Grab 'yo bags! It's on!

Does anyone else think the Southwest Airlines bag commercials are hysterical?? Mr. P and I love to quote the commercial whenever we can fit it into conversation. A couple of years ago, we swore we saw the guy from the commercial at a local apple orchard. Just recently, when trying to decide where to go apple picking this year, I asked which orchard we were at that year and he said, "the one with the Southwest guy." We've officially lost it. Anyways, onto the real reason you're here...

I'm linking up with Babbling Abby at The Inspired Apple for the Inside My Bag Linky Party. Like Abby, and most teachers, I cycle through bags like nobody's business.

My first year, I had a big ole' tote bag from the teacher's union. That thing got the boot because it really took a beating. Who gives a white bag to a teacher???

The next year, I made this gem.

This is Anna and yes, I made it. Not literally, but I designed it through Anna William; a small designer out of Newburyport, Ma, that lets you customize your own bag. I picked out the fabrics at a bag party and then decided where I wanted them to go and here she is.

I loved this bag for many reasons. It's adorable, has lots of pockets inside, and zips closed, to name a few, but it was too big. I carried home way more than I needed to on a regular basis. I retired the bag for school use but I still use it for weekend getaways.

Then I switched it up to this one...

This is a Harcourt School freebie from our math curriculum. I had the genius idea that if I used a clear bag, I would be more self conscious about shoving junk too many unneeded items in there. Hah! Too bad you can't see that behind that unopened calendar (another freebie) I have a water bottle, winter gloves, receipts, paystubs, pens, and a few highlighters, among other things. This bag is still sitting in my closet. I may need to grab the winter gloves, soon!

This year, I couldn't pass up this $15 tote from Walmart.

She matches my classroom decor and is just the right size to bring home work, but not too much at a time. What a shame. Although, she is pretty narrow, so this is what I carried around this week. Hello, bag lady!

Here's what's inside this pretty little thing.

My bible day planner, notepad for list making :), post-its, classroom keys & flashdrive, notebook for grad school, clipboard with gradebook sheets that I need to enter online, manila folder with MCAS scores, and a packet of homework that I still need to finish correcting.

 Oh, and last week, the germies got me. Notice how the DayQuil is ripped open? I literally tore through the box to get some relief. Echinacea is my secret weapon. The tea is lovely and I take my Echinacea with Vitamin C in the morning, afternoon, and before bed, and I swear it cuts my sick time in half. Hand sanitizer is a must since my classroom does not have a sink!! I know, crazy, right?! My immune system is getting better each year but I still get sick in September and once during the winter.

I may or may not have all of my paystubs since school started, shoved in there.

What's in your bag?? Go to Abby's Inside my School Bag Linky Party to play along!



Great Read-Alouds

I have a confession. I am addicted to book shopping. The rush of adrenaline that I get when I walk into Barnes and Noble is indescribable. Oh, the smell of a new book! It's pure heaven! With that said, I made it in and out of Barnes and Noble today in record time.. 2 hours. Hah! I have a baby shower to go to and the girls hosting requested that instead of a card, we each bring a book and sign that instead. I love this idea!

Obviously, it took me for-ev-er to pick out a book because I spent a lot of time browsing for the perfect book. I didn't want a classic because I figured that everyone else would get one of those. I didn't want a "baby"book because, again, everyone else is sure to bring one of those to a baby shower. Plus, I kept thinking, what do you do when you receive multiple copies of the same book and people already signed the book and wrote a message in it?? 

Picture me sitting on the floor in the kids section, devouring picture book after picture book. I read all my faves, Corduroy, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Tar Beach, Stella Luna, No, David!, Dot, Ish, Thank you, Mr. Falker, Pirates Don't Change Diapers, Fancy Nancy, Make Way for Ducklings, Knuffle Bunny, and the list goes on. The couple does not know what they are having, so it was a bit more challenging but here's what I ended up with.

I love, love, love Mo Willems. I discovered his books while I was taking a Children's Lit class as an undergrad. This book is too much fun and preschoolers just eat it up. He also has some more in this series, Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late, and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog are two more great ones. The little pigeon is so dang cute and when you use it as a read aloud, the kids love to shout out, NO!! the whole time. I hope they enjoy it as much as my kiddos did when I was teaching the younger grades. Plus, unless there are other teachers there or parents with preschool age children (which I don't think there are) there's a good chance that no one else picked up this book.

I also couldn't resist this one..

This book is literally just the lyrics from the song, Forever Young, with illustrations of it being performed in New York. The baby's parents are fans of his music and the baby's dad is from New York, so when I saw the adorable illustrations, I knew it had to be a part of this sweet baby's new book collection. Again, I think this is another one that no one else will get. (I have no idea why I was stressing so much about multiple books showing up at this shower!)

I couldn't resist picking up this book for my classroom..



because I love David Shannon, I don't read aloud from pictures books enough to my kiddos now that I only teach math and science, and this book has a great lesson behind it for kids of any age. Jodi from The Clutter Free Classroom did a great project and adorable bulletin board with this book and I hope to do something similar. This will be a great read aloud now that we've started our anti-bullying program, Steps To Respect, because it is all about being yourself and not caring about what other people think about you.

It's amazing that I only walked out of there with 3 books. Although, my heart was aching thinking about how much I miss teaching the little ones. Strangely enough, whenever I picture a change in grade level, I always consider moving up, until I find myself sprawled out on the floor of the kids section of Barnes and Noble!

Karson & Kennedy's Homeroom Contest - I need your help!!!

I've finally unburied myself from the debris of the first few weeks of school, just to bury myself under the covers with some Nyquil. That's right, the first cold of the season came early!

I have been SO totally, completely swamped the past couple of weeks. I have so much to share with you but between getting my new kiddos into a routine, wedding planning & appointments, and being a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding this past weekend, busy is an understatement. It all caught up to me though because on Sunday, I woke up with a nasty head cold and just can't kick it. Mr. P was sweet enough to bring home Campbell's chicken noodle soup & flowers. He's the best.

Anyways, onto the real reason that I dragged myself out of bed to update my blog...

I entered my classroom in a contest for a local radio station, Mix 104.1, with morning hosts Karson & Kennedy.  They are looking to crown the most spirited homeroom as Karson & Kennedy's Homeroom. Since I already had my classroom makeover this summer, I decided to give it the "spirit" that Karson & Kennedy were looking for and send my pics over to the radio station. Well, lo and behold, I am one of the finalists!!! Now I need your help! Voting begins Wed. 9/21 @ 6am and a winner will be picked on Friday. The classroom with the most votes, wins the grand prize... A trip for two to ARUBA for the teacher!! AND a $500 gift card to Staples!!! Say what?!?! My kids are pumped, my class is decked out, and I haven't EVER been on a real vacation during my school breaks!

Check out the link below and VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!! I would really love you (even more than I already do) if you put a link on your blog and get others to vote, too. Link it to your facebook, get your teacher friends to vote, I need some teacher power behind me! Vote early, vote often, and spread the word!! Thank you! Thank you!

Vote for my class to be Karson & Kennedy's Homeroom!!

Karson & Kennedy’s Homeroom

Message from the future.. and a broken record

Oh my word, I don't remember ever being so tired. Not last year, not the year before, not any other year. I am loving my new babies but they are still so immature for fifth grade and I am spending a lot of time repeating myself. I swear I was ready for Ashton Kutcher to jump out of the closet doors and tell me I'm being punked. 

Example 1:

Teacher: "Open up to the vocabulary section of your binder so that I can explain tonight's homework. (Students open binders) Please complete the vocabulary from lesson 1 & 2 in the vocabulary section of your binder. Remember to use the three-column format that we practiced today and include the word, definition, and picture."

Student: "What section of our binder should it go in?"

Teacher: "........."

Example 2:

Teacher: "Your hardcover books need to be covered with a book cover. If you have never used a bookcover before I will show you how to cover your book. I will also provide you with a paper cover if you need one."

Student: "Um, I need a book cover but I don't know how to cover my book."

Teacher: "..........."

My whoooollleee week went something like that. Iyy yi yi! I was lucky enough to be playing the role of the teacher :) It is so tiring but they often start out this way and then all of a sudden, they are middle schoolers.

While they are not good at following directions, quite yet, these kiddos are seriously too funny and super sweet. Today they were just cracking me up! Maybe it was the fact that it was Friday or that I had only had one coffee and one diet coke, as opposed to five diet cokes, {Oops} but they are hilarious.

One of my students told me he was from the future today. I said, "Oh, really! That's fantastic, it must be helpful to know what is going to happen." He said, "Oh, it's great. In fact, in 3012, something big is going to happen." I said, "Oh, really. What is it?" He responded, "West Virgina and Virginia..." Then he paused, looked at me, and began shaking his head, hitting his fists together. "Well, they don't really get along. They will become Weeast Virginia." I said, "Oh, my goodness!" He said, "I know, it's terrible, but west would rather be east. You know how that is."

Really!? Hah! His face was so serious and I was just dying to know what was going on in that little head.

I am also loving that my former students, some now in high school, have been dropping in to say hello every day after school. It's amazing how quickly they turn into little adults. It makes my heart hurt.

These little things are the best parts of my day and they make all of the repeating the first few weeks of school completely worth it. :)

Snowball Fight!

This week has been a total whirlwind. Monday was a staff day and Tuesday the kiddos came to school. My new kids are the sweetest and I just love seeing my former students when they stop in for a visit. They have all been commenting on my new room decor, which I can't wait to show off soon. If only I could keep my eyes open long enough after school to take some pics! Whatever the word is for more than exhausted, that's what I was by Thursday of this week. Thank goodness we had Friday off because I don't think I could have made it one more day! I am loving this four day weekend and hope to be caught up on sleep by Tuesday so that I can hit the ground running this week.

Every year it amazes me that the first day of school is such a blur. You anticipate it, plan for it, stay up all night having nightmares of the alarm not going off and showing up to school in your pajamas, y'all know what I'm talking about! Then the day comes and goes so quickly you don't even know what happened!

We spent a lot of time going over procedure and routines, especially because for my kiddos, this is their first year of middle school. I always let my students make the class rules to begin building our community. They need to feel like the room is theirs, too, and I find that when they make the rules, it's a lot harder to break them! Once our rules were established, we had a snowball fight! Perfect for the hot day we had! :) This is one of my favorite ice breakers but over the years I've learned to make sure that it's done once the rules are established so that the it will be managable when the kids get excited.

I found this activity online and I have seen it done many ways. Here's how it works. I give the kids a small piece of paper and tell them NOT to write their name on it. They have to write three things on it. 1. favorite food 2. a place that they have travelled 3. something other people don't know about you. Once they have these three things written down, I tell them to crumple up the paper in a ball and that we're having a snowball fight. I always do it in that order, telling them about the snowball fight when they crumple the paper, to build excitement. Clear rules and expectations need to be set for the "fight", that includes how to throw the paper, how long it will last, where they can throw/stand, etc. When I say go, we toss the snowballs around, trying to keep them off the ground, and when I say stop, everyone needs to grab a snowball and sit down. We then go around and read the snowballs, and try to guess who it belongs to. This is a fun activity that brings a great energy to the class and it's nice to learn about the students this way.

The third fact, something other people might not know about you, is always the best. I always hear some really funny things and they really help me to learn about the kids. This year I heard, "never been kissed" {in fifth grade, I hope not!}, and "I've been stabbed" {when I asked, he said oh, I think it was accidental, it was my brother, and it was more of a sharp poke - dramatic much in middle school?! haha!}, among other things. If you're ready for a lively first day/week of school activity, this is it. A bit of a warning, though, I have only done this with groups that have excellent behavior on day one and that do not come with any reputation of rowdy behavior.

We have a big week ahead full of... are you ready for this? Testing! What a surprise! I hope to be back with pictures and updates of what's been going on in between, in the next couple of days. As for now, I will be enjoying my day off tomorrow. I have to get a few errands done {which includes Fall decorating! Yay!!!} but I fully intend on snuggling up on the couch with my cat and finishing my book. Bliss!


ps. I was excited to see the new followers when I logged on this afternoon! I just can't get enough of the upper elementary blogs popping up everywhere! :)