Newbie Blog Hop

Okay! Mrs. Janis at Grade 3 is the place for me! is hosting a NEWBIE BLOGGERS BLOG HOP!!

So, since I am a newbie, I felt it necessary to join in the fun! :)

The linky party is mainly an avenue for us to connect with other newbies and more seasoned bloggers out there! We are required to answer these FIVE questions!

1.  what state you are in- I live in Louisiana!!
2.  your current teaching position- 5th grade (All subjects)

3.  your teaching experience- I have taught 6th/7th grade English/Lang. Arts

4.  when you started blogging- I started blogging on June 8, 2012

5.  share a blogging tip / blogging resource- The only blogging tip I have is to be PROACTIVE! Don't just follow blogs and get ideas! Share your ideas and post things!

There it is! Don't forget to follow and if you are a newbie, be sure to link up with Mrs. Janis!

Best Boyfriend Everrrrr

I know! I know! It is considered taboo to post more than one post a day...but WHO CARES! lol. I had to come on here to BRAG about my wonderful, loving, thoughtful boyfriend! As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have decided to paint my classroom! Well, since I am a new teacher in my school parish, I have to attend a New Teacher Training ALL this week PLUS it's ALL day! (SHOOT ME!) So, since I am required to attend the training, I do not have ANY free time to stop by my classroom and do things (i.e. PAINT!). SO my wonderful boyfriend, volunteered his ENTIRE OFF day to paint my classroom BY HIMSELF! Isn't that L-O-V-E! Gosh, I love him! :)


Here are some pictures of the progress!

He is actually almost done, which is AWESOME!!! He only has a half of a wall to complete and touch-ups!

EXCUSE THE CLUTTER & DISORGANIZATION PLEASE! :)

Monday Made It #2!!!!

Okay! I am linking up with the wonderful Mrs. Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for my Monday Made It!!!

For the past few months, I have been eyeing those wonderful "PICK ME POTS"! I absolutely adoreeeeee those darn things! I finally sat down this weekend and made one for my classroom!!

I purchased the flower pot from DOLLAR TREE, the ribbon & cupcake decoration from JOANNE'S, and the blue/black bow scrapbook paper from MICHEAL'S!


Here is a pic!! :) Can't wait to use these in my classroom!

Monday Made It!!! THE REMIX :)

Okay, so here is my "MONDAY MADE IT" hosted by Mrs. Tara at 4th Grade Frolics! 

I know this isn't Monday...I am well aware of that but since I have been so busy getting my classroom together... Monday kind of slipped by me. :|

Anywho! For the past month or so, I have been oogling those wonderful tissue balls on pinterest. I was kind of intimidated by them, but I reallllyyyyyyy wanted them in my classroom, so I sucked it up and learned how to make those wonderful little balls!

I have made 10 in total! Hot pink, chocolate brown, light pink, bright green, and turquoise! These are the main colors that I have chosen to correspond with my SWEET SHOPPE theme!

I haven't hung them up in my classroom yet, but as soon as I do, I PROMISE that I will post some pics!Until then here is a picture of one that I made! I am in LOVE!

Finally!

I have not been posting lately but it is all in good reason! I have finally gotten the chance to view my classroom!!!!!!! I was soooooo excited to walk into that room! I felt like the five kids on the Willy Wonka movie walking into the chocolate room for the first time. LOL! 

I have been to my classroom EVERYDAY this week! My mom and I have been cleaning and organizing machines! We are no where near done and I still have to PAINT my room, ORGANIZE my room,and DECORATE my room! So, I def have my work cut out for me! PLUS, it's 91 degrees with a humidity index of about 1 million degrees in Louisiana, so once I get home, I am POOPED! :) 

Here are some pictures of my classroom! I still have a lot of work to do! 

P.S. I am finally going to get around to posting my "Monday Made It" later this evening. It won't necessarily be a MONDAY made it, but hey the world will continue turning! :)

My FIRST Award!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Can you feel the excitement oozing through your computer screen!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Okay! Breathe Sahara! Breathe!

Okay my lovely teachers, today I was nominated for the VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD by an awesome blogger Ms. Randi at Teaching in an Organized Mess! Thank You Ms. Randi :)

Now! Here are the rules:

1. Thank the blogger who awarded you.

2. Include a link to their blog.

3. Include the award image.  

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.

5. Nominate 5 other bloggers for the award.

6. When nominating, include a link to their blog.

7. Finally, let the other bloggers know they've been nominated. 

RANDOM FACTS

1. I am currently taking sign language classes. 

2. I have three tattoos.

3. I have a dog named Howie. He is a Lhasa Apso/Schnauzer mix. 

4. I drive a red Nissan Versa.

5. I am obsessed with leopard print!!

6. I loveeeeeee hot fries. lol.

7. I loveeeeeee Chick-Fil-A chicken breakfast burritos. :)

For the Versatile Blogger Award I nominate:

Tales from a 4th & 5th grade teacher

It's Grow Time!

Mrs. Allen's 5th Grade Teaching Files

5th Grade Chalk Talk

Kiwi Konnections

YEP! I have jumped on the wagon!

Finally made my TEACHER TOOLBOX!!

WHOOP! WHOOP!

Now, I must admit this project took me about an hour and a half, but the I LOVE the end result!

TECH NEWS!

Have you ever allowed your students to check out books from your classroom library and never received them back? Or, have you ever let a student borrow a book and you forgot which student borrowed it? Yea...me too!

Well, one night while browsing one of my fav apps everrrrrrr (PINTEREST), I came across a pin about an app that could help with retaining and organizing your classroom library books. It's called BOOK RETRIEVER. Here is a pic of the home screen!

The app is only .99 cents, which is a great bargain considering the amount of lost library books that you may have to replace. 

Once the home screen fades away, this screen pops up!

 Before using the app, you have to sign up. 

(SIGNING UP TIP: Where it asks for your name, DO NOT put your actual name! It wants an USERNAME. So, NO spaces!)

On this screen you have numerous options to choose from!
1) My Students: Add all of your students to your roster.
2) Add Book: When you click on this, a barcode scanner pops up and the book gets entered into the system!
3) My Classroom Library: This is the ENTIRE inventory for your books.
4) Check Out: You choose the student that wants to check that book out, scan the barcode, and VIOLA! It also gives you a due date!
5) Check In: You scan the book and the student is no longer held accountable for that book.

I have absolutely fell in love with this app!!!!!!! I can't wait to use it in my classroom with my babies!! :)

Micheals!!!!!

So, I recently stopped by Micheal's and indulged in the wonderful summer clearance sale they had going on!! I brought some really cute, bright, and colorful things! I have NO idea what I am going to do with this stuff but I couldn't just pass up a great deal, right?!!!!

Here are a few pics!

Hand Signals!

While stalking reading a few of my favorite teaching blogs, I came across the mention of hand signals. At first the idea seemed a little kiddie for my fifth graders but the more and more I thought about it, the more I began to fall in love with the idea.

Being a new teacher, one of the problems that I notice that I have is unnecessary movement in the classroom. When one student gets up to sharpen their pencil or to throw something away, the next student takes it upon himself to do the same which creates a domino effect. A lot of the hand signals that I have come across had about five hand signals total but I figured since my little honey pops are in fifth grade that I would only need three (bathroom, ask a question, and leave seat). If I think that they need more hand signals later, I will add as I go!


I have created three hand signal cards to include in my classroom on the wall. I will post these in my classroom and go over them with my students on the first day of school in August. I am also going to cut them out, place them on card stock, and laminate them!


I am hoping that it works  with my babies as long as we do a lot of PRACTICE! :)

Pics below!

Next Project...

Okay! I recently saw a post about creating Birthday Blooms for your student's birthday. I absolutely LOVE this and I am soooo excited to create this. I am going to run to School Aids and Dollar General when I leave work today!!!

Will def post pictures when I am done!

Tech News Monday

Okay, so since I am semi-obsessed with reading teacher blogs, I came across this awesome blog post on "Teanology, Teaching, & Talking".

Here is her blog link:http://techteachtalk5.blogspot.com/


Anywho, she posted a post about this website called CONTXTS. This website enables your students to text your name to a number and get any class annoucements or homework assignments that you post. Now, if you have younger students, it would be an awesome tool for parents to use to keep updated about homework/classroom news.

I made a mock one to try it out and it TOTALLY works! Try it out! Text "MsGlasper" to 50500 and you will recieve my mock homework assignment!! It soooo awesome!

Introduce it in your classroom! Create one at http://contxts.com/.

BFF Bridal Shower

Hola Amigos!

Saturday was an awesome day! My best friend had her bridal shower and was beautiful! Her mom decorated and planned the entire event and it truly was marvelous.

Anywho...once the festivities were over and the bridal party was helping clean up. I noticed some cute decorations that her mom had for the desert buffet. I asked her mom where did she get them from and she said from Dollar Tree a few months ago. She then proceeded to ask me if I needed them for anything because she doesn't need them anymore. Do you think I turned some free stuff down!? Heck No!

Here are some pics of the cute stuff I snagged!

Everything totally goes with my "CANDY"/"SWEET SHOP" theme for my classroom!

Sooooo excited!

WREATH & CRAFT BUCKET

Today was AWESOMEEEEEEEE!

I ran to a few stores and began buying somethings for my classroom! Oh yeaaaaaa!

Can you feel my excitement through the screen?!

Anywho, today I stopped by Target, Lowe's, Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby, Joanne's Fabric, and School Aids (our local teacher store) for some goodies for my classroom!! Even though I haven't had a chance to actually see my new classroom, I could not resist the urge of spending some money on some stuff!

I will post pictures later of everything that I purchased from the stores. I wanted to stop by and post some pictures of some projects that I started today!!

In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that I wanted to have a "candy" theme for my classroom, so I have decided to stick with an orange, pink, yellow, and chocolate color scheme. This little desk organizer is what inspired me...

So, today I decided to begin buying some knick knacks and organization things and I found these cute buckets at Target in the dollar section!

I wanted to jazz them up a little so I bought some ribbon and a multi-pack of cardstock from Joanne's Fabric & Hobby Lobby. Here is what the buckets looked like after...

I purchased six buckets total and I plan on using them to hold craft supplies, such as, crayons, color pencils, markers, scissors, and glue. I numbered them so that each group of students know which number to get and it also keeps me aware of any broken or misplaced items.

While at Joanne's, I also purchased some supplies to make a wreath for my classroom door!

 This is the finished product!

Hope you guys enjoyed my post! :)

Oh! Question: Have any of ya'll been watching DALLAS?! The older one is wayyyy before my time, but the new 2012 version has me hooked! :)

Classroom Themes

So, call me OCD but ever since I found out I got the job, I have been googling my cakes off for cute classroom ideas!

Last night, while laying in bed, I had an EPIPHANY! One of my favorite books and movies of all time is, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory! So, what better idea than CANDY for my classroom theme!!!

I have been googling my tushie off and have came up with some awesome ideas for my classroom! 

Within the next few weeks, I will post ideas that I stole found on the internet that pertains to my CANDY theme.

I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!

Guess What??!!?

Yesterday, I had an interview at a elementary school in a nearby town. The position the principal was hiring for was a 5th grade (all subjects) teacher. She asked me various questions and I left the interview feeling pretty good about how it went. She told me that she had one more interview later that afternoon and that she would notify me of her decision by Monday.

So, I drove home, took my shower and decided to relax on the couch. While relaxing, my cell phone rang and I noticed it was a 985 area code (the school is in that area), and I answered it. It was the principal with her decision! She asked if I would be interested in taking the position and of course you guys know what I said! She gave me some information about when I may want to come in to see my classroom, when to decide on paint color, etc.

When I hung up the phone, it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders!!!

I am kind of nervous that I will be teaching fifth grade (all subjects) because I have only taught 6th and 7th grade English, but I am extremely excited for the challenge!!!

I will be posting pictures soon of some cute ideas for classroom themes that I have found online.

I AM SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!

Interview Questions for the NEW teacher

Today I went to a job fair in a nearby school parish. At this wonderful **insert sarcasm** job fair, I was allowed to have four "mini" interviews with various middle school principals. While waiting on my interviews, I was attempting to rack my brain and come up with some questions that they may ask me. So I have decided to compile a list of the top 10 questions that I have been asked by principals/assistant principals during my interviews.

 Hope these help some of the NEW and old teachers out there! :)

1) What are some of your classroom management techniques?

2) What is the difference between a GOOD teacher and a GREAT teacher?

3) What are some ways that you attempt to make parent contact?

4) What technology are you familiar with? and How do you incorporate this into your lesson?

5) Walk me through a typical day in your classroom.

6) How do you deal with discipline problems in your classroom?

7) How do you assess your students? Informally or Formally?

8) How do you use data/graphs from standardized tests in your classroom and in your lessons?

9) If you have a few students who have not grasped the concept that you are teaching, how do you bring them up to level while also ensuring that the remainder of the class doesn't suffer?

10) What was one of the best lessons that you have ever taught?

These are only my TOP TEN questions, so if you know of any more, please leave them below!

Goodbye College! Hello Job Search....?

Being a recent college graduate is hard.
Tough.
It's just plain old complicated.

When I graduated in December 2011, I had already been offered a job teaching sixth and seventh grade English. Words cannot describe how relieved and ecstatic I was to have a job after graduation. Only catch was....it wasn't guaranteed the following school year. In the school district that I teach in, all new teachers are considered "interim". 

---Definition of interim: provisional or temporary--

So, since I am considered interim, I am out of a job until the more "seasoned" teachers got placed in schools. My principal told me that my wonderful job that I had been teaching the past six months, was being snatched from me, and I wouldn't know anything until August. 

So what is a girl to do??

Do they want me to wait until August? Did they expect me to just twiddle my thumbs and hope and pray they would call me back after the summer? No. Sorry. Couldn't just sit idly by. 

So, the job search has began. 

To date, I have been on six interviews and waiting patiently by the phone for a phone call. 

Fingers Crossed!