Happy Monday y'all!  I'm so thankful to be able to link up with The Teaching Tribune to share three things that I'm thankful for today.  I hope you'll click on the linky button above and link up as well.  I would love to read about what you are thankful for.

1.  Saturday was my 6th wedding anniversary.  I met my husband after a series of horrible relationships.  I'm so thankful for Ryan because he showed me how a man is supposed to treat a woman.  I'm so thankful for the Godly relationship that we share.  I can't wait to spend many more years with him by my side.

2.  My favorite part of the summer is that I get to be a stay at home mom for two months.  I love watching my boys grow and I soak up all the time that I get with them.  Right now, Mason and I are working on learning the letters in his name.  He is so cute because he finds the letter M everywhere we go.  I'm so proud of him!  Maddox is just learning to really talk, so we are reading a lot together.  He is turning into a big talker!  Right now his favorite words are car, dog, stuck, uh oh, and cookie.  He says stuck because his cars get wedge under our furniture a lot!  "Oh no! Stuck! Stuck!"  Mommy to the rescue :).

3.  I'm also very thankful for link ups and the opportunity to meet new teacher friends.  I started this blog journey about a year ago but I haven't been as involved as I would like to be.  I would love to meet new friends and I think link ups are a super opportunity to do that.  I can't wait to read what you guys are thankful for!

Also, starting tomorrow I'm hosting a moving and organizational tips week on this blog.  I hope you stay tuned and participate.  There will be a linky on the 7th where you can share your favorite organizational tip.

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Stephanie

I'm two weeks into my summer vacation and I'm loving it!  The boys and I have done lots of art projects, gone to the pool a few times, celebrated my niece's first birthday, and gone to the park.  We've also gotten some much needed rest!  Isn't that the best part about having a break.

I wanted to preview my newest product, and give you a sneak peek of what I plan to create over the summer.  Plus, stay tunned because there is a giveaway at the end of this blog post.

Last year was my first year in second grade and I loved it.  I love the independence and that I can challenge them a little more than I could with my firsties.  One of things that I plan to do more of next year is to have the kids write more about what they read.  We did a lot of that this year, but I wanted to make it a little more structured.  So, I decided to make sets of short stories with open ended response questions.  If you remember, I did create one for Easter and then I made this one about camping.

Here is a closer look at the printables for one of the camping stories.  You can also find it here on TpT.

 

The only thing that is missing is the full page color copy of the story.  My poor printer is out of colored ink!  I included a full page with just the questions that would be perfect to use with the full page color copy.  You could laminate the story and use it year and after year, then you would only need to print out copies of the questions each year.

Here are some of the printables included in the pack...

I printed these out and sent them home with my kiddos to work on over the summer.  I think it would also be great for summer school use.  Here is the cover that I made and sent home with the kids.  I know they will love reading these camping themed stories!

My plan for this summer is to create some nonfiction packs just like this one.  Here are the ones that I have on my list...

1. Birds
2. Bats
3. Rainforest Animals
4. Desert Animals
5. Polar Animals
6. Endangered Animals

Are there anymore that I should add?

And now that you've stuck with me through the whole post, here is the giveaway.  You can win your very own copy of Camping Stories and two products of your choice from my store or you can wait for two nonfiction story units of your choice.  Good luck and happy camping!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

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Stephanie

 

Yay Summer!  My break actually started last Friday, but I had a week full of professional development last week.  To kick off my summer break, I decided to link up with A Classroom Full of Smiles to share my three summer goals.  I would love to read your goals too, so click on the blog button above to link up.

Goal #1:  Spend a lot of time with my two boys.

My favorite part of summer is that I get to be a stay at home mom for a little while.  I wish it could be longer, so I soak up all the time that I'm blessed with.  Right now Maddox is just starting to really talk, and Mason and I are working hard to learn our letters.  Here are two fun and simple crafts that we've done this summer.  The boys really enjoyed the chalk road.

Goal #2:  Continue on my weight loss journey and start to work out.

I started Weight Watchers in late January, and I've done great with changing my eating habits.  I now need to add in the working out part.  I would love to make a weight loss goal, but I think more importantly I want to start a work out routine.  I'm in this for the long run and to change my lifestyle.  I think I need to get a FitBit.  Do you have one?  Is it worth it?  I need some advice :).

Goal #3:  Continue to grow my TpT business.

I started TpT a little over a year ago and it's been a super fun ride.  I would love to connect with more teachers and add to my store.  My family is trying to purchase a house in the near future, and I know TpT will help us do that.  I've created a to do list for my store, and I know with some hard work I can get it done.

This summer is going to be amazing but busy!  I'm a super blessed mommy to spend so much time with my two little boys.  Happy Summer!

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Stephanie