Currently Link-Up!

I believe I'm able to enter the blogging world again! I've missed it, but time has not been on my side. Tomorrow is Back to School Night. I created a powerpoint, handout, class blog letter, and volunteer sign up. Lord willing I'm prepared as much as I need to be!

Now onto September's Currently. . .

I have pictures coming soon from Busch Gardens. I went there this weekend and it was a blast! I only went on one ride and loved my time there. More on that later this week. Go link up with Farley and don't forget the Rule of 3! Come on now, we are teachers who tell our kiddos to follow the rules :)

July Currently

Another month is upon us and I am linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade. Side note I LOVE the blue skirt she is wearing on the right side of her blog. OH SO SO SO super duper fancy cute I would love to wear it. Any who go check it out and compliment her awesome style :)

LISTENING~ So Mexican Train is this addicting brings out the worst the best in a family game. Everyone starts with a certain amount of dominoes and it goes clockwise and everyone tries to get rid of their dominoes using their own trains. I know poor porr explanation (I'm on meds at the moment but wanted to get in on the CURRENTLY action). Click HERE to see the one we have and get a better understanding. 

LOVING~ I just purchased a license from Just So Scrappy Graphics and it is awesome. A lovely decision if a do say so myself. :)

THINKING~ Yeah the results of the MRI from my SEVER, cried like a baby, back pain. A herniated disc in my lower spine which was causing tingling and numbness down my leg. Any who at this point no surgery needed. However, I had to have an epidural shot ~ peeps you shouldn't have to have one till you are about to have a baby . . . I'm just saying. . . 

WANTING~ If you live in south Florida you must check out Max's Grill and their Flour-less Chocolate cake with all the EXTRAS of course :) I may have a severe sweet tooth. 

NEEDING~ My readin glist is a mile high long and I am positive after reading everyone's CURRENTLY I will have a TWO mile high list. I LOVE LOVE LOVE reading. Also I live in a home with gour children and within a ten minute radius is the entire extended family on my moms side. Close family = quite time rare

READS~ I love Chris Van Dusen's books. They are excellent read alouds and my kiddos request re-reads OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER (ok get the picture) again. I am making a readers response sheet to the book so when I do I will update this post with a link to the FREEBIE :)

In college, for my classroom management class, we listened and read a LOT of Harry Wong and I really loved it. I constantly go back to The First Days of School to tweak what I'm doing and find where I can improve. I would love to listen to the Wongs in person

Tomorrow I shall be Reviewing and Reflecting on Chapter 5 of Guided Math! I'm loving this book. 

June Currently! & TPT and Amazon Gift Certificate Giveaway WINNER!!!

. . . And the winner OF A $25 TPT AND $20 Amazon gift certificate is:Beth Ann Skelly-Kempf! I will be emailing you shortly with your goodies! Thank you faithful followers for entering my first giveaway. Pretty soon I will need to do another giveaway when I reach 200 followers!


Now onto June's Currently (by the way June is the best month ever)

Wishing to go to the Farm Chicks Show - it's in Washington and it is one of the places I want to go so so so bad!

Went to Disney - two weekends ago went to Epicot, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom. So much fun - it was my little brothers first time. He loves rides :)

Want to drive up the East Coast - Bed and Breakfasts, antiques, boutiques, history :)

Organization Classroom Tour ~ May's Currently

     Well. . .  I will start out admitting that I have been MIA. I truly do LOVE reading all the awesome blogs out there. I read them everyday ~ it's my downtime, my inspiration, my encouragement. . . That said I also "plan" on being more consistent. I will say that my first year of teaching is almost over and my first bit of advice to ANY firs tear teacher is to just accept that the first year will be hard NO MATTER what you think!!!! (how's that for a long sentence)

May's Currently:

I LOVE that Farley from Oh' Boy Fourth Grade does this ~ it always pushes me out of my shell. The whole pageant title pushed me out of my shyness (my boyfriend helped me out . . . hopefully that's alright). 

     While I've been MIA I've been reevaluating how I function as a teacher. I realized that being ORGANIZED is essential and started working on my from to make manipulatives and resources more available to my students and myself. One of my ABSOLUTE favorite things to read on blogs is classroom setup / classroom organization. I LOVE IT! Without further ado this is my home away from home. I will be posting the rest of my classroom in the next several days.

I have two entrances to my classroom. One is on the left and the other on the right. This is the view you see when you walk in through the left entrance door. My crate seats were made by my grandpa and are in excellent condition after a year of second grade fun. I use my guided reading table for small group work and as my desk. My rule of thumb is that it has nothing on it at the beginning or at the end of the day. The blanket is a Dots candy blanket. My classroom is candy/primary colors themed. I am always cold so it comes in HANDY. 

This is another view. There is a linky I read about that was going around called "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly" (or something to that effect. That corner next to the filing cabinet is what I consider to be my "ugly" ~ mostly because I haven't quite decided what I want to do with the red bookcase. I amy move it to a different area of the classroom or give it away. One thing I've noticed is that teachers (or most of them) rarely can let things go. I want to be practical about what I keep in my classroom. I mean it is a classroom and is supposed to be a learning rich environment. I've gotten rid of several things and have been questioned on some of those decisions ~ but I still love the decisions I made. One of those things was my "traditional" teacher desk. Below you will see some of the things that allowed me to be completely fine (actually thrilled) to get rid of my desk).

another angle

Behind my small group table I have "book bins" for all the subjects I teach. They are labeled and they hold the current teaching manual, related papers, textbooks, and anything else I will use often while teaching that subject. It has been one of my favorite organizational tricks. 

In the subject bins I also keep a notebooks or such that I am modeling to my students and doing with them.

I saw this idea floating around Pinterest and decided I was going to make one. This thing was about $12 from Home Depot. I used avery full page labels (plain sticker sheets) to print my candy themed labels onto. If anyone would be interested I'm happy to share :) It took my a couple times to get the perfect size but I did! To purchase these labels go HERE!

These are my favorite drawers. I will only by them from Office Depot. They are awesome. Why you ask? They don't slide right out, yet if you push in both sides they come out nice and easy. I use a ton of these in my classroom. The blank yellow one needed a label but I hand;t quite decided what I wanted it to say yet. When I do I will simply go and type it up. The reason for the line is in case I just want to write it in Sharpie till I have time or REMEMBER to print it out. People I forget WAY to many things for an individual of my age. I'm a young teacher ~ I mean youngest faculty member, people always say I look to young. . . you get the picture.

This is the bookshelf I'm not in love with but I do love it is clutter free. Above the desk is my Mon-Fri drawers ~ love those. I also have an "extras" drawer. This is for those times I need a time filling worksheet, hidden picture fun sheet, quick craftivities, and things like that. I also have it in my mind as a back-up plan for a sub who has to much "extra" time. 

In the desk to the left I keep my to be graded system. You can read about that HERE. On the right side of the desk is my copy folder an basket. I will add a picture of my folder (I think it is so fun). I keep what needs to be copied in the folder o the left side. Once it is copied, it moves to the right side to be filed back in the correct place. The copies made to use are put in the basket. Once I get back to my room they get placed in their appropriate places. Except for the white stack you see that I didn't move due to being late to pick my kids up from Specials (or at least thats what I think).  Underneath the desk I have this awesome six drawer organizer that I use every single day. The labels tell it all.

I hope you have enjoyed the tour so far. I would love to hear of  any thought you all have. I love organization. I believe an organized classroom make the teacher more efficient. In turn the teacher has more time to focus on academic instruction.

One Lovely Blog Award, TPT, Currently

Well earlier this week I was awarded the One Lovely Blog Award (you can read about it HERE). I am awarding the following ladies:

Second Grade Shenanigans This blog is wonderful. She has such great ideas to bring learning to life!

The 3AM Teacher This ladies creativity is astonishing.  I own every packet of clip art she has  put up for sale. I look for it and I love it!

Teaching With Love and Laughter This is a new blog I discovered and can't wait to keep exploring it! She also has a yorkie and I do as well!

Confessions of a Primary Teacher This is another newbie blog that I discovered and am loving it! 

Sailing Through 1st Grade I look up to this woman. Her blog is perfectly amazing. Such great freebies and ideas!

I picked a couple of my old FAVORITES and some new discoveries that have "young" blogs like me (meaning we are new on the blog scene).  Ladies come and get your award! The rules are HERE! 

Here are a couple of my new Word Work stations/centers that are at my TPT store.  Go check them out here and please let me know what you think!

Fill the Right Pot ~ Double Consonants Ending in Y 

What's the Scoop? Drop the Silent e and Add -ing

The last thing up ad entirely late to the game is my currently. . . I'm linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade . . . 

I must say that I am in the living room where my sister is watching the The Bachelor. It's not quite my cup of tea but I was being honest. I just don't think I can stomach all the drama of these women.