New look, new resource!

Ok, I know that I promised a freebie when I hit 50 followers, but, well, it took A LOT longer than I thought to finish it up.

And I mean A LOT longer.

And it certainly doesn't help that I'm a perfectionist and spent a insane amount of time moving text boxes around the page-and not big moves, mind you, teeny tiny, minuscule nudges around the page.

I know, I'm ridiculous.

Of course, it didn't help that halfway through my awesome resource (see how I'm building suspense?) I got momentarily distracted inspired and ended up redesigning my entire blog.

Oh yeah, I made this from scratch. By myself. Google helped out, too.

No more generic template for this girl-my blog now has a one-of-a-kind design. And I love it. (Can you tell?!?!)

Wouldn't you know, my freebie that I made just for you is pretty darn awesome, too! (Not that I'm going to tell you what it is yet. Suspense. Duh.)


Charlie and I had a lovely walk this morning-it was nice and cool, the birds were chirping, he barked at every dog in the neighborhood (and the nice old man that was just trying to say "Hello").

This afternoon while I was creating, Charlie took a nap. I'm pretty sure this dog should be named "Pretzel"-I really have no idea how he gets himself into some of his crazy positions. Stranger yet, he actually sleeps while contorted. Weirdo.

This position doesn't actually look all that weird at first. But then you realize that there's something crazy going on with those front paws. And the dangling leg. He's just too cute for his own good.

Anywho--I know you're just DYING to know what I've cooked up for my 50 Follower Freebie! So without further ado, may I present to you...

The Laura Ellison

Independent Reading Journal of Awesomeness!!!!!

(What? Too much?)

You get:

• 4 color covers (with a super cute chevron background
• 2 black and white covers (one with chevrons, one without)
• A journal checklist
• Book Fact Sheet
• Daily reading log
• Character Portrait
• Setting Snapshot
• Point of View Postcard
• Book Review
• Journal completion/scoring sheet
• 2 Daily Journal pages (4 designs)

Basically, your kids can use this with any book that they're reading independently. Consider it...an alternative book report. And, it's an easy way for you to hold them accountable for their independent reading. 

On the daily reading log, they can log how long they read and how many pages they read. After the finish reading, they fill out (half) a journal page. Because there are two entries on a page. In their journal entry, they write a short summary of what they read that day, and then make a connection to the text (which is GREAT practice for those pesky extended response questions!). 

There is a TON of fun stuff in this set! Seriously, I am in LOVE with it! 

Since you were one of my first 50 57 followers, you get it for free!!! Yay, you!!!

You better hurry and download it, because it won't be free forever! It'll be $3.00 in my TpT store starting Saturday, so spread the word! It's too late for this freebie, but you can still get buy it in my TpT store!

Enjoy your evening!

Free end of the year poster!

I told Matthew that I was just going to finish uploading a file to TpT and then I would get off of the computer, but I really wanted to share my newest resource with you! It's free for now, but will be $1 in a couple of days.

Enjoy!

So. Many. Freebies.

I set aside some time tonight to attack the big Teacher Appreciation Jackpot that a bunch of teachers are participating in. I knew there would be some awesome freebies, but seriously, I've spent the last 2-3 hours downloading like a crazy person. No, seriously, I've downloaded 136 files onto my poor MacBook tonight, and the only reason that number isn't higher is because I had to cut myself off (so I could blog, and because I missed the entire Lakers game because I was too busy downloading--they won, so it's ok). If you haven't taken advantage of these freebies--DO IT!

In other news, Matthew and I had planned to continue on in our yard work adventures today, but it was just  too hot! Temperatures in the 90s in early May is not ok in my book. So instead, we went and saw The Avengers, in a nice, air-conditioned theater (because his air conditioning is currently not working-boo). Even though we didn't really make any additional progress today, I did remember to take those "after" pictures that I promised yesterday. Hopefully we'll be able to finish up tackling the backyard this week (and the air conditioning gets fixed-I'm breaking a sweat just typing!).