Reasons to be Thankful this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving.  This is a time of year I love.  This week my students wrote about their favourite holiday and I explainined to them why Thanksgiving is mine.  We celebrate Thanksgiving much earlier here in Canada than our friends in the U.S. do, but it is still a very special time.  Fall has finally arrived.  The leaves are changing, the days are cool and the nights even cooler.  Pumpkin spice EVERYTHING (David's tea latte being a recent fave) becomes the rage, and most importantly of all, there is turkey.  

I love all things about turkey time.  

We had a great kick off to the long Thanksgiving weekend at school on Friday.  Each year, we have a huge pot luck luncheon and everyone pitches in.  This year, I brought my favourites, homemade cranberry sauce and homemade turkey gravy.  Who knew how complicated it is to make turkey gravy without a turkey! I went out and bought turkey wings, roasted them with some root vegetables, put them in the stock pot, (actually Jay did all the roasting and stock making for me) made a beautiful turkey stock, then created a roux and finally had turkey gravy! Three hours!  I have to say though, it was totally worth it because it tasted so much better than the alternative...making it from a package!  We are also going to visit J's family on Monday and I get the chance to have another turkey dinner...I really love Thanksgiving meals!

As many of my readers know, the past few years have been really rough on my family. Lately, I have been thinking to myself how very thankful I am for all the blessings I do have. Jay is wonderful partner who ensures that each day I feel special and loved, my lovely daughter Madison is doing really in transitioning to high school, my class of 20 fifth graders challenge me and make me smile each day, my new Nissan Murano is the car of my dreams, I have a roof over my head, and I have wonderful friends who will take the time to read this post and know I am thinking of them this weekend.

Speaking of friends, a fantastic group of Canadian bloggers have banded together to bring you some Thanksgiving goodies in the form of a sale on Teacher's Pay Teachers.  The sale officially starts tomorrow (Sunday) so fill up your cart and grab some great deals. I just got a wonderful fall art activity from my friend Jennifer who writes the awesome blog, Runde's Room.  I am going to be using it with my class this week.  

Click on the image above to purchase from TpT.

Everything in my store will be on sale all weekend.  If there are some products you haven't grabbed yet, now is a great time to stock up on unique items made for Ontario teachers.  Just click on the image below to go directly to my TpT store Teaching Is A Gift.  

Check out all the stores listed for more great Canadian ideas you can implement this fall in your classroom!  Happy Turkey Day!

Runde's Room	The Primary Patch	Hanging Around in Primary	Dennis the Menace Teaching
That Fun Reading Teacher	Tina's Teaching Treasures	Emmy Mac Shop	Mrs. Brousseau's Binder
2 Peas & a Dog	The Purple Teacher	Diamond Mom	Lifelong Learning
Teaching Math by Hart	I Heart Grade 3	The Classroom Sparrow	Mrs. Beattie's Classroom
Fun in Fourth	Madly Learning	Anita Bremer	Thinking of Teaching
Teaching FSL	BrowniePoints	Mrs. Mathis' Homeroom	Mrs. Albanese's Class
A Special Kind of Class	Elementary AMC	Journeys in Learning	Teaching is a Gift
The Raudy Teacher	Leslie Hope	Coach's Corner	Cinnamon's Synonyms

InLinkz.com

Currently...It's October right?

I am so sorry I have been MIA for over a month.  It's not as if I have done nothing for the past month...in fact it has be CRAZY! The kind of crazy that only happens at the beginning of the school year, when you change grades...and when your only brother dies the weekend before school starts.  Yup, it's been all kinds of crazy for me.

Listening:  My dirty little secret is I LOVE, LOVE,LOVE the Housewives...of NJ, of the OC, of Beverly Hills even of Vancouver (they were really awful people though!)  I just heard on the news that Teresa and Joe Giudice of the RHONJ are going to jail.  I feel sorry for their children, but the choices these two supposed adults have made landed them right where they belong.

Loving: So proud of my Maddie.  She just entered high-school and she is doing really, really well.  She tried out for the girls basketball team and she made it!  I have attended a few games and that girl has hustle and skills!  So happy to see her making new friends and getting active.  She's on her game!

Thinking:  The amount of time I spend writing IEPs each year is ridiculous.  I wish there was another program to use to create them. Our online program won't work in Chrome or IE, and it will not work on Mac computers...it makes it really hard to complete them in a timely manner...since I have a MAC book Pro and use Chrome!

Wanting:  This fall has been challenging to say the least.  My brother passed away on Labour Day weekend of cancer.  I planned his funeral and taught the first week of school.  The whole thing exhausted me.  Now I just want to be able to sleep, to not have to clean, to mark, to plan, to grocery shop, to run errands, to do "homework".  Just want a weekend of NO MUSTS!  Is that too much to ask?

Needing:  More than 24 hours in the day.  I have to get these IEP's done..and once I do...I have to start on...WAIT FOR IT...report cards!  ARGHHHHHH!

TRICK o' the trade:  My newest trick.  Use Command hooks to put up chart paper.  I hate using a chart stand, it takes up way too much space in my classroom.  Today I hung up my chart paper directly on the wall using two Command hooks.  Keeps paper flat, easy to access and easy to write on!  

Now run don't walk over to visit Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade and find out what everyone else is currently up to...

Click on the image above to check out Farley's blog.

The Great Canadian Back To School eBook! eh?

Yes, it's that time...I have to admit it.  Back To School is upon us.  Many of my American friends have been back for weeks now, but I am still playing ostrich about having to set up next week and having the kids arrive the following Tuesday.

A group of outstanding Canadian teachers who have stores on Teachers Pay Teachers have joined together to try to ease the transition for all of us. They have published a Back To School eBook full of unique, Canadian FREEBIES, products and teaching tips.  I am proud to be part of such a special group of educators.  Please click on the image above to download the eBook for FREE.  If you are not already a follower of my store, be sure to click on the little green star, so you will receive updates when I upload new freebies and products.

Here's hoping you have the best year ever!

Back to School, Back To Bargains, Giveaways and Freebies~ OH MY!

Today is a big day, a HUGE day, a great day...no it's not Christmas but it just might feel like it.  Great giveaways, freebies and an awesome sale!

My friend Meg over at The Teacher Studio is a fantastic blogger and creator.  Her blog has hit a half million views and to celebrate, Meg is hosting a giveaway all week.  Today, I am honoured to be among some really first rate bloggers and teacher authors who are donating $10 EACH (yes EACH) from their store to Meg's giveaway.  Each day this week Meg will focus on 5 blog posts that are full of great content--one from herself and 4 from her illustrious guests!  The giveaway posted each day will feature $10 of prizes that YOU CHOOSE from each of the featured bloggers plus $10 from Meg's store for $50 worth of prizes each day! Ready to see what content is waiting for you today?  Just click on Meg's giveaway button above!

Can it get better than a giveaway?  Heck yeah! Today is the Back To School Boost sale over at Teacher's Pay Teacher's.  If you are like me and you didn't get everything you wanted, this is a great bonus.  Or, if you didn't know what you wanted, today is the day to grab those essentials for Back To School.  If you are in Ontario like me, we have less than two weeks left!  I can't even go in to set up my classroom until next week, but I sure can buy some great products to get started with a BOOST!  Click on the image below to visit my store (it's been recently made over so be sure to check it out). Be sure to enter code BOOST at checkout to receive a total of 28% off all of the products in my store.  

One of my favourite, interactive, teacher and student tested back to school activities has been updated and will be an awesome deal today. While the sale is on, be sure to grab your own copy of Back To School Questions Using Post-It Notes by clicking on the image above.

Can it get any better you say?  Tonight between 8-9 p.m. be sure to stop by A Classy Collaboration to celebrate Schoolapalooza!  You don't want to miss out on the FLASH freebies from some amazing bloggers (including me...and it's a good one I have to tell you!).  Be sure to like and follow my Facebook Page so you will get a reminder later today!