I have to honestly admit that I hesitated to link up with Ruth Ayres and post here this evening.... The beginning of this week did not yield too many  memorable, celebratory moments. For the first time in the 23 years of my teaching life, I felt anxiety and trepidation on the first day of school .    I cried through the car ride there.    I felt overloaded by new curricular materials and state teacher evaluation requirements, and I did not feel rested or ready to return even after nine weeks of summer break.    I felt like I still had so much more organizing and preparing to do, even after endless hours of setting up my classroom. And then..... the morning bell rang. A flood of young children poured through the front doors, down the primary hallway, and I heard these words..... "MRS. R. SUPERSTAR!  OH HOW I'VE MISSED YOU!" They came gushing out of a little girl who had made coming to school last year an absolute joy f...

Hello Friends! Welcome to a tantalizingly tasty treat of a blog hop hosted by my dear friend and fellow fan of all things literacy-related, Carla from Comprehension Connection !  Before I allow you to "step into my kitchen," I am going to ask you to solve some fun riddles!  Those of you who read here regularly know that  I LOVE picture books and the characters in them that make them special.  Let's see if you can guess the one who will "star" in today's post! Riddle #1  Her lemon pie saves her job at the Rogers household! Riddle #2 She "steals" home plate and then fills it with cookies for the neighborhood baseball team! Riddle #3 She makes fancy cream puffs filled with chocolate!  If you guessed the ever lovable but always a little bit mixed-up  AMELIA BEDELIA, then you are correct!  She's not very skilled in any real-life, daily tasks except when it comes to baking, but my students just love her antics a...

Hello there!   I'm just stopping in quickly as this new week begins to share some exciting news!  It is going to be a busy one as I finish up in my classroom and prepare to head to Indiana this weekend to help the awesome Amanda from The Primary Gal facilitate her second Blogger Boot Camp!  She has been such a guiding light in my teacher-author-entrepreneur life, and I can't wait to finally meet her in person! Be sure to stop by her site and show her some love!       Amanda is also the mastermind behind the newest collaborative blog in town, Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals.   You'll find a guest post from ME there today, along with my newest product!  I am so grateful to be a collaborator on this blog!  Know that our group is committed to bringing you DAILY  deals on quality resources!  Hop on over {HERE} to read all about it! It will be on sale for the bargain-basement price of $1.00 through this Wednesday!  I am off to create, ...

Eleven days . That is how much time I have left until my new crew of second graders comes stampeding into the Rockin' R Ranch!   My classroom is no where near ready, but it will be!   My daughter has been an absolute life-saver when it comes to bulletin board decor, and it is a good thing because I just seem to start a task--like cleaning out one of my supply cupboards--and then it morphs into a giant mess which makes me want to just sit down.... and cry..... and eat cookies....and go home....  and take a nap. Do you ever feel that way?  Like the whole  unpacking,  re-organizing,  shopping,  making,  labeling,  copying, lesson-planning,  and creating just gets to be a little overwhelming at times? Friends and family members who are not educators really don't understand the anxiety-inducing, exhaustion-producing process that getting ready to go back-to-school involves.  They kind of look at me funny when my answer to their question abou...