Monday Made It: Teacher's Toolbox

 

This is the first time I have linked up with 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It Linky! I made a teacher toolbox this week and I am super excited about it! But I thought...how lame! I can't put that on Monday Made It!  I have to be the only teacher left out there who has not made a teacher toolbox! But to my surprise, I found many teachers out there who have recently made theirs as well! I have been DYING for one of these for over a year and I couldn't be more excited that I finally made it! So I decided to share it!

 

First, I spray painted my toolbox purple, my favorite!

While this was drying, I made simple, plain labels in Word that I printed on colored cardstock and cut out.

 

 

I had a little help with this...

 

 

 

Next, I glued on ribbon to decorate them.

 

 

 

Excuse me...Are you almost done???

 

 

 

Then, the easiest way I could think of to keep the labels in the drawers was the tiny glue dots! One in each of the top corners holds them in place securely and can't be seen! This was so much easier than I thought it would be!

 

 

 

 



Favorite Pins Friday!

Okay I'm a little late...favorite pins Saturday! But I am addicted to Pinterest, as I'm pretty sure we all are, so I couldn't resist linking up with The First Grade Parade! Call me crazy but I am getting really excited for the beginning of school so most of my pins lately have been related to school.

 

 

1. This is my favorite pin of the week. These are free editable chevron binder covers by A Year of Many Firsts. I have already personalized them with the titles of all my binders and printed. Done!

 

 

2. I so wish I had these last year. If I had a dollar for everytime one of my students broke a pencil and started waving it at me during the middle of a lesson...I am SO making bins with these cute little labels this year!

 

 

3. I have seen a lot of these floating around on a lot of blogs and I am so jealous. I absolutely love the polka dots and chevron on this one! Definitely have to make!

 

 

4. I love this! It's stuff we all know but a great reminder and a great way to stay focused at the beginning of the year. Very helpful!

 

5. This blog post is amazing by Welcome to Room 36! SO many amazing ideas for the beginning of the year. This gets me so excited to try some new things!

 

 

 

6. This is so great! She even has a little book to go along with it!

 

Believe it or not....I do pin non-school related things. Here are a few of my recent favorites!

 

 

1. 10 things to do everyday to stay organized! Whoa...I need to do this!

 

 

 

2. OBSESSED with this skirt!

 

 

 

3. I am dying for this Better Life Bag. These are so cute and handmade. The owner of this company didn't even intend to start it! She just wanted a cute diaper bag so she made it herself and posted a picture on facebook and everyone went crazy! She decided if she was going to start a business she wanted to give back in some way. She found women who were having trouble making a living to help her craft these bags. What an amazing story!





 

Liebster Award: Discovering New Blogs

 I have been on vacation for the last few days at Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada...which means I did not have access to my phone or internet! As soon as I crossed the border back into the US today I checked my e-mail and I was so surprised and excited to see that Erin at The Short and Sassy Teacher had nominated me for the Liebster Award! Thank you so much Erin! I was so nervous about starting a teaching blog and I am SO glad I did. I have only been blogging for a few weeks but I am hooked! I feel so blessed to be becoming a part of this amazing teaching blog community.

Here are the "rules" for accepting this nomination:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me
2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers
3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator
4. Share 11 random facts about yourself
5. Create 11 questions for your nominees
6. Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

 

 

 

Here are the blogs that I nominated:

 

1. Veronica at Teaching With Giggles

2. Julie at Mrs. Stowe's Kinder Cottage

3. Wendy at Read With Me ABC

4. Abby at Mrs. Saunders' Lovelies

5. Sarah at A Rocky Top Teacher

 

Here are the questions that Erin asked me:

 

1. What is YOUR favorite subject to teach? Definitely writing. It is something that I am passionate about doing so I want to instill that it my students. Plus I LOVE reading their adorable writitngs!

2. What is your favorite book to read to your class? I LOVE reading the Mo Willems pigeon and elephant books to my kids. We all just laugh and laugh and laugh. Hilarious.

3. What is the one thing in your classroom you could not live without? Sharpies. Somehow I find a reason to use one every single day.

4. Coke or Pepsi?? 100% no hesitation coke! Diet coke that is :)

5. What is the last thing you purchased? I guess technically that would be dinner at Chick-fil-a...but that is not exciting. The last thing I purchased before I went on my vacation to Niagara Falls was a teacher planner from TPT!

6. What is your favorite memory from the summer of 2013 so far? So far my favorite memory is going to Niagara Falls with my family.

7. What are you most looking forward to this next school year? Implementing Math Their Way. My whole team went to a training on it this summer and we can't wait to get started!

8. If you could have a shopping spree at any store, where would you go? Loft! I just discovered it recently and I can't get enough!

9. What is the food you most often crave? Easy...chocolate! Chocolate anything really....chocolate candies, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake, brownies, chocolate covered strawberries....I could keep going but I'll stop there. 

10. Where is your ideal vacation spot? Well I don't have one particular spot...But my ideal vacation is a cruise! Can't wait for my cruise coming up in August!

11. What are some of your favorite blogs you look forward to reading? Well there are SO many but to name a few favorites: Miss Kindergarten , Tori's Teacher Tips , Little Miss Kindergarten , A Cupcake for the Teacher , and First Grade Blue Skies . But again....that's just naming a few!

 

11 Facts About Myself:

1. I'll start with the obvious: I love frogs! Yes, even real ones.

2. I am married to my best friend, Steve <3

3. I have 2 dogs (babies...same thing right?)A pug named Macy and a chocolate lab named Abe.

4. I LOVE country music.

5. To go along with the previous fact, I love wearing cowboy boots.

6. I am originally from Memphis, Tennessee which might explain the last 2 facts!

7. I am a VERY picky eater.

8. I have 2 older brothers.

9. Diet Coke is my coffee!

10. I love to paint and draw, I was even an art major before I did education.

11. I change my purse daily to match my outfit!

 

Questions For My Nominees:

1. What advice would you give a first year teacher?

2. What is your favorite book to read aloud to your class?

3. Tell me about a memorable student that you taught.

4.Tell me about your pets.

5. What is the one thing in your classroom you can't live without?

6. What movie title would you pick as your life story? 

7. What is the last thing you purchased?

8. What is your favorite music?

9. If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

10. Why did you decide to start a blog?

11. What are some of your favorite blogs you follow?

Picture Book Linky: Books to Teach Math Concepts

 



I am excited to link up again with First Grade and Fabulous for her 2nd Picture Book Linky! I am also excited that it is to share picture books to help teach math concepts! In my experience, doing a read aloud using a book that helps explain the math concept as an introduction to the lesson has worked wonders! It really helps them relate to math on a real level. It shows them that you will actually use math in your day to day life!



At the beginning of the year I always read Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss to teach counting. We then do an activity afterwards where students draw a picture of their head and have to glue a certain number of apples on top of it!



 

Another book I also use to teach counting at the beginning of the year is 10 Black Dots by Donald Crews.

 



These are my FAVORITE books to teach Math. Not only are they my favorite, they are my some of my students' favorite books that I read all year! They are so original, funny, and teach the concepts so well. The mice get themselves into sticky situations and use math to figure out how to save themselves! I highly recommend all the Mouse books by Ellen Stoll Walsh.

 

For later in the year to teach addition. This is fabulous! We stop after every page to discuss and work through the problem on the white board. My kids love it!

Two years ago, fractions were added to our curriculum in Kindergarten...so I found this book which is so great! It is about a brother and sister who have to share everything and they dad makes them split everything into two EQUAL halves.

I also use this book to teach fractions on a higher level once my students understand the concept of whole and half. It has repetitive text and the kids really get into it!

 

These are just some of the books I use to teach math, my favorites. There are so many more I've found on Amazon that are on my Wish List!

 



Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party

 

I am linking up with Flying Into First for her Let's Get Acquainted Linky Party! I love this as a new blogger because it really helps bloggers get to know each other better. Such a great idea! For my tic-tac-toe I am choosing the middle horizontal row.

1. Share about your first year teaching: I could not have been more excited to get my offer for a Kindergarten position at a wonderful school. However, along with the excitement came nerves, anxiety, and self-doubt. I was terrified that I wasn't going to do a good job, that the parents weren't going to like me, that the other teachers wouldn't think I was a good teacher, and the list goes on...But of course, all my worries and anxieties proved useless because my first year of teaching, though challenging of course, was amazing! I immediately fell in love with my students and I worked so hard to make sure I was doing my best to give each child what he or she needed. I received nothing but positive feedback from my fellow teachers and administrators. This I believe was key to having a great first year. I felt completely supported which was so motivating to me. I knew that I was not alone and that everyone at my school was on my side and willing to help me with whatever I needed. I feel so blessed to be at such a wonderful school!

2. My favorite school memory as a kid: My favorite memory was when I was in 5th grade. I had an amazing teacher who made it very clear that she believed in me. She was so encouraging and always pushed me to do my best. She pointed out some of my strengths that I didn't even know I had! This teacher had such a huge impact on me. I can only hope to impact my students in such a meaningful way.

3. Books I'm reading: Okay so this summer, I have several books that I have been meaning to read for YEARS! Yes, that is sad. I have been so busy with school stuff, taking care of my  husband and dogs, just life, that I haven't been reading like I used to. Right now, I am reading The Hunger Games trilogy. Next, I am going to finish reading the Harry Potter series. I still have 5, 6, and 7 to read. Somehow, I have managed to stay in the dark over the years about how this ends, thank goodness! Last, I really want to read The Host by Stephanie Meyer.

I am Bloglovin!

It is confusing enough  being a new blogger and on top of that figuring out all the Bloglovin stuff! Thank you so much to all of you who posted tips on how to do this! It wasn't so bad after all thanks to you!

I am linking up with Tori at Tori's Teacher Tips for her Bloglovin Blog Hop Linky Party!

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/8774845/?claim=t8he8wq9db3">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Picture Book Linky: Picture Books for the First Week of School

 I was so excited to find this Linky Party hosted by Deanne at First Grade and Fabulous! As I mentioned in my previous post, picture books are one of my favorite things ever! I am constantly on the look-out for more great read alouds. I especially love books to read at the beginning of the year. They are a great way to explain rules and get them comfortable and excited about school. Here are my favorite read alouds for the beginning of the year:

This is a wonderful book about how children "bloom" at different times. I read this at Back to School Night to all my parents. I think it's a wonderful way to start the year!

 

 



This is always the first book I read to my new little Kinders. It is wonderful because they can really relate to it! They love telling me what they did the night before Kindergarten!

This is another classic that I have to read at the beginning of every year! My kids get really into the whole series of Miss Bindergarten!

 

 

This is one of my all time favorite books to read at the beginning of the year. I have several activities

to go along with this book as well.

In my class, I do Star of the Week. The first week of school, I am the Star. I  read both of these books to help them get to know me as well as to show them how the Star Student week works. I read Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon because I LOVE the message of this book. I am a very small person, but that never stopped me from doing what I want to do and being proud of it :) I also read It's Duffy Time because I have a pug (my baby!)

 

 What are your favorite back to school picture books?