Bloglovin' Blog Hop and Winner's Choice

Head on over to Tori's Teacher Tips for a great tutorial on how to use / import all your favorite blogs into Bloglovin and for direct links so that you can find some new blogs to follow as well!! I have been using bloglovin' for a few months now and I really like it. It is very user friendly and aesthetically pleasing.. I will miss Google Reader though, it was my first love :) 

If you haven't followed me over on Bloglovin' yet, what are you waiting for?? Click here!

Leave a comment below letting me know you are following me and I will choose two random commenters to pick "winner's choice" from my store!

Eating, drinking, and Linking party : Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken

I am linking up with Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road to share one of my favorite recipes. I have so many that are yumm-o from Pinterest so choosing just one to share today was tough! I thought I would pick a more summery one.  These sweet and spicy bacon chicken rolls are to die for... I love the sweet/spicy combo and who doesn't love bacon? 

source: Diary of a Recipe Addict

The full recipe with pictures can be found at Diary of a Recipe Addict (linked above) I am telling you, don't let the little bit of prep work scare you aware - de.lic.ious.ness. You will need;

4 chicken breasts cut in thirds 

Bacon slices

salt and pepper to taste

garlic powder

chili powder

brown sugar

Cut each breast into 3 pieces, season all the chicken with the spices, then wrap a bacon slice around each piece, roll in brown sugar. Spray the grill with oil really well (or lay down tinfoil sprayed with oil) and grill until chicken is cooked through. 

If you are interested in seeing more recipes I've pinned, click here If you want to see weight friendly recipes, click here. I would love for you to follow me on pinterest and bloglovin'

Have a great day,

Organizing Timed Tests

Hi friends! This is going to be a quick one today. I am linking up with Kristen and Elizabeth (two of my favorite bloggers) to share my timed test organization!

Have you seen these pretty accordion style check file things at Target's Dollar Spot?

I used one to organize my multiplication timed tests. I cut the tests into strips {freebie linked below}

and filed accordingly. In my classroom, I differentiate fact mastery by allowing all students to take a fact test at their own pace. This system of having them precut and filed saved me so much time when passing out the different tests. 

Here are my students taking their tests! I will come back and write another post about my Out of This World Multiplication Mastery wall....

If you give timed tests, feel free to grab the freebie below. My team and I have used these for the past 2 years. The kids love them because the assessment is super quick and not overwhelming. I love that I can grade/score a whole class set in no time at all. If you grab it, I would love to hear from you!

Click Here to grab your copy from my TpT store. 

Head back over to Fun in Room 4B to see her awesome tip for organizing all your digital papers and clipart... pure genius! 

Monday Made It: End of Year Gifts

So excited to be back participating in Monday Made It! I tried to make something each week the past summer but my year was so crazy, I just stopped crafting. Summer is here again, and I am back!

First up - gifts for my room moms. I got the idea from this pin. Grab yourself an ice cream container, add some tissue paper and a gift card and call it a day. Easy but a crowd pleaser!

Next up - adorable (if I do say so myself) gift card clutches made from scrapbook paper. Click here to see the step-by-step directions from Crafting Rebellion. Super easy and it makes giving the gift card a little more personalized. These were so easy to make and the kid's teachers loved them! My daughter's teacher has her whole classroom decorated in red and zebra.... my son's teacher doesn't have a theme so I had to go with the awesome chevron. I just added a blinged up buckle to make it a little more purse like. 

Lastly, I wanted to give my team a little something since I am moving to a new grade. Words can not express how much I adore the five women I had the pleasure of working with everyday. I had my most challenging year yet, and I leaned on them so much! We laughed, cried, and everything in-between. This pin and this bucket-filler poem were my inspiration but I had to change it up a bit to fit. 

Here is the poem up close. (The watermark with my blog name wasn't on it!) I just cut it out and attached it to a wooden skewer with glue. 

I can't wait to see what you all made! Happy Monday (my first one of the summer- yippee) 

Five for Friday - or Monday??

I am linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the last FRIDAY of our school year *happy dance break** okay, I'm back!

I am cheatting, I am combining 2 weeks into one - forgive me.

1. We celebrated teacher appreciation week last week... our principal and PTO always makes this week super special. We have a theme each year and some times we go all out for it and sometimes, we don't. This year was somewhere in the middle. Here is my awesome 3rd grade team on the first day all dressed as Minnie Mouse. 

2. Here is day 3 - dress like your favorite princess day. We decided to channel our inner "casual" princesses thanks to this pin

3. Day 4 - 70's themed (Disney World opened in '71) Thursday is always the best day. The PTO decorates transforms our library to fit the theme. Picture all the walls covered in black butcher paper with disco and strobe lights, a DJ spinning disco music, amazing food and a desert buffet that would rival any cruise ship spread. seriously.

4. I was allowed to officially break the news that I am moving to 1st grade next year. I have taught 3rd for the last 9 years and I love it. I love my team, love the age, love the higher level learning but I needed a change and it just so happened that due to numbers we needed to have one less 3rd grade teacher next year. I volunteered (though I am really, really sad to leave my team). So super excited (and half terrified) to be teaching first next year!

5. We had field day today - oh.my. It was HOTTTT. I am beat. The kids had a blast and that is all that really matters. 

had to pick a picture without faces!

We have a "regular" day on Monday, parties on Tuesday and a half day on Wednesday. We made it!!