About Time...For Must Have Monday?

It's Teacher Week!

Even though it's a day late (totally meant to get to this post yesterday, but I spent the day working on my classroom and then hosted a jewelry party last night so the day escaped me!), I am so very excited to be linking up with Blog Hoppin for Must Have Monday (on Tuesday)!

Last year during Teacher Week, I wasn't blogging yet (only blog stalking :) ha) so I didn't get to participate, but I sure enjoyed reading everyone else's posts...So let's get to the point, here are my top five must have teacher items:

1. Lots and lots of Sharpie markers. I use them every day for anchor charts, planning, projects, you name it... and having them in a bajillion colors is the best part because you can use them when color coding things.

2. My camera. Again, I use this every day in my classroom and not just to take pictures but videos, too. It's so great to be able to playback things that the kids do for them to see! 

3. Super Sticky Post-It notes. Enough said.

4. A super awesome Teacher Planner. I always feel like this contains my whole life each school year, which is almost true because I would be lost without it! I prefer to put my own together in the form of a binder rather than buying one from a store so that I can customize it to my needs. In addition to having my daily plans, I include forms for long range plans, monthly calendars, all of the standards so they are easy to reference, short "important information" pages for each student along with a section to record parent contact, pages for notes at staff meetings, and pages to store those super sticky post-it notes with my to-do list items. Phew. Is it any wonder that I almost hyperventilate when I don't know where it is?

5. Last but definitely NOT least, my caffeine in the forms of Caribou and Diet Mountain Dew. Yes, I might drink far too much of it, but I figure there are far worse vices :). 

Goodbye, Summer!

It seemed only fitting that I join up with Sheree @ Peterson's Pad for her Goodbye Summer Linky Party today because I got my Back to School letter with my class list and teacher workshop schedule from my principal. When I see that envelope from my school come in the mail each August, that always seems to make it official that summer is coming to an end and I can no longer live in denial that school is about to begin... That being said, I feel like I had an awesomely productive summer and I'm quite excited for this new school year, so with no further ado...

Here are the rules: Share four things about your summer!

1. A place you visited

2. A book you read (for school or fun)

3. Something you did or made for your school class

4. Something fun you did

Then comment on the two links before you and one after you!

1. For our first anniversary, we visited St. Croix Falls, WI. That's the St. Croix River in the background, it's really quite beautiful :).

2. I read a lot of curriculum books for 6th grade to study up for my move from 2nd grade up to 6th! I also caved and read the Hunger Games Trilogy, ha...

(Ok, so that Math in Focus text is actually for 5th grade but I couldn't find a pic of the 6th grade text!)

3. Well something I did for my class was a lot of studying! I've made quite a few things to decorate my classroom in the past couple weeks like posters for the classroom economy magazine files to hold my daily plans, a writing process clip chart, and the list goes on...but you will have to check back next week to see pics! I was in my classroom ALL DAY today and made tons of progress, just not quite ready for any revealing pics quite yet.

4. Something fun I did this summer is that I spent a lot of time putting things together in my house! My husband and I just built a house- We've still got a lot of work to do, but I'll give you a little peek into how things are coming:

So there you have it, my summer in a nutshell. Make sure to visit Peterson's Pad to link up and don't forget to visit MY linky party, too, by clicking on this link: Meet the Teacher Night Linky Party by Teacher Wife. Happy new (school) year!

Newbie Bloggers Unite

I'm trying out something new today and joining up with my first linky party! I thought it was only fitting to link up with others who are new to the blogosphere. Janis, over at Grade Three is the Place for Me is hosting a Newbie Bloggers Blog Hop! If you are a new blogger, hop on over to her blog and check it out!

http://gr3istheplace4me.blogspot.com/

All you have to do is answer the following questions:

1. What state you live in.

2. Your current teaching position.

3. Your teaching experience.

4. When you started blogging.

5. Share a blogging tip/resource.

Here are my answers:

1. I live in Minnesota, but I am a recent transplant from South Dakota, where I lived almost my entire life.

2. I am a 6th grade teacher at a small Catholic School.

3. This will be my third year teaching. My first year, I taught 3rd grade in a huge public district in Sioux Falls, SD. Last year I taught 2nd grade in the same school I will be teaching 6th grade at this year. I've kind of been all over the place! :)

4. I only started blogging in July 2012... but I have been blog stalking for quite a while!

5. I don't have a lot of blogging tips, but I'll share my favorite blog that I've been reading a little over a year now: Clutter-Free Classroom. Many of you might be familiar with it, but if you aren't hop over there RIGHT NOW! Seriously,  for any of you who are a little OCD with organization like I am, this blog will be your new best friend!

http://clutterfreeclassroom.blogspot.com/