TIEKS again...Are we meant to be?

 Check out the results here

So, several of you saw my post on Tieks by Gavrieli last year. If so, you also read that I ended up sending back both sizes due to the fact that they weren't the perfect fit. Guess what? I've changed my mind! So at a Matilda Jane party, I noticed my sister-in-law was wearing a pair of mustard yellow Tieks. I asked her first hand how she liked them. She responded with "they're wonderful"! I tried them on and they fit me like a glove. I was absolutely shocked by the comfort of these flats. They felt nothing like the black Tieks I had ordered and I was almost jealous. At the end of the party, I almost thought about walking off with them even though they were on her feet by that point. Haha.

My conclusion is that the Tieks must be worn for several days in order to allow the shoe to mold to your feet. This makes them perfectly soft, or maybe I just need someone with the same size foot to wear them in for me. I wasn't willing to risk this last year being that these shoes start at $175, but now that I have actual evidence through my sister-in-law that they do mold over time, I believe I will give them a try. What's it going to hurt besides my wallet? I've already spent a total of $100 on flats this year that are not comfortable at all getting ready for the spring days. I did end up with three pairs, but they won't last and I spend this amount each year replacing the dinky ones I purchased from random places like Old Navy, Loft, Gap or American Eagle. I guess in the beginning, I could have spent all this money on several pairs of good quality shoes like Tieks in the first place. I absolutely love flats and skinny jeans!!! So here are my color choices below that I've narrowed it down to.

Camel Brown

OR 

Ballerina Pink

After hours of thinking, researching and trying to decide on a color, I have chosen ballerina pink. I'm absolutely terrified they will get dirty very easy with me being a teacher, but I want something neutral and spring pretty. Okay. I'm changing my mind again. I may go with the Camel brown color instead to hide dirt marks. Which color should I choose? Help!!!!

Have a great day!! I hope this helps all you teacher ladies out there! I don't have mine yet, but when I get them, I'm going to walk you through my days in these shoes. I'm keeping them, too!

Please note that I did not write this blog post for profit, etc., this is solely me as an educator trying to save my feet from pain and still dress stylish at the same time.

Barnett's School House

Need a little extra Prep for TEST PREP? Next Generation Science Lessons and Activities for 4th Grade

Needing a little extra test prep material before the big day? We have been told that both old standards and new standards will be included on our state test. That worries me a little, but some of the standards overlap which is very beneficial. This packet includes Science lessons for 4th grade that focus on the Next Generation Science Standards. Each standard

 has a resource and activity. This packet is meant to serve as a supplemental resource to 

your current textbook, or it can be used as a stand alone. Included are lesson plans with activities, worksheets, quizzes, and guides for each standard. 

Have a great day!

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Math Lesson - "Test Prep Morning Worksheets Math and ELA"

Testing is a month or less away for many of us! I've found ways to utilize our math books. I use these sheets as morning work to reinforce my students' understanding of specific Common Core standards in math and ELA. Testing just makes us all go crazy. I don't know about you, but I feel like I can't breath and there's no time to fit everything in. How many of you have had 10+ snow days! That's me!! 

Prep your students with review using these math and ELA worksheets. These sheets correlate with the Go Math! series Chapter's 9 and 10, but they can also be used alone. They review fractions, decimals, and symmetry along with several ELA concepts. This works great for 3rd grade as well. 

Be sure to check out my bundle of all of the Morning Work review sheets below!

Center Ideas for a Large Class...with a FREEBIE

This year has been a great year, but I seem to consistently struggle with my group time because my class is so very large! I'm used to my fourteen little babies from last year, but it just doesn't work as easy with thirty kids in my room. I've gone to other teachers classes to see how their groups are ran and I've borrowed an idea from a fellow educator that I hope will successfully ease our group transitions. Of course, this teacher only has fifteen kids, but I still hope to give this idea a try. This will also work well for subs because they will be able to see where we are for that day.

My group board is very cute and this sample below is the one I borrowed the idea from, but I only have a picture of a group board completed by a guy teacher, he's an awesome teacher, though.

Here's a FREEBIE to get your group board started just like ours! Enjoy!

Group Management

FLASH FREEBIE

Barnett's School House
4th Grade

Wow! I've not been on here in a long time, it's time to get down to blogging. I hope everyone's year is going just wonderful. My year has been going great! I am absolutely enjoying my students. We've been out for snow for eleven whole days now! I'm loving my kiddo time, but I'm dreading making up these snow days at the end of the year!

So, my best seller of all time on TpT continues to be my first set of 4th grade Go Math! Morning Worksheets. For a limited time, these sweet practice sheets will be a wonderful FLASH FREEBIE! You can use these to review in 3rd grade as well and use them without Go Math!

Have a great week! If you're as lucky as me, you'll get a snow day tomorrow!

My Tieks Purchase

UPDATED 1/29/2018
So, I took the leap once again and purchased a camel color pair of Tieks size 8. I have searched high and low for how long? Since 2014! The Tieks were the only flat that felt good and didn't make blisters. They hurt my toenails at first, but after wearing them a couple of times, I was finally able to get the stretch they needed to mold to my foot! I just want to let you ladies out there know that they are pretty awesome! I get lot's of compliments on them as well and people have asked about the blue on the bottom of my shoes. I know they are pricey, but I find that they are worth it. No blisters and comfort, I'm good to go! I hope this helps all you ladies out there!

UPDATED POST:
So, I had to send my Tieks back because they just weren't the shoes of my dreams!! I'm sad to say this because I really loved that these shoes came in a thousand colors. My main reason for sending them back was the fact that my toenail poked through and I knew this would make my toes very sore. They were very high quality, but I think a half side would have worked so much better! I hope this helps anyone out there. By the way, I have found a shoe finally, it's Toms Jutti Flats! I have the canvas shoes, but had never tried the Jutti flats and they are absolutely perfect for my toes that are apparently pointing upward.

Wow, it's been a while! I've been super busy with work and everything! It's just so hard to keep up!
So, obviously I'm a teacher and I have been on the hunt for so long for a wonderfully comfortable pair of flats. I think I have tried fifty pairs of flats from all sorts of brands and styles. As a teacher, you all know what it's like to try and find a comfortable pair of dressy flats.

The brands I've tried so far over the past year are Clarks, Frye, Anne Klein, Walking Cradles, Softwalk, Bass, LifeStride, Born, and Ugg. I think I listed them all. Out of all of these brands, each style was returned due to their inability to keep my feet comfortable for more than an hour. The only pair I loved was the Softwalk leather brand because of the sole and they just about tore my foot apart with blisters.

I have continued relentlessly researching shoes and I found Tieks. No one has really complained about these flats and I just had to try them. I studied on deciding whether or not to make the purchase for about two weeks since they are somewhat expensive. I decided to since it's free return shipping. Today when I opened the box, which was super adorable, I was soo excited to see what they were like. I love the style of the shoe, they look super sturdy and they are the best looking flats I have ever owned. The soles are sturdy and comfortable. I slipped one on immediately and found that my toe prints poked out towards the tips of the shoes which I am not a fan of. They were also slightly stiff on the foot bed, which is part of the wearing them in part I hope. I can tell they will last and be sturdy, but I'm not sure they will hold up to the comfort test or if they will just make my toes feel sore. I really wanted to love these shoes. I've uploaded a picture. Pardon my red, swollen feet, it's a teacher life and I'm only 27! Please note that my red feet are not from the Tieks.

So, I contacted Tieks and...

this place has great customer service. They immediately placed an order for a larger size so that I can try both pairs on side by side to see which one I prefer! The return shipping is also free!

If you do decide to purchase a pair, let me know what you think! Have a great day!

So very thankful...

I was out working in our new addition earlier, ya know, just wiring up a few outlets and I realized that I haven't been very thankful lately. I have been very blessed with my little family as well as with everything in my life including my job, my friends, my family, and our ability to live freely. I work myself to death trying to make my products the best they can be to help other teachers make wonderful citizens, but I almost seem to forget about the little things in life like listening to my baby boy count to fifteen or listening to his adorable voice singing through the ABCs.
I have been so concerned this past year that we are only going to be able to have this one child and I want more, maybe a girl with bows and dresses everywhere, but I thought to myself, "God gave us one little souvenir and he has blessed us a thousand times over with this one".
I just want to say that we should all take a break and sit back and enjoy life. I enjoy teaching, but what I truly enjoy is my life and my family. I will admit right now, I'm not meant to teach for the next twenty years so who knows where I'll be in five or ten years. God bless!

Confession: I love summer time!

As I sit here designing my first set of unique chalkboard frames I realize it's time for a blog post. I'm thinking about how much I really enjoy summer time! I'm able to do absolutely any thing I want including spending wonderful playtime hours with my toddler and design a variety of items for my TpT store! This summer we have also been working on our addition to our house which is finally almost finished. We are laying tile and painting and hanging our lights that I purchased over a year ago! This has been a slow process, but we are handy people and we just can't stand to pay someone else to do it for us! Okay, I'll admit we hired a company to hang our sheet rock, but that's it! Mainly, because skinny me wasn't able to help the hubby at all. Well, here it is! My chalkboard frames that I learned how to create! I'm so excited when I'm able to get crafty and make it look good! In fact, I'm so excited this time that they are FREE for a limited time when you become a new follower on either my blog or Like my Facebook page! The links are also listed below. Once you become one of my followers or like my Facebook page, just email me at barnettcasey1@gmail.com with your Name/Blog/Facebook name and I will email you the Chalkboard frames CU file for FREE! Feel free to leave comments on this post!!

My blog
My FB page