Random ramblings on a flood day

Today is day 2 of being off school for flooding and heavy rains. Yesterday I got up and got ready and was on my way to school. I thought it was weird that I didn't see any buses or very many cars. When I got to school and there were no cars in the parking lot I figured out we were out. It worked out since I was running late anyway. But it would have been nice to have known before I got out of bed. We have a telephone system that calls when we are out. I didn't get a phone call so I just assumed that we weren't out. Apparently the telephone system had some glitches. But I did get to have breakfast with my hubby. I also got a haircut, had a meeting and dinner with friends. It was a good day off. My friends we had dinner with were also teachers so we were excited when we saw on facebook that we were out again today. Poor Chris he still had to get up and go to work this morning. I on the other hand slept in pretty late this morning. It was so nice. I rarely am really able to sleep in. I really needed today to just do nothing. It has been so nice to sit on the couch and work on my computer. I didn't spend as much time resting over the weekend as I wanted to. My knee has been pretty sore since going back to work and I've been fighting off a sinus infection so today was perfect. I have had a couple of ideas for some new activities to work on so today was the day. I just posed this activity down below, Snowman Scramble. I can't wait to try out with my kids as soon as we're back in school. I'm having a giveaway of it on my fb page so check it out.This picture is from my teacher's notebook store. I just updated the store and am having a sale there this weekend. It's 25% off. What I need to be working on is unit 4 of my words that pop up. I have had a couple of teachers ask me about it and I'll be starting unit 4 next week. So I should probably get on it. But I'm switching the program I do the unit on so I've been a little reluctant to work on it.
I really don't want this post to just be a commercial for my new unit but I don't have much else to share. Since I haven't taught these past 2 days. I'm trying to think of something interesting to post about our day on Monday. But I'm not coming up with anything. So maybe I'll just ramble a little bit about reading in general.
Reading is one of my favorite things to do. I love to read especially on days when it's rainy and cold like today. Books and reading is such a big part of my life I'm even on my city's library board. This is just a new adventure that I've been on. I started on the board this summer and it's been a good experience. I love our little library. When we first moved to Gatlinburg, the library was right down the street from the elementary school. My sister and I would stay at the library and do our homework while waiting on our parents to pick us up. I loved it. I think I had read every book in the library by the time I got out of high school. When I moved back home about 6 years ago, the library really hadn't changed much. There were not as many new books and I was pretty sure I check them all out. But a few years ago, a brand new library was built. It is a beautiful building. But I still wasn't sure that there were a lot of newer books. In the past few years, the library's new book collection has grown and it's now a place I love to go get books or to read at. There's a fire place and a cat. It's a great place. I love being on the board because I get the opportunity to make this place I love even better. We had a board meeting last night, and it never fails that our discussions end up talking about books and what we have read. We were discussing reading on an e-reader versus reading a real book. There are 2 other teachers on the board so this discussion bled into what we wanted for our students. I enjoy reading on my kindle. It's so convenient but I also love reading a real book I can hold. One of the other teachers was talking about how she wanted her students to only read real books. This got me thinking and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think part of reading is the experience of holding a book and how it smells and how it feels. What do you think? Do you have a preference for what kind of books you want your students reading? Do you have a local library you love?

Happy new year!

I hope everyone had a very happy new year's eve and is off to a good start in 2013. I fixed a big dinner and Chris and I watched The King's Speech. I was asleep by 11 but then woken up at 12 with some fireworks across the street. So far today we've already been to the outlet mall which I have been wanting to go to since right after Christmast. It was pretty good. Not too many people and still some sales going on. My favorite stores to go to are Ann Taylor Loft and J.Crew. Everything in The Loft was 50% off and then 20% off at J. Crew. Then my husband found a few things at Eddie Bauer Outlet and I found out they give a discount if you are a teacher. So that was exciting. I keep thinking of starting showing some of my outfits on here like Abby does over at the Inspired Apple. But I'm just not sure I'm really that stylish. I think I just like to look at style blogs and pins on pinterest. Speaking of pinterest I'm part of a new collaborative board you've got to start following if you don't. There are some great kindergarten and first grade ideas on it. Check it out here.
I also am pretty excited because I finally started a new facebook page for my blog. You should like it. I plan on offering some special flash freebies on there sometime later this week. If I can get my winter math stations finished. You can check it out here. I've already gotten several likes which makes me feel pretty good. I had some good friends promoting me on their page. Some fellow Tennesse bloggers. You should check these guys out if you don't follow them already.


  Ok I'm done promoting myself and my friends. It's one of my goals this year to be a little more out there with promoting myself and trying to grow my blog and store. So on with my New Year's Goals. Jennifer at The Teacher's Cauldron is having a party and it is New Year's Day. So I'm joining the party.

One resolution for your personal life and one for blogging was the gist for this linky. I wanted to do one of the week long ones going on and hosted by a variety of people. I just couldn't keep up with it. So these are my resolutions or goals for the year:
My personal goal is to be more intentional with my relationships. I have let several friendships from high school and college slide. I know that's part of growing up and it happens. But I really miss some of these friends. One just had a baby and I got reconnected when I went to her baby shower.
My blogging goal is to try to post more. I'm hoping that when we get internet at the house, it will help that goal a lot. I also want to try to promote myself a little more and create more. I enjoy creating new units and activities for my class and sharing them.
My professional goal is to work on my groups more. Last year I wanted to start Daily 5 and now I've got this going pretty well and then I also have gotten my math work stations going pretty well. The next step is to get the group part and differentiation part down.
So that's where I'm heading this year. Anyway, be sure to check out Jen at The Teacher's Cauldron's party.

What are you planning on working on this year professionaly, and personally? I love reading about other people's goals and plans.