New Blog Design and Classroom Sneak Peek!

Y'all- I. can't. even. Did you see how freaking adorable my new blog design is?! I mean- Lindsey Paull completely hit the nail on the head when I told her what I wanted and what my vision was. She designs all her own clipart and that means that cute little fishy (named Mr. Bubbles) is specially designed just for me! 

I cannot thank her enough for the beautiful work she did! I just keep staring at it... ;) If you need a blog design in the future, get in her list! She is full for the rest of this year (hooray!) but she still has spots available for next year! Click on her link at the bottom of my blog to find her website! 

On another note- I was able to get into my classroom Thursday and decided to completely flip my room around and I am loving the results so far! My space is a little odd and although it's a bigger classroom, I always have issues with having enough room for my student desks. So, I decided to try some new things and I am so excited to see how it turns out! Hubby and I are headed to Ikea today to pick up a few things :) Here is a sneak peek into my classroom! I can't wait to do my reveal! 

This is looking from the back of my classroom into the main space. I moved my kidney table here. 

Here's my moved reading area which I LOVE! It used to be in the other far corner and was hard to manuever around. This opens it up and allows for more natural light. I moved the student computers to where the old reading area was. I'm planning on adding some furniture from Ikea here. 

Another view of the reading area. Don't mind the mountain of stuffed animals! Haha! My kiddos love them! 

Be blessed everyone! <3

July Currently {7.1.2015}

Gosh! It is so DARN hot outside! You can't hardly breathe when you walk outside here in sunny Florida- however I know I am so blessed to live here in the glorious Sunshine State, frizzy hair and all!

I absolutely LOVE linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade! Her Currently linky party is so much fun and I love reading what everyone is up to... Totally not stalking when everyone else is doing it! ;)

So here it goes!

Listening- My hubby and I are sitting in my craft room working on various things while the cleaning people work and he plays the most random music... along with singing along! Ha! He is a keeper ;)

Loving- My summer has been great so far! I have really been trying to relax and just get some down time. I am in grad school though, so the breaks are few and far between- but it has been nice to not have to worry about grading and lesson plans! I have also been a busy bee in my TpT store which has been refreshing with this TpT Seller Challenge going on. Also- my sister has her gender reveal this weekend and I am SO excited because I love shopping for baby stuff! I really am #teampink but of course am going to be ecstatic no matter what! This is the first baby of my sisters and I, so we are just a tad excited!

Thinking- I have really been thinking a ton about next school year because I want it to be seamless and I want to be ahead of the game. I want units planned and ideas in my planner before the school year starts. I also think organizing is a huge part of ensuring the school year starts off and continues to go well. I have all of these fabulous ideas in my head of things I want to do, but I need to hit the lottery first! Haha! I hope to implement some new practices this year such as consistent Morning Meetings and a new homework idea that will be completely different from anything I have ever done! I am really excited about the next school year, but I am also going to ensure that I enjoy my summer. It goes by way too fast! 

Wanting- this heat is insane and the Tropical Sno bus has been over here at the baseball park all week and we have missed them EVERY.DAY. By the time I remember, they are gone! I am determined to get one today! We have a church function around 6pm, so I am going to ensure that we leave early enough to go and grab one before. See, organization people! ;)

Needing- I really want my hair to grow faster! I love the short hair, but I absolutely love braiding my hair and doing fun hairdos too! I am really good at french braids, fishtails, and other fun styles and I miss doing that. I love the Starbucks Chai Latte iced and with a shot of espresso it is even better... I could totally go for one right now...

Allstar- My mom has always said I have the patience of a saint- so I think that is what I excel at! I was always the kid who got the very tedious tasks and completed them without a complaint. I have always loved delicate details and love to make intricate things when I craft. It is kind of funny because neither of parents are very patient, ha! I'm not even sure where I learned to be so patient, I think I was just born this way. 

Are you guys linking up!? I love to read all the fun posts... So make sure you head over and do it!

Wednesday Happenings- TpT Seller Challenge week 1 & 2, products, and life lessons!

Wow! I feel like I blinked and two weeks of summer vacation have passed! How did that happen?? Can we just hit the pause button please?!

Well- onto the life happenings! Many of you know that I was anxiously preparing and getting super stoked about my trip next week to the ISTE conference in Philly! Unfortunately, the person I was attending with had a medical emergency and couldn't go- so that meant it was a no go for me as well. To say I was sad and disappointed would be an understatement! I completely understand and she is such an amazing woman, I pray she gets better soon because she is in a lot of pain. But the excitement of a new city, fun food, learning opportunities, and the ability to network with 20,000 people was a lot to swallow when you are told you're not going anymore. I was so upset, but thankfully my husband was with me and reminded me of the faithful journey that we are on together. Over the weekend we talked about the need to help each other grow our faith, especially in difficult situations- as we have faced so many this year already. So- I cried, read some bible passages, and moved on. I'm looking at this as an opportunity to get  ahead of the game and get some massive creating done for my TpT store!  Well, you know what they say- make  lemonade, amiright?! And pray....

Since you read through my sob story and are awesome followers- here is a fun and exclusive FREEBIE that I hope you can use in your classroom! I have a couple variations of this in my store and absolutely LOVE my teacher toolbox! I hope you will make one too! (Click the picture to download a copy)

In addition to that product, I also made this amazing Earth Day unit and finally finished it and put it in my store! It was such a labor of love and I am very proud of how it turned out! I hope you will find that it is useful for any unit that focuses on Earth science! This is a great deal and only on sale until midnight tonight!

Also- don't forget to check out my sale that is going on until Friday of all my new products! ;)

Finally- since I was frantically trying to get ready for the trip I am not going on all last week, I didn't get a chance to blog about the AMAZING challenge that a few of my favorite bloggers/instagramers are hosting! The TpT Seller Challenge is a  challenge that helps TpT seller learn tips and tricks to improve their shop and has been such a blessing so far! We are currently in week two, which is Dare to Dream week and I will share that below. But first, I want to talk about week one! Week one was the makeover challenge and we had to choose at least one product in our store to makeover. Let me just tell you how fun and exciting this was! Here is my before and after- pretty big difference right?!

That's because when I first created this item, I was just starting out and had no idea! I have come a long way in my TpT journey and I still have so much to learn!  You can check out this awesome product here and the free PowerPoint that supplements it is located here. 

Ok- this week is week two and our Dare to Dream week. I love this week as there were no limitations, just big dreams! I made some personal and career minded goals that I absolutely needed to write down. Sometimes, accountability and motivation comes from within yourself. You just have to write it down and see it for yourself. I truly plan to check each of these off my list. 

Finish My Masters- I am half-way done and I pray I can make it! The workload is insane and on top of it, I am also working on my Gifted Endorsement too- yikes!

Grow in my faith and walk with God- This is something very important to me and my husband. We discussed it in depth this weekend and how we want to grow. It is so hard sometimes to completely let go and rely on your faith to carry your through. We are working together and helping each other and that is a huge deal for me. 

Inspire other teachers- The amount of inspiration that I get from other teachers is so incredible and I hope that I can/am doing the same for others. I want my resources, blog, and social media sites to create a world of discovery and excitement for new and seasoned teachers alike. It is so much fun to know that someone else used your idea or had a better day because of something you posted. That is big y'all!

Become a full-time blogger- The work that goes into blogging is incredible. However, I truly feel better when I blog! I feel like I can truly express myself when I write- so this is an obvious outlet for me! In addition, I would love to make it part of my career. I know it is possible, I just have to push and pursue!

What are some of your Dare to Dream goals? I'd love to hear about some of yours! 

It's Hump Day- Questions from the classroom of a first year teacher...

Wow! I am so ashamed that it has been over a week since my last post! Honestly though, I feel like nose is just above water and that if I stop to do anything other than school stuff I might drown. Please tell me this is normal?! I sure hope so!

First few weeks of school are done and gone and I cannot BELIEVE week 3 is almost over as well! Time sure does fly, those veteran teachers weren't joking about that! :)

As for my classroom, I have such a wonderful class full of eager students wanting nothing more than to absorb knowledge and soak it in! I absolutely LOVE it! It's different from what I had before and it's a welcome change :)

Now, that is not to say it has been all rainbows and butterflies! I don't want to paint this unrealistic picture of perfection (although, they are pretty close!) ;) but I have had a few issues with behavior! Mostly students being talkative and not following directions, but I believe I have corrected this by rearranging the seating. However, I still struggle with one of my students in particular. I'm hoping my beautiful blogging family can pull together and help me out! 

This "angel" of mine is gifted and therefore was placed in the magnet program after being in General Education last year. This angel continually is doing something other than what they are supposed to be doing. From playing with pencils in their desk to kicking and nagging other students of their team. I finally made this student an "island" and today they did a little better. However, that's not the end of it! This student seems to want hand holding every step if the way no matter what assignment it is. If I refuse (because I KNOW they are capable of doing it). This angel COMPLETELY shuts down. I mean, refuses to do work. Why do I do? Have you had a student do this? What was the strategies you used that worked? I feel like I'm grasping at air here, so any and all suggestions are welcome! Thanks in advance y'all! 

Also, speaking if behavior- I'm not that thrilled with my individual behavior system. I just don't feel as though it serves that instant gratification purpose that students thrive on. I have tried the clip chart before and was not impressed either because it lost it's valor about half way through the year. Currently, I use the behavior punch cards, but sometimes I cannot just stop what I'm doing to punch a card for good behavior. Any suggestions? The kids enjoy the fact of getting a punch, but I don't feel like I'm doing it enough. For consequences, I use a behavior think sheet, which is also not working because it is so incredibly time consuming and once again- I cannot stop what I'm doing to hand one out. I need a better idea to work instantly. Suggestions here would also be greatly appreciated!

So once again, I sincerely apologize to my awesome followers for the delayed post but I'm still trying to keep my head above the water! I promise posts will be more regular within the next few months- plus I might actually have something to share then that is exciting! For now, I don't feel as though anything I'm doing is blog worthy! Haha! That will be changing tomorrow though! 

Tomorrow is Open House and I have a very nice and thorough presentation ready, so I'm nervous/excited :) Wish me luck and PLEASE leave some suggestions! I truly read every one of them :) 

Thanks y'all!

Lindsay

It's Thursday and I finally moved stuff into my classroom! :)

Hey everyone! 

I bet all you veteran teachers are wishing summer was a few more MONTHS long! However, this newbie cannot WAIT to get in there! I know it's probably because I'm new and the excitement is getting to me, but I am truly beyond excited! Today I was able to move stuff into my new classroom and I just stood there and gazed at what is now MY classroom. It seems so surreal! I mean, I just graduated in May and I never thought I would be teaching in a magnet program in a beautiful, huge room! I feel so blessed and honored to have such privileges. I worked hard, and now it's all paying off! I'm not linking up today because I'm actually on my way to celebrate one of our very great friends birthday at a local brewery! Fun times!! So, my post will be a little shorter today.

However, I wanted to share some pictures of my classroom for those of you that don't follow on Instagram. If you want to follow check me out @justkeepteaching :) 

This is my office! Holy moly!!! The other teacher that was here before still has to gather some of her things, so all that stuff will not be there when I actually get settled in :)

I dropped all of this stuff off today!! Whew! That was a serious loading and unloading trip!

This is a picture of my room :) I'm so excited I can barely stand it! It's going to KILL me to wait to decorate!!! But, my principal says no "nesting" until August 8th! Darn it! ;)

Anyways, just wanted to show y'all my classroom! If you have any ideas for the space, please leave a comment!! I'd love to hear what you'd do if you had my room :) 

Thanks for stopping by!