My Memories Suite Review and Giveaway!

I was thrilled when I was contacted to host a giveaway for My Memories Suite! I am not a scrapbooker, I just never find the time - not to mention I'm unsure of what all I need to buy to get started - if there was a "Scrapbooking for Dummies" I'd be first in line to purchase it! (Ha! I just Googled that and sure enough there is a "Scrapbooking for Dummies" out there! Go figure!) Well, whatever, I don't need a Dummies manual, and neither do you since My Memories Suite makes it so easy! I have to tell you, I am not an instructions type of girl, diagrams I can handle, but I'm not about to sit and read an instruction manual on anything. Luckily, My Memories Suite is built for people like me - very intuitive and easy to use! In about 15 minutes I made this card for my friends' sweet twins who were born at 25 weeks. Aren't they incredible?!

Okay, if that's what I can do within 15 minutes of installing this scrapbook software, I am hooked! The software comes with over 1,500 papers, over 1,000 page elements, and over 30 album templates already, plus there are a ton of freebies offered. In fact, just using the free elements I made this invitation:

 

But of course, since this is digital scrapbooking software, you can also use it to make photo album pages, like this:

How cute are my little men?!  Hmm, just think of all the photos I'm going to have come Christmas morning - tons of fun to play with!

I am also thinking of how I could apply this to my classroom - maybe a page for each theme with candid shots of my kiddos at centers, reading, making our art projects etc. What a wonderful keepsake that would be for me each year! Not to mention, I can make quick, cute invitations for our programs and special occasions. What about a Student of the Month collage?! The possibilities are endless!

And, for only $37.97, this software is a great deal! To make it even better, use the code: STMMMS47539  for $10 off the purchase of My Memories software AND a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store!

  

Just to make it even better (and since it's the Season of Giving after all), My Memories is giving away one copy of the MyMemories Suite software to one of my awesome followers! The giveaway ends Friday, Dec 23rd at 7pm CST and here's how to enter:

 Mandatory Entries:

1. Become a follower of my blog (if you already are that counts too!) and leave a comment.

2. Visit MyMemories.com and choose your favorite paper pack or layout then come back here and leave me a comment with your pick!

Optional Entries:

3. Grab my cute button and display it on your blog, then leave a comment.

4. Add my blog to your blog roll and leave a comment.

5. Share this giveaway on your blog - leave 2 comments!

6. Share this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook or just to a friend and leave a comment!

I can't wait to see who the lucky winner is!

Top 10 AND Currently!

I'm linking up with 2 fabulous bloggers today - Farley over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade and Reagan over at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits!

 

A New Version of an Old Favorite (Freebies!)

I love "The Little Red Hen". I had the Little Golden Book version as a child and I loved it - my mom read it to me often and I relished the fairness of the Hen and her chicks getting to eat the bread since they did all the work. So, imagine my delight the other day when I was browsing our library and found this:

The Little Red Elf lives with a penguin, a reindeer and a rabbit in a toy workshop. Unfortunately they are lazy and won't help her care for the tree, decorate it or bake cookies. But, of course, they want to open the presents that Santa leaves under the tree! The best part is that each present is a stuffed red hen! Of course, if you haven't red the original, the ending will take some explanation, so you'll want to read both versions and do a comparison of the two stories after you read them. Here is a Venn Diagram for the two stories as well as an adjective bubble map for The Little Red Elf.
Compare and Contrast Little Red Elf
Little Red Elf Adjectives

Okay, this next one is not even remotely holiday related but, I thought it was awesome. It's the 10 Little Pigs by Hooked on Phonics. It's great as a counting video for kindergarten, as an addition video for 1st grade and also awesome for comparing to the original 3 little pigs story!

How cute is that?!

Alright, more Christmas stuff! When I was growing up, we listened to a lot of folk music. One of my favorites was Roger Whittaker, and his Christmas album is on my top 5 albums to listen to this time of year!

One song that I love to play in class is "Darcy the Dragon". It's about a dragon who wants to buy his friends Christmas presents but keeps setting fire to the village accidentally when he talks. I recently found the song on youtube, so if you don't have the cd you can still play it in your classroom. I made a listening sheet to go with it:
Darcy the Dragon


In January I am going to be doing a Penguin Unit and a Snowman Unit (we usually don't get snow until the end of January here in OK so that's when I do my Snowmen unit). Do you have an idea for a January unit? I'm always looking for new ideas and I'd love to hear what units you use to kick off the New Year!