Waiting Wednesday

This is my first ever mobile post.  I am currently waiting at a very crowded JetBlue terminal wishing that I was already sitting on the plane and hoping that it is a calm flight.  Normally I try to sit in front of the emergency exit row so there are no children behind me ( I do not enjoy my seat being kicked throughout the flight).  Usually I get what I want, tonight however I am a couple rows ahead of that.  (I type this as children are crying and screaming around me!).   Now am I always comfortable in front of the emergency row?  No.  On the first half no my flight to LA last month, the man behind me spent a majority of the flight pounding on the keyboard of his laptop.  That was almost as bad as a kicking child.  Tonight's flight is short though,  under two and a half hours, and JetBlue has tv entertainment (and sometimes free movies) so it should be an easy flight.  I may just fall asleep since it has been a long day.

I will leave tonight with this funny story.  This morning during Math (or what should have been Science) my feet hurt, due to a poor footwear choice, so I took my shoes off.  As I was walking around my lovely carpeted portable with bare feet I hear one of my students whisper "She has a tattoo on her foot."  I get a kick out of this for a couple reasons.  1. I think it's funny when kids notice silly little things and comment on them and 2. It's not like I haven't worn shoes where the tattoo is visible before.

Time to board, so my wait is over.  Off to NY I go!

EDIT:  I apparently am in front of the emergency exit: 

Teacher Tuesday

Today was one of those days.  Not a bad day, it's only the second week of school, but it was quite a day.  We have some stupid stuff going on with enrollment right now, imbalance of class numbers, which affects everyone at some point.  High numbers now is stressful because you don't understand why no one else is getting new students and you're feeling overwhelmed.  Low numbers means that your class is open to getting new students any time, and new students can throw off the entire vibe in your classroom.  But we don't have a full-time entry clerk right now, so things are a little off.  On top of that, one of my lovely students had the wonderful idea to play around with the fire alarm in the boys portable bathroom, which then resulted in an unannounced fire drill, instructional time wasted, and he spent the rest of the day in the dean's office.  Awesome.  Seventh day of school!  To add to all of that I did not leave my classroom until 6:30 this evening.  Almost two and a half hours after I should have left. To be fair though I will not be at school on Thursday and Friday, so sacrificing two hours today, for two days away from school later -I can deal with it.  My sub plans are done, and that's all that matters.

For my weekly share I have some classroom labels that I made over the weekend. They're fun and I'm pretty sure I covered just about any materials/supplies you would use in the classroom.

 Multi-Color Zig Zag labels

Zig Zag Labels

I also made a Classroom Behavior Chart that is better than the boring old solid color ones most of us have been using.

One more day for me, and tomorrow is short day!!  Quick eye doctor appointment and then I am off to NY for a nice long weekend!!!

Mission Accomplished Monday

Today was not a Manic Monday, but I accomplished a mission of sorts.  Took a friend for the first time to one of my favorite places to eat, and he loved it, so mission accomplished! 

Here is my Monday night list, its a busy night of tv watching, so I should get back to it. 

Awesome start to the week, only two days of work left, and then NY!!!!

Weekend in Review

This weekend was a pretty good balance of fun and relaxation.  I didn't push myself too much -which I have a habit of doing from time to time- but I still did a lot.

My cousin and her family are here on vacation so Friday night I met up with them for dinner.  They're vegetarians so finding some place to eat that was appealing to everyone was a tiny bit of a struggle.  However, I did some quick research on menus at restaurants near their hotel and came upon one that I thought would work - Sea Dog Brewing Company.  The prices were decent, and of course being a brewery we each tried one.  I got the Apricot Wheat Ale which was quite tasty, and my check was only $15, which isn't bad for dinner!

Yesterday I ventured on up to Lake Mary to go check out the Back to School Scholastic Warehouse Sale.  I pretty much just went along for the ride,  with little intention of buying anything.  Last year when we went the meager selection of books was not impressive, and sure enough this year's selection was just as slim.  It's always good to get out of the house though and we did end up stopping at Mall at Millenia on the way home for some cupcakes! I saw on Facebook that The Yum Yum Cupcake Truck had a pop-up shop inside the GAP and since I have kind of been wanting one of their August specials -Guava the Hut- I suggested we stop by! I also picked up a new lanyard from Vera Bradley since I was in desperate need of a new one.

Yesterday's fun did not end there, after a few hours at home writing lesson plans and doing an online workshop (while making caramel corn), I went with a friend to the drive-in to see "We're the Millers" and "The Heat"  -nothing like a little comedy after the first week of school.  It was quite a pig-out considering the number of snacks we brought and the fact that we stopped at Moe's for chips and queso.  I will say though, most of what I brought did not get touched and by about 11:30 I couldn't eat any more anyway.  It was a late night and even though I did not get home until about 2am I still did my 150 squats. 

Up early again this morning, and although I'd like to make it a Sunday ritual to bike the West Orange Trail, after much debate I couldn't do it today.  Instead I wandered around the outlets, got my car washed (it looks awesome!), bought some Shoe Goo to fix my favorite shoes, and made dinner.  Pretty low key Sunday, but its going to be a quick, busy week:  plans for dinner tomorrow, tentative plans for Tuesday, eye doctor and flying to NY on Wednesday, and then my weekend in NY is full straight on through Labor Day!  Can't wait!!!

Foodie Friday: My Love of Cupcakes!

When it comes to cupcakes I know of people who are wholly dedicated to a specific type or "brand" of cupcakes.  Me, on the other hand, I do not discriminate, I will try cupcakes from anywhere!!!  and there aren't many cupcakes and I do not like. 

Tired Teacher Tuesday

I always find that I am most tired on Tuesdays.  Wednesdays are short days so they go by quickly, Thursdays tend to drag on, and Fridays are the end so they're bearable.  But Tuesdays are exhausting! 

Today was the second day of school and so far my class seems ok.  Moving from 5th grade back to 4th grade is a big jump when you think about "maturity" of students  at the end of 5th compared to the beginning of 4th.  My students seem like babies right now.  For the most part they seem sweet and respectful.  I do have ESE students in my class -but there are only three of them and only one of them seems like he could be a challenge.  There are two more who have other issues, but overall I don't foresee any real problems at this point.  They are certainly feeling challenged with all the routines and procedures I had them copy and I can sense that a lot of them are not prepared for the amount of work that they're going to get in fourth grade.  It will be a slow process and definitely a challenge.  I'm ready for it though and at this point I just want to get into content, but I know the students need to be ready for it, and right now they're not.

I want to spend Teacher Tuesday giving a small tour of my classroom this year.  Being in a portable is not ideal, but I've been there since January so I've learned to live with it. Just wish it wasn't so far away from everything else at school!

 This year I've decided to have my students participate in the 40 Book Challenge which originally came from Donalyn Miller.  A lot of the kids have been asking about it and some seem pretty excited.  We have to finish our genre introductions before we get started with it, but it's on the list for tomorrow morning.  

 This is my writing wall where I display my Expository and Narrative benchmarks, along with planning pages (I need to make a new narrative planning page).   This year is the last year that FCAT Writes will be prompt based, so we have six more months of teaching the students using Core Connections (formerly PDA).  I think it is a very complex writing program, and I don't know that the students I have this year are ready for it, and having spent a year teaching 5th grade writing based on common core I'm taking a step backwards with prompt based writing.  

 This is my math focus wall and half of my six computers.  

 The rest of my computers and my "Star Writers" wall.  When students score a 4, 5, or 6 on their writing assignments they'll be able to post a decorated index card on the wall to show how well they've done. 

 Here is my whiteboard area.  The sections on the right are where all my learning goals will go: Unit Learning Goals; Lesson Goals -Simple and Complex; and Vocabulary.

 I put all my Florida bulletin board stuff on my metal cabinet (the only real storage I have!)

 This is where I store my guided reading book sets, my leveled readers, "Early Finishers" box, and classroom materials (staplers, glue, scissors, rulers, crayons, colored pencils, etc.)

Here is where students will put their "tickets out the door" or their "tweets" to summarize and show their understanding.  The bulletin board will be used to display class data and goals  (at least that's the plan).  

I desperately need to have some sort of ice cream right now, but before I go I will share my latest TPT item. It's nothing super but it is useful as I definitely found it useful today when discussing Recess/Structured Play with my class and I also created a back to school bloomball.  

Group Game Go To Packet

Back to School Mini Bloom Ball

Monday Madness

My typical Manic Monday is this week being dubbed "Monday Madness."  While it was a fairly smooth and quick first day of school, there is a lot to get used to, and changes still being made. 

Time to check over my plans quickly before bed and get some sleep.

Weekend in Review

This weekend was a bit slow.  When your weekend peaks on Friday night, the rest of it is a bit of a wash. 

Friday involved a haircut (which I'm still trying to decide about), finishing up in the classroom, and "Meet the Teacher Night."  What should have been a three hour event ended up being a four hour event (due to district miscommunication), and by the end of it I was thoroughly exhausted ( and desperately in need of a shower from being out in the muggy Florida heat all evening.  As tired as I was however, there was a mini school reunion planned to celebrate surviving planning week and we had a blast!  Old friends, new friends, confessions, embarrassment, butterflies, and laughter -all in all a good time!

Saturday was very low key and involved school shopping with a friend, yummy lunch at Chipotle, and an adventure to someplace new.  Napping and planning followed until it was time for bed. 

Today the plan was to get up early (I'm talking 7:30/8am), hop out of bed, grab my bike and go on an adventure.  7:30 turned into 9:30 and I did not start my nearly 9 mile trek until around 10am.  I had wanted to for a few weeks now take my bike up to the West Orange Trail, but just didn't go.  For some reason I thought that today would be a great idea, little did I know how difficult the trail would be.  I start off and hit some hills, but I was riding with the wind which makes it a little easier.  Once I started spotting mile markers I figured I'd go out to about mile 4 and turn around to come back.  This is a 22 mile trail and I wasn't even attempting to go that far on a Sunday morning in 90 degree weather (without eating breakfast) -I'll probably never go all 22 miles if we're being honest!  When I was in NY I used to ride a 7-8 mile loop with no problem.  Irony is that in NY I never hit an elevation climb higher than 40 some feet since most of the course I rode was pretty flat.  Here in FL with the hills that are around I don't finish with an elevation climb less than 100.  This morning with all the ups and downs on the trail, in the hour that I was out I climbed a total of 543 feet!  It is not often that I find riding my bike is a whole body workout, but today I could feel the burn all over!

With that being said I've been exhausted all day, have not had the healthiest diet (oatmeal and frozen yogurt), and spent a lot of time planning for the first week of school.  I am a bit nervous about the first week, and a little on edge about something else going on (that will pass though), but I think I know I will have more than enough to keep the kids occupied this week!

Foodie Friday: Top 5 Disney Treats

As I may or may not have mentioned I live very close to Walt Disney World and spend a fair amount of time in the parks.  Not only do I play in the parks but I eat (a lot) while I'm there. I want to take just a few minutes tonight to share some of my absolute favorites, my "Top 5 Disney Treats" if you will.

#5: Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookie from Karamell-Kuche in EPCOT

#4: Red Velvet Cupcake from Starring Rolls in Hollywood Studios

#3:  No Way Jose from Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club

#2:  Boston Cream Parfait from 50s Prime Time Cafe at Hollywood Studios

#1: Nutella & Fresh Fruit Waffle from Sleepy Hollow in Magic Kingdom

As you can see I clearly have a sweet tooth!

Teacher Tuesday

Day two of Teacher Work Week and I am thoroughly exhausted.  By 3 o'clock this afternoon I was burnt out, needed a break and just wanted to go home.  Couldn't happen though since our hours are 8:40-4:10!  I swear we have got to be the latest running school in the country!  I don't mind the extra sleep in the morning, but I hate getting out after 4. 

To give some info about my life as a teacher. I work at a K-8 school and this is now my fourth year there.  The numbers at our school fluctuate each year.  Some years we start with low enrollment, others we start severly overpopulated.  The latter happened last year which meant there were teachers without classrooms, substitutes were teaching through FTE in October and teachers were being hired even after the holidays.  Because of the enrollment issues portables have been brought in twice -8 when I started in 2010, and 10 this past January.  No one new who was moving to the portables last year, but I always had a feeling it would be my team, and sure enough that's what happened.  We had no time to pack up and were given two days to unpack and set up a big empty box.

I can tell you that it never really felt like home in that classroom last school year.  Setting it up was so rushed and we needed to get straight back to work (without the technology we were used to).  I was just never really happy with the set up and the whole space felt cold.  Unfortunately the end of the year comes and I find out that I am not moving and will be spending an entire school year in the same portable. 

I have come to terms with the fact that I am in "The Cottages", but in this sweltering August heat it is not the best situation.  I feel better about the set up of my room this year, and next week on Teacher Tuesday I will give a lovely tour of my fourth grade classroom.  Until then I will leave you with a small, yet useful item I put on Teachers Pay Teachers yesterday. 

Library Genre Labels

Manic Monday.

Today's Monday post will be very short as I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off all day!  I said it on facebook earlier this evening, but I seriously could've used a personal assistant today to keep me organized and on track.  I've just been thrown off since lunch time when I realized I had left my debit card at home and had to borrow cash from a friend, after that it was just all downhill. 

Pre-planning week, lots of stuff to get done, so back I go to creating stuff for my classroom. 

Weekend in Review

This is how my summer "ended."

 

Foodie Friday: French Macarons

Baking is something I feel I do pretty well -most of the time.  There are instances when I try a new recipe and it goes horribly wrong, but more often than not I am pretty successful and most people love the things I bake.  There is one baked item that I have the most difficulty with:  French Macarons!

Now don't confuse French Macarons for coconut macaroons -they are two totally different things!  French Macarons are a meringue-like cookie made with ground almonds or almond flour.  The ingredients are simple:  egg whites, sugar, almond flour, confectioners sugar and any flavoring or food coloring you want to add. 

Pretty simple, right?

Throwback Thursday

With the final week of my summer coming to a close I wanted to take this Thursday to kind of look back on the summer and give a photo review of everything I did over the past 2 1/2 months.

Teacher Tuesday.

Woke up yesterday morning to an e-mail from Teachers Pay Teachers -I sold my very first item!!!  I have made a whopping $1.20 so far. It is a start, and has me feeling optimistic!

This week I want to share something I started using last year that made giving homework so easy.  Last year I taught 5th grade Reading and Writing, and since Math and Science are pretty important in 5th grade I didn't want to bog the students down with homework because I knew they'd be getting a lot from their other teacher.  The other teacher suggested at one point using a homework menu, so I did some research and decided that since we can't really teach spelling in school, but it is on their weekly test, that I would create a Spelling Homework Menu.

Get yours here!

I gave them the menu at the beginning of the year -in hopes that they would keep it safe all year (some were successful).  The beginning of the week they would copy their spelling words and the end of the week they would need to turn in 30 points worth of spelling assignments.  The menu consists of 5 point, 10 point, and 20 point assignments.  The conscientious students had a lot of fun with it and were quite creative.  The different levels on the menu are already differentiated so any student can do this.   I have to say, when it came time for the weekly reading test, it was very obvious who did their spelling homework and who didn't, so the practice this menu gives the students is effective.

Apparently my Spelling Menu is popular, so my goal for this week is to get a couple more items on TpT that will be useful for back to school -forms and organizational materials, etc.  Check for them on next week's Teacher Tuesday.

Manic Monday

This will be super quick since I need to eat something, catch up on tv, and head to bed.  Working with the mouse is exhausting, so here's my list for tonight. 

Watch for "Teacher Tuesday" tomorrow!

Weekend in Review

 What did I do this weekend? 

Friday I bought two more Alex and Ani bracelets: the Claddagh and the Mosaic Souk Wrap.

When I got home Friday evening I couldn't resist the limit supply and sale price and had to order a LeSportSac "Global Journey" bag from their Disney It's a Small World Collection.  I've wanted it for a while and didn't want to miss out.  I love the pattern on "Global Journey," the colors are good, the size is decent.  My only guilt comes from the fact that I already have FOUR Disney World purses, and I am patiently waiting for the Disney Vera Bradley bags to come out.  

Yesterday I went with a friend on a teacher store adventure.  One store led to a stop at Office Depot (25 cent composition books!), which led us on a journey, or rather I got us lost, on our way to another teacher store.  Ordered some books on eBay when I got home by The Mailbox (so cheap too!) and since sour cream was only 89 cents at Publix I made a Chocolate Sour Cream Cake!

 

Today I finished my school supply shopping.  Wrapped it up with visits to two different Staples locations and a stop at Office Depot. 

All in total, including the books I got on eBay yesterday, I spent about $120.  In doing the math last night I believe I saved almost $130.  And here is my haul...

Every year you need more paper, pencils, and glue sticks.  I had some students be irresponsible with my scissors and staplers last year so I've bought more of those. New highlighters, a new tape dispenser, and couple other supplies that will come in handy.  I have a couple more items to get -non supply related- but I will wait until after I get into my classroom this week to check it.  

Can't believe the summer is almost over.  I have a week left and a pretty packed schedule, but the weekend was productive.

Foodie Friday: BurgerFi

Today has been a long day, or has felt like a really long day, but I have to say I did a lot.  I had an eye doctor appointment this morning, which I have been looking forward to all summer.  Of course the doctor went a little crazy dilating my pupils and it probably took an hour for me to see clearly again.  I did pick out new frames, not what I was thinking of originally, but they looked good, and were less expensive than the Kate Spade glasses I am wearing now.  As much as I love (or should I say loved) the glasses I have, they're not substantial enough for the amount of time I wear them.  After the eye doctor I went to the movies, then ventured on up to Winter Park to go to Alex and Ani, but was starving so grabbed a late lunch at BurgerFi.

 

My lunch was awesome! 

Sunday of Summer

A friend recently said that summer vacation for teachers is like one long weekend: June is our Friday, kind of winding down from the school year; July is Saturday and we have the entire month to do whatever we want; and August is Sunday, time to prepare for back to school.  Now for myself August means only 7 weekdays and 2 weekends before a week of pre-planning, and I feel like the time is already packed.  I have a second job that has taken many of my nights this summer and I still have 3 shifts left to work before going back to school (including tonight), and I think I'm burnt out and I've made too much magic this summer.  Not only do I have my second job, but I also have a lot to prepare before school starts (because teachers are notorious for spending all summer NOT doing what we planned to do for school), and a friend who has been gone all summer is coming back Sunday who I need to spend time with, and I have friends visiting on the 10th, so busy, busy, but hopefully it'll be fun! 

To make this short, with the start of August I am working on a plan, a plan to be more organized, more fit, and to eat better.  It has been very difficult over the past year (or past 6-8 months to be exact) to be motivated, but I've done a lot of reflecting this summer and realize that a lot of my life is lived in excess:  too many clothes, shoes, purses, etc., too much spending money on food; too much sleep, etc.  So my plan starts today!  Off to a rocky start, but it is a work in progress!  However my 31 day squat challenge starts -tonight!