Favorite Places and Spaces Linky Up #1 August 2015

Welcome, welcome, to my first ever Linky party! I have been lucky enough to travel, a lot. And whether I'm at home in rural AZ or in Paris, I've always connected with places and spaces where I feel comfortable.  

So, the idea was born for this linky party at Panera Bread in Vegas while I was waiting for my hubby to come home from commercial fishing in AK this summer. (Vegas is our nearest airport)  Panera is one of my favorite places to eat and work, especially when I'm by myself (and close to one!). 

So, my favorite place that I want to share this month is a place I get to a few times a year.  It's only 3 hours from my house, so my goal is to get there more often.  I LOVE nature.  This is a beautiful world we have here.  There are so many wonders.  I'm lucky enough to live close to one that has become a favorite place for me to go.  I have very limited cell service, and NO internet at all when we go.  That in and of itself is spectacular!  I lovingly refer to it as the "spectacular hole in the ground keeping us from the rest of the state" 

So my favorite place that I'm sharing this month is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. 

Reasons why it's a favorite place: 

• SO MUCH COOLER! (when it's 100+ degrees at my house its in the 80s at the North Rim!)
• Epic Views
• Helps me keep perspective.  If my Heavenly Father can create this masterpiece, imagine what He can do with me! 
• Amazing thunderstorms and lightning shows!
• Pine Trees
• Fall colors (we went in the end of September last year and camped.  It was awesome!)

Things you should know if you want to go:

• It is not close to anywhere or anything, but so worth the trip
• It is not very crowded, especially during the week
• Late July/Early August is the best for the incredible evening storms that roll in
• The North Rim is closed from October 15th-May 15th. which makes me very sad, because I'd LOVE to see it covered in snow! 
• Rooms at the lodge and Cabins on the Rim are extremely pricey, but the view is worth it!
• The campground is cheap and personally my favorite place to stay!
• All accommodations at the North Rim must be booked WAY in advance, or at the very last minute when there are cancellations. 
• There is a gas station, store, visitor's center, and restaurants at the North Rim, but you'll pay a premium price for your location! Breakfast with a view of the sunrise, or dinner with a view of sunset over the rim makes it ALL worth it though! 

Read the rules and then grab the button and link up your favorite places and spaces!! 

An InLinkz Link-up

#2getherwearebetter Linky- August: Bulletin Boards

Good morning from Indiana!  Yes I'm on vacation linking up with two of my long time bloggy favorites.  I know you all know them and I'm so excited to be joining them because I truly believe that #2getherwearebetter!

So be sure to hop over and visit Ashley and Angie and link up your bulletin boards! 

So, on to bulletin boards!

In and outside of my classroom, I use whatever space I have to share our learning.  I firmly believe that things created by my students teach my students the most! For example, these homophone posters.  They were given a pair of homophones and had to use each one correctly in a sentence and then illustrate it.  They turned out great! This was one of those "fly by the seat of my pants" creations my first year teaching third grade that has turned into one of my favorite activities.

 

Space is a premium in all of our classrooms.  One year I used this corner of my room as my writing center.  I was small, but provided LOTS of great resources for my kiddos.

I currently have one of the smallest hallway bulletin boards in the building.  But at least I have something!  I use our surrounding green wall as an extension bulletin board, too. 

To be completely honest with you, #realtalk, I HATE coming up with bulletin boards for the hallway, and I promise, anything cute came from TPT!  I don't cover my board with paper or fabric PLUS I don't change out my boarder!  Don't hate me. 

This cute New Year's bulletin board project I won on from Just Wild About Teaching several years ago.  I have done this project several times.  My kiddos love it and I get LOTS of compliments on it!

These Martin Luther King Jr. projects were a directed art project my partner teacher did with all the third grade kiddos.  I love how they turned out.  They're so unique to each kid!  SO fun!

This door was done by my momma.  Anything cute bulletin board wise that has the background done and is cohesive was done by her!  I'm excited to have her back around this year to enjoy her doing my bulletin boards and door again this year! She already has grand plans!!

This FREEBIE from Learning is Something to Treasure is SO cute!  It's perfect for my third graders and I LOVE how summery they look on my board! Get it here.

My third graders LOVE doing Farley's Currently, just as much as I do.  And honestly, when I need a quick switch in my bulletin board and don't have time for an elaborate project, it's PERFECT to hang in the hallway!  

Five for Friday: July 31, 2015

This week has been one of the most epic of the summer! So many great things happened and I'm so excited to share them with you via doodlebugs teaching's weekly links party Five for Friday!

First up, John is home from fish camp!!! It was the longest 6 weeks of my life. I'm so glad he's home. I don't like being without him! We didn't take our usual welcome home picture at the airport because I was a big blubbering mess! 

Second, I joined my friend Lindsey from Its Elementary, My Dear! for a milestone celebration. You have a chance to win a target gift card to help you be ready for back to school! Be sure to hop over and enter before it closes on Sunday! 

Third, I'm in Indiana on vacation! As much as I hate to admit it, this place has such a sense of home for me, even when most of the people and things that made it home are now gone. I LOVE it here!

Our first obligatory stop since knowing John is at the speedway. It's close to the airport so it just makes sense to stop there first!

The brand new Indianapolis, Indiana LDS temple is the reason we are here. LDS temples are stunning and to finally have one in Indiana is a miracle! We got to tour the temple, as all LDS temples are open for a few weeks to the general public for free tours before they are dedicated for worship. 

This is my Indiana Bestie. She is my first friend in Indiana. The best thing is, we always are able to just pick up where we left off. I adore her and it was so great to see her again and meet her little one! 

Fourth, National Cheesecake day!!! Did you celebrate this week? My favorite is the Cheesecake Factory's 30th anniversary cheesecake.

Fifth, I'm stsrting a brand new linky party myself! Every 10th of the month! Right here on my blog. I hope you'll join me by sharing one of your favorite places or spaces!

Monday Made It: My New Monthly Linky Party

Hello bloggy world!
I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It

with my first ever MONTHLY linky party announcement!

I'm SUPER excited about my latest project. I love to travel and have found many favorite places and spaces around the world and around my every-day world, too. I also love hearing and seeing favorites of others!

So, this linky is meant to share a picture or two with an explanation as to why this place or space is one of your personal favorites! It is not meant to take long to participate in or to read through all the link ups.  Don't have a blog? No problem!  Link up on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Periscope using the hashtag #RRRfavplaces!

It can be a corner of your house that is perfectly decorated, the perfect classroom library set-up you love, your favorite vacay spot, or your favorite place to work out.  I have many favorite places and spaces and plan on continuing this monthly linky forever!

There will be no set monthly theme, so snatch the button below, and get your post ready for August 10th!
(I have to make the first day back to school something to look forward to, and not dread because that means summer is over!)

On the 10th, be sure to come back to my blog and link up.
Eeeek!  I'm so excited to see some of your favorite places and spaces and show off some of my own!

Miss Johnston's Journey Bloggiversary Bash!

Good morning! I am super excited to be joining Miss Johnston for her 2nd Bloggiversary celebration!  She is a third grade teacher, like me, and also an awesome blog designer!  

She is giving away over 50 prizes and she's SPREADING the LOVE!  Each winner gets 1 prize so there will be TONS of winners!  There are lots of TPT authors participating, so be sure to enter for your grade level group! Prek-1, 2-3, 4-6, and Middle school all have products to be won!

I'm most excited about the $125 in gift cards! LOOK At all those awesome possibilities!

She's also sending someone 5 different packages!  VIA SNAIL MAIL!  I love real mail, and packages in the mail are EVEN better!

As for my contribution?  If you win, you can have your choice of planners from my TPT store!  I'm up to 7 different versions of my planner for you to choose from!  Be sure to enter the B2S Goodies Rafflecopter to have a chance at winning a planner of your choice! 

Head on over to Miss Johnston's Journey to enter! Good luck! 

100th Post and Giveaway!

Well, I've reached a small milestone on this blog.  It's my 100th post!

Now, I've been blogging for a long time, just not here on this blog.  This is actually blog #4 that I've written.  I like blogging as a journal of sorts.  I have a family blog, to keep my family up on all our adventures as we lived so far away from everyone. Like when we built our house.

Then I blogged about my dog's first year (and turned it into a book and then merged it with my family blog). I LOVE having that book with all his puppy pictures and stories in it!  Definitely the way to go! Is he not the cutest puppy ever!?!?! Many I LOVE him!

And then I blogged about our infertility issues as we spent most of 10 years of our marriage trying to overcome them before finally realizing that it just wasn't going to happen.  Thankfully, that was a freeing realization. If you want some #reallife posts... that blog contains many! But if you want to know more about those aspects of my life, you can click on those links.

Anyway, I'm happy to be sharing my teaching journey with you all, and even more importantly, learning from you all! That's why I'm here, in this space. It helps me focus on expanding my perspective and encourages me to keep learning.  Having taught at the same rural school for my entire 11 year career, I enjoy getting other perspectives and making connections. I'm forever thankful for teachers that blog and share their ideas. So, to say thank you, I'm giving away my #1 best seller in my TPT store, an editable Teacher Essentials Pack! Depending on how many entries there are, I may choose more than one winner, so share, share, share! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway