Instagram Here I Come!!

Happy Monday Friends!,

I just got a sudden burst of energy!! Where it came from, I'll never know! I think it's because I've had all of this stuff on my plate (end of the year final reflections, paperwork galore, summer school submissions, planning my daughter's birthday party, etc, etc, etc) BUT it's all finally starting to fall into place.

I'm sure you have heard about the awesome linky party started by What the Teacher Wants and Apples and ABC's every Tuesday. If you haven't, here's the scoop...It's Teacher Talk Tuesday using Instagram!!

So here's what you'll do if you want to join in the fun:
1. If you have a blog, share your instagram username on your blog and use this image to tell your followers about #teachertalktuesday {just right click on the instagram button and click "save as"}. What the Teacher Wants and Apples and ABCs are hosting a linky party to kick off our "Teacher Talk Tuesday!"  Link up at the bottom of either of their pages: with a blog post, sharing this image,  your user name, and a couple of your favorite Instagram photos, if you want!
2. If you don't have a blog, PLEASE still join them on Instagram on Tuesday for #teachertalktuesday

I've been eyeing Instagram for a while, but had no clue how to use it. Now I'm ADDICTED!! If you have an instagram account, I would love if you would come and follow me on my account. Click on my username in blue to follow. My username is LearningIsSomethingToTreasure

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I'm so excited for tomorrow! Off I go to try and get some R & R for tonight. I'll see you back here tomorrow night for Teacher Talk Tuesday!!

Orange You Glad It's a Blog Hop!?! Freebies and Fun Galore!!

Hello Dear Blogging Friends!!,

I am so excited for you to be joining me tonight for our blog hop featuring all of these awesome Florida bloggers... I'd like to give you a big Florida welcome!!!

I am the...

on tonight's blog hop. :-)

Living in Florida definitely has it's perks. Good weather, flip flops almost year round, lovely beaches! I can't complain much!! Folks, I don't know about you, but I am in full SUMMER mode! I'm ready for some stress free days of bumming it on the beach, and the flip flops are on as we speak!



Here are some summery creations that I would like to share with you:

First, I am gearing up for some summer fun! Every year on the last week of school, we do a summer themed day each day of the week! My class loves this every year!! I don't know who it's more enjoyable for...my students or me! This is one of my summer themed days that we do...WATERMELONS!!! If you are ready for some summer fun, come and check this out! It has several math and literacy activities that are watermelon themed, including fact families, ABC order, sums, thinking maps, writing pages, nouns/verbs/adjectives, watermelon taste testing, a watermelon seed spitting contest (yes I said seed spitting contest!), measurement with seeds and MORE...

Click on the picture to see it in my TPT store. :-)

Next up is a FREEBIE! As you can tell, I am a little majorly obsessed with flip flops right now!! Here is a simple flip flop writing/craftivity freebie for your students to make as we wind yet another year down. It includes brainstorming pages, several writing options, a word search, and an ABC order page.  Here is a picture of this craftivity in action!

 Click on the picture below to download it from my TPT store!...

Thanks for joining me tonight on our fun Florida Blogger Hop!! I hope you are having oodles of fun! Next, please click the button below to hop on over to my friend Denise over at Sunny Days in Second Grade for some more F-U-N!

If you are just joining in the fun, the hop officially begins over at my friend Tamara's blog over at Mrs. Russell's Room. Don't miss out on some great freebies and products. :-) Thanks for stopping by!!

My First Five for Friday and Some Florida Blog Hop Fun!!!

Haaaaaapppy Friday Friends!!

I feel like shouting it from the rooftops!! Only 5 more Fridays left before the end of the school year. Crazy how time flies!! I definitely had a very busy & productive Friday. Today I'm linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for my first Five for Friday!

Here's what's been going on in my week:

1. I told you that I had a very busy and productive Friday. This is because our first grade team had our annual Spirit 400 Race to Recycle. We do this every year during the week of Earth Day. Our littles create "race cars" out of boxes and recycled goods. Then as a class, we go around our bus loop and practice sorting recyclables into the correct bins (paper, plastic, aluminum). It was a huge event this year. Here's some fun pictures of our day!

2. We continued to work on our poetry unit from the fabulous Christina at Sugar and Spice.

If you are looking for an amazing, awesome poetry unit for young learners, this is top notch. This is my 2nd year using this Poetry Party unit and my kids love it. This week we focused on Haiku poems and Diamante Antonym poems. Find her wonderful poetry unit HERE!!

3. I am 16 weeks pregnant!! I can't complain...besides some headaches, I'm feeling pretty good. Here's a picture of my bump!

4. We are finally putting up a fence in our backyard. My husband and father in law put it up and did a great job! I'm so excited that I can let the dogs out without having to walk them on a leash!!! :-)

5. I'm hard at work on my latest freebie which will be featured as a part of a Florida Blog Hop tomorrow night beginning at 7:00 pm. Join the hop for lots of freebies from some rockin' bloggers!! Don't forget to stop back tomorrow!!! :-)

Also...don't forget to join my facebook page for Learning Is Something To Treasure!! There will be tons of giveaways beginning this weekend. Click HERE to "like" my page!!

Well that's about all for my Friday!! See you all tomorrow for the big Florida Blogger Hop!!!

Have a Fabulous Friday!,

Florida Blog Hop Fun + Going Live on Facebook!!

Happy ~almost~ Friday Friends,

I'm stopping by for a quick visit tonight to let you know about a few things going on over here at Learning Is Something To Treasure!

First, my Florida blogging buddies and I are teaming up on Saturday for an Orange 'ya Glad It's a Blog Hop? featuring K-2 Florida Bloggers!! Stop by Saturday night at 7:00 EST beginning at Mrs. Russell's Room and hop along the Florida blog trail for LOTS of freebies and fun from many of your Florida favorites. Look at the picture below to see who is participating!!

I am working on something very special as a freebie for you!! Don't forget to stop by and visit us on Saturday night. :-)

In other news, I have decided to take the Facebook plunge. I started a facebook page for my blog last summer, but never got around to promoting it. I know I receive a lot of my blog updates via facebook these days, so I'm going all in!

Click HERE to "like" my facebook page. You won't be sorry that you did! It will be full of giveaways and fun, beginning this weekend!!! So don't miss out!!

Smile!! It's almost Friday!! :-)

Let's Get Acquainted!!!+ Due Date Winners!

Happy Sunday Friends,

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend off! We're back to another Monday again. I saw this picture on Facebook last week and it so describes how any of us feel throughout the week!

Take note on Sunday night's picture above...SO TRUE! :-)

Now that I'm back in the blogging world, I am stumbling across all of these new ideas and linkies. Today I'm linking up with Latoya from Flying Into First Grade for her Let's Get Acquainted linky.

Every Sunday she puts up a new topic for bloggers to link up about. This week's topic is the 3 most favorite places in your classroom. 

1. My Palm Tree (inspired by none other than the amazing Deanna Jump!)

I don't know what I would do without this palm tree! I've used it as a photo backdrop and it is just a landmark of my classroom. I love it!

2. My student showcase bulletin board: Our Work is a Treasure

My classroom is all pirate themed. I made this pennant to go with my pirate theme. I love displaying student work on there. I overlapped the black and red polka dotted borders to create a look to stand out.

3. My student motivation door

I love the message on this door for my students. They read it frequently when in the classroom. I found the idea on pinterest and a fellow teacher's blog. I want them to know how loved and wanted they are in my classroom. It is something I am going to continue next year, as well.

Go and link up with Latoya at Flying Into First Grade and share your 3 favorite classroom spots!

Thank you to all who commented on my post a few days ago when I announced that I am pregnant!!! We had a lot of good and close guesses, but nobody guessed my actual due date lol. So I am giving away any item from my TPT store to the 2 closest guesses. So when am I due?????

OCTOBER 9th!!!!

Congratulations to Linda Nelson who guessed October 8th and Graciela who guessed October 10th (which is my birthday!) I will be in touch shortly so you can pick an item from my TPT store.

Thoughts please...I have been toying with the idea of starting a facebook page for my blog. What's your thoughts on that? Do you update yourself more through facebook or by reading in blogger? I know lately I've been looking more at facebook than blogger, so I was wondering if it is the same for you.

Have a Super Sunday!,

It's the Magical Product Swap with Lori from Conversations in Literacy!!

Whoop Whoop! It's time for one of my favorite blogging events...The Magical Product Swap!

I just love having the opportunity to discover the talents of so many bloggers out there. I was sooooo excited to learn that I was swapping products with a lovely gal who I have been following since the beginning of my blogging career...the fabulous Lori from Conversations in Literacy!!!

If you haven't seen her blog yet, you must check it out! I have read so many helpful literacy tips and received so many ideas from following her. It was hard to narrow down what to review, because everything sounded so appealing, but I LOVE teaching writing, so I chose Lori's "I Am An Expert" How-To Writing Unit.

How-To writing is one of my favorite things to teach when I have my writing block. This pack is full of wonderful ideas and organization.

I love how this pack is laid out from beginning to end. I was thrilled to see the common core alignment standards easily accessible for lesson planning purposes!

It also gives detailed instructions on how to use this packet to maximize your student success!

There is something always appealing about having real pictures as examples in packets. I loved the examples of the whole group "how-to" writing ideas that were included and pictures of the how-to booklet.

Speaking of the How-To booklet, this was probably my favorite idea in the entire packet! I love that Lori provided colorful pictures and sentences so students could create their own "How To Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich" booklet before embarking on their own How To writing. I also think it would be a great idea for my writing center to include these pictures and other pictures so my students could use them as visuals to help them create more how-to writings!

Also with the how-to writing booklet, there are several wonderful planning pages for students to use as they develop their how-to writings on the subject of their choice. Here is how I utilized my how-to planning pages as examples for my students:

Once planned out, classes can make a how-to writing book as a classroom keepsake!

When students are done editing, revising, and composing their final draft, there is a helpful checklist that they can use to make sure that they included all of the essential components of their how-to writing!

The most pleasing part of this for me as a teacher was the rubric that I found at the end for easy assessment. I may also use this as a guide for my students to develop their own rubrics for grading on their how-to writing as an extension!!

This pack is one of many amazing products in Lori's store. Click on the link below to see this product! It is really a well thought out and beneficial product to help teach your students about how-to writing.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-Am-An-Expert-How-To-Writing-Unit

Hop on over to Lori's blog at Conversations in Literacy to check out her review of my Pirate Palooza unit! I will have that on sale in my TPT store for the next 24 hours!!

Click HERE to check it out!

Have a Super Saturday Night!! :-)

Where in the World Have I Been?!? Exciting news + FREEBIE/Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday Friends!,

Woah! Long time no see!! I have been thinking about you all constantly!! I apologize for my LONG absence from the blogging world and a BIG thank all of you who have hung in there with me. =)

So where have I been you ask????....

Well, to let the cat out of the bag, per se... I am PREGNANT!!

I am done going through your usual first trimester blues...nausea, exhaustion, achiness, but the good news is that I am feeling a lot better. Everything is going well!! Thanks to those of you who emailed to check up on me. It makes me feel loved to know that I have been missed. I'm thrilled that summertime is approaching quickly so I am hoping to get some posts up then and get going on blogging & TPT creations again! My notebook of ideas is bursting at the seams!

I'm back in business though! I have the product swap coming up that I'm participating in and a special blog hop that some of my awesome blogger friends and I are taking part in coming up soon with a lot of freebies for you!

To celebrate, here's a freebie from me to you. It's a baby themed long i word sort!! If you have the Treasures reading series, it goes great with the story, Smile Mike! If not, it's still a great way to practice long I with silent e. What more appropriate way to celebrate, right?!?  Click on the link below to download from google docs!

Click HERE to download.

Also, let's have some fun...the person who can come closest to guessing my due date will get any item for free from my TPT store!! I'll give you a hint...it is in the FALL. Leave a comment...I will let you know tomorrow!

See you soon friends!!,