Meet The Teacher: I'm Excited & Oh Yeah, We're Having A Giveaway!!!

Last year for some reason I wasn't feeling beginning of the year, dunno why, hmmm? This year:

1. I wasn't able to get into my classroom for some time (cleaning & waxing of all the floors).
2. I moved across the building into another classroom.
3. A lot of furniture got moved out of the room, so I had to hunt stuff down.
4. It wasn't until last Thursday that the furniture I finally got was able to be moved into their new homes (newly waxed tile floors, custodians get picky when you scratch it up :-/)
5. Still had a cabinet's worth of stuff in my old classroom, meaning I still had to move it to my new room and find homes for that stuff too. (Teachers are such hoarders!)
6. Then to organize and arrange desks and tuck things away until after Meet the Teacher night.
7. I did a lot of my copies for MTT at home, so at least that was taken care of, but oh the sorting into packets to put into folders was ****!
8. I finished said packets, and last minute frou frou-ing of my classroom & myself right in the nick of time.

Enough venting about it. Despite it all, I was actually able to pull off a pretty successful MTT night. The 12/20 kiddos & parents that showed up were so nice and supportive of their kids. I even have some pretty funny parental units that like to er hem give their kids/teachers/spouses a hard time. 

It really warmed my heart that a couple of staff members wanted me for their child's teacher, that says a lot and I'm completely humbled by it. While I was only assigned one of the kids, the other wound up in another awesome teacher's room, cuz our grade level is all crazy amazing!

My feet are killing me, a sign of things to come next week when I'm on my feet 8 hrs everyday instead of just 2-6. I'm really looking forward to these kiddos and all the learning adventures I have in my brain!

Since I'm feeling all warm & fuzzy right now, I'd like to remind everyone of a pretty cool little giveaway we're having. August 17th this year was the blog's one year anniversary. To celebrate, 2 lucky peeps will win either a Thirty One Gifts' Wristlet or a Classroom Friendly Supplies pencil sharpener, you know the one EVERYONE has been praising all summer long! Click here to enter!!!!

Here's to an awesome year! Good luck everyone & I'll be seeing you around during the year :)

~Darnee~

One Year Bloggerversary!!!

It's our Anniversary ya'll! In honor of blogging for a whole year, whoohoo we're hosting a giveaway of 2 fabulous items!

The first is Classroom Friendly Supplies' Pencil Sharpener** in Firehouse Red:

We've been reading about this sharpener all summer long. I, Darnee, bought the 3 package deal back in July and have been a sharpening fool :) I have pencils ready to go for my kiddos. Since Amanda is starting at a new school I happily gave her one of the extras since she's a "Pencil Nazi," as so deigned by her family members.

I thought what am I gonna do with the last sharpener....hmmmmmm? Then I thought, duh, giveaway for our 1 Year Bloggerversary!

The other item is so fun(ctional)! I went to a coworker's 31 Bag** party this summer & bought something that I thought was very cute. I know someone out there is in need of a 31 Bags' Wristlet:

I mean, how cute & fun is that?!?! It holds your cell phone, IDs, credit/debit cards, and a little bit 'o' change, perfect for taking to school since we're already loaded down with teacher bags & files who needs a huge purse too?! Don't tell my 31 peeps that, hehe.

So follow the directions & we can't wait to see who the lucky winners are!

Thanks for sharing in our blogging adventures :)

~ Darnee & Amanda ~


a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Note: I personally bought these products, the companies did not donate these items & are in no way affiliated with our blog and we are not affiliated with their companies. We just love their products :)** 

Teacher Week '13 Thursday

It's Darnee here for classroom management. I blogged about this back in January so I'll defer to the post here. I really just need to tweak a couple things, like the tangibles, what color were they on at the end of the day, points for treasure box, etc. Here's just some things I love about Class Dojo.

I used to use a clipboard with a class list attached where I could give kids points, but Class Dojo saved my life. My kids last year lived to hear that "ding" sound when someone got a point. They've just updated a lot fo their professional materials to coerce your teacher friends & teammates to use this amazing app. It has the capability to work on an iPhone, iPad and from I can see android devices too!!

Now one thing I relinquish to my kiddos after a few weeks in school is monitoring the line in the hallway. The good thing is, they have the class iPad, I have my iPhone, just in case. What's also great is that if a kiddo gets a little carried away & tries to seek revenge out on a classmate whom they thought unfairly took away points, I can always go in through the website & adjust as necessary.

I love that you don't have to wait for Friday to send a report to parents. You can send one anytime during the week. I don't just have negative behaviors I take points away for, I incorporate good citizen traits, or being a good student/friend points, not to mention homework points :) So I can send those great positive notes home too!! Keeping up with parent communication is key ;)

Anywhos, I'd highly recommend using this awesome app. Oh and I forgot, they are great about customer service. Anytime I had a question or user error :-| they responded quickly and helped me out. Good luck with Dojo, once you've tried it you'll never go back!

Teacher Week '13 ~ Tuesday Tours

Darnee here! Day 2 of Teacher Week '13 - how much fun is this?! So my classroom this year, sigh...Our school hosted Summer School this year, it rotates throughout our area of the district. Which meant that the cleaning of our building started later than other schools around the district :( So I haven't really been able to get in my room and get down & dirty so to speak, but here's what I've done so far:

I unpacked 16 boxes, way more to go, but we got kicked out so the main hallways could be waxed.

Desks that were gonna go next door, but me & my neighbor were like that'd take too much more precious time, lol.

See that? Only one cabinet back there :) I had three :-O Thankfully the new music teacher needed cabinets!! Whoohoo! Behind my teacher desk there right in the middle of the room is a horseshoe table the furniture gods blessed me with today before we got kicked out & that totally made my day!

Empty corner waitin' on a bookshelf from the next door classroom. Hence waiting to go get my library baskets full of books in my old classroom. Good thing a good friend is moving into the old room so she's very understanding :)

This where my teacher desk will wind up. That computer desk will go across the room where the student desks are currently located.

Rogue file cabinet that will be moving somewhere else in the room :) for now just hanging out in an awkward spot while I continue to unpack.

Those cabinets that are closed are full!!! Just need to put the rest of my stuff on top of those cabinets so I can be somewhat together for next week, sigh...it's really over :(

Haven't even gotten into the cabinets there on the bottom :-/ Crazy!

My door, not decorated yet :(

Pray for me that this'll get done before Job Alike Day, our campus is host to all the Pre-K teachers in our district that day & Meet the Teacher night :-/

Hello, it's Amanda from my new second grade room!  I have a few more things to do in the classroom, but it's almost complete!  It's new and interesting to set up a different classroom after three and a half years of being in the same class.  I dont have cabin fever anymore!  I'm excited to perform my craft on a different stage!  So here are pictures of what's going on in my "Adventures in Second Grade" room.  The theme is learning.  Haha. 

I'm not very good at taking panoramic photos with the iphone. Here is my best attempt.  Nothing up on the walls other than paper, word letters for my word wall, a celebration chart, and soon to be behavior chart.  Everything else will be put up with the students in the form of anchor charts we create together.  There are small character photos of Adventure Time characters that I drew.  They help me with what charts go on what wall.  Princess Bubblegum in her science coat is where the science anchor charts go.  HAHA. Second graders love Adventure Time.  

First part of the word wall.  I used cut out letters, and the black strip are magnetic letters for my students to be able to pull the words off the word wall to utilize anywhere on the room.  I might even pull all the words off and throw them around the room, to have them alphabetize them back in order!!  HOW RUDE MISS BROWN!  BWAHAHA, LEARN, LEARN MY CHILDREN, LEARN!  

Rest of the word wall.  The table is where they turn in work, and also where they will have the writing station for my Daily 5.  The cubbies are for their take home folders.  

My desk, small group area, and pink home.  I have my teacher's toolbox in the corner there, my teacher's notebook, and my beautiful pink chair.  The magazine holders are going to hold my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday items.  The multi colored drawer organizer holds notecards, post-its, stickers and awards, forms I might need quickly, and anything that doesn't fit in the teacher's toolbox that I need at my immediate disposal.  The black drawer organizers are going to be used for my guided reading/guided math group materials.  The bee hive is required by all in the school, it designates what voice level our students should be at in the classroom.  

Computer desks, I tried to move them and failed!  Too many wires.  So they stay there!!  Language Arts is going to go between Finn and Jake there.

Final corner of the room.  I love these cubbies here, they are used for baskets that hold our manipulatives at quick disposal of the children!  I have blue and black baskets that I'm still spray painting to stick in there.  Next to that, are my black bookshelves from Wal-Mart that hold my books for my library.  The black table is going to hold silk flowers.  I just need to find a plastic vase so the children dont get injured!  That's harder to find than it sounds!   The square on the wall is a canvas painting from Walmart.  I wanted to make my reading corner feel warm and homey.

I still have some more things to add to the classroom, a few bits of lettering for the walls, but not enough to distract.  I have magazine holders coming from Ikea (1.99 for 5!) that I will be using for book boxes, and more black baskets to add.  I also forgot to take a picture of the door!  How about another room tour when everything is completed?  Fun! 

Teacher Week '13 ~ Monday Meet the Teacher

Darnee here! We're linking up with the bloggers over at Blog Hoppin' this week to share our teachery things we've been so hard at work on this summer & especially this past month :)

So today is Meet the Teacher, aside from the About Me page up there ;) Here's the "Meet The Teacher" letter I give my students/parents on our Meet the Teacher night the Thursday before school starts.

Sorry for the size, but I had enlarged it so you're able to read & not squint, hehe :o)

Now a little bit about me, Amanda! I kind of said as much as I could over at "About Me" so, let's see what else I can share.  I have no children, but I do have a dog named Sadie that I adore!  My dog is about 8 years old, a second grader, and I love her to pieces!  She's a big brute when people come over, but is the sweetest little lady with me and my family. 

There's my baby girl! She is the only child I plan to have for many years to come.  This was during fall, and it is amazingly precious to me that they have bandanas made for dogs. I am fascinated by the simple things in life. 

I am also addicted to everything makeup related.  My favorite makeup guru is Michelle Phan.  August 15th she's launching her new makeup line, so I know I'm going to be broke!  Not that I'm not already from all the classroom materials I've had to buy!  Yikes.  I wont get paid till September because I switched school districts.  Can anyone say, "THANK GOODNESS FOR MY SAVINGS ACCOUNT!" Any other teachers aboard the money misery train?  My favorite shade of lipstick is red.  I feel confident and powerful when I wear red lipstick.  My favorite is Loreal Paris'  long lasting lipstick in Beyonce.  It lasts FOREVER.  I put it on before work, and it's still on when I get home without any touchups during the day.I have to use a toothbrush to brush it off my lips.  It works like magic. Hm, kind of makes you wonder what's in it...OH WELL.    

Wonder Woman is also a near and dear passion of mine. This phone case is from the DC online shop. I had to include it next to my Beyonce Lipstick.  I wear my Wonder Woman belt from Hot Topic almost every day with my slacks or with my Friday jeans.  Wonder Woman matches everything, and I dont care if it doesn't.  HA! Most teachers are Wonder Women, aren't they?  There's a lot of Superman teachers out there too!  

Last thing, I sing my heart out every chance I get.  I'm taking piano and voice lessons, and I loooove to sing!  I'm thinking about posting videos on youtube of me singing.  I wasn't sure about how that would affect my teaching career.  Should I or should I not?  Would it look bad on me as a professional educator?  I'd like some opinions!  

That's about all I can think of! This turned out longer than I thought.  That's pretty much all about me. I'm not impressed with the blogger app from Google.  This was from my Ipad since my computer is in the shop, and I can't change colors! It works for now I suppose.   

August Currently

I'm linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade for August's installment of Currently.

 

Listening - I adore Bruno Mars, not only is he an amazing vocalist, love his tone, and a fun dancer, but he's such a cutie! I remember hearing him do guest vocals on a few songs and scouring iTunes & Rhapsody for his own album that hadn't even hit stores yet. I was hoping that this song would become a single when I first got his album, it did, yay!

Loving - Our wonderful principal paid for us to come in for a half day of planning with our grade levels before we technically have to go back to work on the 19th. It was awesome, we got to meet our new team member, who replaced our beloved Amanda. We went over some things that usually take up precious time during in-service and even got some 1st week ideas thrown around so lesson plans will go smoothly. Our grade level leader kept us on task and did a whole bunch of work getting ready for our meeting, so kudos to Lorrie!

Thinking - I have a gazillion things I want to make & implement in my classroom this year that'll need to start first day even, so I need to get a move on since I won't be able to get into my classroom until it looks like next week, sigh.....

Wanting - More vacation time! I lazied around in June, actually no I didn't I became addicted to teaching blogs, so in an effort to up my game I made a Teacher Binder and a few other items that'll hopefully make my life easier during the school year, fingers crossed ;)

Needing - My philosophy class ends tomorrow & my final assignments are due by 11:59pm. I turned in one yesterday and told myself to at least start, maybe finish the second one tonight, but I came home after lunch today and took a nap :-/ So after this post it's all about my personal education philosophy, prayers & happy thoughts are welcome.

B2S Must Haves:

1. 2 Planners - I've gotten to where I type up my lesson plans, because we have to submit them online to our administrators. But I also wind up printing them out, which doesn't save paper at all. Whelp I bought an erin condren planner last year and didn't even use it, so I'm making myself use it as just a guide for me to refer to, with general info about activities and still turn in my electronic plans.

2. Caffeine - Do I even need to elaborate here, it's the beginning of the school year, what teacher doesn't need coffee/tea/energy drink of some sort to make it through those first grueling weeks back with our new babies ;)
3. School Supplies - Every teacher I talk to has a love, addiction or whatever, of school supplies. I don't know any teacher that doesn't smile knowingly when Meg Ryan recalls Tom Hanks' comment of "Bouquets of sharpened pencils," then sniffs a pack of Scotch Tape at the beginning of You've Got Mail and says "Can't beat that!"

Back to my assignment & B2S fun ;) Til next time!

~Darnee~