Highs and Lows

Another lovely Saturday! The last Saturday of semi- freedom. We started PD days yesterday and students report August 7th! Ahhh! I can't wait to meet my new little ones though. And get another year underway.

It's been a while since I joined in on a linky and I found a great one thanks to A First for Everything

 

 

Well Wednesday started off great when I woke up to find out I had sold my first product on TPT! I have tons of freebies but I just started uploading paid items a few months ago. I must admit I was getting a little discouraged, all my items were under $3 and I hadn't sold a thing! But getting that one little sale really motivated me. Makes me want to create more but with the school year swiftly approaching we'll see how that goes! Either way I was super excited!!

 

Also I'll be participating in the "Blast Off Back to School" sale! So if you didn't get a chance to stop by my store come visit on the 4th or 5th and get 20% off my store!

 

 

 

Another high that occurred this week was my babe and I rocking out at "Monumentour" which was a Paramore and Fall Out Boy concert. I loveeeeeee me some Paramore and my guy is a major fan of Fall Out Boy. We had a blast!

 

 

Then of course I had to drag him to IKEA lol needed a few things for the house and classroom. The other pics were from our hotel which was awesome! And I had chicken and waffles for the first time @ Gladys Knight's. Overall a great way to kick off my year.

 

 

 

Okay, one more! Lol I have a lot to be thankful for this week! My baldy (aka my dad) has OFFICIALLY retired from the Army after 29 years!! I am so proud of him and happy that he is home safe and sound!



Now here's the tough part... trying to think of a low...

Truly its tough to think of one. But if I had to pick, the only low that comes to mind is the sad end to my days of sitting on the couch watching Sex and the City reruns. And my freedom to take midday naps. But it makes that time all the more special when it rolls around every summer!

 

Hope you all are having a great weekend.

Don't forget to stop by my TPT store for the sale. I've got an ad on my page that will take you right to it!

Happy Saturday! Want some freebies? :)

Good morning! Hope your weekend is off to a great start. Mine has been pretty productive so far. I've uploaded 3 new freebies to my store with Back to School time in mind.

The first is a set of 8 editable binder covers! You can change the text and font on each cover. Here's a little preview..

 

Since I am also in the midst of organizing my binders I thought it might be helpful to share the form I use to keep student info. They have a more in depth form in their records in my classroom. This shortened version is for me to have in my general teacher binder that I always have nearby.

 

Kinda hard to see but there is a better preview on TPT. And its a freebie, so you can just delete if it doesn't fit your needs.

 

The last is an activity I do with my students at the beginning of the year. Students love making these bracelets to describe themselves. Even if they don't actually "love" math or reading, they typically say they do so they can add more beads haha. Either way, a fun hands on activity to start the year! :)

 

P.S. Not my original activity, just tweaked it to fit my classroom :)

 

So click any of the pictures or the add on the right to head over to my store and check it out! And once again have a great weekend!

Monday Made It!

Does it count if I didn't make it on Monday? I finally brought them into class today! Hopefully that counts for something! But I wanted to do a quick post about these anyways...

As many of you already know, cutting your composition notebooks in half can be a lifesaver! You can get them done at some Office Max/ Office Depot stores. Might even wanna try Staples. Last year I covered them with solid blue duck tape but went with a cuter pattern this year.

 

I use the smaller notebooks to record our math Problem of the Day. I will add labels (once I print them!) and student numbers once I assign them.

 

Also working on spray painting some library baskets (read as "the boyfriend is spray painting some library baskets" lol) but that is a larger, messier project. If we have any success I'll post about them soon or mention them when I show pics of my classroom. 

 

Happy Monday :) 

Back to School Goals

Time is flying by. Its already mid- July! I'm getting nervous and  excited about the year to come. I was doing some reading and came upon the following..

 

"It can be difficult to feel prepared—in fact, can you ever really be ready for a class of students you may never have met?"

(NEA Article - Top Strategies to Start the School Year Strong )

 

I thought, good point! And took a deep breath. I know everything will be fine. Those little ones will be even more nervous than I will be. And just like last year we will start to build an awesome classroom community of learning.

 

So as I was in the BTS mindset I thought, perfect time to join in on this fun linky provided by

 I {heart} Recess

 

and blog about my goals for the upcoming year.

 

 

 

 

Personal: I've been going to Yoga lately thanks to an awesome Groupon and I am loving it! I haven't even asked how much the subscription will be after my deal! Even if I don't continue going to the class I definitely wanna keep it up at home. Its really relaxing. I've just started meditating but I'm working on it.

 

Organization: I keep student data in my file cabinet with their other information but I would like to keep info in a binder as well. I've been looking at some cute items on TPT. :)

 

Planning: ...Self explanatory lol

 

Professional: I went to an NEA Conference last year in Atlanta and had a blast. I want to take advantage of more of those opportunities to learn and network.

 

 

 

Students: ... again pretty self explanatory. Excited to use the 10 steps of Independence from Daily 5 though!

 

Motto: I need to remind myself where my help comes from!

 

Oh and one more thing! Got around to making that Facebook Page. Check me out and show some love!

https://www.facebook.com/1stgradelove

Don't mind me, just enjoying my Summer!

It's been a little bit since I posted. I would apologize but ya know summer vacation is for relaxing right? So thats what I've been trying to do :). Really I've already been in my classroom twice since they've opened my hall back up (shame, shame). Making a little progress, but moving that furniture is hard work!

Before



 

After

I debated going in today but decided I'd rather not. And soon I won't have the liberty to decide not to go (lol) so I enjoyed that thoroughly today. Instead I sat around reading Cosmo and the new Daily 5.

But I wanted to be sure and blog about my little celebration! 1000 Instagram followers! 

 

 

I cant believe it! Oh happy day! If you don't already, head on over and follow me on Instagram @firstgradelove

 

please && thank you

 

and stay tuned..Facebook page should be coming soon... :)

 

 

 

 

Tips to Tame Em - Week 2

Well I'm a day later than planned, but better late than never right? Linking back up with...

for week 2 of Tips to Tame Em. This week she's discussing how we demonstrate and explain our expectations during learning...

 

She has a great idea using a "Y - Chart". You should definitely head by her blog and check it out. I can see myself using it in my classroom next year. I love how it incorporates "feels like" because I don't usually address that are in my expectations. It's a great way to get the students thinking deeper about what to expect. Genius!

In my classroom I make sure to explicitly introduce and model expectations for guided reading. It takes a lot of ground work to get students working independently so guided reading time can be purposeful. The past two years I have used a set of anchor charts I found online on TeachersPayTeachers but they come from a blogger named Mrs. Jones :)

 

(sorry so small! look her up, its a freebie!)

One side says "student" and the other says "teacher". We discuss what we both will be doing during each center and fill in the poster whole group.  After looking at Kelli's post I see that these expectation charts or activities can be used throughout all subjects and learning areas. I may use her "Y-Charts" to discuss math center expectations. Either way, it's got my brain going and ready  to plan.

...but that will wait until tomorrow. Yoga kicked my butt! I am sleepyyyyy! 

Have a great night guys!

Currently!

Well hello again! Didn't expect to be blogging again so soon but I've always wanted to do one of these so here goes..

Thanks to Farley for the awesome linky! Now on to dinner!