25 Books of Christmas Advent Calendar Tradition

25 Books of Christmas! LOVE IT!!! I found this idea on Instagram from a fabulous mom and I can't wait to file this idea away for next year. I've never heard of it before and absolutely love the concept. Do you incorporate something like this into your holiday traditions? Leave us a comment below! 

Football Cheese Plate

I've been inspired by Football Party appetizers on Instagram and Pinterest lately. We're so excited for Football Sundays to officially start! Here's a fun cheese platter that I found on Babble.com. 

Football Cheese Plate

1 sleeve Toll House butter crackers

1 6 ounce bar marbled Monterey Jack Cheese, cut into slices 1/4 inch thick

1 8 ounce bar sharp cheddar cheese, cut into slices 1/4 inch thick

About 12 to 15 thinly sliced pepperoni

2 slices light colored cheese like plain Monterey Jack

To assemble the platter: Work from the inside out. First, make a small football shape in the center of the platter with the sharp cheddar cheese. then cover it with the pepperoni. Use the light colored Monterey Jack to make the football lace shapes. Then, around this football shape arrange a second layer of the sharp cheddar cheese. Next, arrange a layer of marbled Monterey Jack around the cheddar. Finally, arrange the crackers around the outside. Serve!

Back to School Mason Jar Craft!

I found this quick DIY craft on Instagram through the Pink When blog. I loved how simple this DIY craft was! This was made by a parent to give to her child's teacher. I'm also thinking that it's a cute gift for veteran teachers to give to new teachers! Click on over to Pink When blog for the FREE PRINTABLE tag and for further directions on how to make this cute gift! 

Personalized Pencil Bags for Back to School!

The Crafting Chicks blog shared the most adorable personalized pencil bags on Monday. They used their Cricut machine to create the super cute label and ironed it to the zipper pencil bags from Walmart. I immediately thought that these would be perfect for my "Summer Writing Challenge Survival Kits." I don't have a Cricut machine, but I just might be able to pull this off somehow. I'll keep you updated! Click over to The Crafting Chicks blog to hear more about this DIY craft! 

Stock Your Cellars! - MUST READ!

I came across this post on Kelle Hampton's Instagram feed yesterday (Enjoying the Small Things blog) and it touched me. I had to share it here because I know that you'll love her caption, too. It reminded me of why I take so many pictures and feel the need to document my life a lot. I love her comparison of Instagram to "cellars" of the good, happy, peaceful moments that we stash away. 

I love Kelle Hampton. Make sure you check out her blog - it's marked as one of our favorites!

Enjoying the Small Things Instagram caption:

One for the parenting canned good cellar--jars of good, happy, peaceful moments that we stash away to pull out during the droughts and harsh winters of life. Our IG feeds are full of them--summer sleepovers, family hugs, cartwheel silhouettes against beach sunsets, babies sleeping on chests, bedtime stories and smiles for days. Every moment of every day hardly looks like this. But maybe we accept that these little feeds are our cellars, and it feels good to stockpile the best stuff when it comes. To hold us over during the messy and hard and confusing. For all the jars I've robbed during the hard times (I took one today!)...I restocked one tonight. Stock your cellars.

Hitting the reset button.

It's 7:50 am on a Tuesday morning, and I'm pushing myself to begin to get ready to head into my classroom.  I've been reflecting on this summer and how quickly it's gone.  Partly because every summer goes fast...lots to do, people to see, and places to go!  But this year, my summer has been particularly full, with a vacation to Europe, moving in with my boyfriend, heading to the beach for a week, and a few other adventures thrown in there.  This summer was far from restful, but it was exciting, and worth it.

With all that was going on, I was getting behind with blogging.  Really behind.  When Dawn and I began this blog, our vision was to blog every single day, but when real life takes over, sometimes there is just no time.  I was trying to go back and blog for previous days that I had missed, but I've realized that the point of this blog was to write about real moments and if I went back and blogged for days I've missed, then I really missed the concept.  Today, I'm starting fresh.  I'm giving myself a break, and now that we're getting a normal routine back, I'm back to blogging each day.  

I'm sorry if we've been a little "off" this summer, but we'll be back now more regularly, with more incredible small moments of our lives.  I hope you had an incredible summer!

Falling in Love with Close Reading - MUST READ!

My colleagues and I ordered this book a few months ago and I finally sat down to read the entire thing, cover to cover. I've met these two authors at a TCRWP Summer Institute and was incredibly eager to get my hands on their book this past spring. Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts are literacy gurus and are simply the best at what they do! Their book is completely filled with amazing lessons to teach the art of close reading. "Close reading" is such a buzz word in my district right now because it's all that the Common Core modules emphasize. This book helped clarify what close reading is, how it should be practiced, and helped me understand how to teach various lenses for utilizing close reading. I can't wait to try some of these lessons in my classroom. 

If you're a fifth grade teacher and higher, you MUST read this book! 

Following TCRWP!

A few summer's ago, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Teacher's College Reading & Writing Project Summer Institute. It was life changing and it was when my world of teaching came alive. I attended another summer after that and also attended the Saturday reunions in October & March. 

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to attend their Summer Institutes since a few summer's ago, but I love following along as everyone participates. I follow TCRWP (Teacher's College Reading & Writing Project) on Twitter. (Click on that link to follow them, too!) I also follow some of the literacy gurus that are part of the project. Their updates are awesome and I love being inspired by their new learning. 

Click on that link to be inspired and to bring new ideas into your classroom! Also, I've blogged about my love for "Two Writing Teachers" blog. They're connected to TCRWP and they share so many great tips! Click on over!