Happy New Year, everyone! As I get myself ready to go back to school in the morning, I'm finding myself much more at peace than when we left school for the Winter Break. Spending time with my family, reflecting on the year gone by and making plans for 2013 have all really helped to refuel and re-energize me.

First, I want to take a minute to thank everyone who has gotten involved with our project to help the Sandy Hook teachers (see original post here). The response has been amazing - so much more than Karen and I imagined when we got started. Through the "Give Me 5" part of the project, we've had over 100 teachers sign up to adopt a Sandy Hook teacher and send them 5 items from their TPT stores. (Because we don't to to overwhelm the Sandy Hook teachers with too many choices right now, we've capped the project at 100.)  Through the "Honoring Angels" part of the project, we've received over 20 TPT gift certificates for the Sandy Hook PTO to distribute as well. If you'd like to donate, please see the original post for details. Being a part of a community that is so supportive and generous is truly inspiring and Karen and I are incredibly grateful for all of your contributions. You guys rock!

Now for some goodies that might help you ease back to school tomorrow. Here's a new set of calendar cards for January. We're launching our non-fiction reading and writing units this month, so I went with some cute little baby arctic animals, and the cards make an AABB pattern.

Download the Calendar Cards freebie here


If you're looking for a cute yet meaningful activity to do with your kids this week, take a peek at this craftivity I'm going to do tomorrow.  Baby New Year's hat opens up for the kids to write their resolutions inside; "In the new year, I will..." I think it will be good a introduction to the concept of resolutions and make a cute bulletin board to boot!

Check out this cute little guy here

I hope your new year is off to a great start!!