Some Things I'm Loving

There is no tired like beginning of the year teacher tired. And of course, one of my little germ monsters adorable firsties got me sick already!

At eight days in.

Immune system, where were you?! You let me down. I even gave you extra vitamins!

Luckily, I seem to getting better with each passing day. Just a pesky cough and runny nose left.

Today, (a bit late to the party I know...)  I'm linking up with Katie from Katie Did What for her weekly Things I'm Loving series.

Kitchen Accessory: These ceramic pots. 

Evan and I purchased these after our wedding with some of our Kohl's giftcards and let me tell you - they are the best ever!! Nothing (and I mean nothing) sticks to them. Not even scrambled eggs!! They have a ceramic coating on them so food literally just slides right off. And there is no Teflon either so you don't have to worry about eating gross flaked off bits. If you are in the market for new pans, I'd definitely recommend them!

Clothing: Since it is still a million degrees in Phoenix right now, I am looking for ways to stay cool. For some unknown reason, people just do not wear shorts here. Like ever. Unless you are a teenager, small child, or working out. Even though it frequently is over 100 degrees. So I am looking for other ways to stay cool yet look work appropriate. I got these adorable shirts yesterday from Kohl's and American Eagle. 

Kohl's was having an awesome sale on LC Lauren Conrad line (which I adore). 65% off most of the stuff!! Say whattt?
So I got the white lace one and the blue beaded one for like $14 each?? The white one with the flowers was more but it was so cute and so sophisticated and I loved it. 

The black and white stripe one is from American Eagle, who is also having an amazing sale - 40% off everything AND free shipping if you order online. Seriously these sales should be illegal. But I am excited to have some breezy shirts to wear to work now. 

Restaurant: PF Changs. I feel like PF Changs is a place that I'm almost embarrassed to say that I love it as much as I do since it's so Americanized, but it is just so good! Evan and I went there for lunch yesterday - lunch specials, yay! - and this happened:

I didn't take that picture. Who has time to take pictures when something looking like that arrives at your place. The Great Wall of Chocolate. So good. So heavenly. So Chocolaty. And so unhealthy too.

Marlee Moment: It is no surprise that Mar Mar is mischievous. She has eaten too many things to count that dogs should not eat including palm berries, Legos, and socks to name a few. She also is sneaky. She will grab something and then trot away under the bed ever so stealthily. Evan and I were making breakfast and we emptied out an egg carton. I put it in our recycling and look who grabbed it out.

She was convinced it was for her! Her cuteness won of course and we ended up letting her play with it until she started to eat the cardboard. Then it mysteriously vanished, never to be seen again!

Back to School Activity: I love reading aloud to my kiddos. In fact, it was probably one of my most favorite things about teaching and here's why. Not only do I get to be overly dramatic when I read, I teach kids what is in our classroom library and that is how favorite books are found! I always read some Mo Willems and Pete the Cat books at the beginning of the year (crowd pleasers and teacher favorites). This year, I had my kids do an activity inspired by another blogger (if you know who, please let me know since I can't remember). We read Pete the Cat - I love my white shoes and then they got to color in a Pete the Cat and his shoes. Then we did a cut up sentence. The kids wrote the words and then I cut and mixed up the words. Then they glued them in the right order. They turned out so cute!! Plus a cut up sentence allows me to quickly assess students' writing/spelling abilities and their ability to reorder a mixed up sentence.

"I love my rainbow shoes."

"I love my purple shoes"

Seriously, how adorable!?!

Your turn! Go link up!

Classroom 2013-2014!

I really though (and I mean REALLY thought) that setting up my classroom would be easier the second time around. Move a table here, put a bookcase there, bulletin borders up, school supplies away? Right?

WRONG! It took my forever to get my room just right. I think I spent four full work days slaving away - pushing furniture around, putting books away, stapling (and restapling) bulletin boards. However, I do love the layout a lot more than last year so that's a win right?

Anyways, here are some pictures!!

View from the front door - the listening center is off to the left and the whole group area is off to the right.

My classroom library. Right behind the library are the student computers - to avoid curious eyes from watching other students on the computers.

My small group area. I like being by the windows =)

Whole group area and Activboard (which is now working! Yay!)

School started on Wednesday and I love my kiddos already! I have a really great group of darlings, although I had forgotten how kindergarten-ish they still are! I'm used to my well-trained first grade-almost second graders and now I have to start all over again. But they really are sweet and pretty cute! And one of them is even from Milwaukee! I got pretty excited when I saw that on her paperwork! I currently have 26 kids on my roster but one hasn't shown. Even with a first grade position cut, I still started off with the same amount of little first grade friends as last year.

Here's to a happy and successful year!