Sundays in the South: Maroon 5

There are a lot of "non-school" related stuff I could talk about this week with the start of my spring break, the opening of an Anthropologie in our city, Easter....but let's get real.  This entire post will be dedicated to my Maroon 5 concert experience.

If you're not a Maroon 5 {aka Adam Levine} fan, you'll probably want to stop reading right now.  But I wouldn't suggest it. ;)

This was my second time seeing Maroon 5.  I saw them on their last tour, but it was at an outdoor ampitheater in Charlotte.  In 105 degree weather!  It was still at the TOP of my {long} concert list...until now.

As soon as the Overexposed Tour was announced, I had it on my calendar and it did NOT disappoint!

The day started with me working half a day and then we boarded the dogs and headed out of town.  Luckily, this time, I did not forget to hold my breath crossing the state line.  You see, I forgot to do that when we went to the Bon Jovi concert last month and I was sick, sick, sick.  {So, maybe not really, but I did have trouble breathing, got a brief headache, had stomach cramps, a panic attack and a GIANT case of hypochondria.} haha -  Long story, but my mom's family is from Georgia and my uncle always used to tease me as we headed to maw-maw's and paw-paw's house in Toccoa that we had to hold our breath crossing the state line....once I forgot and was MAJORLY sick.  I have held it ever since....and some of my friends from my childhood still do it, too! {side note: I should really add one of those 25 things you don't know about me lists to my About Me page....I'm full of quirks like this!}

Anyway, I didn't take THAT many pictures from the concert because I was mostly taking video {yes, I've relived it SEVERAL times already} or screaming and singing along at the top of my lungs.  Love, love, love the video option on little Nikon 1!

The concert began with quarters dropping into a payphone and the operator saying "The number you have dialed..." all while it was pitch black.  Then the letters spelling out "Maroon 5" would flash randomly on the stage.  Finally, they were all lit with a blue backdrop showing the shadows of the band all playing instruments.  The crowd went wild.

Then, the backdrop fell and "Payphone" began.

I wondered which version of Payphone it would be, but Wiz was there through the big screens. :)

We were so close that I can officially say Adam knows I exist.  Major eye-contact. ;)  My husband warned me not to even try to "put anything" on the stage.  I have no idea why he felt the need to mention that. ;) haha

The stage was shaped like a great big "M" and he did a great job at working all three sections constantly.

The sets were amazing....this one was for "Harder to Breathe."

I mean, really?  Does this picture say "rockstar" or what? #teamadam

For the encore, a bridge was lowered across the audience.  He sang Stereo Hearts, Daylight, She Will Be Loved, and Moves Like Jagger for the encore.  INCREDIBLE!!

I thought maybe Gym Class Heroes would appear on the big screen for their part of Stereo Hearts, but amazingly Adam did his vocals and the rapping part.  Be still my heart! :)  Seriously, I wish I could post the video of that one...love, love, love!

I would HIGHLY recommend their show.  Unfortunately the rest of their North America dates are SOLD OUT, but I would put their next tour on your bucket list.  I know I will....maybe I'll run into you there!

10

Friday Flashback Linky

It's Friday!! :)

My Spring Break starts today!! :)

Hip! Hip! Hooray!! :)

There is nothing that makes me happier than getting to sleep a little later!

Well, maybe having awesome tickets for the Maroon 5 concert.....here's a little teaser, but I'll share more about the concert in my Sundays in the South post in a couple of days.

If you are an Adam Levine fan, you will not want to miss that post! :)  *swoon* #mostamazingconcertever

But, back to my school flashback for this week.  Seeing that I was only there for 2 1/2 days, it'll be a short one!

On Tuesday, we finally had our Tall Tale Tea.  This is the culmination to our Tall Tale unit where students performed three Tall Tale Readers' Theaters for parents, sang a tall tale song, read their own original tall tale stories, and shared their region scrapbooks that we had created in social studies.

It was an AWESOME day! :)

Here's a little clip from our John Henry practice.

I found that videotaping a practice for them to watch really helped them improve their final performances.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to tape the final productions since I was at the computer controlling the backdrops on the computer.

Here's a clip of them singing the tall tale song practice....

After finishing up Tall Tales, we jumped right into our next genre of Poetry.  I always incorporate Dr. Seuss into the rhyming aspect of this unit.  I know, I know...the entire world studied Dr. Seuss in March so we're a little late to the party, but it just fits better during this unit in my mind. :)

We read Green Eggs and Ham and then students created their own pages telling about crazy foods they don't like for a class book!

We've also been studying facts vs. opinions and we create our Fact/Opinion spiders.....they loved them!

Well, that's about all I could cram into my short work week. What did you do this week?

6

Budding Bloggers Showcase: Hippo Hooray for Second Grade!

Hi friends! Well, today is the day.  I'm working a half-day and then kicking off my spring break a little early with MAROON 5!!!  I am so excited that I can't even try to contain it!  Their last concert is at the top of my list and I know this tour is going to be even better!!

So, since I'm headed out of town today, I have another fabulous new blog for you to read!  I am especially excited because it's another 2nd grade blog!!

Y'all {I threw that in just for Angela since I'm one of those "southern bloggers" :)) will love Angela and her cute blog.  She's a cheesehead and has an obsession with hippos...she has more hippos in her classroom than children!! (Hippos, you say??  Yes!  Check out her "About Me" tab to read more about that!)  Read on and then hop on over to her blog for a visit!

I'll be back tomorrow with a linky and some freebies!!

Hi Friends! My name is Angela and my blog is Hippo Hooray for Second Grade!

HUGE thanks to Amanda for letting me share my story with you this week! :)

A Little About Me: I am Wisconsin girl, and yes, I do LOVE cheese! I also am a crazy fan for the Packers, Brewers, and Badgers! My husband and I have two kids (3.5 years and 17 months) and a 70-pound "lapdog," Daisy. Some of my interests (besides my fam and teaching) include: playing ice hockey, gardening, running, and crocheting hats for children. Check out my Facebook page for my hats here. I also have a slight obsession with hippos (hence the blog name). I probably have over 50 stuffed hippos and hippo figurines in my classroom!

Grade I Teach: Second! I love second grade for lots of reasons. The kids are old enough that I don't have to wipe noses or tie shoes, but they still love their teacher and they love to learn! I also love that kids at this level are starting to be more independent.

How Long I've Been Teaching: This is my 8th year, all in second grade.

My Favorite Subject to Teach: This is a REALLY hard question for me, because I honestly love all subjects! Any other year I probably would've said Reading, although this year I've started using Interactive Notebooks in Science, and I'm SO loving that!

If You Stopped in my Room Unannounced: You'd probably see me working with a small group while the rest of the class is working on something independent at their levels. I am BIG on differentiation, and while I do teach whole-group lessons, I think students learn best when I can give them more individualized instruction and attention.

What Gets Me Through One of "Those" Days: My teammates for sure! One of them has a stash of Hershey Kisses in her room, and I have no shame when going in there (sometimes while she's teaching!) and grab a few. Pretty sure I will owe her 3 or 4 giant bags by the end of the year! Oh, and a glass of wine (when I get home of course!) doesn't hurt either... :)

My Can't Live Without Teaching Resource: No doubt about it... my 2nd Grade Teaching Teammates!! They are so creative, and we work SO well together!

Since you can't have them, I'll share some of my go-to resources: TpT (of course!), SMARTExchange, Discovery Education, Brain Pop Jr.... the list goes on and on!

My Teaching Style: The word that comes to mind is balance. I like to have fun and be silly, but I also run a tight ship. I can be loud, but I crave the quiet too. I think routines and expectations are vital in a primary classroom. I do a lot of modeling and coaching so that my students know exactly what is expected of them.  I will do pretty much anything to engage my students and help them grasp and retain new content. I have been known to hop up on the counter, dance around and sing like a lunatic. But SHHHH! Don't tell my district's safety committee.... :/

My Favorite Project/Activity:
I have two big things going on right now. One is a Weebly site for our second graders. We're trying some flipped classroom activities. The site is definitely a work-in-progress, but feel free to check it out!

The second are my interactive notebooks that I'm using in science. I went to a training over the summer with Jane Pollock (of Classroom Instruction that Works fame), and I've continued to meet with her over the course of the year to make this totally engaging project come to life for my second grade bunnies. Here are some pictures of our work:

My notebooks don't have dividers or tabs, so we made our own! It's just a sticky note that I've "laminated" with clear packing tape. Works like a dream!

This is the back cover. I taped an envelope to keep small pieces we cut/glue in the notebook. The piece of yarn can be used as a book mark.

This is how we set up the notebook pages.

This is my favorite foldable to date. It's a Venn Diagram, but instead of trying to cram all your information in the tiny circles, students write underneath the flap!

This moon wheel allows the students to see all the phases of the moon.

I love this "hands on" way for students to see how the Earth revolves around the sun, and the moon revolves around Earth.

Here we are learning how to highlight important information... and NOT using our highlighter to doodle ALL over the page!

Blogging Goals: I think it's easy for new/small blogs to feel like "a little fish in a big sea," and try to keep up with some of the more well-know bloggers. My goal is to continue to be true to myself and share my ideas with anyone who wants to read them. Example: I'm not from the South. I don't use the word "y'all" in my everyday vocabulary. I have nothing against the word; I actually think it's pretty fun when southern bloggers write like how they speak! But again, I'm not from the South, and so you won't find me using "y'all" in my blog posts. I think we all have great ideas to share no matter how many followers we have, and there is no reason to pretend to be something you're not to try to impress others.

So that's me in a nutshell. If you like what you've seen, hip hop on over to my blog to say hi. I'd love to "meet" you!

Thanks again, Amanda! Have a great night!

3

Friday Flashback....Sort of!

I will attempt a Friday flashback for this week.  Why only attempt it?  I have no pictures.  Why?  I take pictures with my phone.  I dropped my phone in the toilet this morning.  Don't worry, it was a sparkling clean toilet.  Never put your phone in your back pocket.  Sigh.

It still worked perfectly when I rescued it....it was barely wet thanks to the cover!  I used it all day to text, email, surf the web....but when I went to make a phone call - nada!  No sound whatsoever!  Noooooooo!

Says prayers that the rice works.  I'm not up for an upgrade.  I just got this one {yes, the iphone 5} in December!!

So, nevertheless, I'll TELL you a bit about our week!

1.  Our school is participating in Boosterthon for the first time ever.  Does your school do this fundraiser?  I was skeptical at first, but I am LOVING it!!

Students don't sell anything.  Instead, they get pledges for running laps.  But it is soooooo much more than just that.  The Boosterthon team is at your school for two weeks and they teach character education and integrate it with famous leaders who displayed those character traits.  We have 10 minute pep rallies each day, which are FUN yet controlled (I swear the Boosterthon team has been trained in WBT strategies!)  The best thing is that ALL students are involved - even if they get NO pledges, they still get an "All Star Jersey" and get to participate in the Fun Run!  If your school is looking for a new fundraiser, you should check it out!  (Click here)

2.  We had an in-service during our "break" today.  Don't you just love those?  I have to admit I actually enjoyed it!  We had a representative from Promethean visiting to demonstrate some of their newer products.  He showed us the ActivTables.  OH. EM. GEEEE!!!  Do you have one of these in your school?  If you say yes, I'm going to be very green!

Think HUGE ipad that 6 students can use at once!!!!!!  It was so cool...especially using Google Maps on there.  The ways we could use these in our classrooms!!!  {fingers crossed}

Click HERE to read more about them and to check out a video!

3.  Do you follow Blake Shelton on Twitter?  Yesterday, he randomly announced that he was going to give a FREE SURPRISE concert in my hometown!  Talk about creating chaos....in a good way!

I didn't go.  That would totally be cheating on Team Adam {5 more days until THAT concert!}, but one of my teaching friends did.  The line was already forming right when he announced it (around 1:00) and only the first 2,000 would be allowed in.  Whew!  Craziness, for sure....but well worth it, I heard!

I just think it's so cool that he did that!  Way to keep it real, Blake!  And, I just saw on the news that he's doing it AGAIN tonight in Macon, Georgia!  How fun is that??

4.  Thanks to EVERYONE who follows one (or both) of my shops on TpT!  Someone just told me this week that both of the shops were in the top 30 last week in their respective grade ranges!  Whoot! Whoot!  I was so excited to hear that - what great company to be in!

A couple of BIG things happening at the shops....

Teacher's Clubhouse for Primary Teachers

If you've followed the Clubhouse for a while, you know that we have an extensive listing of classroom -themed resources!!  We've been asked for a while to bundle those into our beloved discounted "units" and we have decided to do just that!!  We will be working on this (it will take a while!) and hope to have them all completed and posted (to both the site and the TpT shop) by the end of this school year.  Just in time for you to think about NEXT year's theme!

 

Lightbulb Minds for Intermediate Teachers

As for Lightbulb Minds, we have added our first Math Mini-Unit.  We are planning this to be the first in a series that will cover all of the common-core math standards.  Within these mini-units, there will be anchor charts for the teacher, mini-anchor charts for student math notebooks, interactive notes, practice activities (such as games and task cards) and an assessment for EACH standard.  Check out the first unit here.

5.  I was really excited to get another email about "The Box" today.  What is "The Box" you ask?  Our music teacher has found a local farmer that provides a box of local fruits and vegetables for $15.  We have started ordering them every two-weeks.  I expected to get a little box of goodies, but the box is HUGE.  So big that I almost couldn't carry it to my car - seriously!  And there was so much in it I had to split the last box with my mom!  Here's what we're going to get in next week's box:

• 6 large Fuji Apples
• 6 minneolas
• 2 lbs red grapes
• 6 lemons
• 4 lbs red potatoes
• 3 lbs yellow onions
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 lbs carrots
• 2 lbs zucchini
• 1 qt strawberries

I'm really hoping this helps me kick into those healthy eating habits!  I truly enjoyed the strawberries, kiwis and cucumbers in the last box!  Isn't this such a great idea?  And, it's delivered right to us at school!

Since this was such a random "flashback", I'm also linking up with Doodlebugs for the Five for Friday party.

But, I hope you'll still link up with me for a flashback.  I'd love to see some real pics from this week! :)

12

Budding Bloggers Showcase: Miss Lifesaver

So, there were lots of guesses from the "Let's Get Acquainted Linky" - thanks for playing along...it was fun!  I haven't been able to guess ANYONE's lie and I think only one person {Rachel from The Tattooed Teacher} guessed mine!

I've met celebrities such as Bono from U2, New Kids on the Block, Michael Jordan, and Jimmie Johnson - TRUE!!  

I've never been on a big commercial airplane - TRUE!! {This was unfathomable to most of you....probably the only person in the U.S., right??}

I am a photography junkie with tons of photos to document all of my adventures - FALSE!! {I do have a camera addiction, but usually don't have either with me and NEVER take pictures.  If I do, I never print them!  The hubs and I have our wedding pictures from 13 years ago and family pics from 3 years ago...that's IT!!  No other documentation of our marriage...kinda sad!}  :(

Now that you know a little more about me, let's learn more about a NEW blogger...

About me:
My name is Erin, but I'm also known in the blogosphere as Miss Lifesaver, a nickname given by my students while I was student teaching. It actually started by mistake when someone butchered my last name, and it just kinda stuck. Cute, huh?

About my blog:  
I've actually been blogging since 2008, but at that time, my audience was pretty much limited to family and close friends. In many ways, it's been a journal of my experiences, both personal and professional, for the past four and a half years.

Sometime in 2012, I branched out from reading only the blogs by friends and family and noticed what a great network there is for teacher bloggers. After being a lurker for months, I decided it's time for me to become an active participant in this community!

Personal Info: 
I'm originally from suburban Chicago, but I moved to Baton Rouge last summer with my boyfriend when he took a job here. We live in a cute, little house in the outskirts of the city and dream of owning our own home (back home, of course) in the near future. We don't have any children or pets yet, but several of my students call me their mama, so I'll claim them for now!

What do you teach?
I teach middle school, specifically, 8th grade, ELA at a public charter school. It's a drastic change from the top-performing suburban schools where I worked in Illinois, but I definitely think I'm a better teacher for this experience.  

How long have you taught?
Although this is my seventh year teaching (and subbing), though this year has often felt like my first because everything has been so different! 

What's your favorite subject to teach?
My favorite subject to teach, of course, is ELA. Specifically, though, I love to teach reading. One of my favorite teaching moments is when I can win over one of my reluctant readers with an amazing book. I actually get giddy with excitement! In the future, I want to become a reading specialist.

What would we likely see if we popped into your classroom unannounced? 
The first part of my ELA block is usually reserved for introducing new material. I like to incorporate Whole Brain Teaching when possible, so you may see me modeling our new moves or even my students creating them together. We also use this time for partner practice and review games on our white boards (oh, how I love the Dollar Tree).

The second half of our block is typically spent in three centers. Our centers are flexible, depending on the unit, but they can include: independent reading, Article of the Week, grammar practice, spelling work, mini practice tests, literary device practice, journaling, and any other skills we need to review. During this time, I typically circulate the room or pull a small group at my reading table for additional instruction.

What gets you through one of “those” days? 

I have a serious addiction to reality television (especially The Real Housewives of... wherever). It's my escape after a stressful day! After a particularly rough week, I always have Friday "book club" to look forward to with my coworkers, which definitely keeps me smiling! :)

What is one “can’t live without” teaching resource? 
Dropbox! I went paperless (well, as much as possible) a few years ago, which was one of the best decisions I've made. I love that I can access my files from any computer, my iPad, or even my iPhone. I never have to bring my work laptop home, and I know my files are consistent on each computer. It's seriously changed my life!

Give us a glimpse of your teaching style by sharing a brief summary of a favorite classroom activity/project.
One of my favorite activities is the I Am poetry assignment where students have to describe themselves through metaphors. Not only do they have to write the poems, but they also need to create visual representations, preferably 3-D, on which to display their writing. Years later, I can still tell you the metaphors for a good number of my students because they're so memorable! You can read about it and see some of the finished products here!

What is one of your blogging goals for this year?

More than anything, I want to extend myself to the teaching network, offering my experiences and learning from yours!

1

Let's Get Acquainted Linky

WOWZERS!  It is 76 degrees here today.  Can you say LOVE?  Anytime I can throw on a lil spring dress, is a good day! :)

I saw the cutest new linky party going around last week and never had the chance to join in.  Well, it's a new weekly linky and I'm not missing out this week!

This week's topic to help us "get to know each other" is the old 2 Truths and 1 Lie.  Mine will probably be pretty obvious, as I am the WORST liar in the world, but here goes....

1.  If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know that the hubs and I LOVE to travel to sporting events and/or concerts.  Anything from football to NASCAR to baseball to hockey, or anyone from Madonna to Zac Brown Band to Boys II Men to Bon Jovi to Maroon 5 to Flo Rida.....we love it all sports and all music!  But, did you know that I've had the opportunity to MEET some celebrities along the way?  A few of the favorites that I've been lucky enough to meet include Bono from U2, Michael Jordan, New Kids on the Block, and Jimmie Johnson!!

2.  As much as the hubs and I like to travel to events, did you know that I've never been on a commercial airplane before??  You've probably seen pictures of my love for skydiving so you know I've been on the small planes (but only to jump out!), but I've never been on an actual "big" plane.  Ships, trains, buses....but no planes.

3.  I am a photography junkie!!  I always have one of my cameras (Canon Rebel or my new itty bitty Nikon 1) with me and take pictures of EVERYthing!!  If I weren't a teacher, I would probably pursue a career as a professional photographer (although, I would need to take a LOT of classes first!)  Needless to say, I have albums and albums and drives and drives full of photographs to document all of the "maddening" adventures of our lives!


So, go ahead....can you figure which is the lie?  Comment below and I'll let you know in my next post which it was!  I hope you'll go link up so we can learn more about YOU!

13

Friday Flashback - Link Up!

Boy, am I ready to get my spring on!  I'm loving that it is warming up consistently during the days, but it is so hard to dress this time of year!  35 degrees in the morning....70 degrees in the afternoon!  Come on spring!

I must say that these weeks are flying by....only 9 more schools days until SPRING BREAK!!  Well, really only 7 1/2 for me since I'm scooting out of town early to kick off my break with Maroon 5! {swoon}

How much longer until your spring break??  If you tell me you're on it now I'm going to go all Hulk on you.
Minus the muscles.
So, just green....green with envy.
Maybe that's more Kermit.

I would love to be on break now, but maybe it will be super warm by the time the first week of April rolls around! :)

Alright...enough rambling....on to the Friday Flashback!

We kicked off our week with Reading MAP Testing....yep, Monday morning at 8:20....right after springing forward and losing an hour of sleep! {cringe}

But, my kiddos ROCKED that test!!!!!  I'm not going to say it was solely because of my testing turtles, but you never know! ;)  Haha! They certainly did all take their time this year....NO rushers! 

We had 100% growth and 18 of 20 exceeded their GOALS {one was only 1 point away and well, the other fell asleep several times during the test....yep, on the keyboard...sigh}!!!

So....to reward THAT awesome performance we had a little ice cream sundae celebration the next day!

Using individual ice cream cups for sundaes makes it soooooo easy!  Just pass out the cups, squirt on the whipped cream and add the toppings!!  Yum!Yum!

Let's cross our fingers that Math testing goes well next Monday!!

My students finished learning all of the cursive lowercase letters this week!  I love that second graders are soooo excited to learn cursive!  Although, without a program or workbooks to practice these days, it does make teaching it a bit tricky.

I incorporated it into my Morning Work PowerPoints this year and have absolutely LOVED this process!  We'll fine-tune these letters the remainder of this quarter and then tackle uppercase letters 4th quarter.

Not bad so far, though!

They are really working hard to earn their cursive licenses.  Once they've mastered ALL letters (lowercase and uppercase) they'll earn this little license which will be attached to their desk to let everyone know they have permission to complete ALL of their work in cursive!

We also had fun learning about multiple meaning words this week.  Amelia Bedelia helped a lot with this!  We made a class book...I always love their illustrations!

Heeehheeee....Don't you just love the girl rolling?  So creative!

We also had a ton of fun exploring MAGNETS!  They are loving every moment of being scientists!

Each day they make predictions {I use tape to "stick" their predictions down so that they're not tempted to change them....we talk about how it's okay to have your prediction be different than your result - that means you learned something NEW!}, they experiment, and then they write a daily reflection using key words from the day's lesson.  All of this is kept neat in their Magnet Portfolio.

That's a little bit about what went on in our week.  We're still practicing our Tall Tale plays and we're now writing our own original Tall Tale stories!  We also worked on multi-step word problems in math.  Such a hard concept for little ones!!

What did you do this week?  Link up and let us take a peek into your week!  I'm off for an actual DATE NIGHT with the hubby!  We're going to see "The Call" with Halle Berry....have you seen the trailers?  It looks soooo good!

10

Budding Bloggers Showcase: The Brown-Bag Teacher

Today, I'm thrilled to showcase Catherine from "The Brown-Bag Teacher."  Don't you just love that blog name?  I know you'll love exploring the awesome ideas on her blog - most recently, the incredible Dr. Seuss activities from last week!!  Read on to learn a little more about Catherine and then hop over to her blog for a looky-loo! :)

If you are an up and coming blogger (300 followers or less) and would like to be showcased in my "Budding Bloggers" series, shoot me an email.  You can find my address in my left sidebar - just click on the yellow button with the envelope on it.

 
Hi, friends! My name is Catherine Reed and I am The Brown-Bag Teacher.

I am a Kentucky girl at heart. In my spare time, I love photography and have a special love for old Kentucky barns. Aren’t they beautiful?!

Also, I am a nerd at heart, so I love all things lectures, books, and pod casts. Just this week I attended a lecture on “Finding Your Inner Fish” (what fish nerves tell us about human development) and it was out of this world. These are my four favorite current reads -

 No pets for me, but I am the proud mom of four bell-pepper plants. Mascato is the oldest and is my pride-and-joy. He has led a touch-and-go life for the last six months, but standing at 15 inches tall –he’s made it!

I am brand new to the world of education and am currently student teaching in 1^st grade. However new, I am in love and cannot imagine spending my life doing anything else.

If I could only teach one subject for the rest of my life, it would definitely be math. Although it has never been my best subject, it’s certainly my favorite. There is something really beautiful and amazing about being able to learn more from and about the world through numbers. Plus, in math there is SO much room for manipulatives, centers, hands-on-learning, and lots of partner work!

If you stopped by our classroom…well, right now, we are practicing for the upcoming Dinner Theatre – so you would probably hear us singing “Let it Grow” from the Lorax. :) Other than that, we spend most of our day in work stations. We are all about Debbie Diller’s Math Work Stations and have incorporated *the feeling* of Daily 5 for our reading block (read- we are not doing full-blown Daily 5…but I would LOVE to try with my own classroom).  You would find me in a guided reading group or working with a specific small regroup (i.e. re-teaching).

For days when there are 187 knocks on the door (we have to keep our doors locked and only the teacher is allowed to open the classroom door!!!!), a tornado drill, picture day, and a guest visitor ALL in one day, I eat chocolate and drink Diet Coke.

One teaching resource I cannot live without is honestly my cooperating teacher. When you are a small child and picture the perfect 1^st grade teacher, she is it. She is kind, absolutely lovely, willing to let me make my own way within the classroom, and with 26 years in the classroom, she is always up-to-date on trends in education. She’s actually the person who introduced me to the blogging and TPT worlds!

Now, for a tangible resource that everyone can access- definitely TPT! Specifically, make sure you sign-up for the 10 FREE Downloads newsletter that comes every Sunday. It is crazy and awesome how many spectacular teachers there are around the world!

One of favorite moments in the classroom was Place Value Bootcamp inspired by Teacher Tipster (I blogged about it here). I dressed up as an army Sergeant and shouted, our friends stood up straight and repeated, and fun was had by all. Plus, it was our firsties first introduction into place value, and they thought it was hilarious. It was so great to see and hear them singing the song several days after when counting tens and ones. Plus, who doesn’t love the line – “Miss, remember the time you dressed up and you yelled at us and called us cadets.” Perfect. :)

A close second memory is when our letter from the President arrived in February (we initially wrote letters in October and sent them to the White House). It was such an out of this world experience and after doing it once, I will make sure every class I have will write letters in the future.

Wow! Talk about long-winded. :) Thanks so much for taking the time to learn about me and my classroom, and thank you, Amanda, for hosting! If you want to learn more about me or join me for my journey in 1^st grade, I would love for you to stop by The Brown-Bag Teacher. :)

3