Pug Rescue, Great Deals, and a Freebie

Hello lovely bloggers.. how is everyone doing on a Sunday?  I will be watching the Giants game in about an hour, and hopefully they will be winning against the Cowboys :) I am dreading to start working on report cards soon... I always want them perfect and have to really reflect on what grade I am going to give them.   I know that's what every teacher should do, but it is so time consuming! Might be a couple late nights...

I will start this blog post with a freebie :) My kids have homework every weekend consisting of 3 journal entries... they can pick and choose which days they want to do their entries, but they are ultimately due every Monday (Thanks to Tara, she gave me all my wonderful homework ideas)  I would have the students write in their planners of what the homework would be for each night.  On Fridays, I write down 3-4 writing prompts to help them for the weekend.  Why would I make my kids write these out each Friday?? And I am only giving them a few choices/suggestions... so of course, I put my thinking cap on, and created this freebie :) 28 Reading Response Journal Starters!

Please check out my Reading Journal Prompts on Teachers Pay Teachers and Teacher's Notebook... don't forget to provide me feedback if you have time :)

 

If you haven't tried GROUPON yet, you don't know what you are missing.  This might be another thing that K-2 is Splendid got me started with too... wow, she's good.  Groupon is a site where they offer discounts towards items, trips, restaurants, and events.  You can normally get great deals, especially on services and events.  I will often buy them for massages and restaurants. 

 

                     

Check it out here and see what they have in your local city!!

                      

I actually just bought a groupon that gave me 70 dollars worth of VistaPrint products ( I got to choose )... it was only 17 dollars! I got all my kids Christmas presents with it, and one of my special helpers in my classroom as well.  I can't disclose what I got them here (you never know!) but I will be sure to post them after Christmas :) It's adorable..

 

I love animals.  Period.  They are adorable and mean so much to me.  Over the years, I have definitely began to love animals even more, and began making decisions of my lifestyle based on animals too.  I grew up in a house full of dogs, cats, birds, and my sister even had a guinea pig and pet rat once.  Currently as you know, I have my baby Pancake, a syrian fancy hamster who I just adore. 

I moved out of my parents house, but when I lived with them, we had many dogs over the years - our golden retriever Jesse died when I was young, I had my cocker spaniel Sandy when I was about 7 years old to 21 years old (most of my life), and then there was Lucy.. my beautiful baby pug who loved me more than anything.  I picked her out and we got her when she was just weeks old.   She was the healthiest, happiest, most joy I had ever gotten from a dog.. when I moved out of my house, I would visit so often and she would cry and run at me not to leave every time.  We spent a little under three years with Lucy, and then she developed a brain disease called Pug Encephalitis.  She was the healthiest dog ever, and we never suspected anything.  She came and went so fast, just our little baby... she suffered for only a short time, and then my mom and I went to go put her to sleep, because the surgery (that might not have done ANYTHING for her) was thousands of dollars.  She was licking my mom's hand as she was sent to heaven.. even in all that pain, she still wanted to be with us, and it just still hurts my heart... I have been able to get over everything and move on from deaths and difficult times, but this is by far the hardest.  She was still my little girl and too young to go.. I had Sandy for 14 years, my whole life, but she had a FULL life.  If I could go back, I would've paid every penny I owned to try and save Lucy.  It still hurts and I cry as I write this...  my parents got another pug, Zoey, after the pain had settled, and I love her so much.. she's wonderful and I am so grateful for her, but she's just not "my pug" and it's not the same <3 p="p">

 

Here is a picture of me and Lucy when she was just a baby... love her forever!

 

  

I want to donate all the money I can to the Green Mountain Pug Rescue.  This is a group of volunteers in Vermont that rescue pugs (from puppy mills and other terrible places) and give them homes, healthy meals, and treatments.  I have donated leashes and harnesses to them before, but I want to do more.  I have my own bills and living finances as well, but this is important to me.... so any money I make from Teacher's Notebook for 2 weeks, from today 10/28 to Veteran's Day 11/11, I will donate ALL of it to Green Mountain Pug Rescue.  Please consider shopping and looking for a unit that will help your students learn, and help the pugs stay safe.                       

                    

Here is a cute picture I came up with, if you want to help spread the word.  I used an adorable border from Michelle from the 3AM Teacher, and the pug on the cover is Lucy when she was probably around 2.  If you would like to consider donating right to their site, please check it out here.

 

Thanks so much for listening to me rant, and I hope you all have a safe and wonderful Sunday!