I'm Going to Keep on Reaching High

Whew! The past three weeks have been a whirlwind! I thought changing schools but staying in the same grade level would be a breeze. Boy was I wrong! I have been staying at school until 6 (or later) like I was a first year teacher all over again!

We have been BUSY. And just when I thought we were in an awesome routine I had a new nugget show up at my door on Wednesday. Then GUESS what?!? His sweet cousin showed up on Thursday. So it's the 11th day of school and I already had two new nuggets. My motto: THE MORE THE MERRIER! (I can't complain because with my new nuggets I still only have 17 kiddos.)

We have iPads this year and let me tell you the kiddos are OBSESSED. I have incorporated "Golden Tags" from Kristen over at a Teeny Tiny Teacher and iPad is a Fun Friday Center. What an incentive. Maybe it's the iPad, maybe it's the honeymoon period. Whatever it is...it's WORKING! (I will be back later this week with my fave apps that are amazing!)

Tonight, I wanted to share our theme song with you. Our Title 1 Facilitator e-mailed this to us last week and it went perfectly with my Essential for the day. Be the BEST person you can be! (I adapted Ron Clark's Essentials into my firstie room!)

We sing this song EVERY morning. The kids love it! When I taught our essential we discussed how each person is special, just like they sing in the song. The kids LOVED that "The Black Eyed Peas" sang a song. (I may have fibbed a little and told them he made it for our school...oops!) My teammate and I are going to teach them hand motions once they learn the lyrics and perform at our Reading Night!

WARNING: This song will NOT leave your head. I find myself dancing around making dinner to it...I have gotten some strange looks from Nick (and Rudy) this week!

Before I leave you this Sunday I wanted to share my new vowel unit! Maybe it's my love of Big Bang Theory or the adorable Super Hero digital clip art floating around but I just had to find a use for them! So I am introducing Super Sam! He is a Short A Superhero. I am working on finishing up the rest of the "Vowel League" this week!

Stop by my TpT store to check it out! Well, Nick and I finally took the plunge (and bought a flat screen plasma TV...goodbye box tv!) so we are going to watch our first movie on it!

Have a great week back at school!

Catch Up!

As much as I L.O.V.E vacation time and being away from home, there is something about coming home that is so comforting! Nick and I had a great time at the beach eating enough steamed shrimp and crab legs to satisfy me until our next trip! Then a wonderful family wedding in upstate New York. It was gorgeous and it is always fun to be with family! Now it's time to catch up!

First Up..TpT Sale!

Since I was flying and away from a computer/internet/etc. I missed one day of the major TpT sale. Well mine is up and running for the ENTIRE week to make up for lost time! You can only use the TpT code to get 28% off today but I will be having a 20% off sale all week! It's my last week of summer so I'm feeling generous!

Over at Blog Hoppin' you can check out the rest of the major sales going on. As soon as I finish posting, I'm going on a shopping spree! I can't wait to grab some great goodies from some of my favorite teacher-authors! Thanks to Amy Lemons for an adorable little sale sign!

Here are some great Back to School products you can grab in my store!

Start a mentoring program with your classroom!

First Grade Family Economy! Great for teaching first grade economics!

The Handwriting Zoo helps students learn the correct letter formation!

Personal Spelling Dictionaries for students to keep all their important words!

Next up...Classroom Progress!

Here's a few pictures to share what I have been working on! I will finish up this week and show you more pictures as I finish up!

Now some projects I've been working on...

App Worthy behavior was inspired by all the cute "Brownie Points" I've seen on Pinterest. Since we are doing a technology theme in my school I have adapted it to make different apps. I created different apps with positive sayings like "Great Job!" or "Awesome!" Each time my class receives a compliment, does something correctly the first time, etc. they will earn an app. After we fill up the cookie sheet (iPad if you will...) they class will earn a reward. You can pick it up here at my TpT store!

I finished my birthday board that was inspired by Erica Bohrer's birthday bulletin board! I created these labels and threw them up on a hideous cabinet. They are just waiting for my sweet little nuggets faces to brighten it up! You can also grab these from my TpT store!

LEVELING BOOKS!

We all HAVING leveled books in our classroom libraries but who really likes to actually level them!?! (Ok, maybe I do a little bit because then I read them all and find some old favorites or discover new ones!)

Well maybe a year or two ago I found this great site from Scholastic. It's a Scholastic Book Wizard! All you have to do is type in the title and BOOM! you have Guided Reading Level, DRA Level, Lexile Level, etc.

So, after you finish shopping, go on over to Scholastic and finish leveling your books! That's what Rudy and I will be doing all afternoon! 

Happy Monday!

Currently and Back to School Freebie Friday!

UPDATE!!!!!!! HERE IS THE LINK TO THE POST WHERE I HAVE THE EDITABLE FILES FOR YOU!!! :) ENJOY!!!

It's that time of the month again. Thanks Farley! As much as I want to rewind to July, or even June..it's time to get it together because the nuggets are coming so soon!! =) 

I love to read a Ron Clark book each year before the new school year begins. He pumps me up like no other! I LOVE my job but he just puts it over the edge and gets me so excited to help mold some new minds and make a difference for our sweet little ones that will grace our presence for the next 180 days!

So I only had the past two days to put together an entire classroom. August 1st was the first day we could get into our rooms (it was really the 6th but I had a MAJOR panic attack and they felt sorry for me so they let me in early!) Nick and I have had a beach week planned for just the two of us (we realized we have NEVER just taken a vacay by ourselves, we are always accompanied by family and/or friends) and then this weekend we fly up to New York for a family wedding. Needless to say these trips have been planned before I moved schools. Worst timing EVER. I didn't think I would have to wait so long to get into my room. So I headed in at 7:30 Wednesday and finally called it quits when I was kicked out around 5. Thursday was a repeat of Wednesday. I even packed lunches for those days so I could keep working. I have these great before/after shots that I wanted to show you but...my wonderful camera is locked inside my new classroom. Seriously? I would leave it. No vacay pics either. To make you feel even more sorry for me, I dropped my iPhone and shattered the glass. I went to the Apple Store today and since it's Tax Free weekend they are not doing replacements. So no camera or phone for the next week. Actually it may be nice to be without a phone! Spend some quality time with the BF!

With open house coming up, I wanted to share with you some resources I have put together. (Shout out to Cara Carroll from The First Grade Parade for such great ideas!) These are the info papers I will give to parents at our Open House. I used to give an entire handbook (think college syllabus) but I'm pretty sure that got tossed in the trash as soon as it got home (if it made it there). I condensed into the most important things that parents want to know and need to know. Click here to download them in GoogleDocs. (Graphics are from the one and only Scrappin' Doodles.)

Thanks to Kristen at A Teeny, Tiny Teacher for this awesome behavior management plan!

Ok, the BF says it is TIME! I'm just praying I can RELAX and not think about the million and one things I will have to do next week...

Happy Friday!!!

Resolutions and Camp Lane

I am so happy that Amanda over at Teaching Maddeness is having a New School Year Resolutions linky party! With moving to a new school and starting a new year has really allowed me some reflection time! (All I can think of when I say reflection are all those reflection papers in Grad School!) So after careful thought here are my resolutions...

Resolution 1: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Ok, sometimes it is NOT that serious. I tend to take things way to personal and care about what others think. So as long as I'm doing what is best for my little nuggets and giving it 110% then I will be happy and won't stress!

Resolution 2: Use my time more wisely (aka QUIT CHIT CHATTING!)

Y'all...I could talk to a brick wall. Seriously, I love to talk. Sometimes if I'm home alone with Rudy I will talk to him (embarrassing I know...). I love getting to know people I work with and chit chatting with them before school, during planning, recess, and even after school. I have stayed at school until at least 5 or 6 just chatting with others! As much as I love talking to more co-workers I need to work hard this year on getting comfortable in my school and being able to go home at a reasonable hour! I have a puppy I need to take care of now, oh, and Nick, too! I want to be able to spend quality time at home with them, not working on school work =).

Resolution 3: Work Ahead of Schedule

This was something my teammate really helped me with last year. I was the QUEEN of procrastination. I think I've worked my way down to "Princess Procrastinator." I have already started on lesson plans (which usually I was throwing together like a day before school started!) and finished my long range plans.

I think I'm going to keep it at three reasonable, very do-able resolutions. I'll let ya know in November how these are working out! =)

TOMORROW I can finally get into my NEW classroom and get to work! I have a stockpile of things that I need to take in to the hot mess that is my room right now and tackle it! I'm hoping that 3 straight days of 8-5 with no break will get it done and allow me to enjoy my week away with Nick at the beach. He's been planning this for awhile and his job is stressful so he's in need of some serious R&R. Let's hope I can relax, too!

I wanted to share some pictures from "Camp Lane." I was so sad to pack up all my camping gear (NOTE: I DESPISE actually camping but I love the cuteness of it in the classroom!) and say goodbye to that classroom!

A Few Extra Pics...

Reading Tent and Math Manipulatives

One of my best friends painted the Totally Terrific Work Pond and Word Woods Tree! 

My desk area next to Camp Reading Tent and Vocabulary Picnic Bulletin Board

Ok, time to get everything together to and relax before I turn into "Hurrican Sarah" tomorrow! 

Don't forget to stop by my TpT store today. It's the last day of July and the last day of 20% off EVERYTHING! 

Monday Made It! and A SALE!

I am finally able to get in my classroom and get started on Wednesday! Whoohoo! (I am so excited to get in there and decorate a brand new room!) Since I only have three days this week and I'll be on vacay at the beach and then in NY for a family wedding I needed to get as much done at home so I can just hang it up this week! So, needless to say, I have been busy trying to get everything made and laminated. (Buying my own laminator at Wal-Mart has been a huge help and totally worth the 30 bucks!)

Before I show you my Monday Made It Projects from this week I wanted to share a fun way that I rewarded students for reading last year when I had "Camp Lane!" (More on Camp Lane tomorrow....)
I was inspired by all the little girl scouts in my class and their adorable "swaps." Well, my Super Volunteer and I created our Camp Lane Reading Hats. The students would earn pins for moving up reading levels, AR Points, and completing their weekly reading logs.  Here are some pics of our "Camp  Hats." The students LOVED their hats (they even asked to wear them outside the classroom!!) and would wear them everyday during Reading Workshop. It was such a fun and motivation way to keep track of their reading!

CAMP LANE'S READING HATS!

One of my little campers sporting her hat at home! Gotta LOVE it! 

It's amazing what foam, glitter and googly eyes can do!!! The OWL was the biggest one and represented the
grade level benchmark! All my kiddos earned their OWLS!! =)

Rockin' her hat over the summer!

Ok..now I am getting back to my new theme "WIRED FOR SUCCESS!" and linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made Its!

Project #1 HUGE iPad for the hallway

I am going to put this bad boy up in the hallway as part of my display. I'm still trying to think of a creative and cute saying. Maybe "Our "APPS"olute Best Work!" I'm not sold on the saying so if you have a great one that would work, please let me know!!

All I did was take a foam poster board, cover it with wrapping paper. Then I glued black paper down as the background, cut out some "apps" and a circle and square for the bottom button and VOILA. I have a life-size iPad for the hallway. 

Project #2 Finish Book Bins

I finally found enough book bins at Big Lots! (I think I took about 20 trips their this week and even had their truck schedule down...). I used Velcro to adhere the labels so that way I can change them out as the nuggets move up! You can check out my post from last week or visit my Teachers Notebook store to grab a FREE copy of my labels. 

Project #3 Classroom Jobs and Clips!

I created my classroom jobs a while back but just got around to printing and laminating them this week. You can grab a copy of my iPod Classroom jobs here in my TpT store! I wanted to create enough classroom jobs for everyone (or almost everyone) to have one. I will just move the clips over one job after the kiddos leave on Friday, so they will have a new job on Monday. The students who are "on vacation" will keep their clips at the bottom on the ribbon. This way I don't have to "think" too much about jobs each week! Just a quick move! 

Here is how I created my job chart and clips!

Job Chart:

1. Print, cut, and laminate jobs. 

2. Glue/Tape the jobs together and put a little ribbon on the top and bottom to hang. I am going to put the clips of those without a weekly job at the bottom so I can keep them in rotation. 

Clips:

1. I bought some clothespins at the Dollar Tree and they come all nice and neat in a row. 

2. I painted the clips with white acryllic paint. 

3. I spray painted with glitter paint I found at Hobby Lobby. 

4. Let them DRY!

5. While the clips are drying, print out numbers. (You can grab them HERE for FREE!)

6. Laminate and cut out numbers. 

7. Hot glue numbers to clothespins when they are dry. 

Project #4: Table Numbers and Cubbie Numbers

I printed out my table numbers that you can grab from my TpT store. All I did was add some scrapbook paper and laminate. Now I'm all ready to hang them from the ceiling in the classroom. For the cubbie numbers I just created some iPods and added the numbers. Ginger from GingerSnaps has some adorable iPod graphics that you should check out!  

Ok, time to spend some quality time with my lesson plans and try to get the first week or two planned! Or maybe I'll take a break from school stuff to watch Team USA! I'm lovin' the volleyball right now! I wish I still played!! 

EVERYTHING in my TPT STORE IS 20% percent off for the last two days of July!!!

A Little Randomness!

Happy Friday! Is anyone else SOOO excited for the Olympics Opening ceremonies tonight?!? My girlfriends and I are having a little Girls Night to watch together! A little homemade pizza, wine and good times! I can't wait!  

I wanted to give you a little update on my mentoring program that I told you about yesterday! Well, since I had the whole day off, I compiled all of the resources I have used and added a SUPER hero theme to create "SUPER MENTORS!" I am so excited to be able to share that with everyone. It worked so well at my school last year and it is SO beneficial to our students! You can check it out in my TpT or Teachers Notebook store! Please feel free to send me any questions you have about it! 

A Blog Award! I am so excited to receive the Liebster Blog Award! With being new to the whole bloggy world, it can be overwhelming at times! Thank you for reading! 

A BIG THANK you goes to:

And the Award Goes To....

Guilty Pleasure Linky Party!

O.M.G. Do I have some Guilty Pleasure! Nick constantly calls me out on all of these but it can't stop my love of all things embarassing!

The Real Housewives of New Jersey

As CRAZZZZY as Teresa is, I still can't stop watching! Oh and I have the hots for Albie! He is precious!

Burger King

Something about those double cheeseburgers and fries! 

Brusters Ice Cream!

I worked there for 2 weeks in high school and decided it was not a good idea for my waist line! =)

And last but not least, my newest Guilty Pleasure.....

Link up with Resource Room Teacher and share your guilty pleasures!

Well time to cheer on TEAM U.S.A!!!!!!  Happy Olympics!!!!