Dear Teacher Who Keeps Forgetting to Breathe,

After these first few weeks in 6th grade, I was kind of forgetting to do that sometimes.

Whew.

In preparation for the move from 2nd to 6th grade, I spent my whole summer, day after day, week after week, organizing my classroom, studying up on the curriculum, and trying to become super teacher to fill the shoes of the woman who spent more than two decades in the position I was taking over. I was so prepared. I was over prepared. No one had ever been this prepared, I was sure. I was quite pleased with myself.

Eek. That was mistake number one.

Do you know Phillip Phillips? I am kind of an American Idol Fanatic :).

Call it weird if you want, but I have always had this intense connection with music. I keep hearing the line from this song in my head, "Troubles they might drag you down, but when you're lost you can always be found. Know you're not alone, I'm going to make this place your home"....

I was confident teaching 2nd grade. I was good at it and I LOVED it. Each day, I start to love 6th grade just a little bit more, but every time one of my little ones from last year comes to give me a hug, my heart melts a little and I just miss them so much! One day at a time, I sure hope I can make 6th grade my home :).

Fabulous Find Friday

Well, I had the best of intentions to make it into my classroom, but the best laid plans... well, you know how that goes! I did, however, manage to get a lot of errands done and almost finish decorating our main family room in our house (pics to come later!) and we FINALLY got a security system installed in our house, YAY! Now that may not seem like such a big deal, but my husband travels a lot, and not just like he travels next door- he works in the international division so yes, he travels internationally. Even though I know I am perfectly safe, I get a little skittish staying by myself overnight so I am thrilled to have the security system installed before his trip to Argentina this weekend! It just puts me a bit more at peace.

But on to more important things! I also managed to pick up some more fabulous finds for my classroom and am linking up with Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B for her Fabulous Find Friday Linky Party!

Here are my fabulous finds for the day:

First off, are these two big pads of scrapbooking paper that match my classroom theme. Let me tell you, I have big plans for these my friends! You will have to check back to see the finished pics of my classroom to find out! And the best part about these is that they were on sale for 40% off + I had a coupon for 40% off all items including sale and clearance items + they came from Michaels where I get my teacher discount! All this = 1 happy teacher!

Ok, now my next find also from Michaels. Pretty simple, just ribbons matching my color theme, but they were on closeout for $1 each and let's not forget my 40% off coupon + teacher discount! Gotta love Michaels, definitely stop by one soon if you have one in your area and haven't been there yet (even though I know I'm probably "preaching to the choir" with this advice!)

What's your favorite place to get fabulous teacher deals?

So, that's all for today's fabulous finds, but make sure to check my earlier post for my fabulous finds from Target. I DO actually plan on going into my classroom this afternoon, and I will post "before" pictures of the disaster that is my classroom right now. So until then, happy Friday!

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/

And so it begins...

Well, the back-to-school bug got to me! En-route to get a gift for a friend's wedding, I somehow found myself mesmerized in the Target dollar section... two hours later, I found myself leaving with quite the haul for my classroom :).

I was inspired by a fellow blogger's post on organization and might have gone a little bit "bin crazy"! But, one of my favorite buys is the dictionaries! I am so excited to finally have enough dictionaries for all of my students! AND BONUS- only $1 a piece, how can you beat that?!

I am moving from 2nd grade to 6th grade at my school this year (still in an elementary school), and I realized that I was severely lacking in intermediate/middle school classroom supplies.

I also picked up a WHOLE BUNCH of pocket charts. Not sure what I'm going to use them for yet, but for $1 each, I just couldn't pass it up.

Yesterday I made my first trip back to my classroom and brought all my fun new stuff in! I have A LOT of work to do because I had to move all of my stuff out of my previous classroom. Totally worth it with the awesome view I have of Lake Minnetonka out my window though! I plan to go back again tomorrow after my heat yoga work out and will update as I make progress!  Oh, and don't worry- In my giddiness over new school supplies and the start of a new school year, I still remembered to buy the wedding gift :).

New Blog!

After spending so much time reading other people's blogs in search of organizational and decorative ideas for our home and hopping from one teacher's blog to the next trying to plan hands-on meaningful lessons and activities for my students, I decided it was time to start a blog of my own. Yes, it is a fun way to share our daily journey with others, but mostly I just wanted a way to chronicle and remember the events that are happening in life with my family and friends.

In light of our upcoming first wedding anniversary, I am going to try and go back and highlight some of the more important events in the past year.....my life has changed so much in the past year, I feel like I need to go back and remember everything that's happened!