Trick or Treat!?!?!

Several of my firstie friends are throwing a Halloween sale, so I am jumping on board!

Thanks Becca for such a cute graphic!

My entire store is 20% off for the next two days!  Make sure you head over and stock up on your must haves!  I am in the midst of my pumpkin book reports coming in right now and will be posting about those later this week!  I love this time of year!  

Good Teacher...Bad Blogger

The past 2 weeks months have been a complete blur!  I worked on and off most of August on school stuff, and thought I was in a good place, but when the first workdays hit, I realized how much I needed to accomplish.  Being at a new school added a whole new layer of extra 'to dos'.  I had to first figure out the way things were done in my new school, then had to come up with a plan to get orientation worked out.

I used Reagan's awesome packet to help organize my Orientation into stations.  It worked amazingly.  I did have a presentation going in the background, but I was able to actually talk to parents without feeling I hadn't covered everything.  Coming from a Title One school I wasn't prepared for all the supplies I received that night and I have the sweetest class ever.  I even got my first teacher gift of the year!


 After Orientation was done and over with, I had 3 days to make sure my room was 100% ready to go.  I am finally ready for the reveal, even if its a week months late!   Throw in a Disney trip in Sept, and I am really behind!!!

Front of the room

Side of the room

My Owlsome Library!  

My calendar area

I can't believe I've been a first grade teacher for a little over 2 months now!  I am LOVING all the extra sweetness the primary grade brings!  

Hopefully I will now get back on my regular blogging schedule!  I never realized how tough changing grades and schools would be!  Thanks for sticking with me!

Sale Time....Finally!

Yay!  The TPT Back to School Sale is finally here!!!  I am enjoying my final weekend before summer is over. Doing a little blog stalking, laying around on the couch and of course stocking my cart!  My cart is full and I can't wait to start shopping!  I'm linking up with several of my first grade friends to make sure you don't miss out on a single item!

Check out these awesome first grade friends and their awesome stores!

The BIG Day!!!

Today is the day my mama and sister have been planning for for over a year now . . .  It's my little sister's wedding day!!!  Its going to be beautiful and it WILL.NOT.RAIN. To bad there is a 50% chance of rain all day :(  Her venue is gorgeous so I am hoping she gets to enjoy it rainfree!

My twins are the flower girls in the festivities and here is how I think it will go for them: They will come out of the house, head down the stairs (maybe) and take a leisurely stroll down to the meadow for the ceremony.  They will get freaked out by all the people and have to be removed after approximately 3.5 seconds.  I will update this post to let you know what really happened!  I made their "dresses" which are really a white tutu with a leotard under it.  I must say they are pretty cute!

I also wanted to let all my awesome readers know that my entire Teacher's Notebook Shop is on sale for the entire week!  You can enjoy 20% off all the items in my shop.

Thanks to Shuna over at Pocket full of Kinders for this adorable button!

Head over and check out all the great items on sale!  I'm off to get ready for the excitement of a special wedding day!  Congrats Caitlin and Joe!!  

Carolina Blogger's Meetup

In 2 weeks I will be heading back for my first official workday!  Where has my summer gone?!?!?!?  I know some of you have already headed back, and I can't imagine that!  This week will be packed with conferences and then my sister is getting married this weekend.  Bottom line, its going to be busy busy busy around here!

I have to actually set the alarm for the AM because I am going to the Pinnacle Conference.  I was chosen to be part of this technology group in my district that helps give teachers  tools and resources to support technology integration into their classroom back in 2010.  It was the reason I started blogging!  It was a requirement that I honestly thought was lame at the time!  Oh what I would have missed out on if I hadn't started this journey!  I have made so many amazing friends through blogging.  Not to mention how much I have grown as an educator because of blogging.

This past weekend I had a chance to meetup with some of my Carolina Blogging Buddies (CBBs) in Greenville, SC.  The amazing and adorable Amanda Madden planned this super fun meetup along.  She is such a doll!  Our riddler for the weekend was Ginger.  She came up with a neat scavenger hunt that allowed us to see all the key places in Greenville.  Love these ladies!

I headed down with my real life and bloggy BFF, Amber and man did we have fun!  I mean we have fun where ever we are, but this weekend was especially fun!

We stayed at the Westin downtown and it was NICE!  This is a pic of all my roomies.  Brandee, Elizabeth, Natalie, and Amber.

Love this black and white shot of Amber, Natalie and I from dinner at The Lazy Goat.  We all indulged in the Happy Hour special, a Strawberry Daiquiri Martini.  Yumo!

We spent the night at a local Dualing Piano Bar which was so much fun!  I think Amber and I had the most fun, but I may be a little biased!

Saturday we headed over Chicora Alley for lunch and it was delicious!  Its like Mexican meet American.  Yall know how I love my tacos, so I was in heaven.

 Amanda made each of us a nametag and giftbag all with the G-Vegas theme.  So cute!!  Natalie also made delicious cupcakes complete with a theme topper.  

This is a shot of some of us before heading over to lunch.  

I had an absolute blast meeting up with old friends and meeting new ones!  I can't wait till our next meetup which is happening in Charleston!  Head over and check out some of the amazing Carolina Bloggers.  

Brooke from Whooo's in Second?

Sarah at Education Electrification

Diane at Fun in Second Grade

Heather at Room 4 Imagination

Amber at Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher

Natalie at Teachery Tidbits

Kim at Thanks to a Teacher

Kris at The Poole Pages

Brandee at Creating Lifelong Learners

Courtney at Second Grade Snapshots

Ginger at GingerSnaps

Rachel at The Tattooed Teacher

Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B

Ashley from Primary Teacherhood

Tammy at Life, Love, Literacy

Emily AND Kerry at Third and Goal

Lauren at The Sweetest Thing

Jeannie at The Second Grade Surprise

Lana at 4 The Love of Teaching

Amanda at Teaching Maddeness

Guess I better head to bed, the alarm will be ringing before I know it.  I hope I win an awesome prize tomorrow!

Currently Summer's Ending

Its August, which means summer is winding down and that means school is just around the corner!  I know some of you have already gone back, I can't imagine going back any earlier than we do.  I plan on being as lazy as possible until August 19!

Onto the Currently!!!!

Listening: I am seriously obsessed with Discovery ID!  I might need an intervention for B2S time.  I love all the lying, cheating and affairs.  I know, I'm crazy!  Tonight involved a marathon of Deadly Affairs!

Loving: Our Carolina Blogger Meetup was this weekend.  It was such a fun time!  Look for a blog post all about the fun.

Thinking: Time is running out and I NEED to get my room unpacked and put together!  I am beginning to panic!

Wanting: I so want a massage before I get back to the grind, but it doesn't look like its going to happen.  We shall see!

Needing: If I would stop being such a procrastinator I would solve my Thinking and Needing problems!  Room is not done, stress is starting!  I have got to get my booty in gear!

B2s Must Haves: Sharpie Chart Markers: these are my #1 go to chart markers.  I love sharpies and these don't bleed through.

Really Good Stuff book bins: these are a must for optimal organization of your classroom library!

This leads me to the final must have: Organized Classroom Library: if you want students to successful read for long periods of time, they have to be able to find and choose appropriate books.

There ya go!  Head over to Farley's and link your Currently up!

Let the unpacking begin

So with a dream job, comes packing and moving and the dreaded. . .UNPACKING!!!  My new room was my own second grade classroom, and it is still very surreal that I will be teaching in the fall at my old elementary school!  The room is an ok size, I've taught in smaller, but it could be bigger!  

Lots of nice natural light!

See that ugly awful Rainbow wall????  Its G.O.N.E I ripped that puppy down on day 1 of unpacking!  And yes that is one of the twins with her baby Belle.  (Gotta have something to keep them occupied!)

This is an awesome storage area!  This stuff is also no longer there.  The other teacher moved it out.  

Must have mounted Smart Board complete with speakers!

Now comes all my very important stuff packrat teacher junk!  But you know I may need it all one day, so I keep it all.  

Doesn't this sound like most teachers in America????  

I went into school last Thursday and just stared at my pile for an hour and then left.  I was so overwhelmed by the enormity of it, that I couldn't do a thing.  Went back today (child-less, thank you Mawmaw AKA the girls babysitter) and worked for 3 solid hours and unpacked a whopping 5 boxes. . . .only 50 left.  But progress is progress, right?!?!?!?  Here's hoping more of my Owl-Some (ignore the corniness!) Chevron and Owls design will make an appearance soon!