Spring Break?! Wait, I'm supposed to relax?!

I have been super busy this week, so it hardly feels like a break!  I have been up to my ears in projects!  I wanted to share just a few of my Spring Break goodies before I FINALLY walk away from my home office and watch some Law & Order with my hubs. 

I worked in my classroom for a little bit yesterday to purge my paper mountain... things that haven't been used or touched in about five years.  I finally stopped asking myself, "What if I need x, y, or z?", and instead I had the "If I am even wondering, that's a NO" philosophy.  I pitched a TON!  That's always a great feeling!  I have so much room in my file cabinets now, but seriously, organizing files is zero percent fun.  Can we all agree?!

Before I made the thirty-minute drive to my school, I popped into Target to check out the Dollar Spot.  I found great stuff!  I have to share!  I have a somewhat tropical theme in my classroom that could easily lend itself to the jungle motif, so I was beyond excited when I saw these little rugs for $2.50!  I picked up a few of them to use during Read to Self.  (How great are these for kids that have trouble staying in one spot?  Well, now they have a tangible spot to call their own and sit on!)  I bought a few more storage containers.  You can never own enough tubs, buckets or boxes as a teacher.

My favorite buy were these three little mini-trashcans I found.  I bought a monkey, an elephant, and giraffe.  I am turning them into Sound Snackers!  Instead of giving students words to sort, I am going to have them add words to the Sound Snackers when we go on word hunts.  They'll write on Post-Its to feed the animals, and then if the word fits the rule we were looking for, we'll add it to the anchor chart.  I let my kiddos have ownership of our posters, but sometimes there are scribbles and words scratched out when they realize there's a mistake.  It sometimes makes me crazy looking at it, so this should be a happy solution for all of us!  I only have a picture of the monkey at the moment, but I promise to post the set soon!

I also found a really cute book at Borders over break that I LOVE.  It's by Bob Dylan!  How neat!

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of the Little Detective Files from my Super Sleuth kit.

In other news, I've surpassed 400 followers.  WOW!  Thanks for popping in to follow my humble little classroom!  I LOVE the blogging community!  It's so wonderful to be able to collaborate with and be inspired by teachers all over the country.  You all amaze me!  So, in honor of surpassing 400 followers, I'm going to act frivolously! The first TWO people to comment on this post will get copies of my new Newsies unit!  Please leave your email address with your comment!   If you're interested in checking out the rest of this 31 page file, check out the preview at my store.  :)  Act now or forever hold your peace!  THANKS for FOLLOWING!