Why'd I buy it?

I'm linkin' up with one of my most awesomeness BBB's,

AMC from Elementary AMC for her new monthly

linky...Why'd I buy it?

It's no secret that I like to shop.

My most favorite form of shoppin' involves the internet.

Why?

I'm lazy.

I can scroll, click, stick it in my cart

and a few days later, 

stuff magically appears at my doorstep.

I can lay on the couch in my jammies,

avoid traffic, long lines...and...people.

Stress free.

The only problem...I spend money.

You can't win them all.

Recently I bought a big purchase, not online...

and I didn't even go to a store.

I won that one.

My dear sweet friend Miss Nelson is 

an amazin' photographer.

She has some awesome cameras and lenses.

I don't know how to use not a one of them, but 

it's pretty neat watchin' her snap shots.

I'm jealous of her talent and I want to be just like her.

So...I begged her to sell me one her cameras..and she DID.

I love her.

Why'd I buy it?

I want to take amazingness pictures for my blog

and to torture my friends and family every chance I get.

Shhh...don't tell them I said that or they will hide.

This is my biggest Back to School purchase and

by far my most favorite.

I can't wait for the kiddos to smile for me on the 

first day of school.

I'm goin' to paparazzi them all year and it's goin'

to be so much fun!

Be on the lookout for some photos.

No judgin' though...I still don't know what I'm doin'!

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Wingding of a Blogiversary with Mrs. Spangler in the Middle

Happy Blogiversary to my sweet friend Lisa from 

Mrs. Spangler in the Middle.

Check out all of these awesome bloggers that 

are helpin' her celebrate with a giveaway.

Be sure to head over to 

Mrs. Spangler in the Middle

from July 28th through August 1st

to enter to win some fabulous prizes.

Happy Monday, friends!

Florida Teacher Blog Hop...Welcome to PCB!

Welcome to the Sunshine State! Enjoy yourself as you take a tour 

around our wonderful {and large!} state! 

Grab some freebies along the way, and 

be sure to enter to win our Bundles of Sunshine!

You can find me in Northwest Florida, in the Panhandle.

I'm located in the Spring Break Capital of the world and the 

most beautiful beach on the Emerald Coast...in

Panama City Beach.

I have lived in PCB since 2006.

Before that...I grew up in Southwest Florida, in Naples.
My favorite thing about PCB...
I wear my flip flops...almost all year long.
That's right...I live where some of you vacation!

Want to know my favorite spot in PCB?

Pineapple Willy's

Yummy food, delicious drinks, colorful t-shirts and a spectacular view!
I used to spend my summers workin' at Pineapple Willy's.
Walkin' on the end of that pier, wind blowin' in my hair,
sun droppin' down in the Gulf...yeah...not a bad gig, right?
I bet some of you have even been right in that spot and I could've
been runnin' circles around you and you didn't even know!
Next time, let me know you're here and we'll grab one of those
awesomeness frozen beverages!

Stickin' with the beachy theme...I've got a summer-y FREEBIE
just for you...well, lots of you (you knew what I meant).
To grab my freebie, just click the image below.
Summer Lovin' Labels

In honor of the hop, I've placed this on sale July 25th-July 27th.
I marked it down 50%.
Rockin' Behavior Beads Part Two

The Florida teachers below have two fantastic giveaways for you! 

You can enter once from each one of our pages. 

All you have to do is follow my blog! 

Hop around to all the blogs listed below, 

and be sure to follow them to get more entries. 

The more entries you have, the more likely you are to win! 

Each pack also includes a Starbucks gift card 

(because, well, a teacher's gotta have a coffee!).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Come find out more about the beautiful state of Florida by
readin' about these other sweet teachers!

Happy Friday, friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

You asked for it...What I'm Wearing Wednesday

I'm linkin' up with my sweet friend Jivey from 

Ideas by Jivey for 

What I'm Wearing Wednesday!

Jivey might not like glitter, but I bet she'll like this glitter.

You asked for it...here it is!

Thanks for all the beautiful comments from last night's post (here).

You all make my heart smile.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

I said, "YES!"

Guess what!?

Jerm got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

I said, "YES!"

Just had to get this in writin' on the official day!

I love him to pieces.

Just wanted to share with the rest of the world!

XO

Happy Wednesday, July 22nd, friends!

Monday Made It...canvas, caps, cuteness...

Today I am linkin' up with my super sweet and creative friend 

Tara from 4th Grade Frolics

for Monday Made It.

You guys are probably sick of seein' me make canvases with

scrapbook paper, but I can't help it. 

They are really hard to mess up...translation...

if I can do it, you can do it...

FOR SURE!

I saw this super cute pin.  

My first reaction....I likey...I wanty.

Source

My version: 

I painted a canvas black.

Cut out some scrapbook circles usin' the ribbon 

container as a guide.

Mod Podged them down on the bottom.

Used a silver Sharpie to make the circles and 

write my name.

Pulled out the cute ribbon I scored at 

Hobby Lobby this week.

50% off...love!

Hot glued the green ribbon on the back.

Knotted the other colors of ribbon around the green.

Mod Podged the whole canvas.

 Jerm made somethin' for Monday Made It too.

'Merica!

See...I knew drinkin' those adult beverages would come in handy
one day.

Just kiddin'...he got some most of them from work.

I'm lucky he likes to be crafty with me on rainy days.

Don't mind the deer in the back...it's probably not watchin' you like

I think it watches me.

Cue song in your head...

"I always feel like...somebody's

watchin' me....."

Is it stuck in your head?

Good...keep readin'!

Speakin' of rainy days...we were all set to go out on

the boat the other day

and it was lightnin' and thunderin' again...

it is Florida after all.

So...not a good day for fishin'.

I don't do lightnin'.

Instead, Jerm and I had a lunch date and 

then spent an hour or so cruisin' 

through our new Michael's on the beach.

I ran across a cute lil' wooden owl 

that was on sale for $1.19.

Um...YES!

In the cart it went.

I may or may not have given it a name and 

talked to it in the store.

Yes, I think it's perfectly normal to talk to inanimate objects.

I really wish you could see the glitter paint. 

So sparkly!

That butt. 

Funny!

I don't have an owl theme, 

but keep readin' to see what I plan 

to do with this cuteness!

So...what to do with this lil' guy?

If I catch anyone bein'...let's say...mischievous...

or causin' shenanigans...

I will stick this lil' guy on their table

to...well...STARE AT THEM!

It's my way of sayin' "I'll be watchin' you!"...

only it would be more appropriate to say, 

"OWL BE WATCHING YOU!"

Still singin' the song from earlier?

You might not all have a Michael's...or maybe you 

don't feel like paintin'...or maybe you dislike glitter...

(FYI: I don't trust people that don't like glitter) 

Either way...I made you a FREEBIE!

Owl be watching you

It's not as cute as my lil' guy, 

but...it's FREE.

Who doesn't like free? 

Get ready...something big is comin' your way!

I'm super duper excited for Friday to get here!

Congrats to Lori from Learning by the Seashore

Not only did she get a new blog design this week, she was also the 400th like on  Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin's Facebook page. Lori wins $10 worth of products to my TpT store. You just never know when a surprise might come your way for followin' Rockin' & Lovin' Learnin' on  Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Bloglovin', TpT or Google Friend Connect. (Follow buttons are at the top!)

Happy Monday, friends!

Integrating Technology into Math...Tune into Technology

I was super bummed that I didn't get to jump in on 

one of my favorite summer linkys last week.

I'm joinin' two of my favorite blogs,

iTeach 1:1 & Learning to the Core

for Tune into Technology.

As you can see by the button, this week's topic is:

Integrating Technology into Math

I do A LOT of Math in my class.

TWO HOURS worth of Math...

EVERY...

DAY!

My kids do not do Math homework.

Yes, you read that right.

I haven't done Math homework in my room

for two years and it's worked out great, but 

that's a whole other post.

I do Math first thing every mornin'.

I call my kiddos over to my carpet area and they

spread out on the floor with their Math textbooks and binders...

with a perfect view to our SMARTboard.

I have written about this here and here before.

After we do a whole group lesson,

I split my kids into five flexible Math groups.

1) Desktop computers

2) iPads or laptops

3) Math games on the carpet

4) Small group at my teacher table

5) Independent/Group work

One of the things that I did last year was Math Journals

Since we moved to online Math standardized testin'

a few years ago in Florida, 

I thought it would be important to add in a component

this year for my students to be able to reply

to a Math journal prompt electronically.

I have battled back in forth between usin' a Google Doc

or just havin' them respond via email or Edmodo to me.

We use Edmodo daily for assignments, but I think my 5th graders 

need more practice with emailin'.

Each student in my district has their own email address.

I think it's good to switch up the programs you use often...or

the kids get bored with the same thing over and over.

I am pretty sure I'm goin' to try out the email first.

My reasonin'...

I can send out an email to each student and

they can send me a reply with their written/typed response.

This gives me the opportunity to add a comment back to them

without everyone else seein' what I've got to say.

Of course this is true with Edmodo too, but

like I said before...change is good.

I can use this idea in the desktop computer, laptop, or iPad centers.

These are the Math journals I use and what I wrote last year:

  I got the Math Journals from K-5 Math Teaching Resources. 

 They have journals for each grade level for purchase.  

They are Common Core aligned and 

so far I am really enjoying them.
I have the journal entry written 

in my lesson plans on my Planbook.  

I project this on my SMARTboard which is 

located in front of my teacher table.  

The kids copy the question and write an answer.  

After they are finished, they share the response with their group.

Now I can draft a few group emails to go out 

when I'm writin' my lesson plans. 

Also, I plan to keep usin' the followin' Math programs for home/school:

1) Study Jams Math-I use these little lessons and videos often

I use this list to keep help me plan and 

keep track of what we have watched.

2) Ten Marks-I love that I can go in and assign 

whatever skill or standard we 

are currently workin' on. 

3) XtraMath-Great for basic math fact practice 

and the kids love earnin'

the certificates from this program.

4) Learnzillion-Common Core aligned

5) Scootpad-individualized for each student.

6) Successmaker-the program my county uses for

Math & Reading.

7) Sumdog-the kids LOVE this site and really get into 

the competitions they offer.

 I also use a bazillion iPad apps...too many to list today. 

I can't wait to see what new stuff is out there

that I need to be doin' also!

I wish there was more time in the day.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Monday Made It...flowers and ice cream...

This is my first official Monday Made It of the summer...

at home...with all my supplies.

Actually, I spent the day with Miss Nelson craftin' away...

at her house.

Both of us LOVE linkin' up with sweet Tara from 

4th Grade Frolics and both get into some serious trouble

for makin' a mess everywhere.

Maybe that's why we decided last summer to create

a store together called Double Trouble.

Glitter, glue guns, giggles...doesn't sound so troublesome to me, 

but what do I know?

In my classroom, I have a different colored table bucket on each

of my six tables.

Yes, I do tables in 5th grade and it's one of the best

decisions I have ever made in my teachin' career.

In the past, I have stored pencils, pens, etc. in plastic cups

that go inside the bucket.

This year, I wanted to switch it up a lil' bit.

I did a little sneak peek on Instagram.

Make sure you link yours up today and use #mondaymadeit

I like to go back and stalk browse your pictures!

I bought some mason jars at Michael's for $1.50 a piece and

some pretty flowers for 30% off each flower...

makin' each flower $1.39.

I already had some tulle that I had bought at Hobby Lobby last summer.
I used them for this craft here.

I cut off the the stems on each flower and then wrapped the tulle
around the plastic green part.
I put some hot glue in there to keep the tulle inside.

I wrapped the tulle with the flower around the jar and dropped

some pens and highlighters in each one.  

They are so bright and festive!
I can't wait to get the flower caddies in my buckets.

You can check out what the rest of my classroom decor
looks like here.

Kirsten Terborg asked me to make a custom set of 

Fact Families-Behavior Beads

for her this past week.

I wrote about them here.

These are new.

They can be used for Addition/Subtraction or

Multiplication/Division Fact Families.

These will help motivate students to learn their facts

and will give them somethin' to look forward to when

they know they will be gettin' an ice cream

sundae party at the end.

Want to know more about Behavior Beads?

Click here and here.

These are on sale again for $2.50 on Monday and Tuesday.

I will be usin' Sign Up Genius to ask parents for

Ice Cream Sundae Party donations for students

after learnin' their multiplication fact families.

I always like to send home Thank You notes

to students and parents for participating in somethin'

or for donatin' items to our classroom.

It's just the sweet thing to do and

I hope my students learn to do the same for others.

I have made a FREEBIE for anyone

that is usin' Fact Families-Behavior Beads in their class

You can click here or on the pictures.

I made Miss Nelson and I some homemade ice cream

to celebrate Monday Made It.

Directions:

1) Open freezer and pick out desired dessert.

2) Take lid off of carton.

3) Scoop contents out into bowl with a spoon.

4) Eat and enjoy at home...that's what makes it homemade.

Total kitchen time from start to finish...approximately 5 minutes...

maybe less if you have an awesome ice cream scoop.

The real stuff: Yes...it's SO Delicious!

My best Monday Made It food item...ever!

I'm even goin' to link it up with Christy at 

Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road

for 

Eating, Drinking, Linking...Oh My!

My friend Cassie Lea over at Funky in Fourth

is havin' an AWESOME giveaway!

Head over and check it out!

Happy Monday, friends!