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

Exciting Week Back at Work!

Last week was the teacher's first week back, and our school had SFA (Success for All) reading training for TWO of the days. FREAK-OUT! We have been doing SFA at our school for over 15 years, and I've been doing it since I was there, new changes are exciting. I love the program, and I know our success at our school in reading is because of this program. I am excited to get into the program and begin! So - we were in our room on Monday, training Tuesday and Wednesday, and then kiddos were coming in from 11-7 on Thursday for Business Day! The hubs picked up a new phone case for my iPhone for me on Wednesday. My otterbox broke at the end of last year- and I knew I needed one.

The hubs bought me this pink and black Griffin case @Best Buy -- It even matches my classroom! 

On Business Day, my sister came to register my niece, and since I didn't have any kiddos, I kept little niece in my room, and ate the delicious wendy's chicken she brought me (I was STARVING!) 

My teacher chair was her favorite. (Side note- I'm dying to recover that chair, and the file cabinets, but there are only so many hours in a day! 

She LOVED the pattern blocks too! 

So - most of my new students came in -and I'm SO excited because I have some super sweet kids! Several parents were very impressed by the organization and cleanliness of the room- and all I could think was "If you only knew how long....." It's ALL worth it though! 

Friday was Convocation. This is the bright idea that our county has to shove ALL our teachers into our High School Auditorium from 8:00-12:00. It gets hot and sweaty and sticky and miserable - but NOT this year! This year our county got it RIGHT!!! They brought in a motivational educational speaker - Tara Brown. WOW -- WOW -- WOW!! She was GREAT! She talked about how it is SO important to make our students feel safe, and decorating the room, and on and on and on. Check her out on YouTube, or check out her website HERE

Then, our county always gives out prizes to schools with the best attendance for the year - and our school won 3rd place! (That means we get $1,000 to spend on our students!) THEN - we received 3rd place for attendance at the Technology Professional Development - which is MORE $ to spend on Technology. Then- the BEST thing happened-- I was in the right place at the RIGHT time! my seat was the winner of a voucher for $100 worth of iPad apps! *Even though it says iPad on the envelope- it was just a voucher for apps* I was super excited about that - but then I got even MORE excited because I DID win an iPad for going to all the summer classes for Technology this summer!! It was VERY much worth giving up my summer for work and classes!! I was SO happy! I can think of about a MILLION things I'm going to do, and all the apps I want to buy for my classroom!!! 

Today, the hubs and I got up early, and hit the gym. We were done pretty early, and we swung by the new Big Lots that just opened over in Roanoke. It's about 25 minutes from our house- but much closer and nicer than any other. Holy Storage Batman!! They had EVERYTHING. I wanted to buy everything - but I just got a new clothes hamper for my bathroom (The youngest dog likes to go hamper diving for dirty socks, so I needed a taller one), a wax warmer (my living room is a lavender oasis right now!), a new broom for my classroom, some velcro for my classroom, and a few other small things. They also gave me 10% off with my teacher ID!! I was also excited to find the contact paper I had purchased from Dollar General there-- and it was HALF THE PRICE!! (I was a little annoyed at that!) 

I am super excited to be going back to school Monday - and I have about a MILLION things I should be doing. Instead- I'm, enjoying a movie on the couch with my pooches and doing some laundry! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend! 

PS-- look forward to a GIVEAWAY from my Thirty One Goody Bag when I reach 50 followers-- help get there faster by sharing my blog! 

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!