A big THANK YOU! ! ! !

We are out of school tomorrow for Veterans Day, so today I used the opportunity to share with my students about a holiday that's close to my heart.
See, my nephew is currently serving a second tour in Iraq and I really don't think before his involvement, I really understood just how important this day is. I think a common misconception / misunderstanding is that Veterans Day and Memorial Day are about the same, but they're not. Memorial Day is more for remembering those who have died serving our country or in a war. Veterans Day is a day to honor those deceased and living who have served or continue to serve our country.
I explained to them in detail how we are so lucky to have so many freedoms here in our country. They could not believe that some countries don't have the freedom to go to the church of their choice, own a cell phone, or even have internet access! It really opened their eyes.
Well, to make the point more "close to home", I had my students decorate a medal for a member of their family or someone they know who is or was in the military.
Boy, was I surprised! I had no idea there were so many, just in my two classes!


THANK YOU, veterans! We are so appreciative of the job you do everyday to keep us safe and free! ! ! !

Red Ribbon Fun!

Red Ribbon Week was last week, too! Which means it's door-decorating-time at our school!!! Here's our door:

My creative partner next door found the idea (and hers, too, below. . . ) on Pinterest and even though we didn't win this year, we got TONS of compliments on them!!! :) The "skeletons" on my door are actually the students' names written in cursive on a folded piece of paper and then cut out around the name, making the symmetrical curves! :)



RRW also included a "Team Up Against Drugs" day, and my partner and I are on opposite sides of the Clemson/Carolina fence, so that was a lot of fun! Our students got into it as well, and I have a cute pic of all of us in our "gear" but couldn't figure out how to blur the faces, and wasn't sure if I should post it. . . but never fear, my partner and I have orchestrated a "Clemson/Carolina Pet Food Drive" for next week leading up to the big game. I'm SURE there will be some pics to post from that, since the whole school will participate! :)

A busy week or two...

So, I've been a little MIA lately. Yes, I know, a lot... but I'm here now, so there!
We have been very busy lately with LOTS of creative ideas I've gotten from some of the AMAZING blogs that I follow!
First of all, we started our own chapter of the Super Speller Slipper Club that I got from

Here are some pics from our class:

This is our display, where we keep track of who meets their goals. I gave them all a sticker to begin, and this photo is 2 weeks behind, so that's why there's not more! :)




And of course, Mrs. Riddle had to bring her slippers, too!

Then, we have also been working on our "Haunted House For Sale" writing projects from Clutter Free Classroom:

Let me just say... my kids LOVED this!!!! They were begging me each day to work on them!







And of course, we didn't exactly finish them until Halloween Day, so I was left to figure out how to display them when the holiday was basically over...
So I came up with this title: