So in honor of a fantastic 2014, I want to celebrate it by throwing a sale. You can visit my store
here ----> Momma with a Teaching Mission. All items in my store will be on sale 20% on December 31st and January 1st!

So thank you to Molly over at Lucky to Be in First for this beautiful graphic, and hosting this linky party!! YAY!!

Happy New Year!!

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

I am linking up with Jessica Tobin from Second Grade Nest for my 2015 Resolutions!

I aiming high with 5 resolutions, but if you don't aim high, you'll never know otherwise!

One of my personal goals I have set is to exercise more. I am not going to put every day, because I know that is unrealistic. I think it is incredibly important to be realistic with goals or resolutions, otherwise it is too easy to give up. I would like to try to run once or twice a week, I used to enjoy running, but with life getting so hectic, I just haven't been able to.

Ok, so it is NO secret I am not the best housekeeper. In fact, as I sit here typing this post, the mess of Christmas presents is staring me right in the face! So in 2015, one resolution I want to take seriously is to set a schedule for cleaning and stick to it. My children, well the older two, are old enough to be able to help me to some things around the house. So why not take advantage of that, right!??! So during this next week that I still have off school, I'm going to make a schedule for cleaning, and we are going to stick to it!!

So another personal goal of mine to to continue to pay off my debt. Credit cards are evil, and they were almost the death of me (not really lol). I got my first credit card when I was 18, and had no concept of it! Things just started to spiral downhill when I become a single mom at age 21, and was just living outside my means. When I met my husband, he helped me pay off a lot of it. But then when I decided to go back to school, I had to take out a loan for college. Then during my time in college, I used credit cards to buy things I used to be able to buy with money I made from working. So needless to say, last summer I taught 6 weeks of summer school, and made an extra 5,000 and as able to pay off a good chunk of my credit card debt. There is still some there though, and of course my student loans. I would love to work really hard (without teaching summer school) and be able to pay off more of my debt. Although I will say, this year because of TpT I did NOT buy any Christmas presents with credit cards, which I normally always did, so YAY :)

So before I became a teacher 2 years ago, I worked in the Human Resources department of our school system. I worked 12 months a year. The summer after I graduated with my Masters of Arts in Teaching, I taught summer school. Then the summer after my 1st year teaching I taught summer school. So my goal this summer, is to NOT TEACH SUMMER SCHOOL! The school system always has a hard time finding teachers to teach summer school, but I am going to try to take the entire summer off to rejuvenate and spend time with my babies :)

I really want to increase my business as a TpT seller. I think the possibilities are endless there, as I have read about different sellers and their success stories. Currently I have 181 followers. I have been on TpT for about 2 years as a buyer, but as a seller since August 2014. I have seen a steady increase in sales (about doubling every month). I have been plugging away my free time working on products, after the kids go to bed, I am creating products, marketing, or reading the forums. I would be estastic if I could reach my goal of making each month what I made in all in 2014 :)

Head over to Second Grade Nest to read others resolutions!!

Wishing you the best 2015!!

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

Ok so going into this week, my thought process was, just gotta survive. It's not fair that we have school Monday and Tuesday, when I see my teacher friends on FB and IG that are already enjoying their Christmas Break. The kids are going to be nutso, and absolutely nothing is going to get done. So I planned to do an activity from my SubTub, just to try to get through and SURVIVE the day :) I had also told them about 1 1/2 weeks ago that if they were well-behaved, there was supossed to be a special visitor. I had told them I got a note on my desk stating that the special visitor would arrive when they were all listening and acting with integrity. (I tried to drag it out as long as I could, yet still keeping their interest.) So yesterday our special guest, Snowball, arrived.

We read Pete the Cat Saves Christmas. I told the students they were going to get the chance to convince Santa who they thought was responsible enough to be in charge of Christmas if Santa got sick. They loved this item!!

I modeled writing a letter to Santa. I had the sentence starters "I think..." "One reason is..." "Also..." "Another reason is..." and "That is why I think..." They came up with the rest!

I then sent them back to their desks for them to write their letters. OHHH I also told them they could write in crayon (which they loved!)

Most students wrote to Santa to convince him to leave themselves in charge, but I also gave the students the option of writing to Santa to leave someone else in charge if they felt a classmate was more responsible.

I was so tickled with how engaged they were :) And also that a lot of them choose to write about their classmates, instead of themselves!

Here is the link to the Pete the Cat Saves Christmas Supplemental Printables it will be on sale through Christmas day!

On another note, as I was working on some products last night, and my husband was watching some mindless tv, he turns on a horror movie. Now he knows I do NOT like horror movies, especially when we are going to go to bed in a little bit. He says to me, "Well you are working on the computer." Which yes, that was true, I didn't have to watch it, however, how could I help but look up from my work and see parts of it. I know I'm ridiculous (everyone take note, I am really ridiculous lol), but I can't stand to watch a movie about creepy hill people taking a baby that is about the size of my Alexa :( So when it was time for bed, I told him I would have to stay up for a few minutes and watch something else to get that movie out of my head. Then of course I couldn't fall asleep because I kept thinking about it!! Anyway that is just me :)  Have a great last day of school before Christmas break everyone!!

Love,

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

Are you ready?? For Christmas that is, I am NOT!! I am freaking out a little bit at the fact that it is about 3 days away!! I have school today and tomorrow, and then my winter break begins. I could have used 2 more days off though, just to get the preparations in order for CHRISTMAS!

So I was super busy this weekend, cooking and baking, I didn't get to write any blog posts!! So what was I doing?!? Well Friday after work, my dear husband took me out to dinner and shopping!

Ahhh..that picture of me totally looks like my mother!! I said I feel like I really don't look like that in person!? :) Then Saturday, didn't do THAT much, except this wild pile of laundry that was consuming my down stairs, so at least that is folded and put away :)

I haven't got too creative with our elf, Sparkle this year. Although one tradition Sparkle has done the past few years since she has started to visit us, is she will bring the kids pjs and a new Christmas movie. So instead of wrapping the clothes up, I just hung them in the tree :) Lol The kids were excited by this!

Yesterday I created some new products New Year Printables and Sneezy the Snowman Supplemental. Printables Both are great additions for the winter for homework, assessments, or just to be added to your sub tub! They will be on sale through Friday!!

Have a fantastic week!!

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

As I sit here, working on some new products for the 3rd marking period, I am also watching Wedding Crashers. Even though it is almost 10 years, I still love this movie, it makes me laugh. Out. Loud. Every. Time.

Ok so today was day 4 of our verb tense lesson. I introduced the SCOOT game for Verb Tenses. I first showed them the recording sheet. Then I showed them the cards. I asked them what they noticed about the cards. Their answers--they have numbers on them, one word on the card is underlined. So I told them the numbers correlate to where they will write their answers, and the underlined words are the verbs, and they will just need to write P(past) PR(present) or F(future) on their recording sheet. I then showed them how they would rotate. My goodness, for 6 and 7 year olds, they sure quickly caught onto what they had to do. AND they are showing me that they understand verb tense!! DOUBLE WIN :)

So for this reason this Verb Scoot Game will be on sale for $2.00, normally $3.00. Verbs Scoot <----You can find it here :)

Also ALL my Christmas products will be on sale 20% off Friday December 19th through Sunday December 21st.

Does anyone else get all giddy when the book box from Scholastic come? I DO!! I have an obsession with new books, and my kiddos love it too!

Love,

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

Ok so today was the 3rd day of teaching verbs. It was a great day! That is except for the fact that my last class is just ridiculous! Seriously, but that's for another time.

So here is what I did. First we again, did a warm-up by playing charades with 6 verbs written on cards. The students acted out the verb, while the other students guessed what they were doing? Then when they guessed the verb, we talked about using that verb in a sentence for past tense, present tense, and future tense.

Next I showed the students the spinner paper that has been laminated, to save on paper! We are short on paper, so anyway I can say some paper, I say AWESOME! This is what the spinner looks like

I modeled spinning the spinner, getting a verb, using the same verb for a past, present, and future sentence. I then sent the kids back to their desk with a laminated board and paper clip, they already had dry erase markers at their desk, then I handed out tissues to use as erasers. As the students got done writing down 3 sentences for a verb for past, present, and future--I walked around the room, checking their tenses to make sure they were using them correctly.

Then when they raised their hand to tell me that they were finished, I did a quick check, and said ok, spin another verb. They would then spin another verb and created 3 new sentences with their new verb for past, present, and future tenses. They did this activity for about 12-15 minutes. They then returned to the carpet and I went over their homework--which was a paper copy of one of these that they are to do on their own. So because of this my Verb Spinner Literacy Center will be on sale for THURSDAY only!! It normally costs $2.50, it's on sale for $1.75 Verb Tense Spinners or if you are interested in the entire  Verbs Bundle it saves you 20% !!

On another note, I had a sick child last night. As I had said in last night's blog post, she was sick at her brothers concert. I gave her tylenol when we got home, but then she woke up at 3 and wanted to get in bed with us. Well my husband is also sick, so I just brought her out to the couch and we laid out there. I was wide awake for some reason, and had trouble falling back asleep. I guess I finally fell asleep, and never even heard my alarm go off. My husband woke me up at 5:40 (I normally get up at 4:30) so I quickly jumped in the shower and got ready. I was super tired so....

of course I had to get 2 coffees lol :) Well I guess I didn't have to, but anyone that knows me knows I'm a little bit over board. But in my defense, as I was going through dunkin donuts drive thru I thought to myself, man I am super thirsty, I'm not going to be able to drink hot coffee quickly, so I need to get a iced coffee too.  I know, I am quite ridiculous myself :)

Love,

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

So I consider myself to be a pretty positive Penny. I always look at the glass as half full, try to find the upside in most situations. But my goodness, today I am just dog-gone tired and am feeling pretty exhausted. I know, for those of you that know me, you know I have 4 kids and work full time, and am always juggling something. So aren't I always exhausted?!? No actually, I'm not. I have a pretty high level of energy and am addicted to caffeine :) Coffee is my love!! But today, phhhewww I'm whipped. It could be because I totally got into the lesson today, talking about verb tenses. Reading sentences about verb tenses, students deciding which tense the sentences was. Then as closure, I put on a WII Just Dance "HAPPY" on YouTube, and while we were dancing, I said, "WHAT ARE WE DOING?" they replied 'DANCING". When we finished I said what did we just do and they replied we danced. So I feel like they are getting it :)

Or maybe I am exhausted from the Christmas concert our kiddos had today during their encore/specials/our planning time. Of course when they go to encore, that is normally when we have our planning, but we all went today to cheer our kiddos on. So instead of a 45 minute break, it was more of like a 15 minute planning break.

OR :) I know you are thinking, really?! There's more....but maybe I am exhausted from my own child's Christmas concert tonight. Yes, I did write in yesterdays' blog post about my daughter having a Christmas concert. That one was for grades K-3, while tonight's' concert was grades 4-6. It was very nice, however, I was exhausted! Then my husband, whom is STILL sick, stayed home. My older daughter, also sick, insisted on coming. Then the entire concert she laid on the floor, and then in her grandmothers' arms. We did not get home from there until 8:44!! My kids normally go to bed at 8, so getting home at 8:44 with them still having to get a bath, and me not having ate anything since lunch, well let's just say I was a tad bit annoyed :)

But I can't help by looking at these pictures, how blessed I am not only with my home life with these 4 amazingly gorgeous and well behaved kiddos, but I am also blessed with my co-workers and the school and kiddos I teach each and every day :)

So for Wednesday December 17th, my verb tense literacy activity will be on sale, original price $4.50, on sale for Wednesday only for $3 Verb Tense Activity . We did this together as a whole group, however, students who had verb tense exposure, and were able to read these sentences independently or in a group, would be able to do this as group work.

Another tid-bit about me :) I have what some may call an addictive personality. Some of my obsessions include--coffee, chocolate, nail polish, TpT, babies, clipart---not in any particular order :)

Happy HUMP DAYYYYY --Here's to being a positive Penny!!

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

So tonight the true Christmas fun begins! Katie had her Christmas concert, which was great. My mom and step-dad were able to come, although my husband got sick and had to stay home,  think he got the cold I had last week :(

There's a picture of Katie holding Alexa, and then a picture of Katie on stage singing (in the back row). It's so funny when she was singing, she saw me, and she just lit up. She's such a eye-catcher :) I know she's my child, but she is just gorgeous!!

Ok so today was the first day of introducing my mini-lesson of verb tense, and it was a success! The kiddos loved it!
First I had wrote verbs on note cards, folded them up, and had the kids pick a card, act it out, while the other kids guessed the verb they were doing. I then made a chart, adding each word, as the student acted out each word.

After I added the verbs, we watched a brainpopjr video about verb tense, and then I spoke about present tense means it is happening right now, and we either add -ing or -s , then we spoke about future tense and you add will or going to in front of the verb, then we talked about past tense verbs, and adding -ed and we briefly talked about irregular verbs. They loved it!! The last 5 minutes we spent playing Simon Says :) So for that reason, I am putting my verb bundle on sale from $9 to $6 for Tuesday December 16th only, then it will go back to $9 Verb Tense Bundle .

So another peek into my life, I have not only a clip art obsession, but a nail polish obsession!! One whole row in my bathroom closet is filled with nail polish! So I have mentioned it here and there to my students, but here is what I got as my first Christmas present of this year

Jamberry nail--chevron with sparkles!! SO IN LOVE WITH THIS!! I need to get my nails back in shape so I can put these on!! Wishing everyone a TERRIFIC TUESDAY!!

Love,

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

Ok so I have NEVER seen it's a wonderful life. I know right?!? I wonder what % of this Earths' population has not seen it. But it came on TV this evening, and we decided to watch it. This is my view

Two out of four of my babies are laying on me and I can't help but admire our tree. I know it's not the best tree anyone has ever decorated, however, I like it just fine :)

Next product that will be on sale for Monday for the countdown of 10 days til Christmas will be Winter No Prep Math & Literacy Printables I just actually created it today. I was in a loop on instagram with offering one of my products to a person who follows and comments on my post. You still have time follow me @ebersmel on instagram, comment, and like until 5pm ECT on Monday. The No Prep Winter Printables will be on sale for $3 through Tuesday because it is a new product, but then it will be changed to $5. It contains 31 pages of no prep printables, that way you can print, copy and go. These are useful for homework or quick check assessments.

Another little fact about me -- I really do think it's a wonderful life. I have had quite a few stumbles along the way, but I have to say, with my 31 years of existing on this Earth, I am truly thankful for every single dilemma, circumstance, and opportunity that God has given me. Those of you who are facing any trials or tribulations,  just keep the faith and remember, God has a purpose and plan for each of us, even if you don't see or understand it.

God Bless!

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

So :) I am going to attempt to blog every day between now and Christmas!! I have very good intentions, so hopefully I will be able to follow through!! I will be throwing a sale in my TpT store, every day a different item will be on sale! Here's a link to my store :Momma with a Teaching Mission

The item that will be on sale Sunday December 14 will be Project Based Learning All I Want for Christmas It is originally $5, but on sale for $3. Now I know I am partial, but this is a great product!! Students can go shopping for themselves or their family members based off the task cards with different items and different prices. You have to check this out. I know you probably already have next week planned out, but maybe this could be something you add to your curriculum or plans for next year.

Along with that, every day I would also like to give you a little peek into my life!!

So the countdown begin...being a child of the '80s, I was born in 1983, I love watching those corny movies that were popular when I was a kid. Today Look Who's Talking was on!! Of course I took a pic and posted on instagram :) I love that movie and also Kirstie Allie and John Travolta and the talking babies. There are so many other movies that remind me of my childhood as well. The Neverending Story, Jumanji, He-Man and She-ra shows, ahhh the memories!! I know I am probably missing some great movies, but this lacking sleep momma needs some shut-eye! Wishing everyday a blessed evening!

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

Does it drive you crazy when you hear one of your students say "I go to the nurse?" and this isn't an English Language Learner! Or maybe they say "My mom will helped me." With teaching writing to all of the 1st grade this marking period, I am seeing that they need some work in learning past, present, and future verbs. So I created my latest bundle!! I spent my planning printing out and laminating :) It makes me happy to create things that I know my students will love and will learn from!!

If your students have trouble with verb tense, or this is an area you plan on teaching, head over to my TpT store and check it out! It aligns with common core standard L.1.1.e
Maybe you don't need the whole bundle, I also have it broken out into the 4 different packs if that's what you need as well :)

Verb Tense Bundle


Now for the 2nd part of my title -- Christmas lights. Ughhhh, I mean, YAY lol I just LOVE Christmas lights! (Can you sense my sarcasm?)  We went and cut down our tree on Sunday. We brought it back and put it up. I went downstairs and dug out the lights and ornaments. I had just bought new colored and white lights last year, so I thought all the lights would be great! Nope, I was wrong!! Out of 4 strings of colored lights, 2 of them went bad. Then even the white lights had 2 out of 4 strings go bad!! My daughter was going crazy, all she wanted to do was decorate the tree with ornaments, but I told her she had to wait until we got more lights up. This is her face LOL

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas season!! God Bless :)

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

I am linking up with   Mel & Gerdy  for the Saturday Nerd Libs!! How fun is this ?!?

Can you tell I like coffee LOL. Seriously between clipart and coffee, I need to join an addictions group!!!  Have a great weekend :)

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Momma with a Teaching Mission

So the countdown has begun... (duh-duh-duh) I seriously hear that in my head when I type ellipses :)


 My 1st grade lovelies so super excited that it's December, and that Christmas is almost here! I love Christmas as well, believe me, however, we need to get our work done! My fellow teammates and I are all feeling like grouchy pants, but the kiddos are just overwhelmed with excitement that they can not contain themselves.

With being departmentalized, we switch every 50 minutes. We have had to strictly enforce a no-talking rule in the hallway while switching classes. We do a behavior rubric 3-2-1 and 4 for super stellar behavior, while we also offer warnings in between before they drop to a 2. (The expected behavior being a 3.) Today, there were 4 students that cried, because they got moved to warnings for talking in the hallway. Hopefully these kiddos will wake-up and follow the rules :)




I had to share this picture! My kiddos know I love the Steelers, and some of my kids are also Steelers fan. With teaching writing right now, I let the students choose which writing they want to turn in for me to grade. This student wrote how sometimes the Steelers win, which is so true for this season LOL :) Too cute. In little ways, daily, I am reminded of how much I love my job and how blessed I am.

God Bless :)

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Momma with a Teaching Mission