Favorite Pins Friday!

Thanks to The First Grade Parade for hosting this fun new Friday Linky Party!  Cara Carroll is amazing, as I'm sure you know, and I'm super excited to link up!  If you haven't visited Cara's blog, definitely check it out; you won't be sorry!  Click the button above to visit the Linky Party!

What a fun party, huh?  Considering I'm Pinterest-obsessed and what not.  Whoo!  So let's get started, shall we?

In no particular order, here are some of my fave pins of late:

From my DIY/Crafts board:

Source: http://chickenscratchny.com/2013/04/spring-time-tic-tac-toe.html

How freakin' cute is that?!  Looks pretty simple to make, too!  The original post said she got the river stones at Dollar General, too!  She's clearly my kinda gal.  :)

From my For My Classroom board:

Source: http://artmommie.blogspot.com/2012/03/young-explorers-class_10.html

Brilliant.  This is from an art blog, but I think this would be an amazing back to school activity to inspire creativity and have students write about their final product.  ?!  Love it.

From my Desserts, Not Deserts board:

Source: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/11527/camp-fire-food#_a5y_p=687797

YUM.  May have to try this tomorrow when we have a pool party/cookout!


From my DIY/Crafts board:

Source: dumpaday.com

I am loving this idea!  We've been wanting to get a canopy for our backyard by the pool, but the ones we like are all too big for our tiny patio area--This looks pretty doable, huh??



From my Gifts/Stuff for Others board:



Source: dumpaday.com
What a brilliant idea!

From my Style/Beauty board:

Source: http://headedsomewhere.com/2013/04/22/follow-the-leaders-of-the-blog-o-sphere/

Loving this look!

What a fun link-up!  Thanks again to Cara for hosting!  Hope everyone had a great Independence Day!

Blog Lovin'???

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5255161/?claim=8huxggdbaq2">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

I have no clue about this Blog Lovin' business, but I have definitely been lovin' me some blogs for many years now, so I am down with the name, at least.

Hopefully you all have gotten your Google Reader situation figured out--such a bummer, amiright?

Happy Weekend!

We are having some friends over tomorrow to swim and cook out, and Sunday night we have a wedding!  Should be a fun one.

XO,
Gayla

What Do You Think of My New Blog Header???

But seriously.  Is it too busy with the background?  It was driving me crazy that I didn't have a header, just a title, and I can't afford to pay a blog designer right now, though I'd love to hire Barbara at Ruby Slippers Blog Design!  Maybe one day...

But even if it's a little busy, I am proud of myself for figuring out how to put a header together all by myself!  I am NOT a scrapbooker OR digital scrapbooker, so go me.

Seriously, though--what do you think?  Is it cute?  Would less be more?

Happy 22 months to my sweet baby boy tomorrow!  (Sounds a lot better than saying "tomorrow's Monday," doesn't it?)

:D

Growing Firsties' 500 Follower Giveaway!

Wow.  First of all, if you don't already follow Lisa Mattes at Growing Firsties, head over there now!

Secondly, you MUST check out her 500 Follower Giveaway!

 

Lisa has some amazing prizes to give away, so be sure to head over and enter to win!

What a compliment to have 500+ fellow teachers be interested in your work and your contributions to education.  I think it's amazing all the teacher bloggers out there who put (no doubt) tons of work into their daily lives in the classroom but then spend all this EXTRA time working on their own lessons and activities and then share them with us.  I'm new to doing this, but some of these bloggers are seriously AMAZING at it, and I truly am baffled at how and when they get all this amazingness done!  Congrats, Lisa, and thanks for the giveaway!  :)

On a side note, I stayed up WAY TOO LATE last night finishing up my Fractured Fairy Tales Unit (which we finished up before Spring Break, but putting it together to sell is quite another thing!).  I was SO SAD, as you can imagine, when I finally finished the darn unit and it wouldn't upload to TPT!  Tho thad.  Theriously.  So yeah.  I've tried probably 20 times since last night, and I'm still not able to upload it.  I contacted Support.  

Well, here's a sneak preview so that you can be waiting with bated breath.  HA!  :D

I'm sad to report that my Spring Break is officially OVER tomorrow!  :(  *tear*  *lots of tears*

Happy Spring!

Nominations (and more about me than anyone wants to know)!

Thanks to the awesome bloggers who (re)nominated me for the Liebster Award!  :)  I know I've been nominated in the past, but I thought I'd at least answer their fun questions!  Plus, it's a good reason to write a post since I've been so MIA lately.  :)

First thanks goes out to Sent From My iPad (great blog name, huh?)!
Here are her questions and my answers:

1. How long have you been blogging?  I started blogging personally when I moved to NYC back in 2002!  I started my classroom blog in April 2009, and I started this teaching blog in September 2011.
2. Why did you start a blog?  I started THIS particular blog because of all the amazing teaching blogs I had discovered.  It amazed me that I had never thought to use a blog that way before--to share ideas with fellow teachers.  Brilliant!
3. How did you come up with your blog name?  From the whole "Keep Calm and _____ On" phrase.  :)
4. What is your guilty pleasure?  Trashy tv.  My husband HATES all the shows I watch.  The only shows we watch together are Always Sunny, The League, and Louis.  I love the Vampire Diaries, reality tv, Parenthood, Modern Family...I could go on and on.
5. What is your "can't live without" teacher item? Smartboard and my Papermate Flair pens.  :)
6. Are your a morning person or night owl?  NIGHT OWL, big time.  It's a bit of a problem.
7. What is the funniest thing a kid has ever said in class or that you've overheard?  Me: "You look pretty in your make-up."  Student: "My dad says I look like a hooker."
8. If you had to pick one thing to eat for the rest of ever what would it be?  Chips and queso or nachos
9. What is your favorite iPad app? OR website?   Ooh, that's a hard one!  I LOVE Pinterest for discovering new ideas/blogs.  I love Educreations and Fotobabble for the iPad.  User-friendly for the kids!
10. How long have you been teaching?  This is my 6th year.
11. If you weren't teaching what would you be doing?  Performing musical theater, I hope.  :)

2nd Thank You goes out to Flamingos and Butterflies!  Here are her questions and my answers:

1. What grade do you teach, and how long have you been teaching?  I teach 2nd.  This is my 6th year teaching--3 in 3rd and 3 in 2nd.  :)
2. Where are you currently teaching?  Suburb of Dallas
3. If you were not a teacher, what would be your dream job?  Being a musical theater performer or a writer or professional blogger
4. What is your favorite adult book?  Just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and it was AMAZING.
5. What is your favorite kid book?  The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Wayside School books, and Skippyjon Jones books.  
6. If you could meet any author, who would it be and why?  Anne Lamott.  She's just cool.  And has the most creative way of saying things.
7. Why did you start blogging?  To record my experiences in New York.  (personal blogging)
8. How did you come up with the name for your blog?  From the whole "Keep Calm and..." craze
9. If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?  To fly!  Obvious reasons, right?  It would be AWESOME!
10. Are you an early bird or night owl?  complete night owl!
11. As you sit here blog hopping and answering questions from a random stranger, (just kidding) what are you thinking in the back of your mind you should really be doing right now?  Getting ready for bed.  :)

3rd and final Thank You goes out to Beach Lovin' Teach, who is obviously a kindred spirit of mine, what with the beach thing!  :)  

1. How long have you been blogging?  Personally since 2002!  As a teacher since 2009.  :)
2. What is your favorite type of music?  I like LOTS.  I'm not a big fan of country or rap.  I love musicals, relaxing stuff, singer stuff, vocal jazz, choral, some opera, some classical, some of the  top 20 stuff, a lot of the Indie stuff.  :)  I was a music major, so I could write a dissertation.
3. Where would you go on your dream vacation?  Back to the Virgin Islands, probably!  Maybe Hawaii.
4. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?  spending time with my hubs and baby boy, reading blogs, reading, watching tv
5. Do you have any siblings?  3 half siblings; I am the baby and somewhat of an only child, since I was the only kid by the time I was 10 years old.
6. What's your favorite type of dessert?  chocolate cream pie.  yellow cake w/chocolate frosting.  i like chocolate pie and candy, but I don't like chocolate cake much.  or chocolate ice cream.  ??
7. What would you do if you won a million dollars?  Invest some, buy a bigger house, put some away for baby boy's college, give some to funding for childhood cancer and for the Backpack Buddies program.
8. What is your favorite color?  Blue, Teal
9. Coffee or tea?  usually coffee with cream/suger --or iced tea with lots of lemon
10. What is the last book you read?  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  I'm almost done with The Birth Order Book, which has been really eye-opening.  
11. What is your most embarrassing moment teaching?  Probably the time one of my students said, "Mrs. Cockrell, will you please pull up your pants?  I can see your bottom."  LOL.  OR last year's formal observation when I went to pull up the Smart Notebook activity I created to realize I had emailed myself the WRONG file.  FUN!  Teaching is all about flexibility, right??

Thanks again, lovely ladies, and happy December!  :)

Monday Made It: good times!

Well, I could've sworn I had a lot of little projects to share this week, but it appears most of them were created on the computer and/or Cricut, and all of those are off with my friend who took my stuff to get laminated for me!  :D  I just took some screen shots to share instead of the real deal.  :)

I'm linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics, of course.  :)

This is my new classroom banner.  I still have to string all the pieces together with ribbon, of course.  I haven't decided where I'll hang it, mainly because I haven't been able to get into my classroom since they didn't clean it till today.    

Our school-wide theme is "Peace, Love, Longhorns" (our mascot), and we use the phrase:

Do what you love; Love what you do.

I also made some new month headers for my calendar.  

These will go nicely with my new classroom theme/colors.  :)

New Word Wall letters:

I made these signs for my whole team: each of us in a different color. 

I figure we can hang them on/by our classroom doors.  

(Peace sign backgrounds are from Surfin' Through Second.  Click the link to visit her TpT store.)

 Here's my new behavior clip chart.  The one I've used the last 2 years is just made from construction paper that I wrote on with a Sharpie.  Yeah.  So I finally decided to remedy that eye sore.

Be sure to visit the linky party and check out everyone's creations!

More Awards!!

Oh YAY.  It is so fun to get awards, and even MORE fun to get new followers!  So yay and thank you to all of you who are following my little ole blog.  :)

Am I allowed to claim these awards if I've already been given them?  Well, it's the thought that counts, right?  :)

OK, so first off, The Versatile Blog Award.  Thank you to Danielle of Scrappy Teaching for nominating me!

Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.  (Thank you, again!)

2. Include a link to their site. (See above.)

3. Include the award image in your post.

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself. 

1.  I am obsessed with chips and queso.  I could eat it every day of my life.

2. Tonight I had a singing engagement (haha) at the Elks Lodge where my dad's a member.  My mom's in charge of "ladies fun night," so I was the "fun" this month.  HA.  But no, it was fun, and the ladies loved it.  I sang 8 songs and talked a lot in between.  I love singing, and I love talking: win-win.

3. I met my husband on Match.com.  Sort of.  He actually emailed my BFF and roommate at the time on Match, and then she set him up with me instead.  It's like she KNEW.  She was our maid of honor at our wedding, too.  :D

4. I have worked many jobs, including lots of temp jobs when I lived in NYC.  The worst was working the 3-11 pm shift at a hotel front desk, then commuting back to Queens that late at night when the subway/buses are practically abandoned. SCARY.  Lol.

5. My son is named after the Hudson River in New York.

6.  If I was a boy, my name would have been Evan.

7.  I was hired by the school where I student taught in the same grade level.  I have been at that school ever since!  This will be my 6th year, and I LOVE the people I work with.  Some of my best friends are my co-workers.  We are like a big family.

Next, the One Lovely Blog award.  Thank you to Karmen of Karmen's Kinders of Room 103 for nominating me!

For receiving this award I have to...

1. Follow the person who gave me the award. Yep.

2. Link back to the person that gave me the award.  See above.

3. Pass to 15 new bloggers and then let them know they have received the award... Well, I feel like I just did this, so I certainly can't come up with 15 new bloggers since a week ago, LOL!!  I'll try to come up with a few new blogs to honor!

And finally, a big thank you to Jennifer of Darling Little Learners for nominating me for TWO awards!  The Versatile Blog Award (above) and the Liebster Blog award!

This award is named for the german word "Liebster", which translates to  "beloved" or "favorite" and is given to a "new, up and coming blogger".

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to person who gave it to you
2. Post the award to your blog.
3. Give the award to at least 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers.
4. Leave a comment on the five blogs to let them know that they have been offered the award.




OK, here are a couple new peeps I'd like to nominate for the above awards (any and all!):

and

Today In Second Grade:

Thank you ladies so much again for nominating me!  It always feels good to be recognized, and it is so great to meet more fellow bloggers.

-Mrs. C.

Newbie Blog Hop!

I came across a fun little blog hop over at Grade Three is the Place for Me!

Thanks so much for hosting; what a great idea to "meet" other new bloggers!

Here's what we are supposed to share for this party:

1.  what state you are in

2.  your current teaching position

3.  your teaching experience

4.  when you started blogging

5.  share a blogging tip / blogging resource

So here we go:

1.  I'm in North Texas

2.  I will be teaching 2nd grade this year

3.  I taught 3rd grade for 3 years, and this will be my 3rd year in 2nd.  LOVE IT.

4.  I started blogging personally back when I moved to NYC to finish college in 2002.  Yes.  I've been blogging for a VERY long time, and in that time I've had probably about 5 different personal blogs (due to privacy and other issues).  I've had a classroom blog as a means of parent-teacher-student communication for about 3 years now.  To visit that blog and see some of what goes on in my classroom, check it out at: Mrs. Cockrell's Class.

5.  I think it's really important to have an uncluttered blog where it's easy to find the following things:

--how to follow you/become a member

--past posts/archive

When I'm trying to decide if I want to follow a blog, I always look at lots of their past posts and even at the titles of old posts to see if it's things that I might find helpful/interesting.  If you don't have your archive on your sidebar and easy to find, then I have to scroll down and click "older posts" every. single. time.  Which is time consuming and unhelpful.  At which point, let's face it, I'm just gonna click on over to the next blog, because there are SO many blogs out there, you have to pick and choose.  Just my personal opinion.  :)

Thanks again to Grade Three is the Place for Me for hosting; love this idea!  Be sure to click the icon at the top to visit the Blog Hop and meet other newbie bloggers!

-Mrs. C.

You like me! (Bloggy Awards)

What a great day--I was given awards by 2 different blogs!

Thanks so much to Dede at A Series of 1st Grade Events for giving me The Versatile Blogger Award and to Emily and Antoinette at 4321...Teach for giving me the One Lovely Blog Award.  As a newbie blog, I'm always ecstatic when I get a comment, but a comment AND a blog award in ONE?  That's some serious awesome-ness in my day, folks.  So thanks again, lovely ladies!  I do appreciate it.  :)

Now let's get down to brass tactics.

First up,

Why, thank you, I'm feeling rather lovely today.

Here are the rules for this award:


1.  Follow the person who gave you the award.  (Gladly!)
2.  Link back to the person that gave you the award. (See above.)
3.  Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers.  (See below.)




 Next up is...

Yeah, baby.  I'm versatile.  I can blog a little this, blog a little that.  Whoo!

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.  Thank you, again!!!

2. Include a link to their site. (above)

3. Include the award image in your post.

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself. (below)

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award. (below)

6. When nominating, include a link to their site.

7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated. (will do)

OK, here are my 7 random facts:

1) When I was in 4th grade, my best friend from down the street accidentally hit me in the head with a sledge hammer.  True story.  I have the scar to prove it.

2) I grew up in Texas and graduated from college in NYC.

3) I have been in LOTS of plays/musicals.  Mostly musicals.  I haven't done one since I got preggo with baby boy 2 years ago, though.

4) My degree is in music, not education.  And I don't want to teach music.  (People always ask me that.)

5) I started blogging personally when I moved to NYC in 2002.  Yes.  I've been blogging for 10 years. That's a third of my life.  And I totally blogged before it was cool.  LOL.

6) I am addicted to reality trash t.v.

7)  I don't like the number 7.  And I don't think it's lucky.

Now, here are my 15 peeps I'd like to send out the Versatile Blogger Award AND the One Lovely Blog Award to!  Ahem, here are the 15 peeps to whom I'd like to give the awards?  I think so. Ugh, grammar.  Anyway, go check out these blogs:

1) Surfing Through Second

2) Inspired by Kindergarten

3) Thinking Out Loud

4) First Grade Delight

5) First Grade Found Me

6) Grade ONEderful

7) Kindergarten Korner

8) Lessons Learned

9) Swimming Into Second

10) Teaching Fashionista

11) Flip Flop Teacher

12) Third Grade Rock Star

13) Pattie's Classroom

14) The Bubbly Blonde Teacher

15) Kids Rock

Whoo hoo, I even found some new blogs in this process!  

Of course, don't forget to stop by the lovely blogs who awarded me and made my day!

A Series of First Grade Events and 4321...Teach