What Day is it?? It's the FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL! Almost at 50 followers......A Giveaway to Celebrate!

Oh my goodness!! I am so exhausted and ready to crash? I know I'm not the only teacher who gets that "hit by a train" feeling on the first day week month of school. If you are a teacher, and you are not tired on the first week of school - you are lying. I felt like Monday I answered about two million questions. Monday and Tuesday, I woke up ready to go -- this morning I wanted to hit snooze! I am NOT a morning person! Even my dog was like, WHAT IS GOING ON!?

I imagine if she could speak - she would be a smart mouth like me and say something like "Draw me like one  of your french girls Jack." 

 I feel like supplies at the beginning of the year are pouring out of every crevice of my classroom! I do a mixture of community supplies, and personal supplies. Each table has a caddy for pencils, scissors, and glue. Pencil pouches hold only crayons. Glue, index cards, pencils, checking pens,dry erase markers, and notebook paper are all community. We all use the same amount - so we just put them all together! Crayons, scissors, and notebooks are personal supplies. I guess being married to a lefty, and my mom being a lefty - I always think about having to share left or right handed scissors. I know I'm not the only teacher with a crayola addiction/love-- the other crayons are just waxy and cheap and awful!!! I wouldn't want to subject a child with OCD tendencies like mine to using something that would REALLY REALLY bother them. (Yes - I am the teacher that puts on the supply list things like "Ticonderoga pencils last longer...... Zip Pencil pouches are the best......"I just know what holds up through a whole year - and I share that information with my parents! And DOUBLE YES to being the teacher that likes Crayola crayons, and cringes at the thought of using a subpar waxy crayon.)
So, I am SOOOOOO super excited that my group this year is SO sweet. I taught my first year and a half (I graduated in December - so my first year was only January til June) in Norfolk and Portsmouth - the heart of Hampton Roads. For a girl who grew up in the country - that was a culture shock. (Seriously - my county is known as the "Moonshine Capital of the World") So- after an experience in inner city schools -- all of our kids are sweet, but this year my group is sweeter than normal!!! ** As a side note -- I really MISS teaching in Portsmouth - they were some of my best students, even though they had a lot more going on at home, and came to school with some serious struggles most adults could never understand, they were still GREAT kids!*** I currently teach at the elementary school I went to (I teach 3rd grade in MY childhood 3rd grade classroom-- how cool is that?!) which means I teach the same families that have been in the area for years! This year, I'm teaching some of the kids of people I graduated high school with! (I'll be 28 this year-- it's UNHEARD of in my small southern town to have been married as long as I have --8 years this month-- with no babies of my own - but the time just isn't right yet!)

This is the view on my way to work - right before the school. Corn fields, tobacco fields, dairy farms, and rolling hills. It makes a peaceful drive, and I LOVE IT! 

We are a Title I school, and the recession has been hard on our community - but our school is lucky to have some great parents too! This year, I just feel like I got all the best kids! The kids in my partner's class are just as great - but I really am just so pleased. I am a stickler for rules, and this group has adjusted so quickly! Now - I know life is not all "Rose Colored Glasses"- and there are challenges in every group! I'm usually the teacher who gets ALL the "challenges" because I am very strict and keep a routine - but this year I don't have nearly as many. It's so exciting to have so many students who are eager and excited to be in my classroom and to learn new things! I told the kids about our spelling homework, and explained the menu - and they were upset the first menu isn't due until next week! They were asking, "Can we do it tonight?!?" I was SO excited! (PS- If you want a copy of this - email me jessica.wilson@frco.k12.va.us) - I would be HAPPY to share! I'm not the first person to make up a spelling menu, and I won't be the last - so if you would like to try one out - let me know!

Now - onto the EXCITING part! I have 35 followers on Blog Lovin- and 10 followers on Blogger....that's ALMOST 50!!!! So, to help me get to 50, I've decided to do a GIVEAWAY!! I am a Thirty One consultant - and I will have a few options for the winner to choose from! So - ENTER IN THIS GIVEAWAY!!!! I really want to treat a teacher to some cute Thirty One Things!!! (I have some zipper pouches, wristlet key fobs, a few different size caddys, and lots of other cutesy things!) a Rafflecopter giveaway

Celebrating 20 Followers, B2S, a SALE and a GIVEAWAY!

Today, I reached 20 followers on Bloglovin' ! There are also 7 people who follow on Blogger- which means I'm almost at 30! Monday is my first "official" day back as well - I'm excited to get my room finished, but I'm not excited about the inservice meetings I will have to be in! So, to celebrate, I'm throwing a sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

To celebrate my followers, I'm going to have a giveaway! I created these teacher postcards to give my students who make it to the "Homework Club" each month. Any student who has their homework every day for a whole month gets the special treat of eating lunch with the teacher. In order to make it an even more special event, I created these postcard invitations that look FABULOUS when printed on colored cardstock. The whole file contains 3 different designs to print for your students. The postcards are set to print 4 per page, and my students always get excited to see this note on their desk.

In addition to winning the postcard pack - you can pick ANY 3 items in my TPT store for free. (Now - I don't have tons of things uploaded yet - so if you want to wait on that until I upload more items - I totally understand - it won't have an expiration date!) 

So - to win, all you have to do is leave a comment with your email address. I will then ask the hubs to pick a random number, and that person will win! It's a very delicate and scientific procedure! I'll end the entries at 9:00 pm Sunday, August 4. Good Luck! 

That Amazing Feeling You Get......

When you WIN something!!!!! I was SO happy when after my Wal-Mart trip, I checked my email and I had a new message from Amy Harrod over at 24/7 Teacher: Amy Harrod - and I WON her Pin it to Win It Giveaway. I won her Close Reading & CCSS Toolkit Reading Response Sheets! It's 100% CCSS Aligned with Graphic Organizers, Strategies, Printables, Lesson Plans..... WOW!!! It's 116 pages of AWESOMENESS!!! Go to her TpT store and check it out!! I am SO excited - this will be the first year I'm teaching Language Arts since 3 years ago, so this could not have come at a better time!  She has some great things on her blog too! Check her out!

I'm ready to get started on some more projects for back to school! My list today is to write my kiddos names on nametags (If my list changes -- I will use rubbing alcohol to wipe off the names- my tags are laminated and I'm writing in sharpie!), and create a file box for my writing table. It's an index card storage box where you write commonly misspelled words. Students then look them up on the card rather than asking , "How do you spell......" during a writing assignment. I will start with just the common misspellings. As students have to look up their own words, we will add more! Happy Monday -- especially those of you who started back to school today!