I'M BACK! Flashbacks, Fotos, and Freebies - Day 1

HELLO SWEET FRIENDS!!! It's me! It's really ME!! It has been 6 looooong months since my last post and it is about time that I creep my way back into the blogging world. I have to start by saying HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of my lovely friends! I hope you are spending time with loved ones today and eating lots of goodies. I am with my amazing family, curled up in my favorite chair, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It is so nice to have some time to chill out! And I am seriously chilling out. It is a frosty 50 degrees here in Tampa! My dogs are shakin' in their little puppy boots.We went to get our Christmas tree last night and put it up. It's not decorated yet, but it still makes the house feel so cozy! I am so excited that the holidays are here!!

So I'm not going to give a string of excuses for my absence, however, this has been the craziest year in my teaching career. We have a new reading and math series this year and sh** has been hitting the fan everywhere! HA! It has taken every ounce of me to just keep it together. The district has been making changes non-stop and I am also the team leader this year, so it has been difficult keeping up with everything. I am also developing trainings for our district which has been time consuming. So now I'm done with the excuses, but I had to share with you why I have been away and I just feel terrible about it! I've missed you all!

So now for the fun news! To make up for my lack of posting, all this week I will be doing

FLASHBACKS, FOTOS, AND FREEBIES!

Every day I will be recapping the events of the past 6 months, showing tons of pictures, and (best of all) each day I will have a new FABULOUS freebie to share with you! So let's get rolling!

Today is

I'll start with the flashbacks and fotos first! I'll start by recapping the end of LAST year, since my last post was just before the end of the year.

At the end of the year, I always have a promotion ceremony for the little ones to celebrate their successes and their journey with me :) I do a travel theme, because we always say that the littles are packing their bags and moving on! Here's how the room looked: 

Each of the chairs had their name on a plane! The "Baggage Claim" was where they picked up their awards - including the always popular candy awards :)

 

  

{Here's the little runway that they 'fly' down}

On each of their desks, I put their special gifts. Here is what I include:

{A graduation photo to keep}

{A framed graduation photo with the "Great Expectations" poem}

{A gift for the daddies! To make the footprints, the kids press their foot into wet sand to make an imprint. I then fill the footprint with Plaster of Paris and once it hardens, the sand sticks to it making it look like a sandy footprint. My amazing teacher friend next door, Elaine, taught me this awesome trick! The poem is called "Walk a Little Slower Daddy". It's a super sweet poem!}

{The tables all set up}

 {The hanging clouds were made from Poly-fill and hung with fishing line}

{My little friends sang "First Grade, First Grade" for their families! It was a huge hit!}

{The yummy snack table and cake!}

 

On the last day of school, we all wore our shirts that we made! Each child's handprint and name (plus mine!) is on the shirt and the front says "I made it through Kindergarten 2012-2013".

 

{These are unique wordles that I made for each of them. It includes words that describe them}

{The class video filled with photos from our year together}

{Our FINAL photos together!!!}

And there's my first flashback full of fotos!! I love making their final days with me special :)

So now for the SUPER fun part - the FREEBIE! This freebie is actually a giveaway!

I will be giving away my Complete Set of 111 KB Fonts to two lucky followers who will be chosen by random!

All you have to do to win is:

*Follow my blog by clicking the button on the side

*Follow my TPT store HERE

*Leave a comment sharing something special you are doing for Thanksgiving

Please be sure to do the things above by this Saturday, November 30th at noon to have a chance to win!

YAY! I am so excited to have a post to share with you :) Be sure to check back every day this week for more flashbacks, giveaways, and freebies!

Thank you so much to all of my followers who stuck with me while I was away. I am so happy to be back with you! Have a fabby fab Turkey Day - gobble gobble!

And don't forget...