With well over a month left before I officially meet my new batch of kinders, I am practically in full-on school mode!  Welllll, that's probably partially because I am immersed in the incredible Writing Institute professional development at Teachers College this week.  Seriously, one day in and I am HOOKED.  Lucy Calkins is like the human embodiment of teacher wine, chocolate, and pizza all rolled into one.  She is a spellbinding speaker.  I took 7 (!) pages of anecdotal notes today so, fret not, I will be sharing more on that next week!

This year I am going to give the kinders some bubbles to take out to recess the first day.  I don't have these prepped yet (I still have a month to go!) but here is the template I am using for the tag!



 A little more organizational helper.... my teal, pink and green themed classroom labels. So I, or anyone else who may enter my room, knows exactly where everything is!


 All of these goodies are available for kindergarten through fifth grade in my TPT Store.  There is so much more goodness for back to school/end of year in there- be sure to check it out and HURRY! it's on sale through tomorrow.  All this for only $5.20!

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Awl-riiiight, this one isn't exactly speedy, but it's so delicious I had to forgo the "speedy" factor for the taste factor.  Once you get some minimal prep out of the way, you get 120 minutes of FREEEEE time while the veggies roast.  Woo hoo.  Grab a magazine, check parent emails, orrrr write another blog post to link up below!

Okay, for starters, preheat the oven to a low 275 degrees. {Alternatively, you could roast these on 375 for much, much less time (30-45 minutes) but  I just love the slow and low roasting!}

Chop, chop, chop a tomato (1 large or 3 small) and red onion into large chunks.  Throw them in a bowl and toss with a generous pour of olive oil, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.


What have you been whippin' up in the kitchen these days?!  Link up below!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

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Oh boy!  Even writing this post is making me want to go back and bake a second, okay, third  flatbread.  This is my all-time favorite quick, easy and DELICIOUS meal.  The whole thing takes 20 minutes from start to savoring the very last bite.  Perfect for that 'Let's-Get-into-the-Friday-Vibe-Crack-Open-Your-White-Wine' Thursday night meal.  Let's get cookin'!

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.



Take a bag of pre-made store-bought dough and cut it into the correct portion then flour and stretch/roll it out.
{HINT: When I am devouring this solo, I usually cut the dough into quarters.  If my husband and I are eating this, I use thirds or half of the dough depending on our starvation level.}
Use a generous portion of olive oil on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Spread the dough out as thin as possible on the sheet.



 Drizzle a little olive oil on the top of the dough so it doesn't dry out.  For an extra flavor kick, sprinkle some Italian seasoning and cracked pepper on top of the uncooked dough.
Into the oven for 8-10 minutes depending on the thickness of your dough.  You want to take it out when the bottom of the dough is nice and golden brown.

Allow the cooked flatbread to cool momentarily before spreading fig preserves/jam over  the top.

Tear pieces of proscuitto and your favorite cheese spread out on top of the flatbread and fig.  I loooove me some goat cheese crumbles, my husband prefers shaved parmesan.  If neither goat cheese nor shaved parmesan are available blue or gorgonzola cheese crumbles work as well.  Also, if there is no proscuitto or it's not your thing, use some good ol', beloved BACON!




Lastly, lightly dress a few handfuls of delicious, peppery arugula with balsamic dressing.  I love, love, LOVE TesseMae's balsamic vinaigrette but any balsamic dressing will do.  Generously spread the arugula over the finished flatbread and VOILA!  Buon Appetite!

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The calm AFTER the storm.... a beautiful thing!  I officially finished my FIRST year of KINDERGARTEN yesterday!  Cue both fireworks and sobs simultaneously.  Loved the kiddos,  parents, curriculum, colleagues- e v e r y t h i n g!  I just hate that its over.  I had this surreal moment while I was hugging them goodbye yesterday, like "oh, wait, you won't be in this room again next year."  I think last year's good-bye was so super emotional because I was leaving the school that this year seemed like a no-brainer until they were actually physically leaving my room and I wanted to scream "WAIIIIITTTT,  don't go! Come back!!"


Anyway, enough of the sappy- here's something that actually might be of use to you over the next few days...  You can read about my post from last year here.  Here is the updated K version of this activity :)



Sorry for the crummy pictures, my focus was more the on littles rather than taking aesthetically pleasing photos!  Snag the FREEBIE here.

ps- There is also a writing page for, " KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!"

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Yoo hoo!  Remember me?! I'd love just ONCE this year to not begin a post like that.  Between starting a NEW job at a NEW school this year plus a whole lot going on in my personal life (got dad's blood work back yesterday- 3 months post chemo and so far so good! Keep up the prayers!), it's been nuts trying to maintain blogging.  I pinky promise next year I will be better ;)  Hopefully you've been keeping up with me on instagram.

ANYWAY,  I got a pretty significant response to this post on instagram and wanted to share about it in the hopes it will help some of my friends out there in the world wide web...   Our Head of LS is retiring after 15 years this year and while I've only known her a few short months, I wanted to do something special to commemorate her and leave her with lasting memories of all of us.  I know one of my favorite bachelorette activities is to stock the bride with tons of vino!  I piggy-backed off that idea to create a school-themed gift from us faculty.


For those who can't look at this and see exactly what I did... I made these in PowerPoint using Kayla's ADORABLE  honeycomb paper and Graphics from the Pond's frames.  Presto customized wine labels.    Don't have time for all that?  Not to worry, HERE is your own EDITABLE version.  Save time! I already put in 5 hours so you don't have to.  

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