Currently & Classroom Updates!

 Happy Monday! Can you believe it's already time for September Currently? This year is flying by! I am excited to be linking up with Farley today and see what is currently going on in some of your lives!

Here's mine.....

I am listening to Cops....the hubs loves that show! He would totally go back to school to become a cop if he were younger. 

I am loving the yummy steak dinner we had to celebrate Labor Day. The hubs grilled them perfectly!

I am thinking I am so happy I made myself go work in my classroom for a few hours earlier. I got a LOT of stuff done and now my week will go much more smoothly!

I am totally wanting to start another home remodeling project. I really want to do my master bath and have everything picked out and planned....if only some $$$ would fall in my lap! LOL

I am needing to finish laundry, but totally not wanting to! It's my least favorite chore!

And last but not least....I love this part Farley added!

1. I am going to try very hard to start walking again. I haven't been walking because of the dreadful Florida heat, humidity, and bugs, but I am going to try walking on the treadmill.

2. I am going to try very hard to break my Pepsi addiction.....again!

3. I also want to take time to be creative and crafty. I have so many ideas for an ETSY shop and really want to get it started!

 Now...on to a few classroom updates!

I have my WBT rules in place. My kinders are doing so well at memorizing them! They aren't doing so well at following them all yet though....especially #'s 2 & 3...lol! I got these awesome free posters here!

I also managed to print my schedule cards and get them up!

I shared my helper area before, but here it is in use. The little bird on the limb is the helper for the day and then they move to the green chart until everyone has had a turn. The kids love it!

I decided to try using hand gestures this year and it is going great. The kids remember it better than me!

Just a general shot across the room....lovin' all the bright and happy colors everywhere!

I am excited to finally have my crayon drawers labeled and filled. I found these great labels here.

In the words of Phil (from Duck Dynasty) this just makes me happy, happy, happy!

I spent lots of time earlier sorting books that I inherited when I moved in my new room. They were all mixed up!!! Now I know this doesn't look perfect, but it is a vast improvement. I still have to figure out how I am going to label them, but at least they are sorted! 

This is one shelf.....

And here is the other one....

I got two new chairs for the library area too and I need to go back and get the green one too! I didn't think I would have room for it, but I do...:)

Here's the top of the biggest bookshelf. You can see my corner in the background. My desk is behind the shelf. 

I got my hall display ready to hang student work...finally! I had trouble finding the 12 x 12 scrapbook page protector sheets. I finally found them. The green background is supposed to look like a football field....our hall is football themed. Our school has a different hall theme for every grade level. This year it was a 2 color theme and my team had chosen orange and blue (this was before I transferred back). They went with a Florida Gator football theme. You can see a couple of the Gator themed icons above the green field. 

My kiddos colored their names on their first day of school.

Here's the whole thing. Nothing fancy, but it works!

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August Currently and SLANT!

So excited to be linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for August Currently! It's been several months since I have done this and have I missed the fun...:) So, what have you all been up to this week? I have been to four days of Common Core training....this was my first time ever being trained on Common Core and boy do I have a LOT to learn. I will get it though...with lots of reading and studying I'm sure. I am new to kinder this year and we have a new reading series and this is the first year we are using the Common Core standards....so, I am feeling a little like a brand new teacher...lol!  

So....here's my

Most of this is self-explanatory, but I will quickly go over them!

So, I am listening to Pawn Stars which my hubby is watching and I am also listening to my 18 year old son snore on the couch. He has been working all week, outside in the Florida heat mowing and doing yard work. He is one tired boy...:)

I am loving that I can finally get into my new classroom Monday to start sorting (what the previous teacher left), organizing, rearranging, and decorating!

I am thinking about all the things I am planning to buy tomorrow when I go to Gainesville to pick up some classroom goodies! I am hoping to find a few things not on my list too...lol!

I am wanting to get my hair done before school starts...these roots are showing....BAD!

I am needing to go wash the dishes! Oh, how I wish I had a dishwasher!!!

And....as for the three B2s must haves .....I think we all enjoy getting at least one new outfit for back to school....right! I don't plan to buy too much since I just bought lots of new clothes for my cruise at the beginning of summer (you can read about my cruise here, here, here, & here  on my other blog if you're interested), but I do want at least one brand new one! 

I can't live without REAL post-it notes....seriously! 

And, I love making things for my classroom....being crafty is in my blood! See my last two Monday posts if you want to see...:)

I also wanted to mention this awesome opportunity I found out about today over at Amanda's blog...Teaching Maddeness. It is called the SLANT Box project.....Sending Love Across the Nation to Teachers. It sounds super duper fun....I signed up already and can't wait to do it! If you are curious, click on the picture below and go check it out! 

Well....I am off to do the dishes and then off to bed! Getting up early to go shopping!!! Woot...:)

Have a blessed Friday!

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January Currently....and Happy New Year!

Well....it's that time again! I'm linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy Fourth Grade for January's Currently and you should too! Here it is!

I've been listening to way too many Lifetime and Hallmark movies over the last several days! I can't help it....I love them!

I am definitely loving that I have 6 more days of break! I have a long list of things to accomplish before next Monday though! I need to get busy!

I have been thinking and reflecting a lot lately about 2012 and what a blessed year it has been! I pray that 2013 is even better! Life is amazing right now and hopefully it will be even better is I can stick to my New Year's resolutions!

I am really, really wanting to open an ETSY store in 2013! I plan to sell both handmade and vintage items and can't wait to get it started!

I am needing a new fridge but want to pay off my new stove first! It's almost paid off.....so hopefully just a couple more months!

And last....but not least, my OLW is GRATITUDE! I have been trying very hard over the past year to have and show gratitude for EVERYTHING in my life.....be it good or bad. This is hard to do sometimes, but life is so much sweeter when you are grateful. We live in a world where gratitude is not shown as much as it should be. A few years ago, my sister gave me a book called Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. The book focuses on gratitude and is an excellent book! I plan to reread it this year. I just discovered that she has a website too.....you can check it out here.

I am leaving you with a quote from the book that I absolutely love. I have had this on my home bulletin board for years...it is so true!

'Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.'
-Melody Beady

May your 2013 be blessed and beautiful!

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December Currently & a Little Christmas Shopping!

It's that time again! 

I can hardly believe November is already gone....and for that matter, that 2012 is almost gone!!! 

Where did it go? I am glad I got a chance to participate in Currently this month....thanks Farley! 

If you've never participated, then you need to head over there and check it out!

Well....I had the bestest time out with my sister and 2 of my best girlfriends yesterday. We went to Ulta, them to Mimi's for lunch.....YUM! After lunch we went to Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx, Ross, and then stopped by Publix on the way home. I bought some Christmas decor for my classroom tree at Hobby Lobby. I still need to put it up....that's on the agenda for tomorrow after school. I bought bright colored decorations to match my classroom1 The kiddos are going to love it! We have Discovery testing all day tomorrow so they won't really be in the classroom but they will be excited to see it Tuesday! Anywho, here's the decorations I bought!

I found a few gifts and stocking stuffers at TJ Maxx, Ulta, and Ross. I was excited to find a good deal on a really well made Imperia' pasta machine at TJ Maxx for my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. They love to cook and are always making something special so I thought they would appreciate a machine to make homemade pasta. Have any of you ever made your own pasta? Is so, please comment with any tips you may have...:) I also found the cutest little sign that spells out cookies for my sweet gingerbread themed kitchen! Isn't it adorable? 

I also found a couple of things for my Secret Santa person at school as well as my ornaments for the ProTeacher ornament exchange! I can't wait to send them off and receive mine! I collect ornaments and can't wait to hang a new addition on the tree! Do any of you collect ornaments? I always buy an ornament when we go on trips and vacations or from shows I have been to. I also have ornaments that I've had since I was a kid! Here are a few of my favorites!

These two are both old....I've had them for about 30 years! My favorite aunt made them for me years ago....:) My sister had Little Red Riding Hood and her bear had a pink bow. Funny the things you remember!

 

These are from places I've been, Girl's Weekend trips, and shows I've seen! I have so many more that I would love to share, but we would be here all night! These last two are two of my favorites as well as my daughter's! Aren't they just adorable?

Be Blessed.....and make it a great week!

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3-Day Weekend, Monday Made It, September Currently!

Let me just begin by saying, I have thoroughly enjoyed this 3-day weekend! After being in school for two weeks, it was much needed to do some "catching up" on everything....house cleaning, laundry, blog stalking, resting, grocery shopping, lesson planning, and the list goes on! But now, on to the fun stuff!

For this week's Monday Made It, I finally finished my No Names plaque. I started it a month ago and it just kept getting pushed to the side since I didn't really need it as much as other things I was trying to finish up! I found the large clothespins at Michael's over the summer. At the time I didn't know what I was going to do with them, but I just had to have them! They were too cute to pass up....you know the feeling, right? They were all pink, but I spray painted two of them. They are  attached to a wooden plaque that I already had. I mod-podged turquoise blue scrapbook paper on it and attached the clothespins with a little Gorilla Glue. I wrote No Names with Elmer's glue and sprinkled white glitter on and added some rhinestones to bling it up a little!  I like the way it turned out! Be sure to head on over and visit Tara at 4th Grade Frolics to see what everyone is making! I'm glad it's down to once a month now....maybe I can keep up with that now that school in session!

Another thing I am sharing is the birthday postcards that I designed on Vista Print for my students. I used these last year at the high school and I had lots of them left so I am using them for my 5th graders too! On one of their get to know you papers, I ask them to tell me their favorite candy and that's what I give them for their birthday. My high schoolers loved it and couldn't wait for their turn! They were always excited to see what candy they had written down at the beginning of the year too! My 5th graders are just as excited....we've already celebrated three birthdays and are just starting our third week of school tomorrow!

 Speaking of birthdays, I finally got around to writing all their birthdays down on my giant cupcakes (see pic below....before I added names) and discovered that not only do I have a student with a Halloween birthday, but I have students with a Christmas and a New Year's birthday  as well...:) Too cool!

And last but certainly not least, I'm linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade for September Currently! I just puffy heart love Currently and reading what everyone is doing!

Be Blessed....and enjoy your Labor Day! Best of luck to those of you just heading back to school tomorrow! I hope you have a fantabulous week!

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August Currently & a Couple of Giveaways!

I am tickled to be linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade...  for August Currently! I tried to in July but was so new to blogging that I didn't know how to do it! So...here is my Currently....:)

I can't wait to go read some more!

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Now....for an awesome giveaway! Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to celebrate reaching 100 followers! I love Amazon and I'm sure you do too, so head on over there and enter! Check out her blog while you're there....it's awesome too!

Another super duper giveaway is happening over at Teaching Joys. This one is for one of those cool pencil sharpeners that everyone has been raving about! Do you have one? I don't, but I'm hoping to win this one!!! Hop on over and check it out....and again, check out her blog....it's great!

Be blessed!

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