Instagram and Teacher Talk Tuesday

I'm new to Instagram, but am excited to dive right in.  What the Teacher Wants and Apples and ABC's have teamed up with a great new idea.  Each Tuesday, teachers will gather on Instagram and share for #TeacherTalkTuesday. Take some pictures and share them with other teachers on Tuesdays.

You can follow Dilly Dabbles on Insagram here.  

Here are some of my pictures:  

A week ago I had the opportunity to hear Ron Clark speak at a conference in Provo, Utah. 

This is the board the PTA posted announcing the activities they would be doing for our Teacher Appreciation week.  They did a great job, and teachers really felt appreciated.

Catch Tuesday on Instagram!

Dilly Dabbles Had Some Work Done!

Have you noticed the new additions to the Dilly Dabbles Blog?  Michelle of The 3am Teacher set me up with some great items to spruce things up a bit.

She added the fabulous navigation bar up at the top.  Click the flowers to be taken to each section or link.  Coming soon is the Themes page where all posts and freebies will be collected in an organized list of linked thumbnails.

Michelle also added threaded and numbered comments to the blog.  They are way cute too.  So now, the comments are threaded to more easily keep track of replies to specific comments and they are numbered too.  Additionally, your pictures show up beside your comments.

I had the pleasure of meeting Michelle on a trip I took to Arizona last fall and she is a doll.  She's everything she portrays on her blog.  Go check out her blog and if you have a blog of your own, consider having Michelle add some spruce ups to your blog.



Try out the new comment section, leave me a comment on this post about the new look.

How I Spent my Spring Break

This is the last evening of my Spring Break.  I sometimes like to get to know the bloggers behind their blogs and so I thought I'd share with you how I spent my Spring Break to let you in on a little about me.  I mentioned in my April Currently post that I had a long to-do list, which I still have, but a lot of it got accomplished.  It's a little bitter sweet to head back to school for the last leg of the school year.

Here's what I did this week:

• Deep cleaned my bedroom and master bathroom.  I dread cleaning the shower and it needed it badly.  It always feels so much better after I've cleaned a room. 
• Cleaned up my office.  I thought I should have taken a before and after photo, but the hubby didn't think that mess should be online forever. ;)  There's still some organizing to do, but now my hubby has his desk area back. 
• Made cookie and brownie mixes with my sisters-in-law.  I have this fabulous book: 

And we made some of the mixes to have on hand for storage.  It's much cheaper than buying the store packaged mixes.

• Helped my parents list some items for sale online
• Helped my in-laws unpack a few things into their new house
• Did some Dilly Dabbles work stuff
• Quilted. I recently got a new sewing machine and have rekindled my sewing hobby.  Here's a picture of the quilt I worked on over break.  Now I just need to decide on the pattern for quilting it. Sorry it's a bit dark.

• Taxes.  I put this one off for a while.  I'm usually done with filing taxes by early February, but this year I knew we'd have to pay some, so I put it off.  Ended up that between State and Fed it'll all come out a wash, but that was a bit of a nightmare.  Next year, getting an accountant. 
• Coupon shopped
• Attended a sewing class.  I'm going to be a sewing teacher at a local fabric shop during the summer and am attending classes to learn the ropes. 
• Watched the General Conference for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  You can learn more about "Mormons" here and view the conference here.
• Prepared to teach a third grade class about solving math word problems this next week. (Lesson plan and ideas I came up with in an upcoming post.)
• Overall, I enjoyed spending time with my sweet family.  

April Currently

Is it April already?  I went to title this post and almost called it March Currently.  This week is my spring break and I'm looking forward to it.  Here's my "Currently"

Listening - I've been listening and watching my kids play with their cousins who arrived last weekend from Tennesee.  They haven't seen each other in almost 2 years and have reunited quickly. 

Loving - This spring weather, in the 60's here, has been wonderful.  The kids have loved playing outside and I have loved watching my 2 year old enjoy his little bike and try his sister's scooter. 

Thinking - I have a long to-do list for the spring break and I'm hoping most of it gets done before the week slips by. 

Wanting - Because my to-do list is so long, I'd love another week of break to actually rest!

Needing - I've asked to be placed back in the classroom next year.  I've loved being a coach, but I'm stretched between two schools and it's been difficult to be in so many places as a mom of young kiddos.  They are taking a long time to determine what their staffing needs are for next year which will in turn let them know where they'll place me. 

Advice - Last week, my childhood friend lost her 4 month old baby.  It hit me hard as I felt so deeply for her and the pain she was having.  Since Wednesday, I've spent more time with my own kids and done a little re-prioritizing.

See what other bloggers are up to by checking out all that have linked up over at: 

   

Classroom Spruce Up - Mason Jar Lamp

The librarian at my school has this darling lamp on her check-out desk.  I thought this was a fun way to add some light to a reading corner or listening table in your classroom and theme it any way you want.  So, I sought out how to make such a fun item.  They are so easy and inexpensive!  You just need five items: (click on the pictures to see them in Amazon)

• A Mason Jar - I can items at home, so I have these hanging around.  If you don't have them around, try a local thrift shop.  You can purchase them in most big box stores in the home canning section or on Amazon:67000 Ball Qt Mason Jar WM 12-pack

• A Lamp Kit - Here are a few options (click on the pictures):

This one comes as a set of 3 (Best Value, make some for a colleague or one for at home)

This is a single silver colored set

• A Lamp Shade - You can embellish this simple white one in any way you desire. 

• A Light Bulb - These kits will fit any standard bulb.  
• Items to Fill Your Jar - Check out your local craft store for small themed trinkets.  Shaped buttons might be a fun way to go.  To cut down on how many items you need to fill your jar, put a Styrofoam cylinder or other similar object in the middle of the jar to take up some of the space.  Then put your themed items around the filler.  These fun colored buttons come in a variety of color sets and would be great to fit any color scheme: 

If you make one of these fun accents, we'd love you to come back and share your picture with us!

Spring Cleaning Sale

Do you have some Dilly Dabbles products in your wish list?  Or, have you had your eye on some items?  Well you're in luck.  It's spring cleaning time and to help you clean out your wish list or grab the items you've been eyeing, I'm having a spring cleaning sale this weekend.  Saturday and Sunday, get 15% off most items in the Dilly Dabbles TpT store.  If you prefer our blog store, use the code springclean to get 15% off your order of most digital items in the store.

Happy Spring Cleaning!  

Share in the comments below some of your great steals. 

**Thanks to Krista of Creative Clips for the great sale button.**

Here are some fellow bloggers and sellers throwing a sale this weekend:

Zippin Down the Freebie Trail

Welcome to Dilly Dabbles! I am so excited to be part of this great Spring/Easter Freebie Trail.  If you missed the first post on this trail, be sure to click the orange bunny picture at the top of the page to be taken to the beginning, then follow the trail to all of the "next stops" to get all the freebies along this trail.  

I have two freebies for you.  The first is this spring kite from the Dilly Dabbles Doodles collection.  You can get the full Spring Time Fun set of graphics here.

Download the file for the free kite image here.  It is a zipped file that will need to be extracted.  The image is a clear background png file. 

The second freebie I have for you is this spring poem set.  It correlates with our Poetry Task Cards, but it can also be used alone.  The activities in the pack include: 

~tracing the poem

~ choosing synonyms and antonyms to words in the poem

~create your own version of the poem

~focus on word features -oo- and -ou-

Be sure to continue on the bunny trail by clicking the purple picture below.  There will be three to four new stops each day, so be sure to check back every day through March 30, 2013