Who? Monday

Hi, y'all!  I will be {once I get off work} linking up with Blog Hoppin' for their Teacher Week.  Today is Monday which means...

Who am I?  That's a good question! :)

#1

First of all, I {LOVE} God and believe he sent his only Son to die for me... enough said! 

#2

I am also SUPER crazy about my family.  I love them, and they are my entire life.  Every minute of my life revolves around them.

#3

I love to cook, and I cook for my family every.single.night.  It's exhausting, but I'm hoping my boys will have memories of helping me in the kitchen and will one day search for their future wife by using the qualities I have shown them.  Qualities that a wife and mom should have.  That is one of my wishes for them.

#4

I have been a consistent runner for over 2 years now.  I am currently training for my first half marathon that will go down in October.  Please pray for me... no joke!

 I believe that running makes me a better person... no joke!  I let out so much steam when I'm running.  All teachers should take it up to run out the anxiety and frustration of teaching!

#5

I'm a Sunday napper.  Every Sunday I take a nap while my boys nap.  Unfortunately, I then stay up waaay to late on Sunday nights.  Like right now, for instance.  I am sitting here at almost midnight with no desire to go to sleep.  When 2am rolls around, I'm going to be mad at myself for taking that crazy nap.  Just like I am EVERY Sunday!!!  LOL

#6

I am a UGA alumni, and I love my UGA Dawgs!

I grew up around Athens, GA and still live there today.  It gets a little crazy when students are in town, but I love it!

#7

I am a life-long learner.  In my first five years of teaching, I received my master's and specialist degrees.  Even though I am currently not in school, I continue to find time to read professional development books to learn new and innovative teaching ideas for my classroom.

#8

I.LOVE.TEACHING!

I am so very thankful that God spoke to me, I listened, and I love going to work each and every day.  The most amazing part is that I get to help change the lives of children every single day.

#9

Lastly, I am not very good at managing my time or organizing my actual life.  My classroom is organized and clean, but I am NOT!  If you wait, you will notice that I will have a difficult time keeping this blog going during the school year.  It's not that I don't want to, I just don't have time!  I'm trying to get better at managing my time and not wasting it on Facebook things that don't matter.

So, here's to a year where I prioritize the things that matter to me!  This little blog being one of them!

Favorite Pins Friday

This is going to be a short post because I.AM.TIRED!  Today is my first day of school.  As you are reading this, I am getting to know my sweet students!

Is this not the cutest idea for famous people?  This would be great to pair with informational texts.

I was looking for some assessments on how to get to know your students as readers and came across this.  Wonderful resource!

Yum!  This would be a great team teacher gift.  Who doesn't love a snack during the day?

Monday Made It

As you are reading this... I'm back at school.  Insert sad face --> here!  I enjoyed my summer oh so much!  I am usually rested and refreshed for a new school year, but I don't really feel that way this year.  I feel like I still need a few more weeks to prepare.  Do you know what I mean?  

Anyways, ALL summer long I was lazy and pooled it by the pool.  I didn't do much of anything concerning my classroom.  Well, this past weekend I worked it, girl!  I found a few treasures and got a little crafty.

This was a natural frame that measures about 2.5 ft tall.  I painted it so my kiddos can get their picture taken in it on the first day of school.  I just love to see how much kids change in 5th grade.

This is a partial made-it.  All I did was paint the legs pink.  I am going to use this cute chalkboard easel to write directions on for open house.  I am going to have the parents write their name and address on an envelope, so all I have to is slip a good note in and mail it off!

This one is my favorite, but it's not quite finished yet.  When I get to school tomorrow I will need to hot glue the clothespin on the solid frame.  I am going to place this on my desk and clip my peek of the week to it each week.  If you want to know more about my peek of the week, click here.

This is a made-it because it was a chalkboard that said Prayer Requests at the top.  I know... I can't believe I painted over that, but it will work for just what I want it to!

Here's the back!

I finally made me some of the super cute pencil buckets!  Now to recruit a sharpener at the end of each day!  All I need to do now is put washi tape at the top of my pencils.

There you have it.  A quick and easy made-it.  I will have to link up when I get home from work... **sigh**

Favorite Pins Friday: Back to School

Hey y'all!  I guess you know what time it is!

This week in addition to my favorite five from this past week, I will be including a few pins for back to school that I plan on doing either on the first day or at open house.  I head back to work on Monday, and my students return on Friday.  We will see if I can keep this little blog up and running this school year... ha!

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This year, I am going to focus a little more on having the students set goals in just about everything we do in class.  This is a great idea to carry that over to the entire class.

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It doesn't get much better than free, and everything that Mary from Teaching with a Mountain View has is wonderful!  This is a skill that my students struggle with in fifth grade so any help is greatly appreciated!

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Who doesn't struggle with those students who finish EVERYTHING early?  With reading, we always have something to work on in our binder, or we always have silent reading.  But, this is a quick and simple way to give your students alternate assignments besides the ones they always do.

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I made these charts last year, but they were not as cute as these!  I'm not going to include everything that I did last year because I learned real quick that I just couldn't do everything the Daily 5 suggests. BUT, I am still going to use what works for me which you can find here.  I will definitely use the idea of these cute charts this year!

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Our district went Google last year, and I'm sure there is SO much more than what I am using with it.  I honestly just haven't had the time to sit down and learn about it.  Hopefully this post will help me out... when I have time to read it!  LOL

Now for my Back to School Pins!  These are a few things I am hoping to use this year.  The pictures are pretty much self-explanatory.  The links are in the pics.

Is this not the cutest little brownie pencil?  I want to make this for my homeroom on our first day :)

 This pin is about having a student example of a binder system you will be using with your students.  I already have this put together.  One of my wonderful students donated hers last year.

I am really excited about this.  I am going to try hard this year to focus on the positive and send one good note home a week to my students.  There is nothing like getting a 'Good' note in the mail from your child's teacher.

What are your favorites from this past week?

Back to School Sale

I can't believe it is that time of year again.  The summer has come and gone.  Now it's time to stock up and save on awesome products to help you through the school year.

Everything in my store will be20% off! If you use the promo code BTS14 you get an EXTRA 10% off!! 

Happy Shopping!

Favorite Pins Friday

I can't believe it is almost time for school to start back.  I have one more week left until we go into our 4 days of preplanning.  I am hoping to continue these through the year.  I'm not sure how much time I will have left to pin with the beginning of the school year approaching.  Anyways, here we go!

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I've been seeing this all over Pinterest lately.  It's a great bulletin board idea to keep your students accountable for showing evidence in their reading.  There's a great post all about it, and you can even find a freebie for the letters.  Double Score!

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 Non-fiction text structures and features are two of my most favorite things to teach.  My kiddos loves them, too!  This is an awesome anchor chart to highlight some commonly popular text features that students can find in their non-fiction reading.

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 I've been doing a lot of teacher outfit pinning.  I've lost 4 pants sizes since I started my weight loss journey two years ago.  I've lost 2 since last fall.  That means that I don't have very much to wear!  I did purchase these beautiful trouser pants below.  I haven't gotten them yet, but I'll let you know how I like them.  I love these because they are dressy enough to wear to work.

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 I love this text structure organizer.  This seems to be a foldable file from TpT that I have purchased in the past.  This is also similar to the way I taught text structure this past year.  You can read all about that here.

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This is an activity I am using my first day of my literacy block.  It's a better way to get to know your students as readers.  I have also included an interest inventory for my students to complete.  This allows me to learn things about my students that I may not know.  You can download it below.