Saturday Snapshots- First week of school CRAZY! :)

Hello bloggy friends!

I cannot believe it has been a week since I blogged last… Oh how I missed getting on here each day to give updates, share advice, and just tell people about myself! I haven't had a chance to READ any blogs!! OH THE HORROR!!

Here's what has been going on- this week has been my very first week of school as a teacher! My first day was filled with so many emotions rolled into one, I don't even know if I can write them all on here. I believe the top three things I felt were excited, overwhelmed, and exhausted. This week was a whirlwind and every day, I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 or so EVERY DAY. I mean really… That's crazy!

Some things that caught me off guard this week:
1. I had three electric pencil sharpeners that were left in my room by the previous teacher, so on Sunday while I was there getting last minute things ready, I tried them out so I could sharpen my pencils and wouldn't you know that EVERY one of them were broken!!? Who does that!? I'm not sure why the last teacher didn't throw them away, but now I have to figure out how to get a pencil sharpener with my non-existent budget that we are given. I am hoping to get a classroom friendly one because honestly, I HATE electric sharpeners!!

2. I never realized how difficult it is to teach procedures to children

3. Class Dojo is OFFICIALLY the best invention EVER!!!

I feel so ready to dive into the curriculum this coming week, as this first week was learning all of the procedures, rules, and getting to know each other. For some reason, this part was so incredibly difficult for me and I chalk that up to the fact that I am still learning them myself! It's kind of hard to teach your students something that you are still learning yourself. However, we got through it :)

My students, oh I just love them! I have a phenomenal group and they are just so eager to learn new things, it's unbelievable. They are a nice mix of personalities and they love each other as well, which is SO important to me! We had so much fun this week learning brain breaks, doing the Sid Shuffle, and doing some team and class building exercises. I am so excited for this year!

This coming week, I will be introducing math and ELA centers. I plan to use choice boards, but I am wondering how you all introduce them to your class? I just want it to be as smooth as possible, so any advice would be wonderful (leave a comment below)! Thanks so much! :)

Since today is Saturday, I decided to share some snapshots and link up with Miss Nelson! I love this linky because I just LOVE to take photos! :) Also, did you know that if you link up today, you have a chance to win TWO awesome prizes?! Go, RUN and link up! 

Here are a few of my pictures from this past week!

All of my students have their own owl- I just LOVE how this board turned out :)

These "about me" banners were a PERFECT first day activity and then they shared them with their group using the Kagan RoundRobin structure! 

My students are amazing… Random Acts of Kindness- I guess what I am telling them is really sticking! This KWL was so phenomenal to use for them to get to know me! I used it on the second day along with a powerpoint that I created about myself. They just loved seeing pictures of me, my dogs, and my turtle!

I found this in my September issue of All You and I am SO going to do this for Halloween! I think these are adorable :)

OMGoodness- I NEED THIS. End of story. 

I hope that I qualify to do a review for them, because I want to try one of these Classroom Friendly sharpeners so badly!

Thank you all for stopping by and I hope that I have some awesome stuff to share next week. I feel as though I am slowly starting to get into a routine. But to be honest, my husband and I only have one car right now, so getting up even earlier and then having to wait until 5:30 to be picked everyday definitely wears on you! We are hoping to save some money and look for another car soon, but until then! We just need to deal with it! I'm hoping that I will be able to blog at least three times next week, that's my goal! ;) Until tomorrow bloggers! Enjoy your weekend! 

Saturday Snapshots! {8.17.13} Back to School Bash!

Hello my glorious friends :)
I am so excited to blog this rainy Saturday for Saturday Snapshots with Miss Nelson! It has been beautiful this ENTIRE week of preplanning, up until yesterday! It poured yesterday and today- and it still rains as I type this! However, it did pause today long enough for Archer Elementary's 3rd Annual Back to School Bash! Check out my AWESOME highlighter yellow school Shirt! I absolutely love them!

Love it!

Silly pics are my fave :)

This event is run by the awesome staff and faculty at Archer Elementary and I was so excited to be a part of it this year! My husband and I worked the food area, he was THE grill master! I'm so thankful he is so willing to help me with everything I need! He is so wonderful! Here are some pictures from today's bash!

Thank you rain for pausing! :)

Hot Dogs galore! 

Grillin' like a villain!

HOLY HOT DOGS!! :) 

Also, I stopped by my classroom today to try and get a few more things ready for Monday. My hubby was in charge of organizing all of the supplies I received yesterday at Meet the Teacher. So while he was there, he took this awesome panoramic picture. It's kinda dark, but neat none-the-less!

Puppy Picture break!!- This is my sweet girl sleeping on the couch this evening while I worked on school stuff :)

 Wow- this picture just blows me away, the amount of followers that I have gained is amazing. I treasure every one of you! Thank you so much! <3

Meet the teacher signs for your classroom- I LOVE these! They worked so incredibly well for my classroom during meet the teacher and I will probably use them again for Open House! :) Head on over and check them out here- don't forget to wish list them and prepare for the Back to School sale on TpT that begins in just a few hours! WOO HOO!

 This is another new post! My Where Are We poster is also listed in my TpT store in this adorable bright chevron! :)

 Sometimes, I have to take a step back to remind myself how lucky and blessed I am to have an amazing family, husband, career, and above all a Savior! I am so thankful for all of the blessings in my life- this picture was just so perfect :)

AND FINALLY!- Do NOT forget about this sale! Have you seen the amazing sales!? I have so many items in my cart and on my wish list it isn't even funny! Make sure to comb through your favorites stores (make sure to follow mine! :) ) and add everything you want to your cart so you can be prepared when it goes on sale! YIPPEE!!

Thanks for stopping my everyone! :)

Teacher Week 13' - Classroom Digs (LATE!)- CLASSROOM REVEAL!

Hey everyone!
I am SO SO SOO excited to share this post with you today! As many of you know, I have been hard at work in my classroom this week trying to prepare for my kiddos this coming Monday. I have to say, I am so very proud of my very first classroom :) I'm linking up over at Bloghoppin' for Teacher Week 13'- although I'm fashionably late to this one, I didn't have a choice :) ENJOY!

Today was Meet the Teacher day at my school and so from 12:30-1:30, we had parents and excited kids roaming the halls. I took lots of pictures of my classroom because it was probably the most perfect it will ever look again :) I still have a few things to add when I go back tomorrow, but I will share those later! So without further adieu… Here are the pics!

This was my welcome board so everyone would know where they were!

My Meet the Teacher stuff all ready to go!

Classroom management plan was given to every parent. I wanted a clear understanding of what would be occurring in my classroom daily. I will blog about what I'm doing for this in a couple days!

I love this wish list idea because it is non-threatening and fun way to display the things that are not on the supply list, but you need/want for your classroom to be more efficient and effective!

My administration was very clear that the parents MUST let us know how their child will be transporting home from school, so I put our the adorable How Do We Get Home sheet from my Classroom Organizer file from A Modern Teacher. I love it!

Everything was placed in the basket when completed!

View of the room from my desk

My Gator board! Actually, this will be my Math Centers board :)

My student work display board! :) "Owl" some work!! LOVE IT!

Reading Nook! The rug is from Ikea.. Check out my cute owl chalkboard on the wall! :)

Reading Genre's and library… I have to cover the boxes for my books, but I don't have the paper yet!

Students will turn in work in this station- I love the idea of using a show rack! So smart!

My beautiful and awesomely (that is so a word!) bright chevron calendar! The room on the board will be used to do Calendar Math each day :)

 

Over my door I made a banner to support our school in our school colors. I just love it! also, I have those adorable sayings posted everywhere by the door to empower and motivate my students.

My small group meeting area, and YES! those are dry-erase squares made from that awesome dry-erase contact paper that I got! :) I just love that idea!

Word wall made with cute polka dot letters :)

These are for my lessons throughout the week and also my file, copy, grade bins are located here. I labeled the bins using my Cameo to cut out some vinyl letters.

Birthday section of my board and my job chart (i am still unsure about the jobs chart- I might go a different route after hearing what my teammate is doing!)

This alphabet is so awesome for the older grades. It has applicable definitions to their grade level like inference and author's purpose! So awesome!

My tables are labeled using those ADORABLE owl name tags! I also have the caddies and Kagan mats in the center of each pod of tables.

These crates will be used to store their books and their caddies with also be placed in here to stay out of the way. I will assign a table captain each day on a rotating basis using their Kagan seat numbers. That person will be in charge of the supplies for the day.

Back of the room

The bully-free wall :) I love these posters that I got from the Target Dollar Spot (WOOP WOOP!)

My calendar to use for planning purposes and meetings I need to attend. Also, my teacher toolbox! :)

This is where all of my teacher resources, books, and binders are kept. I have also placed my treasure chest here temporarily for lack of a better space. But that is not it's permanent home :) 

Messy desk already- do you ever see the top completely when you're a teacher!? ;)

This is my favorite place in the entire classroom! I really want to get some bean bags once I actually start getting paid- haha! Starting a classroom is EXPENSIVE! 

Well, that is my classroom everyone! I know it was a lot of pictures, but i am really proud! If you made it all the way to the bottom- you TOTALLY rock! Thanks so much!