Workshop Wednesday, PMA & What Happened to July?

OK, so I look at the calendar and it says JULY 3rd....but from the weather we've been having around here in Wisconsin lately, you could have fooled me!  Check out the temperature this morning when I was on my way to Kohl's:

It's supposed to be WARM outside....I am wearing a sweater, for crying out loud!  (I guess days like today are Mother Nature's way of showing us that she is still in charge...)

But at least I got to meet my BFF for breakfast...

Blueberry pancakes....yum!!  Icky, rainy weather...yuck!  {Read to the bottom and there might just be something to lift your spirits.... :)

First, joining up with Teach & Tex for PMA Wednesdays.  I firmly believe that our thoughts create our reality and when I saw this on Pinterest, I knew I had to share...(I wish I could give credit to who ever created this, but the link was broken...:(

See...it's all in how we look at things!

Now on to Ideas by Jivey's very fun Workshop Wednesday.  Her regular weekly Workshop is taking a vacation during summer vacation, so she is having a month-long Workshop Wednesday.  You can link up at any time and go back often to see who else has shared a great idea!

This month's topic is Workshop Preparation....How do you prepare for workshops in your classroom?

I run a Writer's Workshop format for writing.  One of the "must-do's" (in my opinion) for writing workshop is have students maintain a Writer's Notebook.

When I first started doing this, I just had them clip everything inside a 1" three ring binder.  But I'm sure you know what happened...papers got mixed up, lost, destroyed, etc., etc., etc.

So I decided that I needed to use divider pages between each section of the Notebook.  Simple, right?  I copied each divider page onto different colors of card stock, three hold punched them, and had the kids clip it right into their binder.  Then we went back and added some notebook paper between each section and a big bunch of notebook paper at the back.  (Also handy for when you ask kids to take out a piece of paper....)

I have added my Writer's Notebook Divider Pages to my TpT Store.  I have three themes (monsters, birds & aliens) and if you purchase the divider pages, I will customize up to three additional pages for you at no additional charge.  (In case I don't include a page that you would regularly use.)  Each set costs only $2.00.  I hope you will check them out!

I promised that if you read all the way to the bottom, you might find something fun!  With all of the icky weather we've been having lately, I've been spending a lot of time reading -- the mailman delivered THREE boxes from Amazon today!  (Lucky me!)  So I'd like to give away one $10 Amazon gift card and your selection of one of my new Writer's Workshop Divider Pages to one lucky winner.  (I don't want to be the only one getting a gift from the mailman!)

Enter with the Rafflecopter below by midnight on July 11th.  You can enter every day if you'd like!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wishing you sunny skies and positive thoughts wherever you are!