Back to School!

Y'all.  Do you hear the pitter patter of feet heading your way?  Those new shoes and fresh clothes are ready for you!  It's that time of year!  Can you believe it?  Even though I'm not going to be in a classroom this year, I can't help getting butterflies thinking about the beginning of the year.

Welcome and thanks for joining our blog hop!!  There are beauties, freebies, and so much MORE below.  Check it out and continue on the hop!  There's something for everybody and you can win $45 from ::my store::!! :) >>Keep Reading!!<<

Every Sunday I share an iPhone wallpaper for inspiration.  Grab this week's for free and be sure to >>follow me<< so you can have the prettiest phone each week!

Click this beauty and save it as your iPhone wallpaper!

I know that b2s is HARD.  For so many reasons- eating healthy, working out, taking care of family and friend relationships, and oh yea, WORKING again.  Well, my goal is to make one of those at least a little easier.  How about a B2s menu guide?  That's right!!  Introducing my newest product (hot off the presses!) a meal planner for you and your family.  There will be one available for each month of the year eventually.  Included are 6 recipes/week (cuz ain't no one got time for 7 meals/week!), seasonal ingredients, a slowcooker recipe each week, a YUMMY vegetarian recipe each week, grocery lists (pre-filled and left blank) and SO. MUCH. MORE.  Did I mention it's all inexpensive too?  And because I love y'all, a sample week (for the month of August) is provided fo' free, below!!  Download it, print it off, use it, save yourself valuable time, share it, tell your friends, enjoy cooking, and take pictures with the hashtag, #mealswithappleslices!

Now, I don't know about you- but first days of school can be monotonous, boring, and more of those synonyms.  BUT writing is always fun. (I'm a writing nerd for reallsies)  And it's a superb way to start the year.  Let's be honest, who is not obsessed with hashtags?  #theyrefun #andsilly #andaddsomuchpersonalitytoyourcaptions So why wouldn't your kiddos love some hashtag action?  Download this B2S {FREE} #hashtag activity to show your students that you love writing, love them, and want to have a fun year together in your classroom!

Now, what's B2S without savings?  Are you one of the lucky ones enjoying tax free weekend right now?  If you are- get out there and shop!!  If not, you can find savings in my store for today and today ONLY!  Grab anything for 20% off!

Be sure to enter our Rafflecopter, below, so you can win some fab prizes!!  Seriously, y'all!!  There are SO many prizes!! >>EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!<<


I'm not the only one on this hop!  Hop along to the next blog and get excited about heading Back to School!  Cheers, friends :)



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Teacher Week: Monday + Monday Letters

Hey friends!  Tomorrow is our first day of school and this teacher is all kinds of exhausted!  I still have a to-do list that, let's be honest, will never get completed.  But my classroom is as ready as it'll ever be and my 4th graders will be there tomorrow morning- bright and early!  I am so excited to be linking up with Blog Hoppin' to participate in their Teacher Week and share a little bit about me!

My name is Kelly Anne and this is my FIFTH {holy cow!} year teaching!!  I graduated from the University of South Carolina and moved out to Colorado where my husband and I lived for three years.  We loved Colorado and met some amazing friends.  Seriously, I met some of the most inspiring teachers and people during our brief time out there. 

 We were ecstatically married in Savannah, GA last Summer and then moved to Spain, where we taught ESOL for a year! 



Living in Spain was a dream of ours and I'm so glad we did it.  It was amazing and a great lesson in being humble, respecting other cultures, eating anything, and just going with the flow.  We had originally planned on staying in Spain for two years or more, but realized that we were definitely ready to be back near our family.  So, we moved back to the States this Summer and to South Carolina- the same beautiful state where we met!  

In my free time, I love riding my bike, taking pictures, enjoying a glass or two of wine, traveling, watching college football, and reading!  I love to read anything.  Teacher books, YA novels, Historical fiction, etc...  I love it all :)

Every Monday on my blog you can stop by to see a few letters that I write.  Two letters are to my classroom or are school related.  The other two are for anything else on my heart that week.  Monday Letters were inspired by the fabulous Elle & Co. Here's a little of what's on my mind tonight... among many, many, MANY, other things in preparation for tomorrow :)

Dear First Year Teacher... I know the feeling.  That nerve wrecking, terrifying feeling that you have so much to do but have no idea where to start.  I remember it all too well... and feel it too.  Every year that I teach.  Some years it feels better.  Other years it comes back with a vengeance.  No matter the fear or how prepared you are, that first day will come.  Don't forget, you will never have another first day of teaching.  Enjoy every moment {fear included}!

Dear New Home... Without any shelving or dressers (yet), please forgive our clothes, neatly stacked along your beautiful hardwood floors. Don't worry, I am faithfully scouring nearby thrift stores for any dresser that may fit the bill.  I won't just settle for anything, although in another week I may get desperate for something to separate my underwear from my t-shirts.  

Dear Beahvior Clip Chart... I don't love you.  I'm sorry.  Up on our classroom wall you hang, just like every other classroom on my hall.  I hope to find a way to successfully phase you out of our classroom as the year transitions.  How do other teachers feel about the lovely Behavior Clip Chart? 

Dear To Do List... You are endless.  Will you ever be complete?  I am off to try and check off some of your boxes.  Isn't that the best feeling ever?

Happy Monday sweet friends.  I will be back throughout the week to participate more during Blog Hoppin's linky and to share a little bit about my first week back to school :)

Sweet dreams :)

GIVEAWAY! I just couldn't help myself...

Like really.  I just couldn't stop shopping y'all!  I had so much fun in my jammies, sipping tea wine, and browsing for new products that I obviously had to have!  Check out the purchases I made, below my exciting announcement {and click on the picture to go to the link}!  I love every single one of them and cannot wait to use them... even if I can't use all of them in my ESL classroom right now.

And I have some very exciting news- I have reached TWO HUNDRED followers on TpT!!  Y'all are the best and I am so thankful for the kind words and encouragement you send.  So to thank YOU, I am hosting a Giveaway!  I will be giving away $25 to TpT.  That's right- just in time to pick up any of those products you managed to forget during the big sale {how does that always seem to happen!?}.  So be sure to enter below so that you can WINWINWIN!



But first... here's what I filled my shopping cart with this cyber holiday!! {I'm all over the place tonight!}

So going to use this with my ESL kiddos- they will swoon :)

I can NEVER have enough of Mrs. Cahill's math games- perfect!!

So fun, right??

If you haven't used these, go check them out NOW!  So fun...
I have to admit even I love doing them.

Again, math games are the bomb.com  Amazing

Who doesn't love some decimal work?
This will be great for simple math vocabulary in my ESL classrooms!!

And now.... drumroll...
Be sure to enter to win $25 to TpT!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hooray for a Giveaway!!

I don't know about you, but I LOOOOVE birthdays!  Which is why I couldn't resist joining Miss Lisa over at Always an Adventure in Kindergarten for her Birthday Extravaganza!!  Enter her giveaway to win all sorts of wonderful goodies, including your choice of my writing units.  Go check it out.  And enter!  Now!  It ends this weekend :)

Click the picture to go directly to Always an Adventure in Kindergarten!

And be sure to check back later this week.  I am super excited about a morning meeting freebie idea I was inspired to make after hanging out with my ESL kiddos today.  Be sure to check it out and download it!

Teacher Week! {Taming the Wild!}

Hello teacher friends!

My hubby and I are packing up the car to head up to Bedford, Virginia to spend a long weekend with his family!  His grandparents have a bridge along the Appalachian Trail that was dedicated to them.  I've never seen it so we plan on doing a little bit of hiking and exploring while we're there!  {HOORAY!!} 

So since I'm sitting on the couch right now and he's doing all the work :)  I better make this a fast one. 

Whew behavior!!  Behavior is never perfect.  I am always learning, changing, adapting, and praying.  Behavior can make or break your year.  It definitely broke me my first year.  I have all sorts of nightmare stories from that year.  And while I know I had some rough kiddos.  I feel like it all mainly comes down to expectations and classroom community. 

So now, I start my school year off with high expectations and LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of time spent on building a community.  When you have a community built around respect and a culture of learning, a lot of behavior takes care of itself.  In this environment kiddos understand what is expected of them.  You can give them a good ol' raise of the eyebrow and they know exactly why you're doing that.  Of course you will have the kid that yells "What?  I'm not doing anything!?" And you're want to be like, "I know, that's the problem... You're not doing any work".  But I've noticed that if I really focus on expectations and community the first SIX FULL weeks of school, and continue all year long, it makes a huge impact on my classroom!

Perfect, right?

So with that being said, I handle behavior in several ways.  I have that typical "Move your clip" Red, Yellow, and Green poster.  This works well because it 1) alerts them to their behavior and 2) allows me to address kiddo's behavior in a quick and easy way.  Once I ask a kid to move their clip because of something they're doing, I almost always try to address the behavior 1 on 1  asap.  It's usually on the way to Specials or Lunch or Recess though.  They also fill out a "Cool Down Form" that you can pick up here.  {FOR FREE!} :)

Go grab this guy on TpT!

Then I have a ton of positive support to motivate kiddos to keep doing well!  My FAV is one I started using last year.  You can check it out more here {TpT} and here {Blog Post}!  But basically for individual motivation, each student has a checkbook that they create and I have checks that I can give them as "payment" for going above and beyond in the classroom.  They keep track of their balance in their checkbook {MathMathMath!!!} and they can buy certain items from the "bank" whenever the "banker" is working.  I love this system because as soon as you start passing out checks, you see other kiddos get their stuff back in order.  Once they earn a check, I never deduct money from their account.  They earned it fair and square so it is theirs to use as they please. 

I also use a marble jar to support whole class awesomeness.  Yup, I just said that.  As the entire class is working well together, I drop some marbles in the jar.  When the jar is full, we have a celebration! {Pajama day, Read-a-thon, Math Game Day, etc... I have them vote but I always tend to give one really awesome choice *that I want* and two less awesome choices...}.  The sound of marbles falling onto other marbles, or the jar, has such a great impact on a quiet classroom. :) 

To support group work, I have clothespins that I clip onto group table numbers {that hang above each table} as I see table groups working well together.  Once they receive ten clips on their table number, each member of the table gets a $20 check. 

After my first year, I really decided to focus on the positive and *on the surface* ignore a lot of the negative behaviors.  I spend a lot of time building up those kiddos that are doing great {which is normally at least 4/5 of the class!!} and then talking 1 on 1 with the "troublemakers" later on.  Not only does this help the community but it makes me feel much happier as well. 

Coming full circle, behavior is never perfect.  I am always learning, changing, adapting, and praying {seriously!}.  I don't think I'll ever have it down to a science.  Or if I do, I'll get a crazy group of kiddos who have new behavior issues.  But with a basis of expectations and community, I'm sure I'll be able to adapt to whatever is thrown at me. 

Now off to the mountains we go!!  Thanks so much for those of you who stuck with me to the end :)  Have a happy Thursday!!

Teacher Week! {Now Teach!}

Alright y'all.  It's confession time.  I am the least organized person I know.  I would love to be more minimalistic and put together but I always have that {horrible} mindset that "maybe I'll need this CottonballSetof100Rulers59,000CalculatorsBook15ExtraMathBooks".  And so I keep too much stuff.  And guess what?  I never ever need it! 

So I'm really working on getting more organized.  One thing I've learned in teaching secondary {heck, any grade level!}, is that it's vital to keep good records.  Anecdotal notes and all data collection are super important come parent conferences, report card time, and, most importantly, next steps.  So, while I may not be able to find that set of 100 extra half-used pencils I came across one day and stashed in a random drawer... I can always find my data.  As long as I can remember which binder it is in :)

I use binders for EVERYTHING {even for filing some things}!  Binders can be super bulky and cumbersome but they work best for me, and isn't that what it's all about?  I have a binder for each subject and then sometimes multiple binders for each subject. 

In most of my binders I placed numbered dividers and then I assign each student a number alphabetically.  If a new student comes in, I just add them at the end.  Then, I tape a numbered class list in the front of the binder.  I haven't had to waste valuable classroom prep time switching dividers out each year, and I usually memorize their numbers pretty quickly! 

One of my favorite binders is my all-subject anecdotal notebook.  It has each Common Core Standard & all of the State Standards so if I know what standard I'm hitting, I can grab this notebook and jot quick anecdotals.  I usually just use a 4, 3, 2, or 1 {see below} to mark how well students are grasping the concept.  Sometimes I'll even jot a super quick note about it.  If we are doing different things, I'll use different colored pens to keep track!  This is SUPER handy for planning small group work as well as during report card time!

 

 

I am so excited to see all of y’alls organizational strategies so I can Pin them and use them in my classroom.  Organization- here I come!!  Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to hop on over to Blog Hopping to join in the fun!!

Teacher Week {Classroom Digs!}

Hey y'all!  For those who follow me, you're probably like "Why in the world are you posting about a classroom??  You don't have one right now!"  Which is super true.  My hubby and I are moving to Spain to teach, in September.  So as of now I don't have a classroom.  But I've had one!!  And I LOVED my classroom last year.  So I decided to share my past "digs" with you... some of my favorite moments in my classroom.  There's been many {sometimes few and far between} that stand out in my mind.  I mean, we spend a minimum of 40 hours a week in there.  Usually 60-80.  How can we not have a place that we love? 

 This lady, Martina/Mrs. Cahill/The Hungry Teacher is by far the best part of my teaching career!  She was my student teacher this past year who turned into my fantastic co-teacher!  We're doing a series on our blogs about co-teaching together.  You can check out our first posts here and here.  Or stop by this Sunday to read our second posts on the {amazing!!!!!!} experience.  In this picture we're both dressed as Mrs. Frizzle, for Halloween.  We decorated the entrance to the classroom to look like the back of a school bus.  All the kids had to enter through there.  They loved it!  Even 5th graders whoSoClaimNotToLoveMagicSchoolBus love the Magic School Bus!!

 Here's a view of our classroom.  {Our kiddos are "hiding" because we were throwing a surprise party for Martina at the end of her student teaching time!  Too cute :)} I just love using round tables in my classroom.  It's so much easier for the bigger kids to have conversations.  We had lockers out in the hallway so they could store their things out there, so that wasn't an issue.

Oh The Lorax!  For State Testing we all know the drill- cover up ANYTHING/EVERYTHING that could help any learner in any way.  So Martina and I decided that at the very least, our coverings could be fun!!  I usually like to go with "earthy" colors, but he was just too cute not to use!  You can see in the next picture that on the wall we went with blues and greens everywhere else. 

Christmas lights!  I just adore the feel that twinkle lights provide and would have these guys everywhere if I could.  I rarely turn the overhead lights on.  Instead I use lamps and Christmas lights to illuminate the room.  It keeps us all a little more mellow {I like to think...}

 I can't lie... I sometimes bribe my kiddos.  Not for things that are expectations.  But for things that they have no interest in or control over... like state testing.  I told our kiddos that if they did well on the state testing {just tried their hardest/stayed focus/didn't give up for all TWENTYONE tests} then we would all spend the night in our classroom the week after testing ended.  Well, needless to say, they are all AWESOME {although we have no results back yet, I could see they all tried really hard which is all that matters to me} and so we spent the night at school.  It was the COOLEST thing ever.  You can see our beds all ready to go!  Martina and I slept on a blow up mattress in the middle of the room {with two padded mattresses on top- SUPER comfy} and the girls slept on one side and the boys on the other.  We played all sorts of team building games, hide and seek in the dark {CREEPY!!!} and watched a movie until late that night.  Then we woke up, made breakfast, and had a school day together!  Crazy much?  Maybe.  But It.Was.Awesome.

 Me and Martina all snuggled together :)

 I love this moment.  That's my daddy!  He came and hung out in our classroom all day.  Although here he's doing a crossword puzzle with my students.........

 Loved this Pinterest inspired bulletin board we made.  Aren't they precious!? P.S. That's a faux blackboard made out of black paper and chalk!

 This was my last day with my kiddos :(  I had them for two years {because I looped up with them from 4th grade} and we all just loved each other.  {Most of the time.}  They put together a slide show, made me sit in my rocker, hold my stuffed mouse, and watch it with them.  {Precious!!} 

Here's all my stuff packed up and ready to go.  Such a sad day!  Can you believe that's all I took?  I left a lot with Martina and consolidated as much as I could.  Now it's sitting up the attic of my parent's house just hanging out until we're back from Spain and I can us it again. 

My empty classroom.  The cool thing is that Martina will be posting today all about how she's taken this exact room and made it her own classroom!!  Check that out here.  Isn't she awesome?? 

Thanks so much for stopping by!! :)  Be sure to stop by the rest of the week to enjoy as much of the Teacher Week Fun as you can!!