Five for Friday

It's time for Five for Friday after what seemed like the longest week ever! I'm so happy the weekend is here!

1. Today we had fun working on the arachnid angles activity from the Halloween Centers pack made by Miss Nannini. I love all of her products and so do my students!

2. I've been having fun planning and prepping some of next week's fun for Halloween…pasta skeletons!

3. We even did some Halloween themed imaginative narrative writing! The prompt was to write a story about what would happen if they woke up and they had suddenly turned into their Halloween costume.

4. We also started Class Dojo this week and I am in LOVE! This is exactly what I needed! My students are so motivated and the parents are thrilled!

5. I just had to post this! This made all my teacher friends laugh….

Have a great weekend everyone!

I'm back with a sale!

I'm back after a little break and just in time to celebrate the TPT milestone! I'm joining in on the sale so everything in my store will be 10% off. Be sure to use the code FB100K for an extra 10% off until tomorrow!

I just bought some great Halloween products on sale that I can't wait to use! Have a great Sunday!

September Currently

After this long, crazy week back to school, I'm excited to link up with Oh Boy Fourth Grade for this month's currently!

Listening: Yes, I'm a lucky girl. My husband cooks breakfast for us every weekend! He really should have been a chef! His breakfast is always amazing and he is even better on the BBQ!

Loving: I'm not sure what I would do if today wasn't a holiday. It is SO hard to get through that first week back so I'm definitely loving this long weekend!

Thinking: No matter what time I can sleep in till, I always wake up before seven! It drives me nuts! Especially after an exhausting week, my body needs sleep!

Wanting: I would love it if these kiddos would just adjust after a week. This new class is definitely more challenging than the last few. I have a feeling this group is going to give me a serious addiction to Starbucks and maybe wine too. At least they are cute! :)

Needing: Groceries! I'm just being lazy due to my explanation of my "wanting". 

Goals: I would love to keep up my pilates workouts that I started over the summer. It makes me feel great and I'm in better shape than I've been in years! I just need to push through those moments after school where I feel exhausted because it really does give me that extra boost of energy when the class is done. Also, going to try my best to give myself breaks. I'm always doing way too much and agreeing to take on too many extra jobs! Also, as a newlywed, I'm going to try my best to "not sweat the small stuff". Probably the most common marriage advice ever but so true!

I hope everyone is enjoying their three day weekend!

Back to School Sale

I'm joining the Back to School sale that starts tomorrow! Everything in my store will be 28% off! Be sure to use the code BTS13.

Thanks to Ink n Little Things for the banner! I know I have a bunch of back to school goodies on my wish list that I can't wait to get!

If you are looking to add a little more chevron to your room, check out my posters below and enter the code for 28% off of them and everything else in my store! Happy shopping!

Lesson Planner Pics

Today I'm posting a few pics of my Erin Condren lesson planner since a few of you requested to see it. Here are all of my favorite parts to the lesson planner but of course there is much more!


I had to get my favorite color in the lovely chevron pattern...

I love this page that lists all of the important dates and holidays! It's going to make adding them to my weekly plans much easier!

I love this year at a glance page. I'm going to list the major units for each subject that I plan to cover during each month.

Here's what the monthly planning pages look like.

Here are the weekly lesson planning pages. I LOVE the bright colors!

There are many blank checklists included and of course they are bright and colorful. :)

Lastly, my absolute favorite thing (excuse the blurry pic) are the stickers! There are several pages of stickers for assembly, IEP, duty, staff meeting, furlough, holiday, conferences, and much more!

Those are just my favorite parts but of course there's a ton more like blank pages, pockets, etc. 

I'm so happy with this purchase and it meets all of my crazy OCD teacher needs! 

Read Alouds

I had so much fun yesterday linking up about lesson planners and seeing all of the great ideas at The Teacher's Chair so I'm back for more! Today I'm sharing my favorite back to school read aloud. I absolutely LOVE Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts.

For those who haven't read it, it's a story about a boy named Jeremy who wants the new, cool shoes that everyone is wearing at school. His family can't afford the new shoes so he ends up getting a pair at the thrift shop that are too small. It ends with a message about friendship and a great reminder at the beginning of the year about what is really important. It's also a great read aloud for teaching connections!

Read alouds are a huge part of my instruction in reader's and writer's workshop. I actually have a list of all of my favorite read alouds available in my TPT store and I update it as I have new favorites!  I've listed my favorites for reader's workshop, narrative writing, how-to books, and persuasive writing. I keep each on a separate page so I can slip it into that unit's file. If you are just starting your read aloud collection, there are some great ones on the list!

I have a special bin for my read alouds that the students need to check out from me if they want to read. I keep them filled with post-its that include my own thinking and examples to point out as I read the book to students. 

I can't wait to see everyone else's favorite read alouds!

Lesson Planners

Planning is something I've always been a little overly detailed with, so of course I have several methods to it! Last year I bought my very first Erin Condren Life Planner and fell in love with it as many other teachers have.

Because of my love for the life planner, this year I decided to go with the Erin Condren Teacher Planner and I'm patiently waiting for that pretty box to arrive any day now! I will use that teacher planner for my weekly lesson plans, etc.

I also like to plan out my specific units and lessons another way for Writer's Workshop. I actually have a binder for each writing unit I teach. On the inside of each binder, I have my unit of study monthly plan where I map out each month's unit along with samples, rubrics, and more!  I love having my lesson plans in these unit folders in addition to my other teacher's planner because I can find them easier from year to year, rather than having to try and remember my plans for introducing each unit. 

I'm going to post those templates and a detailed look at these binders in another post soon. Until then, you can grab the planning binder covers for free for each of the writing units! Just click below and be sure to check out all of the other lesson planner ideas over at The Teacher's Chair!