A Day In The Life Linky

Happy Wednesday Friends!

Today I am linking up with a 2nd grade blodding buddy, Jessica, over at 2nd Grade Nest for her super fun " Day in the Life" linky.

                           

It's an exciting life, I know, but someone's got to live it. :)

 

Love the background and font I used?

 

The background is by Dot's of Fun. It is a Fan Freebie so go like her FACEBOOK page to get that.

 

The font is by Rowdy in Room 300. Nicole's fonts are my go to's for just about everything I create. I LOVE them. You can get them HERE.

 

Well, that is all for me today. Peanut and I are heading to school again in a little bit. Take some pictures of your day today and go link up with Jessica!

 

~Jean~

 

Being Brave: Some Classroom Before Photos

Happy Tuesday Friends!

So I was debating whether to let you get a glimpse of the horrible mess...bomb of destruction...before pictures of my classroom. Finally after some comments on Facebook about others rooms being in various stages of disarray I decided to be brave.

***DISCLAIMER****

 

These are BEFORE pictures. Please do not pin these to some sort of " what not to do: classroom edition" board. :)

 

Yup, that's it...take it all in. Yes, that is an area rug hanging over my rolling white board...yes that is my pocket chart and stand stacked on top of my counter ( precariously perched on top of all of the things I took off of my wall)....Yes, that is almost the entire contents of the black cabinet (that you can juuuuuusssttt make out in the right hand side of the picture) sitting on my student tables. 

These are all of the files I took out of the bottom drawers of that cabinet....because you know, I don't have anything better to do than sort through all of these in a months time. 

And this is to show you that I made a little progress. After emptying out the black cabinet so I could move it, I wound up putting it back where I had it before! Oh well, I still would have needed to take some of it out because my hubby got me another tall filing cabinet ( much like that black one) that I am going to move some of that stuff too.

This is what my teacher desk area looked like last year. If you follow me on Facebook you know I swapped out my teacher desk for a kidney shaped table this year. ( And oh yes, the contents of my desk are scattered through out the room as well!)

If you have some before pics to share to make me feel better about my mess, leave your link in the comments section. Thoughts on the new desk area? Let me know those too. :)

~Jean~

New Teacher Advice

Happy Sunday Friends!

Today I am linking up with Latoya over at Flying Into First Grade for her weekly Sunday linky party.

                                                      

This weeks theme is advice for new teachers.

 

BUY

 

Sparingly..... I say this because you are going to want to buy, buy, buy now that you are finally in your own room. But there are things I bought at the beginning of teaching that I do not use or had too much of. Yes the back to school sales are GREAT, but try to make and stick to a budget.

 

ALWAYS

Help out.... There are going to be after school activities like carnivals, family nights, and clubs that need people to help run them. Find a few things that you would enjoy helping with and volunteer to do them.  It shows you are invested in the school as a whole.  

NEVER

Spend all your time at school... Yes, you should help out with things, and yes you want your room to be cute, and your lessons to be aligned and worthwhile. BUT! You cannot and should not live at school. Take a break once in a while and DO NOT FEEL GUILTY for it! 

 

 

FIND

 A theme..... This goes along with my advice for buying sparingly. I had a professor in college who said you should have a theme because right away it tells your parents and student something about you. It also is a good way to set yourself apart from everyone else.

There are SOOOOOOOO many cute things out there to choose from ( owls, chevron, frogs, polka dots, bright colors etc). If you don't have a theme I think it is harder to keep yourself from buying something just because it is cute and winding up with a bunch of things you don't need. You can have a couple of themes ( my main theme is a beachy/ocean theme, but I also use polka dots and the colors turquoise, lime, and pops of orange)

 

MAKE

 

Friends!!!!.....Without my teacher friends I would go insane. They understand when I am just venting and when I am looking for advice. And they know when I say I am done, that I will still come in the next day, with a smile on my face, like nothing happened and start over again. Find friends who can get you through those tough times...because unfortunately they will happen.

BE

 

Yourself.... Find what works for you and your students and then do it. Be willing to listen and take advice from others BUT at the end of the day it has to be something you are excited about or want to do.

 

 

So there is my two cents worth of advice!

 

 

Before I go, I wanted to remind everyone about the fabulous Facebook Hop going on over at Tori's Teaching Tips that I ( and a TON of other WONDERFUL 2nd grade bloggers) are a part of.

Stop over to Tori's page to start the hop and pick up some awesome freebies as well as enter to win our giveaway!

 

~Jean~

 

 




   



2nd Grade Facebook Freebies and Giveaway!

Hey Second Grade Teacher Friends! Is it just me, or does it seem like there aren't a lot of second grade blogs to follow? Or when you're shopping on TPT, the K-2 products seem too easy, yet the 3-5 stuff is way too hard?

My girl, Tori, over at Tori's Teacher Tips, has rounded up some of the best second grade bloggers for a Facebook Freebie hop! Each of us has an *exclusive to Facebook* freebie for you. All you have to do is "like" our Facebook pages to pick it up. When you get to the Facebook page, look for this image:

Click on it and grab your freebie! It's that easy!

Look who's participating!

The easiest way to grab your freebies is to start at Tori's Teacher Tips' Facebook page, as she has all of our links in one convenient place. You'll also notice that she has a Rafflecopter on the page. That's because we all decided to throw in a Winner's Choice from our TPT stores for our Bloglovin' followers as well! That's right! You could win 23 products just for following us on Bloglovin'!!! Here are our Bloglovin' links:

Tori's Teacher Tips

Hippo Hooray for Second Grade

Mrs. Rios Teaches

Surfin' through Second

Smiling in Second Grade

Success in Second Grade

Diving Into 2nd Grade

Second Grade Nest

Teaching Little Miracles

Literacy Spark

Primary Junction

Reading and Writing Redhead

Teach 'n Tex

I Love My Classroom

That's So Second Grade

Stuckey in Second

The Educated Crown

Owl in a Vowel Tree

Across the Hall in 2nd Grade

Hard Core Teacher Resources

Simply Skilled in Second

Second Grade Math Maniac

Tonya's Treats for Teachers

Make sure you head over to our Facebook pages ASAP, because these freebies will only be available THIS WEEKEND! The freebies and giveaway will end at midnight on Sunday, July 21st. GOOD LUCK! 

 

~Jean~

Favorite Pins

Happy, happy Friday Friends!

Here I am with my favorite pins this week and there are some GOOOOOOD ones! Have some awesome pins to share? Link up with The First Grade Parade.

CLASSROOM PINS

PIN #1

You know when you find something that is SO simple and brilliant and you think " duh, why didn't I think of that". Yeah, that's what I thought of when I found this pin by Ideas by Jivey.

I am going to use the bookshelf I had my book bins on last year for something else this year and I was wondering where I could put them. Perfect solution right here.

PIN #2

Here is another genius one by Aunt Peaches.

A marker/ writing utensil caddy from nothing other than a shoebox and some empty toilet paper tubs. I love this idea for my writing station.

PIN #3

My students last year did a pretty good job of keeping our library organized. However, it is always a pet peeve to come across books in the wrong places. I love this idea from Teaching Takes Heart of having the kids put clothespins on the tub they take their book from. When they are done they simply remove their pin and put their book back.

 

PIN #4

How cute is this bulletin board by Lorri's School Library Blog?! As my good friend, the lovely and talented Angela from Hippo Hooray for 2nd Grade said, it's "perfect" for me.

 

 

 

PIN #5
 
My last classroom pin is this awesome one by Clutter Free Classroom.

I have tried using bulletin board paper to create display areas on my walls and it never stays crisp in the middle. But I love this idea of using poster board and duct tape to create one! ( And I love the colors too!)

MISCELLANEOUS PINS

PIN #6

I immediately loved the caption on this pin from Club 31 Women and when I went to check it out there were some very good pieces of advice. Many times lists of things to do with your kids seem to be no brainers, but it always nice to have those little reminders.

PIN #7

I LOVE the red in this outfit from Polyvore. The shoes especially just pop! This outfit reminds me that I should not just buy blue and black clothes when I go shopping. ( Although there is plenty of blue and black to make me feel at home. )

PIN #8/9

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE interior design. It doesn't always look like it in my house but I really do. ;) I am obsessed with the idea of having a couch banquet seating area in my kitchen like this one from Apartment Therapy. It really will never happen, I do not have the space. But its still beautiful.

When my family got back from vacation at the end of June I decided to make it part of my 10 year plan to own a house on a lake somewhere. This living room from This Old House, the size and colors, would be so perfect in that someday house.

PIN #10

Lastly, I leave you with this little gem from Meta Picture that made me laugh so hard and woke my husband up. ( I was checking Pinterest on my phone before bed.) He probably looked at me like this cat.

( Its not quiiiite as funny in the light of day, but last night at 1 am....HILARIOUS!)

 

Before I go I wanted to let you know that you should REALLY check out my Facebook page tomorrow morning.

 

Looks GREAT doesn't it. :) Thanks to Corrina at Surfin'Through 2nd Grade who made this cutey cute image for us.

Well, that's all for me. I am going to check out all the cool things everyone else pinned this week!

~Jean~