I held a gecko today, and have a lot of work to do tonight...

One of my New Years resolutions was to try to get more work done at school, instead of bringing so much home.  Which would mean I'd actually have to start planning during planning, say what?!?!??! Seriously though, who plans during planning?  I love visiting all of my teacher friends throughout the school and having free therapy sessions with Shafer. Our school secretary has gotten so used to this she automatically knows which classrooms to page if she needs us during planning.

I honestly did soooo well yesterday (maybe because Shafer was M.I.A?) and got a whole math lesson done.  Today though....I failed.  One of our wonderful first year teachers down the hall thinks its super cool to have living things in her classroom.  I will be the first to admit, I have never even touched a frog.  I don't associate with things that crawl, hop, have suction cup feet, are slimy, are green, are bumpy, stick their tongue out every few seconds, etc.  Which means, I've been avoiding her room since she got this thing.  I went in to her room today to borrow some card stock...and my favorite kiddos from last year begged me to hold their beloved pet.  I then ended up spending the 50 minutes of my planning sitting beside the gecko's cage to warm up to him....then right before my kids came back for P.E.,  I did it!  Moral of the story: I held a gecko today, and have a lot of work to do tonight.

I would like it to be known that I rarely am ever caught not posing/smiling in a picture.  It is  totally out of my control...you can call me all the names in the book, but I don't do it voluntarily.  It is like the smile and head tilt are ingrained in my being. Having said that, you can see my attempted pose above...except I couldn't take my eyes off that sneaky thing.  

On a Desk Fairy Note....I have implemented the program and my kiddos love it.  See above for how I  fashioned the jar that they put their desk fairy notes in. I added fun glitter, sparkles and sequins to the bottom to jazz it up.  Also, I was out of color ink....so I'll be updating this soon!

The Desk Fairy Has Landed...

So in college, I had a ton of professors who explained that the "feeling" of your classroom will rub off on your students and set the tone.  They also said that if you are organized, your students will be too.  Well friends, I am organized.  So organized sometimes, that I forget where I labeled and put something important.

In the beginning of the year, I always take Friday afternoons to model for my students how to organize and clean out their desk.  After awhile, in my head, this should be catching and they should do it automatically.  Not so much. Enter the Desk Fairy....

I know there are 1000,00000,0000 versions of a desk fairy system out there...I also know 1000,00000,0000 isn't a real number. But, I wanted to create one using original lyrics and rhymes!  Check out my TPT store here, or click the picture below to go right to the item!

Happy Snirt Week Friends...

 Let me just start by saying that as a Christian, I celebrate Jesus' birth all year long.  Being a Christian isn't always fun,rainbows, butterflies and super sparkly days, but my belief in Christ does give me a joyful heart even when I am not "happy."

BUT that week after the actual man-made holiday of Christmas....that time is kind of depressing.  I think I like the build up (Thanksgiving-Christmas Eve) so much more!  I equate the week after Christmas to the week after a freshly fallen snow (which by the way, with this global warming stuff...I doubt I'll ever see snow again in MD).  You know when the pretty snow (Christmas) starts to melt and mix with dirt and becomes that nasty brown mess (the week after Christmas)?  Well that nasty brown mess, my friends is SNIRT (snow/dirt).  And we are in the midst of snirt week.  Good luck!

Snirt week has a way of highlighting the things in your life that you weren't noticing during the freshly fallen Christmas snow time....

1. I need to get out of my vacation coma and do lesson plans.
2. We still have a lot of school left in the year.
3. IRA's and report cards are looming in the January forecast.
4. I have no room in the inn for all of my clothes/accessories.
5. My dog is not as trained as I thought she was.
6. I somehow have acquired a taste for very expensive things (David Yurman, Tory Burch, etc.)  These brands aren't sold at Target...and hello, I'm a teacher.
7. I pay for the gym monthly...enough said.
8. Eating peanut brittle and sugar cookies for breakfast isn't socially accepted after January 1st.
9. I only have four more days to wear yoga pants.
10. Can someone please sell me their adorable, little, perfect for a single teacher house...for relatively cheap?

In other snirt week news, I FINALLY finished my snowman literacy activity packet for TPT. Check it out!

My next task is to create 'THE DESK FAIRY" system that I threatened my students with before I left.  Stay tuned for that!  

Also, before I depress you too much....

Holy Teacher Chair!!!!! I cannot wait to set this up in the front of my classroom!

Holy Teenage Sister...when did that happen??!!?!?