Happy New Year! FREEBIE and Word of the Day: CCSS Word Work for Middle School-UPDATED

Happy New Year!  I am having a hard time believing that 2013 is a memory, and we have embarked on 2014!  Where did this past year go!  As I reflect, I am grateful for so many things...
Here are 9:

1. We added a new member to our Beers' clan!  My baby boy, Landon is now a few days shy of ten months old-holy moly! Watching him grow has been a joy! 
2. My family is healthy!
3. I have had the opportunity to stay home with Landon and see my other two kiddos off to school each day, as well as enjoy lots of different school fun that I might not have had the chance to take part in working full time.
4. My husband has a new job that he loves.  The AMAZING sunglasses I get are a nice perk, too!
5. My three kiddos are mostly good listeners and treat each other well the majority of the time.
6. I have gotten to spend more time with my Gram this year.  We can't wait to take her to the Cincinnati vs. UCONN women's basketball game in February!  She is a superfan!
7. I have had the time to create resources that I will be able to use with my students when I return to teaching.
8. I can still run sub-8 minute miles and do Shaun T.'s Insanity workouts.
9. The fun we have as a family!  My kids and husband make me belly laugh DAILY!

What I resolve to do in 2014:

1. Keep my cool when frustrated.   Ohhhhhh, there are days where my patience is thin and the crumbiest plate with apple sauce flies off the table and onto the floor because of a small person not sitting in her chair.  I am working to keep the steam in my ears and the fire from flying out of my mouth.

That's it!  There are so many things I can work on, but this is for sure the thing I currently like the least about myself.   So I will continue my work!

Enough about me...onto you!

I hope you are ready to head back to the classroom well-rested and eager to begin again.  Over the break, I updated the very first TpT resource I ever created.  It is a Word of the Day CCSS Word Work resource I created to enhance vocabulary with my students.  I realized it needed some HUGE changes and updates based on how I used it.  It has been revamped and is a pretty great tool, if I don't say so myself:)  One component that I updated was the organizer used by students.  It is one that you can either copy or have students re-create daily in their vocabulary notebooks. (to save copies)

If you are looking for a word of the day organizer for your students, click on the image and download this FREEBIE.  If you want to purchase the whole resource click below.

Enjoy these next few days of break and my fingers are crossed for some more snow days!