Here we go! Back to school tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the first day of school for me. So naturally, I was a bag of emotions all day. At one point, I was anxious for all that the week offers. Smiling students, new routines, and excited students who just want to have fun. But I also felt a hint of sadness. My two sons will be the same school this year. Of course that is not making me sad- but I think its the reality that my boys are growing up. I know that sounds silly since my oldest is going into second and my other son is entering first grade. You know how fast time goes... guess I just wanted it to pause for a minute. I put my oldest son to bed tonight in tears because he doesn't want to be away from me.... that didn't help my tears! LOL....

I know tomorrow will be great! In fact- I know the entire year will be great..... right!?!?!? LOL

This week I am going to share daily what I did and of course how it went. It will kinda be like .... a week in the life of a teacher!

Hey- also... thank you so very much to Bridget at Little Lovely Leaders. Bridget has been kind enough to help me get started with my blog. I will be making many changes soon! Thanks Bridget! AND.... look... I have 22 followers. I am excited.... YIPPEE!

Thank you!

So I am very, very new to the world of blogging!  I can't even begin to explain how much I have learned in the past two weeks. Everyone's blog is packed with new and exciting ideas. I feel like I have made so many "friends" in these past two weeks. Additionally, I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have dropped in on some of your blogs. I am learning so much from you all and I love it! I have a notebook that I continue to scribble notes in! My "to do" list is growing and growing!

I really want to say thank you! Your willingness to share your ideas and talents is very much appreciated. I only hope that when I can take the time to focus on my blog, that I am able to inspire you and offer you something new.
I am so thankful for the time that you all have taken! Thank you for inspiring me to make this school year one to remember!

Now- I need to get rolling on this blog!

My favorite Man.... Mr. Potato Head!

Who could not love Mr. Potato Head? He's adorable, funny, and so stinking cute! The world is endless with possibilities when it comes to Mr. Potato Head. In my classroom the theme is "Be a SPUD, not a DUD!" I have a large collection of Mr. Potato Head parts kept in a large bucket. When the class meets one of our expectations for behavior, cooperative learning, or receives a compliment for hallway behavior or behavior in special classes, then a part on Mr. Potato Head is awarded. One student is then selected to add a part to our once "naked spud". The students can select from a large collection of parts to build either a traditional Mr. Potato Head, or a silly one designed by the class. As the year continues, I increase the required number of accessories for the class to meet their goal. For example, a complete spud must be built plus 3 accessories. The accessories can include glasses, objects in his or her hands, a pocketbook if building a girl spud or maybe a briefcase. There are so many things that you can do with such an adorable little potato!
You'll notice from the pictures that my collection has grown considerably! You know how it is, when a class knows that you like something- then its all you get! I love it! To date I have over 50 unique Mr. or Mrs. Potato Heads that are displayed around the room. You would be surprised how many different spuds  are out there.

Classroom pictures!

This is just one picture of the front of my room. Above the whiteboard will be student made portraits. On the front board are a few things. One is our class grafitti wall. In our new reading series, Lead 21, the students keep on ongoing board to collect pictures, artifacts, and post-it notes with their thinking. Love this! You will also see my Homeworkopoly board. I got this idea from the amazing blog, wwwladybugsteacherfiles.com. This is new this year... we'll see how it goes!

This is the second picture of my front wall. You'll notice the smart board! How amazing is a smart board. I use the smartboard for everything. My grade level partners and I have created almost everything with smart notebook software. To the left of the smart board is our class IPad. This is a challenge board for students who finish early. Moving more to the left you will see our bullentin board of reading strategies.

Books, books, books!!!!! I love my class library! In a future post, I will share how it is organized. Something new this year is my CRAFT board. I know many of you out there have a craft board. I have to credit mine to ladybugteacherffiles.com. Great stuff! There are hanging stars and planets to the right in the picture. 

Obviously this is the sink area. Above the sink you will see black and white frames. This is from the new Black and white collection from Creative Teaching Press. I plan on taking black and white pictures of my kiddos and place them in the frames. I figured this was not an instructional area, so why not create a place to celebrate our classroom family.

Boggle! Who doesn't love Boggle. I know there are many of you out there already doing this! Great for the Daily 5 Word Work.

Birthday bags already set up and ready for the celebrating!

This is my teacher area. You'll notice Alf and just a few of my 50+ Potato Heads! More to come in a future post about these two favorite classroom accessories!

If your like me, I love looking at pictures of classrooms. I always get so many ideas. I wanted to post some pictures so you can see a little more about me. I tried to add captions for each picture- but they are not showing up! :( You will see a few familiar things. I did get some ideas from ladybugteacherfiles.com! What a great blog that is!

Hello! Welcome to my blog!

I am very excited to begin blogging with all of you! I have been teaching for 14 years (hard to believe) and have taught grades 1-3. Third grade is my current home. Teaching is just one of my passions. I am a mother to 4 boys. I have two sons, Dylan and Carson and two "fur"kins, Cannon and Magnum. Cannon and Magnum are my two CRAZY labradors. (insane crazy!) Dylan and Carson are both in elementary school. Outside of teaching I love everything about fashion! My closets screams HELP... as  there really is no more room! (LOL) 

I do love styling friends and myself for work and other events. Its a passion and maybe ...just maybe a problem. :) ..... all good fun!

I hope that this blog will be a place to share great teaching ideas to make our craft better and a place to have  some "girl" talk.

Teaching, Fashion, Food, Wine and Girlfriends.... all that with a little motherhood mixed in! I hope you'll join me. Welcome!