Catch Up!

Well, Christmas break was absolutely wonderful. I enjoyed my two-week vacation from school by spending time with my family and friends, and of course celebrating the holidays. As if two weeks weren’t enough, we had Monday and Tuesday off the week we were supposed to go back to school because of the very low temperatures. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a “cold day” before, but I wasn’t complaining.

Last weekend we were in Indianapolis celebrating my cousin’s wedding…and what a FUN wedding it was! My cousin and his lovely bride looked amazing, and both the wedding and reception were absolutely perfect. It was a great celebration of the love of two very special people.  This marks the second of four weddings this year for the boy cousins (and my brother) on my mom’s side of the family. The first one was in September in our beloved Hilton Head and was an absolute blast. The next one will be in June and my brother will finish it off with his wedding in September. So much to look forward to! =)

This past Tuesday, Scott and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary. I lucked out with a snow day and was excited to spend more time with him (however, it ruined his plans of surprising me with roses at school…I will remind him that my birthday in March is on a Monday – hint, hint =) ). We had a great day together and enjoyed dinner at the Cheesecake Factory later that night…mmm!

This past year has definitely been the hardest on us – going from long distance for 4 years to finally being back in the same city, not to mention entering the real world and dealing with the changes/stresses that come along with it. Things are much different when you are 22/23 than when you are in high school, without a care in the world. We have overcome the obstacles that have come our way so far and I have complete faith that we will continue to do so in the future. Scott and I always say the bad times only make us stronger as a couple, and I firmly believe that. And with the bad, comes the good…and we have had a LOT of great times in our relationship. We have had 7 wonderful years together and I am excited to see where the next 7 will take us.

As for a school update, I am LOVING teaching middle school and am head over heels in love with the school where I am teaching. Everyone always asks how my first year has been, with the anticipation that I am going to say “hard” or “difficult,” but honestly it has been awesome. Sure the first month or two were pretty overwhelming, but once I got in my routine and had a little bit of an idea as to what I was doing, it was great.  My students are outgoing and always keep me laughing. I am happy to say I love what I do and enjoy waking up every morning to go to work (however, with all the delays we have been having lately due to weather, I could get used to sleeping in just a little bit more each morning =) ).

Hope everyone has been having a great start to the New Year! It’s hard to believe in just a week it will be February! Woah!

My Classroom: The Finished Product

Here it is!!!! The pictures from my room with all of its finishing touches (taken before the first day of school…which was 4 weeks ago…sorry I’m behind)

What do ya think?!

Missing in Action

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

That’s what I have been repeating to myself over and over again during the last 4 overwhelming, rewarding, nerve-racking, exciting, confusing, happy, stressful, and wonderful weeks…also known as my first month of teaching.

So if you thought I fell off the face of the Earth, I didn’t. I just have been surrounded by middle schoolers 7 hours a day and have been trying to adjust being a member of “the real world.”

In all seriousness, it really has been great. Even the days I leave home at 6:45 AM and don’t get home until dinnertime, I know that this is what I want to be doing and where my passion truly is.

There has been a lot going on with starting my first year as a middle school teacher, and I will try and post more this week about everything. I also just realized I never posted final pictures of my classroom. They will be up soon, so stay tuned =) PS- I just returned from my cousin’s wedding in Hilton Head…it was AMAZING! A post on that soon to follow, as well…

While You Were Out

Even though school hasn’t even started yet, I’ve had to think about sub plans because I will be missing two days in September for my cousin’s destination wedding…in HILTON HEAD =)

SO, I created this cute little while you were out form to leave for my substitute teachers to fill out.

This will help me get the basic summary of the day:

• who was absent
• what students were on their best behavior
• which were not
• any specific comments about the day
• and the name/contact info. of the sub for future reference

To get this form for yourself, download here =) WhileYouWereOut

Pink Slip

While doing my student teaching, I observed a real problem in the way late assignments were handled in my classroom. I wanted to try and avoid this from the beginning of my first year of teaching, by creating a late-assignment slip.

I found this You’ve Been Pink Slipped! idea on Pinterest (surprise, surprise). I love it and it is very similar to what my teachers used when I was in middle school.

It clearly documents what assignment is missing, why the student does not have it, and requires a parent signature.

My favorite part is that the slip asks WHY the assignment is late. The student can choose from the following options:

• I did the assigned homework, but I did not bring it to class
• I chose not to do my homework
• I forgot to do my homework
• I did not have the appropriate materials at home
• Other

This holds the student accountable for his/her actions and allows the teacher to discuss the problem with the student. If the behavior continues, the teacher can use these slips to look for a pattern in why the student is not turning in his/her homework.

I will have a specific file in my desk where I will hold all of these slips to refer back to as needed.

To download this file click here: PinkSlip

Parent Communication

I have been working on a parent survey  to send to my student’s parents during the first week of school.

I combined some examples of these surveys that I have seen on other blogs. I picked the questions I liked best and chose the ones that would give me  the information I need.

Here is what I came up with…

(to download file click here: ParentSurvey)

This will help start communication with parents, as well as give me background information on my students so that I can work to best fit their individual needs.

I also came up with a parent communication log that I can use for each student and keep in a binder…

(to download file click here: ParentCommunicationLog)

As I continue to make these various worksheets/forms I will be sure to upload them! =)

Class Rules

I have been putting off creating “class rules” for my classroom. I wasn’t sure if it was too young for middle school or if by sixth and seventh grade the students already knew what was expected of them…

BUT I finally found some examples that I liked and used those as a starting point in creating my own. I knew that I wanted my rules to be simple and to the point…and not too baby. I also didn’t want to create too many rules for fear that students would just forget them…nor did I want the rules to be super wordy and end up confusing my students. So here is what I came up with:

I feel as though these rules cover pretty much everything and clearly state what I expect of my students. I will post these rules in my classroom for all to see, as well as go over them with my students at the beginning of the year. I will refer back to them as needed.

I am happy that I decided to create my own rules, especially since this is my first year of teaching. No matter what age students are, they need to know what is expected of them and know that they are held to a high standard.

Only 22 more days until the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! =)

Click here to download this poster –> Class Rules

Origami Owl: a charm necklace!

Since I just graduated from college, I went through a period where I received many sweet cards, graduation money, and a few gifts from friends and family.

One of my favorite presents that I received is called an “Origami Owl” necklace. It is super cute and is pretty much a charm necklace (instead of the typical charm bracelet). I am so excited about mine and even more ecstatic that it is “teacher-themed.”

There are a couple steps when designing your necklace:

Step 1– choose your charms: there is great variety and lots to choose from! (I picked an apple, books, a cross, and a blue stone to add a pop of color)

Step 2– pick a locket: the colors you can choose from are black, silver, gold, and rose gold. You can also pick a locket with crystals around the frame or a plain one. The lockets also come in 3 different sizes (I chose the large, plain silver one)

Step 3– decide on the chain: just like with the locket, the colors are black, silver, gold, and rose gold and also come in varying lengths (I picked the longest so that it would hit in the middle of my chest and lay like a locket)

Step 4– pick a plate (optional): these are plates that are the background of your locket and contain words like family, love, blessed, and faith (I picked a gold one that says inspire to tie together my teacher theme)

Step 5– dangles (optional): the dangles are similar to the charms but instead of going inside the locket, they hook on to the chain (I did not choose a dangle because I wanted my necklace to have a simple, clean look)

To find more information and see all that Origami Owl has to offer check out their website: Origami Owl

My Classroom!

It’s official! I have my very own classroom – something I have dreamed about ever since I was a little girl. I have made some progress in decorating it but still have a little ways to go…

[BEFORE]

[WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE NOW…]

Thank goodness I had the help of my mom and Darla, Scott’s mom! They were the queens of the bulletin boards. I still have some more work to do but I am excited to see everything slowly coming together. =)

Classroom Decor

“To teach is to touch a life forever”

As summer is starting to wind down I have started setting up my classroom and getting organized. I received this adorable canvas from Scott’s mom (who is also a teacher). She found it at TJ Maxx – LOVE that place!

I have the day off from nannying tomorrow so I’m going to go to my classroom with my mom and try to do my bulletin boards. I will try to remember to take pictures and post them! Can you tell I’m a first year teacher and VERY excited? Who sets up their classroom in July when the first day isn’t until August 21st?! =)