Tech Thursday: Elements 4D and a throwback-versary...

Hey there...

I'm linkin' up with Teaching Trio for 

Technology Thursday.

I've been SO out of the loop, 

so I don't know if this has been

shared before or not, but I am in LOVE 

with a new app

and the kiddos are too.  

I learned about this app at a Tech expo that my 

district hosted this past Spring.

You are goin' to want to load it...NOW!

Welcome
Elements 4D
into your life.

This is an Augmented Reality-Chemistry app.

This video that I found on my friend Google
does a fabulous job of 

explainin' how to use the paper blocks with the app...

to learn about elements.

Watch this and be WOW-ed!

Click here to access the paper blocks to use with the app.

*Use cardstock when printin' and con a super crafty

student into makin' your blocks for you...only

if you have a broken finger and can't cut or glue 

for yourself.

This app pairs nicely with the 

America's Most Wanted: Element Posters that

I have blogged about before here and here.

I know what you are thinkin'...

YOU'RE WELCOME!

You can now put on your:

"BESTEST TEACHER IN THE WHOLE WORLD"

crown.

Also...I missed my 2nd Blogiversary (at least it's in the same month),

so I wanted to do a

Throwback to last year's Technology Thursday

that just so happened to fall on my blogiversary.

Click on here or on the picture below to read my post.

Even though I haven't been bloggin' much,

I still stand behind these tips and tricks!

P.S.  Who likes Harry Potter?

If yes...

wave your wands in the air...

wave like you really do care!

I'm workin' on somethin' new....

Happy Thursday, friends.

Saturday Snapshots....my vacation continues...

Hello, Saturday.

I've had another busy week this week and have taken lots 

of snapshots so I could link up with my 

bestie Miss Nelson from Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera!

for Saturday Snapshots.

Want to see the beginnin' of my vacation?

Read here (Days 1-5), here (Days 6-9) and here (Day 10-15).

Day 16 Cali...we drove over to Pismo Beach.

We stayed in the same exact hotel that I used to stay in when 

I was younger.

Seriously...this is the view from the room.

Sea Crest OceanFront Hotel in Pismo Beach.

Day 17 Cali...these are the stairs that I posted on Instagram.

What goes down...must go up...

or somethin' like that.

UGH...we had take a break...clearly I am out of shape

because I was out of breath goin' back up there.

Check out these cool lil' caves.  

Day 17 Cali continued...we had such a relaxin' day sittin' around

outside...by the pool durin' the day and by the fire pits at night.

They had about four different fire pits around the property.

Of course I had to test them all out to figure out

which was my favorite.

Day 17 Cali continued...Overall, Day 17 was my amazingness 

(Did you like that I used your word, Chelsea?)

Day 17 was also the day that I got to meet Kelly in real-life.

Read here to find out more about our fun time!

Day 18 Cali...we stuck around the hotel all day and then 

headed to F.McLintock's.

I remember fond memories from my childhood

of this restaurant.

One of the things I remember most was the waiter pourin' water

from high up over the table...into your glass.

This brave child let the waiter pour water into his glass...

blindfolded.   

My steak was YUM!

Day 19 Cali...Drove home from Pismo, hit 600 followers on Bloglovin'(WooHOO),

ate a healthy lunch and found some popcorn stickers at Dollar Tree...score!

Day 20 Cali...didn't really leave the house.  

Did find a random bottle of grapes hangin' out in the hallway.

Day 21 Cali...Nitty's memorial day.

Check out the Flipagram at the bottom for a slide show of the memorial.

A great big thank you to George and Pris for hostin' the dinner

at their house. It was a beautiful event and lots of people

that adored Nitty were able to make it.
We handed out dish cloths that she had crocheted.

Everyone loved them.

Day 22 Cali...a day filled with laziness and not leavin' the house.

I did celebrate my One Year Blogiversary and stayed in my 

pajamas until 7 p.m.

Read here to find out about that.

Day 23 Cali...had lunch at Tehama with mom and Pris.

There were deer all over the course yesterday...just hangin' out.

Check out the little baby with her mama.

Happy 4th of July.

Day 23 Cali continued...had dinner with the 'rents and their sweet friends.

We ate at Corkscrew Cafe in Carmel Valley.

We started outside in the cute garden seatin' area, but it was too chilly.

The food was delicious and the company was even better!

Day 23 Cali continued...They served the table with warm

bread, creamy goat cheese (no...I didn't eat that, Jivey), and 

roasted garlic to spread on the bread.

Mom and I split a yummy Pear salad with melted Gorgonzola cheese

and had a Meyer's Lemon pizza with prosciutto, arugula,

mozzarella and Parmesan.

This was place had the coolest atmosphere. 

I couldn't stop snappin' shots.

Day 23 Cali continued...went to Patria in Salinas to make 

reservations for dinner tonight and to check on some grapes.

The most important part of my week was this...turn your volume up.

Happy Saturday, friends!

Exactly one year ago today...I started writin' on this blog

Exactly one year ago today...I started writin' on this blog.

Happy ONE YEAR Blogiversary to me.
Are you singin'?
Should I blow out some candles?
Do I need to make a wish?

One year ago...I had no idea what I was gettin' myself into.

I didn't know that I would make friends with people around the world.

I didn't know that I would grow tremendously as a teacher.

I didn't know that I would learn so much.

I didn't know that my brain would be non-stop thinkin'.

I didn't know people would actually read what I wrote.

I didn't know that I was funny...okay well maybe that's an 

exaggeration...I've always known I was funny.

Yes, I'm braggin'...

I'm goin' to link up with Angela from The Teacher's Desk 6 for
Throwback Thursday, Nick from
Sweet Rhyme-Pure Reason for Back to the Archive and
The Teaching Tribune for Throwback Thursday.

 

Anyways...I'm goin' to throw it back to my very first post...

You can read it here.

Readin' that first post was bittersweet for me...
as I typed that, I was sittin' in my Nitty's livin' room
and now as I type this...I am sittin' in my parents livin'
room after returnin' from her memorial dinner.
It was beautiful...pictures to come on Saturday.
Oh...how much my life has changed in one year.
At the end of the day...I'm truly blessed and I'm thankful.
150 posts later(Yes...it's 150 today too!)
Again....150 posts later,
I know Nitty would be proud of me.
I'm proud of me.

Y'all know how much I love linky parties.
That's my jam.
So...I thought it only appropriate that I do
some reflectin' and think about some
tips and tricks that I wish I I would've known
on my first day of bloggin'.
I'm linkin' up with Teaching Trio
for Technology Thursday since bloggin' is technology.

I'd like to say THANK YOU to
Jessica at Ideas by Jivey for her Techy Tips and
Megan from I Teach. What's Your Superpower? for her
Blog, Baby, Blog series.
These posts have been the best help with Technology
and hopefully, their suggestions will have the same impact on you.
If you don't follow them...you should.

I'm nowhere as tech savvy as these two ladies, but I do have
a couple of tips that might be worth your while.

Even if it takes you a week...reply.
There's a reason you're bloggin'...you've got somethin' to say.
Am I right?
You want to be heard.
You want someone to read what you have written.
If you don't reply...you aren't makin' connections and
basically...you are tellin' the person that took their precious
time to read your blog and comment...
that they aren't important enough for you to take your time
to read what they have written and reply.
That's rude.
Don't be rude.
Be courteous.
Reply.
Most bloggers like to reply via email.
If you reply to someone's comment on your own blog...
not through email, but on your actual blog,
there's a chance people are not goin' to come back to your
blog to see your comment.
That's just the way it goes.
Which leads into the next tip...

This is a tricky one.
Some of you probably have no idea that you are even
considered a no-reply blogger and that's okay, but
now's the time to fix that.
Read here and here.
It will make more sense.

Want to know the fastest way to lose followers?
Only postin' about items you have in your store.
It's true.
If I follow a blog that ONLY writes about their products
on TpT, TN, or Educents....BOOM....I'm clickin'
UNFOLLOW.
Sorry...I'm not sorry.

This is the one that just about sends me over the edge.
I read a lot of blogs and I like to reply to what I'm readin'.
See above.
It takes me twice as long to go through blogs when I'm
sittin' fightin' with my keyboard over whether or not
I've typed the capthca phrase, word verification, no robot thing...
whatever it is...appropriately.
Sometimes it's itty-bitty numbers that I can barely see
and other times it's make-believe words with squiggly letters.
I gave up tryin' to reply on my phone or ipad.
Please for my sanity, fix this.
This will help you here.
I bet by followin' the instructions you will
be helpin' to lower many peoples' blood pressure.
Consider it a Random Act of Kindness.

Everyone that I have ever come into contact with in the bloggy world
is super helpful.  Don't be afraid to ask for help if you don't know somethin'.
Need help?  I'm here for you, buddy.
Here's my email: butterflialisun@gmail.com
I don't know everything and I won't ever pretend to, BUT...
I can guarantee if you ask me a question and I don't know the answer,
I will do everything in my power to find someone who does.
I have some super smart bloggy friends.

I hope that some of these Tips & Tricks are helpful to you.
I'm seriously glad I was able to reflect...one year later.
With that bein' said...
I'm goin' to also link up with my sweet friend
Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for
Positive Thinking Thursday.

Source

Happy Thursday, friends!
Make sure if you eat a piece of cake to celebrate
my blogiversary...that you eat a bite or two for me too!

Monday Made It...Monday Meet Me...Eating, Drinking, Linking...Oh My!

It's Monday Made It time, it's Monday Made It time...

I'm kinda dancin' around doin' a conga line thing...except

I'm dancin' by myself...sigh.

Are you picturin' it?

Wish you were here to join in...Pismo Beach is

beautiful and I'm typin' this while the waves are crashin' below,

the seagulls are chirpin', the whales are squirtin' water in the air,

and the seals are barkin'.

So peaceful!

I'm linkin' up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for 

one of my most favorite linkys...Monday Made It!

 I love a good deal.  

It makes me feel like I've won an award when I find such a thing.

I found a pack of small 4 x 4 canvases at Tuesday Morning

for $8.99 this past week.  

There were 9 canvases in the pack, so 

that worked out to about a $1 a canvas.

I have one very thin strip of wall in my class that is bare-naked.
I need to put some clothes aka canvases, on that wall.

I decided that I would make the word

"Rockstars" 

to hang on this space.

I painted each canvas black, then printed out

some letters usin' KG's "Love Ya Like a Sister" font.

I then used the letters as a guide to cut out scrapbook paper

letters.  After this step, I used Mod Podge to paint over each

letter on the canvas.  I used two coats.

I think they are really colorful and will

look great up on the wall.
You can tell me the truth if you don't think so.
I can take it.

It's hard to see them on the black canvas, but up close

they are very bright!

I even considered connectin' them to a ribbon, but I'll wait

until I get back to school to see what that will look like.

I had a bunch of fabric left over from my 

Fabric Display Plates that 

I wrote about a few Mondays ago...here.

I bought some Marble Accents and magnets that were on 

sale to make D-I-Y Fabric Magnets.

This took a little bit of time, but was extremely easy.

I'm really good at easy projects.

I just popped on the finale of Game of Thrones that I had missed.

By the time the episode was finished, so was I with this craft.

Place some Mod Podge on the bottom of a flat marble/rock

and then place glue side onto fabric. 

Paint another layer on the bottom of the fabric and let it dry.

Cut along the edge of the marble/rock with scissors.

Hot glue some magnets on the bottom.

Easy-peasy!

I bought a magnetic, black whiteboard at Michael's for 40% off with a coupon.

Since my mom was with me, I made her bust out her smartphone to 

also get a coupon to purchase a black tabletop easel.

I am usin' the board, easel, and fabric magnets for a display board of

pictures of my Nitty Rose.

On Wednesday, my parents' friends will host a memorial dinner

in honor of my lovin' grandmother and serve a great deal of her favorite foods.  

I wanted to share some special times that she had when she 

visited my parents in California each year. 

I also wrote on a piece of construction paper with some chalk and placed it in a frame.

This will be surrounded by pictures of Nitty enjoyin' food.

She LOVED hamburgers and hot dogs!

I'm also linkin' up with The Teaching Tribune for Monday Meet Me-Week 5

The more I fill out these random facts about myself, the more I realize how

incredibly weird I am.

It's a good thing some of y'all still love me anyways!

This is my friend Kelly from A View into My Classroom.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you already know that

I got to meet Kelly in REAL-LIFE on Saturday.

She came with her sweet husband and little girls to 

my hotel in Pismo Beach to swim while we chit-chatted with one another.

Before we knew it, two hours had passed.

Our conversation just flowed and it seemed like we had

been friends forever and ever!

I'm so glad we were both able to be at the same place, at the same time!

I will definitely be seein' Kelly again some day.

She can't get rid of me that easily!

I hope you go and show Kelly some love and follow her.

She's extremely creative and innovative!

Also, my friend Christy from 

Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road

has reached a huge milestone of 1,000 followers.

To celebrate, she is havin' a giveaway.

Christy also has her super fun linky 

"Eating, Drinking, Linking...Oh My" goin' on.

I linked up my whole post that I wrote here 

for Saturday Snapshots because I ate A LOT of yummy

food last week.

I hope you will join Christy and check out her giveaway.

Happy Monday, friends!

$50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway...Par-tay!

O-M-G, y'all!

I know it's a big NO-NO to post twice

in one day, but I have to because...

I reached FIVE HUNDRED followers on Bloglovin'...5-0-0 and...

to top that off...I now have 700 Pinterest followers!

Can you hear me woohooin' from your house?

I'm in SHOCK...my followers ROCK!

(I didn't plan on a rhyme)

To celebrate, I'm havin' a lil' giveaway with a

FIFTY DOLLAR Amazon Gift Card!!!

Did you read that?  

Read it again!

$50

I want YOU...one of my lucky readers to have this!

Fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter to win.

This ends on June 17th. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now I think I'm actually motivated to go pack my suitcase!

Happy Tuesday...again, friends!

Elements Wanted and STEM Sleuths...Tried it Tuesday

It's Tuesday.

I'm officially done with the 2013-2014 school year.

I wanted to link up with one last school related

Tried it Tuesday with my sweet BBB, Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper.

Tried it Awesomeness #1:  Elements Wanted Posters

My sweet friend, Chelsea, from 5th Grade Wit and Whimsy

shared a really neat Science project that she did with her

class this year and was kind enough to share with me

what she was doin'.

Read her post here and one I wrote here.
I took my kiddos to the Technology Lab where we could
work on our posters...it went much quicker this way.
I will definitely be doin' this again next year.
I learned a lot of new and interestin' facts about the elements
and so did my Rockstars.

Sorry for the poor picture quality.  I had one of my students
take pictures after I had already loaded them in their mailboxes
to go home.  I had forgotten to take pics while they were hangin' up.

Tried it Awesomeness #2: STEM Sleuths

Meet Ted Borduas

 Ted and I used to teach

together...many moons ago in Naples, Florida.
Ted is a phenomenal 5th grade teacher who gets
his students excited about all things,
but especially in the area of STEM.
Ted has created mini videos for teachers and students
to enjoy in his STEM Sleuths series.
He has videos on Sound, Properties of Water, Clouds,
the Sun and Stars and many other topics.
Check them out here.
*If you're a Florida teacher, these will be extra helpful for you.

I've included a sample for you.



Tried it Awesomeness #3: Two for Tuesday with The Teaching Tribune

I have placed two "Science-y" items from my TpT store on sale
for 50% off.

#1: S.T.E.M. Edition-Behavior Beads

#2: Science Vocabulary Word Wall Words & Definition Cards

Don't forget to check out my friend Jessica's giveaway
every day this week over at Literacy Spark.
If you missed yesterday's post about the giveaway.
Click here.

In other news....I reached 500 followers on Bloglovin'!

I'm thinkin' about what I want to do to celebrate.

Any ideas?

YAY!

Happy Tuesday, friends!