Lessons With Coffee

Hey all. BTS hit me like a freight train.  Also with my trip. ENGLAND PICTURES TO COME LATER. I got super sick on the way home from England and have not recovered.   They have me on a super crazy drug that makes me super ridiculously tired and also EVERY SINGLE JOINT IN MY BODY is aching! One of my favorite IG gals( TwentySomethingTeacher! ) featured me in her little blog on Friday so I thought I should actually post something NOT related to SLANT. Teacher Fashion.  I like to think of myself as a pretty stylish gal.  I RARELY pay full price for things. You can find me shopping at these stores on a regular basis: One of my very best girlfriends that I never get to see anymore because her store has EXPLODED started this shop in a modest little location in St. Paul.  To my delight she has just announced that she and her business partner (another gal I like to call a good friend) their SIXTH location in the Twin Cities.  ...

What the what!!!!! I have 14 days before I report back to work.  Then a short 11 days after that that I go to LONDON to visit all of my family!!!!!  The day after I get back, I am with my students!!!!!! Here is the list of my NEED TO DO: Finish my Class Birthday sign Finish my hall passes Label all my shoe boxes Print out my LSM GCF printable games Get my Choice-board organized BINDERS! Classroom Blogs Welcome VIDEO (I will be out of the country during Open House Business Cards How Parents Can Help trifold Number Line Word Wall I am Done Wall I think that is it!  It is actually not that much!  Here is to creating! Cheers

Summer seems to be the time that I am actually able to get some blogs in.  I have this grand idea of being this amazing teacher, girlfriend, doggie momma, AND blogger.  Yeah right. So here I sit in the sun shining through my living room window, Lorde is on my radio and coffee is in my hands.  I am blogging.  I found this link up that I really liked to get into the groove of blogging.  The link up is from Laura at Where the Magic Happens .  She has a great little blog and I LOVE her thoughts on behavior management.  So here we go. Today, I am digging into behavioral management.   Last year was a special year.  It marked my (technically) 2nd year teaching.  I had my own classroom this year (my first year I was on a cart and in 7 different rooms)-mind you it was the smallest in the school and I had classes of upwards to 35 students in each one. .  I had 5 preps (I was supposed to only have 2- the three...

Yes you heard me right.  I have decided to start a TPT store. I had many reservations about not starting a TPT.   For one, as a recent graduate I was constantly trying to find activities that were free so that (on top of all of the supplies) I did not have to spend a fortune.   Even this year I have spent nearly $300 on TPT for activities and organizers.  I am still trying to figure out a "barter" way for new teachers.  Bare with me on this one.  It is a work in progress. I have a hard time with "patenting" Ideas.  I mean I have no idea if I dreamed it up, saw it online, Pinterest, a teacher at school.  I am deathly afraid of "stealing" someones idea?!?!?! I saw what happened to those girls with FARLEY!!!! I would NEVER blatantly plagiarize but what if I did it accidentally?  I would be mortified!!!  :0 Lastly I appreciate the art of collaboration.  Something that I feel in our over consumer world we are l...

Well, it is getting to that time.  Do I teach summer school or not. J and I are trying to save up money for lots of things.  Particularly two international trips that we are going to this year for weddings, maybe a house, and "other things." SO.  Do I take my chances at private tutoring for a not guaranteed 30$ an hour cash with a flexible schedule, or do I just sign up for summer school and make a guaranteed $28 an hour taxed with a set schedule? Here is a pros and cons list for summer school: Pros: I can get some work done in my classroom before school starts as I am already there. I can get to meet some of my students that I will have next year early. (learning styles, who the trouble makers are) guaranteed money its only 8 weeks it is enough hours a week for it to be almost like 2 paychecks per week (I have my salary go through summer) paychecks spend differently than cash.... Cons: I have to go to work in summer I have to teach math all da...

Ok.  It is the first day of spring break and I am sitting here thinking about what I am going to differently about next year.  Yes...Already. HOMEWORK  This year I was wishy washy.  About January (ok yes I was gone for about 2 months) I noticed that the only students that I had that were getting an A were the ones that were turning in all of their homework.  So I started making EVERYTHING count.  I mean do nows, homework, daily-work, exit tickets.  They were all worth 4 points meaning that each day you had the possibility of getting 16 points.  Worked amazing for student buy in....sucked to be me.  I have 156 students.  I am going to go little MATHY on you....that is 624 assignments that I was grading per day, or 2,496 points per day. I tried rewarding students...but then I would forget. <---bad teacher. I tried a sticker chart...I tried a stamping thing.  Problem is....I WAS TRYING IT. NEXT YEAR: a student will have ...

So, yesterday my phone was stolen.  Lame. Not only is it lame but it is stupid.  So it was stolen out of my desk.  I had nothing in my room that locked. (I got a key to my desk today....Day late dollar short). It was an iPhone.  A really, really old one.  So old in fact, when I went to ATT to get a new one (I have to wait 4 weeks if I want an iphone 5s...) they told me that I can buy my same style one for $0.01.  That is a penny. So a kid stole a phone that is worth a penny.  WTF! I went to do track my phone or what ever the app is called and the kid turned it off.  Not trackable.  So I called ATT and they hooked me up saying that it is now marked as a stolen phone and no carrier will service it.   I ended up getting a super old track phone and I am back to good old t9.  It is kind of like riding a bike...the skill comes back pretty quick.  With the hopes that the kid will return it. I did find out w...

So, I had all of these grand envisions of becoming this amazing blogger that kept up with her blog, grad school, her classroom planning, Coaching, and you know having a life.   That all stopped two weeks ago when my principal came to me and said: "you are also going to be teaching 7th grade pre algebra and 7th grade support" I deflated.  I now have 5 preps.  You heard me 5 preps.  I spent all summer creating this perfect environment for 6th grade girls.  As that is what I was told I would be doing.  I have this amazing neon room filled with adorable girly things.  and now I have an 8th grade homeroom (that is graded and I have to make lessons for...) two 6th grade math classes, a 6th grade support class, a 7th grade support class and 7th grade pre-algebra.  oh. AND the 7-8th grade classes are co-ed.  I am frustrated, tired and spend my entire weekends planning for too many PREPS.  3 of my classes have NO CURRICULU...

Yesterday I went to Michaels on a whim to get the pink dye to dye this ugly white rug with. ***Side note: I have this vision of having a little nook in my math room that when doing independent work you can go grab a pillow and do your math not in a desk.  We ask our middle schoolers to sit in a desk for WAY to long, no wonder they are always wanting to walk around.**** I picked up a few other things (totaling 150$...when I came in for 2$ dye) and went to stand in line to pay for my purchase.  I got out my Jo-ann teacher discount card that has their coupon on it as I did not have my School ID Badge.  I have used this PLENTY of times in the past.  When I got up to the cashier she did not accept it and showed me a letter from their management saying that they will no longer be accepting the Jo-Ann Teacher discount card and they MUST SEE the badge showing that you are a teacher in order to get the discount.   NOW, If I PLAN a trip to Michaels I always br...