First day jitters!

Well tomorrow is the first day of school and I think I am as prepared as I can be. I have my outline of what I need to cover with my classes and my clothes are picked out. My classroom isn't perfect but thongs can be changed and added along the way. I am already taking note of things to do for next year.

I just wanted to say good luck to all of my bloggy teacher friends out there who start school tomorrow. I am thankful for your support throughout this summer, especially the past few weeks. I promise to keep posting, but since it is my first year teaching I may not have time to post every day. I am hoping at least once a week.

I should get some rest, tomorrow is going to be a crazy busy day!

Busy Bee

I'm sorry for being a little MIA for the past few days, but I have hardly had time to sleep, much less get on my computer.  Friday I had PDAS training, then Friday-Sunday (when it wasn't lightening and raining) I was reffing a soccer tournament, and today was the day all the teachers started!  I have been trying to spend any time I could working on my room because tomorrow is meet the teacher night.  And I still have a long list of to-do's to get it ready. 

I am actually kind of bummed I don't have a "Monday Made It" due to my busy schedule.  I just wanted to drop in and let you know I am loving my coworkers and my team and I couldn't ask for a better group of people to be with as a first year, or any year for that matter, teacher.  I my room should be pretty much done tomorrow so I will definitely take pictures and post them soon.

I hope everyone is enjoying reuniting with their work families!

 

100 Follower Giveaway

I know, I know..I already posted, but I didn't want to take away the thunder of this.  I am participating in a giveaway with Teaching with Moxie.  She has reached 100 followers!  I am giving away my Owl-Themed Sub Binder which has not been posted to my TPT store yet.  Go on over to her blog, follower her, and put in your entries for the giveaway.  There are lots of great goodies from my sub binder to a blog make over and gift certificates to TPT!

 

 So go check it out and good luck!
 

Room Sneak Peak!

Alright, so the past three days have been almost complete chaos for me!

Monday I was able to get in to my room, put the fabric and ribbon borders on my two bulletin boards and start getting an idea of how I might set up my room.  I didn't start sorting through anything because the previous teacher hadn't moved out yet, so she came in that afternoon to do so.  Plus I couldn't move furniture by myself without scratching the newly waxed floors and I was told NOT to do that....

Yesterday my mom and I go in there at 9am and left a little before 6.  We pulled everything out of the cabinets and drawers and started sorting through it all and condensing it.  We grouped things that were the same but had been found in multiple places (ie. masking tape...I have 19 rolls of it....who needs nineteen rolls of masking tape??).  I also got an idea of what math manipulatives I have.

Today I had my first day of new teacher training.  There are around 25 new teachers to this 3A district, and 7 of them are for my school, including me.  I got a $50 gift certificate to a local teacher store and our mentors took us shopping after lunch.  Since I already stocked up on school supplies, I was able to get my basic white calendar and LOTS of math posters.  I also got manilla envelopes that will go in the back of the students math notebooks to hold loose items like fraction strips. 

I do have before and current pictures of my room.  **BEWARE**  The room is nowhere close to being done.  I will explain what my ideas are once you get into the current pictures.

My room as I found it:

View from the door to the right as you walk in.

Left side of the room from the door view.

From the back corner: one chalk board and bulletin board.  Can you tell we bleed orange?

From the corner of the room.  See my lovely Promethean board?  I also have a small white board on the left wall that you can't see.  It's double sided with a grid on one side.

Most of the stuff on the book cart and counter belong to the previous math teacher...

 Now for the CURRENT pictures:  Please excuse the messes you will see as it is still a work in progress..

Desk set up: groups of 4.  I didn't like the row seating because it took up too much space.

My bookshelf, computer and desk area.  The teacher table is behind my desk by the door (which holds AC/heater equipment).

I added ribbon to the border of my window. :)

If you scroll back up and look at the before pics of my desk, you will notice that one side is cream and the other is blue.  Since I have already spent a small fortune on fabric I used butcher paper to cover the mismatched colors.  Ironically I still have to cover the OTHER side.  That's my first project when I get in my room tomorrow.

This is probably the most organized and neat area thus far.  The left "locker crate" hosts my class set of white boards.  The green one has construction paper, which I will actually use file folders to sort by color.  Thankfully my mom organized what was in my room so I will only have to add the new stuff when the students come in.  But that crate will sit normally once that is done. The other two crates host notebook and graphing paper.  That lovely machine to the right grades tests and prints for me.  I don't have to share with the other teachers!! :)

These are the foam panels I covered in fabric.  I covered four sections.  Once I know what I want on my walls I will hang these up to make them my word wall.  Since I only have two bulletin boards I created my own.  I haven't added my letters on them yet.

Bulletin board #1.  This is on the wall by my door and Promethean board, so it will host my calendar that still needs to be laminated.

Bulletin board #2: This is the one by the heater door and behind the teacher table.  I am thinking it will host posters but I'm not 100% sure.  The chalk board beside it will host classroom management posters that all the teachers make.  I start making mine tomorrow during training.  I think there are 5 posters total by the end of the year. 

Please let me know what you think so far!  I have a loooooong to do list still, but I will happily accept any input from you veteran teachers!

Back to School Jitters

Here is a quick post.  I discovered A Turn to Learn and she is having a linky party about the back to school jitters!  After spending all day in my room with my mom I am feeling more confident in how my room will look and now just need to get the lesson planning ball rolling!  Here is my link and go on over and share your jitters!

Go link up!

Monday Made It!

As promise, here is a picture of my teacher toolbox!

I bought it at Lowes of course, but it was a metallic blue color.  And as pretty as I thought the blue was it just didn't match my color theme I had figured out in my head!  So I the Mr. spray painted it for me (such a wonderful person!) and I found scrapbook paper that I really liked.  I made my labels in Publisher, making boxes with the dimensions of my drawers and printed that on vellum paper.  I taped the vellum down on the scrapbook paper and taped it in my drawers.  I love how it turned out!  Now I just need to find a safe place for it in my new classroom...

Here are my calendar headers!  Since this picture I have cut out the shadows of most of these and placed them behind the months.  The shadow is white cardstock.  Then I will mount it on a brown rounded-square and laminate them.  I chose to do the square behind them so that I wouldn't have to cut out around all the curves once they were laminated, and I am hoping it will make them more durable!

Here are my word wall letters!  Notice the white shadow?  That's what will happen with my calendar headers.  After this post I will be watching the rest of the Cowboys v. Raiders game and cut all my stuff out!

Today I got my bulletin boards decorated with fabric and ribbon, but they are still blank...I still have no idea what to put on them.  ugh.  But here are the two bulletin boards I've done. 

My wonderful mommy is going with me tomorrow to help me sort through all of the math manipulatives and resources left behind by the previous teacher.  The teacher was up there today moving the rest of her stuff now that her new room is available.  She is super sweet and I will definitely be going down the hall alot to her, my teacher lead/mentor, and my fellow 6th grade math teacher.  I am SOOO excited about all the support they are giving me and how positive everyone is!  Tomorrow *fingers crossed* I will post before/after pictures of what my room is like.  I did remember to take before pictures this morning so after I get some more stuff done I will post the after pics.

Link up with 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It!!

Giveaway and something absolutely adorable!

I am checking so many things off of my to-do list!  I've almost finished my calendar headers, got my shopping done, and I am currently was working on printing some of my things.  But I had to take a short break and post about a couple of  things.

Firstly, Teaching With Moxie is working on getting 100 followers so there can be an awesome giveaway!  She is about 10 followers shy of that goal.  I am hoping to contribute to her giveaway with on of my own creations full of owls. :)  So if you aren't already following her awesome blog, click on the button and start now!

Secondly, and lastly, I just HAD to share my latest creation that I am IN LOVE with!  I whipped this up in about 10-15 minutes and I think it is so adorable. 

It is definitely going on my teacher binder!  Woot!  Just had to share my short, wonderful news.

My Fabulous Finds and To-Do List!!

I had one of the best days ever today!  I didn't think being in a conference all day could possibly be fun, but meeting some of the other teachers at my school and getting to know my administration better made it a blast!  As of right now I could NOT ask for a better fit for me.  I learned a great deal about CSCOPE as well.  I still have tons of questions but I am sure training with my district will help answer those.  If not, I have veteran teachers and my admin to go to.  I could not ask for a more supportive staff.  And I feel better that I'm not the only first year teacher starting this year, so I have that support system too.  I'm not nearly as nervous about new teacher training now since I met a good deal of new teachers to the district today....

Anyways, enough about that.  I promised pictures on Wednesday about my shopping that I have done recently.  I'm not done shopping as JoAnns and Office Max have 25% off purchase coupons for teachers this weekend.

 These are the supplies I bought at Wal-Mart.  Some are for me and some are preparing for my students.  I learned from student teaching that red pens disappear through some black hole, so I am stocking up now.  I got some from Wal-Mart and more from dollar tree.  I am planning on decorating those spirals for my interactive notebooks that I do with my students.  I will have a color for each block so I can stay organized with where each class is at.

 Here are my Dollar Tree purchases.  I absolutely love the buckets I found!  They match my bright color theme I have going so far.  There were deeper ones of the square style I may go back and get.  I also stocked up on pencil erasers, red pens, push pins, rubber bands and index cards.

 Here was my splurge at Hobby Lobby.  I didn't get everything in the picture but I bought a case for my Cricut cartridges that will be more portable than my plastic containers I have for my scrapbook retreats.  I also got 12"x24" mats for my Cricut to make my calendar headers.  Pictures of those will be posted for Monday Made It so be sure to come check it all out!

Be sure to link up over at Fun in Room 4B with your Fabulous Finds.  It's the last one of the summer! :'(

Now for the To-Do List!  Mine is absolutely crazy with getting ready to move into my classroom.  I am kind of on overload at the moment...which is why I like love to-do lists!  These things have saved me all throughout high school and college, and will probably continue to do so until I die.

  

Go on over to Ms. Shoppe's Class and link up your back to school to-do list!  Good luck to everyone on getting their lists completed!

Well I've got to get started on this list.  Thankfully I don't have anything going on this weekend, so as long as I stay focused I should be able to most of it done!  Take advantage of the teacher sales taking place this weekend, I know I will be.

I promise pictures of my room, before and work in progress, on Monday or Tuesday.  I get to move in on Monday but there are still some things I think belong to the teacher moving out so I don't know what all I can get done.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Fashion Linky Party

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE to go shopping?  And it's not just for clothes, it's for crafting supplies (scrapbooking, sewing, yarn) and of course, a teacher addition: school supplies!  The past two days I have gone to Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby (twice), Wal-Mart, Northern Tools, and Michaels.  Today I dragged the Mr. with me and he was very impressed I actually cut myself off and went to the register.  I will post detailed pictures of my purchases tomorrow. 

Today's post is about linking up over at From Blood to Books! regarding teacher fashion!

 

Here are the guidelines...

1. Tell me your favorite store(s) that you like to get your "teacher's fashion".

2. What are some of your favorite accessories?

3. What type of shoes do you teach in? (i.e. heels, flats, wedges, etc.)

4. Do you have a "go-to" item in your closet? (i.e. sweater you wear weekly, shoes you wear daily, etc.)

5. Have you ever had a fashion "uh-oh" at school? (i.e. heel broke, button popped off of blouse)

Please feel free to post any cute items, sales, outfits that you have grabbed for this upcoming school year!

My responses:
1.  My favorite stores are Kohl's, New York & Company, Express, and Target.  I get my slacks from NY&C and Express because they are really only ones  that fit me as I am petite.  I buy them when they are Buy 1, get one for at least 50% off.  NY&C has some super cute light sweaters and tops right now so go check them out!!!
2.  I am not a very big accessory person, however I like necklaces.  I try not to do bracelets because they tend to get in my way when I am modeling notes or writing on the board. (I'm still learning tricks as I am a first year teacher, but that was my experience during student teaching)
3.  Wearing heels occasionally is fine, but I much prefer cute flats.   I love wearing my Coach shoes and my knock off Sperrys, they are comfy AND cute. :)
4.  My go-to items are my light sweaters!  I am almost ALWAYS cold, so I try to plan my outfits with these so I'm warm and still professional looking.  It's not very professional to wear a hoodie, just sayin'.
5.  The only "uh-oh" I have had so far was a hole in my skirt.  Thankfully it was small and barely noticeable.  Just had to make sure it didn't get any larger.

Well, that's all I really have.  I get to go view my classroom tomorrow!  And since I'm no longer working summer camp, I have a long list of crafts to do tomorrow and this weekend, hence my recent shopping!  Look for the post tomorrow!

A little bit of everything

First things first, Tonya over at Tonya's Treats for Teachers is trying to reach 500 followers!!  When she does, she is going to have a giveaway event.  She has writing and listening center task cards as freebies for those who follow her blog and leave a comment saying they are a new follower.  Check her out!  But make sure you keep reading my post!

 Also, over at Rulin' the Roost is have a VistaPrint voucher giveaway for $80!  If you haven't ordered from VistaPrint you are definitely missing out.  They have some really cute things and you can customize it for your own needs!


AND, Stephanie over at Starring in First Grade has a $10 TPT certificate for having 30 followers!  Go check it out!

Now for some really awesome stuff.  I finally got my orientation and staff development itinerary!  Talk about having a bunch of meetings and things being thrown at you!  Definitely going to be taking lots of notes, highlighting tons of papers, and probably asking a lot of questions...I kind of feel like I'm taking a college class all over again.

Anywho, I am loving how my email keeps showing that I'm getting comments on my posts!!!  My boyfriend (aka Mr.) thinks I'm a complete dork, which I am, and laughs at me when I come hopping into the living room to tell him I have new followers.  I think I am a source of entertainment for him.  It's all good though.  So since I am so excited about having a whopping 15 followers, I'm doing a mini-giveaway myself.  I figure it's a milestone...a small one, but it's still one to me!  So the first two people to comment tonight are getting my lovely owl binder covers for free.  Just comment on my post, leave your email address and a preferred color choice and you will get the prize!  Be looking in your emails some time tomorrow evening when I get home from work.

(They are available in aqua {shown}, brown, green, light blue, purple, orange, pink, and yellow).  You can see the previews here at my TPT store.

I am also posting some more designs I've come up with for blogs.  Please tell me your thoughts on how they are coming along so far....I'm very OCD about how things look and I haven't quiet figured out what I think about this as of yet.

I think numbers 1 and 4 are my favorites so far....I like the simplicity of #2, however I'm not so sure about #3.  I don't think the background cuts it for me....I would love to have some input on these!

Have a wonderful night!