Getting in the swing of things...

I am finally getting in the swing of things...I think!  Getting up in the morning is getting easier...making it through the day without feeling exhausted is getting easier...having my lesson plans finished is getting there...and going to sleep by 10 p.m. every night is definitely THERE!  haha

I am loving teaching math again.  My incoming 5th graders are pretty low and I have had some difficulty with them.  I also have a few in there that could care less and it is difficult to get them to pay attention/participate.  So on Thursday when I taught them their lesson on decimal place value again (the other teacher had already taught them this...) I was worried, but boy, the got it!  All of them at almost the same time were like OH! and I could see that fabulous light bulb go off :)...one of my very favorite things about teaching :)

My 8th graders are still struggling with subtracting pos and neg numbers so I am looking for something to help set that into their heads, but they are adding, multiplying and dividing them wonderfully!

Last night I took 5 of my 8th grade girls to dinner at Chili's and then to see the Mortal Instruments movie.  I made the deal with them last year if they read it I would take them.  Unfortunately none of my 7th graders took the deal :-/ and I made it to try and motivate that class to read!  Anyway, we had a fabulous time!  It was fun and funny teaching them how to pay at Chili's.  One of them had a hard time grasping the part about putting your money on the tray and the waiter would bring your change back. :)  We all thought the movie was FABULOUS!  This made us happy because we had heard two bad reviews on it, one from our librarian and one from another student.  WE LOVED IT and hope they make the next one!  It made us want to go read the books again :)

My plan for the weekend is to relax, spend time with family, celebrate mother-in-law's birthday, take the boys fishing, and I want to get new math I CAN statements made.  My wall is looking pretty bare since my switch to math!

I hope you all have a fabulous long weekend!  Mine ended up being 4 days because I had to take my 13 year old to the specialist for his knee Friday.

Switching gears...MMI on Tuesday...Exhausted...

SO many different titles I could chose from for this post...as I mentioned before I am switching gears from communication arts to math...I volunteered...I have to say, even though I did TONS of work on com arts things, I am really happy.  I didn't realize how much I would miss math.  I am still teaching 5/6 math, but adding 7/8 math...new material to teach, a challenge I am happy to take....math is sooooo fun for me to teach...somehow I forgot! :)  (yes, it was just in May I was still teaching math ;) )

I have been working on some functional things for my room.  I am making a really cool set of math posters that I am IN LOVE with, and they match my color scheme ;)  I also made math meeting headings for my 5/6 group and for my friends' 3/4 group in both our color schemes.

 

I haven't uploaded to TPT yet, but I will update when I do...I guess I didn't take any pics of the ones I made for my buddy....

Still here...hanging on...first of school

Made it through my first week of school with kids....YAY! :)  It was a great, busy week!

We have decided to add another teacher to our middle school, the other teacher and myself have been going without a planning period...through this process I offered to take over math...so I will not be teaching com arts anymore, I will be teaching math...I am actually pretty excited, I really miss teaching math!!

Anyway, more to come...

Back to School Sale Today and Tomorrow!

Head over to TPT and check out my back to school sale...everything in my store is 20% off + enter BTS13 to get even more off!!

Classroom Reveal!!!!

Oh my!!  I am beat!!!  I forgot what it was like getting up early!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have just been busy busy...I really didn't think I would be this busy still!!  I went and got a pedicure today after school, I deserved it :)  My feet feel much better and are ready to start the school year.  Tomorrow night is our open house/ice cream social.  Love it!

I finally cleaned the mess up in my room enough to take pictures.  I am pretty sure I am finished, I have added and added things the past two days...

Okay, are you ready!?!?  I AM!

Here is one of my shelves...student mailboxes on top w/o names yet...lamp shade that I recovered using hot glue and burned the you know what out of two of my fingers...still needs a little help....

 

This is the shelf behind my desk...infamous teacher toolbox, pics of my kids....dum dum tree...my name that I made....

 

Class library....lime green lamp I got at Walmart...

 

Student computer for taking book tests and second recovered lamp shade...

 

Awesome "designer" clothes pins I got at Dollar General last night...there were four colors, I gave my teacher BFF the other colors because they matched her room colors...These are for anchor charts...

 

Another view behind my desk

 

View of classroom from behind my desk....

 

Subway art above board....glitter clothes pins below board...

 

View of room from door....

 

Sink area...I added a couple posters beside the towel dispenser after I took this pic....

 

Objective area

 

Glitter clothespins for student work...

 

more glitter clothes pins on my desk for "Star student work"

 

I made this on my desk for the No Name papers...

 

This is in front of my desk...

 

Covered a couple of cork boards with fabric and hung by my desk...also more clothes pins for anchor charts...

I hope you enjoyed the "tour"!  I am so proud of my room this year, so far the kids that have seen it are IN LOVE!

2 days!?!?! NOOOOOO

2 days until I report to work, that is counting today!!!  AHHHHH!!!  I am quickly writing this post while I am eating my breakfast.  I have been trying to clean the house and get a lot of laundry finished before we leave for Branson this evening.  We are winding our summer down with a trip to Branson and going to Silver Dollar City tomorrow...here's hoping that it doesn't rain on us tomorrow!!  Seriously, this past two weeks has been terrible weather, RAIN RAIN RAIN!  The exact opposite of this time last year.  So, instead of being in a drought, we are dealing with flooding.  My hubby runs a rural mail route and has had a TON of detour miles logged this week...

I will be linking up to MMI on Monday, but it might be late.  I also plan to write my classroom reveal post Monday night!!  SOOOOO excited about that one :)  I just have a few extra little touches to add to my room Monday...

MMI: 8/5/2013

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!  I have one week left until I report back to work!?!  This is not possible!  Sigh...I am assuming that next Monday will be my last MMI. 

This week I was hard at work putting my CCSS and Resources binders together.  I have sold a few in my TPT Store which of course makes me happy. :)  To me, my best products are the ones that I make for myself and then actually sell.

I really didn't make anything else this week...I have been lazy, and soaking up the time to be lazy before I can't be anymore.  My youngest had his 6 month check up at the dentist today.  On the way home from that we stopped at my Grandma and Grandpa's.  We turned it into a day, they order pizza, we rode the gator, picked some apples, and just did a lot of visiting.  It was nice and we should do it more often....

  I do plan to go work in my classroom tomorrow and get "it everything in place" so all I have to worry about on the work days are lesson plans. :)  That would make me HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

I did make something for home this week...I almost forgot!

Homemade bread...it was SOOOO good!

Sorry if this was a bit boring.  I plan to have a classroom reveal by next Monday.  I am also working on adding Math resource binders to my TPT store too.  I might even do lower grades...depends how ambitious I become!

Go check out the ever fabulous, Tara, at MMI