Garage Sales

This past week I went to a retiring teachers garage sale! My boyfriend (Marty) found it on Craig's List and Jenna (a friend and first grade teacher at my school) and I figured that we should get there! And it's lucky we got there early because she had such wonderful things! I was able to get some holiday decor for my classroom, a chapter book holder that spins, posters and 59 books!! Yes, 59! Many of the books are hard backs as well and all are in great condition! The books were on sale 2 for 25 cents! Talk about a deal!
My advice to you is to get on Craig's List for the area that you live and type in the search "teachers" or "teaching" this is where you can get materials for dirt cheap! I suggest this for any and all first year teachers. And veteran teachers as well! :)

Setting up my classroom

Today will be day 2 in my classroom! I can't believe the summer has gone by so fast but I am very excited to start the new school year.
Yesterday I loaded up my car and my boyfriend's sister's car (Sarah) and we headed out to the school! She's a saint for helping! After rearranging my desks once and twice, I found the right flow for my room, the students will be in groups of 4 or 5. I may be looking at 24 students in my room this year,  more than last year!
I set up part of my desk and the library area. Today I will hopefully be working on bulletin boards and sorting through my in-class library.
Last night I spent laminating EVERYTHING, luckily I had 2 great friends to help me cut it all out! Thanks to Jenna and Liz :)
Pictures of the setting up process soon to follow!

The Tattle Monster

When I became a teacher I found that kids are always tattling on each other! Whether it's about what happened on the play ground or what happened at their desk they are constantly coming up to their teacher to tell them what happened. And as we all know, this can become daunting and time consuming! I got the idea for this project on Pinterest (my weakness!) When a student has something to tattle to you, they write it on a slip on paper and feed it to the tattle monster. But be sure that the students know the difference between a serious situation that the teacher should know and what can be written down and fed to the monster. Also, the students should ask for permission before writing something down so they are not moving about the classroom.