July 2012

Currently

Monday, July 30, 2012

I saw this on the great Heir to Blair's site.....and thought it was fun...

Current Books~ Fifty Shades Trilogy, Love the One You're With, and Kagan

Current Playlist~ Home by Phillip Phillips (I am embarrassed about this one. I loved the song and looked up who it was....really? American Idol?!) and Old School- DJ Kool...Let Me Clear My Throat. Ha!

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure~ NAPS!! What am I going to do come August 13?!

Current Color(s)~ Aqua, Yellow, and Grey- fresh and fun

Current Drink~ REAL Coke

Current Food~ any and everything...could be a problem!

Current Favorite Show~ Property Brothers, Kitchen Cousins, and Love it or List it. OK...one more...Sarah's House- seriously, Sarah come do my house!

Current Wish list~ My dream house and new fall wardrobe (that I don't have to pay for)

Current Bane(s) of my Existence~ my son's refusal to sleep

Current Slang or Saying~ going old school on this one...."Dude" Don't know why or when, but it has made it's appearance and has decided to stay, dude!

Current Outfit~ Black skirt and tank top....what am I going to do when I have to start dressing professionally?

Current Excitement~ Olympics

Current Mood~ tired from a little boy who has decided he needs to come visit every.single.morning at 4am! and stressed...ONLY 2 weeks left of summer and a birthday party to pull together! and happy, The Mr. is on vacation next week!

Off to the gym to work on one of those current issues...

Show Us Your Life

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Linking up with Kelly to show how I display pictures in my home...enjoy :)

We have a very open concept home- so in reality these are all in the same area.

living room

hallway

sitting area

dining room

And if you want to hear about my indecisiveness on the quest for the perfect mirror for my home...read below.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

One thing that I am horrible at is making decisions. That would be why I have spent over a year (and the majority of my summer) trying to find a mirror that I like. The mirror was to replace this gem-

Nothing horrible, but it had done it's job and it was time to move on.

The first mirror choice and the one I liked the best came from Pottery Barn (of course). But at $699...Did I mention I was a teacher?!

So I thought I would downsize to this PB mirror, but $250 still (not including the extra shipping because it's only available online) wasn't the most reasonable.

Then, I came across this beauty at Hobby Lobby (last year) and kept going back and forth and just couldn't pull the trigger on it.

(notice the similarity between it and the PB mirror)

This summer, when I REALLY kicked up the mirror search, I came across some great ones at Kirklands. Including this one-

So, if you've made it this far in the world's most boring post I congratulate you! Hang on the mirror saga is almost over!

I narrowed it down to these mirrors and then received the 'golden ticket'- a 10% off coupon at PB!! That NEVER happens. SO, I sat down at the computer ready to purchase when...on back order until September! REALLY?!

This leads me to bringing home BOTH the Hobby Lobby and Kirkland mirrors. And oddly enough the decision became easy at this point because The Mr. walked in and said, "What is this, a fun house?" and later "Do we live in a disco?" I will give you one guess as to which mirror he was talking about!

So I present to you our new mirror

Do you like it?

Wordless Wednesday

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

(somewhat) Crossing things off our Bucket List!

Teacher Tuesday

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Well, remember the book I was going to start reading…

I did. And then realized it was for intermediate levels! :(

I did, however, gain some ideas from the pages I read:

-having a reading journal that they must connect the text they are reading to themselves

-having a set schedule for responding to certain journals on certain days, so it doesn't get overwhelming

-having silent reading time, and allowing students time to share/discuss the books they are reading

So, I am now reading:

source

I had some Kagan training at the end of last year and loved it! I was supplied the book with my training, but didn’t have time to read it. So, now I am so that I can better prepare myself for a Kagan room.

The first thing I have done to be more Kagan friendly is get rid of my student desks and move to tables. This is HUGE for me, and I hope that I can actually handle it.

I have also made this sign:

Nothing fancy, but you can get yours here

This was an idea shared at the training I went to. Part of a Kagan classroom is giving praise and support/coaching. The idea behind this poster is that every day a student will be chosen to come up with the slogan of the day (i.e. ‘Your brain is on fire’) and it will be listed for the class to reference. I will be printing a regular size for the hallway entrance and a ½ poster size (laminated) for the classroom.

On a more creative note, I started making a bunting for my classroom using these fabrics:

FUN! Don’t you think?

Anyone else out there Kagan trained, or use the strategies in your classroom? I would love to hear from you and any tips you can offer!

Bubble Necklace, Take Two

Monday, July 23, 2012

Soooo remember the bubble necklace from the other day???
Well, Leslie over at Blonde Ambition (you know, the one I saw it from first) is giving one of the GroopDealz necklaces away!
If you would love to get your hands on one of these fabulous necklaces, head on over to her blog and enter....

And, if you don't want to take the chance of not winning and missing out on this great deal, GroopDealz has it for sale until Wednesday!

...see you (my one ~~lonely~~ loyal follower ;) tomorrow for Teacher Tuesday.

Three...

Sunday, July 22, 2012

No one warns you about 3. All you hear about is 2. WHY?!

I skated through two thinking how lucky I was. Then 3 hit, and all hell broke

loose! Now I know how lucky I am to have an amazingly sweet, kind, and good
child, but 3 will give anyone a run for their money.

The root of the problem lies in their quest for independence. At the ripe old age

of 3 they have decided that they know everything, can do everything, and want

NO help! Oh, and they have a mind of their own and words that can now

express that mind…..TROUBLE!

Needless to say I have a few more grey hairs from this past year, and I will be

more than happy to say goodbye to three. I’m am just hoping that something

magical will happen when he blows out those 4 candles!

Terrible Two’s have nothing on Terrifying Three’s…and now you have been

warned (and can be prepared).

source

The Bubble Necklace

fashion Saturday, July 21, 2012

have you heard/seen of it??
I first saw it on Leslie, over at Blonde Ambition

Blonde Ambition

Then a couple of weeks later, Shelli over at Alamode Maven had it

Shelli found her's for $40 and Leslie doesn't say (but I'm sure it is comparable)

That brings us to now. Tuesday's GroopDealz was....
$19.99 Bib Statement Necklace! 12 Colors Available! Seller Includes Tracking Numbers!

still some left get one here

BUT!!! I have one better for you!
BEHOLD the steal of the week...similar, no?

and...wait for it....wait for it.... ONLY $6!!
I found mine at Charlotte Russe, not a store I frequent, but was happy to find this deal!

Teacher Deals and Reads

teacher deals Thursday, July 19, 2012

'Tis the Season to stock up and save, Teachers!

I already posted about some great finds at Michaels here.

Target's Dollar Bins are full right now with goodies like these:

The big box store that starts with a W (I just can't bring myself to type the name of the store) had these great boarders for .88!

Hurry up and go stock pile! (because that's what teachers love to do!)

I'm also going to start reading this book

I've been carrying this book around for 2 years now and have never brought myself to read it. My goal for this week is to read section 1. Have any of you ever read this book, or care to join me?

Teacher Tuesday

word wall Wednesday, July 18, 2012

...or Wednesday. Oops! But I have a good excuse:

We spent our day at the beach- crossing things off our bucket list!

Back to teaching....Last time I mentioned my word wall-
Here is a look at the Word Wall Chant Sticks I've been working on...

I jazzed up my boring craft sticks with some extra spray paint I had laying around.
Obviously you could go all natural or buy the colored craft sticks.

I then Mod Podged the names/chants to the sticks

The finished product:

I added decorative duck tape at the top

One side has the name of the chant, the other describes what to do

And a Crystal Light container to keep them in

I've also been working on these 'Pick Me' sticks.

I found this idea here

First I painted my flower pot with chalkboard paint

I then used my circle cutter,

Laminated them, and attached them to sticks with hot glue

And there you have it!

My students get a number in my classroom that corresponds to their mailbox (it's easier to hand back papers, see who is missing, and you don't have to redo 5 million things each year). I plan on using mine for calling students for certain activities or grouping. I painted my pot with the chalkboard paint so that I could write pick me on it.

...and a teacher tip:

A fun, easy, and off the counter way of storing your flashcard. Simply hole punch your flashcard, place through metal rings, and hang from wooden dowels. I attach the 3M hooks (placing in opposite directions so the dowel doesn't fall off) from the bottom of a cabinet to utilize vertical space.

Kids can easily grab them and do flashcard drills with each other. The cards stay neat on the rings so it's easy to clean up.

Do you have any good teacher tips to share? Would love to hear them!

MIA

Monday, July 16, 2012

Have you missed me? (my one lonely follower and my family-ha!)

The Mr. was on vacation last week so I was having fun spending quality time with the family. We didn’t go anywhere, but stayed home and worked on the house with some relaxing in-between.

Here’s a look at some things we were up to: