Teacher Week: Who

Hey yall!

 

I'm sooo excited that it's time for the annual Teacher Week linky from Blog Hoppin'!

Today, it's all about ME :)

 

 

I'm a twenty-something, music-loving, puppy-hugging, sweet tea-drinking girl from Georgia.

 

Family:

 

Okay, get ready, because this can get lengthy...my family is rather large!

Let's start with the hubs-Wes.

 

We've been together for 10 years and married for 6.

We've definitely had our share of ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

We are, in the most clichéd way possible, soul mates. There is literally no other way to describe us.

 

 

We don't have any kiddos {yet}, but we do have two sweet furbabies.

 

Abby: our 10 year old, cranky Chihuahua with the most awful breath you can imagine

 

 

Dude: our 5 year old, sweet and snuggly Chihuahua, who is extremely needy and loves attention

 

 

They are most definitely not at all spoiled...

 

I have the world's greatest parents who still love each other after *almost* 45 years of marriage {their anniversary is the end of this month}. They are the most amazing example of what true love looks like.

 

 

 

I am the youngest of 5...the 'baby' if you will :)

I've got 2 older sisters and 2 older brothers.

I also have 2 brother-in-laws and 2 sister-in-laws.

 

 

I also have 7 nephews and nieces.

These kiddos are my HEART!!!

I can't even imagine the love I will have for my own children, because the love I have for them is overflowing.

 

 

Friends

 

I have the world's greatest friends! Over the years, I have made so many fabulous friends. I could not make it without these sweet ladies!!!

 

 

Things I LOVE:

 

live music

 

 

Georgia football

 

 

my job

 

 

jamberry

 

 

baking

 

 

painting

 

crafting

 

 

the mountains

 

 

and the list goes on!!!

 

Thanks for stopping by to get to know this teacher :)

Be sure to come back tomorrow to see my classroom digs!

 

 

 



Spicing Up Your Bookshelves {a bright idea}

Hey yall!

 

Are you ready for another round of Bright Ideas???

 

 

 

Today I wanted to share a fun way to update some of those old bookshelves.

You'll need a few things for this project:

-an old bookshelf

-some pretty fabric in your favorite color/pattern

-a staple gun

-a hammer

 

As I was setting up my classroom this year, I went shopping for some fabric that matched my peacock theme. I ended up finding a great sale of just some solid color fabric, so I bought a ton of it.

Then I didn't know what to do with all the pretty fabric!

 

I had seen a couple other teachers use fabric on their bookshelves, so I decided to give it a go.

 

First, I enlisted the hubby's help :)

He started by taking off the back panel of the bookshelf.

 

 

 

We cut the fabric to match the size of the back panel. Holding the fabric against the back of the shelf, we stapled it on the top and sides.

 

 

 

Then we put the back panel back on.

 

 

Voila! Instant pop of color to an otherwise blah bookshelf.

 

 

 

Now, I chose to just use solid color fabric because I had so much of it. But these look really great with some pretty patterned fabric! It stands out much better.

 

Be sure to follow me on Facebook or Instagram to see other fun teaching ideas!

 

Check out these other fabulous bright ideas, friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

What You've Been Wishing For {a blog hop and a giveaway}

Hey yall! Happy Friday!

 

Raise your hand if your TPT wish list is a mile long?

 

Me, too.

 

That's why my sweet bloggy buddies and I decided to get together and bring you a fun little giveaway and blog hop!

 

  I'm the last stop, folks!

My most wish-listed item is my Owls on Dots Classroom Décor set.

 

You can snag a little freebie by clicking on the picture below!

It coordinates perfectly with my Owls on Dot set.

 

 

To enter the giveaway, enter the rafflecopter below!

One of my lucky followers will win ALL of our most wish listed items!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Head on over to Haley's blog to start the hop from the beginning!
 

 



The First Days of School

Hey yall!

 

Well, I survived the first Monday of the school year. We are *officially* in full swing.

 

I wanted to share some get-to-know-you activities we did the first few days of school.

Of course, I got by with a little help from my friends :)

As you look at each activity below, be sure to check out the sweet ladies who made my life a little bit easier!

 

We started out by playing a little Find a Buddy hunt game. This is from Mandy over at Teaching with Simplicity.

 

 

They LOVED this activity! It got them up and moving around, plus they got to TALK!

Even my shy babies enjoyed this game.

 

They also learned some things about their teacher!

Such as:

I have curly hair.

I love to read.

I was born in another state (technically, another country)

I play the piano.

I own a pet.

I love pizza!

I have a brother and a sister (actually, 2!)

 

My girl Chrissy over at Buzzing with Ms. B had these awesome conversation dice as a freebie in her store...score! Go check her out here.

 

 

I put my thirdsters into groups of four and they got to rollin'!

I let each group roll until every one got a chance to answer all the questions.

They {puffy heart} loved this activity!

 

 

One of my tried and true back to school activities is to sit in a circle and throw a big beach ball around. The ball has several get-to-know-you questions and students got to pick which question they wanted to answer. This game is fun for all ages...even the teacher!

 

 

I wish I didn't have to cover up all those sweet faces...you should see those SMILES!

 

Another thing we did was make these adorable pencil glyphs from the Glyph Girls. Check out their shop here.

Seriously, these are beyond cute.

I die.

 

 

 

Check out that pencil man! Loving the creativity in these kiddos!

 

 

 

I gave them some freedom in the writing that went along with it, as long as it had to do with school.

 

Overall, it was a great first few days.

And I've learned some things about third graders.

 

1. They are still little and cute.

2. They still love to color and listen to stories read aloud.

3. They are SO independent and I only have to give directions ONE TIME!!!

 

I'm thinking I am falling for a new grade, yall!

 

Hope those of you heading back to school this week have a wonderful first week back!



Take a Peek at My Open House {freebies!}

Hey yall!

 

Yesterday was our first day of school.

It was seriously the BEST first day of school EVER!

My kiddos are adorable, everyone came to school prepared, and the day went off without a hitch!

I have a feeling this is going to be a great year :)

 

I wanted to share with you a little about how I ran my Open House, which we had on Monday night. Our Open House is a "drop-in." Its open for 2 hours, during which students/parents

 can come in anytime. We'll have a more formal Orientation Night next week where just parents come to get a really in-depth look into the classroom.

 

The past couple of years, I only had maybe 1-2 students/parents show up for Open House so I never made a big deal about it. But I'm in a new district this year and Open House was HUGE! I had 23 out of my 24 students come in :)

 

I took a cue from Ms. Nannini and set my room up in stations. This allowed the parents to wander around the room, spread out a bit, and not be overwhelmed by a huge stack of paperwork. It also gave me time to stand by the door to greet incoming parents and answer questions as needed.

It was very much a "self-serve" Open House and I'll do it this way from now on!

Some pictures of my door (sorry about the quality!!!)

 



Got this gorgeous wreath for half-off at Michaels for $11!!!

You can snag this Welcome sign here.

 

 

Here are some of the stations I set up.

 

Station 1: Here they just grabbed a folder to keep all the papers in.

 

 

 

Station 2: This station just held my introduction letter :)

 

 

 

Station 3: These were student information and questionnaires.

 

 

 

Station 4: This station asked them to sign up for Remind (formerly Remind 101). Figured it was best to have them do it right then and there!

 

 

 

Station 5: This station held a letter that gives me permission to use my students' pictures on my blogs and class website.

 

 

 

Station 6

 

 I didn't realize I hadn't snapped a picture of this station that night, but this is what it was. I just had a stack of papers where parents could write one wish they had for their child this year. This came from Kimberly at Funky First Grade Fun. 

 

 

Station 7 (ran out of colored ink here): Here parents picked up our student handbook.

 

 

 

Station 8 (notice the very sloppy 8 written over the 7...whoops!): This was the last station. Here they picked up a little goody for stopping by and a magnet with my contact information on it.

 

 

 

This is certainly NOT an original idea, but you can snag this printable here.

 

 

 

Before the Open House started, I got a chance to walk the hall and snag some pics of other teachers' displays. Yall....there are some seriously talented ladies here!!!

 

 

 

  

 



 

I'm really looking forward to a GREAT year! Now its time to write my first set of "real" lesson plans for the year :)