Planning Binder

One of things to do on my summer bucket list was to make buy a Calendar/Planner/Organizer thingy for my Planning Binder. I used a Planning Binder after reading Leslie's and Kristen's posts about their All In One Teacher Binders.
Just as I was getting really good at putting it off, I found a post about this planner that April over at A Modern Teacher created

Sample of a few of the calendar pages

Cover of April's Binder

OMG! It's exactly what I need and it matches some of my stuff already!!! Plus she will personalize the cover for free!!
This isn't just a calendar either- It has everything you will need for weekly planning including a place to record your Common Core standards for every week and month.She was a busy girl!
I bought it from her TpT store and started printing away (Thank goodness I refilled my ink on Monday!) But I couldn't stop there! I had to have the rest of my binder match (almost) the planner she had already made so I decided to use the graphics that I've been collecting and create some of the inserts for my planning binder and this is what I came up with.

(Don't know why this is so large-Sorry!)
(How do I fix this?!-It's so annoying!)



I need to add a few more pages, but first I wanted to know what you include in your planning binder. Since I'm moving up to first, I'm trying to decide if I want to include a section for grades? I keep all of my assessments for reading in my Guided Reading Binder (which will receive a make-over to match, ) so they will not live in this binder. Any suggestions?

Head over to April's Blog or her TpT store to find out more about this awesome planner!

Sophia

Freebies and Cuteness

Whoa! Huge Give away @ The First Grade Parade. Mrs. Carroll is  giving away all the products in her TpT store to 5 lucky winners!!! How awesome is that?!? Hurry over, you only have until Sunday to enter.

As promised here is another look at my "new" room. I was able to get a lot more boxes unpacked and put some fabric on the boards. Seriously, the orange on the bulletin boards was driving me crazy.I ran out of border to put on the big green board, but I don't mind a trip to a teacher supply store :)

                 Here's a view looking in from the hall

Looking back towards the hallway door. Those brown cabinets are getting painted this summer, too. It'll be a huge project, but it's  necessary in this makeover

I found some awesome printables today! And they are FREE!!! 

Who doesn't love that!?

I've been using the adorable calendars from Anything But Perfect since January and now I need to reload the ink in my printer so I can print out some super cute To Do Lists. You should totally go check her awesome stuff! I wish she could make me a blog template...

How cute is this sign?!?! And it's a free printable! And it comes in 7 over colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and light pink)! I found it on Naptime Delights today while my kids were napping.
You know it's going in my room in this bright pink!

And OMG! Just look at this cutie y'all! Hopefully we'll be adopting her soon... Keep your fingers crossed for us.

 Thunder is shaking the house, which means I should hear little feet running down the hall soon. I'll be back this weekend to share my Summer Bucket List :)


Sophia

Changes

Hello, Bloggy friends! I hate to admit that I had to abandon my little blog for so long. Life just became way to crazy, but now that summer is here, I'm ready to jump back in! Warning-This post will be long!

Have you ever known deep down inside that you were ready for a change? I began to feel that way as our second semester was slooooooowly moving along. I was getting unmotivated and overwhelmed as the days passed by. As my school year was winding down, I decided that I was ready for a change and decided to transfer to a new school and a new grade level! After 6 years in kindergarten, I'm moving to first grade! I'm so excited for this new chapter in my life! I've already met my new team members and have been stalking first grade blogs and pinterest for ideas to get me started. I'm actually nervous, too. It's a big change for me!

The bad news that came with moving was packing up a classroom with 6 years full of teaching stuff. You know all those things you buy because you might use them some day or because you were sure you had some of them already but can't seem to find them now? Well, I found them! Seriously, how did I manage to lose, buy, and lose again so many packages of die-cut letters? It took FOREVER to get my stuff packed and many, many trips back and forth to get my entire teaching career out my closet and into my garage.

The good news about the move is that packing up your classroom is a great motivator to purge! You learn just how much you REALLY want to keep something when you're trying to figure out how to squeeze it into the last inch of space in a box that's already jammed full. As my garage became too full to fit my car or locate my broom, I became desperate to get moved into my new classroom. Thinking about all of that stuff in my garage all summer was causing me some serious anxiety! I mean seriously, I couldn't fit half of my car into a two car garage!!!

Luckily for me, my new principal said I could move my stuff into my new room after the other teacher moved out two days after the students left. I was so ready! When I first went into my room, I was blown away! There was so much stuff in there from the previous teachers, that there was no room for my stuff! Did I mention the school I'm moving into is 50 years old? Think about all of the teachers that have taught in that room. I know I have found things in there that are older than I am!

So before I could move in, I had to do ALOT more purging. It. took . two. days.
Two long, exhausting days filled with dust bunnies, garbage bags, donations, and cries of "What in the world is this?" The whole time my three munchkins were there "helping" in their own little way (ie playing with stuff as I put it all away). But it was so worth it! I went in on Sunday (day 3), emptied most of my boxes, and then began something I've wanted to do in my own classroom for years-I painted it! It was a long process, but I love the color on my walls and my room is starting to feel like...well, mine.

Here's some before shots... keep scrolling for the after painting pics

*these were taken after I purged the room-under all of that stuff was a room in pretty good shape, it just needs a little paint and some elbow grease :)

First grade-View from the hall

Looking at front boards

Cabinets to the right of the front board  (gotta have my sweet tea from Sonic!)       

 I think the cabinets are older than I am. And those stickers have got to go! I'm thinking of repainting the cabinets while I have my paint rollers out...

Back of the room (my munchkins waiting to be pushed on the cart to get more boxes)

Back wall is finished!

 Oh my gosh! Look at that mess! I had so much to put back away after I was done painting...

More walls finished, more boxes in the way, but my nieces put the desks in groups :)

The awful stickers are gone and the cabinets are starting to look better

Front of room again with tables set in groups

Already looking better

Monday morning I was exhausted, sore, and still had paint in my hair so the munchkins and I decided to reward ourselves with some fun in the sun :)

 Tomorrow is my last chance to touch the room again before the end of July. Hopefully I will be able to cover those orange boards with some fabric and get some final stuff shoved into the cabinets. I'll post more pics tomorrow.

Centers, Awards

I've been dragging this week because of some upper respiratory virus that has me sooooo tired by the time I can connect here in bloggy land. My super sweet hubby let me take a nap while he made dinner this evening so I have the smallest amount of energy to put into my blog before the cough meds kick in.

Here are some pics of what we are doing this week in our literacy centers. There are only a few photos because my phone was ready to die...

Matching picture cards of rhyming words.

Our ABC center:Writing the missing letters then coloring the vowels red and consonants blue.

 

Write the Room 

 There's more and I'll try to post them later this week. This is our first full week back from Christmas break and I'm trying to keep our centers simple this week so we can review routines and procedures. My sweeties seemed to have lost their minds right before Christmas, so we are going to move slowly back into our routine. <fingers crossed that they continue to do well>

I was reading through some of my comments from earlier this week and saw that I got the Versatile Blogger award! Thanks to  Kristy and Laurie . It just amazes me to know that there are people out there who stop by to read this little blog. Here's the rules for the Versatile Blogger:

1. Thank the person who presented the award to you and link back to them. (Check)

2. Tell seven things about yourself. (Check! see below)

3. Pass this on to 15 newly discovered blogs and let them know they've received the award

I'm passing it along to
1. LaKeta at The Polka Dotted Desk,
2. Tricia at Queen with Class
3. Caitlyn at Ms. Preppy
4. Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyle

I'll add more when I find more new blogs to pass this along too.  (It's Really Hard to find new blogs!)
Okay so here's 7 things about me.
1. My two favorite things are anything that's pink and shoes so I combined them into my pink walk in closet  :) This pic shows one small section of the closet.

2) I REALLY want to go to I Teach K in Vegas this summer! Anybody else wanna go? I'm taking donations ;)
3) Now that my oldest is in Kindergarten, I hate homework! I really don't want to practice popcorn words after teaching them all day. Sigh.
4) I'm secretly jealous of the blue eyes my babies inherited from Daddy and consider colored contacts every now and then. Just look at them!

5) I hate cold weather! (But love snow days!)
6) I'm a huge Twilight Fan! (Team Edward-Let Bella have him so I can have Jacob!)
7) I married my best friend right after high school and we've been married for 12 years. Our anniversary and Christmas gifts to each other is a cruise to Cozumel in 3 weeks! Woo Hoo!

So I was going to add to this post about the Organization Project that I'm doing, but my cold medicine is kicking in... I'll be back tomorrow with another post :)

Funniest story ever!

You all have one. That one little guy who is as sneaky as can be and will try to steal anything he can fit into his pocket, pencil box, or book bag. He's an equal opportunity kleptomaniac who will take anything regardless of it's value. He's been caught red handed with everything from an orange connecting cube to some body's snack. He doesn't mean any harm in taking any of this stuff, he just knows he wants it so why cant he just take it?
Well I have one this year. He's a sweet kid who wants nothing more than to make you happy, but his ADHD is severe and taking random objects from the class is just one of the challenges I have had to get use to. It's actually gotten to the point that anytime I see one of his pockets bulging, I know it's time to go pat him down and then inspect his book bag. He takes things from me and the other kids almost daily. If I don't catch it before he goes home, his mom will send it back the next day in Ziploc baggie. Today was no different from any other. He was actually having a really good day. (The other two who came in without meds today-well that's a whole other posting!) We were on our way to art class, just getting started to line up when I noticed him at the back of the line....shoulders hunched up, one hand in his pocket, and his eyes shifting left and right to see who was watching.
I knew right away there was something in that right front jeans pocket that he didn't want anybody to know he had! As I approach him, I see his pocket is bulging! He barely has room to get his hand out of it! I slid up next to him and the conversation went something like this:

Me: "B", what's in your pocket?

B-Nothing! (his rips his hands out of his pocket and his eyes are wide as saucers right about now)

Me: I think you have something in your pocket because I saw you playing with it. What do you have? You know we can't take toys with us to art class.

B: Nothing!

Me: Now "B" you know that if I have to, I will take it out of your pocket. This is the last chance you have to just give it to me. By now he is clutching his pocket with both hands. He knows I'll do it.

Me: Okay, move your hands. (I reach for his pocket and he gives up. He knows it's no use drawing attention to himself by arguing with me).
I reach into his pocket and grab a handful of stuff. There's a broken purple crayon, a Popsicle stick and what I think at first glance are some markers. But I keep looking at these markers. Something is not right. Markers are not this shiny, or all one color. Markers aren't usually retractable. As I stare at these colorful plastic tubes in my hands, it finally dawns on me what I'm looking at. I didn't recognize them after pulling them out of a five year old's pocket unwrapped!!!!!!

Those aren't markers my friends!!!! Those are unwrapped tampons!!!!
I was so shocked! I instantly start wondering if they're mine, then realize I ran out of those about a month ago and had to run to another teacher down the hall....Phew! That's a relief!!!

Me:(Now trying to hide them behind my back and keep a straight face just in case any other child just happens to recognize them. I can only imagine the stories they would tell later at home about Mrs. S and a handful of tampons!) Where did you get those?!?!?!?
B: From home. (He obviously has no idea what they are)
Me: Well I'm just going to hang on to them. I don't think your mom wants them back now.
And then off we go to art class.

After I dropped them off, I shared this story with the girls in my hallway everybody I met in the hall, because it was so unbelievably funny! And also, I wasn't quite sure if I should send them back home. Should I include a note? What in the world do you say in a note home about that?!
I decided that I would be horrified if my 5 year olds teacher returned the tampons that my son had taken to school that day and decided to just threw them away without sending a note. I am a little scared now of what he will bring in for his Show~N~Tell next week. :)

Stories like these are just one of the reasons I love kindergarten.

If you made it this far through this post then you deserve a freebie! I'll be posting tomorrow some classroom pics and a freebie or two! Stay tuned!