Summer Shopping Linky!

You can imagine my sheer delight when I realized that someone was doing a linky that, despite my absence from writing (I was DEFINITELY still reading your blogs) posts, I can STILL participate it!  :D WHOOT!

Okay, beginning with Oriental Trading Company I loaded up on some flip flop/beachy items for gift bags next year.  I had a total of 51 students this year with three groups that I taught and some from my homeroom also being in either my first or second period reading classes.  That got REAL expensive when purchasing items throughout the year.  NOW I have pencils, stampers, key chains, erasers, and bracelets to give to my munchkins for next year:

I downloaded these last year, but never got around to making bracelets so I'm excited to have purchased bracelets from Oriental Trading that will work!  <source>

 I believe I got these at the Dollar Tree, but I can't be sure.  I was SO excited to see them and am not sure just how I will incorporate them into my them/gifts, but I know that they are GREAT FUN (yes, actually, I have always been easily entertained...why do you ask?) to blow up.

I don't remember where I got the salt water taffy, but I've seen it incorporated into other beach themes and somehow escaped me as an option.  NO MORE! ;)

Target purchase on sale

AC MORE--I've spent several weeks picking these adhesive embellishments up to add to my Tuesday Folders.  I've hot glued brads (and in many instances, some of my skin cells from my fingertips) and they will be added to my Nicky Folders which are used for weekly communication.  I add the behavior sheet to the middle so that it doesn't get lost among papers that need to stay home or be returned to school.

Dollar Tree purchases that will likely go in my rewards bin

On sale at AC More and I will either attach them to pencils or Tootsie Roll Pops for small birthday treats

I just ordered these from Pick Your Plum, too.  I'm not sure how I'm going to use them, but at that price, I couldn't wouldn't resist!

I also ordered these from Pick Your Plum and am undecided if I will use them to make Christmas or Mother's Day gifts with my students. Again, a GREAT price...I just LOVE that site!

Probably not last, and CERTAINLY not least, these are shower curtain hooks that I'm hoping will hold clipboards onto my ledge of my white board.  This will be a potential student display area! :D

Well, I believe that's all for now..."for now" kinda worries me there because the summer has only just begun!  Ah well, such is the life of a teacher, eh?  What have YOU bought so far?

My "Sabbatical" is Over!

Let me begin with my sincerest apologies for not writing in so long.  It's been...extremely hectic and overwhelming with my personal life so in the times when I would have normally written, I was dealing with the sucker punches that life was handing me.  Everything appears to be on the upswing now and for that I am extremely thankful.  Our family had some very scary challenges but God has pulled us through.

Thank you all for not giving up and for keeping me on your "following" lists.  I am hoping to get some posts up to share with you anything that may be of use from the past several months so bear with me and I will try to get my blogging schedule back to normal.  Until then, feel free to check out my class website.

I hope that you are all enjoying your summers.  I am on my second day off but have had my 9 year old niece for a little over a week so it has felt like vacation has been longer than that.  Can't complain about that, right?

Well, I'm off to tend to our 8 puppies (one of my unexpected challenges was that my Golden Retrievers managed--despite my efforts to avoid it--to breed again).  Have a GREAT Monday!

OHMYGOODNESSGRACIOUS This Site is AMAZING!

I just stumbled on the biggest timesaver for classroom library management.  It's a website that works with my iPhone and iPad to scan in the ISBN codes of my books and then, after entering my students names and numbers, the children can check my classroom library books out and then back in with the classroom libraries.  It.  Is. AMAZING!  Check it out here:  Classroom Booksource, sign up for a free account, download the free app, and SCAN ON!  I am in love!  ♥♥♥

Colleagues (Friends) and Compliments

I, along with 12 other staff members, received this email today and it just made my day.  Isn't it nice when we are paid genuine compliments by people we respect very highly?  Anyway, just thought I'd share. Rose hit the nail on the head as the people she sent this to really do show their support to our children in so many after school events/performances.

"Hello former GPE’ers,

As I was adding up the t-shirt sizes for Jump Rope for Heart, I noticed something. 20 people paid/donated their $40 to get their shirt early, lunch and slime.  Out of those 20 people, 13 of us came from GPE with Ms. Wyant. (she only brought 16 of us with her)  It could be one of two things…..we will do or pay anything to stay at this school and not go back to GPE (J) OR Ms. Wyant did a great job in picking who she brought with her.  I believe option 2 is the correct one.  I still feel like we get looked down upon because we came from GPE, but the truth is, all of us that came from GPE are the backbone of this school.  We are the ones going to the different school functions supporting our kids.  I am extremely proud of you guys and where we came from and you all are the best at what you do.  I don’t give compliments very often but I am honored to work with each and every one of you.  Thanks for all you do and all the support you’ve given me and our school.

Sincerely,

Rose"

I'm going to follow that up with a huge thanks to my blogging friends and colleagues because there have been times when you gave just the lift that I or another blogger needed as well.  YOU ALL ROCK!

Data Driven Panic

Sooo, after the last test my students took to guide instruction and give an idea of performance, we had a team meeting letting us know how to interpret said results and where to go from there.  As much as I look at the numbers and interpret the data, I just want to put this out there...if you have access to your test items/questions, PLEASE make sure that you're looking at what your students are being asked.

I think in the grand scheme of things, sometimes we forget that no matter the level of intelligence/skill, these test are still written by humans.  Humans are still known to err.  It happens and we all catch it on our occasional assignments and/or answer keys.  TRUST YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND INSTINCTS and ALWAYS double check.  It truly can be such a relieve to realize that a question or answer choice was poorly worded.

Hang in there, check, double check, and TRUST that you're doing your best when you are.  For some reason, I felt it necessary to put that out there and I hope it brings comfort to someone who needs to read it.

Loooong Week

I am sooooo glad it's Friday--this week has been jam packed with report cards, committee meeting, team meeting, flipped schedule (two days), data meeting, district spelling bee, and today we finish off with our grade level awards ceremony.  OH, and yesterday my husband left for Falon, NV for a week "or two" for work.  :(

PHEW!  Thank goodness for the goodness of Martin Luther King, Jr and Monday off (certainly the Monday off is just an added bonus for all of the wonderful changes he inspired and caused in our nation), because I am hoping needing to get caught up!  Anyone else feeling like an anvil was dropped on them this week?

Deep Breath...I'm Gonna Do It!

I'm going to take the challenge!  I have what I like to refer to as "Organized Chaos" going on in my room and I am finally in the first stage of recovery.  I am admitting that I have a problem.  SO, I'm counting on the Clutter Free Classroom to lead me out of the dark, dismal clutter-filled dungeon.  Lead on, Strong Leader! 

This is my desk--though I rarely sit here, it is  the first unpacking zone of my morning.

This isn't bad as I just had to completely reorganize it before Christmas when one of the shelves gave  under the weight and spilled everything onto the floor.  

Cleaning basket on the floor for quick touch-ups.  I also just added that.  These used to be across the room under the sink.

BONUS!  My inbox was actually cleaned out on Friday before I left school.  :)

This is my actual work area/meeting area.  This is unpacking zone number two.  By the end of the day, this table is usually covered.  I can't explain it.  :(

On the stool I have all of the Scholastic Book Orders that filled my mailbox when I returned from break.  Why are they here?  No idea.  I am not sure what I'm going to do with them yet so it seemed as good a place as any, I suppose. The pink bin is how I file all of the papers that need to be returned to my reading groups.  That is actually organized and ready to disperse tomorrow in our Tuesday Folders. WHOOT!  

Another angle of my work table.

My library is in a state of...well let's just say it's in a state.  I started with the best of intentions, too, but I am still struggling with a way to ensure that the books will be returned to their proper place when a student is finished.  When I find them in the wrong places (desks, cubbies, random places in the room), I place them on a shelf to be reshelved.  Oy--that's a mouthful.

I just did some reorganization here on Friday to put the station activities in those new magazine holders from Target.  I apparently got distracted because you can see the leftovers on the chair.

The leftovers.

The shelves above my sink--not too bad.

I just moved the pillows over here b/c they were on the bottom shelves of my library and I decided that I needed those shelves for...BOOKS!  Whodathunkit?

Not bad...

This needs some attention.  It has cups, plates, mouthwash, standardized testing copies, and treats.  A bit of  a mix that makes no sense.  I should mention that I don't use these cups or plates for anything.

My writing station--not bad.  The only reason the crayons are there is because that is where I keep my stragglers and I have a plan for those using a Pinteresting idea for Valentine's Day.  ;)

Believe it or not, I've actually gone through this basket MANY times.  I have most of those copies in digital files.  Someone please tell me to recycle them?

Intended organization going slightly awry...  The folders are mostly empty, the manilla envelope is for a student who withdrew and I want all of her stuff together for when I receive her withdrawal packet.

Rarely used nonfiction resources.  I have such a hard time getting my students to choose books from over there, but you put them in the school library and they head straight to the informational books.  Bizarre.  I think I need to make it look more appealing.  I am also thinking about getting rid of the magazine rack and all of the contained magazines.  They. Are. Never. Used.

Another failing attempt at being organized.  If only I didn't have the attention span of a PUPPY! :(

And so begins the tour of my closet.  I am SO glad that this door not only shuts, but also locks.  I have made a very honorable attempt at being organized here, but it's those moments when I have to put something away quickly or those days when I can't get to it (for putting it in its appropriate place, anyway) and then INTO the dungeon/closet it goes.  :(

I can't even make excuses for what you're seeing here.

Though I know what is in each of the pink-lidded bins, I think I need to finish labeling them to feel good about them.

Buddy Read books.

Many of those portfolios are empty and the rest are storing things that I.  NEVER.  USE!  Ahem...RECYCLE THEM, KRYSTAL!!!

Hey, it's a way to store charts. ;)

Yeah--no idea, no excuse.

UGH!  Deeper in, and definitely darker!

Please don't judge me for the tops of my filing cabinets.  Again, tucked in the closet and I'm reverted back to the peek-a-boo game of childhood where, if I can't see it, it isn't there.  Hmph!

Now, as bad as this looks, this is where I store all of my empty gift bags, wrapping paper, and totes.   Certainly there's a better way...

This is actually organized!  WHOOT!

SO that's it...and now that I'd like to go bury my head in the sand, I can only hope...that there is still hope for me.