Preparing for Year #5

Hello all!

 As July 4th has come and gone, so has the freedom that my teaching brain has had. Every year I always say that after July 4th, I will go back in the classroom and start working. Well, this year had to be a little different for me...my school won't be open to teachers until the last week in July which leaves me with (wait for it) just 12 weekdays to get my classroom ready for the kids to come back to school on August 10th! Ugh! There is so much to do! Luckily, the principal that I work for knew that I would have a ton of professional development in late July and early August so my time would be limited so she opened up my room for me at the beginning of June and let me come in a few days a week to clean and organize, and decorate to the best of my ability with the limited time I had. So after we returned from Disney, I came in and took 5 of the longest days I could manage and cleaned, bulletin boarded, organized and moved furniture as much as I could before they shut the door on me. While I'm being forced to stay at home, I have been trying to laminate (you can find mine here the pouches here), print, and put together as much as I possibly can before I go back. Here are some of the products that I've been loving as I put stuff together and additionally some things that I have sitting in my TPT cart waiting for the sale. 


1) Freebie Motivational Posters
These FREE and ADORABLE motivational posters are so cute! They will look adorable when I put them up in my classroom. I can't decide if I should laminate them or just leave them be and put them up in my room the old fashioned way. Even though I teach 2nd, I thought I would leave the link to the blog as well just in case you wanted some more inspiration!
A Burst of First Blog

2) Back to School Flipbook 
I'm pretty sure that at this point, Maribell Sheehan should just grab a direct deposit slip into my back account. I've bought so much of her stuff but this is by far my favorite product! It's an editable flip book that you can put together easily for parents with all the information they need about your classroom! I'm in LOVE with how easy and simple it is. I also saw Pocketful of Primary talk about this product, but I started using it two years ago (?) and won't go back. Astrobrights+Adorable Fonts=Impressed Parents!

Maribell's Blog

3) Teach Create Motivate-Class Slides with Timers 
I bought these at the end of the year last year with the intention of using them this August. I'm hoping that it will help my 2nd graders with their self management skills. I'm listing this as a favorite because 12,000 people can't be wrong! I've heard so many people on instagram about this! I can't wait to use it. While I'm at it here is the link to the blog coordinating with the product!

Ashleigh's Blog

So there you have it! Those are the three products that I've been working on this week preparing for school to start in August. Until next time, I leave ya'll with my husband and I's 1st anniversary pictures. We ate our topper and strolled through NOLA while eating Snowballs. We had a fabulous shoot with our photographer!

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Wedding, School Change, and RESIDENCY!

Hey there! Angela here. Angela with a NEW last name! I know it’s been a while, and I apologize but there is no way that I could have done this blog justice over the last 6 months planning that wedding. Whew! So glad we are finally married!

Our First Dance! 

One of our engagement pictures! 

And…we MOVED to Louisiana. I’ll always be an Alabama teacher at heart, but for now, I am teaching at a catholic private school here in LA. God has blessed me with a new job that is at a wonderful school. Although it was extremely difficult to leave my friends at my old school and even harder to actually turn in my notice there, pack up my classroom, and actually leave, I know that God has a plan for Elijah and I. Yes, I cried…and cried…and then cried some more, but God brought Elijah and I together and he has never let me down before now, so I figure there’s a reason that we are here. Lij started his residency just this past week at a huge hospital here. While he I was able to get into my classroom to look but not touch anything just yet so I took some before shots (I’ll show you those at the end of this post), and made a list of what I needed and what I could do to prepare before getting into the classroom. So I’m starting on it right now!

If you haven't been living under a rock, then you've probably heard about the Target Dollar Spot that now includes TEACHER ITEMS! Border, chalkboard decor, felt banners, etc. All kinds of stuff. It's crazy! and Bad for my wallet ha ha! 

Anyway, so I have been trying to figure out a way to label my precious book boxes from Steps to Literacy (http://www.stepstoliteracy.com/plastic-book-boxes-fun-colors-16395.html) in such a way that it wouldn't peel off super easily, or just wipe off, and if the label gets old and crusty looking (we all know what kids do to materials) I can just replace it. 

Well friends...TARGET has come to the rescue with their self adhesive, clear, labels. 

I made some labels that fit right into the Target pockets. So now, I just have to print, stick them in the labels, and stick the labels to the boxes. Yippee! 

You can get the labels (they are nautical themed due to my new grade level's theme) by clicking into my TPT store and searching "Nautical Classroom Numbers". 

Oh by the way, did I mention that I will be teaching 2nd GRADE? I've heard from everyone that 2nd is the way to go. = ))))) 

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BIG NEWS!

I have some exciting news! On October 31^st, 2015 (My 26^th Birthday!) Elijah and I got ENGAGED!

Here’s the story…

       So all month long Elijah had been talking about having a big surprise for my birthday. I was so excited because whenever he says that, you can guarantee that it’s a big surprise. He doesn’t do anything halfway. So for the entire month, I was trying to guess what it was and Elijah just kept ignoring it and telling me that he wouldn’t ruin it. All he said was to pack certain items in a suitcase and take two days off of work. He said he would meet me at his place at ____ time. I had an inkling that we would be going to Mentone, which is really close to where he is originally from. WRONG. We get in the car and I start guessing the entire way. It took me a while to finally figure out we were headed to the mountains during the FALL! Oh my gosh it was beautiful! We finally arrived in Gatlinburg and the leaves were changing and the air was crisp and cool. But he wasn’t done yet. (Keep in mind that this was the day before my birthday.). When we get to Gatlinburg, I just assumed we would be staying in a hotel. NOPE. We start climbing a mountain and I suddenly realize we are staying in a CABIN! It was gorgeous! 

(The view from the DOUBLE balcony with a hot tub on it....we could've stayed forever.)

 (The view from the inside of the living room...it was already decorated for Christmas!)

We got there, went to dinner, and came right back to the cabin to enjoy the view from the balcony. It was awesome! 

The next morning, we got up and started talking about what we wanted to do that day. Elijah kept mentioning that he wanted to go hiking, and I was fine with that, but I really wanted to go explore downtown. So, that's exactly what we did.

 

(On the skylight...I was a little nervous!)

(On the top of the mountain!)

After a full day of exploring, we went back to the cabin, got all dressed up and we went to this amazing restaurant downtown and ate. I didn't know this until afterwards, but while we were getting ready, Elijah kept trying to get to his bag while I wasn't looking to snag the ring out of it. We were running late so I just kept waiting for him at the doorway watching him get ready. Evidently, I messed his grand plan up ha ha! We left and because it was Halloween, there was a ton of traffic so it took forever to get back to the cabin. I just assumed we would chill out and watch the extremely large television and play some games in the game room upstairs. When we got in the door, I kicked my shoes off and went outside to the porch where there were christmas lights hanging and making everything so beautiful. A minute later, Elijah joined me and we just stood out there looking out. At this point, he came up behind me and started asking me questions. "Are you sure you want to spend the rest of your birthdays with me?...Are you sure you want to live with me, etc.?" Just all these questions. I started to panic inside (if you know me then you know what I was thinking) that he was about to tell me that he couldn't continue on with me. 

Instead, he said "Well, I talked to your parents and they seemed to be ok with it, so I guess there's really only one person left to ask..." and then he popped the question! It was all I could do to nod my head yes between tears.

 

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