A New Theme for Next Year!

You read that right. Next year room 117 will not have a Hollywood theme. 

There will be polka dots...and lots of them! I am so excited about it and have already been stalking Erica's blog and her super cute polka dot themed classroom. Now if only I can find some round tables to use in my classroom instead of desks. I am hoping my AP can help me get this one taken care of. Do you have a theme in your classroom? Are most of your items that go with your theme things you made or purchased from somewhere? Do you have any good polka dot suggestions?

A quick giveaway update for you too...it will go live tomorrow evening once I submit finals for 2 of my grad school classes. I cannot wait for you all to see what all is being given away!

What A Week!

This has been one crazy week! I had no idea that testing week would ever have been this crazy. Last year I was on potty patrol since I was student teaching and not certified, but this year I administered to a small group for both the Math and Reading STAAR. Thank goodness my 6th graders are back on a regular schedule tomorrow. We did not do too well with our schedule change these past two days. 

I also got some crazy news this week from my Assistant Principal. I have to be ready to move out of my room on May 14th. Catch is, we do not get out until May 31st!!! Talk about poor timing. The rest of this week is going to be spent getting my room packed up because in my opinion my kiddos deserve a break for all of their hard work. Now I am wondering what I can do with my kids when we are in a different classroom that really is not big enough for all of us. I am thinking we are going to do a grammar boot camp as well as another round of book clubs. What would you do? I do plan on doing a lot outside too and possibly walking to our city center a few times because there are a ton of picnic tables there and it is only about a 7 minute walk from my campus. 

I am so excited for my giveaway! I have some wonderful bloggers who are donating some of their items from their stores in addition to what I will be adding to the giveaway! It is going to be epic and it will be up on Friday. Trust me, you won't want to miss it! 

Grad School is almost over too! I submitted my Action Research Paper this past Saturday at 10:45 a.m. and boy did that feel good. I have two take home finals left in one class and some busy work for my other too. The end is in sight. I know it will be worth it come June 30th, but I am just sick of it right now. When grad school is over, I am excited to get in a more regular pattern for blogging and blog stalking. 

Hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Math Help!

As I shared this past weekend, I am officially going to be teaching both Language Arts and Math next year to 6th graders. I am so excited to be adding math to my teaching schedule because I have really always loved it. However, I am going to be teaching 6th grade Pre AP so that means I will actually be responsible for teaching my kiddos both 6th and 7th grade math. 

Since my math position is essentially one that is being created, my principal asked me what sort of math things I might want. Luckily she was a math teacher when she was in the classroom so she is a great resource, but what are some must have manipulatives for teaching math? Does anyone use CSCOPE for their math curriculum? 

I cannot wait to add math to the list of things I share with you all. 

The giveaway will also be posted on Sunday sometime and I cannot wait for you to see what all is being given away! I have some amazing teacher bloggers who are helping me with it!

I met THE Sisters!!!

Yesterday and today I have been in San Antonio for The Daily 5 and CAFE workshops! I know I have not been to a lot of PD sessions in my first year of teaching, but I am pretty sure that this is going to be one of the best ones I will ever go to. If you use the Daily 5 or CAFE, or if you are even considering it, you should really consider going to the workshops. I will have another post later in the week and will share some more things with you all. For now, I have 2 pictures from today. One is with the Sisters themselves and I also took one with Kristina who I ran into there. 

200 Posts and 400 Followers!

With my little blog break that I took, I missed two huge milestones...200 posts and 400 followers! You can bet yourself that there will be a giveaway in the near future! I need to get through this next week and then our STAAR testing the following week. I promise it is going to be an amazing giveaway that you do not want to miss out on! 

A plus is that I have finished all of my grad school assignments for the semester except for my Action Research project that is due on Saturday. At least our class time today was very useful and I was able to dialogue with some of my cohort members. My professor seems to also be very excited about my topic because she kept using it as a reference when we were talking about it in a whole class setting. I just hope that I do not disappoint her.

Monday and Tuesday I am headed to a conference in San Antonio that I am so excited for. I get to listed to The Sisters, yes I said The Sisters, present at the Daily 5 and CAFE conference in San Antonio. Their books have really been a huge help for me during my first year and I cannot wait to actually learn from them. I am hoping to even get a picture with them. You can bet I will be blogging about what I learn and the conference. Are an of you going to be there? If so, I would love to meet up and say hi! My principal is having another teacher go with me who has no idea what the Daily 5 or CAFE is. I have a feeling she is not going to be too interested, but I have got to give her a chance. 

I also cannot believe that I only have 6 weeks left of school! My first school year with my own classroom has absolutely flown by! I also got word the other day that my principal has a new idea that she wants to try with me next year. All I know right now is that it would involve teaching both ELA and Math which I would not mind. I should know more in the next few weeks about it. :)

Be on the lookout for my mega giveaway!

Grad School-Blog Break!

Hey Y'all! This girl is way too swamped with grad school work right now so I am making myself take a blogging break for 1 week and then I will reassess where I am. I have so much due this weekend and I know I am going to be putting in a ton of late nights. Wish me luck! Hopefully I will get it all done in time.

PLC-Professional Learning Community

I got an email today from my principal saying that she would like me to be one of the members of our campus PLC that we will be starting this summer/next school year. I am excited about the opportunity, but nervous at the same time. I am the youngest member of the group, but I am honored that my principal values my opinion and thinks of me as a leader. Have you ever or currently participating in a PLC on your campus? What should I expect? In the past we have had a CLT which stood for Campus Leadership Team. This consisted of grade level and department chairs and they were the ones responsible for making decisions for our campus. I am interested to see how some of those people react when they are no longer a part of that committee. 

Tomorrow I am actually headed to a workshop with my principal in Austin and it is just the two of us. I am very much looking forward to it, and the conference sounds like it is going to be a great one. I think I might be more excited though about all of the conversation we will be able to have. 

I also will not be blogging again until Tuesday of next week. I have got to get my Action Research Paper written this weekend because I will not have another good break like this one, and it is due in less than 3 weeks. Wish me luck!