"Show Us Your Day" Linky Party

Guess What?? I'm hosting a linky party! Does your school require you to post a daily schedule? My district requires us to post our daily schedule by our front or back door, and they have a special form. However, our principal is very flexible and she likes "cutesy." As long as we have it posted somewhere in our class, she is fine with that! I know many of us post schedule cards in our rooms for our students, but our district is looking for something like this. 

I still have two weeks of summer left, but our principal sent us the schedules last week. When typing up my schedule, I thought how fun it would be to see everyone else's schedule and how they allocate their day!! And  so this linky party was born!! Fun, right?? 

I hate to rub it in, but my schedule is very flexible, as I teach a self-contained and very diverse special education class for grades 1 - 5 ! Our general ed teachers have all of their times and subjects allocated out for them. I just need to know the lunch times and specials and then plan my day around that! Since the largest majority of my students are in 4th grade, we attend  their lunch and specials. I do usually have a couple of students that are on an individualized schedule; my mainstreamed students, but this is the schedule for students that remain with me all day!! 

I'm super excited to begin using my "Rise n shine" binders this year from Regan Tunstall for morning work. No more copying worksheets every morning! Check it out {here}. I'll also be going full on with my reading and math rotations this year! I tried it out last the last couple weeks of school to see how my students would respond and it went very Well! I'm thinking of calling it the "Daily 4" as they'll be doing 4 centers every day in math and reading. Still working on this! Stay tuned for more info!

I also wanted to make sure I made some time this year for Science and Social Studies as last year there was very little for this in our curriculum and I felt like I deprived a couple of my students that have a love for this subject area. 

And of course, self-help and social skills are also an important part of our day!!

I'm very excited that our specials are the last hour of the day! This is a first! I don't know about you, but this is the ultimate time for specials and prep! 

I'd love to see YOUR DAY!! Link up your schedule below! Be sure to spread the word and add the linky party photo above to your post so others can link up as well or at least visit and read how others are managing their day!

Currently & Freebie Friday

Last "Currently" of the summer! 

My listening and loving pretty much speak for themselves! Here's the mess I'm "thinking" that I need to finish!

I decided since I'm pretty caught up on my school projects, it's time to work on some of my home summer projects that I've been putting off! One of those was to clean out and organize my memory box. And here it sits dumped out beside me! I'm finding some things that I forgot I even had.....even Bruce Springsteen's autograph! It's fun every now and then to look back at this stuff. Lots of fun cherished memories in that box!

Wanting to win that cameo from the B2S Bash!!! I want one of these so badly. Have you checked out this huge giveaway bash going on??? The prizes are out of this world! 

Needing some cute frames. I've looked everywhere for just the right frames for my inspirational posters I made and haven't found what I'm looking for yet. I may have to resort to painting my own! The posters are a free download on my TpT homepage if you'd like them!

And last, B2S Must Haves! Frames and bright colors of course, and plenty of rest! I have become such a night owl over break....I mean really a night owl, sitting up 'til 4 or 5 in the morning! I hope I can get myself on an earlier schedule before the first day so I'm not a zombie that day!

If you haven't already, you can link up your own currently here. Just click on Farley's button.

And now for FREEBIE Friday (a little early)!

Click on the pictures of each one you want to download!

            

These go with my Behavior Clip Charts 2 and 3 and are two separate downloads depending on if you use a 5-step or a 6-step clip chart in your room. Each comes with your choice of a daily or a weekly take home report. 

Get the 5-step {here}.
Get the 6-step {here}. 

Before you go, be sure to enter my giveaway for a chance to win these two prizes!

OR
$15 to spend in my store if you don't need
a class decor set!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

OK, off to finish my memory box!! Have a great weekend!

Back To School Goals Linky

WoW! I can't believe we're already talking back to school!! I still have three weeks left of summer, but it's gonna go fast! Time to start reflecting on last year, what you want to do differently this year, and goal setting! Which I've actually been doing all summer but why not link up with "I heart recess" and "Flying into First" for some goal setting motivation!

Personal - Just that! I seriously put on almost ten pounds my first month and a half off! I splurged maybe a little tooooo much on my eating. But hey I had fun! I finally took it serious and started my diet and Wii fit about two weeks ago and I've already lost 3 pounds. 

Organization - I'm actually a pretty organized person, but when it comes to IEP's I will put them off 'til the last minute because I hate doing them so badly! I'll be up at midnight the night before the IEP meeting trying to get it done and I hate that. They're so time consuming, I figure if I can start them two weeks prior, I can do a tab bit here and there and have it done a couple days before. 

Planning - I can only think of 1, maybe 2 occasions in 5 years of teaching that I actually did my lesson plans at school. It's always been a weekend task. Which was really no big deal since my hubby worked all weekend. BUT he just got his days off switched to Sat. and Sun. Woohoo! So excited that we're gonna have days off together now! So I'm definitely going to want to get my plans done at school! 

Professional - Need 9 more credits to get to the next pay scale, which I don't really agree with! I have two Master's and I'm still at a M.A. + 16 because in my last Master's program, 9 credits were accepted and transferred from my first one, so the district wouldn't accept those 9! Really?? Just another way to get ya!!!

Students - I feel like I'm always too serious! I need to loosen up and have some fun with my kiddos! Don't get me wrong, we have fun, but I need to lighten up and joke around with them and let my silliness come out sometimes!

Motto - Hold your head high! Stand up for what you believe in, use your knowledge and don't let others make you feel less than them! To elaborate on this, I work at a small rural school (300 students). We have no turn over, it took me 2 years to get in, and that was luck of the draw and being a qualified sped teacher. Most of our teachers are 20+ year teachers (same school) and are not open for new ideas and especially aren't open to advice from a teacher like me of only 5 years experience! I specialize in behavior management and have a Master's in Behavioral Disorders. There have been a few occasions that my principal has referred my assistance to other teachers to assist them with specific children. Not once, have these teachers sought my assistance! It's a shame for the kids. I'll stop my rant here, but this is what I love so much about blogging and probably one of the biggest reasons I started blogging is to be able to collaborate with other teachers and not be judged, and to be able to collaborate with other teachers that have my same experience or even less! The bottom line is this: New teachers, hold your head high, believe in your knowledge and don't be afraid to share what you're good at.....veteran teachers, although we value your knowledge and experience and seek out your advice occasionally and sometimes frequently, value what newer teachers have to share too! Most of them are very passionate, energetic, creative, and have a lot of great ideas to share!

And back to a cheery note.....my new bag from "Very Jane" finally arrived today. Love it!!!

A Freebie.....

4 colors included

AND 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck! 

Monday Made It & A Giveaway!

I'm anxious to link up with Monday Made It because I've got alot to show you! I've also got some freebies and a giveaway for you!

Made It #1

So excited to show off this bench I made for my reading area! Books will go in the bins below! 

I was inspired to make this from Amy Marshall's pin on Pinterest! Amy blogs at "The Resource(ful) Room."

 http://pinterest.com/pin/142848619403590153/

I've admired this crate bench since last summer! 

Here's how I made it. 

I bought these 2 inch thick foam cushions at JoAnn's. Sorry I forgot to save the packet, but they come one to the package and you need one for each crate. I got them for 50% off and paid $3.50 for them. I had to cut about 3 1/2 inches off, as you can see. 

 This is the piece of plywood that was left over from my crate seats and the length fit perfectly with no cutting. My son had to trim a little off of the width. 

For three crates, you'll need 2 yards of fabric. Yay, they had chevron this time!! I couldn't find any when I made my crate seats, so I had to go with dots....oh well!

Layer all three, your material, your cushion, then your plywood. Then, using a staple gun, pull your material super tight to stop any wrinkling and staple all the way around. 

 And there's the finished product! I forgot to mention, my son also screwed the cushion onto the crates, so it is one piece now. 

Made It #2

I am overjoyed over my new laminator. I finally bought myself one when I saw it on sale at Walmart for $25 and I love it. 

It's very first job was Miss Nelson's "Behavior Beads." These are so cool. Students earn them and wear them on a chain around their neck. If you haven't heard about them yet, you can check them out at her TpT store. She has many sets to choose from. 

I found this container at JoAnn's on the clearance aisle and it holds everything perfectly!! Tara is the one who gave me this idea from one of her previous MMI's.  

Made It #3

My Math It Up Board! 

You can get these all over TpT for free, but I didn't like how large the circles were, so I made this set to match my classroom colors and made them in 3 inch. 

Lisa from "Live, Laugh, Love to Learn" is the awesome creator of this game. 

I used my 3 inch circle cutter from JoAnn's to cut them out perfectly and quickly! This thing has saved me so much time cutting.

***Update*** Another blogger just asked me what kind of circle cutter I used because hers doesn't cut through 5m lamination. This is a picture of mine and yes it cuts through cardstock and 3m lamination with no problem. I don't know about 5m as I haven't tried it. This one is by Fiskars and it was pretty expensive, but I got it on sale for around $9.00 I think.

Made It #4

I finished up my classroom decor set....finally! When it finally dawned on me this week that I only have 3 more weeks left of summer vacay....I figured I better get hoppin'. 

It's on sale at my store {here} if you're still looking. Or you can try to win it at my Back to School giveaway below!

I'm also giving away a game of "SPEED" from Highhill Education. 

I was honored when I was contacted by Highhill Education offering to give me two sets of "Speed." One for me, and one for one of my followers! Speed is a card game and comes with 8 decks of cards; a deck for each fact 2-9, so you can only focus on the facts that your child or students need to learn. 

This game is so awesome for learning multiplication facts. I got the app last year on my class ipads and my students didn't want to stop playing it! My son still needs to learn some of his facts, so he and I have been playing away!

Here is a video from Highhill Education showing the game in action! 

Enter the giveaway for a chance to win a set of "Speed." The winner will also receive my new classroom decor set or if you don't need a decor set, $15 to spend in my store. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck and for your freebies.....

Do you have a "time out" or "chill out" area in your classroom? Inspired by another pin on Pinterest, I decided that this year I would call mine "The Safe Spot." I made this poster to hang in my "Safe Spot." Feel free to download it if you can use it in your classroom. Just click the picture!

Here is the pin that inspired this and it is from Pre-Kpages.com. She has a great post there about how she uses "The Safe Spot" in her classroom. 

 I also want to offer you my "Math It Up" set for free too, even though they're for sale in my store. You can get it {here} from Google Docs.  

Let's Get Aquainted!

This week's topic is "Advice for new teachers" and I love that Latoya has provided a template to use! I wish I could make it larger for you, but if I go any larger, it cuts the right side off!

So, going into my sixth year of teaching, here is my advice to you newbies out there!

Buy only what you need and wait for sales! Don't forget about second hand stores and Ebay too! It's so easy to spend a fortune on your class before you know it and buy things that you'll never end up using!

Be prepared! It may mean spending your own time at home, but the more prepared you are, the smoother your day will go!

NEVER sidewalk talk! It will surely bite you in the butt and make you enemies quick! Be honest, but careful! I always keep my dad's rule of thumb.....if you wouldn't say it to their face, don't say it all!

Everyone needs a mentor or a teacher buddy! Many districts provide mentors to their first year teachers! Be sure to ask if they don't offer the info!

Make the most of your time! I know this is easier said than done for a first year teacher, but it's never to early to start thinking about it. Make a plan for yourself!

Last....just be YOU! 

And if I could add a "Don't" on this template.....don't be afraid to ask questions and don't make enemies with your custodian or office staff! They will be of more help to you than you could ever imagine at this point!!! Trust me!

On to other things.....I've been busy working on my class decor for my room and still have almost 4 weeks left of summer vaca! Yesterday I finished my rule posters! After playing around a bit, this is what I came up with. While some of you may think these are a bit out of the ordinary.....that is exactly what I was looking for! I wanted something that matched my new theme, but yet something that wasn't so "uniform" like everything else! I decided to think out of the box a little and this is the ending result! 

While piddling around with this pattern, I also made a teacher binder cover and a stationary page. As random as they are, I really love how they turned out! I know everyone has their own class rules, but if you can use them, feel free to snag them up{here} for free! Even if the rules don't work for you, you may be able to use the binder cover or stationary! 

I also made a set of money posters that you may be able to use and you can get these {here}! 

Happy Monday!