Tri-State Blogger Meet Up, Valentine's Day, and CALLING ALL CREATIVE MINDS!

So, since my computer at home is on the fritz, and I am pretty close to being caught up with everything, I thought I would use my only free moment of the weekend to do a quick post!! Since we have had a snowday-less year so far, we have a long weekend, which is fabulous, but super busy! Things are finally starting to come together with the wedding, and with our last competition in 2 weeks, the dance season is starting to wind down, so I will have a liiiiittle more time to blog! Hopefully!

First of all, I know this is a little delayed, but I have to tell you how much fun I had at our Tri-State blogger meet up in Cincinnati on the 4th! Thanks SO SO much to Michelle and Abby for organizing the whole thing! We had such a great turn out and I got to meet so many sweet, fun, and interesting teachers! We met at the Cheesecake Factory at the Kenwood Mall, and spent 4/5 hours just eating, talking, gossiping, etc... It was a BLAST! I hope we do it again sometime!

What a turnout!! Incredible ladies right here!! 

Myself and these FABULOUS hostesses! Michelle (above) and Abby (below)

LOVE you girls! :)

New Friend! Amanda from One Extra Degree!

Second of all, I have to post about how much fun my kiddos and I have been having with all of this Valentine madness going on around us! Even though this January/February, no-break-in-sight gloom is my least favorite time of the year, I LOVE Valentine's Day! There is something about it that just brightens my life! Probably because I am a total girl and love all things pink, frilly, sparkly, and lovey! This year I was so thankful for the blogger community because I have gotten to use SO many of the fabulous ideas I have swiped borrowed from you fabulous, creative people! :)

First, my kiddos made these "love monsters" for their valentine holders! I got the idea and all of the templates from Lindsey at The Teacher Wife. I downloaded her All You Need is Love Unit from her TPT store. We also got to do all of the other fun activities in the unit, but the kids absolutely LOVED making those little love monsters! One of my little sweeties even made one for me at home on her own time, so that I could have something to put my valentines in! :)

I also took full advantage of a few other awesome Valentine Units, but of course, I left my camera at home and did not take pictures on the days we did them!
The first activity is Abby's Sweetheart Snatcher Unit. I used her Candy Corn Bandit unit back in October and fell in LOVE, so I knew this would be just as fabulous! My kids were SO excited to have a candy caper back in our classroom! They immediately suspected the Candy Corn Bandit when they discovered our candy hearts were missing!!

I also used her Mustache Activity, which was SUPER cute!! My kids had so much fun making them, and the parents LOVED them! They also made one for our 6th grade buddies that we meet with for weekly activities! :)


Well, that about sums it up for now, but I do have one tiny favor to ask: HELLLPPP!!!! Every year our kindergarten classes come visit first grade for a day to see what first grade is all about! My partner and I usually have two different activities and take turns with each class. They are coming on Thursday and I am having a very hard time coming up with an activity!! I am trying to stay with my garden theme, but can only think of like one idea. So please please PLEASE, let me know what you think: I was thinking maybe we could read a story and then do a main idea flower as a craftivity. I would have the materials copied onto construction paper, and the middle of the flower could be the main idea of the story, and the petals could each include one detail. Do you think this is too difficult for Kindergarten? Do you guys have any other ideas?? Please please let me know what you think! I am open to any and ALL suggestions!!!
Thank you SO much!!! You all are fantastic!
Much love,