HILARIOUS VIDEO!

Please watch...the whole video. Absolutely hilarious!

Meet the Teacher Monday!

I am very excited about the new blog. Blog Hoppin' ! The idea is perfect! So today is "Meet the Teacher Monday", so here is a little bio for ya!

    I went to college (MTSU) in the same city as I grew up in! I started out as a pharmacy major...then changed to nursing. I realized as soon as I started a statistics class, it wasn't my thing. SOOO I then changed to psychology, and within a few months changed my mind again. I thought teaching might be something I could try. I decided on Early Childhood Education because I love the little ones.

     It was a challenging program, but I felt completely ready when I got to student teaching! My first placement was in Pre-k, and I absolutely loved it! It was a ton of fun, and the kids were precious! My second placement was in Shelbyville, TN in a third grade classroom. Shelbyville is about 30 minutes away from where I live. I was worried about student teaching in another town, but after one day those worries were all gone.

     I had an amazing supervising teacher, and I was in LOVE with the school. After a few weeks, I knew I wanted to teach there, so I asked if the principal could come watch me teach a lesson and give me an interview. She came a few days later, and after the lesson she offered me a job! It was only April and I had a REAL teaching job lined up for the fall!

    I felt so blessed. I am still there teaching third grade. It is a very small school, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Our school is very low income, but due to being Title I, we have lots of funds for those sweet kiddos! I love all of the technology at our fingertips. I feel like no matter what I can make the biggest impact on these kid's lives. I work with some of my best friends, and wake up looking forward to going to work everyday.
    
    So...that's my background, but here are some lil' tidbits:
Favorite Shows: I have alot! Mad Men,The Killing, Mike and Molly, The Big Bang Theory, 19 Kids and Counting...going to end it here, but I'm sure I am leaving out a few.

Favorite Hobbies: Cooking! I read/collect cookbooks. Some of my favorites are the Gooseberry Patch cookbooks. I love to read, and I am addicted to my nook color!

 Favorite Sport: Baseball!!! Go Braves!   But I do love my college football. OF COURSE my blood runs ORANGE! But I always support our SEC teams!

 I love children's books like so many of you guys! I could sit for hours in the Barnes and Noble children's section. I love Arthur books, anything by Cythia Rylant, and of course sweet Patricia Polacco!

Things I cannot live without in my classroom: Mr. Sketch markers, my ELMO and Promethean board, felt tip pens, DIET COKE with lots of ICE!, and Post it notes!
I need to improve on organization!  I am constantly losing things around my room which makes me look unprepared.

I am as single as they come, but I know he is out there somewhere. I can't wait to have a little family of my own. I am currently saving for a house, which is frustrating. It will be worth it though...one day.

I am so thankful for our little bloggy world we have! It has become a way to share ideas, frustrations, and laughs with amazing teachers around the nation.

Thanks so much to all those great teachers who make and share their wonderful ideas!

AND thanks for taking the time to read a little bit about me!

                                                           

Listen and Talk Poster

I love Saturdays! I have been laying around working on school things...from the comforts of my bed! (sigh) I was watching a Daily 5 Video on The Sister's website, and I came across a printable for the steps in "Listen and Talk". I, like many of you, like for things to be cute (fonts and pictures), so I made one. Click HERE to get it.

I found one like it on Pinterest that is cute too!

Happy Saturday!

Winner of the Giveaway!

I haven't figured out how to take a picture of the random number generator thing-a-mah-bob, so this will have to do....

The winner is comment #68 Amy

Amy said...

I follow...I teach 3rd, and I hadn't seen this Miss Malarkey book. Love it!

August 16, 2011 8:28 PM

Amy if you will email me your address I will mail you your book and gift card! (aslovesteaching@gmail.com)

Congrats and thanks to everyone's suggestions! I now have a huge list of read alouds! I chose Muggie Maggie, and the kiddos are loving it! They are relating to it because we are learning cursive!

Whoot Whoot GIVEAWAY TIME!

I absolutely love this teacher-bloggy world of ours! I am inspired daily by everyone's ideas. To celebrate now having 300 wonderful followers, I am doing another giveaway. So...drum roll please....

I am giving away a copy of

How fitting! I love the beginning of the school year!

A-N-D!

of course a....

worth $20

So how do you enter you ask? Good question...

1. Follow my blog and leave a comment saying so. (If you are already a follower, leave me a comment as well.)

2. Blog about the giveaway on your blog and leave me a comment with the link to the post.

3. Leave me a comment describing your favorite read aloud for the beginning of the school year. (Chapter book as well...I'm in the need for something new. Thanks!)

So there ya go...three ways to enter! This contest will end on Thursday night at 11:59pm. The winner will be announced Friday evening.

I hope ya'll have a fabulous week.

CAFE board headings

I  made some new CAFE board headings this morning. I wanted this year's headings to be simple and plain. I have the main words color coded because a) it draws more attention to the main idea  b) the new color coding craze actually makes sense to me. It's how I studied in high school and in college.


If you want the set without the color...just black, let me know. I'd be glad to email it to you.

CAFE Board Headings

 

Hope ya'll are having a restful weekend!

Anyone having a bad day? Please watch this!

Hilarious! I love this guy so much. I needed a good laugh yesterday!

Classroom Pictures

I have been promising to post pictures of my room, so here they are. You have to know a few things first:

1. I moved into a teacher's room who had been in there for thirty years, and she is a self proclaimed pack rack. I love her and miss working with her already. It took me a week to get rid of tons of...stuff I didnt...need.
2. The front door, computer table (legs), and TV stand were painted purple with gold, green, yellow, red, blue, and silver swirls....(going to end that comment there) I had a few AMAZING friends come and help me paint. I am so thankful for them!
3. Final Warning- I am still not completely finished. We have three weeks before our county is out for the Horse Show (Celebration- Walking Horse Show) Yeeessss I know, we just started this week, but the Horse Show is a huge deal in Shelbyville. I will post final pictures sometime in September.

I'm trying to not let everything overwhelm me.

Here is a before painting picture...I didn't take pictures of what it looked like before this stage because I care about my readers and didn't want you to pass out:

For some reason these pictures are fuzzy. Who knows!?!? I just need to break down and get a nice one, like the rest of you.

This is one side of my library. It's more of my reading nook. The shelves on the left will hold chapter book series. I also plan on painting the red shelf black to match the others. The huge bulletin board, the only one in my room, will be my CAFE board.

This is the main part of the classroom library. I have more books at home...staring at them now. I need to take them in but don't know if I have enough shelving. I haven't finished unpacking the books and sorting them. I have NEVER been this unprepared before. The kids don't know any difference because I haven't let them loose on the library yet. We are talking about how to take care of books tomorrow. We will also discuss how they are categorized.
The mess on the floor are some extra supplies I forgot to put away.

Note to self...clean that up tomorrow morning.

The wooden shelf in that corner actually got cleaned today by my sweet friend/assistant. It WILL be my writing materials area. (Thesauruses, dictionaries, writing paper, hole punch, date stamp, scissors, tape, baby name book, markers, sharpies, and their 4pocket writing folders.) Picture and details to come later. The tall tower of blue and red is the stack of book boxes. I'm still trying to figure out where we will place those. I used to have a shelf for them, but "someone" got a little book buying happy (@ Goodwill) this summer.

Ok, this looks bad, but I'm in survival mode this week. Just wait till next week. This is where my Every Day Counts math will go. VERY PUMPED about that. We went to training, and I fell in love with it. We haven't gotten our kits yet. They're suppose to be here before the Horse Show. Fingers crossed. Oh...that little white board to the very left is where I will write my "I can..." statements. More on that later.

This will be the meeting area (at the Promethean board). You also see the computers. I have 7 student computers. VERY BLESSED! My messy desk area is back there...somewhere. I won't bother you with that right now. It will eventually be recognizable. I'm student focused right now. The tubs are just supplies that I had the kids sort. Note to self..put those away tomorrow.

Here is the room from the front door. You can see my wonderful wall'-o-cabinets.

Just wanted to give you a quick look at the very RAW classroom. I will post more pictures when everything comes together.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

What a Week!

I have been so busy this summer! I moved rooms...pictures will be posted next week I promise! We had open house this evening, and I am so excited about my kiddos! I have missed blogging so much, and promise I will post everything I am doing next week for the "First Week of School".

 Now...off to soak my sore feet!