Milestone SALE and Indiana Blogger Meet-up!!

Background Papers by Ashley Hughes, clipart by Melonheadz, font by Jen Jones and circle frame by BaBaPuffBaby

I can't believe it!!! Well, I can because I saw it happen; however, I never thought that I would be at 200 followers from 51 at the beginning of the summer!! (6 weeks later!!!) I'm so incredibly thankful for all of you teachers, bloggers, and all visitors for being so supportive of my journey into the TPT and blogging world!! I have had a blast so far, and I can't wait to see what's yet to come! As a token of appreciation (and in advance of the actual Back to School TPT sale that I will also be participating in:), I am putting my ENTIRE TPT store on sale starting TODAY all the way through this Friday, the 19th!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this year sooooooo fantastic!!!! :) 
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Now, on to a post that I've been itching to get to since the activity took place last Thursday!!
You know how teachers are the worst when it comes to actually sitting through presentations, meetings, etc. without talking and sharing with others?!? haha We always have good intentions and usually ;) are talking about related ideas. Well, this AWESOMELY AMAZING meet-up was no different except that we were ALLOWED to talk during it! hah You couldn't get us to stop!!! It was fabulous!! I just wish I had more ears and mouths to be able to be in each conversation going on! There was so much great talk about personal lives, professional lives, experiences, and so on! Instant friendships were made upon arrival, and we already started planning for the next get together. It's amazing what energy a room has when you put in 15 passionate, committed, and enthusiastic teachers!! Sooooo cool!! Here are some pictures from the event! 
 Here we all are!! 
This is right before we started the game, Dirty Teacher (same as the Dirty Santa game). It was awesome! At first, everyone was a little hesitant to steal, but once one started, it kept going for a while!! hah 
 Ciera from Adventures of Room 129 and Heather from Teaching Through Turbulence did an awesome job organizing and even had these beautiful DIY frames for each of us!!  
My Dirty Teacher gift I won was from Aimee at Pencils, Books, & Dirty Looks. It is a back to school activity in a container with different cards inside stating questions to get to know each other along with handouts to go with them. It is adorable!!! Definitely check it out in her TPT store! :)
This is a picture of me, Anita from i live 2 learn, i love 2 grow and Hilary from 2nd Grade is Out of this World.

It was absolutely awesome!! :) I can't wait for the next gathering!!


If you attended the Indiana Blogger Meet-up, link up your post about it here.  Everyone else check out these wonderful bloggers from Indiana.

(Submissions close in 9d 14h 46m)
Link tool by inlinkz.com

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Sunday Smorgasbord 7/14

I'm so excited to link up with Michelle from Fabulous in First!! Since school is starting for us in 2 weeks, this past week has been FULL of randomness!!! :)

Timeline: 
Sunday, July 7th- Fly back home into Midway
Tonto Natural Bridge, AZ
So this past Sunday, my family and I ended our family reunion trip to Payson, AZ. :( It's always a great time getting together with family, but it's so hard to say bye for now! During this trip, I definitely realized how much I love the midwest! :) Nothing against Arizona because it has so many cool, picturesque places and plants in nature. However, I can't deny how much I love the lush colors of the midwest (when there's not a drought in the summer with crunchy grass like last year!). I was super excited to get a couple books for my classroom, though! Anytime I travel, I ALWAYS buy a kid's book to do with that area, national and international.
One other thing about my family is that everyone LOVES some White Castle Sliders!!! My immediate family and grandma live in the midwest where we can have them all the time, but everyone else moved away (Arizona, Florida, Wyoming) and don't have that luxury anymore. So, we kind of rubbed it in with our late night snack after getting into Midway! :)

Monday, July 8th- Back to Indy
So after the trek back from Arizona, it was time for me to drive back to Indy to get some school stuff done!! (3 weeks from that day, 2 weeks now till we start!) I'm not panicking, though!?! hah I immediately got going on cutting, laminating, and organizing all of my new Community Themed Decor so that it was ready to go up in my room later in the week once the carpets were cleaned and the go ahead was given. I have absolutely fallen in love with all of my new decor!! I'm still not even close to being finished decorating in my room, but it's coming along.

To finish the day out, my sister and I went for sushi!!! How I love thee!!
Crazy and Crunchy rolls!! YUM!

Tuesday, July 9th- Lunch with a student, Back to School Shopping with my reading co-teacher
At the end of the year, it was bittersweet as one of my students who I had for 2 years was moving on to a new room. So my reading co-teacher and I took him and his grandma to lunch! He chose Steak 'n Shake! It's so fun to do things like this outside of school especially with a student who made a complete 180 from where he started!! He's on grade level across the board now!!! 

Following this, my reading co-teacher and I decided to hit the stores!! TONS of stores!! We started with Garden Ridge, on to United Art and Education, Walmart, Apple Store, Lakeshore Learning, La Hacienda for dinner :), and finally Target!! Boy was that an awesome day!! :) Here are some of the purchases I made that day!! 
 Lakeshore Learning I love you!
This was actually from Hobby Lobby the day before! I love it! 
My new reading area with 2 fun cube seats from Target!! I can actually sit on them, too! ;) So excited!

Wednesday, July 10th- New Hair Do!! 
So today, I took some time off to get my Back to School Do!! I got about 4 inches chopped off to chin length, changed the color back to chocolate brown and added a few red stripes in the front!
Here's my dog, Gracie, my nephew and me. :) I love my family and new hair! 

Then I got into my room where I wasn't really supposed to move anything yet, but our AMAZING head custodian said I could move the things that were already on the floor!! So I was off arranging the room; however, I literally stood there staring at the space because I had no idea where I was putting things! haha Then I just started with the desk arrangement and worked my way around!
A glimpse into the chaos! :)

Thursday, July 11th- Indiana Blogger Meet-Up!!!
Aside from helping some of my friends learn about Class Dojo and working in my classroom, I was sooooo excited for the Indiana Blogger Meet-Up!! It was so awesome to meet great teachers that think alike with that same passion!! How awesome! We had a great time playing Dirty Teacher with excellent products and gifts! It took a while for someone to "steal" a gift, but once it started, it was hard to stop!!! I cannot tell you how fun this was! We had great conversations and hopefully will be meeting up again soon!! Indiana rocks!! :)
The awesomely, beautiful gifts!

Ciera from Adventures of Room 129 and Heather from Teaching Through Turbulence did an awesome job organizing and even had these beautiful DIY frames for each of us!! 

Friday, July 12th- Back Home to Parents for Nephew Time
Thursday night I returned home to my parents 2 1/2 hours away to get some nephew time before my brother and sister-in-law head back with them to Wyoming next week! My sister, mom and I took both of them to see the movie Despicable Me 2! It was sooooooo cute!! Definitely worth seeing!
Saturday, July 13th- Sisters Pedicures and Cookout!
Every summer that my brother and his family come home to my parents, my sister, sister-in-law and I get pedicures and lunch! I tried out a new color, jade, on the toes, and I love it!! We ended up at Chili's for lunch which was delicious!! Can't go wrong with some Southwestern Egg Rolls and chips and salsa! Yummmm! Then we had neighbors and family over for a cookout that night which was where the picture of my nephew, dog and me came from!!! 

SOOOO I know this was EXTREMELY LONG, but I had a very RANDOM but WONDERFUL week!!! Thanks sooooo much for reading!!!

Have a great week!!!
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Bloglovin! :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I finally read the Help sections on Bloglovin to claim my blog! haha Next, I need to change the name that is showing up on the site. :) Note to self, use help section sooner next time!

Don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin!! :)
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Throwback Thursday!!!

I'm so so excited to link up with Cara Carroll and her Throwback Thursday linky party!! :) I'm throwing back all the way from Arizona which is a far ways from my home of Indianapolis, IN!! I love family reunions!!! I wish everyone a safe, fun filled and relaxing 4th of July!!! I can smell the ribs cooking right now as I type in the cabin! Yum!

Today I'm bringing back a post that's not all that old (April), but it is one of my absolute FAVORITE activities I've created for my classroom!! We've done this activity for the past 2 years, and I can't wait to add a little more to it this year to pull in writing and social studies with more activities on the actual court jobs! So I hope you like it!! Don't forget to check out all of the other great throw back posts!!  Thanks so much for stopping by!!!! :)
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Original Post on April 30, 2013 (I changed the name of my blog in June so the old name is on the pictures. :)
The Genre's Court
Do you ever find books in your classroom library that were placed into the wrong book bin??  If you said YES, keep reading for a very interactive, innovative, and creative way to engage students in genres WHILE also keeping your books in the right places!!  Sounds like a WIN WIN  to me! :)

Check it out here.

So, who's watched the show, People's Court???  Well, as I played the theme song, surprisingly, a ton of my 2nd graders started raising their hands in excitement that they knew where it came from!!  I had NO idea that they would actually know it!

Well, anyway, I wanted to find a fun way to review genres and expanding it to make them prove it with evidence.  Enter, "The Genre's Court!"  I actually brought in my college graduation gown to wear as the "Publisher" or judge during the trials!  We play the theme song from you tube as I walk into the room and when the "authors" (defendants) and "critics" (plaintiffs) walk in and out of the "courtroom" (classroom).

Throughout the week during book club centers, my students have the chance to fill out a clipboard

sheet on a specific book that they found placed in the wrong book bin!  I don't know about you all, but I can't stand it when the books are misplaced after repeatedly going over the book system!! :)  Do they not realize how many hours it took to get that book system organized?!? haha :)  Luckily, I always have some great helpers that help me out!  However, this makes it FUN to find a book in the wrong place!  (Or at least they THINK it's in the wrong book bin)  This leads to holding The Genre's Court!  There are "Editors" (jurors), "Illustrators" (sketch artists drawing the scene in the room), "readers" (spectators), "News Reporters" (video tapes and interviews readers on the trial which in turn they create an iMovie on the iPads!! side note...I got a grant for 3 ipad minis for next year so I can't wait to use those for this part, too!!), and "Copywriter" (bailiff).  I even have my own gavel with my name "Judge Swisher" on it along with "The Genre's Court!!!" (My awesome co-teacher for reading bought it for me for Christmas!!!)
We move the desks around to make it look like my courtroom map, and we have several trials.  If after the "authors" give their evidence from the clipboard sheet (graphic organizer), the "editors" (whom also fill out a similar organizer taking notes to the evidence the authors state) find that the "authors" DID NOT defend their genre, the book is sent to jail until the next person brings it to court.  I put the book in a separate bin in which it does not return to the labeled book bins until it is defended in court.  If the "editors" find that the "authors" DID defend the genre, the book can return to the correct book bin! :)

I LOVE THIS ACTIVITY!!!  MY STUDENTS LOVE IT EVEN MORE (MAYBE :)!  They beg me to have genre court!  I usually try 1 time a month.  I occasionally move books in the wrong bins to make sure there are a variety of genres being used. Sneaky, I know! :)

My whole "The Genre's Court" is in my TPT store if you'd like to check it out!!

Court is dismissed! :)



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4th of July SALE!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!! I wish all of you a safe, fun filled 4th of July!! I hope you are all able to celebrate with the special people in your lives!! In honor of this great holiday, I'm linking up with Mrs. Reed at Flying into First Grade for 20% off my ENTIRE TPT STORE!! I am also stretching my sale out a couple extra days since I'm getting this out a little later (I'm in the mountain time zone right now on vacation! :) than I was hoping.  Make sure to click on the picture to see all the others throwing sales for the holiday as well!! Thanks to Mrs. Reed for setting this linky up!!! It's a great way to celebrate!! :)
Happy 4th of July!!!
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