July Currently!

Somehow June has already rushed by... and it already time for the July Currently with Farley.

Snapshot Saturday (or Sunday if you are a little lazy)

One of my favorite bloggers in the whole world wide web is Miss Nelson at Miss Nelson's Got the Camera!  Her blogs are always so informative and fun and she just seems like someone I would really like in real life, ya know?   So I am very excited for her new linky - Snapshot Saturdays!  I kind of missed the boat yesterday but wanted to link up today.    This week it is just some of my random favorite pictures and people! 

This is my son Grant holding the Special Olympics torch - this is HIS smile.  We don't often capture it,  but this time we did and I love it!

 This is my Grandma on her 90th birthday in the fall.   I was so happy to get back to Michigan and spend it with her!

 This little booger is my long awaited daughter Eden last night. I made her this little dress and asked her to stand still as I was taking her picture. She didn't want to!  After three sons she is so much fun!

 This is my cousin Chad and his precious wife Elsbeth.   They got married last month.   We are hoping to live a lot closer to them soon.

 This is my classroom this year.   I miss these babies.   They were such a great class.   I am excited to change my room up for the fall.  

I LOOOOOOVE this article! The Hardest Job Everyone THINKS they can do!

I wish everyone had to try to teach for a week to see what it is like.  I love this article so much!   Please go over and read it!http://www.musingsonlifeandlove.com/2010/09/13/the-hardest-job-everyone-thinks-they-can-do/

When it's time to change, you have to rearrange....

Were you a Brady Bunch fan?   I was obsessed - those little boxes with the whole family... oh my.  I know this makes me old.  But often when change comes about in my life,  I think about this little song,  anyone remember it?   It's sort of like,  "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie, which I can randomly be heard singing,   just a symptom of being an 80's kid!

It's time to change from Google Reader to Bloglovin'.   Which a pretty easy switch over actually.  It only takes a few minutes - and you can do it right here.  It is actually a lot easier to use than Google Reader and kind of fun.   The only bad thing that can happen with this switch is that you can lose all the blogs that you follow - which would STINK.  So go head over and make the change.   As extra incentive, the lovelies at Collaboration Cuties have created a little Giveaway Linky to make sure that everyone is making that change.   If you join mine you can have your choice of three of any of the products in my store!  So please jump on the blogwagon!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Why teacher blogs are INCREDIBLE!

Sometimes I feel sad that teacher blogs were not around when I started teaching because they have made the job SO much easier and so much more fun.   Yesterday I was hopping around reading Throwback Thursday ideas and I ran across this adorable blog - http://thefirstgradefairytales.blogspot.com/.  Kelly posted an old post about using pool noodles as tens and ones (like giant ten bars and one cubes).  Freaking GEEE-NEE-OUS!  So I ran out to the dollar store,  bought 7 pool noodles (they have tons of them right now) and made some fabulous whole group math manipulatives for $7.00!  Amazing.  You just cut a noodle in half to make 2 tens - so I bought five of those to make ten ones (which you could later paperclip or tape together to make a hundred block) and two blue noodles to make 40 ones.   I cut each into 2,  measured and divided by five,  cut those out and then cut each one in half again.   They are not perfectly measured (but you could do that if you were so inclined :) ) but each "one" is about 1/10 of a 10 as it should be!   I cut these out in about 5 minutes.  I just cut them with scissors - super easy and kind of fun!

 I cut the ones in half one more time after I took this picture.

My daughter "helping"

43!

 

This amazing idea originated with Mr. Smith at www.teachertipster.com .   Check him out!

Summer Sale!

I am throwing a 20% off sale on everything in my TPT store!  Go check it out!http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/In-That-Room

Throwback Thursday! - and two flash freebies!

I love the idea of this cute link up!   I have been blogging less than a year and don't have that many blog posts that I love,  but this one reminds me of starting up again in the fall and all we go through -and how we are kind of rock stars to make it through August and September of each year!

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I have been thinking about this a lot today. I have thought of it before as well, but after all the teacher bashing I read the other day (see post below), I think it is time. I am hoping to get NBC, ABC or Oprah or someone on board. People need to know how tough you really need to be a teacher. I have even thought through some of the immunity challenges.

• Holding your pee for as long as possible
• Eating an entire lunch in 4 minutes
• Fixing the copy machine in the 3 minutes before the bell rings
• Answering the same question 80 times in 20 minutes, without sounding frustrated
• Figuring which paper belongs to which kid in the pile of nameless multi-choice quizzes
• Deciphering a paragraph written by a 1st grade, mirror writer
• Race to find the gluestick with the missing cap
• Answering the phone about a bus change, answering a parent email and teaching someone how to regroup concurrently
• Accurately distributing all the jackets left on the fence after recess
• Figure out who is flushing pencils down the toilet
• Finish an acronym quiz - IEP, ADD, OHI, RTI, SST, my team came up 161 of them during one staff meeting!

There are a million of them! What would you add??

I think the contestants should start out as most new teachers do - empty room, some textbooks (not full class sets), perhaps a box of pens and a stapler... and some furniture. Provide a class of kids -anywhere from 22 to 35 kids of varying ability levels. First test, second week of school - GO!

First elimination challenge - Meet the Teacher Night (make sure those bare walls are adorably covered!) - answer all questions, memorize each child's name, allergies, likes and dislikes, and take notes as half of the parents tell you that there is too much homework and half the parents tell you that their child needs EXTRA homework everyday, and that they were hoping to get teacher x, and cried when they found out they would be having THE NEW TEACHER - all while smiling!

Next elimination challenge - first day of school, help all students find their desks, sort 4500 forms being sent in, put away supplies, stop the crying (the students, and yours), keep the students busy, engaged and happy, move new desks into the room for students being enrolled throughout the day, establish an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust, comfort and fun. Keep up the the transportation changes throughout the day and then....(start praying) MAKE SURE EVERYONE GETS HOME ON THE RIGHT BUS, RIGHT CAR OR DAYCARE VAN.

I could go on forever, open house, conferences, emails, parties, PTA meetings, concerts, FIELD trips.... contestants should be in this for a full school year.

Grand prize - $38,000 - the national average, beginning teacher salary!

Do you think anyone would sign up???


If it takes off, the spin off could be "Desk Hoarders" - a whole show about finding unfinished work (and so much more!) in student desks.

You have to LOVE this job to do it! I am so glad I do!

Hope your day was full of finished work!

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I am giving away two of my new classroom packs until midnight tonight!  Each one is over 100 pages of fun classroom decor and premade forms to make the beginning of the year a little easier!http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Adorable-Owls-and-Black-and-White-Patterned-Classroom-Theme-Pack-736316  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Super-Cute-Owls-and-Green-and-Navy-Geometric-Patterns-Theme-Pack-731891

  Please leave some feedback!