Time For Resolutions

Good afternoon! I am enjoying some quiet time while Rebekah is napping, the girls are outside on their scooters, and the hubby is working in the garage. It is that time of year again. Time to make those resolutions that usually do not stick. I vow to make them stick this year. This is why I am linking up with Jen over at The Teacher's Caldron.

Thinking about my personal resolution - it was tough to just focus on one. My personal resolution is to eat clean and cut out soda. I am only on day 2 but I have done this before. Actually I have done both before which has contributed to my 38 pound weight loss. I still have almost 20 pounds to go.

 

For my blogging resolution - it is to blog more often. I rarely have the time to blog with everything else going on. I now have a second blog where I am tracking my personal resolution. I am going to find the time to actively blog on both. I just have to find a set time each day to sit down and do it. It is quite relaxing.

 

Santa came to visit our school. Here he is posing in front of my door. My husband, kids, and I took a whole weekend to color the red blocks you see on the door. All of my students' names are on the paper followed by green checks. The green checks helped me keep track of homework for that last week. The whole door turned out quite cute.

 

 

This is my adorable two year old. I am so glad she is feeling better. She is back to leaving her toys everywhere.

 

 

My silly girls - they actually took pictures of each other. Nicole (below) loves to snap pictures of herself.



 



Happy New Year!!

On the mend

Ahhh Friday - it has been hard to keep track of the days since Winter Break started. Not to mention being home with a sick child all week. We found out yesterday she had a double ear infection. 3 days of doctors visits and shots of antibiotics. She is doing better today. She has been eating and playing. Too bad I caught a cold! :/

It is time I am afraid to start thinking about catching up for school. I have a pile of papers to grade and I wanted to get lesson plans done for the month of January. We will see how that goes. Before I go, I thought I would mention a giveaway that you should enter! Visit Jaime at Bright Concepts 4 Teachers for her 200 followers giveaway. Quite a few goodies up for grabs.

Happy Friday!

Vacation? Really?

I was all excited about my two week wonderful winter break! I was thinking ... time to read, catch up, clean my house, and have fun with the family. These were my thoughts on Saturday morning. Then Saturday evening came and my 7 year old complained that she wasn't feeling well. For the next two days she laid around the house with a sore throat and a headache. No fever but still not up to doing anything. By Monday evening she was feeling better. Yay!

Then my 2 year old daughter got sick. Yipes! She woke up Christmas morning after a night of not sleeping. She spent most of the wee hours of the night crying. We thought it was just a tummy ache from being constipated. Then when she woke up at 7am and we brought her down to see what Santa brought her, she was miserable. She cried and wanted nothing to do with breakfast or her new toy - which was Lamby from Doc McStuffins. I even pulled out the stuff from her stocking, including a Daisy stuffed animal and she wanted nothing to do with it. The day was filled with clingyness and tears. She didn't eat and she barely drank. She developed a small fever and slept pretty much all day on and off in small spurts. Her cold and cough were still lingering and she was breathing heavier. Cue the doctor! We brought her in this morning after another night of no sleep. The doctor said she looked like she was sick. Well thank you for your expertise! She had fluid in her ears and he was worried about her labored breathing and checked her oxygen. It could be pneumonia. Her oxygen levels were fine. He gave her a shot of antibiotics. If she did have pneumonia, this was the shot she would receive anyhow so he did not want to put her through a chest xray to check. She did eat applesauce for lunch and a few fries from my husband's lunch but that's it. She is also drinking more. It stinks when your child is sick and there is nothing you can about it. We can not wait for her to feel better and get back to being her usual self. She has lots of new toys waiting for her, which by the way, she did not even want to open. My poor baby girl.

This is the first time I got to sit down and do something productive since school got out. I paid the bills and typed up a new project for Donors Choose. Next, off to straighten up the house. We are having company over for New Years so I need to make sure this house stays clean. With a sick 2 year old, it really isn't that hard. I am hoping that she will dirty up the house with her toys soon. It will be nice to hear her laugh.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

A Nice Break

This week has been absolutely crazy busy! It started off with a Monday morning meeting to reflect on what happened last Friday. A staff member convinced our principal to have our meeting. She was thinking that they were already doing everything possible to keep our school safe. The upset teacher thought that we needed to talk about this and I completely agreed with her. Coming to school on Monday was hard. I am sure it was hard for all of us.

On Thursday we had an exciting day. It started off with a visit from Santa. Every child in the school got presents. It was awesome to see the look on my students' faces. Teary eyed I snapped pictures left and right of my students enjoying Santa and the goodies that he brought. The same people that have been fixing up our school recommended us to get this Santa visit. They also provided us with a most awesome (have to use this word again) tumbling assembly. Lots of 6th and 7th graders put together an hour long assembly full of Halloween music and great tumbling and dance moves. All of the students enjoyed it. Between Santa's visit and the assembly we had a field trip to the library. This was followed up by Friday's Honor Roll assembly. In the afternoon we had hot chocolate, cookies, and watched The Polar Express.

Now I am home ready to enjoy my two week winter break. We do not go back to school until January 7th. We celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas in my house. Family will be coming over so we have been cleaning all day. I have a few goals that I hope to achieve during my two weeks off. Reading is on the top of the list. I have three books in mind, including the new J.K Rowling novel that my husband bought me for Hanukkah. Getting my house clean and spending time with my family of course are included. I am also hoping to get a bit ahead in the lesson planning department. It would be so nice to not be so behind in the new year.

I think another goal will be start blogging more. Well I am off to have some dinner and then watch The Santa Clause 2. We started watching it in school and I was hooked.

Merry Christmas!!

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

 

 

 



Wow! Long Time!

Once again it has been so long since I have blogged. Family and work are keeping me pretty busy. As we approach Thanksgiving I am already thinking about New Year resolutions. Yikes! We are coming upon my favorite time of the year. Even though I celebrate Hanukkah, we celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas in our home. I am almost done shopping. Anyone braving the stores on Friday? I am debating!

Last week I had a meeting with someone to help me plan. I literally spend hours doing my reading lesson plans, always trying to supplement because Trophies just doesn't have enough! She helped me simplify planning so that I wouldn't spend hours doing it. Somehow though it is still taking me a couple of hours. I wish I could be one of those teachers that come in at 8:05 and leave at 3:16 without bringing anything home. That is just not me!

On another note, Tori over at Tori's Teacher Tips is holding a 500 followers giveaway! There are lots of goodies so be sure to stop on by and enter!!

Happy Tuesday!

Currently and a Big Wow!!

It has been sooo long since I have posted. I find that there is so much to do that I can barely find time to breathe. It would be so nice to have a vacation right about now. One of my goals for this new school year was to stay on top of things and not get behind and spend my Saturday mornings at work. Well that goal has not been met just yet. I have been to school every Saturday morning and I am so behind. I feel like I am on a boat that is slowly sinking and I have no clue how to keep myself afloat. On another note ... my camera is filled with pictures of my classroom. I just need to upload them and then I can post them up here. I am pretty proud of my classroom this year.

Now I get to link up with Farley for this month's Currently. Did I mention that October is my favorite month? My birthday and Halloween oh my!! No matter how big I make this in my PSP it still ends up small.

 

 

Even though it is the weekend I still seem to get up at 5:30am. This morning I figured I would get on here and blog since everyone is sleeping. I am an I Love Lucy fanatic! One day I need to share all the Lucy stuff that is in my home. Anyone else watch Once Upon a Time? It is an awesome show!

 

As I mentioned my sinking boat earlier, that to do list is growing every second. One day I hope to catch up. Les Mills Pump is one of my favorite exercise programs. I never thought I would do body pump but I really enjoy it.

 

My book choice is by Eve Bunting.

I hear the pitter patter of little feet upstairs. Now I can get that cuddle from my baby girl. I hope you all enjoy your Sunday! :)

 



Tired. So Tired.

Things have been pretty busy this last week and I have not been able to get on here and blog. My husband took our two older girls to Michigan for several days due to the fact that his grandmother passed away. They are getting back tonight. I was not able to go because I had to report back to work on Wednesday. I could not miss those three important teacher days. My toddler stayed here with me. I was very upset that I couldn't go but it was just not possible. My husband went back to work the Wednesday before I had to so I have not been able to get all the work done in my room that I would've liked to.

Fast forward to today - my room is pretty much done. There are still a few things I have to do and school starts in 2 days! It looks like I will have to make a visit to my classroom tomorrow. This is the first year that I have felt really truly panicked about not being ready for the first day. I have 23 students - the highest of all the third grade teachers. This is because there was a student placed in my class that was a special request. Not a big deal at all. Last year I had 23 students at one point so I can handle that. 13 out of my 23 students showed up for the Meet and Greet yesterday. This was the best turnout I have ever had.

Pictures were taken of my room on my phone. My husband has the camera. When I go into my room tomorrow I will take pictures with the camera and post them. I am loving the polka dot and sweets theme. I went and bought four boxes of candy (one dollar each at Walmart) to place at each of my tables. Each table will have a candy name. I have to be sure to empty the candy out first. Hopefully I don't go and eat it. Especially since finding out I lost 2.8 lbs this week!

Since I have no pictures to post and I am trying to get as much done as I can before my hurricane, I mean toddler, wakes up, I am going to get busy. Stay tuned for pictures of my uber cute classroom! :)

Goodbye Summer!

I am linking up with Sheree at Peterson's Pad for her Goodbye Summer Linking Party.

Here are the rules:
Share 4 things about your summer!
1*a place you have visited
2*a book you read (either for fun or for school)
3*something you did or made for your school class
4*a fun thing you did

*Grab the picture above and share it on your blog.
*Write your post then come back here and link up.
*PLEASE comment on the 2 links before you and the 1 after you.

1*At the end of June we went to Disneyland!

2*I read the Fifty Shades Trilogy this summer. Not quite sure how I feel about it.

3*We made lots of things for my classroom this summer.

Teacher Tool Box

No Name Board

4*The fun thing I did this summer was go to Disneyland. We did not do a whole lot this summer so spending time with the kids was my fun thing.

My daughter now has a toddler bed. We took out the crib from her room since she wasn't sleeping in it anyhow.

Fun at a friend's birthday party

The Lied Museum - fun in a hurricane simulator.

So I am about to bid farewell to the summer of 2012. Here's to a great school year!









Back to School Jitters

I am linking up with a Turn to Learn for 

Surprisingly enough, I have not had those back to school dreams yet. My first official day back is Wednesday and then school starts on the 27th. Every year I tend to get those worries that are beyond my control. I do that at home too so this year I am hoping to make this a goal. I could not even say how many awesome things I got from TPT. Now if my printer would cooperate it would be perfect! I am mix matching what I got to make a great back to school packet. I've been worrying so much about getting my room all cute that I neglected to start my lesson plans for the first week. Guess what I will be doing over the next few days?



The Ticking Clock

The clock is ticking as we get closer to the new school year. I report back to work in 8 days and school starts in 13 days. My husband is coming with me into my classroom today to help me put up my bulletin boards. I totally stink at getting my boards up straight. We went in last week to arrange the furniture. I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like.

Office Max had a great deal these past few days! It was Teacher Appreciation weekend. If you spend $5 or more you could get up to 20 free composition notebooks. Teachers also got 25 percent off. Needless to say after several trips I ended up with 75 free notebooks! I think that composition notebooks will last longer than the spirals. I already made labels and the notebooks are ready to go. Now I am just waiting to see if the folders, which are 15 cents right now, will go down any more.

Please go check out Tori's Teaching Tips today. I am featured on there with some good tips as well as a good activity to teach point-of-view. We are going to be headed out to my classroom soon. The air conditioning has been out in my house since Saturday afternoon and someone is coming today to fix it. Can you imagine no air in Las Vegas temps of 112 degrees? It has been torture! We have been staying out of the house and wouldn't you know I ended up in Target yesterday. I might as well just hand them my paychecks. :)

Have a great day!

Monday Made It & Other Goodies

I am linking up with Tara today for Monday Made It.

This week I have been hard at work getting things ready for my classroom. My husband has too - he made these for me. One for each table. They will hold the supplies. This matches my turquoise on blue polka dot theme.

You can see that everyone was helping out.

I just finished working on my classroom job cards. I listed the name of the job, a description, and how many Isham bucks the job pays. Then I cut the jobs apart and taped each one on a library pocket. I got the library pockets from Creating Teaching Press. This also goes with my turquoise on blue theme.

Next, I started with cans like this. My daughter loves eating crunchies.

I painted over the label in the colors that match my dots on turquoise theme and made these cans below.

After the paint dried, I made these labels and used crazy glue to glue the labels on the cans.

I got these classroom printables from Teri at A Cupcake for the Teacher. You can get them at her TpT store.

These ideas came from Pinterest. This will be used in the Work On Writing center of my Daily Five. I Wonder prompts, prompts for the Journal Jar, and colorful pens for students to write with.

I bought Brain Breaks from Stephanie over at 3rd Grade Thoughts. You can purchase them at her TpT store. The can came from the dollar section at Target.

I purchased The Teacher Keeper from Mrs. Pollard at Tales of a Teacherista. You can purchase it at her TpT store. I bought the blue binder since it matched my turquoise on blue theme. Just follow directions to make the rest.

Here is the laminator I bought at Target. Best investment I ever made!!

As you can see I have been busy. On a different note, we took apart my daughter's crib and put a toddler bed in her room. She has not slept in her crib at night for over a week. She screams bloody murder when we try to put her in the crib and she ends up sleeping with us. Well when we tried to get her to sleep, she just wanted nothing to do with it. Finally at midnight we just brought her in here. I don't know why she refuses to sleep in her room but it is very frustrating! This is her below. We thought that putting in a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse video would help but it didn't.

Have a great Monday!





August ... Yikes!!

Busy Friday morning! We took Miss Rebekah to the daycare she will be starting at when I go back to work *sob*. After clinging to me for a few minutes she got down and was playing. As a matter of fact when I took the toys away from her and we left she started screaming. I am hoping she will be okay once she is there without me. Then we went to Old Navy. Let me see there are some awesome Back to School sales! The girls got lots of school clothes.

It is August .... 19 more days until I have to report back. I have been using my new laminator (OMG) and it is so wonderful. I was like a little kid at Christmas as I was laminating stuff for school. Crazy glue was also really helpful as I put together my classroom numbers and Brain Break cards. My husband finished the last piece of furniture for my classroom. I am saving that for Monday Made It. Remember that Creative Teaching Press contest I talked about before? Well I was one of ten winners that received $50 worth of CTP stuff. So exciting!

I am linking up with Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade for this month's Currently.



I am bound and determined to create something for my TPT store. I've been experimenting with making things for my room using the new frames and borders I bought. I was thinking of a back to school themed unit. We will see how that goes. There is still so much to do before we all go back to school. I'm waiting and watching diligently to see when Walmart and Target have the really good school supply sales. Is it wrong that I get all giddy when those two words (school supplies) are mentioned?

On a last note - make sure to stop by Christina's TPT store and pick up the Collaborative First Day Handbook. It started as a shared Goggle Doc on her blog. Now it is a great handbook full of tips and routines from experienced teachers. If you have time, check out the blogs of the participating teachers.

Have a super Friday!



Rainy Tuesday

I love when it rains ... especially since we hardly ever get rain here in fabulous Las Vegas. I was so ambitious that I even made a trip to the gym. Go me! I can't believe that tomorrow is August 1st. That is when the school panic sets in and I realize that very soon I will be in my classroom preparing for my new third graders. How exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

I found quite a few linkys that I would like to participate in today. I'm starting with Amanda over at Teaching Maddeness for a New School Year Resolutions linky party. This is so perfect because at the beginning of every school year I always say I am going to do things that I never end up doing. Now it will be here on my blog. Here are my new school year resolutions.

1. Just Say No! - When people ask me to do things or help plan things I always say yes. Then I end up stressed out because I have no time to do what I need to do both at work and at home. I vow to not overload my plate with things I can't handle.
2. Maintain a nice, neat desk - My desk always starts out nice and neat but by the end of the day, forget about it. I end up with piles of papers, materials I use to teach that day that I don't put away, etc. Not this year!
3. Do not bring home work with me over the weekend - this is something that happens without fail. I get so behind that I can't keep up and am forced to do work over the weekend. This leads me to my final resolution.
4. Do not get behind - I am not sure how I will manage this yet but I will figure it out.

Next I am linking up with Jodi from Fun in First for a What's Your Favorite Back to School Activity linky party. The beginning of the year is a fun time to get to know students as well as teach rules, routines, and procedures. That very first day of school can be chaotic. Students are coming in and they have supplies they want to give you. They are trying to get settled and you are running around like a mouse. What I did last year was I put a small can of play dough on each student's desk. They were instructed to come in, find their seat, place all supplies under their desk and create something with the play dough.This keeps them occupied while I am trying to get them all settled in. This is also a good time to start collecting supplies. Usually they have them at a decent price at Walmart.

Another thing I do is send home a letter a week or two before school starts to each of my future students. In the letter I ask them to bring in something special that means a lot to them and to bring in a favorite book. Throughout the first week we share our books and treasures.

Thank you to Pam over at Pocketful of Center for giving me the One Lovely Blog Award!

1. Follow the person who gave me the award

2. Link back to the person that gave me the award

3. Pass to 15 new bloggers and let them know they received the award

I am passing the award to the following blogs. Ok so I only did 4.

 

Third Grade Mission to Knowledge

Where Seconds Count

First Grade Found Me

Totally Terrific in Texas

 

 

 

 



Confessions of a New Blogger

Honestly I am in awe when I look at other blogs and see 100+ followers. Since I started this month I am fairly new to the blogging world. I have a whole lot more to learn and I am certainly trying. It is truly amazing to see other teachers at work. Between Pinterest and blogs, my classroom is going to look truly awesome!

I am on the last week of an online course about spelling and phonics instruction. It has inspired me to attempt developmental spelling instruction this upcoming year. I have to admit it is a little frightening but no doubt I will persevere. It will take an  investment into Words Their Way books and a lot of time. My students and I will be the better for it! It is a year of trying new things. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

So I ask my followers to please leave a blogging tip for me. I really do need all the help I can get. I would also love to be one of those teachers creating activities on TPT. I'm so puzzled as to how to get that started as well. TPT has been a wonderful resource and as I said earlier, my classroom is going to look awesome.

Just a final note, please visit Lisa at Learning is Something to Treasure. She is doing a Back to School 650 Follower Giveaway. There are lots of great prizes!

Awards and Issues - ahh Wednesday!

I have quite a few issues today! My daughter decided to get up at 5:30am this morning. So not only could I not get my early am workout in, but I am super tired. This is resulting in a very cranky mommy! My workout clothes are on but will I get possession of my tv so I can do my workout? Better question is do I feel like getting up out of this chair to do it? My scale tells me yes!

As it is apparently Issue Wednesday, I tried to join the Newbie Blog Hop but I think I messed up somewhere. I managed to include the link for my page but forgot to include my q and a. So here it is:

1. what state you are in: I was born in New York, but currently living in Nevada

2. your current teaching position: third grade

3. your teaching experience: 12 years - 9 in 2nd grade and 3 in 3rd grade

4. when you started blogging: July of this year

5. share a blogging tip / blogging resource: I don't have one since I just started blogging at the beginning of this month. I am still learning! :)

Thank you to Janis at

and Angie at

for

Here are the rules for the Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you

2. Include a link to their blog

3. Include the award image in your post

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award

6. When nominating, include a link to their blog

7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated

7 Random Facts About Myself

1. I have a think for vampires. I have read the whole Twilight Saga and all of the Vampire Academy books. I love watching Vampire Diaries. Oddly enough - I am Team Jacob. Weird huh?

2. I'm an old t.v. show junkie. My favorite show of all time is I Love Lucy. Every week day I watch Family Affair and My Three Sons. I also like to watch Rhoda, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and The Mary Tyler Moore show.

3. I am lactose intolerant. I can tolerate pizza in moderation, which is weird but anything else makes me sick. If you look in my fridge you will find Silk (soy milk), which isn't really bad. I also have soy ice cream if I have a craving for it.

4. I love country music!

5. I just started running. I am trying desperately to lose weight and wanted to add something else to my workouts. I started the Couch to 5K and have come a long way. I am still not ready for a marathon, though.

6. I am addicted to chocolate chip cookies.

7. If I were to ever stop teaching, I would want to be a country singer. :)

Check out these awesome blogs!

Teacher Mom of 3

Teaching Third

Tootsie and Teed

Teach On

The Idea Backpack

Monday Made It!

I am linking up with Tara today for Monday Made It.

The other projects are finished and I just wanted to show them off. Thanks to my wonderful hubby for making these for me. It goes great with my polka dot theme.

Passes for my kids

 This is the bookshelf. Top row will be for Author of the Month books. Bottom row will be for Genre of the Month books.

This is the small table that will house my listening center. The stereo will sit on top. If I have room, I want to add a small lamp.

I am so excited! I entered the contest at Creative Teaching Press. If you are using a decor theme from them, they wanted your favorite decor, how you will use it in your classroom, and pictures. I sent in the pictures above and I got an email back asking if they can use the pictures for their Facebook page, Pinterest, and future catalogs. How exciting! I can't wait to get into my classroom and get this theme going.

I am doubling up the turquoise on blue theme with a sweets theme. I was thinking of making a big gumball machine for my door using butcher paper. Then I am going to add gumballs with my students' names on them. For my bulletin board outside my classroom where I display student work, I was going to caption it "Baking Up Some Good Work" and use cupcake accents with their names on them. Just some ideas!

Happy Monday!

 

My First!

After seeing all the Boggle Boards around on Pinterest I decided to give it a go and make my own. Deciding to be ambitious, I put it on Teachers Pay Teachers. I put a few free things on there but this is the first thing I added that has a charge. I'm not sure how this will go over but you don't know until you try so I tried. So here it is: Boggle Board.  Now that I have discovered how to make things and change them to PDF's, my next goal is to make some more things for my classroom.

My wonderful husband finished the class projects I requested - he made me a small table for my listening center, a small book rack for my author and genre studies, and 3 passes. It all goes with the dots on turquoise theme I chose. Can't wait to see how this will all look in my room.

This is Day 2 of "Bye Bye Baby Weight!" I started a pump program yesterday and my muscles are so sore today. I have been eating well and this is day 2 of no soda. Actually not having soda has been the only easy part of this so far. I've also added Shakeology, which is pretty good. If I get hungry, which has been happening a lot, I just come to the computer and work on school stuff. It's working so far. Then again, it is only day 2.

Rebekah says - Have a great evening!!

A finished project!

Woohoo - I am linking up with Tara for Monday Made It. This is a first for me!!

While I was checking out Pinterest for some more wonderful things to make for my classroom, I came across a board to post papers with no names. I went to Michaels and got the wooden plaque, the letters, and the clothespins. My room is going to be dots on turquoise this year so we painted the plaque blue and added polka dots. Here is the finished product!

My husband built a small bookstand for me to house the genre of the month and author of the month books. It is not quite finished yet - it is painted the same shade of blue as above. We are going to add polka dots on the side. He also made me three passes, which I am going to use for a girls' bathroom pass, a boys' bathroom pass, and a hall pass. They are painted blue with polka dots. We just need to label them. I am hoping to have these two for next week's Monday Made It.