Unmotivated

I am a little sick today, bleh, hate being sick on the weekends! Weekends are for fun, not illnesses.

Anywho...

I started school a few weeks ago and absolutely love my new students. They are so polite and adorable. Even though I thought teaching 6th grade would be scary, they are no scarier than my old 5th graders were.

I am so excited because I received my laminator in the mail from Amazon this week! It is AmAzInG! I immediately started laminating all sorts of goodies!

Cue harmonious music and spot light!

 Like...

This...

And these...

Aaaaand everything on this...

This ZAP game comes from Mimi at 5th Grade Rocks, 5th Grade Rules
I used it last year and the kids loved it! It got so much love, laminating everything was a necessary evil this time around.

This year I am teaching Language (writing/grammar) and Science. Writing has me completely overwhelmed; I don't know how to teach it effectively {slight issue} or how to grade it.

I thought I would throw this out into bloggy land to see if you guys could help me...

How do you grade writing??? Any tips or tricks?? I feel kind of silly asking this question, but honestly, I started and it took me like an hour to read one class' personal narratives and edit them. Multiply that by 3 and I am in trouble. Yikes!

August Currently...

It's AUGUST and that is very hard to believe. I don't think it really hit me because I've been so focused on cranking out my classroom. I even almost drank some expired milk because I thought it was still July, eww (note to self ~ go to grocery store).

Here's my Currently by Farley.

Have a good weekend!

High Five for Friday

Woohoo! It's Friday! Here are some things that happened me to this week that make me happy...

1.  I got the $20 for $80 worth of goodness on Vistaprint through Groupon. Here are some of my favorites that I got.

Will hang above the door (small banner)

Love this quote and it fits with our school doing Capturing Kids Hearts. (small banner)

(small car magnet)

2.  A friend recommended that I go to a place called Rita's Ice-Custard-Happiness. Wow... that's all I can say. It's this crazy concoction of Italian ice and creamy custard. So delicious, but so naughty.

3.  My classroom is mostly done! Pictures to come later... when it's all complete finished and purty.

4.  I ordered a Cuppow! I'm so excited and I just got an email that it has indeed shipped. If you all follow Pioneer Woman I got the idea from her. Duh, it just makes so much sense - a drinking lid for a mason jar. Why didn't I think of that?

5.  My book club decided on the new book we are going to read. It's called Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. Has anyone read it?? I am excited to have a way to unwind when school starts next week.

Link up if you want to share your top five from this week at From My Grey Desk Blog.

Flaunt Your Cups

I have a slight obsession with water cups. I am proud to admit that I own 7 insulated water cups complete with coordinating straws in various shapes and sizes. Too many? Perhaps, but there is nothing like quenching your thirst after a good lesson with water that is still cold hours later after you first filled it. This one is my favorite.

It's a Tervis Tumbler and you can get them here. Do you have a favorite cup for use throughout the day??? ENTER: My first linky paty!

Link up and flaunt your favorite cup(s)! This could be a water cup like mine or a coffee cup, we don't discriminate here. Thanks for linking up!

Scientific Method Posters Freebie

Salutations!
Since I am teaching science this year, I made up some scientific method posters for my classroom. I based them off of these from Scholastic. I actually thought these were cute, but I think I heard the toner in my printer give off a yelp of fear as I was looking at them so I decided to make some more ink friendly posters.

The clip art is by DJ Inkers and Scrappin' Doodles (also the background). The font is Coffee Shoppe Espresso by Sweet Shoppe Designs. The frame on the cover is by Digital Bake Shop.

Snatch up your freebie down below:
Cover
Posters

I hope you can use these in your classrooms! Have a good rest of your day!

High Five for Friday

Good morning bloggy world!

I was going to start this blog post with the old "wow, it's been forever since I last posted..." but then I realized that I pretty much start every post with that so I am not going to today.

I go back to school next week, can you believe it??? This summer has flown by! I have been so tempted to go in my room and work, but I did it one day and I was not exactly thrilled about being there. Not because I didn't want to be there, but because every year I cut my summer short to set up my room and make sure everything's perfect. To top that, I don't think there has ever been a kid who went home after the first day and told his mom "Oooo, you should've seen her filing cabinets, they were so organized!" It's gonna get done, so my choice is to wait. Hopefully I won't be regretting this decision later, haha!

Who's excited it's Friday???

1.  This weekend I am having a fun stay-cation with some friends.  Nothing like a little retreat and bonding time before the school year begins.

2.  I love clean sheets! There is nothing I love better than clean sheets, seriously. Luckily this is a joy I get to relive often since I wash my sheets every week or so, but it's still just as exciting every time. It's the small things, guys.

3. I went to go see the Dark Knight Rises. It was really good! If you haven't seen it yet, you need mozy on over and check it out.

4. I've made a couple of bulletin board goodies for my classroom that I am excited for. Once I get them up, I will share them with you all on here.

5.  My Erin Condren teacher planner came in the mail! I love it! It was such a splurge for me, but honestly, you use it every day... and plus it's super cute!

Link up to From My Grey Desk if you want to celebrate your week with us!

Yikes

I have been completely neglecting my blog. Luckily, now that summer is here I am hoping I can get back into the swing of things and actually participate in my blog, imagine that!

I decided to move schools after being at my current elementary school for the past 5 years. It was such a hard decision, but I felt like it was time for a change. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I feel like the people that I worked with were like my second family. Especially, the fact that this is the only school I have ever known and started my career with, I was a little heartbroken on Friday when I left. I looked a little like this ALL day on Friday!

But now that the move is done and over, I am excited for my new school and position. I am now going to be teaching 6th grade and it is not certain yet, but probably teaching language arts and social studies. WHAT???! I know, I love math and it feels so weird not teaching it, but I think the change will be good and it will be a good challenge for me.

I don't want to get too involved with planning just in case I end up teaching underwater basket weaving and science, so I am still kind of awaiting the final word before I dive head first into the curriculum and start creating things.

I am definitely going to need some help when the time comes so I help my fellow bloggers are up for the challenge! I know of a few 6th grade blogs, but not many. If you are one or know of one, give me a shout out.

P.S. I love summer time.