Day in the life of.....me { LINKY }

I'm linking on up with my friend Jessica over at Second Grade Nest for a day in the life linky...tell me about your day and link on up by clicking her button:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I pretty much head downstairs for a cup of coffee and to read my devotional for the day.  I wish I said I pray longer than I do but I don't.... :o(

 

Next I straighten either my hair or my 13 year old daughter's hair...and make sure lunches are ready.

 

 

 

 

Middle school car pool...

 

 

 

Settling in/morning procedures

 

 

 

Word Work...

 

 

 

Practicing our 'rotations' which is a modified version of the Daily 5 before we start reading groups.  Gotta get them trained!!!

 

 

 

 

They are so awesome!!  Earning pom pom marbles and links for class compliments...

 

 

 

Math warm up/calendar time.

 

 

 

 

Oh my goodness!!! My dad's friend donated 6 laptop computers to my classroom with software already downloaded on it!!!  Today was the first day we used them.  AMAZING!!!!!

 

 

 



 

Daily exercise is a must for me...then I am a taxi for my kids...LOL!!  There you have it more or less!!!  What is your day like?

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I { heart } calendar time....now



Ok ~ let's face it!  Whether we want to admit it or not there's a part in your school day you might not LOVE.  For years for me it was calendar time.  In fact last year at some point I just stopped doing it.  { gasp } The horror! 

LOL

 I always felt like it was the same thing ~ ~ blah! blah! blah!

Well thanks to my sweet, helpful friend Traci over at Dragonflies in First I seriously LOVE calendar time.  I read one of her blog posts and grabbed her awesome freebie and now - voila!  I feel like a new woman!  Here is the link directly to her { calendar freebie }.  Traci has completely transformed the way that I approach my calendar time.  Our district this year is diving right into the common core and so many of the features of Traci's calendar freebie are right on!  My kids love it and so do I...they are all actively engaged and I'm NOT wasting paper...a win! win!

 

So here are the interactive boards that they kids write on during calendar time.  I laminated them at home but first mounted them to pieces of thin cardboard/cardstock.  The thin pens will work on this not the fat ones and of course I added a little pom pom eraser like Traci did too. 

 

 

I share my calendar board with my skill of the day ( that is what is written on the bunting - skill )  One of the things I didn't like also about calendar was switching the month headers and numbers each month.  As you can see the kids write the numeral date above.  We also move the clip for the days of the week and months of the year.

 

 

 

 

As you can see the kids follow along with the 10 frames, date, days - yesterday/tomorrow/tomorrow, tens and ones, and we do tally marks instead of money.  All I can say is Traci is brilliant!!!!

 

 

 

 

The pics are a bit blurry but you get the idea!  The kids are actively participating and they really like it.  There is also a spot for the one less/ one more ten less/ten more spot too.  We need to be in school for a higher number of days to get to that part.

**There are only 3 ten frames so for that part we keep track of the days of the month but we will add days in school for the 10 less/10 more part.

 

Oh and I won't lie I spent about 5 minutes fixing this... this afternoon.  It will happen ~ just expect it.

 

 

So what are you waiting for - train your kiddos and grab this awesome freebie my friends.  Oh BTW if anyone knows of a song to 120 let me know in the comments.  Now that is a standard I would love a song instead of just chanting the numbers with a few claps and snaps every so often. :o)

 

 

 

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Five for Friday ~~ READ all about MY FIRST WEEK

What a week!  I had  a GREAT first week back and it was sooo awesome to meet my new little crop of firsties!  They are soo cute!

We had fun getting to know one another...so I had to share about it all.  I linked up with Doodle Bugs for 5 for Friday

 

 

 

OK ~~  so I cheated just a tad....my camera is still at school and these are from last year...but you get the idea.  Same frame, same teacher...different kids.

 

We talked about how our names are special then we pulled some math into it by discussing patterns.  After showing them some pattern choices we created bean patterns on our names...so fun!

{ Name unit }

 

 

Next we got to know the teacher ~ this was so much fun.  If you look closely you can see at the bottom I wrote out a bunch of adjectives to describe me and they had to circle which they thought applied.  { back to school pack }

 

 

 

If you have an owl theme this craftivity is a must...so cute!

{ owl craftivity }

 



 





Of course we had to discuss class and school rules...this went perfect with an Officer Buckle read aloud. 

{ Officer Buckle Pack }

 

 

Oh ~ and just for fun I have to brag about my little man...he got 100% on his state math test. WHoo- Hoo

 

 

I had a great first week ~ tell me about yours and link on up!!!!

 

Oh and just on a side note ---

 

 

{ It's here...it's finally here! }

 

 



 

 



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Meet the Teacher { that's me!! }

I'm so excited to link on up with Blog Hoppin' to tell you a little about myself.  First off I have to share my picture from 2nd grade..

 

 

I was the luckiest little girl in the school cuz my mama made lots of my clothes growing up.  She was an amazing seamstress!!!  When I went to one of the formals in high school I came home irritated because 5 other girls had my SAME dress.  Well that was quickly fixed!  From that year on my mom made my formal dresses --- yes, I went to Homecoming with the Homecoming King and wore a beautiful dress that mom made.  She was soo talented!

 

 

The most  precious/ most beautiful woman in the world...I miss her so much!!!

 

 

I am a hard working, wife to an AMAZING husband who 'gets' me like no other.  I am crafty and determined, dedicated and loyal.  I am a proud mom and feel honored EVERY single day that God chose me to be their mom.  I have passion even after 20 years for teaching and love my students so much!  I am creative and with that in mind...don't always put my laundry away on time.  I can throw an Awesome children's party but ask me to throw an adult one and I'll pass.. LOL

Tell me about yourself and link on up

 

 

 



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Classroom Reveal { Whooo's Ready for School? }

I have been so busy getting my classroom ready and I get soo giddy like the rest of you I'm sure.  I always tell my hubby that Back to School Night is like the prom for teachers...ok well maybe not.  But, it takes a lot of prep and you get all nervous and want to look good...etc.

 

Here are my owl themed classroom pics.

 

 

 

My sweet mom in law reupholstered my rocking chair cushions, a kid chair and made me darling owl chair pockets....HELLO!!!!  How great is she?!?!?

 

 

 

 

 

For my instagram followers...remember those glitter tape clothespins?!?!  Here they are in action, I will hang their work from them ~ easy peasy!!!

 

 

 

 

I don't care for 'jobs' so I pick a helper of the day and they pick 1 friend...It's so simple and all I have to do is move the pencil to the next holder.

 

 

Owl nameplates waiting for some names to be put on before Wednesday!!!!

 

My owl table numbers hot glued to a tissue accordion from party city.

 

If you like my owl things you can purchase my Owl Themed back to school pack { here }

 

 

 

My class library...I made those READ letters in the summer if you want to read about how to do that click { here }

 

 

This is where I will be putting 6 laptops that I just found out I'm getting for FREE from a friend of my dad's HOLLA!!!!!!  It will already come with downloaded 1st/2nd grade software.  God is good!!!

 

I always put something like this out on the first day...some people don't make it out to Back To School Night and I'm always amazed at how many parents come in on the first day and grab some of these to donate to the classroom.  I'll take the help anywhere I can get it. :o)

 

My chevron desk...I just need to add my Erin Cronden planner which is at home and I'm all set.

 

 

I sewed this cute banner up real quick...don't get too excited I'm sooo not a seamstress but this was soo easy!

 

 

My class is kinda on the girly side...my friend told me I had a 'girl' classroom so does that mean I get all the girls?!?!  I like it and since it' s my home away from home I'm sure I can get the boys to love it too.  I can't wait to see what your rooms look like.  Welcome back friends!!!



 

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