Classroom Tested Resources Blog Launch

Lots of fun stuff keeping me busy this week! You may have noticed things are looking different around here and I am just so thrilled about the new look! Celebration plans are in the works, but today we've got something else to celebrate!  

Today is the launch of a brand new collaborative blog, Classroom Tested Resources. I am joining with 30 elementary teacher bloggers who will be bringing you daily posts with all sorts of tips, ideas and resources to use in your classrooms.   

We are kicking it off with a fantastic giveaway you do not want to miss. We are giving away THREE Teacher Swag Bags filled with some of our favorite things!

Be sure to stop by and check out the blog and don't forget to enter the giveaway! 

Hunger Games Party

I have always loved to throw parties.  My son's birthdays have been a fantastic creative outlet for me. Over the years we have done Toy Story, Cars, LEGO, Harry Potter, and more. This year I got have some fun with The Hunger Games!  I remember party planning in the days before Pinterest, and while always fun it was so much more time consuming!   This year my time was limited, but Pinterest did not fail. Take a look at some the great idea I found.  

There are tons of FREE printables from the Hostess with the Mostess out there to help you with your party decor.  I used this fabulous label to decorate and assortment of appetizers from the Mellark Bakery.  They included: "Peeta Chips", "Peeta Bread" , along with some other assorted artisan breads you  might find at the Mellark Bakery.

The party food was basically a big play on names from the books. Little "Ceasar's Flickerman's" pizza was too easy for 12 hungry teenagers. 

Thanks go to the Pillsbury Dough Boy for these "Cinna Buns".  

I found the idea for President Snow brownies and then decided to kick it up a bit using a Wilton cookie mold to add the white chocolate roses. 

In past years I have always spent quite a bit of time on the birthday cakes.  I usually use this recipe for marshmallow fondant and try to create something simple to match the theme. Maybe I will do a cake post some day....but y'all probably don't want to see my Tardis cake fail.  Anyhow, there was simply no time for such endeavors this year. So between Pinterest and my good friend Carolyn who owns the Cookies in Bloom in town, these are the fabulous cookies we served instead of cake.  I just love how they turned out!

Party games are my thing. I love coming up with fun activities tied to a theme.  Must be the teacher in me.  However, I am not completely out of touch with the teenage scene and I knew that games are not really their thing.  Eating, swimming, and movie watching are more their speed, but I did manage to sneak in one trivia quiz.  It helps that almost all of the kids attending are big readers and love the series. So I modified this quiz from The Data Divas for the guests to complete as they arrived.  Then, before watching the movie we had our own "reaping" to select tributes.  For each correct answer the guests had to put their names in the reaping jar.  We then selected one boy and one girl tribute and they were immediately given this parachute from a very special sponsor.  President Snow himself gave them gift cards to our very popular snow cone shop Bahama Bucks!  By the way if you have never had Bahama Bucks you are missing out on the best snow cones E.V.E.R.

I used a black table cloth, red and orange plates, and yellow napkins from the party store along with some more FREE printables Living Locurto and some metallic curling ribbon to decorate the table. The finishing touch was a single long stem white rose.  

And because this was really a teenage pool party with food and movies that I put to a theme because I just can't help myself, the invite was simply a picture text that my son sent out in a group message to his friends.

This truly was one of the easier parties that I have thrown and I could not have done it without Pinterest and other fabulous blogger party planners who have come up with so many creative ideas on this theme.  I have a small Pinterest board with some of the best resources I found, but there are plenty more to be found.  We love this series so much we may just have to throw another party when the next movie comes out! 

Check out my Hunger Games Party Pinterest Board for more great ideas.

Follow Mom2punkerdoo's board Hunger Games Party on Pinterest.

March Pinterest Pick 3

I know February is a short month, but seriously, where did it go?  It's time already for another link up with  PAWSitively Teaching and The Inspired Owl's Corner for the March Pinterest Pick 3 Party! It's March, so it's all about green! My favorite color! Be sure to check out my St. Patrick's Day Fun board on Pinterest for additional fun ideas to do this month.

Follow Mom2punkerdoo's board St. Patrick's Day Fun! on Pinterest.

Art: How to Draw a Shamrock

If you've stopped by before you know I am a fan of directed draws. Here is another simple one for some Shamrocks.

Click to see this pin!

Say Cheese: Photobooth Fun

Photo booth props are so fun and these are FREE!  Have a little St. Patrick's Day fun sporting your green top hat and bow tie!  Don't forget to say "cheese"! 

Click to see this pin!

Keepsake: Handprint Shamrock

How stinking cute is this?  What an adorable keepsake and so simple too! Green paint, some sort of paper or canvas, handprint....done! 

Click to see this pin!

An InLinkz Link-up

My Whole 30 Experiment

We did it!  30 days of

• NO SUGAR  (of any kind, natural, stevia, honey...nada, none, zero, zip)

• NO WHEAT

• NO GRAINS

• NO LEGUMES

• NO DAIRY

• NO ALCOHOL (the hardest part for me)

The Why:

Well for starters, we'd packed some on in 2014 and we needed to start losing some of it quick. Hearing about all the benefits some have found by trying The Whole30 and having a good friend say, "You can do anything for 30 days!" we thought we'd give it a shot.  

The Scoop: 

The truth of it for us is the shopping, cooking and cleaning were truly the hardest part of the past 30 days.  You should know that the kitchen and I are NOT friends.  It's almost too embarrassing to confess how poor of a relationship I have with my kitchen appliances.  They are likely in a state of shock after this month.  As a matter of fact, half way through the month I had to call and oven repairman because all but one of the buttons on my oven stopped working.  No joke!

The second hardest part for me was no adult beverages.  I am one of those type A, high anxiety, high manufactured stress kinda gals who likes to relax in the evenings every now and then with a drink. Sipping my hot tea on Friday and Saturday nights was more than a little difficult.

The Running: 
Sucked.  Sorry there is no other way to put it.  I seriously could not believe how much this way of eating completely tanked my running.  Killed it dead.  I was almost 3 weeks before I could get back to completing a decent run without needing to walk.  Even when I was finally able to finish a 7 mile long run, my already slower than slow pace was a full minute slower per mile! UGH! It did not help that I am training for a half marathon in April and was really need to up my mileage.  Hopefully I can recover the lost miles quickly.  

The Biggest Accomplishment: 
We did not eat out ONE single meal for 30 days! Seriously, this is HUGE for us.  I honestly don't think I can remember at time when we have gone more than a week without eating out let alone and entire month.  Certainly not in the last 20 years! It was not easy.  Just so you know you can eat out and still stay true to the Whole30 we just decided it was too much work to figure out and that we might as well just do it ourselves.  After all, we can do anything for 30 days, Right????

The Results: 
Yes, the weight is coming off.  How much? No clue.  After way too many years of paying too much attention to the scale, I no longer get on it.  I use how I look and my clothes as a judge.  Clothes are fitting much better...so there you go.  My skin does feel better, my nails seem to be growing faster, and while I don't feel like the energizer bunny I am not as bone dead tired at the end of the day as I had been.  I was hoping for a few more miracles and it's possible I need to keep it up for a little while longer to truly see more  improvement.

What Now: 
Not entirely sure yet.  My husband still has some more weight he wants to take off and I would be happy to do that too.  I think we will likely continue to eat this way for awhile longer and then play around with what we can add  back in moderation without going off the rails too much. We shall see!

Have you done a Whole30 yet?  What was your experience?

Sunday Scoop 2/22/15

I am linking up for the Sunday Scoop hosted by the Teaching Trio for the first time this week.  Hoping it actually helps me to get all of this done.  We shall see.

• Cheated and bought desserts, now just have to get them delivered.
• Killed a tree printing the Academic Planning Guide to help him look through course options.
• Hoping the rain doesn't start until after church!
• Laundry 50-50 odds it will get done.  Even worse odds of it getting put away.
• Need to print ballot and make my guesses.  No time for research for our friendly Oscar competition this year though!
• New kitten is the cutest thing ever and I will happily play with her which is why the odds of the laundry getting done are so low.  ;-)

You Can Embed Quizlet! Who knew?

I first discovered Quizlet back in our homeschooling days and I was beyond thrilled!  If you are not familiar with Quizlet it is a free online service of learning tools.  My son has used Quizlet for years to aid in his studies in everything from Chemistry to Spanish.

You can find already existing study sets or make your own.  You can create classes for your students to join where you add the specific content you want them to practice and learn.  There are six different study modes students can choose from to study and practice. In addition, there are even audio cues you can turn off and on as needed.  I could go on and on about all the features, but you really just need to log in and check out for yourself.  I really think you will find it a valuable resource.

I just recently discovered another cool feature I hadn't known about. It seems you can even embed (click to see how) your sets into your class website or blog to make it even easier for your students to use. Check it out! I have embedded two different sets I have created that go with my Math Facts Fluency Program.




Guess what? They also have an App in the iTunes store so students do not have to be at a computer to study.

Quizlet has a great Quick Start Guide for Teachers explaining how to get started.  They do have a for fee service for teachers that provides you with some additional features you might find helpful, but I have only used the free version and found it to be incredible useful.

Deep in the Heart of Texas Blog Hop

Welcome to the "Deep in the Heart of Texas" blog hop!  Over 40 Texas teacher bloggers have joined together to share what we love about our state as well as ideas and freebies that we love.  You will also have the opportunity to enter to win TpT products and TpT gift certificates by entering using the rafflecopters included in each post.  Down at the bottom, you will see all of the blogs participating in the hop.  Just click and you will be taken to their posts.  We hope you love what you find.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Howdy! I am Mom2punkerdoo, but my friends all call me Kim.  I am a 40-something wife, mother, native Californian turned Texan, wannabe photographer, occasional scrapbooker, teacher turned homeschool parent, Facebook addict, Disney fan, pet lover, TPT seller and an aspiring runner who loves to throw a good party! Almost 8 years ago we made our way to McKinney, Texas and we haven't looked back!  

I will start by saying that the friends I have found since moving to Texas have made living here a true blessing above and beyond all the other things I love about McKinney, Texas,  It was truly hard to pick just a few things to share with y'all, but I managed to narrow it down to two for now.

#1 Singer/Songwriter Night at Cadillac Pizza Pub 

There is a lot to love about downtown McKinney, but Tuesday nights at Cadillac Pizza Pub is definitely a highlight.  The food and drinks are great.  I am a fan of  the Tony's Ranch House Salad and my boys love sharing a Smoky Pie, but what we really love is the live music.  We are partial to the singer/songwriter that performs on the first Tuesday of the month, Zane Williams.

If you are a fan of Texas country music or just good music that tells a great story then you really need to listen to Zane.  We found him a few years ago on a Tuesday night playing at Cadillac and fell in love with his music.  We were homeschooling back then so going out on Tuesday nights was doable and his show is family friendly, as are almost all of his songs.  As a matter of fact, many of his songs contain messages, values and morals I want my son to listen to...can't say that about a lot of today's artists. Needless to say we have been huge fans every since.  

So if you are making plans for a trip to downtown McKinney I highly recommend a stop by Cadillac Pizza Pub and if you can make on the first Tuesday of the month you will be in for a real treat.  Just be sure to get there early as it fills up fast!

#2 Our Trails

A few years ago McKinney started expanding their trails throughout town.  About that same time I started putting more time and effort back into running.  The timing was perfect.  You can now find me here at least once a week. I often meet with my running partners in one the school parking lots nearby and we do our long runs on these trails, away from cars and noise surrounded by a bit of nature. There is a small creek we cross over a few times, we loop around near a new city dog park , and we have occasionally seen an armadillo or two. You will find runners, walkers, and bikers on these trails and they are plenty wide enough for all of us.  If you find yourself in McKinney and it's not July or August you might want to make your way to Bonnie Wenk Park and from their you can check out our fabulous trails for yourself. 

Much like picking one thing I love about my town was hard, this also took some time to narrow down. It being Valentine's Day and all I decided to go with my favorite book about love, The Veleveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams.  Can you believe I never recall having read this book as a child?  I do recall the first time I read it though. My now husband gave it to me as a gift when we were dating many year ago. Pretty sweet for a college boy isn't it?  

This is the version my now husband gave me many years ago.

A few years later, when I landed my first teaching job The Velveteen Rabbit happened to be one of the 3rd grade literature units I need to teach.  Luckily, I had the two very best teaching partners on the planet. They shared ideas, plans, projects, and most important of all what remains my all time favorite culminating activity ever....The Velveteen Rabbit Tea Party (click to read more).

Needless to say I fell in love with the book, the message is shares, and the fun I have had making it come to life.  Did you know you can get this book for FREE?  It is in the public domain as it was written 1922.  This makes it perfect for using in the classroom without having to purchase a lot of books.  You can find it online several places, but this link also includes the original illustrations too!

Freebie Time! This is one of the first freebies I made for TPT, but I updated it this month to share the new and improved version with you today!

It includes simple editing and revising checklists to help your students self and peer edit their writing. These checklists remind students to check for proper punctuation, use of adjectives, word variation and staying on topic. There are two different styles of checklists included.

With the update I  added a 6 point writing rubric and time order/transitional words reference chart for your growing writers! 

Click to Download!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my hometown and some of the things I love!  Now keep scrolling to get to the giveaways!

Check it out y'all!  Lots of great giveaways with the hop around Texas! Be sure to enter and then hop on over to read more about what we love about our hometowns in Texas. Who knows, you might find yourself inspired to plan a trip through the Lone Star State!

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Click on the buttons below to visit some other awesome Texas bloggers!

An InLinkz Link-up