Christmas in July ~ Giveaway, SALE and Linky!

It's that time of year.. Christmas in July is HERE!  

I can't believe the summer is going by so quickly.  Our school year ended at the end of June so it feels like we just got out of school! The end of summer will be here before we know it.  So to help us get over the shock that the summer is coming to an end ... we thought we would have a LINKY party to celebrate! 

We have invited many of our awesome blogger friends to join up with us to share a FREE gift with all of you.  The FREE Linky party products will be available as a gift to you from 
July 20th through July 27th!  

Kennedy's Korner is also having a SALE! 

We are having a SALE ~ everything in our 
store will be 20% off from July 22nd - July 25th.  

Stock up on BACK to SCHOOL products to get your year started off on the right foot. SAVE yourself some time and money and grab it on SALE.   

Stop by our Kennedy's Korner TPT Store to grab this 

FREE product for your classroom!

 Kennedy's Korner

If you would like to grab this button to showcase your FREE product on 
your blog CLICK here. 

The BEST part of our linky party is the FREE product you will receive from all of our amazing blogger friends.  You won't want to miss a single one..so many talented teachers sharing their fabulous products with you.  

Be sure to visit each link to grab all of your freebies.  

You can link up too!  Just make a paid product from your store FREE for this week only.   Then click on the inlinkz button below and add a link to the product you are giving away for our Christmas in July Linky Party!   These great products will only be FREE until July 27th.  After that date they will return to their regular price.  
We would love to have you join our Linky Party! 
Remember to check out the links below to grab 
all of the AMAZING FREE products!

MERRY CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

An InLinkz Link-up

Creating a Family, Class, or Personal Mission Statement and a Father's Day Freebie!

It is Kelly from Kennedy's Korner.

My sister Karen is always so good at keeping her priorities in check.  She teaches full time, works as a Beachbody Coach and Shakeology Representative, works on TPT each evening, works out everyday and still finds time to go out with her boyfriend, family, and friends.  How does she accomplish all of these things each day?  I wonder if she ever sleeps?

I teach part time, have 3 children, work on TPT sporadically, barely can fit in a workout 3 times a week, and feel like I spend more time in my car or at the kids activities than I spend in my house.  My husband and I try to squeeze in a date night but it is not a frequent event.  So I ask myself, how can I do all the things I want to do and do them well.

The answer took a little time and some research to reveal itself.  I started reading Steven Covey's book... The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families.  Once I started reading, everything he wrote made so much sense to me.  The first thing I needed to do was to decide what were the most important things in my life that I wanted to dedicate my time to.  I wrote down everything in the order of importance.

Then I took out a calendar and tried to plug everything in so that I could see where everything could fit.  Once all of the important activities that I wanted to accomplish were listed on the calendar, then I added my kids activities in a different color.

I realized that I could multi task more than I realized.  For example, when I take the girls to softball practice,  I wear my workout clothes and go for a run.  I used to get a coffee and sit and watch them practice.  I realized that watching them practice was not an effective use of my time.  Making a commitment to run while I am there has made it much easier to fit in my workouts.  It does take preplanning in order to be a multi tasker.  I multi task at school everyday but when it came time to my personal goals and carving out time for myself, I was dropping the ball.

Another wonderful thing I learned from this book was the importance of the family meeting.  My husband thought the girls were talking a little sassy to us and each other.  He and I discussed what could be causing this problem.  We realized that as they have gotten older we haven't changed the rules that we had when they were little.  Being disrespectful just wasn't an issue when they were small.  Alas, times have changed and we realized that we need new rules for our growing children. Covey suggested making a Family Mission Statement.

We got the girls together and explained to them that we would be meeting every Sunday evening after dinner to have a family meeting.  They were intrigued for sure.  They couldn't wait to see what the meetings were all about.  We started the meeting by looking through photo albums and talking about past activities and vacations we enjoyed. Then we discussed how important family should be. We discussed how important it is for us to work together as a family, care for each other, protect each other, and set goals that we can reach together. We asked the girls to give us ideas that they thought were important for our family to follow.  Then we voted to choose the 8 most important ideas that would become our Family Mission Statement.

We wrote everything in a positive way so that they wouldn't seem like rules.  The kids loved being part of this process and are very mindful of what our Mission Statement says.  They especially loved when they got to dip their hand in paint and place it on the poster!  We love that now they see the importance of our family as a unit.  We start each family meeting with a question or topic that we pull from Covey's book to discuss with the kids.  We do a fun activity in the middle of the meeting.  Then we end each family meeting by giving a compliment to each other and putting our hands in the middle to cheer Croft Family Rocks!  Every Sunday we have a family meeting. Sometimes we schedule our activities for the week during the meeting, or the kids will do a little gymnastics show for us, or we will plan a community service project to do.  Last week, we decided what toys we were going to donate to Good Will.  Then we painted the girls nails. It's really just a great time to reconnect and remember that family is the most important part of  our lives.

We hope all of you take time this summer to relax and enjoy your families.  So you can spend more time with your family...we would like to give you a Father's Day Coupon Book FREEBIE!  We hope you enjoy it and make sure you spoil your husband, dad, and/or grandpa this Father's Day!

                                                   FREE Father's Day Coupon Book

WINNERS of our Giveaway!!

Congratulations to our Winners!

The healthiest meal of the day is Shakeology.  

Delicious shakes to curb your cravings and keep you satisfied.  Shakeology has given me more energy too!  I have never felt better ~ plus I have lost 13 lbs. since drinking Shakeology and doing the 21 Day Fix.  It is the first time in 10 years I have been able to keep off the weight.  

Check it out here! 

Who doesn't love a TPT Gift Card??  Start shopping Amanda!  Fill your cart and use the TPT gift card code we will email to you.  Congratulations!!  

Thank your for entering our Giveaway!  We hope you stop back soon to check out the new products that are almost ready to post!  
You may even like some that we have recently updated - especially if you are moving to a new grade level next year. 

                                        Kennedy's Korner 

Teacher Appreciation Giveaway with the Primary Pack!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! I'm so excited to be teaming up with the girls from The Primary Pack to bring you this fabulous Giveaway! We really want you to know how much we appreciate you and how amazing we think you are. Teachers are the most dedicated, hard-working people around, and we want to celebrate you!  So we teamed up with all of our Primary Pack friends and we are each giving away a gift card to one of our favorite places to shop.  
But we didn't stop there! 
We are also giving away one big GRAND PRIZE 
on The Primary Pack blog!

Here on our blog, We are giving away one $15.00 gift card to Teachers Pay Teachers.  You can use this gift card to purchase anything you have on your WISH LIST.. Don't forget - you get TPT credits just for leaving feedback on prior purchases...so be sure you have checked your MY PURCHASES section prior to shopping and cash in those credits.  SO enter and start shopping! 

We are also giving away $10 worth of Shakeology Sample Packets.  You haven't heard of Shakeology?? What -?? Well you can go to my webpage and check it out.  Not only does it help you to lose weight, but more importantly it is one of the healthiest shakes around.  Shakeology is packed with 70 super foods from around the world AND it's all natural and gluten free.  Learn more HERE.

Enter below in the Rafflecopter to win! 

The giveaway will run through Sunday, May 10th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Over at The Primary Pack, we are giving way a 250.00 gift card to Tieks! That's right, Tieks! The most COLORFUL, comfortable, Italian leather shoes around! We know how much money you have undoubtedly put into your classroom this year for resources and supplies--so this giveaway is all about a splurge just for you! For 250.00, you can even get a fancy pair!

   You can enter to WIN this gift card over at the Primary Pack.  

And don't forget to visit each of our blogs for chances to win even more great prizes!

An InLinkz Link-up

Teacher Appreciation Week!

We don't want you to miss this amazing Giveaway!!  Starting tomorrow - The Primary back girls have joined together to show our appreciation to all of the fabulous teachers out there!!  We know how much teachers love shopping and how much of your own money you spend for your classroom every year.  We thought it would be nice to treat YOU to some great gift cards to our favorite stores!!  There will be a giveaway on each of our blogs that you can enter to WIN - PLUS a HUGE Giveaway on The Primary Pack blog.  Check out what we are giving away!!  

 

Every teacher loves a pair of Tieks.. and now you get to 

pick out your own!!  

Right here on Kennedy's Korner

Thank You for all that you do!!

Stop back here this week to enter and link up with our other friends from The Primary Pack! 

WINNERS of the Birthday Celebration Giveaway!

Earth Day ~ Every Day!

Earth Day is so important and SO much FUN.  

I love teaching my students about this holiday. 

Earth Day, Every Day! 

Even though Earth Day has officially passed, we wanted to share some ideas for you to use for next year and what we did in our classroom this year to celebrate. There are many different learning opportunities for Earth Day, whether your students do science-based investigations, thematic reading, or creative arts projects. 

 Plus we have a FREEBIE for you to say Thank you for taking the time to teach our children about this important topic.  We all know that if we each do our little part each and every day, we can help to save the Earth.

                            

Kennedy's Korner 

Mrs. Jones TPT Store 

Simply Skilled In Second                                                                          Sheila Melton 

We finished our week off with an Earth Day celebration - and some fun sugar cookies.. They are supposed to be round, but they ended up running together and the shape is a little distorted.. HA.. but they tasted yummy! 

CLICK HERE to get your FREEBIE 

We know that Earth Day has passed ~

 but I teach my student's that Every day is Earth Day and we can all do something each and every day to make a difference.  We hope that your students will join us in helping to save the Earth.