Ok...please bear with me again. I'm sick. I always get sick at the beginning of the school year but not normally this bad. A full on head cold has made me use a sub day already....on only the 9th day of school! I didn't know the sub I got so I'm a little nervous on how everything went. I have to call my team teachers to get the low down.

In addition to getting sick, I found out my boyfriend is getting a TDY assignment to Greenland. You'll understand this if you're military but if not...a TDY is like a temporary assignment. I teach on an Army post so all of my kiddos and my kiddos' parents understand this. My boyfriend is in the Air Force...and this is the 3rd TDY in 4 months! I'm counting my lucky stars that he's not deployed but seriously, being away for 2-3 weeks at a time is a little rough. So this TDY is for 2 weeks. At least I'll be working to keep me busy!

Anyway I'll let everyone know tomorrow and I'll be back to posting my normal posts ASAP!

Sooo on my weekend outings between lesson planning and classwork for my master's program I found some neat little things!

As most of you know, Target is a great place to find teacher items in the $1 section. I found a foam clock that I'm going to use in my calendar area. I got it in green but they also had some in an orange/pink color. My other find at Target were scratch and sniff stickers!!! I haven't seen these in ages! My kiddos this year are easily bribed with stickers, especially novelty ones like ones that smell like fruit. They are a buck each...and I found a 450 count pack of random stickers. With the tiny stickers, I use them to get the kids to line up quietly, working hard, use the bathroom quietly....anything goes for sticker bribes! :)

My other find that made my weekend was the big tote bag! I found it at TJMax...they had several in kid drawings. Super cute! And the best part....drum roll please.....it was only 99 CENTS!

Oh and here is my rant for the weekend, lol! I had to drop by Costco to get some things and forgot why I had decided to never go there on weekends again. Why? The little old ladies who hand out free food. Don't get me wrong I love the cute little old ladies...but people mob them and then you can't get around with your gigantic Costco cart. You'd think people had never had a sample of yogurt or cheerios before in their life. Ha!

FOR TOMORROW: Since I found the clock this weekend, tomorrows post will be pictures of my calendar area and what I do with the kids every morning. The pics will show my setup and how everything works. I will also post a picture of something I think every teacher should have!!! (I found it this summer and don't know how I taught before it) Until tomorrow....

Yep...that's me! #1 fan all the way! If you haven't signed up for Scholastic's Book Clubs, go right away to their site and sign up! I started last year and had good luck with parents ordering, I guess it could be hit or miss depending on where you teach. I would normally have 3 parents that would order for their kiddos every month. With every order, you earn points, which you can redeem for items and books! Each month they feature a book for only a buck or 25 points! Each month I stock up on several of the $1 books so that by Christmas I have a book that I can give each child. I always put a cute personal message in for each child too! Also, every time a parent orders online, you get a free coupon for a $3 book. I have built up my library this way...as a new teacher, most of my books I have gotten for either free from Scholastic or really cheap!

Ok so I have three days of the new school year under my belt! It's been crazy...but for the most part in a good way. Just opened a brand new school and we were supposed to have only 2 teachers for our grade level....enrollment was so large that we had to add on 2 more additional classes! We hired one teacher so far and have a sub in the classroom that we are waiting to hire for. Oh and our brand new copier is already out of commission due to lack of toner...haha!

I'm also insanely sunburned due to my weekend at the Mile High Music Festival in Denver Colorado. Highlight of my weekend: Seeing Train and getting to touch Pat Monahan...lol!


Ok my posts will be back to education stuff tomorrow....it'll be all about why I love Scholastic Book Clubs. :)

I must apologize for being absent the last few days! Everything has been super hectic, finishing my classroom and interviewing like crazy for a 4th teammate for our grade level. That in combination of my semester coming to an end for my master's while having to write a research paper = stressed out of my mind! We had meet the teacher night too...I'm excited for this year! Anyway, I'll post again in the next few days (probably Sunday or Monday)! Sorry...be patient with me and I'll get back to posting some good stuff!

As a teacher, we are always looking for ways to save money and the answer is: Ebay! I'm addicted to finding books on Amazon but teacher books can be pricey and it adds up quickly! I decided to find my books on Amazon...check out the reviews to make sure I wasn't going to waste my money...then write down the title and author...and find them for cheaper on Ebay! I don't mind if the book is lightly used...totally worth the savings to find it with a slight crease on the cover, what's it matter when the inside pages are the same?! Here are some examples:

Title: Partner Reading
Amazon Price: $18.99
Bought on Ebay for: $7.49 (including s & h!!!!)

Title: Guided Reading: Making it Work
Amazon Price: $18.47
Bought on Ebay for: $10.28 (including s & h)

Title: Easy Lessons for Teaching Word Families
Amazon Price: $11.45
Bought on Ebay for: $7.12 (including s & h)

Now by no means am I knocking Amazon...I still love it and there are still some great deals...just not on teacher books. :)

As for your classroom library...Ebay is the way to go! You can find big lots of children's books for super cheap. I just added a ton of books to my classroom library for super cheap. Get this: 147 books for $29 including shipping and handling! Amazing. All of the books were in good condition too!


Happy Ebaying! :)

Just thought I'd share my classroom bathroom procedures with everyone who teaches lower elementary grades. The past two years it's been super simple...if a child needed to go to the bathroom other than classroom breaks, they would have to ask me and I'd pair them with another kiddo. The catch is a boy has to go with a girl and a girl has to go with a boy. Why? Well this way they can't play around in the bathroom together! This has worked great for me. This year I'm modifying it a little. I bought plastic bathroom passes from the teacher store. I had seen other teachers do this at my school but it kinda grossed me out when the kiddos would take them into the stalls with them and they'd get dropped on the floor, left in the bathroom, and so on...picking up tons of icky germs! But here is my take on it: once I've okayed the kids to go, they leave the passes on their desks so it reminds me of who went. No germs on the passes and no getting left in the bathrooms.

Click the pictures to see them in a larger view!

So everyday this week, I have been in my classroom fixing it up. It's a brand new building this year so not only did I have to unpack but I had to get everything situated. I put more themed stuff up...including cute little spirals from my ceiling with cowboy boots and cacti, and a little border on my door window with paper that looks like wood, a cowboy border and my name in bandanna/western letters! I think it turned out quite cute if I may say so myself!

Ok as I promised...my post about DonorsChoose...but I have to have rant for a few minutes first. We had a handyman come last week to fix a few things around the house and only this morning did I realize my ipod is gone. I admit, I was stupid to leave it in the room with the guy alone but shouldn't you be able to trust people? We are a military household (my boyfriend is in the Air Force) and the guy knew that...he had said something to the extent of "oh you're an officer so you can afford me doing a lot of projects around your house". It's bad enough to steal from people but it's even worse to steal from someone serving your country! Now I'm ipodless and due to school just starting I'm broke and can't buy another one.

Ok forgive me, now on to DonorsChoose. I absolutely love this site and if you're a public school, full time teacher you have to sign up! This site is a non-profit organization that is aimed at helping teachers obtain materials for their classroom through donations from people across the country. I was a little skeptical when I signed up a year and a half ago...but two months after I posted my 1st project, I got funded! Now I have had a total of 11 projects funded for a total of about $3500! Crazy huh?! I've been amazed at the generosity of people...most of my funding has come from people that don't even know me! I work at a school that serves Army children so I think that helps get donations...a lot of my donors leave comments saying they want to help military kiddos.

When you sign up you'll start off with 3 points...each point it worth a project of materials up to $400. Then it's time to post a project...and wait. It's taken me several months to get fully funded, and I've even had some that never get funded. But if you keep your project under $300, normally they do get funded! After you get funded, you'll have to write a brief thank you online. Then they'll ship the materials and you'll get them within a few days. After you get the stuff and can use it, you will take pictures of your students using the items (DonorsChoose has pre-made permission slips to take pictures that you'll send home to parents) Once you post your follow up, pictures and send cards to donors (it's all super easy so don't worry!) you will earn more points to submit even more projects.

Go explore the site at www.donorschoose.org Anyway...sign up!

I love word walls! Every year I take the time to create one with the theme of my classroom. Since I'm doing a western theme, I knew it had to somehow relate. Last year I did a word wall that was a giant film strip and the year before I had a giant American Flag made out of colored butcher paper...I wish I would have taken pictures! So for this year I had thought about a giant cowboy boot, or maybe even a squiggly snake, but in the end an old western building won out! All western towns had a bank, so I made a WORD BANK...way cheesy but cute too. I found some really neat fadeless paper at the local teacher store that looks like old wood (it's hard to see in the pictures). I really think by creating a fun word wall, my kiddos are more interested in it, rather than just some boring boxes on the wall.

I'll admit it took me several hours to complete....but I was really proud of it! I even showed the pictures to my boyfriend...the reply I got was "it looks like a castle". A castle!? I guess I can see it but the old western buildings/shops look like how I made my building. Oh well, haha, now I'll just be paranoid about it all night until I go back in tomorrow to keep working on my room. More pictures will be posted tomorrow! :)

As I get my room up and running, I'll be sure to post some of the activities that I use with my kiddos on our word wall! Stay tuned!

Day number 2 in the classroom! I feel like there is just an endless amount of stuff that I have accumulated over only the past 2 years that I need to unpack. It's scattered all over the room currently...and yes, I've promised this year to be better organized. That means no piles of papers all over my desk, expo markers hidden all around the room, and stuff piled on the back shelves. In addition to the chaos of my room...I had construction workers and district staff constantly flowing in and out of my classroom...along with wandering parents who decided to take a self tour through the school.

So I finally got into my classroom today! All of my boxes had arrived (I did an in district move)...the only thing missing was a little bar on my pocket chart stand. Nothing to complain about though, the bar didn't really do anything. My only concern: the building is not finished and school starts next week! There is exposed dry-wall and plywood. We'll see....

Here are the first pictures of my room. Prepare yourself for two boring pictures. It's just the beginning so bear with me. I wanted to capture where I started and where I'll eventually end up in a few days.

I'm planning on a western themed classroom this year...so check back tomorrow to see the progress. :)

Tomorrow is the day....I finally get to get into the new building and start unpacking! Lol, the joys of being in a brand new school where construction didn't finish until last week. We officially go back to school in a week, so this week is going to be crazy unpacking and decorating (and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the school is already stocked with the things I need...probably not though). I'm talking about colored butcher paper to create bulletin boards and little office supplies like staples!!!

I also officially bought a renewal to Sirius radio...I bought a new Jeep Patriot last summer and had a full year of free satellite radio. Totally fell in love with no commercials and no fuzzy radio popping in while enjoying a favorite song...but I lived so close to my school that the 5 minute drive didn't really warrant 120 bucks worth of radio a year. But....now that I live further away (thanks to finding Mr. Right) I now decided it was time to buy after a horrible month of regular radio. It's worth it!

I'm going to take pictures starting tomorrow from empty room to finished room by the end of the week...so stay tuned!

I decided it was time to go back to school shopping...except I didn't want to spend a lot of money. Problems that I've run into in the past is trying to save too much money when it comes to clothes. You're probably wondering how could you ever save too much, right?!? Well, I would buy cheaper pants and shirts and the problem with those is that they would fall apart even before the school year was over! So I decided it was time to grow up and buy from better brand labels. Lucky for teachers, at least female teachers...Ann Taylor Loft wants to help you out! I found out that on their website if you go down to the very bottom of the home page, there is a link to 'Ann Taylor Loves Teachers'. When you sign up you immediately get a coupon for 20% off your entire purchase in stores and another coupon for 20% off online too. You'll always get 15% off your store purchases on full priced items. Just remember: if you plan on going into the store you'll need your school ID to prove you're a teacher. Pretty good deal! :)

If you're like me, then you love pocket charts! Only problem I was running into is finding a stand for them. I was shocked to see stands in teacher magazines and in teacher stores normally priced from $70 to $90 dollars! Well, my teacher salary doesn't really allow me to buy pricey things like that! So, I ended up stapling most of my charts to my wall. But because I'm a little picky about putting holes in my pocket charts to begin with (those charts are expensive too!) I was soooo happy to get this tid bit of information. Instead of buying those pricey chart stands from teacher stores...you can buy them at Target or Walmart for less than $20!!! What's the catch? There are none! You just need to find your way to the laundry organizer section and there they are...portable clothing racks that look and work perfectly for pocket charts! Just buy some extra notebook rings at any office supply store and you have the perfect and cheap pocket chart stand!

Summer break is winding down and I'm ready to get into my classroom and start planning. There's only one problem...our brand new school building isn't completed yet! It should be done next week so there is hope, lol! I'm just one of those types that needs to be in my room and getting everything ready to go. Not only do I have to get ready, I have to unpack everything from my other school and hope that everything makes it to the new building (I did an in district move).

I'm hoping to update this blog almost daily with the goings on in my teaching career and little finds that might be useful in your classroom too! Please bear with me as I get this blog up and running!