me from A to Z

This is going around the blog world right now, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon!

A- Age: 27

B-Bed size: Queen. I don't know how I lived with just a full for the past 5 years!

C-Chore you hate: emptying the dishwasher. And my fiance knows this so he always does it for me :)

D-Dogs: my sweet baby Biscuit! He's 3 years old 

E-Essential to start your day: coffee! although sadly it's decaf

F-Favorite color: pink

G-Gold or silver: silver

H-Height: I used to be 5'2" but now I'm 5'4"! thank you orthopedic surgeon for straightening my spine to add those 2 inches :)

I-Instruments you play: none. I took piano lessons for maybe 6 months before I quit. I'm just not a musical person. Although ironically I teach 1st-2nd grade choir at my church

J-Job title: Kindergarten teacher extraordinaire

K-kids: none yet (sorry Mom!) probably will happen in the next 2-3 years

L-Live: in my hometown, and I love it

M-Milk? I love milk. Although I try to drink less of it bc of the sugar

N- Nicknames: Clare Bear, momma Clare

O-Overnight hospital stay: twice in my life. 5 days when I was 5 for brain surgery, 7 this past year for spine surgery

P-Pet peeves:  cracking knuckles

Q-Quote from a movie: "There's no crying in baseball!!"

R-Right/lefty: Righty

S- Siblings: I am the neglected middle child (just kidding!) older brother, younger sister

T-Time you wake up: this school year I'm determined to get in wedding dress shape, so the alarm will be going off at 4:45 4 days a week so I can workout. Fridays I will "sleep in" until 5:50

U-Underwear: yes

V-Veggies you dislike: raw tomatoes

W-What makes you run late: getting sucked into Facebook or Pinterest on the computer

X-X-rays you've had: since being diagnosed with scoliosis when I was 5, I've had too many to count!

Y-Yummy food you make: my fiance would say anything I make is yummy :) This weekend I made baked brie bites for my Olympics party that turned out really well

Z-Zoo animal: flamingos! (see favorite color)

what about you? Feel free to copy and then put in your answers!

 

Classroom tour!

I finally finished setting up my classroom! And not a minute too soon because I have to report tomorrow morning for inservice. What's that you say? It's still July? I know, but my district is moving towards year-round school. Kids report Aug. 1 :)

Here's what I saw when I first walked in the room:

Not as much cabinet space as I'm used to, but still a good amount:

 And as you can see, I had NO trouble filling it!

One of the best things is that there are 24 lockers in the room. There's no way I'll have that many students, so everyone will get a locker! It was rough having kids share last year. I decided to just number them rather than labeling with student names:

My book center all set up: (I need a lamp or something to go in the corner between the two shelves)

Another great thing, there's room for my rocking chair! I had to get rid of it last year to make room for my SmartBoard (first world problem).

My favorite part: the Word Wall! I spent about 45 minutes this morning measuring and spacing the grid out, including breaking out the level to make sure it was all straight! Pinterest was my inspiration :)

Tons of wall space means I have room to really display student's work. I went ahead and hung clothespins (covered in a cute crayon cut-out to match the theme, naturally). As students complete work and want to display it, I can just put it up on their pin!

These won't last long, but my kids last year had so much trouble with lining up, I felt like it was necessary!

A random corner that I'm not sure what I'll use for just yet. The trapezoid table will probably hold a center. The bookshelf has all of my reading/intervention materials.

My teacher corner:

Now all I need are my students! Meet the Teacher night is Monday night, and I can't wait!!

New job!

I am so happy to officially say that I have a new job! I'm staying in the same district I'm already in, just transferring schools. The best part? It's still a kindergarten position!

I know I  already blogged about this, but that job fell through :( I would have moved to another district, but unfortunately that district is under a hiring freeze. I got the call yesterday that the job I thought I had, I didn't. It was a "no good horrible very bad day".

Luckily, I didn't let it get me down and immediately hopped on the computer and searched around for jobs. My sweet fiance did the same and kept emailing me with positions he found online :) I got a call this morning from one of those emails and went immediately for an interview.

The interview went pretty well, and the principal said she'd call by the end of the week. Well, apparently I knocked her socks off because she called right as I got home! I've already officially accepted the position and can start moving into my new room tomorrow. You better believe there'll be lots of pictures!

My summer project

Most teachers are spending the summer doing professional development, reading teacher books and planning for next year. Not me! I'm planning my wedding :)

Just ordered these :

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

So excited! Everyone says I'm on top of things, which is true. But then I say I'm a teacher and they're like "that explains it." Gotta love my organizational skills!

Behavior Management

One of my big goals for the 2012-2013 school year is to have better behavior management. I know it'll be better because I'll be at a different school with (generally speaking) better behaved kids. But kids in the suburbs have meltdowns just like inner city kids! And I need to be prepared.

I came across this on Pinterest:

Source: via Clare on Pinterest

However, the link doesn't offer any source or download or anything. So I just looked at it and did what teachers do best- copied it! I changed a few of the choices to make it fit my classroom, and here's what I came up with:

I love the "I can" statements and the choice that it offers kids. I'll probably laminate it and hang it somewhere in my room. Then when I can sense a meltdown coming on, I can just direct a child over there and tell them to make a choice. Hopefully it works! 

(you can click on the picture above and it'll take you to my Google Docs where you can download your own copy!)

Winner!

Well, my first giveaway didn't exactly go as planned. I only had 3 comments and one was from my former 2nd grade teacher (hi Jan!). I guess I'm still working on getting a big blog following. Oh well!

The good news for Megan, Jan and Summer is that you're all winners!! It just didn't seem right to only pick one of you. Megan, I already have your email address. Jan and Summer, if you'd like your pdf copy of my standards list, leave a comment with your email address.

Hopefully the next giveaway will be a little better than the first!

State of the Classroom

Ever wonder what an entire classroom looks like in boxes in someone's house? Well, it's your lucky day! Here are some pics:

This is my main living area. Behind all this stuff is my fireplace. The crate at the bottom corner is on my coffee table.

And my living room. Can you find the table? Guess who's been eating meals on the couch for the past week!

Hopefully soon I will hear from my new principal about moving into my new classroom. Because not only is all of this stuff taking over my house, my classroom rug is taking over my car. And I clearly don't have any more room in my house for it!