Welcome to the Sunshine State! Enjoy yourself as you take a tour around our wonderful {and large!} state! Grab some freebies along the way, and be sure to enter to win our Bundles of Sunshine!
I am a Floridian. Everyone who knows me is well aware of how much I LOVE my #vacationstate. By technicality I was not born in Florida, I was born in Washington State. I moved back to Florida when I was just 2 months old. That's right. My parents lived in Orlando until my father was shipped out to Washington State. My mother went to join him for my birth and then brought me back when I was a newborn. I consider myself a Floridian by birth (even if it's complicated.)
I have lived all over the state. Currently I live in the Brandon/Valrico area. It's a tiny little residential area without a ton of stuff to do.
The words "Summertime and the living is easy" come to mind when I think of our sleepy little town. It's quiet and easy going. Not much stress over traffic or rushing around. In our area we have a lot of crops. Everyone loves strawberry season here. We share a border with Plant City. Chances are that you have enjoyed some of our wonderful strawberries.
If you aren't picking strawberries you could enjoy a lovely horseback ride. There are plenty of stables to choose from.
My family loves kayaking. While we prefer to kayak in the gulf, you could kayak down the Alafia River. It's a huge river with lots of wildlife to see.
Just 45 minutes to 1 and 1/2 hours west of us are a ton of beautiful beaches that are on our gulf. Some of these beaches are voted in the top 10 in the U.S.A. If we go to the beach during the summer, we go at sunrise or sunset. It gets a little hot here in Florida at the peak of the day.
I hope that you have enjoyed learning about where I'm from. If you are ever in the area, make sure to stop by.
This weekend, we have freebies for you to enjoy! Stop by each of our blogs for an activity or idea to use in your classroom. To grab my freebie just click the image below!
This freebie will take you through my frugal guide for setting up your classroom. There are also labels that are included. To celebrate this beautiful state, I have discounted one of my top selling items. If you are a first grade teacher the following item will help you get started on your year. (Not to mention that it will help you to get through a lot of your year!) The first grade Common Core Bundle has lesson plans, graphic organizers, materials and anchor chart guides to help you through the entire 1st grade ELA fiction and informational standards.
The Florida teachers below have two fantastic giveaways for you! You can enter once from each one of our pages. All you have to do is follow my blog! Hop around to all the blogs listed below, and be sure to follow them to get more entries. The more entries you have, the more likely you are to win! Each pack also includes a Starbucks gift card (because, well, a teacher's gotta have a coffee!).
Come find out more about the beautiful state of Florida by reading about these other sweet teachers!
An InLinkz Link-up
A big thank you goes to Meredith from Creativity To The Core for putting this together!
A big thank you goes to Meredith from Creativity To The Core for putting this together!
Beautiful activities in your town! I wish I could come pick some strawberries! :) YUM-O!
ReplyDeleteMeredith
Creativity to the Core
Strawberry picking is my favorite!! We go all the time during picking season! :)
ReplyDeleteYour neighbor,
Elyse @ A is for Apples
I love the pictures you posted of where you live. It makes me want to move. I live in Miami and I love and used to ride horses. It got too expensive to board my horse in Miami, so I had to sell my baby. The beaches look amazing as well.
ReplyDeleteJennifer
buzzinbeesoflearning.blogspot.com
All of those pictures make me want to get out and do something fun!
ReplyDeleteBridget
Hardcore Teacher Resources
My daddy used to grow strawberries and tomatoes, but not in Plant City...in Naples. I went to school in Lakeland at Florida Southern. I wish I could say we don't have traffic here, but from March to September it's nuts (well..not like South Florida, but still) the rest of the time it's like a ghost town. I want to go horseback riding and kayaking with your family...and then we can play crafts!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlison
Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'
Hi, Amy! I didn't know that Brandon Florida was so quiet yet active at the same time. I think maybe I want to move to where you're at since the hustle and bustle of Miami is one of the things that drive me nuts. About 20 years ago, Miami, used to be like Brandon... strawberry fields everywhere and life was quiet. Then J Lo, Enrique Iglesias, and Pit Bull were discovered...LOL
ReplyDeleteBTW- I just wanted to let you know that when I click on your freebie image it doesn't take me to your freebie... nothing happens.
:0) Melissa
More Time 2 Teach
easy living sounds nice. I love strawberries. They are my favorite. Thanks for sharing some pictures of your town. I love the kayaking ones.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to read about your home town. I used to pick strawberries in plant city as a kid. I always ate as many as I picked...and they are as delicious as they look!
ReplyDeleteBurke's Special Kids
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI want to move to your side of Florida!
ReplyDeleteWow, I love everything you shared!! Your little town sounds like it has a little bit of everything. I could live off strawberries and that picture of your family on the horses is absolutely gorgeous!!! :)
ReplyDeleteYour kayaking pictures look great! We love kayaking, but are on the opposite side of the state. We need to venture out and paddle through some new spots soon!
ReplyDelete