Too Much to Talk About Tuesday! Prayers for the 'Sweetest' Blogger, Remembering my First Principal, Next Steps for Orphan Care & More!

Do any of you constantly have blog posts bouncing around in your head???  It seems I do, and it seems I have such a hard time...even in summer getting down everything I want to say!!!  Well here's this week's attempt...we'll see if I get it all I want to say out before I need to get out of this house!

Last night after midnight I was trying to catch up on reading all of the wonderful blogs I try to follow...(I could seriously spent 24/7 on this computer & NEVER stay caught up!)...I was in my 'technology folder' on bloglovin and had 2 unread from one of my VERY favorite blogs, Technology Rocks. Seriously. Shannon shares some great technology & makes the best printables/posters ever!  I have shared about her blogs/creations more than once here...anyway, she had shared about FREE programs from Lakeshore...after I checked out Lakeshore I came back to thank her & realized I don't follow her other blog Sweet Blessings on Bloglovin...I am now!...so I clicked over and read what is happening in her life...wow...if you are a woman (or man) of prayer, she is in need of prayer!  She is facing a brain tumor...you can read about her journey starting with this post...PLEASE if you don't already follower her, do so...let's shower her with love & support!!! I recently posted about a printable from her:

let's show her how much she DOES matter to us!!!

Sunday my family went to a celebration of Mr. Phillip Chavez's life.  Mr. Chavez hired me when I was fresh out of college and I had the privilege of working for him for 9 years until he retired.  He frequently told us that we were professionals (unfortunately I know there are administrators out there who DO NOT treat their teachers as professionals)  Here is what I posted on Facebook & wrote in the online guest book:

I was so touched when his son, a friend whom I had lost contact with, shared what I wrote.  It was so wonderful to see so many from our 'Montara Family' who had retired.  He had a positive impact on so many!

 I shared how I felt God was not wanting my passion for Orphan Care to die out {here} Kristin from A Teeny, Tiny Teacher left me a sweet comment asking for me to 'keep us posted'...now how can I possibly ignore the request of the most AMAZING blogger out there?!?!...if you have never read her blog...it is a MUST read...seriously one of my top 5... so I am starting with reading...

I am also going to donate 5% of my earnings, even if it is just a nickel, to Orphan Care ministries, once I launch my TpT & TN stores {by there start of school is my goal!!!}..we will see what God does with it & what steps follow...I will keep you posted!

I usually use the Ellison die cut apples at school to label my table groups...this year I made my own, laminated & cut them out...

 I know me and how I tend to set things down and they get separated from the rest...I used avery labels on the back of all of my standards cards...

I used a 1/2 a box of RIT dye and let the clothes pins soak for quite a while...more in the future about these clips!

My little sweetheart has been a big help...even putting coins in our money jar!

All you So. Cal. ladies there is a FREE Whole Brain Teaching Conference in Yucaipa on August 10th.  I plan to be there...if you plan to go too please let me know...I'd love to have lunch with you!! The two one day conferences I have been to in the past have been two of THE BEST trainings I have EVER been to...I promise you WILL NOT be bored...you will be actively engaged the ENTIRE day!!

Feel free to link up...you could be the first! ;-)

Made it Monday...1st Day of School Frame

I need to walk out the door right now so this is all that I am posting...finished my 1st Day of 3rd Grade Frame...The first picture is my daughter...then me.

Too Much To Talk About Tuesday! I Made it Monday (late), The Binder Queen, Getting my Ducks in a Row...& MORE!

This week I think the word 'too' needs about 5 more o's!  I had planned to post yesterday & linking up for the first time with Made it Monday....but...I was at our church's VBS and when I got home the power was out due to weather...we had a massive downpour.  Where we live we have what used to be a pond/lake years ago, but I have never seen it filled...it had been my inlaws place YEARS ago and was vacant for years...anyway my daughter had a BLAST with our dog in the 'pond' :-)  Awww the innocence and joy of childhood!

We didn't get the electricity back on until 8:30. At that point I had to focus on fulfilling a promise to the teacher I am working with at VBS.  Our theme is Colossal Coaster World and I said I would make some signs for our room (we have 45 1st & 2nd graders!!) Here are pictures of what I created...

Boy do I love Lettering Delights!!! & my new FREE frames from...Peggy Pechacek

Here's a shot of the room

I had wanted to hook up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for Made it Monday for something that I had made before & planned to make again last night....but with no electricity, it wasn't an option...I saw that the linky doesn't close for several days...so here's my first time linking up, even though it is a day late:

My husband & I love poppers...you know the cheesy stuffed jalepenos...well, the 99 Cent Only stores have had these sweet mini peppers (the same kind that cost $3-$4 at the regular grocery store!)

We had some of this yummy Chipoltle White Cheddar cheese...I crumbled up about 4 slices, mixed it with a container of whipped cream cheese (also from 99 Cent Only store), minced up some jalepeno rings, threw in a couple handfuls of shredded cheddar jack cheese...

 Cut the peppers in half, stuffed them, stuck them in the oven at 350...not sure how long they were in there, just kept checking how they looked...

The finished product! Modified Poppers!! YUMMY!!!

My next project is a biggie & I am still working on it, but getting oh so close!  I purchased Ashleigh's  Common Core Standards Posters....there are quite a few different ones out there, but I chose to purchase hers because of this in her description:

I thought that was pretty cool!

She didn't have a background style that worked for me, since my room is 'The Apple Basket', I created my own!  I have been VERY busy printing the standards cards, laminating them (YES, I AM loving my new laminator!), trimming them & organizing them.  This is how it looks:

 I cut envelopes and made labels for each of the strands and have the standards clipped together.

I am using green for math & red for language arts.

Yep I think I do earn the title 'The Binder Queen'...yes...I do LOVE binders!!!  A couple of years ago I blogged about my class Roadrunner binders...since that post I have purchased 1 1/2" binders to replace my old ones...no pictures now, all locked up in my classroom!

Now, these are definitely NOT the only binders I have!!!  Let me start with our Language Arts/Reading program Excursions (Storytown in every other state than California!!!)

I have a 3" binder for each of our 6 themes

Here are the covers of the first two themes

I have a binder for all of our vocabulary words from each of our lessons

this is what is inside:

 Our reading series includes leveled readers too, so here is where I keep all of the info for those:

 These binders are for grading & all those cute pictures and note that students have given me

 I think it is important to label the spines

 Here are my binders for clip art (mostly Microsoft clipart organizer clip art) and my 'Good Readers' binders...I have 5 of these and the students may read them during 'may do' time

 These are my library check out sheets for my classroom library & one of my math games binders (I have 4)

I keep a notebook for 'this week' & 'next week'...most of what is in here is from my giant language arts binders...right now 'this week' has all of my resources for Lesson 1...Ruby the Copycat & 'next week' has Lesson 2...The Day Eddie Met the Author

 Now school is not the only place I have binders.  One of my Pinterest boards is 'The Word' and it not only has scripture I like, it is done in a way that is visually appealing to me.  I began printing out those scriptures and started with one binder but I had so many that I had to do one for the Old Testament & one for the New Testament.

 I have three frames that I got at Target that are 8 1/2 x 11 and are really easy to switch what's in them.  So, we have 3 verses up in our house & we will continue to switch them out every couple of weeks.

 Before I show you the next set of binders let me say that right now...

I am working on getting all of my 'ducks in a row' to launch my TpT and TN stores.  I created a binder for that and began with going through my graphics and starting to inventory what I have, who created it, and what the TOUs (terms of use) are.  

 Well....it was so thick from just that information

I had to make a separate binder just for that!

 Each designer has their own page where I will list the sets that I own.

 I had to go back to the different websites look at my account & see which ones I bought from which sites!

then...printing out TOUs that I can find!

 Yes TOOOOO Much to Talk About...I don't have time for several things on my 'blogging list' but I will end on a very important note.  A mom from my Sunday School Class has been missing since Thursday.  If you pray please pray for Priscilla for a safe return, and for her husband Carl & her three children.  Please take a look at her picture... she could be anywhere.

If you also have Too Much to Talk About feel free to link up {the day of the week really doesn't matter!}