest, most cheerful event of the season:

7 winners for 7 prize packs!

Come and enter the giveaway and check out my bloggy friends' favourite things.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Unwrap a Gift!

Well I’m a little late linking up with The Primary Gal to bring you the Unwrap a Gift Linky Party. Let's just say that it has been one of those weeks!!!! I'll never get caught up. I apologize to those people who stopped by this morning and found a blank blog post. I hate dropping the ball on things. But here we go. 

Here is my gift to you!

Have you started using Open Ended Problems yet? If you want to learn more about Open Ended Problems click HERE check out my post on The Primary Pack.

My students have been working really hard on making numbers to 10. So I gave them a problem from the December kit. I loved watching them figure out the problem independently! They could even communicate the strategies they were using to help them solve the problem.

If you like what you see in the sample you can pick up the complete set! They are 50% off in my store this week!

Also, make sure you check out my Animal Themed, Problem Solving Strategies Posters.

Coming Soon!

Make sure you stop by tomorrow for the start of My Favourite Things Blog Post and a chance to win hundreds of dollars in prizes!

Don't forget to hop back over to the Primary Gal's blog to gets some more great gifts!

December Pick 3 Linky

As soon as Lisa from Pawsitively Teaching  and Marissa from Inspired Owl's Corner invited me to link up for their new monthly linky, I had so many ideas floating through my head. I love that this will be super useful. The rules are that you need to find three things on Pinterest that you could use during the month and since it's December 3rd...it was super easy! 3 December ideas!

I absolutely love teaching art and this activity from Color Like You Mean It looks amazing!!!  Click HERE or on the picture to go to the pin! This was done with a fifth grade class, but I think my Firsties will be able to handle it. 

I think instead of water paint though we will use pastels to colour and maybe we will use watercolour for the background. Wouldn't they make great cards to give to their parents!

Have you fallen in love with Whimsy Workshop Teaching yet? I love Susanna's clip art...but she's much more than clip art. Check out her adorable Polar Bear Tutorial.

Not only are these poplar bears ADORABLE but Susanna gives you the step by step instructions for teaching your students how to make them! Click HERE or on the picture to go to the pin!

 Each year the Grade One classes at my school will make an ornament for the students' trees or window. This year, we are going to make these adorable Christmas Trees from Ginger Snap Crafts.

I think they would be really sweet with a picture of them in the middle. For those students that don't celebrate Christmas they can make a tree without the buttons and star or a Popsicle stick snowflake to hang in their window. 

Take a look at some of the things that other bloggers plan to do this month!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for stopping by!