Taking them home

My kids know they are the most important ones in my life. But they realize they share me with 20+ other chldren that are also my kids every year. Grumpy moods, runny noses, fights with friends, values about right and wrong are shared by us all. Problems and joys go both ways. I have a guy that I carry home with me every day. He was "normal" until about the end of October, and then things went crazy,  As frustrating as it is to try to teach a class around him, he is still part of our class and I worry about him. We can't find anything that motivates him, or any consequences that he recognizes. His parents are running him to all sorts of doctors and analyists, and I can't imagine what it would be like if one of my two children were going through this.  Could a different environment help them through the struggles? Will guiding them be enough?
My daughter and a friend approached her teacher and guidance counselor today about starting a "We Stomp Out Bullying " campaign, and having the students sign a shoe cutout to display in the cafeteria. They decided they wanted to do that all on their own. She rocks.

Almost at 100

I am now approaching 100 items sold on one of the stores. I remember being excited when I had five people download my freebies. Freebie downloads don't count anymore because they seem to reset after 200.  I wish there was more contact with the classroom teachers to know how things were going.  I tend to not provide feedback either. Sorry.

The software that was supposed to be here Thursday still isn't here yet. I'm trying to work on peanut butter and jelly graphics for partner activities, but I am still figuring out how to add gradients and highlights.  I want to, but it's hard to figure out something brand new.

Updates from the last post- my co-worker's mother has cancer in three systems, and my visually impaired student found his glasses. The water glass keeps switching between half full and half empty.

My kids are busy creating. A jewelry kit with a gazillion beads, and Fuzzoodles. My husband is working on his third guitar, and I am fixing up earlier products.  I wanted to do something today with my family, but we're all busy. Bowling this afternoon.

What a month

I'm not sure about this new year.

One teammate found out she had an incomplete miscarriage and another found out her mom has cancer. Again. For the third time.

My extremely visually impared student has lost his glasses. And will not be getting a new pair.

BUT...
I designed party invitations for my niece who is turning 7 and she called to say she loved them because they were so pretty.

My Muse tablet showed up after only 2 business days (additional software will be here by Thursday).

My January sales almost match my sales for all of last year.

It's hard to believe that things I design and use are in classrooms out there. It's like I'm helping to teach an extra couple of hundred kids long distance. Pretty cool.

This year might turn out okay. Maybe it will even snow.

Yeah!!!

I was drawing clipart, and wishing I had more control, so I started looking at drawing tablets with a stylus. I found a combo pack on amazon that included drawing software and cartooning software. And then I remembered my email for 1000  thankyou points off a $100 gift card for amazon. And then I bought it.

My 7 year old is an amazing pencil and colored pencil comic book artist. He has created four "A Man" comic books, and he wants me to post them online for him. How cool would it be if he became comfortable with digital art at 7? What a future. He has a great sense of humor, and it's not always just 7 year old body humor.

So in about a week I will be trying something else new. I'll keep you posted.

P.S. Congratulations to the 28 people who snagged my freebie yesterday. Enjoy!

Freebie Friday TODAY

"Winter Ending Blends" is up on my TpT store for free today. Please visit and leave feedback! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Tamara-Barbour

I started to play with making my own clipart last night. I am very excited. I made a star, two flowers, and a chocolate bar. I was thinking about trying some story clip art, like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, or Stellaluna. It's going to take a while, but it would be fun.

Freebie Friday

On Friday, from about 6:30am-8:30 pm EST, I will have "Winter Ending Blends" on TpT for FREE. I've updated my "Autumn Blends" to include more vowel combinations, silent letters, and multisyllable words. My little guys are moving along!  I told you first!

Hello Home School Parents!

I've decided that there must be some homeschool community that likes my soil activities.  They are my best sellers, and people are buying them in clumps. It makes me feel bad for my other products:(

There was an oil leak in our intermediate buiilding yesterday, so we had off school again. MLKJ, oil spill, and all 2 hour early dismissals because of high school exams. One of my students really didn't believe me when I told him that tomorrow was already Thursday. Not being in school on regular planning days makes the next week harder.  Two of my teammates were out, so that left only two of us for the planning. I think we did pretty good staying focused for a change.

Earlier this week I posted some secret freebies for the first 10 downloaders on TpT and TN. I forgot to mention it here. Sorry! Next time I'll remember.



"A Trip to the Emergency Room" is a sequencing game with three events at a time, and "New Beginnings" works on prefixes for higher second grade-third grade students.  I hadn't made an answer key up for my parent volunteer, and he had a hard time!

I also posted the rainforest and desert alphabetizing that I mentioned a while ago.