Oh, hello there!

This summer has been pretty good, so far. I'm not looking forward to August starting, because its the beginning of the end of summer and back to school with new super early hours! Merp. I've mostly been hanging out with my awesome 3 year old and doing mommy-daughter stuff. However, even though I'm home, she is going to daycare two days a week just so we can get breaks from each other and she can have social time with her tiny friends.

We went to The Christmas Tree Shops today and I found some super cute hanging lanterns that I am going to put in my new classroom.

How precious and perfect are these for my nautical themed classroom? And a dollar each! They have some other really cute things, like an Adirondack chair lamp and shell wall hangings. I have also made my plan book for the year in a nautical theme.

I bought a disc bound notebook from Martha Stewart's line at Staples.

Spot for the kids birthdays so I don't forget like I usually do!

Spot for important events happening at school.

Calendar pages

These pages are for planning curriculum weekly each month.

 Hopefully this planner will work for me this year. Here is how I laid out the planning page for the week.

I put my schedule across the top and the day going down the bottom. I am constantly trying out new planning layouts as I come across them. I never stick with just one for the whole year!

We are already planning out Christmas break - we're going to Disney World!

My mother in law has bought me four Disney planning books - the 4th one is missing from the picture as I already starting reading it. We booked our flight tickets last night! I'm not sure how to go about planning it, as the last time I was there, I was 12, but these little books are actually very helpful. Can you believe there are blogs dedicated to Disney tips?

What I've Been Up To...

I heart summer.

 Yahoo!

Parades, fireworks, and Hulk-smashing windows (yeah i put my hand through a window...whoops!) and amusement parks!

Swimming, cute clothes, cute baby girls, and best friends!

Tattoos, trips, and of course, school work!

This is my most current tattoo piece...I have one on each foot, one on my back, one on my shoulder and now this one on my ribs that is a work in progress. I just had it worked on last night...owie!

And my finished teacher tool box! I love the nautical theme. I might be obsessed. I need a boat in my life, or at least friends with a boat! :)

Feels like high school...

What I mean by "feels like high school" is that making this jump from the K-2 level to 6th grade makes me feel like I'm going up to teach a much higher grade level! I have this sudden urge now to completely upgrade my classroom theme and instead of zebra stuff like the past 2 years, I am changing over to a nautical theme.

I have decided to make myself a Pinteresty teacher toolbox that were all the rage a year ago. My new classroom has no cabinets or closets so I have to really get myself organized in a concise way. I don't have pictures right now of the finished product because I have just spray painted the organizer navy blue so far, and created the labels for the drawers.

I have posted the labels on Teachers Pay Teachers if you're interested! Click here to check it out!

I hope you all have a happy 4th of July tomorrow, enjoy the fireworks, food and festivals. :)

Happy July! and Freebie Alert!

Hello everyone! Its been awhile but I've just been finishing up the school year and spending the week at home with my 3 year old.

My final days at the elementary level were a lot of fun. We had our field day, and then I had a little graduation ceremony for my group. I had to copy Reagan Tunstall's adorable "Walking the red carpet to the next grade" idea!

 My group hug after they "graduated"...

Now I am beyond excited to float around on this bad boy all summer.

I've been working on some stuff to get ready for next year, even though I keep telling myself that I don't want to think about school for a month or so! I'm working on making my own planner since I don't like any of the store bought ones. Your freebie is the calendar from this giant project. It's cute, its polka dot, its fun!

Click this link to get your freebie! Calendar!

Gotta change the blog name...

So I got the news today that I will be switching grade levels next year and moving to a new building. I will be providing consultant teacher services to students in 6th grade in our middle school in the district. I am sad that I have to pack my room that I have been in for 4 years, and leave the building I have known for so long. It's involuntary and I have no choice really...so it is what it is. It took me a few hours to be able to talk about it without crying, but my husband sent me a bouquet of flowers to cheer me up and I've been thinking about it in a positive way. I'm going back to my old friends, and I think it will be a welcome change. I'm not looking forward to packing up my room, but I've already started and I have two aides to help me.

4 Weeks Left....

I feel like this is the longest year ever. And I'm getting a new student tomorrow. With 4 weeks. Left.

I don't know even what to think. I'm scared, nervous and extremely anxious.

Anyway, I donated my IEP Progress Tracking Goal sheet to the Teacher's Notebook relief effort for teachers in Oklahoma devastated by that crazy tornado the other day. Check it out!

Walking Disaster

This is going to be not school related. Sorry!

So the past two weeks have been very dangerous for me! First, I was happily eating dinner when I literally choked on a piece of chicken.

Honestly.

I needed the Heimlich, which, in fact, does not work. Or my husband does not know what he is doing. Either or.

I legit couldn't breathe this time (I say this time because it has happened before, but I could breathe and knew I wouldn't die) and this time I was panicking because it was STUCK. I couldn't even breathe through my nose. Somehow, I fired up some superhuman strength and coughed that bad boy out.

So I'm alive.

Then yesterday, I was rear-ended in a chain reaction accident.  I was stopped at a red light, minding my own business, when I heard the car behind me get slammed into, and then I realized that my car had ALSO been slammed into. I spent 4 hours in the emergency room because my neck and back hurt. They still hurt today. Advil is my friend lately.

I can't catch a break. Now my car's bumper is falling off and it looks very sad and pathetic. Thankfully the insurance company is taking care of all of it. I just got off the phone with the agency and filed a claim.

What's funny about this is that everyone keeps asking if I will hire a personal injury lawyer. Should I? I feel like it's a jerky thing to do...but I was hurt in a car and had absolutely nothing to do with this accident other than stopping at a legal red light. One of the positive things was that I did not have to pay a cent for my emergency room visit because of a No Fault Law or something like that. I'm ok with that!

Would you hire a personal injury lawyer?