Keeping Up With Kirbys

Well, it's here.  It's amazing how fast this summer has gone by and especially the past few weeks.  I have been a busy little chick. First....... My big sass turned 15 and he will begin his sophomore year tomorrow. {sigh} I've finished my classroom.......and I'm sure you're thinking, well yeah, school is tomorrow, BUT let me tell you I don't think you're ever truly finished. Annnd I just finished making my last batch of playdoh for the morning. I made mint chocolate chip, cotton candy, and strawberry shortcake playdoh.  YUMMMO!! I thought the kids might enjoy playing with this in the morning while parents are dropping off and bringing in more school supplies.   I will post pictures soon (before Christmas-I figure I better not promise anything too soon at the rate I'm blogging ;) of my finished classroom........can you believe in a rush to get everything ready and put away I didn't take any after pics of the classroom??  I LOVE before an...

When I should be getting ready for meet the teacher night and the first week of school I'm finishing up a fun little reading game.  Ha!! It's what I do.......get sidetracked.  I found this idea on Teacher Tipster , and it is so simple but a GREAT way to practice reading sight words.   I absolutely LOVE games in the classroom.....and so do the kids.  They don't even realize how much they're learning because they are so engrossed in the games.  It's greatness!!   All you need is a Pringles can and Dixie Cups.  I bought Dixie cups from Costco because I wanted to make each one of my teamies this activity.   Next I covered the Pringles can with a cover .  (I made 5 different ones, please feel free to copy any or all if you want) Because these are the taller cans I covered them with construction paper first, then with the cover.  (we got a little crazy with crafting this summer and my lil' sass got ahold of 2 of the lids and...

Well, in between searching Pinterest, visiting classrooms in the bloggy world, and rummaging through the dollar bin in Target I was able to grab some things from TPT to help start the school year.  I've linked up with Blog Hoppin ' to share my finds.  Let me just add that going through this linky party and seeing what other teachers have found has been bittersweet.  I'm bummed that I missed things BUT excited to know that they have now been added to my wish list. ;)  My wish list is ridiculous, though. Okay, first up..........is from my sweet friend Michelle .  She is so amazing and talented.  I love to use books for EVERYTHING.....so I think this next unit will be perfect. This unit will be PER.FECT. for math ideas that first week of school.  Love everything Amy Lemmons does!! There are so many goodies in this packet from Lesson Plans SOS.  I can't wait to get started. :) Wow, my pictures look awful. Ugh! ...

Well, I have marked 2 things off my to do list.  Yay!!....but I'm constantly thinking of more things that I need to do.  Yikes.  I wanted to share some progress pics of the classroom because....really, it helps me feel as though I'm getting some things accomplished. I'm loving Cara Carroll 's bag idea because that space above the cabinets can look so gross. I don't have a Cameo (yet) but this is my version without a it.  This is the mailbox area and the display sheets for the kids work. This is a pic of my word work area.  That neat little cart in the picture has a whiteboard on one side and cork board on the other, plus an area to store tubs in the middle.  Greatness!! And while I was busy making new stacks of things to move, my Big Sass was busy making a giant cupcake for my outside bulletin board. I'm so thankful for the time we spent together today.  He is getting so big...{sigh}.   We are picking up his sophomore schedule tomorrow...

Can I just say how much I LOVE looking at pics of classrooms?  Ha!!  I get all giddy and excited.  I'm so impressed with all the amazing teachers and ideas out there.  I'm headed back to school today to try to pull the classroom together.    (you will be happy to know that I have upgraded and my pics will no longer have that annoying watermark on the bottom :) So here is my blank slate I'm working with.  We had to take everything off the walls so that they could paint but if you notice in the pic on the right...the wall is still yucky.  They must have forgot about me, oh well, nothing a little paper can't fix.   I can't wait to share pics of the progress that I make.

trying to figure out what I want to do in my classroom.  I have always walked into my room with a plan but this year I've been a little undecided.  Do I want a theme?? --or not?? I think a shopping trip to Mardel's will help with this little problem.  I decided to spend a lot of my day in the classroom.  The air has not been turned on yet and it was HHHOOT! My sweet family was all busy, so no GUILTY feelings as I spent most of my day in my classroom.   During my 3 hours at the school I was able to put my mailboxes together and hang the small scrap sheets to display work.  Ummm.....that's not much.  Maybe putting your classroom together should be an Olympic event and then I might move a little faster.  ;) As I went through my tubs, I came across two sweet gifts from past students that I have the need to share. Isn't this precious??  Yes, it's my name!!  The parent that made this for me also works at my school, so she was able to...