My classroom!

Hi friends!

Today was our second day of school..and, well, it went better than the first!! ha! I always forget how tiring these first few weeks in kindergarten is!

I'm here to show you a few pictures of my classroom! I always feel like it's a work in progress all year. And I hate how bare my walls are right now...but just give it a few weeks and anchor charts will be plastered everywhere!

This is the view standing at my door. I am SO jeajous of all of you with windows! I have none! I never know what the weather is like until we walk out into the hallway for recess! I love that little saying over on the left. And ignore those big boxes of math books that I haven't unpacked yet! :O

Here's my calendar wall. I mainly do calendar on the Smart board and with our interactive calendars, but we use this to refer to and to count the days we've been in school! The monthly calendar headers are from my friend Kristen. I am in LOVE with them!! 

These posters are from my Guided Reading: Fluency Fun packet. I use these posters as we learn new punctuation marks in our daily questions.

This is my "I can" board. I really need to work on putting this together in a packet..but as of now I do not have it together! I worked on it all year last year! ;)

I'm in love with those little kid silhouettes. I saw them in Maria's classroom {which is TO DIE for!!} and knew I had to add some of those little guys to my own! My chalkboard alphabet is from Maria, too! I love it!

 

 I am in LOVE with this little ribbon tassel! Jennifer from First Grade Blue Skies made the CUTEST one and I had to make one of my own! I made is using a whole lot of hot glue and all of the random ribbons that I had in my craft closet! They could probably coordinate a little better...but I was so happy to get rid of some of that ribbon!

These numbers are a freebie in my shop. Hop over to snag them up!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Back to School Printables

Hi friends!

I haven't officially started school yet, but it is getting pretty crazy around my house this last week! We've got 3 different open houses at 3 different schools! {mine, Ella's and then Luke's preschool} and with all the PD and meetings we've been having lately, I've hardly even had a chance to think about what I'm actually teaching next week!
Does this happen to you every year?! Because if we're being honest here..it does to me! Sometime a month from now maybe I'll take a breath! So...here enters my latest packet. Usually I name these by the month...but since we all start back at different times, I just went for "Back to School."

This packet has a TON of resources for your first few weeks back. And the best thing?! There are no PIECES to manage. We have to start somewhere, right?! Before we drag out all those pretty materials we have to actually teach them how to properly use them. Can I get an amen?!

So take a closer look at what's included!

And the best part?! TpT is throwing a quick 1-day sale for all of us who haven't grabbed our back to school supplies yet! :) So hop on over and take a look! {click any of the pictures to visit my TpT store}

{thank you Printable Princess for the button!}

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Welcome letter

Happy Sunday, friends!

I went back to school this week on Wednesday for professional development. I still have another week of PD before school starts on the 25th! We've slowly been getting open house packets together and something I wanted to share with you is my welcome letter! I think it's so important to have a warm welcoming letter to your parents when they come for meet the teacher night. There is always so much going on that you're lucky to talk to each parent for just a minute! So, the first thing that I always place in my student's packet is a welcome letter!

This "a few of my favorites" idea came from the fabulous Cara Carroll! I started it 2 years ago and my parents really pay attention to them! I've had parents bring me a random Sonic cherry coke after school or a latte in the morning. Bless them!!

If you're wanting to create your own letter just like mine, click HERE to get the editable {FREE} version. Just click inside the text boxes and insert your text! I have left links to the fonts that I used to create my letter.

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Meet the Teacher!

I'm linking up with my good friend Stephanie for a "Meet the Teacher" linky! It's so much fun to learn a little more about each other!

 Let's start with a little bio...
I am married to the most wonderful husband! Josh and I went to high school together but were never really close. We reconnected in college and became close friends. He kept on wanting it to be more than friends...I wasn't ready yet! 4 years later we started dating and the rest is history!

We have a 6 {6!!! I can't believe it!!} year old- Ella and a 3 1/2 {that half is very important!} year old- Luke. They are the greatest gift from God! Ella is spunky and opinionated and will be a very good leader one day. Luke is charming and hard headed- just like his daddy!

This will be my 6th year teaching. They have all been in Pre-K and Kinder. I love my little babies! I took a year off to stay home when we had Luke and couldn't stand to be away from the classroom anymore!

 Q: These are a few of my favorite things…
new school supplies, labels, hugs from my little boy in the morning when he sneaks into bed, coffee with sugar and half and half, craft supplies, the colors pink, orange, and teal. Breakfast pizza, texts from my husband during the day, west Texas sunsets, reading anything!
 
Q: If you weren’t a teacher, what would you want to be?
I think a graphic designer? I used to think I wanted to be an Interior Designer...I even changed my major for a year and a half. Then I had an internship and realized it was all office work! Blech!!
 
Q: Three little words that describe you.  
optimistic, caring, creative


Q: Finish this sentence, “___________________, said no teacher EVER!!”
Please touch me with those snotty fingers! I love it when you do that!!

Q: It’s your birthday and you can invite anyone {dead or alive} to the party. Who are you inviting?
Oprah. She's so inspirational and has helped so many people! It would be great to sit down and talk to her. 

Q: If someone wrote a book about your life, what would be the title?
Adventures with Mommy!


Q: You get to pick one superpower. What is it?
magic-wand cleaning-thing! I actually don't mind cleaning...but I hate the TIME it takes to do it! 

Q: What’s your favorite quote or saying?
SO SO many! I love quotes. You can see my family pin board HERE and my teaching pin board HERE. 
Love your family. Spend time, be kind & serve one another. Make no room for regrets. Tomorrow is not promised & today is short.Unknown

Q: If you HAD to sing one song on American Idol, what would it be? 
Probably something old school! Some good 'ol Dixie Chicks {Earl, anyone?!}

Q: Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Definitely morning! I can't stay awake past midnight. And that's only on a special occasion! lol! I love the quiet time with coffee in the morning before the house is awake. You can't get any better than that!

Q: What’s your favorite resource that you’ve created in your TPT shop?
I love this Alphabet Interactive Notebook pack! I've used it the past few years and my kiddos adore theirs! 

Q: Share something we might not know about you!
I had scarlet fever when I was in college. You thought it only happened like, in the 1900's? Well, leave it to me! It was horrible! It was mostly my fault because I wasn't taking very good care of myself but I am hoping to never experience that again!

Now hop over to Stephanie's blog and read about some more of your favorite teacher bloggers!!

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Back to school Blog Hop!

I'm joining some of my best friends in a blog hop today!! This hop is full of back to school tips, tricks, and freebies!! I love back to school for so many reasons, but I SERIOUSLY love to organize. You guys. For real. There's nothing like the feeling of a neatly organized room with labels all over. 

I have a confession. I had a great summer to-do list. 

I crossed off many things!

But there's something that I didn't have the time to finish...

 Look at those chair pockets! {don't look at the room. this was taken on the LAST day of school last year as were were clearing everything out!} They have been LOVED to pieces. Literally! More than a third of my chair pockets look like this and I had the best intentions of making a new set. Maybe by Christmas I will be motivated again?!

So, I'm going to use a new system to organize our interactive notebooks, calendars, book bags, and such until I get a new set made! I bought these magazine bins at Mardel this weekend. I bought 1 for each of my tables. 

 

These bins will be on our back counter {where the sink is} and I will have a table leader each day that is responsible for getting the materials out. Easy peasy!

If you want to grab the labels, click HERE for your freebie!!

Now hop on over to my friend Megan's blog for the next tip! 

{click the button!}

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Teacher Life Map!

I had the chance to meet a few of my dearest blogging friends recently!! I met April from A Modern Teacher and Reagan from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits a few weeks ago when I was on vacation. We had so much fun chatting!! {forgive the lighting! We were inside a restaurant at night!}

 April was SO SO sweet to bring Reagan and I one of her fancy new teacher planners. She calls them the Teacher Life Map.
 Y'all... I have a problem with planners...my school gives us a calendar with everything all pre-typed out for us {district dates. PLC's, birthdays, etc.} and it is great...but then I HAVE to use a desk calendar for my desk. Then, I have my teaching binder, post-its everywhere at home, and then menu lists strewn all over the place. I love a good planner.

Here's the monthly shot. I LOVE using washi tape on my calendar..I usually color code with  the tape...the green here is family, yellow is kid's stuff, pink is school, and stripes are appointments. Plus, it's pretty aesthetically pleasing, right?!

 The Teacher Life Map has weekly pages, a place for meal planning each month {big 'ol puffy heart LOVE that} a place for a monthly curriculum overview, notes from meetings, and I could keep going! It is PERFECT for a teacher!! This little guy is not leaving my side this year!

Visit April's post HERE to take a closer look at some of the other pages. I'm so excited to have this this year!

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Back to School sale!!

Hi friends!!
Have you heard?! Teachers Pay Teachers is having their big back to school sale tomorrow and Tuesday!! If you're like me you are already in back to school mode and have been prepping, planning, and preparing for the upcoming year. I've been thinking a lot about my class last year...I really miss them all of a sudden and really look forward to seeing them at meet the teacher night! {Isn't that your favorite part about that night?! I LOVE it when my old kids come back with pictures and sweet hugs...oh, I'm getting excited!}

If you're like me you've already scoured the aisles of Target for good deals! Thank goodness for a back to school sale!! Everything in my store will be 20% off! If you use the promo code BTS14 you get an EXTRA 10% off!! You can't beat that, right?!

 {button credit: More than Math by Mo}

You can get some great deals on these packets in my store:

I'd love to hear what's in your cart!! I've got a TON of stuff in mine!! Happy shopping friends!

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Five for Friday!

Hi friends!
I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for this week's Five for Friday!

I have not had an exciting week this week..Ella has been sick so we have hardly gotten out of the house! So....my pictures come to you from {mostly} last week! 

I got my first Stitch Fix box in this week!! My bestie teammate has been talking about about Stitch Fix forever and then after seeing all of my favorite bloggers doing it...I caved! And I am SO glad I did!! I don't live in a big city...we're not small, but I don't have a ton to choose from. Also, I don't have patience for shopping. I know! I like to go in a store and grab exactly what I need. I shop online a lot! So having a stylist choose clothes that fit my style sounded PERFECT!! My box was totally amazing...I would've kept every single piece except some didn't quite fit. These are the pieces I kept! LOVE!

 We went to down to the hill country of Texas last week....my FAVORITE part of Texas! If our family wasn't here in Lubbock Josh and I would be out of here and down there! So it's nice to visit every once in a while. We did a little fishing and went to Schlitterbahn! It was the first time we've taken the kids to a big water park and they LOVED it!

 

They're the cutest, right?! ;)

I've been trying to work on my classroom...it's slowly coming along! I've posted a picture of my word wall on Insta and you guys went crazy! I got the idea from this blog. I adore her black background...but I don't have a bulletin board for my word wall...I just tack it up on the wall so I just used the bright paper! I bought a pack of bright scrapbook paper from JoAnn's and trimmed it down to 10x10. I tried it at 12x12 and when I laid it all out...it was ginormous!! 

If you want the word wall labels, snag them up HERE.

 I've been working on getting my last few TpT projects finished up this week before next week. I LOVE using sight word chants when I introduce a new word. These are included in my Guided Reading: Fluency Fun packet.

And lastly. YUM!! I tried this 24 hour Whole Wheat pizza dough recipe this week and it was FABULOUS! The kids helped me {hence the funny shape :p} and we grilled it outside...it was great! 

So...what have you been up to this week?!

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