Playing Catch-Up

Sometimes I feel like playing catch up is the story of my life!  Seriously, I had some plans ... on several days last week to blog ... and then life happened.  I applaud all of the bloggers out there that manage to get their posts in multiple times a week, while working full time, and tending to their family!  After getting up at 5ish (I use ish very lightly as it is usually more like 5:20-30 before I actually roll out of bed) ... getting ready, B ready, lunch packed, car packed, and on the road by about 6:25... Arriving at daycare by 6:50, school by 7:00... working the day away .. and trying to leave to pick B back up by no later than 5... Oh yeah and then to go home and cook dinner, clean, play with B, & continue to work. Bleh.... I know I'm totally preaching to the choir!

Now that I'm off of that rant, I plan to have a 2nd post to you this week by Friday, that's my goal!  I've also made a new goal to try not and pull out my computer until B goes to bed... something else that hinders my ability to blog as much!  I just have to soak up all the time I can now that summer is over.

Last week we began working on our STAMINA!! The golden word, we began building stamina for independent reading last week.  This week we will continue that, but also add working on stamina for buddy reading!

One of my biggest goals this year is to make my kiddos reader's notebook more interactive & useful!  We began by adding the definition of STAMINA in their notebook! I bought several packages of colored pens before school started and let my kids use them for their anchor charts, they LOVE this!

Of course before we began discussing and working on our stamina, we talked about choosing a good fit book! 

While I don't do full fledged Daily 5 in my classroom {click here to read why}, we do components of it & I used a great FREE resource by Lyndsey over at A Year of Many Firsts.  I also snagged her new unit about Character Traits recently!

With interactive reader's notebooks being a goal of mine, when I ran across a new Interactive Reader's Notebook unit from Deanna Jump, I literally JUMPed on it!  I actually just bought it last night and let's just say, I'm IN. LOVE!

 Last week in one of my FAVORITE subjects to teach, writing, we began filling our Writer's Notebook with our "seeds."  We made 2 lists last week, our "sunshine," things we like, and our "lightening," things we don't like.  Forgot to take a picture of mine, I will snag one this week, or well try to... for now here are a few examples from my kiddos as they were working on their lists!

I sure do love these sweet peas already! :)  I plan to update and share more of our writer's notebook ideas as time goes on, so be sure to check back soon for more ideas!

To end our week, my co-worker Sam & I took our Love-Bugs to good ole' Chuck-E-Cheese!  The girls had a BLAST! :)

I love watching these two play together, so sweet!  Plus chatting until my hearts content with my sweet friend, Sam, is just as wonderful!  Back before summer, I shared some cute things Sam was creating.  I finally convinced her to take the TPT plunge & she launched a shot this summer!  Forgive me because I've been meaning to share about it for a while & then always ended up side tracked! :)   You can check out her shop by {clicking here!}  She has some great freebies available too!

OHHH & One more HUGE thing before I go!! Just last week, I created my FIRST Donors Choose project (instead of blogging one night).

I am super excited about the possibility of having some of these balls for my kids.  I have some kids that would benefit HUGELY from this!!!!   Anything donated within the first 7 days, regardless of how small the donation will be doubled when the code INSPIRE is used!  I would greatly appreciate any support, no matter how small it is!  :)

That is about all I have for you tonight, but I think I promised a freebie last week?!?!  It's nothing too special, but if one person can use it, I'm doing you a favor, right?!?! ;)  We added this stamina graph to our Reader's Notebook so they can track our progress, too! You can get it by {clicking here} or on the picture below! :)

Here's to another great week & a lot of changes (will share soon)! :)

I need s'more time!!!

It is extremely hard to believe that my summer is basically over!! I think I have spent a good 50-60 hours in my room already & it is soooo close to being done!! There are only a few small things that are keeping me from being 100% done.... however I'm pretty positive that even if I get those few small things done, more will be added to the list!! Story of my life.

I wanted to take part in each of the different topics over on Blog Hoppin' this week, BUT life got in the way.  Well... not so much that it got in the way, but I chose to enjoy as much of this week with my sweet little one before we go back!!  This week, we went on an impromptu trip to Sea World... for the 3rd time this summer!! B had an absolute blast, except for when "Shmoo" (Shamu) splashed us until we were SOAKED!

She was out before we even made it out of the entrance to Sea World, poor kid.

We also enjoyed our last lunch date of the summer at our FAVORITE spot!! If you haven't ever been to McAlister's Deli, you're missing out!!  B loves it so much that every. single. time. we drive by she says "momma, momma, eat!"  B's lunch of choice is generally mac&cheese, grapes, & sweet tea!!

In an effort to get B acquainted with her new daycare, I decided to take her a few times this week!  My hope is that next week will go very smooth... Things are going great so far, she is just exhausted when she gets home!! At 5 this evening, she was already laying on the dining room floor with her ladybug pillow pet acting like she wanted to go to bed!!   I can't say I blame her because I was quite tempted to join her on the floor!

While B was at daycare, I was working away in my room!  I managed to get my bulletin board done!!! After a trip to HobLob I was set to go!

Once I have my class list (that is looking quite large 22+) their names will go on the marshmallows over the fire!! I think this is my favorite bulletin board out of all the ones I've ever done!!!! :)  If you caught the post about my classroom earlier this week where I showed how it's set up & decorated... You're probably wondering how in the world I came up with this theme.  Well, our school theme this year is camping & while I don't usually take part in decorating to match (no one does) I also couldn't figure out what the heck I was going to put out there for BTS!!  So after brainstorming for days... I came up with this!! I also made my meet the teacher goodie to match!!

 These are gram crackers stuffed with s'more filling!! They are made by Honey Maid & called Gramfuls!  I snagged a box of 24 for less than $8 at Sams.

To grab the tags, you can {click here}.  

They are editable so you can add your name before printing off!! :)

On top of that... I managed to get a couple other things done today... Here is a picture of a few!  The burlap banner I made is for our photo booth that we will be having for staff next week!! Can't wait!! The chevron banner is still up as a freebie on my Facebook page!! :)

Before I go though, I would like to share a few tips & tricks of the trade! :) 

Tips:  

Remember that each class & student you get each year is new to you.  Don't judge them (as a whole of individually) based on what teachers they had the prior year say.  Let all of your new babies come in with a clean slate.  Form your own opinions & let those of others go in one ear and out the other.  

With that, remember that each class is different.  Just because something worked wonderfully for one group of kids (i.e. classroom management, lesson, etc) doesn't mean that it will work so great for the next.  Be willing to change, be willing to learn new methods for teaching different content & strategies.  After all, if we are not willing to try new things & be a learner ourselves, how can we expect our kids to be?

Tricks: 

I wish I had a picture for this one, but I don't! :( That's what happens when I don't think ahead!!

One of my biggest life savers when I get a new kiddo is having pre-made bags with all the necessities they we will need to get them started together & ready to go! 

What is this bag made up of?

Beginning of the Year Letters 

(classroom management, parent contatct, expectations, etc)

 Homework Journal

Take Home Folder

Labels for Journals & Folders

& anything else special that we use

By having these things ready to go & fixed up for kids when the arrive, it makes the craziness of a new kiddo arriving at your door go a little bit smoother!  I know I can just go grab a bag & we can at least make it through the day!  

For those of you that are back already, I hope you had a great week!! For those of you that start back with me on Monday.... I hope you savor every moment left of the weekend!! I sure plan to, especially since I will be getting to meet a bunch of fellow bloggers at a blogger meet up!! :)  Excite! 

Sunday Smorgasbord

It's Sunday and boy does it feel like one!  We have been L-A-Z-Y this morning & the fact that I have professional development in the morning, which makes it a REAL Sunday, doesn't help!  I am linking up with Michelle from Fabulous in First today!  For me, random and all over the place is how I feel most of my posts are so this should be easy for me! :)

I'm going to start of with B's room!  She upgraded to a BIG girl bed right before her birthday & mommy got new furniture, so it was only natural that I just redo her whole room, right?!?!  When I bought my house and moved in 2+ years ago, no painting happened.  The cream walls stayed because I was almost 7 months preggers!  I was just happy to get everything in the house, unpacked, and set up for her arrival!!! Two years later, you can only imagine how ready I've been to get some color on these walls!!  I just painted one wall in her room and one wall in my room for now, but I'm in love with how cute her painted wall turned out, plus she is SUPER proud of it herself!! She shows everyone that comes to the house!! love.  :)

Here is the before picture of the wall I painted.  plain. jane. .... sorry for the awful quality..... I rely on my iphone too much... must find camera charger!!

 Here is the after shot.  You can vagually see the pattern on the wall.... the next picture down has better lighting!  I made her sign, thanks to a sign I saw on pinterest!  I also made the teal and pink cross frame.  There is really no theme to her room... just lots of vibrant colors!  I plan to find more to add to the wall, but for now... this is it!

I shared some pictures of B's birthday on my post Friday.... but I forgot these & couldn't resist sharing!! If you follow me on instagram, you've probably already seen them!! :)

Can you tell how much B loved getting her nails done or as she calls it "pretties mommy!"

So I never explained a BIG part of the reason for my blogging hiatus.... My grandmother went into the hospital two weeks ago.  After spending a week there she was finally able to go home!  I spent two nights, plus several days that we went to visit on top of that with her!  I'm sure anyone who has had family, friends, or personally been in the hospital can agree that it is plain exhausting!  We also have gone to spend a couple days with her at home, too!! Here is a picture of B enjoying her ice cream at Nene's house!! Can you say spoiled??? 

 Beyond that we've been PAINTING!

 Singing and playing instruments! (dancing too, it's hard to get an action shot of that though!)

We've also tried to do quite a bit of swimming!! This was a day at our community water park! 

I managed to FINALLY get my BTS math centers D.O.N.E!  I've redone several of the centers, several times to get it all just right! I'm so excited about these and how many ways I was able to suggest and offer ways to differentiate in these!!

 I originally planned on doing 12 centers, but with all of the differentiation activities, I nixed a few of my original activities!  One was a number pattern one, that I actually made into a freebie that I featured in Friday's post! Click on the pictures to take a closer look or go download the preview in my TPT store.

You can get them {here} on sale for the next 48 hours... or lets just say until Monday night Tuesday night at Midnight for $4!  That is definitely a steal!  I can't wait to get them printed off tomorrow!!   Now my todo list continues!! I was eager to get done with these so I can start on the next things on my list!! :)  

I will leave you with the sweetest picture that just melts my teacher heart!

 What teacher wouldn't love their kids falling asleep reading?!?! She ALWAYS has to sleep with whatever book(s) we've read that night before bed!! Love!

Would you agree that this has been slightly random?!?!  It's hard to believe summer is almost halfway over! :(

Friday Freebie!!! :)

Oh. My. Gosh.  I can't believe how much I've neglected this little blog here lately!  I have been soaking up every little bit I can of this little girl!!

We recently celebrated her birthday!!! It is unbelievable that she is two!!! Whaaa!!  Where has the time gone??

Yesterday we spent all day with family & friends!  We started our day off at the parade, followed by a LONG nap, fish fry, swimming, & topped it all off with fireworks on the lake!!  Needless to say, it was a GREAT day! :) I hope you all had a fabulous fourth!! 

So since I've neglected this little blog, I felt it was only fit to offer you all a good ole freebie!! :)  Today I have a little math center called Pattern Pros!  It is an opportunity for students to identify the pattern in a sequence of numbers & then figure out the missing number!  There are two sets of cards included, as well as a direction card, recording sheets, & answer keys!  My kids loved this and it really helped when it came to identifying patterns! I also plan on using the different sets to differentiate between my high-low kids! 

I am also linking up with the FABULOUS Cara Carroll today for Favorite Pins Friday! :)

 I am in love with these super cute BTS activities from Michelle over at Smitten with First! Definitely on my TPT wishlist!

This is definitely a fun & different way than I've ever seen to get to know the kiddos in your class that first week!! I'm thinking maybe one a day for the first week!?!?

I mean seriously how cute?  Doesn't surprise me though, it is Amy Lemons after all! :)  If you're not following her on FB or Bloglovin' you should be!! Plus you get these free right now on FB! :)

I am loving this idea, but I'm already struggling with the reality of it!  First off....finding & spending the money on the bins & then finding the space in my classroom that already seems to be too small.... I'm contemplating it.......

Now onto other non-school related pins..... :)

I couldn't agree more! 

Enough said.

I'm FINALLY redoing my flowerbed!! This has been on my to do list for ehhhhhhh 2+ years now!! I have already picked up the bricks & sand...Oh & even already started the trench to lay these babies down.  This pin was totally my inspiration! 

Ok.... I'm gonna call it quits for today!! Time to go off and spend time with my bebe!! :) Enjoy your weekend, I know I plan to!!  

I think I will finally be able to hammer out the LAST part of my BTS math centers this weekend, too!! Fingers crossed! :)