Currently August

I am so in "school mode" right now!  I spent the bigger part of last weekend trying to unpack boxes and organize my classroom.  Did I finish?  Not even close!  So I went back Wednesday afternoon and stayed until Midnight, determined to finish.  Did I?  Nope.  But I'm closer than I was.  I have my mess contained to a single table now, which is definite progress.  I just REALLY don't want to get to the point where I put what's left in a box to sort through later, because later never seems to come.  And then it stays in that box for the entire year and I fuss at myself in May when I start packing my room up again.  Anyone else guilty of that?  Please say yes.

I am loving my new wall color at school and my most recent made-its.  You'll have to check with me on Monday for the big reveal!

Today we had PD, a Leader in Me student empowerment training.  It was a great day!  My head is swimming with ideas for next year and how to better my kids' Leadership Notebooks, creating my personal mission statement, and how I can take the Leader in Me to the next level in my classroom.

For now though, I will share with you my August Currently...

If you haven't already, be sure to link up with Farley and share your Currently August.

Monday Made It!

I still have some crafty ideas floating around in my head, but this week I tried my hand at Vistaprint for my Monday Made it.  I was inspired by Jennifer Findley from Teaching to Inspire in 5th and All Things Upper Elementary.  She had a great post showing some of her Vistaprint goodies and talking about the Groupon deal she scored.  I found my deal on Retail Me Not.  With $50 purchase I got free shipping and some of the prices were unreal.  My return address labels were less than $2 each!  I created a ton of those.  :-)  Without further ado, I present to you a sampling of my Monday Made It! (Believe me, you don't want to see ALL of it!)

I made Keep and Return labels for my students' folders.

 I thought these would would be fantastic for students to stick in their agenda books!

I also made labels for their journals (math, science, ELA, and writing.)

I also made cute homework passes using the business cards.  

Digital papers are from Lovin' Lit and Ashley Hughes.  Frames are MrsDsBorders and TRDoodleFrameSet. 

This was actually my first attempt at using digital papers and frames to create something.  It took me a while to get the hang of it, but I'm really pleased with how it all turned out.  What have you created on Vistaprint?  Any tips and/or ideas are welcome!!

10 Things I've Learned from Teaching

Tonight I'm linking up with Miss Kindergarten. I had a chance to do some reflecting with this post and I think it's helped me to get even more mentally prepared for school to start. The Hubs is an elementary administrator. After I shared my list with him, he was so impressed by the linky topic he may use it with his staff!!

1.  Expect the unexpected.  No matter how prepared you "think" you are, you just never know what will happen--good or bad!  Lol!

2.  Every August you get a chance to do it better.  I always teach like it's my first year because I'm always looking to be better than I was the year before. Hence, my blog name "Growing a Teacher."

3.  Negativity is poison and it spreads. I try to avoid "Negative Nellies" because I don't like how their attitude rubs off on me and brings down my day. 

4.  There is no one strategy that works for every child.  I once heard a young teacher say she knew what works and wanted her new teammate to do it her way. Wow!  Dangerous words for sure. 

5.  Laugh at yourself in front of your students.  It makes you human in their eyes and gives them freedom to make mistakes. Plus, it's a lot more fun!

6.  Building a classroom family atmosphere is essential. I try to emphasize this from the get go.

7.  Keep an open mind. About kids, parents, peers, new initiatives, etc. 

8.  Make your students feel important and let them know you care about them. 

9.  Ask for help. It's a sign of strength not weakness. 

10. The journey isn't always easy, but it's so worth it!

What have you learned from teaching?

Blue Wall and Cool Finds

Okay, so I've been frantically trying to put our house back together. Hardwood floors are finished and look ah-mazing!  (But there is dust everywhere!). I haven't had time to do anything else in my classroom besides paint, but I think painting is pretty major!  

Anywho, here is the before pic...Boring!

And here is the after!!!  (Please excuse the mess.)

I found these frames at Michael's on clearance for $1 each so I painted them the same color as my focus wall. Not sure what I'll put in them yet, but I'm going to use them on another wall to tie in with the focus wall.  

I love everyone's painted/papered READ letters and I definitely want to do that, but let's get real.  My wish list of to-do things is much longer than I can accomplish between now and the start of school!  I happened upon these felt letters (Michael's again) for $1 each and they go with my room colors. Score!  These will get me through this year no problem. 

These are my class pets. They are Zebra Finches.  I went in to check on them the other night and they were both sleeping in the same basket. How cute is that?  I had to take a picture and share. 

Hopefully next week the house will be "whole" again and I can focus on my room and get my craft on. :-)

Painting Time!

I got "the call" that my room is ready for me to move back in.  We have been given permission to paint a focus wall, so I bought some paint earlier this summer. I think the hubs and my sister might help me paint tonight!!!  I will definitely share pics of the before and after. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can get it done tonight.  :-)

Sorry for the 2nd post...I'm feelin' pretty silly right now...

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/8851971/?claim=ystmyd7u4j2">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

It seems I never "claimed" my blog on Bloglovin'.  If you have become a follower by clicking on the button on the right, please do it again...it takes you to a different "Growing a Teacher" blog.  Who knew there were two of us?!?   This might explain why my number of followers hasn't changed in a week.  Aye, aye, aye!

I think blogging for me is one step forward, two steps back!  Lol....  

Will I ever get the hang of it?!?

Favorite Pins Friday!

I'm linking up with First Grade Parade for this week's Favorite Pins Friday!  I chose four of my favorite pins to feature today.  I hope you see something you like, too!  Click on the pics to visit the websites the pins came from.

This Pin from Stories of a House shows how to paint and distress furniture.  I won't get to this project any time soon, but it's definitely on my "list."  I'd love to pick up and odd set of table and chairs (would also love a bench for one side of the table) and then do it up Pottery Barn style!

Two Timin' Pasta Bake

I made this for dinner last night.  Can I just say Yumm Yumm!  I did make two minor changes.  I used shells instead of penne (smaller bites for my little ones) and I added sausage.  Add a little garlic bread and this meal was a winner for my family.

I purchased this little piece of fun from Ideas by Jivey and I cannot wait to use it with my third/fourth graders this year!  I will be their new favorite teacher for sure!!!

I found this pin from One Extra Degree and I fell in love.  I've seen others use the book Donovan's Word Jar and then have an actual jar in their classroom for collecting words.  I like the idea of kids collecting words, but I didn't like the "out of sight, out of mind" issue once the words were in the jar.  This is such a simple solution but a real "aha" moment for me.  I am for sure doing this!

There you have it!  I'm off to see what everyone else has pinned recently.  Maybe I can get a new idea for dinner next week or a new craft project to add to my ever increasing "list."  :-)  Happy Pinning everyone!