Ten Things I Want to Do This Summer



My list is pretty simple really. You might laugh at my number one.

1. Go to the grocery store when it is virtually empty except for the senior citizens doing their weekly shopping! Normally I go on Mondays after school because Sundays are crazy busy at our grocery store. Mondays are equally busy, but since Mondays are long anyway I may as well make them REALLY long.

2. Reorganize parts of my house: my desk, my cabinets full of crafty items, and my pantry. 

3. Home improvements: it won't be me doing the work, but I'll be here to supervise. We're painting the inside of the house, painting the pantry shelves, replacing bathroom countertops, maybe replacing carpet, and getting a new front door. It's a lot but it will make a huge difference and the house will look brand new!

4. Buy a new pair glasses. 
I hate my glasses. My choice of frames was a mistake. Yuck.

5. Read!! I have a cart full of books on Amazon that I can't wait to read.

6. Bake like fool.
I love the blog Two Peas and Their Pod. I pin recipes from that blog ALL.THE.TIME. But I never have time to actually make any of them. It's on the to-do list. Especially when it's over 100 degrees here and you're stuck inside.

7. Visit Seattle. 
Seattle is our happy place. We're going back for the 4th and then at the end of the summer for two weeks. I can't wait!

8. Take naps!
Naps are important. I catch up on all the sleep I missed out on during the school year while I was up late laminating or worrying about a student.

9. Work out.
Notice this one is waaaaay down on my list. I don't actually like working out until I'm into a routine. I try to stick with it when school starts. Some months are better than others. It was tough for me to fit in a work out this year. It will be easy to do early in the morning.

10. Catch up on blog reading! I feel like this year I had several months where I had things going on personally and professionally and just couldn't find any time to read blogs. I'm way behind and I'm looking forward to sitting for hours on my back porch reading, adding items to my TPT wish list, and pinning great ideas. I love blogs. I've missed reading them! 



Summer Reading List


I'm joining Marie from The Hands-On Teacher in First for a summer reading list linky party. 
I just signed up to complete National Board Certification! I'm so excited and SO terrified, but like my nail lady says "Never try, never know" so I'm going for it! 
I have two teaching related books in my Amazon cart right now 

First is The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson. I've heard good things about this book and you never know what you might learn.

The next is a book I had never heard of until my friend Wendy mentioned it. I'm curious so that's made it on my list too. It's 100 Minutes: Making Every Minute Count in the Literacy Block by Lisa Donohue. I think there is a blogger out there planning a books study on this as well.


I have been waiting to read the last book in the Millennium Trilogy. I don't want the series to end!

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest!


But I'm waiting until vacation because I'm a SUPER fast reader and at least on vacation we're busy doing other things so I can make the book last! The whole series is dark and suspenseful and incredibly well written. You can't even guess the twists and turns in plot. SO DARN GOOD!

I'm always game for more book suggestions! Link up with Marie so I can add more to my summer reading list.





How well do your students know you?

Oh yeah! We're in the home stretch folks! 9 more days with kids. That's just 72 hours....but who's counting? HA!

Last year I made this little questionnaire for my class to see how well they really knew me. My group last year REALLY knew me well. I think my favorite was "What is one thing your teacher doesn't like?" One of my girls said "The light blue Mr. Sketch marker." HAHAHAHA! That one smells just awful. Nobody wants to smell mango or whatever it is. I think I mentioned that only a handful of times, but that really stuck in this little girls mind.

In those last few days when you are rushing to pull everything off of your walls and pack it away into your cupboards this is too much fun. Click the pic to download.


And OH YEAH...How AMAZEBALLS is my new blog design?! I'm so very in love with this design and Megan was a dream to work with! Check out her design site A Bird in Hand Designs if you're thinking of getting a new design!


Confessions of a First Grade Teacher

We've worked ourselves to the point of exhaustion all year long to make sure our students become successful. We've created new centers, searched Amazon for a new books, spent hours on Pinterest and now we're on countdown. The end is in sight! 

But....I feel I need to be completely honest so it's time for some teacher confessions!


1. I took an entire stack of papers that I didn't want to grade and stuck those bad boys into the recycle bin. 

2. I don't understand why we crammed so much curriculum into the first semester. Now we're through everything and have five weeks left. So....why write in my planner? (I didn't this week!)

3. I am still baffled when eleventy million days into school a student asks during math stations, "Are we at reading or math stations?" Could that question be an indication of how they will score on state tests later in life? Just a thought. 

4. If I hear the DRA story Allie's Wish one more time I might scream. 

5. My nephew sent me a Flat Stanley project in December. I didn't have to take pics with him. I just had to write our city on the back and send him on. Well, it came right before Christmas. I put it in a "do that later" pile....well....I just found it last week! CRAP. Like 5 months later?! Lesson for everyone: don't send out Flat Stanley projects at CHRISTMAS!

6. I stuck said Flat Stanley in the mailbox this morning. It was still there this afternoon because I forgot to put a stamp on it. 
Been very blonde lately. (I can say that because I actually am blonde...or am I?)

7. If it weren't for Brainpop Jr. we'd be doing nothing during Social Studies.

8. I didn't check my email at school today because I don't want to read another email from a certain person.

9. I'm 99.9% certain parents never read my newsletter so I'm going to keep the same one and change the date until the end of school. I may even put song lyrics instead of what we're learning.

10. Two years ago the whole staff had to do a "All About Me" poster on an 8 x 11 piece of paper. I made mine super cute but full of lies. All song lyrics. Did you know "I'm a good girl, crazy about Elvis, and love horses?" BAHAHAHA. Waste of time project. No one even read those. 

Now it's your turn to confess! I can't be the only naughty teacher out there!





Getting a little goofy with grammar

I introduced my first Goofy Grammar page to my class today and it was hilarious!
My Goofy Grammar pages are similar to Mad Libs, but students have word banks to choose from so everyone can be successful. It also helps to reinforce the meaning of adjective, nouns, and verbs.

First I did one on the projector and let the kids help me choose the words. When I reread the story they were practically rolling on the floor laughing. I let them do their own at the end of the day and they had more fun reading and re-reading their grammar stories to each other.

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That's what we teachers want, right?! We want all of our students, especially our reluctant readers, to WANT to read. When I told my class Goofy Grammar was going to be one of their new stations they were ecstatic! 

You can find my Goofy Grammar pages HERE at my TPT store.