Let's Have a Sale! It's Christmas in July!

I love to shop! And I love a sale even more!

I will be celebrating Christmas in July and linking up with the ladies over at Blog Hoppin' with a sale in my TPT store. Over the next two weeks you can pick up some of my products at 20% off! Woo hoo!

For today and tomorrow my Back to School and Fall units/activities are discounted. Head on over to my store to see the products on sale!

And remember to check back throughout the next weeks for changes in sale products! Happy Christmas in July!

Melissa

What to do for Back to School?

Sometimes I just want an easy answer. Don't you?

So, if you were thinking, "What am I going to do the first few days back to school?"

Here are some ideas! In fact, here are my plans! Sometimes it is just nice to see what other teachers are up to, you know what I mean?

And where did all these ideas come from? Well, here are lists and/or links to all of the things I'm using the first few days (minus my LA program. It's Treasures...).

Books I will Read:
1st Day Jitters by Julie Dannenburg
First Grade Stinks! by Mary Ann Rodman
A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone
The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas
No! David and David Goes to School by David Shannon

I always have books on hand to read. I keep them in a bin near the front of the room. Most of them are the traditional B2S books. The ones above are the MUST reads for the week and anytime I have a free moment we choose from the bin.

Products from Other Teachers:
Fun With Firsties by A. Mullins
No! David/Peacemaker, Peacebreaker by C.Carroll
Apple Craftivity by Lesson Plan Diva

I wholeheartedly endorse the three products above. Best part... 2 out of 3 of them are Free! I use them and variations of them each year. I like to pick and choose from the products and make them work for my room. I have had success with all three!

My Creations:
August Math Journals
What I like About Music
All About Me!
Figure Me Out!

These too, are all free! Yay! But, if you end up loving the August math journals, you can purchase the rest of the year in my TPT store :) I also have a few other B2S products in my store for purchase like my This Is the Way We Go to School mini unit!


Pinspirations in these plans:
Figure Me Out
Up The Ladder
Capital Letters
Punctuation Poetry

Questions? Did I forget something? Let me know and I'd be happy to explain or point you in the right direction :)

I hope this helps you in your B2S planning! Sometimes right there answers are amazing!

Melissa

Getting My PLAN On!

Happy Sunday!

I am leaving for a family vacay here in a few days and am determined NOT to plan while on vacation. So that means I have been PLANNING all this week.

So how do I plan? It's totally a step process. I start big and work from there with end goals in mind... Backwards Planning... WHHHAAATTT!!! I guess all those college classes sunk in lol!

This is where I begin.

I build this yearly plan based off of what I want to cover in each month. Somethings NEVER change (like our district adopted program, Treasures), but everything else I move around to fit what will work for the year! And since I teach science, music, art and PE for my own class, I get to choose those units and their order as well!

Once my yearly plan is complete, or complet-ish, I build my daily schedule. This year our daily schedule will look like this:

This schedule goes through MANY changes before I settle on one I think will work for the year. In fact I made one last change just yesterday... can you spot the arrow switch? I'm swapping Wednesday's PE to Thursday! Now, I think I've got it, fingers crossed.

SO NOW WHAT?

I break out my planner!

I'm mostly a paper and pencil gal. In the past I used a stock Lakeshore or CTP planner, but I HATED writing in the times every week! So now, I like to make a customized page that fits my personal classroom schedule and then I make TONS of copies, hole punch them and add them to my teacher binder.

However, this year I have put the first few weeks together on the computer. I'll will probably switch back to pencil and paper when I have access to the school copier! Here is what it looks like :)

 

So clean and neat! Maybe I will keep with the computer...

You can get an editable blank version HERE! But you will need to have the font: TheBasicApple and PowerPoint!

In order to get this all filled in with activities I have to have the table look like this! AAAHHH!

There's even a TM on the floor... it's no too bad, right? I look through all my activities, align activities with content from our programs, scour Pinterest for inspiration and check back through TPT purchases I have made. Combine those things with my tried and true favorites and BOOM! I've planned ;)

So, that's how I get my PLAN on! How do you plan? Anyone using Planbook.com?

Until next time!

Melissa