So Long Summer!

Hello World!
Well.. It's here...summer is almost over which is slightly depressing but not too depressing to me. I am DYING to get into my classroom and get to work organizing and getting ready for the 2014-2015 school year. My school takes our keys so we can't get in over the summer. They want us to "relax and truly enjoy our summer" but how am I supposed to when I'm going crazy thinking of all the things I want to get done in my classroom. Plus, I relax enough over summer - TRUST ME. I have been a pretty big bum when it comes down to it. One reason I'm actually looking forward to going back to work is getting my body back to a regular schedule. I stay up until 11 or later, which is  pretty darn late for me, and get up around 8 or so and I usually end up taking a nap during some part of the day. It's TERRIBLE. I'm welcoming the return of waking up for school with open arms... Okay, maybe not completely open arms but they're somewhat open..

One thing I have been doing this summer is creating a few things for myself and more products for my store on TPT. Which you can find here! I just wanted to show a couple of things I've created.

I made my first set of task cards this past weekend and I had fun making them. I really had fun designing them. I spend way too much time when creating things for TPT on the design aspect. I love playing with different graphics, backgrounds, and fonts.

Anyways.. Here is a peek at the task cards I made which go with 5.NBT.2 which requires students to be able to move the decimal based on powers of 10. I'm sure that not the "proper" way to describe the standard but that's what I think of in my head when it comes to that standard.

I'm really happy with how these turned out. I'm a HUGE fan of Krista Wallden's Clip Art.. I own a ton. The cute kiddos, the borders on both the cover and task cards, and the cute circle borders are all her work. So cute!

Another thing I did was get my binders ready for this year. Last year I just did a Language Arts binder and a Math Binder.. but I didn't really put anything in them. I know.. Bad girl :( but it was my first year and it was a whirlwind. This year I've decided instead of just 2 binders I would have a binder per strand for the Common Core - with a few exceptions. Under the Language Arts standards I don't really worry too much about the RF and SL standards. I figure those happen more days than not in my classroom and I don't really have too many resources just for those strands so I didn't make a binder for them. I also combined my writing and language strands into one binder. Here are some of the covers I made. I still need to create the spine inserts for them. (Note to self!)

There are some of my binder covers for this year. Again, I'm really happy with how they turned out. I love Melonheadz Kiddos.. Okay, I'll just come out and say it.. I just really love clip art! I'm debating putting them in my store. What do you think? I also created what I'll call standard sheets to put in my binders to help organize all the resources under each strand. They're simply the standard listed and typed out put in a sheet protector with a cute little divider added to it. Here's what my standard sheets ended up looking like...

 I know I didn't use the easiest font to read but I absolutely LOVE KG Eyes Wide Open so I used it. I figured if I decide it's too difficult to read I'll redo it with an easier to read font...

Well those are some of the things I've done this summer. I did one more product that I posted in my store which is a Common Core Standards Tracker for Fifth Grade in both ELA and Math. My plan is to all grades K-4 (6-12 if there is a demand) but they are seriously time consuming so I put them off by doing things like creating my binder covers and such.Oh! I also set up my students interactive math journals yesterday but they're not 100% complete so I will do a blog post on those when I get them all done which will be before the school year.

My goal is to get into my classroom next week so I'll post pictures of what I accomplish. My first official day back is August 13 with the kids returning on the 18th. When do you go back? Are you ready or do you want a little bit more time to yourself?

 Happy Teaching! :)

Happy New Year!

Hi Y'all!
I hope you had a wonderful new year and you've been able to have a refreshing and rejuvenating break. I have. I thought I was ready to go back until today when I went into my classroom and realized all the things I planned to accomplish but have yet to. Now I think I could use another week off!

I cannot believe the school year is half over already! As it is my first year teaching I have been so incredibly busy with just trying to keep my head above water that this blog and my TPT store have not been my top priority. I recently became (re)inspired by other teachers who blog so I thought I would try to get better about blogging and making TPT products. I was doing okay at making products and what not in the beginning of the year, but as it progressed I couldn't keep up. One of my favorite blogs to read is  Young Teacher Love written by Kristine Nannini. I have purchased SO many of her products for my classroom. I seriously cannot get enough of her products and blog. Plus she is so sweet! I have sent her a few e-mails about products and she always gets RIGHT back to me. You really need to go and check out her blog and TPT store.

So as one of my "resolutions" I plan to blog more and create more things for my TPT store. I'm not the greatest fan of "resolutions" but I'm not entirely against them either. One reason I like them is because it's a nice way to keep track of when you started something. I feel like if I was to start trying to blog more in April I wouldn't be able to keep track of my progress as well, but that's probably just me and my weird personality! I have a few other things I would like to accomplish in 2014; some of them are drink more water (Sadly, but honestly, I am a sodaholic!), get a workout in at least 5 days a week, be more organized/neater, read at least 2 books a month for enjoyment, get my TESOL endorsement (which I should accomplish by May!) I like to set goals for myself whenever I feel they are approrpriate. I have set some goals for my spirituality and mental health since November and I will definitely continue on the journey of reaching those during 2014! I hope 2014 brings you much love, joy, and success. Thanks for reading! Hope you come back and visit soon! Please leave a comment, I would love to have some pen pals which I could talk with! Tell me, what are you hoping to accomplish in 2014?

Peace and Blessings,

Erica