Five for Friday on Saturday!

Whew! This week has been crazy! I had a couple meetings on Wednesday, 2 more on Thursday, and I had to help take football cheerleaders to an away game yesterday, so no time for blogging!

Posted my wooden READ letters with poster putty and they keep falling down or sliding down slowly. Any ideas?

My newsletter from this week! The students had 2 minutes to write their name and draw a picture of their face on a mini post-it. I arranged them on a paper and scanned it to my email and adjusted from there. My class is full of little artists! They loved finding themselves on the newsletter Friday!

Doing some group work with MAB blocks to get a better understanding of place value.

Videos are okay, right? Maxwell's latest trick! :)

If you've followed me from the beginning, you know I coach high school winter cheerleading. I helped drive the Varsity football cheerleaders to their game last night. I miss being on those sidelines and Friday Night Lights more than anything! You can expect a lot more cheer pictures starting in November when my season starts! :)

My goals this long weekend are to create some TpT products, including number words for my word wall, finish cheerleading bows and locker signs, and RELAX!

P.S. I have started my first Donors Choose project here! If you would like to donate to my project, please use promo code INSPIRE to get your donation matched by the board of directors! I'm almost to the halfway point in less than a week! It is so amazing the kindness people have in their hearts! Have you used Donors Choose? What projects did you get funded?!

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August SLANTbox!

I wasn't going to blog today because I had one of the worst days...but I came home to find my #SLANTbox from Lori @ Keeper of the Light and Love of Learning in 2nd Grade!

Contents:

Change for emergency diet coke! (She knows me too well!)

Colored pens! (My B2S favorite!)

CHEVRON STICKERS! :D EEEEEK!

Erasers...my kiddos are all getting one of these puppies tomorrow!

Framed quote, "The Journey is the Destination" I SO needed this today!

Chalkboard to decorate...I CAN'T WAIT! :)

Notes from Teacher...because everyone needs more of those!

She nailed me right on the head!

If you're unfamiliar with SLANTbox head over to my friend Jameson's blog to find out all about it!

September's theme is: OH MY GOODNESS I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT...

Go on over to Jameson's blog and SIGN-UP!

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Saturday Snap Shots Linky!

I'm linking up with Miss Nelson for the first time ever!

I had to go over to my mom's today to visit my little baby, Riley, who had surgery on his front leg yesterday. See his bandage?! My poor baby!

He was a little mopey!

It is true friends! Well, supposedly! This girl will be tuning in to the VMAs tomorrow night to see JT accept the MJ Vanguard Video Award. He is to perform with MY BOYS, Nsync! WHAT WHAT!

I have to let you know that I'm probably one of the biggest boy band fans ever. Hanson is my number one, been in love since 1996. (Yeah, only 6 years old). I've seen them live 5 times...it will be 6 come October! Nsync was my 2nd love. I saw them live twice. Summer after I graduated high school, I saw Backstreet Boys. I've seen 98 degrees twice (once being this summer). I also saw NKOTB and Boyz II Men this summer with 98 degrees. It was fantastic! Who's your favorite boy band?!

 Can you say Target dollar spot?

 I love my new SMASH date stamper. #6 is my favorite...can't wait to use it! My kiddos know I love giving fist bumps!

 Dress on clearance! WOO!

I purchased 2 small photo albums to store my reward coupons! You can get them from my store here.

I hope you're having a fantastic weekend!

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Five for Friday!

YAY! It's Friday! I survived my first week as a 3rd grade teacher! It was a great week!

Today I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teach for Five for Friday! Head on over to link up, too!

1.  I posted this picture that I wanted to recreate the first week of school...

And here is mine with my co-teacher! Who just so happens to be a good friend of mine...we've known each other since elementary school, now we are teaching together!

2. Pencil sharpening is driving me CRAZY! AHHH! I've been asking the vets in my building for tips, but all are in the same boat as me. I just ordered my new sharpener at Classroom Friendly Supplies. Fingers crossed! Anyone have this sharpener?

http://email.curebit.com/c/cj1saW5kc2V5LmpvaG5zdG9uJTQwYmNzZHMub3JnJnQ9b2ZmZXJzX2VtYWlsJmVudj1wcm9kdWN0aW9uJmk9M2Q1OGRkZDItMWIwZC00YjQwLWFkMTYtYTJmZGQxMDVjMTU1JTQwY3VyZWJpdC5jb20maD00MGYwMDU0OWFiYzQ1MTNiOWYyYjFlYjdhNWI3NTcxMSZtc2dfaWQ9NzEyNjQ2Jmw9aHR0cCUzQSUyRiUyRmN1cmViaXQuY29tJTJGeCUyRmhSczdXZyZkPWYz

Go get yours now!

3. The kiddos need to know what time lunch and such is...but not all can tell time. So, I made my own clock labels to put up at school this weekend!

Click to download yours for free!

4. Does anyone else have teacher nightmares? I started having them when I started my full time position in January. I have a reoccurring dream that I let the students fall asleep and we all just sleep in class! YIKES! :(

5. I came across this little gem and just had to share. I hope you haven't see it yet!

http://vimeo.com/72430204

I usually say until tomorrow...but who really knows when I will blog next! :)

Later,

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My FIRST first day of school!

If you have been following my blog or have read the "meet the teacher" page, you know that I graduated in December and got hired as a middle school reading teacher in January. So, today was my FIRST first day of school. I am worn out! It was a great day though and I have a great class of 24 third graders! 

Selfie, first day picture!

This was given to me by a sweet little student. She knitted it all by herself! :) It made my day!

I hope I can be this teacher for my students!

About half of my kiddos remembered their lunch numbers, but most forgot. I also had several that were new to the district, so I had to tell each student their number when they went through the lunch line. So tomorrow, everyone is getting a lunch number BRACELET! :) Clever, right!? I plan on doing the bracelets all week to help kiddos memorize them!

I never showed you my finished calendar! Thanks Leigh Anne at Simply Swarbrick for the idea to add the days and months!

I hit up Staples after school today and got 2 1" binders, 12 pocket tissue packs, a pack of 28 Cadoodle pencils, 6 composition notebooks, a U.S. foam puzzle, and 3 black Pilot FriXion erarseable pens for....$1.22! YES! THAT'S RIGHT! I used my B2S coupon and my Rewards coupons. You can't beat that!

Also, THESE PENS ARE AWESOME!!! Get them now if you haven't already!

Write...

Erase!

Seriously, they are so cool! I love love love them!

How was your first day of the 2013-14 school year?!

Until tomorrow,

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Open House

I had Open House on Thursday night. I was frantically running around an hour before it started trying to get everything done! It was a great success and I met all but 5 of my students and their families. I'm so so excited for Monday!

Before I get to my Open House, I just wanted to share a couple of pictures of things I finished in my room.

The left is my attendance board. It is right next to my door and this is how students will tell me their lunch count. On the bottom of the index cards are hot on one side, cold on the other. Two of my students will be in charge of attendance (2 for accuracy!) and will be turning it into me. 

The right are my bookcases, but will be getting a different arrangement once I get my baskets. I'm also going to paint R-E-A-D letters to make the space not look so empty! 

And now for my Open House setup.

This was projected on my Promethean Board and on my door to let parents and students know what they needed to do.

These are most of my stations!

If you haven't looked into getting the REMIND 101 app you should! I only had 3 parents sign up, but I hope to have more soon!

I had parents fill out a website permission form to give me permission to post pictures or videos of their student on our class website.

My magnets were a huge hit! Parents were really grateful for them! I also had about 5 Room Parents sign up, and all parents signed up for conferences! I was so thrilled! :)

We're having our house warming party tonight, but I will be heading to school tomorrow to finish some things up and pack up some empty boxes and totes.

I will post more pictures of my room tomorrow! If you missed my classroom reveal, check it out here!

Feel free to ask any questions about my stations!

Until tomorrow,

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Officially Back to School!

Phew! I am so exhausted! I couldn't sleep at all last night...too excited to start the school year! Today we had our first day back and started off the day with our annual district wide presentation. Each year the district gets a keynote to come and speak to us in hopes of giving us new insights and starting the year off with a bang. This year's speaker was FANTASTIC! Dr. Steven Layne made me laugh and cry, all in the same day. His most recent PD book, Igniting a Passion for Reading, sounds wonderful! My superintendent recommended it to us last year, but I hadn't gotten to it. It is now on my must read list! Wow! I've never walked away from a presentation with so much excitement and "aha" moments. Seriously, you should get your district to look into getting him!

We then went back to our schools and had a meeting with the entire staff. We broke for lunch, then all 5 elementary schools met together to listen to Dr. Layne speak again. Wow, just great, great stuff! I'm so fortunate to have seen him speak. I gained a lot from it.

Tomorrow we have all day to work in our rooms to prepare for open house. I AM SO EXCITED! As I finish up my last few preparations for open house, do you have any advice for me? Things I should include...things I should avoid...? I love hearing your feedback!

Sorry for the short post, but I am worn out!

Until tomorrow,

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Classroom Reveal & Monday Made It! {PICTURES!}

First of all, have you guys looked at Facebook Frenzy?! Wowzers, I got lots of great freebies today! Thanks to all of those teachers who participated! I really appreciate you sharing!

Now...time for my classroom reveal! :-)

I'm not completely done, but I made a lot of progress today. I'm just so excited to show, so here we go! Beware...lots of pictures!

I know I showed this already,
but I just love it so much!

My desk...doesn't that name look cute?!

CAFE board...still need to add ribbon and definitions

My brightly colored mixtape name tags I created myself!

Calendar. Don't the months match my boarder nicely?! The store was out of the already made ones, so I made them myself! That GIMP Shop is coming in handy! This area still needs things..suggestions?!

Book boxes with cute neon Hello My name is labels

Daily 5 Word Work and Work on Writing things

Hope this keeps me organized! Grab the labels for FREE at my store!

This is what I need to tackle tomorrow!

The box of books that isn't going in my room because they're not 3rd grade material! {remember I taught 6th, 7th, 8th graders last year}

Aren't those boards cute?! My grandma found them at Hobby Lobby on clearance. They have pencils on them! She bought me one as a surprise and I liked it so much I had to go look to see if they had more! I bought the last one! :) Any thoughts on what I should put on them!?

I'm going to add Calendar and Attendance on 2 of the blank ones. Any ideas for the other 3?! 

I'm going to put these pockets up by the door. There will be an index card inside. Top will say absent, bottom will say hot on front and cold on back. When the kids come in, they will need to flip their card to what they're doing for lunch. Then, my attendance kiddos will record the info for me and give it to me so I can enter it in the computer. Whatcha think? Also, does that first pocket's pattern look familiar?? :) Yep, it inspired my blog's background image I created! 

This is my "attention getter" for Daily 5. My grandpa and I made it together for an assignment in 8th grade. I'm so glad I have a great use for it years later! 

Awesome "bulletin board"?! I think so!

 

Woo! Tomorrow's goal: get those books on the shelves and do the area for student work to be displayed! Can you guess where it might go!?

Okay...now for Monday Made It for the first time ever! YAY!

1. is from my classroom that I already showed you...

2 is for my classroom that I haven't printed yet...

Subject ares for my objectives. We have to have the objectives displayed, and it's good for kiddos to know too. I'm just going to write them underneath the subjects, because many times we're working the same one for awhile!

3. Prints for my boyfriend and I's bedroom. Just need to print and frame! :)

These are lyrics from Taylor Swift's song, "Stay, Stay, Stay" We both love her and this song!

PHEW! I hope you made it through all of that!

Leave your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc by commenting! :D

Until tomorrow,

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