1st day of my big girl job

So today was my very first day of having my own classroom...yikes. Unfortunately I didn't really take any pictures because if you are teacher you know that "ain't no body got time fo that." I do have one picture of my outfit (I wore red today for NCAE/Public Education awareness) and a picture of me finally eating my lunch on my way home from work, at 5:30!

Don't judge me, I am normally a very safe driver. I thought that driving while snacking was safer than driving hungry?!?

 

 

 

So I arrived to school promptly at 6:35am (am I crazy??) to make sure I had everything in line and that I was all set up and ready to got my kiddos. I am glad that I got there so early because it helped me feel at ease once class started. I was extremely nervous (but I had every right to be, right?) but to be honest with you guys as soon as I started talking everything fell into place and went smoothly. I am 100% reassured that I chose the right profession for me. I feel a huge weight lifted from my shoulders and I think that I will have a good first year experience. I do have to shout out Kendal Privette for being my go to. She will be my hero this year! She is amazing! I hope that everyone has a Kendal on their team this year!!

 

I hope all of my fellow newbies had a great first day

Love you all!

92.27% Finished

Being the math person I am I punched a few numbers and decided that I have completed 92.27% of setting up my classroom. When I say I punched a few numbers I literally mean that I punched some numbers on the keyboard and totally pulled that number out of no where.

This week the BTs (beginning teachers) in Wilkes County have been attending a workshop during which we have been learning a lot of what to expect during our time in the Wilkes County school system. I must say that I feel extremely lucky to be in a county that cares so much about their teachers, it is something that I am not used to seeing.

So today's workshop was short and sweet. We were bused, by district, out to the towns that the majority of our student's will be coming to us from. It was a real eye-opener to see what some of those children come from and I am so glad that Wilkes provided that opportunity to us. I am not a native to Wilkes so it was neat to ride around and soak it all in.

....Anyway on to the good stuff....

Since today's workshop was so short I was able to go over to my classroom and finish doing some housekeeping things and bring more stuff to fill up the empty spaces in my room. Basically right now all I have left to do (in my room) is to go through a filing cabinet and organize it, (**Side note
: The science teacher on my team gave me said filing cabinet and it is FULL of math resources, games, worksheets, etc.**) and put my "cozy corner" together. This corner will consist of an ottoman that I purchased today at a local thrift store. My wonderful mother in law is going to help me fix it up and get it classroom ready.

So as promised, here are some pictures of my classroom

 

My lovely desk and bookcase!

 

Got to have a gumball machine, right?

 

Sucker Flower (via Pinterest) made by yours truly!

 

 

 

 

My cabinets are looking a little bare for now but this is where students will turn in homework (bins on the left) and keep their math journals (bins on the right)

 

Corner of the room, my podium (must have) and the empty corner which will soon become my "cozy corner!"

 

The front of my room! Two whiteboards separated by a bulletin board which will serve as our "quote board."

 

How I (Zachary) had to arrange the desks, my lovely windows, and the laptop charging shelf; impressive stuff, I know.

 

My new Contigo, which I am told is indestructible, given to me by the science teacher on my team :)
P.S. The card sang to me, it was epic...."Celebrate good times, COME ON...." #loveit

 

Thanks for reading :)

 

Moving In

Today me and my amazingly handsome husband went to visit my classroom and start the "moving in" process. We loaded the car down last night with everything I have collected and I really wish I would have taken a descent picture of it but sadly, I did not. I always forget to take pictures of things and I really should get better at it if I want this whole blog thing to work out. Anyways, after Zachary got off work we headed straight down to CWMS. Once we got there Zach got to meet the principal, Mr. McCreary, who formed an immediate bond with Zach because he was reppin' his UNC hat. After a brief tour of the school I finally got into my classroom. As I have already mentioned I suck at remembering to take pictures therefore I do not have any before pictures and I certainly do not have any after pictures. I feel like this is acceptable because I am not completely finished setting everything up. When I am finished I will definitely take pictures for you guys.

Ready for Zach to get off work so we can start this move in par-tay! 

The first task at hand was unloading the car. Zachary ended up doing all of the unloading because one of the teachers on my team came in and we chatted it up for a while. She was so nice and so excited meet me. She made me feel really welcome and she hugged me about five times. I love to hug, and gave me and ENTIRE file cabinet filled with math resources!! Once Zach brought everything in we made a game plan and started the organization process (par-tay time).

First thing we, and by we I mean I, decided to do was take everything that was left in the room that I was not going to keep and put it in a pile. Once we did that I organized the "keep" items and Zach started organizing the desks. This turned out to be the hardest project of all. I was really bummed out because I have always pictured my classroom having groups of desks together because I am a HUGE fan of collaboration. Unfortunately I have the desks with the chairs that are attached and we could not make any sort of grouping layout happen. Luckily Zach is very spatial and was able to make all 30 desks fit in the room in an organized manner that I approved of :) (again I am sorry about not having more pictures to show!!) It took about an hour and a half to do all of that and I think poor Zach was pooped.

After I was happy with the desk setup I started unpacking all of my goodies and organizing them. I got my desk all set up, which is da bomb.com, just sayin'. I got all of my crafting supplies organized neatly and all of the text books tucked away nicely in my wonderful cabinets.

Lastly, we started to hang all of posters! I am a huge fan of posters and encouraging words/pictures so it is inevitable for me to be that annoying teacher with the walls completely covered. We hung up all of my posters that I have purchased, and made, and I couldn't be happier with the final results. I wish I would have taken a picture of Zachary with his torpedo out, making sure my posters where straight haha it was too cute (this  is what happens when you marry a carpenter!!) He was so sweet helping me out today and I couldn't have done it without him. He is my little lifesaver.

Ok, enough with the sappy, lovey dovey stuff....

After about 4 and a half hours of non-stop work we got almost everything done that I wanted to get done. Luckily I have about 5 work days coming up so I can use some of that time to set up everything else. And I promise once it is 100% setup I will take pictures!

After it was all said and done. Tired and hungry.

 

 

Oh yeah...... Before I left Mr. McCreary gave me a book to read before school starts back. It is called Soup; a Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture, by Jon Gordon. I will begin reading it and update you guys later on how it is.

 

 

 

<3 Thanks for reading!



The Beginning Stages of Being Organized

So again, if you know me then you know that I am the polar opposite of being a procrastinator. I do things weeks, even months, ahead of time. This may sound like a good trait to have but if you ask my husband he may tell you that it is not always true, haha! So I had today off from work and I decided that I was going to be very productive and get lots of stuff done today!

It all started in the "closet".... So this "closet is actually an unfinished bedroom that my husband and I have been using as a big walk-in closet. This is where I have been storing all of my "teacher stuff" and stuff for my classroom. This is also where I have been storing all of my school stuff since I was a freshmen...in high school. I was a little overwhelmed when I started to unpack everything and I felt like a hoarder of sorts when I couldn't seem to part with school work from 8+ years ago! As time went by I found myself throwing more and more away until I had collected two trash bags full of stuff that I no longer needed in my life.

So ,this is all  of my old school work that I felt like I could let go of now!

 

This is most of the overwhelming mess that my "closet "had turned into for about 5 hours

(Before)

Anyway, once I got rid of everything I considered trash I started to sort and organize everything. I packed up all of the things that I knew I was going to take with me to school and left the rest of behind in the closet (in an organized manner, of course). I put all of my school books into one big bin along with 3 big binders that I will tell you guys about later in the post (I am super excited about them). In another big bin I put all of the thing I considered "desk" items. In a laundry basket I put miscellaneous items. In a small bin I put all of my loose leaf paper. In another small bin I put all of my copier/printer paper as well as my cardstock/colored paper. In two small bins I put all of my pencils and pens. I put all of my highlighters into my favorite Appalachian State University cup. All of my arts and crafts stuff went into a bin, and all of my DIY dry erase boards with dry erase markers went into a small bin.

Ok, so that sounds like a lot and I am sure that I have left some things out but that is ok.

Now I want to talk about my binders!!!

Binder 1: Is complied of all of my mathematics activities/lesson plans/worksheets and general information. I organized this binder based on the 8th grade CCSS and I was so excited to see all of the information that I have already collected to help me with my first year teaching :) I suggest to all of my friends who are still in college to save EVERYTHING :)

**The Binder Sections are:
1) the Number System
2) Expressions and Equations
3)Functions
4) Geometry
5) Statistics and Probability
6)Math Articles

Binder 2: Is compiled of articles that past professors have assigned me to read that I felt would help me most as a teacher.I am equally as excited about this binder because I think I can use it to help other teachers on my team! I organized these papers by:

1) "literacy"
2) "culture"
4) "ethics"- Including the NC Teaching Code of Ethics, and things of that nature
5) "middle school philosophy" -Including Blooms Taxonomy (revised) and 21st Century Framework

Binder 3: My subbing binder!! Fellow first year teachers this is so important, make one...now! I divded this binder into:
1) School Information-Fire Evacuation Plan, Tornado Drill Plan, Emergency Medical Plan/Emergency Codes--potentially kids with allergies

2) Class Information-school schedule (regular, delays, early release etc.), Class Rules and Consequences, and class rosters

3) Lesson Plans for the day- lesson plans for each class as well as a comment sheet for the sub for each class (Check my pinterest for this sheet)

4) Contact List- Principal/Assistant Prinicpal(s), Front Office, Department Head (Team Leader), and personal contact information (phone and email)

So  I am positive this all sounds a little crazy, maybe even a little anal, but it is how I roll. I feel a lot more prepared and organized for my move into my classroom and I am sure Zach will feel a lot better about our "closet" being clean, neat, and organized. I am sorry

I didn't take very many pictures, I was a little stressed about everything, haha!

All of that mess is now organized into bins!

(After)


Shout Out

So everyone knows that teachers do not make a lot of money. It is essential for us to work our "teacher magic" and make wonderful things happen on a very small budget. In my last post I showed a picture of a very long list of things that I still needed to get for my classroom and it is kind of stressful to look at.

My wonderful, amazing, selfless mother in-law saw my list and decided she was going to help me mark some things off of it. I just wanted to give her a little shout-out because she means so much to me. I am not sure how Zachary and I would have made over the last few years without her and her husband.

Pay no mind to the dirty, un-made bed...

4 Mason Jars for my crafts :)

3 binders! 3- 2 inch binders (which are about $8 each!!) and a 1 1/2 inch binder

1800 post its! That's right, I said 1800!!

the cutest magnets ever!

Colored pencils

a TON of sharpies (Fine Tip)

Dry Erase Markers

Highlighters

Binder Clips

Tacks

Paper Clips

She also gave me a really cute green hoodie (not in the picture) because green is my FAVE color <3

 

 

 

Letting my Creative Juices Flow....

If you do not know me then I have to tell you straight off the bat that I am the LEAST creative person I know. I like arts and crafts, they just never turn out the way I expect but it is fun to try. As I mentioned in my last post I have been pinning things like crazy trying to come up with ideas for my classroom. Now, I am married and broke so anything that I can make, or try to make, for free or very little money is very appealing to me. Today I tried my best to make some of the things I had in mind and lets just say things did not happen the way I had planned.

So one thing that actually is in the process of working out is some pencil holders for my desk and for colored pencils. My amazing MIL has been saving cans for me for weeks and I finally had a day off to craft. Unfortunately the paint that I had is not working very well on the cans and I will need to buy new paint, but that is ok :) I think they will be very cool when I get done with them.

The top part of this picture is essentially what they will look like. I am also painting cans to match the color of colored pencil that I will store in them because I am OCD like that.

 

 

The next little project that I was working on was a three tier organization bin made from cereal boxes and covered with the fabric of my choice. It was going great until I found out that paper will not fit inside of said boxes. This totally ruined my plans for the boxes because I wanted to use them to organize papers that needed to be graded, filed, and copied. I am sad that it didn't work out but the same type of bin that will actually fit paper is only about 10 bucks at Wal-Mart.

Next I worked on making a bin for my students where they could anonymously write anything that they wanted and put inside. They could write suggestions for me, comments about the class, or shout-outs to their fellow students. I have terrible handwriting and it is kind of plain right now but it definitely will work for what I want to use it for. My MIL gave me the bucket as a part of my graduation gift and I just reused it for this :)

I worked on putting some finishing touches on my "pencil poster" that my wonderful, loving husband made for me. I absolutely love it!

I also laminated some quotes from my MIL. My plan is to make a cork board bulletin board filled with quotes from my students and I thought it would be cool to start with the ones I already had.

One last craft idea from pinterest (not done today) was my "No Name" board. If students turn in a paper with no name on it I can just pin it up until someone claims it!

I also spent time coming up with a list, because that is what I do, of things that I still need for the classroom and to complete my list of crafts! I have always been the type of person to make lists, I have my mother to blame for that!

 

I had some frustrating moments today with the crafts but I did not let it get me down. Today showed me that I have grown a lot in the patience department and that I have realized not everything is going to go the way I planned. The important thing is to roll with the punches and not let it get me down. This is something that I hope to take to the classroom with me. I know there will be days where my lesson plans fall short or don't work out. It is important for me to be able to bounce back without letting it get to me.

 

 

 

So what now?

As my excitement for my new job fizzles, reality soon sets in...Now what?

 Well I have been to see my classroom (I will upload pictures when I have it all set up, eventually) and it has definite potential for greatness! I have been to sign all of my paperwork and learn the basics about pay and benefits which is great and all but I was in need of advice. Advice on what I should be doing now in order to prepare for my first year in the classroom.

So far I have been reading books that were recommended to me by some of my amazing ASU brofessors (yes that is bro and professor fused together). I have read 14 Things Great Teachers do Differently by Todd Whitaker which is a great book that I recommend to any teacher, new or veteran. I read, Teaching Ten to Fourteen Year Olds by Chris Stevenson which is kind of long but definitely worth the read, and now I am revisiting "The First Days of School," a classic by Harry Wong.

Let me side track here for just a minute to recall a story about Harry Wong. One of my professors was preaching...I mean...teaching about classroom management and how important it was for all of us to read this book before we go into the classroom. With the most serious look on his face, and passion in his eyes, my professor says to all of us, "If you're struggling during those first days in the classroom just pull out your Harry Wong and take a long, hard look in the mirror." We all about died!!! It took our professor a moment to figure out what just happened and he will NEVER live that moment down. It definitely made the 8:00 a.m. class choice worth it that day.

Okay, so where was I? Oh yes, things I am currently doing to prepare for my new job. Other than reading I have been pinning like it is my day job. I have been digging and searching for new ideas on Pinterest, free posters and goodies from www.teacherspayteachers.com and making tons of lists. I have been shopping (duh) for all sorts of classroom supplies, the basics for now of course; pencils, paper, paper clips, you know, the works. I bought myself a laminator which may be the greatest purchase/invention of all time (Amazon for $30). I went a little cray cray printing things and laminating them to make them look nice and of course I made a kazillion corny posters for my classroom. If you know me then you know that a day does not go by without something corny coming out of my mouth.

Things that I have laminated:
*I made 50 DIY dry erase boards from cardstock, duck tape, and my nifty laminator (Pinterest)
*My Standards (8th grade Math)
*School Calendar
*Binder Covers (Pinterest, FREE)
*Corny Posters
*Blooms Taxonomy Wheel (www.teacherspayteachers.com  FREE)
*Problem Solving Steps (www.teacherspayteachers.com FREE)
*Overview of CCSS for Math k-8 (www.teacherspayteachers.com FREE)

and I am part of the way done printing out and laminating!!

So, other than all of that madness I have been going over my standards, memorizing them, and breaking them down to the nitty gritty. This means I have horizontally and vertically mapped my standards so I can build on my students schema (prior knowledge).  This learning the standards thing is serious bidness. My hope is to start planning some lessons soon but I am pretty sure that will need to wait until I get to meet the other 8th grade math teachers.

Oh yes, please enjoy this picture of my wonderful husband in his new T-Shirt "Real Men Marry Teachers"
Idea-Pinterest
Made by- My MIL

I got the job!

I recently took a job teaching 8th grade math at Central Wilkes Middle School in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Now, if you are not familiar with Wilkesboro it is the biggest county (size wise) in the state of North Carolina! It is massive! The county has 5 high schools (one being an early college), 4 middle schools, and 13 elementary schools! I come from Avery County where there is 1 high school, 2 middle schools and 5 elementary schools, so it is a big change for me! Since the day I decided I wanted to be a middle school teacher I always said I wanted to teach 8th grade math. After doing my student teaching in 6th grade math I fell in love with them and I am beyond nervous about teaching 8th graders again.

I remember 8th grade very well and I was not a very nice kid. Karma is going to come back around and slap me right in the double chin, I just know it. I was mean and I had no filter between what was going on in my tiny middle school brain and what came out of my big redneck mouth. I am not sure how or why my teachers in middle school put up with me but they did. They are essentially the reason and inspiration for me wanting to become a middle school teacher. Their patience and ability to over look my flaws really changed my mind about teaching high school. It was the teachers I had in middle school who were there for me through all of the terrible things that were happening to me in middle school. I only hope that I can be that advocate for my students!

Middle School!! (I am on the left) Yeah, I was crazy!

 

Middle School! (Bottom Left) "Most Athletic"-- Sports were the only thing that kept me sane in M.S.

The 3 best friends! (L to R) Me, Amber and Hannah! We thought we were so cool!

Hannah, Kristen Davis, Me! Yeah...I am not sure what I was thinking!

Fortunately I am going to be at a school with an amazing administration and on a team filled with teachers of the year, and excellent support staff. I feel so lucky to be starting at a school with such a great group of people by my side.

Going to a new school and a new county makes me feel like a kid again. I am nervous and excited to make new friends and meet new people and I have this overwhelming feeling inside to make people want to like me again! HaHa!! It sounds so silly, I know, but I really think that we will all get along very well!