Fall is here :)

I don't know about you, but I love Fall. Here in Texas, we don't really get the traditional Fall weather. It's still 80 degrees most days and we don't have many trees so we don't have beautiful leaves everywhere. We do, however, have pumpkins on the front porch, PSLs at the Starbucks drive thru and pumpkin bread in the oven.

In my classroom, the moment the calendar says October the pumpkin themed lessons and activities begin! One of my favorites is our Adjective Pumpkins. I introduce adjectives using a cute anchor chart with a pumpkin drawn on it. I give each student a sticky note and I ask them to write one word to describe the pumpkin on that sticky note. We add them all to the chart and then discuss how pumpkin is a noun and all the words that they wrote are adjectives. I use this great resource from Teacher Idea Factory for activities.

One of the activities in this amazing resource is the Adjective Pumpkin Craftivity. There is a list of adjectives that you can cut apart and put in a bucket. Each student will pull out one adjective and that is how they will decorate their pumpkin. These always turn out SO cute! Check out our precious hallway display.

 

Aren't they so cute?!?

We have also been studying different types of sentences.  After introducing declarative and interrogative sentences I have the students do a sentence sort. It's nothing special but it is fun and festive! I'll post it soon :) 

Happy Fall Y'all!

Sub Planning

Last week was TPRI testing (our Reading assessment we do 3 times a year, for those that don't teach in Texas) week for me and my team. We are SO lucky to get a sub for 2 days at the beginning of the year so that we can knock out this testing! So, in getting ready to be out of the classroom for 2 days, I realized that I desperately needed to update my Sub Binder! So, I decided to personalize it and make it exactly what I needed. You can grab your copy of this editable binder in my TPT store here:

I promise to post some fun things we are doing in our classroom soon! I feel like now that I'm past this testing I finally have some room to breathe! 

Have a great week, friends!

My Classroom Reveal!

Remember when I said I would do a blog update to show you my classroom?

So what happened was...the first week of school was so busy and exhausting that I didn't do much of anything once I got home each day but eat and sleep.

It was a great first week....but boy was I tired by Friday! Then I turned the great (old) age of 25 this weekend and spent my time celebrating! Now I'm ready to show off my home away from home!

A little info....my classroom is a great mix of Schoolgirl Style and a lot of other AMAZING bloggers and TPTers products. I'll try to tag everyone so you can also buy their products!

 My school did a "groovy" theme this year, thus all the peace signs and the hippie girl on my door! My amazing administration added the "You Matter" sign above all of our doors to remind us how important we all are. Such a great reminder everyday!

 

 I'm pretty proud of my display boards....you have no idea how long my Mama (thanks Mom!) and I fought with those things to get them in the right spot!

 We have LOTS of great built in storage and shelf space at my school. I have my students turn in their work to their numbers. It makes gathering, grading and checking to see who hasn't turned in their work SO easy!

See the precious little kids on the swings? We will get to those in a minute...just know they are my most favorite thing in my classroom (other than the students, of course)!

 

I ordered my lanterns from http://www.paperlanternstore.com/. They got here fast and are going on their 2nd year! They are sturdy and they have every color you could imagine!

Do you see those amazing pink, blue and green crates? Kinder Craze introduced me to these amazing Big Lots! find last year. They are perfect for my classroom!

My Jobs came from MelD-Seusstastic. Love the bold colors and the job options that are available!

This is my favorite area of my classroom. My rocking chair belonged to my great-great-aunt many years ago. My grandma gave it to me last year and allowed me to refinish it. She even made me a cute little cushion for it! This is the place that my students gather around to listen to me read a book.

Now, back to the silhouette on the wall. I got a lot of the things in my room from Schoolgirl Style's Rainbow Chalkboard collection. In this collection she gives you silhouettes that you can trace and embellishments to add to them. I'm in love.

 

We teach Saxon Phonics so my alphabet isn't as cute-sy as I would like, but it is very useful!

Thanks for checking out my classroom! I'd love to see yours! Leave a link to your blog in the comments below!

 

Have a question about where I found something I have in my room? Just ask!

Meet the Teacher Night = SUCCESS!

This week has been fast & furious! Like most teachers, this week has been filled with 8am-4pm trainings & meetings and then late nights at school trying to get my room ready. Tonight was our Meet the Teacher Night and I have to say, all the hard work paid off! I have so many sweet kids and families. I know it is going to be an awesome year!

So, before I head off to bed for some much needed sleep (I mean when you reach your FitBit step goal before 3pm, you know it's been a busy day) I thought I would show you my Meet the Teacher Night set up. 

 My sign in table consisted of just that....a sign in sheet, a party volunteer sheet and a checklist of things for parents & students to complete before leaving.

 Here's a close up ;)

This year, I chose to make (and laminate) folders to hold all the information at Meet the Teacher Night. It made things so much easier for me! Parents had direct instructions on what to fill out and leave with me and what to take with them.  I also left a little sweet treat on each desk for the students to enjoy. 

 On one side of my folder I gave parents things to take home and read/things they need to do:

• TIPS Conference sign up instructions (these are our parent-teacher conferences) - I use Volunteer Spot (www.volunteerspot.com) to organize these conferences. It is so easy for parents to do and it is so much easier for me to keep up with! 
• My "All About Me" page with some information about my life, my education and a list of my favorite things. 
• Class Dojo Parent & Student log in instructions- I use Class Dojo in my behavior tracking system. I LOVE it! If you haven't checked out Class Dojo yet, you are missing out! (www.classdojo.com) 
• A letter explaining what things we will be focusing on in each subject this year, pick up and drop off information, whole brain teaching information, etc. This is basically the "how to" manual for my classroom. I try to lay everything out at the very beginning so parents are information from the get-go. 
• I had to include a note about headphones...they were left off of our school supply list. DOH!

 On the other side of the folder, I give parents 2 forms to fill out. The first is a student information sheet and on the back is a parent questionnaire. I would not suggest copying these front to back...I only had about half of my parents flip it over and see the back side. I guess I'll be sending this home in Tuesday folders next week. The other form I have is just a volunteer questionnaire. This gives me an idea from the very beginning who I am going to be able to rely on for help in the classroom and how they want to help!

Once parents had filled out all of their paperwork, I let them do some of my hard work for me....they sorted their student's supplies! Wow, what a big help that was! My teammates and I decided to use community supplies this year. I think it will make my life MUCH easier.

I didn't get a picture at the best angle, but I had all of the pink and blue buckets on the counter labeled and students and parents worked together to place their supplies in the correct bins. Tomorrow I will get supplies put out in my table bins (not pictured) and have them ready for the 1st day!

Have you had your Meet the Teacher Night/Open House yet? If not, check out my Meet the Teacher Night essentials bundle! I've updated my original file. The new one contains every paper and label featured on this blog! All you need is a printer and some colored paper and you are all set!

Tomorrow...or the next day...or the next day....(or whenever I get some sleep) I will show you my room! I am so excited to show it off. My walls have a slick new coat of paint on them (thank you FISD) and it looks better than ever! 

Goodnight for now my friends!

Meet the Teacher Night Gift

This Thursday is Meet the Teacher Night at my school. I am always nervous and so excited all at the same time! One thing I like to do is leave my students a little something on their desks to get them excited about our year together. Candy tends to do the trick! I found this cute little poem online and made these tags.

Click on the picture to download them for {FREE} in my TPT store. Also, check out my Meet the Teacher Night Essentials bundle! It has everything you need to be prepared for the night. It will be on sale on Wednesday, August 19th during the "More Love for Back to School Sale"!

Have a great Monday!

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Holy Moly! It's Here!

Can I ask you a question?


Where did summer go?!? Today we reported back to school for professional development. You know what that means...sitting through lots of meetings. I am so thankful for my principal, assistant principal and all the amazing people that I work with. Today was a great 1st day back because they make it fun!

So before we get into the whole back to school & classroom set up thing....let's talk about how I spent my last full week of summer freedom....

If you ever have the chance to go to Grand Cayman...GO! I floated around in the most beautiful water I have every seen in my entire life. I swam with sting rays, held star fish, ate some great food and enjoyed sweet time with my family. It was a little hard to come back to reality last Wednesday.

Once I got home I hit the ground running and got my classroom put together. I wish that I had remembered to take a picture of the "before". Our district decided to replace all of the whiteboards in our rooms this year and in turn ended up re-texturing and painting the walls. So, we had to put everything back on the walls...but it was so worth it! I love how beautiful and clean my room looks now. I am not quite ready to show it off but I will be soon :)

Have you gone back to school yet? If so, how are you feeling about it? I'm excited!

Well friends, summer isn't quite over for me but it seems all I can think about is my classroom and the new school year. We are not able to get into our classrooms until next week so I'm doing everything that I can from home to make my time up at the school more effective.

One thing I have been thinking a lot about is Meet the Teacher Night. Ours in on the 20th so I still have a while. I find myself freaking out the day of because I always forget something. My focus up until that day is typically making my room look presentable. So, I decided to go ahead and make EVERYTHING that I need for Meet the Teacher Night now. That way all I have to do is print, copy and place on desks. You can download your own copy of my editable Meet the Teacher Night packet in my store! Just click on the picture below :)

How do you prepare to meet your students? Leave your tips, tricks and ideas in the comments below! 

Dear New Teachers,

Dear New Teachers,
I was you just 3 years ago. I was excited. I was nervous. I was giddy one minute and crying the next. I promise you are not the only one feeling this way! I have a few tips for you as you get ready for your BIG 1st year. Today, we will focus on getting ready for this school year. Here we go:

1. DON'T spend the ENTIRE rest of your summer working in your classroom. I know you feel overwhelmed and that there are way too many things to do but I promise you, one way or another, it will all get done.

2. DO spend time doing something fun. Want to go lay out by the pool? DO IT! Want to go out with your friends? GO! When school starts, you will have plenty to do and not much time to go to the pool. Do it now.

3. DON'T feel like you have to make everything you have pinned to your "Classroom Board" on Pinterest. I had so many projects that I started and was never able to finish. I promise, you are not a failure of a teacher if you don't have every cute & fun thing from Pinterest in your classroom.  It's ok. BREATHE.

4. DO pick one or two things from your Pinterest board that you REALLY want and you REALLY know you will use. Don't waste your time on something that you aren't sure about yet. We have long weekends every so often. We have Christmas break. We have Spring Break. Once you have determined there is a need for that cute "Where Am I" magnetic board or that "I'm Done, Now What?" bulletin board in your classroom, make it during one of those breaks! Just don't do it before you see the need. (Side note: That magnetic "Where Am I?" board that I HAD to make that first year is still sitting in my closet. It's never been used.)

5. DO stock up on the quarter and penny deals at the office supply stores. You will need the extra supplies and it sure is nice to buy that stuff on sale rather than pay full price later in the year!

6. DON'T compare yourself to all of your teacher friends whose rooms are done and look like they came out of a magazine. Your room is YOURS. You will spend 10-12 hours a day in that room your first year. Make it feel like home. Make it somewhere you enjoy being.

7. DO check out the "dorm" sales at Target & Wal-Mart. This is the best time to buy a refrigerator or microwave for your classroom (if your school allows it, I promise it's worth the $$ to have these things in your classroom).

8. While I just told you to spend $$ in #7....you will have to spend some $$$ to get started but DON'T go crazy! First year teachers usually don't get their first paycheck until the end of September (unless you are lucky and get paid the end of August....I didn't.) If you have to buy some of the cheap-o stuff from Dollar Tree to get started, DO IT! You can always invest in better stuff later. Just don't get yourself in a financial bind before school starts.

9. DO start making friends with EVERYONE in your school NOW! Yes, you will spend the most time with the people in your grade-level BUT it is so important to make friends with everyone in your school. Think that 5th grade teacher can't help you out because you are teaching Kinder? Think again! I got some of the best ideas from the teachers in the "upper" grades. Plus, it's nice to have lots of friends :)

10. Last but not least, ENJOY this time! It is exciting! You are about to embark on a year that is fun, hard, rewarding and a HUGE learning experience. Take the advice of the teachers who have been around for a while. I promise, they know what they are talking about!


Be looking for the next "Dear New Teachers," post in August. I'll fill you in on what you need to know as the year is getting started!

Do any of my experienced teacher friends have any other words of wisdom to share? Leave your advice in the comments below!

Now, get off Pinterest & quit blog hopping....GO TO THE POOL!

TEKS Checklists

Last year as me and my team were trying to plan, I began thinking that surely there was an easier way than having to read through the entire IFD (Instructional Focus Document) that the great state of Texas gives us. I began making checklists that we began to use as a resource when planning. I made a spot to write in the date(s) the content was taught and place to "check it off" so that we knew we had all of our bases covered. I have finally completed all of the units that are covered by the IFD. You can find the checklists in my TPT store. You can purchase the units one at a time or buy all 6 at once in a bundle! The pictures below are linked back to my store. If you have any questions or comments, let me know in the comments below! Have a great Friday!

Blog Design & Back to School

First of all, I'd like to start off by saying WOW! I am in love with my new blog design. If you are ever looking to start a blog or redesign your blog, contact Christi Fultz. Her button is located at the bottom of my page. She is great to work with and does such a great job!

So we all know that when mid-July hits...so do the Back to School ads....which make us start thinking about the next school year (as if we hadn't already been pinning away ALL summer long on our Back to School boards). I have been thinking a lot about how I can make the 1st day of school easier. I know that first morning is filled with school supply drop off, pictures with students, parent questions, etc. One way to make the morning a little easier is to have something fun for the kids to do at their desks that will a. keep them busy, b. tell you a little more about them, and c. give you something to hang in the hall that first couple of weeks! So, I've created a Back to School All About Me page for Pre-K thru 3rd grade. They are free on my TPT store or you can find them here:

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I hope to have it up and running in the next couple of weeks. I will share all kinds of fun things that we do in my classroom and other things about my life that may or may not be interesting to you. I hope you will follow me!