Five for Fraturday

Happy Saturday!!!!

I can’t even with these erasers.  On Tuesday, I went to the local teacher supply store with a couple of friends and stumbled upon these.

Look at them!

They’re Ticonderoga erasers shaped like Ticonderoga pencils!!  I LOVE Ticonderoga pencils.  I mean, I’m slightly obsessed with them.  A few people know about my weird obsessiveness with them (mainly because they, too, are obsessed) and I’m just here to tell you if you don’t know or haven’t used a Ticonderoga pencil, then you are missing out.  MISSING OUT, I said!  And, bonus, sometimes you can find the packs in which the pencils come PRE-SHARPENED.

I put this picture on Instagram and a few people chimed in on where you can get these (if you’re not near my local teacher supply store).

According to my peeps on Instagram, you can find these at:  Walgreens, Kmart, Staples, Amazon, Target, and Walmart!

How funny is this from Tess, The Krafty Teacher?!!

She is speaking right to me!!!

Our classrooms are getting new carpet this summer, and IT IS TAKING FOREVER!!!  We were under the impression they were starting demo the day after school got out.  I swear that’s what someone said, maybe not, but why wouldn’t they start the day after school got out?  Let’s get this show on the road, right?!

Wrong.

Not one classroom has been demo-ed.  I don’t even know how to spell that word and I don’t care how it’s spelled, and I don’t even know if it’s a real word and I don’t care because I still don’t have carpet which means I still can’t get into my room!

#teachertroubles

By the way, I’m pretty sure the pic of Friends up there is the episode when Chandler and Monica got engaged.  Right?  Or no?

****I now stand corrected!!!  Thanks to everyone for setting me straight . . . it’s the Thanksgiving episode when Monica doesn’t want to cook, but everyone talks her into it, and then everyone is late so she locks them out!****

Teacher Supply Store on Tuesday . . . then the Dollar Tree on Thursday to pick up some Tidy Tubs!  Look how cute Aris’ Tidy Tubs are!!  I have always wanted to have Tidy Tubs, but just never got around to it due to the whole I’m going to get some Tidy Tubs, oh look — Wine!  thing that happens to me.

But I finally got some!  At the Dollar Tree!  Which means I spent five whole dollars on five tubs for my five table groups!  And I got them in the same lime green color that is pictured here.  Except mine are in the back of my car, along with 32 pencil boxes from Walmart (I’ve been an errand running fool this week) so I am using Aris’ picture instead of taking a picture of my own.

If you’re not sure what Tidy Tubs are for, you can read Aris’ blog post for a detailed explanation, but I’ll just sum it up for you.

When your kids are cutting and gluing and they have trash and other particles, they put it in the Tidy Tub instead.  THEY DO NOT GET UP FROM THEIR CHAIR.

Side note:  If you’re doing alternative seating, then this does not apply to you.  Obviously.   Which would mean you don’t care that kids get up from their seat and you most likely view me as a military sergeant.

Hut two three four!

I’m going to have my Table Captains be in charge (staying in military mode) of getting the Tidy Tubs out of the cubby (that I’ll have them in once I can get into my room!!!) and bringing them to their table, as well as dumping the trash out and returning them to the cubby.

I’m so excited to have these!!!

 

People . . . I just got this from Tara (Little Minds at Work) and holy cow.

I said HOLY COW.

Prepare yourself because I’m going to name drop.

I know Tara.

In real life.

Yep.

And she’s really little!  It’s true!  I feel tall around her, although she is, in fact, taller than me.  But she’s short.  And little.  So I feel good about myself when I’m around her.  You might even remember that we were in Hadar’s (Miss Kindergarten) wedding together.  So I know know her.  She’s sweet and funny and very pretty.

AND SHE IS EXTREMELY SMART.

This girl is YOUNG.  Young!  And I swear, I feel like she is a wealth of knowledge.  A.WEALTH.OF.KNOWLEDGE.

This pack has e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!  I’ve been teaching first grade for nineteen years.  I can’t believe I’m coming up on Year 20 — I have this secret fantasy that it’s going to be amazing because it’s year 20!!!  Hello?  It better be!  I had the same feeling when I came up on Year 10 and that’s the year that I had 17 girls and only 3 boys, and only a class size of 20, and it was one of my best years ever because it was a very quiet class and extremely neat and tidy because of the 17 girls and 3 boys situation going on. Well, nineteen years in the same grade kinda means I know what I’m doing.  I’ve got it.  I don’t need lesson plans.

I’m that good.

That was a joke.  In case you were wondering.

But I do know what I’m doing, but I’m always always always on the hunt for new ideas, lessons, crafts, activities, curriculum, etc.  I’m the annoying person on my team who says look what I found or hey girls, let’s try this! or I have an idea . . . 

This Firstie Literacy product is AMAZING.  I cannot wait to use it!  (Okay, I can wait because I’m not entirely ready to go back, but you know what I mean).  There are actual lesson plans.  Typed.  On two pages.  Ready to insert into a binder.  Tara did them for us.  It about blew my mind.  They’re also editable in case you want to write your own  . . . but, um . . . why?

And then.

There are printables to go with those plans.  And a book list.  And a weekly follow up activity.  And pictures of anchor charts.  And vocabulary cards and essential questions and phonemic awareness activities and a whole lot of reader’s workshop.

IT IS INSANE.

To the point that I thought to myself she needs to sell this!!!!

Er.  She does sell it.  On TpT.  That’s where I got it.  I guess what I mean is that companies need to buy it or something.

So anyways.

My lesson plans are done and it’s still summer.  So there’s that.  🙂 🙂 🙂  Thank you, Tara!

I’m so excited about this new product!  I think it’s really going to help my kids out with reading AND listening to reading.  And the best part?  I READ ALL THE PASSAGES!!!  My voice is IN AUDIO!  And I’ll be in YOUR CLASS!!!  Uninvited, essentially, but STILL!  Click {HERE} to download the sample if you’re confused about what I mean!  🙂

I’ve only got the Back to School edition ready to go for the Growing Bundle so there is a *special buy-in* price of $25.  This will go up as I add more packs.  So if your school or district requires kinder kids or first graders or second graders to follow along as the teacher reads a long passage that is one-size-fits-all and has nothing at all to do with kids’ reading abilities, then we are in the same boat!  And, hopefully, this can help.  🙂

Okay, I’m off to the beach!  Steve and I are seeing a play with my parents this afternoon and then going to an early dinner.  YAY!  Have a great Saturday!