Painting Your Writing with Colorful Words {Shades of Meaning Mini Unit}

Thinking about my classes in the last few years, writing has always been something they have struggled with. Really being able to describe or use vivid words to tell their stories has been challenging. I can model all day long, but I needed something that would really teach them to use more interesting words in their writing. I teach at a very high poverty school so many of my students have limited vocabularies. This "Paint Your Writing" mini unit is just the thing to get your students using powerful words in their writing and speaking.

And look for a freebie from this unit coming Monday from my collaborative blog's "Show Us How You Use It: Paint Chip Samples" over at Owl-ways Be Inspired! 

I am excited to have finally created and posted something new for you all! It is available in my TPT shop by clicking my button below!

And as always, I like to give away one free set when I create something new! All you have to do to win is comment below with your email, be a follower of my blog, and guess where I'm headed on my babymoon/honeymoon in two weeks! HINT: See picture below! 

Best of luck! =)

Wishlist Wednesday at Owlways Be Inspired

Hey there friends! Guess whose back for the second time in a week!? 

I am blessed to be a part of a wonderful group of second and third grade teachers over at Owlways Be Inspired! We are hosting a weekly giveaway offering huge savings on one of our most wishlisted items each week. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to win a FREE copy for yourself! 

This week, my most wishlisted item is my Literature Genre Posters! 

This product will be 50% in my store for TODAY only! 

You can also enter to win a copy for yourself by entering the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats to Sarah K.! I have emailed your copy of the posters!

Changes

It has literally been months since I last posted on my blog. I know it's been here all this time just sitting here, waiting for me to pay a visit. It's been hanging over me like a dark cloud. Honestly, I've been scared. I've been through so much this past school year and I feel like I've lost my mojo. The one project I had started and gotten really excited about, I lost when my hard drive crashed earlier this year. Since then, I was just kind of....well....done. I gave up.

And then there have been so many major changes in my personal and professional life. Shortly after I became engaged...I found out I was pregnant. Because of my past medical history (with my stroke), doctors have put me on Lovenox shots twice a day to safely thin my blood without causing harm to the baby. We are excited for her November 8th arrival even though it's come a little out of our timeline. =)

It's been crazy paying for those shots every month and trying to get our wedding planned and paid for. This past Saturday, our wedding finally happened and by some miracle, it went fabulous! I told myself I would not worry about blogging or teaching things until this stressful time was over! Here are few pictures from our big day!

Now that the stress fo wedding planning is done, I can focus on a new school year. Which brings me to another pretty big change. I will be moving from 3rd to 2nd grade! I have mixed emotions about the big move, but ultimately I think it will be for the better. I am excited and scared all at the same time. I think maybe I had become a little burnt out after last year, so change in this case is probably a good thing!

My goal from here on out is to blog at least once a week and share something teaching related! When I started this blogging journey, I shared all kinds of things I was doing in my classroom including units and worksheets and just ideas of things. I want to get back to my original goal....to just be here as a resource for teachers who need ideas. I will still probably create new things for TPT, but I don't want that to be my main focus. I think I burnt myself out on that as well! 

So here's to getting back to the original plan. And you can expect to continue to see life updates from me as well!

Exciting News!!

Well, I am excited to announce that I got engaged this week!! I can't believe my life has changed so much in the last year, and for the better! I am already overwhelmed thinking about planning a wedding, yet yet eager and excited! Please let me know if you have any tips or words of advice for wedding planning! I would love to hear! Anyways, I just wanted to share that with you all!! I am sure I will be posting things along the way!

Cyber Sale!

TPT is having a huge Cyber Monday AND Tuesday sale starting tomorrow! You don't want to miss out! I'm already filling up my cart with goodies!

Thanks to Krista for the cute button!

Click below to head to my shop!