July Already? { "Currently" Linky Party }

I can't believe that July is already here! I love and hate the month of July. I love it because it's summer, my wedding anniversary, my Mom's birthday, the Fourth, etc. I dislike that it's the last (*sniff sniff*) month of summer before school! But I am looking forward to spending these next weeks working hard to get my room and myself ready for my fourthies!

So this is my first link up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade! Love love love her blogging style. Check her out here.

 

I'll admit it...Top Gear UK is pretty funny. I can actually watch it. And it's a show about cars. Crazy, right? But right now I'm too busy catching up on the blogosphere to really watch. 

Ahhh summertime...there's nothing like it! After a crazy week of VBS, we've had a pretty great summer weekend to wind down. We went swimming with friends yesterday (did a little work on my tan ;) and had a cookout at my parent's house. Today we had church, lunch with friends, and a whole afternoon of undisturbed laziness. There's nothing better! I am looking forward to a (hopefully) less busy week filled with my doggy, swimming, and working in my classroom.

I do a lot of thinking about things I need to do. First year jitters, I suppose? I've even had dreams about school these past two nights. Time for a chill pill, perhaps?? Haha. I just have so many, many ideas and am having trouble getting the ball rolling. This busy week was a bit of a setback so hopefully I can get back on track and knock out some of my bigger projects! Like my library...any volunteers to come organize that? I spent the whole afternoon lexile-leveling -_-

Don't even listen to me. I have more than enough stuff for my room. A generous teacher before me, my kindergarten teacher mother, Hobby Lobby, and a teacher trip store have all granted me plenty of supplies. I just need to get my life together and put them up! Haha. 

This is a real need. I've had the same tub of books in my living room for two weeks now. They are all contact-papered and lexile-leveled. If only I could say the same for all the books at school? I love books. I was so happy to see that the teacher before me had left shelf after shelf of books for my kiddos. I just need to get in there and organize them! Helpppppp :)

Oh, and dinner will hopefully be happening after this post. Haha.

Tips and tricks for TPT/blogging/etc. Well, I'm obviously  no expert. BUT. I know what I like. And I like practical stuff. Well, let me rephrase that. Practical cute stuff. Stuff you can actually use. Stuff I can see working for me and my kids. Stuff I have used myself or seen used or heard about being used. You feel me? Nothing appeals to me more than seeing a product that I truly can use! Not just download and forget about.

And that's my "currently"! Head over to Farley's blog and link up your own :)

 

Five For Friday! [June 28th Linky Party]

 

My five random things from this week! :)

  1) This week at church (New Life Church Magnolia), we've been celebrating Vacation Bible School! Our theme is SonWest Roundup. Above is the stage area that we decorated. I spent like three weeks painting the town backdrop! So glad to have those big boards out of my house, but happy with how it turned out!

 2) Me and my VBS class during bible story time! I loved working with the 7 to 9 year olds group this week. We had lots of fun! Also, don't judge my western getup ;)

3) The soundtrack of my week! Love Ellie Goulding's energizing songs! They have been the perfect music for working in my classroom and on my computer. 

 4) I'm more than a little obsessed with my dog, Lewis. He has the best, craziest, most hilarious personality. As you can tell. He definitely keeps me and the husband on our toes. Even though he drives me crazy, he has been a great companion this summer :)

5) Our Netflix shows of the week (don't judge). Since we don't have cable or satellite at our house, we spend a lot of time scouring Netflix. This is what we've been watching this week...(haha). 

Happy Friday!

Back! (sort of)

Well, blogging world, it's been a busy summer already! I can't believe it's about to be July! So much has happened since I've been "awol" once again. In May I graduated from college (woop!) and we got our crazy, hilarious cocker spaniel puppy, Lewis. We began June with an awesome, much-needed vacay to Florida! The hubs and I spent a week in Sarasota with my in-laws visiting my sisters-in-law, one of whom just had an adorable baby!

The day after we got back (seriously!) I received the best news of the summer.... I got a job!

I am so excited to officially be a fourth grade literacy teacher. I think it is the perfect job for me. I love all things books, reading, writing, and literature-related. So these past few weeks have been filled with me obsessively preparing for my first year of teaching! I even attended my first teaching conference in Little Rock with my new colleagues! Ahh!

Can you tell I'm a little excited? I've been spending a lot of time on TPT, Pinterest, blogs, and in my classroom getting ready for all things fourth grade. And of course, I have been making my own things as well. Hopefully I will have those up in my store soon as well :)

This past week has also been VBS at our church. I've been teaching the 7 to 9 year olds group, which has of course, been a blast. It's so nice to "get back in the teaching game" for a bit. I haven't worked with kids since May! Which is a good thing and a bad thing all at the same time ;)

So that's what I've been up to! Been spending lots of nights contact paper-ing books for my library, scraping hot glue off the walls, and rearranging things in my room. It still has a long way to go...but I promise to put up some before/after pictures when it's finished.

So....any tips for a newbie fourth grade teacher? I'll take all the help I can get!

Happy summer! :)

 PS- Don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin ;)