Back to School Sale on TpT!!

...and I am throwing a 20% off sale too! So head on over to If You Give A Teacher a Treat on TpT and grab yourself a new classroom theme or any one of my many classroom management tools! 

Headed back into the classroom on Tuesday morning! A classroom tour post will be coming in the near future...and maybe I'll get around to finishing the Teacher Week posts...Friday slipped away from me!

Classroom Digs...well, sort of...

Unfortunately, I have not step foot in my classroom since June 19th :o( I will finally be going back to school for some organizing and unpacking next Tuesday. So I am hoping by the end of the week I will have new pictures to blog about! 

Also, I moved down to first grade and I will be in a new classroom...identical to my old room, but up the hall (actually on the corner, which I LOVE). 

So these pictures are of my classroom from last year...just to give you an idea of what kind of space I have to work with. 

Here is the view from the back of the room looking towards the hallway door. Unfortunately, this is the only place in the room where I have computer/network hook up so my desk is always in the back. I thought about getting rid of my teacher desk, like many bloggers have mentioned, but I don't think I could do it. I feel like my guided reading table would be a mess if I did away with my desk. All of our classrooms have Promethean boards, just a different brand of Smart Board. 

The view from my guided reading table...weird gray boards right? I don't like them at all...I wish I had plain old boring white boards. That bulletin board covered in blue is the ONLY functioning one I have. And I say that because the other one is in the back of the room...see below...The TV is a waste of space...I never use it. If I ever play a movie, it is on the Promethean. I will be getting a new rug this year, thank goodness. One a little more interesting then the blue one in the picture. 

What am I supposed to do with this? It s the only place for my desk so I can hook up my computer...it is in the back of the room next to the partition doors and the built in student computer counters. I am thinking a word wall? But I would rather have that in the front of the room...but there is no place to put it!

 

Student cubbies...I got the book baskets at the Dollar Tree. Flexible and they have handles. 

And that is about it. Next week I will post my finished room with my UNDER THE SEA classroom theme!

Check out a few new additions that I created over the past few days! Can't wait to get all this stuff up in classroom! 

AND...the clock display and student numbers are FREE!! Click on the product title pages to go to my TpT store. 

Don't forget to link up and join the Teacher Week Party!!!!

Teacher Week Monday- MEET THE TEACHER!

I'm linkin' up with Blog Hoppin' this week for Teacher Week '13...

Now...Let's Talk About Me! No school stuff, there will be enough of that Tues-Fri!

#1 I am a coffee addict! Now that I live within five miles of at least 5 Starbucks, it has gotten even worse. I grew up and lived in a small town with the nearest Starbucks 60-75 miles away. Even so, I leave it as a Friday AM treat...or else my wallet would be empty!

#2 I am a newbie runner, as some of my blog posts have mentioned... I am now training for a 10K! Wish me luck!

#3 I am the mother of an almost 4 year old! OMG! How did she grow so fast...I keep getting "when are you going to have another one?" Daycare in our area is crazy expensive...so maybe after Addy goes to kindergarten next year.

#4 My husband, Ben (who is a NEW 4th grade teacher!!), are going to be married 5 years this September (27th). We will be together 11 years on September 18th...so I always claim that we are celebrating for 10 days...One year we will go someplace tropical to celebrate!

#5 I am a BON JOVI fanatic...even though his last concert was not up to par with the past concerts, I am still a huge fan. But I will admit, Richie Sambora was my favorite...so I guess I am bias now that he is not a band member anymore. I have seen them in concert 13 times!

#6 I am a NY native! Only moved to VA (NOVA) 19 months ago. And not NYC...I'm talking upstate...in the sticks!! Only graduated with 26 people! Around here K-12 are in the small building...and there is a superintendent in every school! But, there are no jobs here. I subbed, daily and long term, at the same school for 4 years and they were not hiring at the end of the year, they were laying off. And one thing is for sure, I DO NOT MISS THE SNOW! On the left is the first apartment my husband and I lived in as a married couple...no sunlight got in between the buildings so there was always a 5 inch layer of ice on the driveway. This picture is from a blizzard we had back in 2010. 

#7 I have a weakness for geeky-hot men! Especially Jason Bateman! I have heard that Arrested Development is hilarious, so I guess I am going to have to Netflix it...

#8 I never miss a season of the Bachelor/Bachelorette...I know, I KNOW! Bad reality TV junkie meetings are in my future! I am super excited about Juan Pablo being the next Bachelor.

#9 I LOVE the funny/almost always snarky someecards! I have a Pinterest board dedicated to them...

#10 ...and lastly...I know I said I wasn't going to talk shop, BUT... I absolutely love the beginning of the school year. Buying new clothes, breaking down and getting the Erin Condren planner...adding my name to the wishlist for a pair of pretty little black Tieks, creating my own classroom decor, ALL OF IT! 

Now go link up!! 

Back to School!

Phew! Made it through our week of teacher work days. Lost of professional development, meetings, planning, and my favorite (!): decorating and setting up my room.

This is what my room looked like after my first day back...didn't get much done. But I had an excuse! The desks legs still had to be raised since my kiddos are 3rd graders, not 2nd graders anymore (if this is the first time you've been on my blog, I'll let you know that I loop with students 2nd to 3rd grade). The only things I got done were hanging my new calendar, moving my book shelves and putting the baskets in, and hanging up my WBT rules and schedule chart with my Polka Dot Schedule Cards.

On Friday, I was making some progress! Decided to make tissue paper poms, instead of buying chinese paper lanterns. I had to make like 100 of these one time for a wedding, so making six was a breeze. I sorted my library books and was able to label most of the chapter books with their DRA levels, which I have to do for a class I am taking. I cannot even imagine how long it will take to get them all leveled! Check out Stickers and Staples DRA Label Stickers...they were a time saver since I hadn't made my own. It you purchase these, make sure to change your printer settings to actual size and not shrink to fit. She got back to me right away after I printed them and they were not aligning with my labels. 

 Here are my BUILD math baskets! I am super excited about these. The idea has been floating around on Pinterest for a while and I decided to go with it. Here are some amazing math centers that I purchased on TpT: Easy as 1-2-3 Math Centers by Amy Lemons, Money Activities for any Money Unit by Jamie Rector, Telling Time to The Five Minute Activity Pack by Fourth and Ten, Math Place Value Go Fish Center by CTG, and Place Value Mystery Pictures by Cara Carroll. I also bought a bunch of flash cards, wipe off math bookets and flash cards from Target's $ Spot. I plan to find games to go with base ten blocks and connecting cubes for the Using Manipulatives basket.

 

These are the student cubbies. In each are their book baskets, which I bought from the Dollar Tree. Inside each book basket their is a reader's notebook that our county sells that includes a book log, want to read list, mini lesson notes, response pages, etc. Also on the cubbies are my Classroom Jobs- Polka Dots! My classroom polka dot jobs are my #1 selling TpT item. There are jobs for every student and after each week, I will rotate them. I have them on the cubbies with velcro.

And finally, my teaching cove. I tried to make this area as small as possible. I moved my mini fridge to a counter and decided to house some more of my classroom library by my desk. Not sure what I will use the bulletin board for yet. It is in the back of the room so I feel like it is a wasted feature of my room. I will probably put our Daily 5 anchor charts up on here since I cannot figure out how to adhere anything to my walls (tried masking tape, packing tape, tacky AND hot glue! but it is just so humid in there). I covered my teacher chair with pink polka dot fabric, which I love! And next to my desk will be my guided reading desk. I asked for a horse-shoe shaped table on my wish list at the end of last year and I got an email this past week saying it was ordered! I am super excited about it. I just realized I didn't take any pictures of my crate seats! I'll have to do that.

On Friday we had our school's Say Hello! New and old students come in to meet their teacher and tour the building. I have 5 new to our school students this year, 8-9 returning students from my 2nd grade class, and 6-7 students that were moved into my room from another class. I will be the LD/ED teacher for our 3rd grade team and I am excited to have support in my room. Looks like I am holding steady at 22 students, which is pretty low for our school (1st grade has 29-30!).

Well I hope you enjoy my classroom pictures and head over to my TpT store to check out my materials. One last and VERY important shout out to Ms. Durning from K-2 is Splendid, as I will be using her Daily 5/Cafe Launch schedule. Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!