Teacherspayteachers.com

“Teachers Pay Teachers is the world’s first and largest open marketplace
for educators to buy, sell, and share their original resources.
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I found the site when my oldest was about 4 years old. I always wanted to be a teacher so I was and still am constantly looking for material and resources I could use to teach my kids. I found this site called teacherspayteachers.com and I’ve been hooked ever since! You simply sign up and download files for free. Of course there are resources and materials that cost money but I’ve never had to pay for anything. The freebies are awesome! I’ve taught all three of my kids their alphabets, numbers, site words, writing and reading with the help of some wonderful learning materials that I have found on this amazing site! Today Lia, my three year old learned a little about Hybernating Animals simply by putting together this little booklet I downloaded from Teacherspayteachers. I printed the pages, cut and stapled the book together and Lia loved coloring the animals and cutting and pasting them by herself into the book. When she was done I had her highlight the words as we read the book together. The project was quick, fun and FREE!

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Pardon the mess, my children are making memories

mess feb2015 004 I don’t know what it is but when all three of my children are home together, they can not help but turn their play room and bedroom into a ginormous mess! I know one reason may be because I only allow them to watch TV in the morning and maybe if there is time, a half hour before they have to get ready for bed. So in between that time, they have to find things to keep them busy! And they definitely do! I have to admit, it’s taking some time for me to accept that this is just how they play and if I want to keep them away from wasting their day on TV and electronics that I can not keep getting in the way of how they choose to play. Up until not to long ago (maybe a month ago) I literally would follow them in and out of each room, cleaning up after them constantly, never allowing the rooms to look like the photos above (and I think this was definitely extreme!! Not sure what they were thinking today!). My whole day was literally spent picking up and putting their toys away and complaining about all of the stuff they had. It’s definitely great exercise but I knew I had to start letting go a little bit (This is bad though, and probably will never happen again! Not to this extreme!). And so, little by little instead of cleaning up right away or nagging them to clean up (I don’t want to be a nag!) I have decided that as long as the mess stays in their room and the playroom they can leave it until they are done playing (can’t promise I will last that long but I will try). They have to clean it up and everything has to go back where it belongs at least an hour before bedtime. Today was really the first day I didn’t nag them about the mess. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of ignoring it. But I did take the pictures so that one day I can remind them! They really do play so nice and I really do enjoy having these memories of my little girls playing together as they should. I want them to look back at their childhood and remember how much fun they had together!

Cutest Reindeer Family

reindeer jan2015 124 jan2015 116 jan2015 122 jan2015 123The holidays are gone and I’m finally getting around to posting the results of our holiday party! I can’t believe I didn’t get many pictures of my little reindeer family! We had so much fun dressing up though, and the party was lots of fun! I did my best with the makeup! Some thought we looked like little mice but definitely very cute little mice! The girls loved the reindeer ears and wore them throughout the holiday! We definitely celebrated the holidays for the entire month of December. Between 5 birthdays, Chanukah and Christmas by the time January came we were pooped and ready to start a new year!