Teacher Week - 5 facts about me!

 I am so excited to participate in teacher week! Today I am going to share 5 fun facts about me! Hop over to Blog Hoppin' to link up and share 5 facts about you!

First off, I have been married to this stud for over a year and a half! He is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without him! We met in college at The University of Tennessee and have been together ever since! The stud in the middle is our fur baby, Jake. He has been with us for most of our relationship and he makes our little family ever so happy!

Second, these two teacher friends have been with me since my first day at my first job! We were all on the same team the first year and then we got moved around. We literally cried but have stayed good friends through it all! One of us moved out of the state and the other two decided it was time to try a different school. Two of us ended up getting a job at the SAME school (there are 52 elementary schools in our district) and then a few months later the other one moved back in the state. Within DAYS we had a position randomly open up at our school and now we are all teaching together again!!!! God truly blessed me with these people in my life!

Third, DISNEY WORLD! I love love love Disney World! Seriously, it is my favorite place! Thinking about the fireworks and parade at night literally makes my heart skip a beat! Every time I have been in my adult life, I have taken a newbie along with me. I love to go with someone who has never been and see the joy they experience! I even took my husband for the first time too! I can't wait to take a future little one down the road! 

Next, I bleed orange! Even through the rough seasons, I love good ole Rocky Top! My favorite day of the year is soon approaching. This Friday will be the first game day Friday of the year! Literally, EVERYONE that lives in Knoxville wears orange ALL WEEKEND! It is amazing and it never fails to make my heart happy! Go Vols! 

Lastly, I love to travel and have fun! I am always down for an adventure and rarely ever chicken out of trying something new. My motto is YOLO and I stick to it...most of the time! I love to live life to the fullest and can't stand to be bored. If there is any activity, count me in! ...Except if it happens in the first month of school, because everyone knows teachers just can't have extra energy that time of year.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my fun facts! Cheers to a great week!

Five for Friday: August 28th!

I can't believe I have missed Five for Friday the last few weeks but I am so glad I get to participate this week! As we end the third week of school I am almost, maybe, kind of, sort of, getting back into routine! Haha!

Ok, here we go friends...

As we get back into school we have been practicing numbers 1-12 like crazy! ...Seriously, A LOT! I love using dice (the foam ones, of course) to practice different math games throughout the year. I made dice games to help my kiddos practice spelling number words, dot patterns, ten frames, and number formations. They have had a blast!! Learning and fun...the best combination!

If your kids need practice too, grab it here!

I always use scholastic book club because I love the fact that the books are reasonably priced and give the parents a good idea of what grade level text looks like. When I saw this month's choices though I was SO SO SO excited!!! I can't wait to get my hands on the The Day the Crayons Came Home! Does anyone have this book yet and it is just as amazing as the first one?!

This week we learned about verbs! I love teaching verbs and always have a lot of fun with the concept when introducing it. No matter how excited I am though, it always takes a while for the kids to get the hang of the concept. This year, however, I played verb charades! The kids had so much FUN and immediately understood that a verb is an action! They were able to go back to their seats and give me examples right after our introduction activity!! ...That makes for a happy teacher! 

Grab this fun packet here!

With technology becoming more and more apart of our society and educational system, I decided to add a keyboard to my kiddo's resource binder this year! They LOVE getting to "type" their spelling words! I see them practicing and they have been telling each other what some of the function keys are for! I love it! They get a lot of exposure to technology in my classroom but I love that they are learning where the keys are on the keyboard too! Typing is a whole different story than touching the iPad! 

I got this template for free on teachers pay teachers! I have searched and searched for this again but can't find it anymore! The file I have doesn't credit anyone or the seller! If you know who it is, please tell me so I can credit them! 

I think of my teacher friends are back in school but I have a few that still aren't! In honor of those still living up their summer...I am going to have a one day SATURDAY SALE this weekend! Cheers to a terrific school year everyone!

Welcome Back to School!

WOW...I totally underestimated and forgot about how exhausting the beginning of the year is! Sorry for my hibernation from blogging but I am back in action now! I am officially done with my first week with kiddos and I can see the light for the rest of the year! My classroom is a work in progress but it always is! Haha!

But seriously, I don't want to discuss how many times I went to Walmart of Target in the last two weeks!

So I talked about how I was "ALL IN" on a new classroom theme this year. I was going to do a baseball/team theme and I made a ton of stuff! I started to set everything up and realized I could not live with so much red and gray in my classroom! The second I put my blue and green back up I felt immediately better and knew it wasn't time for a complete change just yet! So since I wasted a lot of time changing my room, I didn't have as much time to put it back together. However, I think I found a happy place before school started! Here is preview!

I tried something a bit different this year. Instead of students beginning their day on "Ready to Learn," they have to earn it! They have to come in, put their things away, and get started on their work quickly before they get on the chart. So far, so good! They love to "show me" that they are ready for the day!

I decided on a clip chart for my jobs this year! The clips start at the top and move down. So as one kiddo put it, you get a little vacation once you have worked so hard in our classroom for a while! Haha! You can grab the chart here!

This was the last time my projector worked! YIKES...a new one is coming soon though! Starting the year without one has been quite the challenge for me!

Grab polka dot word wall cards here!

You may be thinking what is up with all of the blank boards?! I have found that the kiddos DO NOT understand how many resources are in our classroom if I start the year with them already on the wall. I start off with nothing up and build the room with my kids. When I started doing this I found out that the kids really understood what was posted in our room and how to use the resources better!

This was pretty much the set up for open house night! Our school had a "Building Lotts of Champs" theme so our team decided to do a "Brick by Brick" (UT VOLS reference) or "Lego by Lego" theme in our hallway. That is why you see all the legos! :) Here is our team ready for open house!

The kids think this is so silly and smile every time we walk by it!

My sweet teammate Donna! 

I also set up a photo booth for the first day of school! The kids were ADORABLE. I will post what I did with these sweet pictures very soon! Grab a photo booth for your grade level here!

Phew... now I need to get ready for our big parent meeting! Hopefully I will be posting soon about parent night and getting routines up and going!

Have a great weekend! Cheers!

P.S. One day S-A-L-E on Wednesday, August 19th! Check it out!