This crazy thing we call Sunday...

Holy COW!!!! I feel like I need a day in between Sunday and Monday!!!! The weekend always feels like it just FLIES by so quickly and I don't feel like I get anything accomplished until Sunday afternoon/early evening when Jackson is taking a nap... However today he decided that his nap was going to be TWO hours after I laid him down... up, down, cry, up, down, cry, I have to go potty, down, cry, I have to go poop, down, up, cry... pat me, lay with me... GGGEEEZZZEEERRRSSSSSS Child just go to sleep!!!! Anyway... once he actually did go to sleep I was able to get a lot of things completed!!! I went on a Pinterest/TPT spree!!! I have been struggling with what to do with my students when I pull them for small group, some are higher then others and not all will benefit from the lower level activities that I have planned, or sometimes they are not as high as I thought they were and have to modify on the fly... Which is fine (since I am the Sped teacher), but with that being said I really wanted to do more of a Daily 5 rotation in my small groups when they worked with me. Since I pull three days for Reading/Language arts and twice for Math I needed ideas for both subjects. So of course where do you turn when you need ideas? Pinterest of course!!!! SO I thought I'd share with you some of the wonderful things that I found and where to get them! Now since I have moved we don't have our color printer anymore and the school that I work at doesn't have a printer for me so I have to figure out when and where I am going to print all of these wonderful items!!!

I have been looking for task cards for a long time and I hit the MOTHER LOAD today!!! Teaching with a Mountain View seems to be the Task card Queen!!! The next large pack came from her as well!!! I am very excited about this pack, it has different skills and different levels that the students can be working on! I also LOVE the post about how she organizes them in her classroom, my next project probably over Thanksgiving break! I love how I can work with a few students at a time and send them to do some task cards and I know they are still applying the skills that they worked on with me!

Huge reading bundle these task cards cover all the skills you see in the picture. I am super excited to use these with my students. Since I work with 4 different grade levels this pack will allow me to use the cards with all the different grade levels and still be working on the same skill!!! Did I mention I am in LOVE with task cards!!!! I think they are my newest obsession!!!!!

And last but not least!!!! Interactive Sight words!! I am so excited for this with my students who are struggling with their basic sight words! I love that this pack has several different activities to do with each word and they are gluing and practicing in their notebooks!! I have two students that I work with in the morning for specialized instruction and one of them would greatly benefit from this simple vocabulary and repetitive activities!

Well I hope that your Sunday is going well and that you got everything you needed to get ready for Monday morning ready!!! I feel a little bit more prepared!! Now just to figure out how to print all of these things!!!! Luckily I have the lamination machine so that isn't the issue, it's just getting them printed on cardstock and in color!!!!

Wish me luck!!!

November Currently... My poor blog!!

Its that time again... and for me its been a LONG LONG time since I have been on my blog!!! Wow I feel so sad for those of you that follow my blog... Not that you have missed me all that much!!! However I am back for now!!! It has been a rough few months with a new school, new teaching position and then moving into our new apartment!!! Seriously are we CRAZY?!?!?! So here is my currently, link up with Farley and check out all the other loverly teachers out there and see what their Novembers look like! 

Listening: Magic School Bus!!! Yep that's right! Be jealous!!! Amazon had an amazing deal about a month ago for the entire 52 episodes for about $20!!! So I was pleased beyond compare when my 3 1/2 year old wanted to start watching them and loves them!!! Not only is he learning from them but to him they seem like funny cartoons that he likes to watch. I had originally bought them to use in class, but double duty!!!

Loving: We moved in about two months ago now and are finally getting settled into it and have made it our home. It was a rushed decision but it was what we needed to do for our little family! We are working hard to make the transition as easy and fun for our 3 year old.. He loves it that he has "two" houses! I am also a Thirty-One consultant and am loving the new opportunities that I am being presented with! At the end of last school year I wasn't sure when I resigned with a month left of school if I was going to get picked up by anyone during the summer... I had looked for almost two years before I was hired by my old district... Then things just didn't work out and they didn't feel right so I resigned... Well like I said I wasn't sure if I would find a job so I needed to make sure that I had SOME money coming in so I signed up to be a Thirty-One consultant and have been doing well... I am not as hard core since school started but I now use it for extra spending money... I love how the company is faith based and you can go at your own pace and make as little or as much money as you need! So one thing on my list is to mail out mini catalogs this weekend/early next week!

Thinking: Well this past week was not a good week for me... it was a rough week at school and I have a lot of things to prepare for other teachers... I am the only Special Education teacher on my campus and I currently service 20 students from 2nd - 5th grade... My schedule has changed 100 times and is something that I will be working on when I finish this!!! I keep getting new transfer students and newly qualified students and of course some of the teachers don't want to deal with my students so they are saying that they need more help differentiating for their students... That my students are taking up too much of their time that they can't focus on the students that they know have a chance of passing the STAAR! Really teachers!!!!! This just makes me angry, I understand that its a lot of work when you have other students but I'm doing more than the previous person did and I gave you all sorts of ideas and have told you that if you need help come to me and I will help you... but don't tell me that I'm not helping you enough when every time I ask if you need help or want me to pull your students for extra support when I have a free second and you tell me NO! Ok Rant Over!!!

Wanting: Yes I need a Printer!!!! Not only do I not have a Special Ed printer at school I also don't have any type of printer at home!!! No bueno!!!! So if you have any suggestions for a nice color printer that doesn't cost an arm and a leg or take up a lot of space I would appreciate the input!

Needing: I was doing really good at the end of last school year with working out... I went down an entire pant size!!! I put it all back on from the summer and the beginning of the school year!!! With my crazy new schedule and having to drive 45 minutes to my school and then back home... Its just been one thing after another and I need to stop making excuses for not working out!!! So NO MORE!!!! I will start working out and get back into a better shape and back to skinny!!!! That is my goal to end the year at least two sizes smaller than I am right now!!! Not impossible at all!!!

Yummy Pin: Caramel appletini cupcake

Recipe

Thanks for stopping by... My goal is to post at least once a week... Accountability partner where are you!?!?!?

I have a new job!!!

I wanted to let you all know that I have accepted a new teaching position for next year!!! I am very excited about this new opportunity... It is something completely different then what I have been doing for the past three years! I am the new inclusion teacher for my campus! I am in charge of servicing 17 students across all 6 grade levels!! YIKES!!! It will be me and my one aid going in and out of all the different classrooms all day!!! It doesn't sound like that much work when your thinking only 17 students and they aren't even in your classroom all day... that's easy!! However when you think about it I have to do paperwork and run 17 ARD's!!!! Now that's something only a Special Ed teacher would shudder at!!! Trust me I am already working on my schedules... I am hoping to get in contact with my principal in the next week and set up when I can get into my students files and class schedules for next year so that I can start the crazy planning for my students... I am also a little nervous because I am not sure what my exact role is going to be... what I will be in charge of... what my principal is expecting out of me in means of plans?!?! So many question!!!! I am also going to 12 different trainings that I get to start going to on the 17th of July!!! Yes 12 trainings!!!

Oh well I am really excited about this new opportunity and just wanted to share!!!

I am also looking for any suggestions that you all might have for what you do if you are an inclusion/resource teacher!!!

Thanks!!!!

Currently!!!

O.M.G... I can't believe that it's already JuNe!!!! That means sooo much in this house!!!! So I am linking up with Farley over at her blog for her monthly Currently!!! I have been MIA from my blog with the end of school and all that has been happening in my life at school!!! I am hoping this summer to be a better blogger, even though I won't have school to write about exactly... I'm sure I can find something to write about!!! I am also wanting to create a few products this summer!!!! Wish me luck!!

Listening: My son is sitting on the floor driving his trains around the blanket saying "I think I can..." over and over again! He is really intro Thomas the Train. I am very excited that I get to spend a lot more time with him now that its summer time!!!

Loving: This school year is OVER!!!!! To say the least it has been the longest, hardest year from HELL for me!!! Not only was my class very difficult, but my admin didn't like me from the first day I stepped foot on their campus! Not sure how I made her not like me before she even knew me but somehow I did it!!! So of course she made my year very difficult and almost made me want to not be a teacher anymore!!! Seriously! I was thinking what else could I do with a teaching degree because this is NOT for me!!! But then I realized that I was a good teacher and my kids loved me and I was doing what I loved and to hell with her!!! 

Thinking: I HATE the unknown!!! Since I resigned from my job I have been called for two interviews, I felt very confident for the first one and was planning on getting that job... well a week went by and NO news... NOTHING!!!! So I came home and I had a message from a different school in the same district for an interview!!! I called back on Friday and the Principal wasn't on campus... she was the one who called me the day before wondering if I was interested in an interview!!! 

Wanting: This one sort of goes with the above statement!! I want to know where I will be working next school year!!! I am also wanting to be finished with my Masters degree!!! My school is starting to make me angry!! They keep changing around advisors and classes!!! So instead of being finished THIS December I am looking more like NEXT AUGUST!!! Oh yeah I also have to finish packing up everything in my room on Monday!!! Geez I feel like I just did this... Oh wait I did!!!!

Needing: My classes start on the 10th and I need to go up to school and buy my books... Not sure exactly which books I am needed because they keep changing the stuff online! I also need to email one of the schools that works with children with Autism during the summer to "get a kid" to study and work with this summer for one of my projects!!! Super excited about that!!!

3 Vacay essentials: Electronics: phone, iPad, computer... I think that all counts as ONE item... RIGHT?!?!?!?! Well in my house they DO!! Haha, I need my phone for games, movies and whatnot.. my son needs my iPad for his games and movies, I also have my kindle books on my iPad so it is also my "books", and of course I need my computer for when all other electronics are dead. Then I need sunscreen otherwise I BURN!!!! My son also got my fair skin, we both tan easily however if we don't wear sunscreen we burn burn burn!!!! OUCH!!!! And last but not least... My Thirty-One bags!!! Since I started to sell these I am OBSESSED!!!!  I have always had a few Thirty-One bags but now I keep looking at the magazine thinking about how I can use EVERYTHING!!!! I am so excited about what this company has to offer for their Independent Consultants!!! 

A very hard post to post!

Well as I have been talking about I wanted to write a post about what has been going on with me this year. This is going to be a very long post and not very happy, I feel like I have a place to really express myself and that other bloggers are like my friends. I wish I could meet up with a few of you because I really look up to y'all!

Ok down to the nitty-gritty. I officially resigned from my district on Monday. I have grown up in this district and was so excited when I started to work for them three years ago. I worked at the same school as a special education teacher for two years, I thought when the opportunity came up at the end of last year to transfer to a school closer to my house I jumped at the chance to switch and move into 2nd grade. However from the day that I went over to the school to talk with the principal about me transferring, I was excited about it but I could tell that she was not excited about me moving over. In all seriousness this is what she told me before I left, "The only reason that I am agreeing to this transfer is because I want to give *** (the other teacher) the opportunity to be closer to home. However I have a lot of concerns and reservations about you coming here" SERIOUSLY!!!! WTH! So that was the first sour taste of this lady in my mouth! Then during the summer she contacted me about going to different workshops because she didn't trust my ability to teach the materials, granted at this time I was placed in a 3rd grade classroom and she was worried about the STAAR Test that year. I understand that she was worried about the scores since 3rd grade is the first time but in some of the emails that she CC'd me on she was very negative about my skills and was stressing that I needed all the help that I could get! GRR just typing this gets me upset all over again.

Fast forward to the school year starting, she is never pleasant towards me and gave me a hard time from the beginning, my team whom I though was all on my side was actually throwing me under the bus to her (not all of them but the one that counted) it was very hard to hear some of the things that were said about me. I was also getting a lot of grief from my parents, and the principal would never back me up I would automatically be in trouble for things that 7/8 year olds were telling their parents without even fact checking with me. So when I would ask the students about the incidents they were not accusing me of anything!! GRRR!!!

Moving on in my story, my observation comes around and she comes in and I thought that my lesson wasn't all that stellar but that I would get by and be proficient like I had been the past TWO YEARS!!!! OH NO!!! Apparently I am a horrible teacher who sucks a$$ at my job and who apparently doesn't have a clue about what I am doing! I get in trouble for every little thing that she didn't like however lets slide with other teachers, I had a few students separated from the group because of their behavior and I get in trouble for segregating them from the class, not once were they ever excluded from the lesson or from any group activities!!! So after she writes is all up and puts every negative comment possible in my PDAS, I go in for my conference and get put on a TINA (Teacher in Need of Assistance) for a month. While being put through the ringer and jumping through all sorts of hoops and having to do extra extra work, I still don't meet her "expectations" which by the way she doesn't expect from the other staff on campus!!! So after the month of my TINA she walks down to my room on a Friday at 3:30 right before I am leaving for the weekend, she sits me down with our AP (Whom I have know since I was 8) and she says, "This is hard for me to say, but I am recommending that your probationary contract not be renewed with the district." My response is WTH!!! My body was numb and I literally had not words!!! What kind of person tells someone that they are no longer going to be employed with the district on a Friday??!?!!!? So I had the whole weekend to think it over and wonder why would I give a damn about her or where I worked for the next month. However I couldn't just stop teaching my students, I also couldn't give up on them and just send them to 3rd grade like that. It wasn't their fault and it wasn't fair to the 3rd grade teachers. So I thought about it for the next few weeks and decided to formally put in my letter of resignation.

Monday I turned in my letter, on Tuesday I received an email saying that my Summative was ready to be signed. I opened the Summative and you would NOT believe what I saw!!! ALL PROFICIENT AND 5 EXCEEDS!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!! So I am not a good enough teacher to keep my job with the district (or at your school) yet I am good enough to move my evaluation up from bellow to proficient and exceeds!!! Again WTH!!!! So now I am back in the LARGE pool of other teachers waiting to get another job!! I hate this feeling of not knowing anything!!! The only good thing is that the daycare where my son goes has offered me a part time job this summer and then if I don't get a teaching job for next year I will be their Pre-K teacher. At least its a job, although I will be making nothing compared to what I was making as a teacher it will still help me!!

I don't know what else to put on here but this is about how crappy my year has been at this school that I was super excited about working at! The good news is that I realized that I really missed being a Special Education teacher and that I really want to get back into it so that is all I have been applying for, so if you live in the San Antonio area and know of any openings at schools around you let me know and I'll make sure that my application is in for that district!

Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts a prayers in this time of need for my family!

My First Five For Friday... (Yes I know its Saturday!!)

I am linking up for the fist time with Doodle Bugs Teaching. Since I wasn't planning on doing this my pictures are a little bit different. I am going to do it my way... Which of course is what I always seem to get into trouble about. :-) Anyway this is going to be a very long post and FULL of pictures!!! So stay with it and don't give up! I hope you enjoy all the Random things that have filled up my week! Now I am looking forward to the last 23 days of school!! Whoo-Hoo!!!!

1:  I went shopping with my mom yesterday for some cute Spring school clothes!! I am happy to say that I now have a full week of brand new clothes to wear!!! We went to Old Navy!! I have to say that is probably one of my favorite stores to buy clothes at!!! I like the way that their clothes fit, how they are comfortable and affordable!!! My plan is to wear many of these clothes all week and really impress all my other teacher friends! Many of the items I bought can be worn together and switched around, I loved the fact that Old Navy has sample ideas on their walls. I seriously just went into Old Navy to buy two or three pairs of jeans and walked out spending almost $300. I had watched a few YouTube vlogs and they were all talking about Coral and Mint/Teal colors that were coming out for Spring... I saw ALL of this stuff and I was hooked!!! I can't wait for Monday ( I can't believe I just wrote that), ONLY because I want to wear my new clothes!!!

1: The boyfriend cardigan in Coral. 2: Mint Green eyelet dress. 3: Tee shirt Maxi dress. 4: Teal cardigan. 5 & 6: Sheer three quarter sleeve in yellow and teal/mint. 7: Maxi dress in Teal. 8: White Jean jacket. 9: Grey cardigan. 10: Coral lace tank top. 

I also got this scarf and another blue butterfly scarf but I couldn't find the picture online. 

2: I found this post earlier at 2nd Grade Shenanigans and I was inspired to purchase it and use it as a great going away present to my students. So I went out to our local Dollar Tree and bought 21 sand buckets so that I can start getting ready for our last week of school to be creating these fun review buckets with my students. I also bought a bottle of bubbles, two pencils, pencil sharpener, and erasers, this way there is no excuse if they need to use any of these items. 

If you would like to purchase this packet click here and check out Hope King's TPT. 

3: Another product that has come in handy during this past week, since there was STAAR testing going on at our school we had to keep our 2nd graders in our classroom ALL day!!! NO BREAK!!! (Well at least not for me, they got to watch a movie, and then play game day)

One day we used Amy Lemons' Area Robots to introduce area... Let me say that they LOVED IT!!! And it made me look really good to my team mates, who haven't always been so sharing of their resources... Amy Lemons blog is attached. Not only is she an awesome teacher her resources are amazing to, here is a link to her TPT store. 

4: I donated $25 for the Teachers in West, Texas who were affected by the fertilizer plant explosion. It was well worth it because I received all of the units in the photo below. I am including all the links to their products in their TPT stores. The fundraiser is closed but I'm sure you can still donate to the cause if you would like. All of these products were worth $150!!! And many of these products were already in my Wish-list, and from some of my favorite bloggers. I wish that I knew some of these people in real life, alas I don't so I just blog stalk them!! I am planning on using a few of these items in my Summer Review bucket from above as well! I have a few students who would benefit from continuation of practicing their skills and a lot of these products will be beneficial for them!

Kreative in Kinder TPT

A Teeny Tiny Teacher TPT

First Grade Blue Skies

A Special Kind of Class TPT

Kindergarten Lifestyle TPT

Step into Second Grade TPT

What the Teacher Wants TPT

Kinder Craze

A Differentiated Kindergarten TPT

Suesstastic Classroom Inspiration TPT

Live Laugh Love Kindergarten TPT

Kinder Gals TPT

Fun in First TPT

Growing Kinders TPT

Creating & Teaching TPT

Teaching with Love & Laughter TPT

Kinder Alphabet TPT

Little Miss Kindergarten TPT

Kindergarten Smiles TPT

Primary Graffiti TPT

Mrs. Miners Monkey Business TPT

Simply Kinder TPT

Mrs. Jumps Class TPT

Miss Kindergarten's TPT

The Moffat Girls TPT

The Inspired Apple TPT

Kinderglynn TPT

5: I didn't take a picture of this one but we had a Glow Stick Bath at our house tonight! A friend of mine said that she did this with her little girl and I thought what a great way to make bath time fun and change it up a little bit! So while we were at the Dollar Store today we picked up a couple of packages of glow sticks... Let me tell you my 3 year old little boy had a BLAST!!!!! Well worth the $2 I spent on  the two packages. 

I hope that you have enjoyed these Random 5 things from my week!!! I will plan on doing this next week so I'll take pictures along the way!!

Currently & My next attempts...

I am linking up with Farley for her Currently... Yes I know it's the 5th of the month... It has been a CRAZZZZZYYYYYY week so far!! I can't believe that it is already April! That means for our school we only have one more month of school... 39 days to be exact!!!

Well here you go... Hope you enjoy!

* Listening: Yes I am still at school on a Friday at 4:30, I need to get everything I can prepped and ready to go for next week so that I can feel some sort of accomplishments... I am also going over to a friends house for dinner tonight with my 3 yr. old son and I don't want to take a lot of work home with me this weekend! 

*Loving: I am seriously happy that I made it to Friday... Not sure what was wrong with me this week but it was an off week and I was about ready to quite multiple times during the days... My kids were off, I was off, it was just an off week! I don't know about y'all but these kids are different than ones that I am use to working with! I know coming from special education the students are different but I mean in general the students are different. My class is just different!

*Thinking: I can't believe that we only have 39 more days left in school! That number is CRAY-CRAY if you ask me!!! I seriously feel like the year just started! I am nevrvous and anxious at the same time... Did I teach them everything that I needed to get in... Did I teach them correctly... Are they going to remember it all in 3rd grade?!?! YIKES!!! 

*Wanting: I don't know about y'all but I wouldn't have any luck if it weren't for bad luck... Seriously I don't think anything "good" has happened to me in... 3 years... When my son was born... Seriously I feel like I am always putting out fires or dealing with the let down of this or that... I just want things to go my way for once... Not asking fro a lot... Just once!!! We put in an offer on the land we want, next day it gets pulled from the market; guy changed his mind... Start working out: Gain weight back! WTH REALLY... REALLY!!!! GRRRRRRR x1000000

*Needing: I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything that I need to get done accomplished... I am actually looking forward to our calendar for next year because twice a month we have early release days for the kids so that we can actually have time to PLAN! We are going to be using those days for PLC's with other campuses and actually having time to work together as a team to prep for our new units! We are also switching around our curriculum from 9 weeks scope and sequence to 6 week grading periods with 3 week units! I am a little nervous but excited at the same time! We have seen the samples and they look GOOD!!!!

*Advice: My favorite Dr. Seuss quote! I think it is very true and we all need to remember it when we are having an off day (or week in my case)!

Now on to my Next attempts: I am going to a start working on a new TPT *thing*. I wouldn't really call it a unit because I am going to make different 2nd Grade High frequency word cards for your word wall. I will be creating them with different themes. I am also going to try to create some content word wall cards using the same themes. I have an Ocean theme in my room so the first attempt will be to use the words with an Ocean theme. I am hoping that these are things that people will find useful for their classrooms. I know that my handwriting is not always stellar so me writing their High Frequency words sometimes makes it harder for them to read... SO I thought why not print them up and cut them out so that I have them for years to come!!! I might then attempt to create 1st grade HF words!

With that being said if you would please let me know what other themes you would be interested in seeing I will work on finding what I need and creating them!

Hopefully I can have them up and running before school is over! However it's not like the words are going to change in the next few weeks so they should be fine to use next year as well... Of course if they change I would update the packet *Packet* that's the word I was looking for... Blah (ADD Brain). 

My ADD at its best. Guided reading & Easter & Last Break

Well today couldn't go by fast enough if you ask me!!! I know that I am seeing on several different blogs that this is just now your Spring Break! Does that mean you have other breaks before the end of school rolls around? In our district our Spring Break was two weeks ago, then we had a full week then this week was a four day week because we have off tomorrow for Good Friday... However nice that all sounds this is our last break until the LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL!!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?! Granted I have a few scheduled half-days that I am taking off for different reasons. One on April 19th for a roping that we are going to in Llano, Tx (Yummy crawfish!!!) then almost exactly a month later on May 17th about 10 teachers are all taking half-days because we are all running the Beach 2 Bay marathon down at the coast!! This will be the first time that I am running this marathon but I am looking forward to it! If you aren't familiar with this marathon it is a team marathon so each person runs about 3-4 miles and each team had about 6 people on it!

Any way back to my original idea for this post...

Guided Reading!?!?!?!?! Are you all as done with doing guided reading groups as I am??? I know my students are still loving working with me when they get the chance and they will be the first ones to let me know when I have skipped their group for a few days... (shhh I have been doing that quite often here at the end...) My brain is just DRA'd small grouped out!!! So here is where I need your help... another teacher found these really cool foldable she called "Flip-flap" books... I think she found them on TPT, however I have searched and searched and can't find them anywhere!!!! I am always looking for fun things to do with my students and I think they will learn a lot more from doing the different things than me just talking about it and having them write them down in their journals and them me NEVER referring back to them!! (I know you must think I am a horrible teacher! ) (I swear I'm not!!!) So the basic idea is that you give the student a file folder and they cut out different things to be folded up and glued in the folder... examples: "I" can summarize (on an iPhone), Comparing characters, Authors purpose, vocabulary words... all those wonderful ideas!!! However I would really like to get my own copy so that when I leave this school I have an original to take with me!! So if you have anything really SUPER fun and that you are seeing gets your kids to understand and focus and want to work during Guided reading PLEASE pass it this teachers way!!! Like I said we have 7-8 weeks left of school (44 days if you want the EXACT number of days!) and I need to really get back on the guided reading train for the downward slide into summer!! I need to make sure that my students are READY for 3rd grade!!!


Thanks for your comments and ideas!!!

Oh the picture that is somewhere in this post is a close up of our class pet that I had to bring home for the long weekend because I forgot to double check that a student was taking care or it! Yeah!! My son is really excited!!

Hope you have a wonderful Easter with your families!! I am looking forward to trying to relax (even though I brought TONS of works home with me... I even cut my pile of stuff that I was bringing home down a LOT!!! ) We are going up to Buda (south of Austin) to spend time with my husbands dad's side of the family for a mini reunion! I am hoping that on Saturday with everyone being there I can sneak away for a few hours and get as much school work done as possible so I'm not stressing out on Sunday that I have all this work to get ready for Monday!

Well I hope that my random rant/post made your Thursday evening enjoyable!! Almost finished with Team Umizoomi and then its bath and bed time for my 3 year old!!! So we just started him on a real bed time routine! During the week we try to bath him at 8:00 then he gets to watch one "movie" (cartoon) in our bed then he is in his bed by 9:00, granted he doesn't fall asleep right away but he was becoming a BEAST in the mornings... So even though we don't have school and he's not going to his school tomorrow I am letting him slip a little... but not much, still bath 8:30 T.V. 8:45 then bed 9:15 or so...


See this is how my brain works... My ADD is getting worse as the stress builds!!! Not kidding my left eye is starting to twitch... I know when I'm really stressed because it doesn't stop twitching!!!

YIKES here I go again! Ok for real its now bath time and time for this Mommy/Teacher to call it a night! (well at least from writing) I will probably get him in bed then do some work then blog stalk for a little bit!

Night and again have a BLESSED EASTER!!!

Organizing my Chaos!

I can't believe that it's already Friday!!! This week has gone by WAY TOOOO FAST!!!! Last Saturday we celebrated my sons 3rd Birthday! WOW we had so many family members come out to help us celebrate our Big boy! Then on Sunday my parents and I, and of course my son took a road trip up to see my Mom's family up in Oklahoma!! Of course on Spring Break I get sick!! I finally felt better yesterday (Thursday) blah!!! Well today we decided to venture out on a beautiful day, we went and got my Mamma's hair did LOL, then ate a yummy lunch at Jason's Deli, then went to Mardel's! I LOVE THIS STORE!!! My plan was just to look around at all their wonderful things... Well of course I couldn't just do that I HAD to get some things for my classroom.  So here are the pictures from the website of the things that I bought today! I will have an explanation under each picture why I bought these items. 

My ideas for these are ENDLESS!!! However my plan is to use 5 of them to help me stay organized and on top of everything for the week! My goal is to slowly get better and be more prepared for each day. I would like to use one color for each day and then have corresponding folders inside each magazine holder with each subject and all the things that I would need for that day all ready to go and copied if i needed them, or things already cut out for my students. Yes I know that on Monday we are starting our last 9 weeks of the school year, however my hope is to start using them this year and then begin my year using them for the 13-14 school year... I will already have the system down pat! This idea will work for whatever grade level I am teaching next year! (Someone from our 2nd grade team has to move... we have 5 this year and only enough kids moving up to keep 4). What sort of organization do you use to help you keep on track for the week? I have seen several different blogs that use those sterilite stackable things to keep all their papers in. 

These two books I bought to help my students with their math skills. Our school is really big on using Singapore Math, model drawing, number sense... However even though I have been to several different trainings I am still not 100% on using all of these skills. As part of my evaluation for my PDAS I now have to do daily warm-ups using Singapore concepts for my students. So I bought these two books to help me come up with morning warm-ups to do with my students. My plan is to type up the same word problem multiple times and then print it off and then have my students cut and paste them into their morning work journals. From a quick glance of the books I am going to use these a lot for the rest of the year! I'll let you know how things go!

Good Writing Traits: These cute mini posters are good ways to help my students to remember all the different things that we have been working on! Again I know its the end of the year but it's never to late to start new things! Since we are going to start our narratives on Wednesday I thought it was a good way to remind them about all our writing lessons since they have had a week off to forget everything that I have been working on!

Hope these things have helped you see how I spent my Spring Break!!! Please leave me comments about how you stay organized with all your paper things for the week!

Thanks!!!!