hey! look who has internet again!!

So it's been FAR TOO LONG since I've updated this here blog.  Long story short, I didn't have internet at my old place, but I just bought a condo and once again have joined the land of the wireless!  What's that saying, "home is where the wi-fi connects automatically?" ha! but for real...

So this past year was pretty awesome!  I ended the summer with a road trip to GoNoOdle headquarters (awesome visit!)!  My class and I made our television debut on the local CBS Friday afternoon news for a segment called "local teacher uses dance to keep kids fit and focused," featuring our use of GoNoOdle!  We won multiple pizza parties for our attendance at spirit nights, and we won two ice cream parties for collecting the most box tops!  Oh, and the whole class won free tickets to a Braves game over spring break for having the best handmade shirts when the Braves Caravan came to our school!  #winning!  haha!

So yeah, GoNoOdle is my jam!  They've got Camp GoNoOdle this summer with weekly adventures, camp songs, badges, and campers of the week!  Check out Mrs. Ehle's awesome post for all of the details!  Don't forget to sign up for a GoNoOdle account here!

I'm joining up with Mrs. Ehle's linky and sharing my faves!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Classroom Stuff and a Celebrity on My Class List!

So on my days off from the restaurant, I've slowly been gathering supplies for the upcoming year.  All of these items were purchased in June, even though I'm just now getting around to blogging about them.  I had every intention of linking up with Kristen for the

  

but the collections are closed (sad face).  I'm still showing off what I've picked up so far, so check them out below!

  

IKEA's MARIUS stool in blue (it's more of a dark teal though!)  These babies are only $6 a piece, I picked up six to go around my kidney table.  I like that they stack up nicely, and they don't take up as much space as chairs do.  I also can't stand having extra chairs in my classroom... they're just bulky!

 

paisley on turquoise border- this is going to separate the projection space for my mimio, and section off the remaining whiteboard space for homework, objectives, and such.

 

10" circles- these guys are going to be mixed with the letters below for my next Monday Made It!

 

black dot-to-dot letters- (see above)

 

pack of 30 Georgia symbols coloring pages, perfect for Social Studies!!

(I have a bigger one that I'll color as we learn about each of the symbols)

 

neon caddies for my tables from Michaels for $1!!! 

(I bought pink, purple, orange, yellow, and turquoise) 

dots on turquoise pennant border- this is going to go above my whiteboard area, to highlight the mimio space.  We can't have stuff hanging from the ceiling per the fire marshal, so this is my solution to the super cute pennants that people are creating.

I've also picked up these nameplates for desks and backpack cubbies

this is for my version of this

 

and I think that's it for now... I'm sure I have some random little things that I've forgotten, but now it's time to work on my supply list and welcome back letter to the kiddos... I received my own welcome back letter last Friday, and it said that our class lists were ready to be picked up.  I went up to school to pick it up and brought lunch to my ESOL teacher who is teaching summer school until next Thursday.  As of now I have 25 munchkins in my class, 13 are boys... and one, if not two boys are known behavior problems... OH, and Gregory Peck is the father of one of my new kiddos... which made me giggle, because I adore To Kill a Mockingbird.  At one point in my high school years I had 5 copies of this on my bookshelf.  I know it's not the real Gregory Peck, but I still giggled...

  

Can you believe that we go back on the 30th... of this month... it's soooo close!  I'm planning on having my welcome packet ready to mail by Friday, so I'll plan on posting pictures and descriptions of what's included on Friday!

Hope you had a safe and happy Independence Day, and that you still have all of your fingers!

My First Monday Made It!

Hey y'all!  I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for my very first Monday Made It! 

So here's the story... some of the first pins I ever pinned were of wreaths.  I was getting ready to move into my condo and I had this grand idea of making a wreath for every holiday (I really like holidays, I have a 3 foot "Holiday Conifer" in my classroom that we decorate every month!).  But life got in the way and the first wreath I made was last month for a friend's housewarming present... and when I was in Hobby Lobby gathering supplies for her wreath, I found these (well not these exact colors, but very similar... ). 

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them... maybe the fairy light garland with some ribbon added... maybe something else.  Then I saw this on Pinterest and I was sold!  I went back to Hobby Lobby for a wire wreath frame and whipped this baby up last night.  Now, if I had to do it over again, I would still cut the jellies into 6" strips (they're already in strips, but they're really long), but I would also cut them into smaller strips width-wise... probably just in half.  Here's why I'd do that... I ran out of fabric!!  and when I went back to Hobby Lobby today for another jelly roll, of course they were out of the one I chose.... so I walked myself to the ribbon (which was right next to the fabrics) and chose my favorite color.  I knocked out a giant bow and tied it to the side, then fluffed up the fabric to hide the gaps.  Sorry for the horrible pictures, I realized at 10pm that I forgot to take pictures when I finished it, so here it is on the back of my front door and on my fridge, it's being held up with a clippy magnet right now.  I'm very pleased with it!

I can't wait to hang it on my classroom door!  I'm thinking about writing "Miss Dennis" on the shorter tails... thoughts?

currently... my first!

I'm linking up with Farley's "currently" for the first time!  eek, exciting!!

head on over to link up!

2nd is the best!!

I linked up here

and then decided to take all of the second grade blogs and put them into a sqworl for us... if you're a second grade teacher and your blog isn't listed, post a comment and I'll be sure to add you!

Here's the link to the sqworl: feeling sqworly?

AND don't forget to sign up for the 2nd grade postcard exchange: see this post for more info!!

ps: I have to go to new teacher orientation tomorrow... when I originally went in 2007... who knows why I have to go again (not the county office, that's fo sho).  But it means that I get to work in my classroom for the rest of the week, so stay tuned for some more freebies and pictures!

hey all you pinteresting people!

Click the button to find out who else is pinning!

my favorite first day activity!

Jodi over at Fun in First Grade is having a BTS linky party and I just had to share this idea!  I bugged the snot out of my mom until she brought me stuff from storage at their house for this a few years ago.... First you need to locate your class picture from when you were in whatever grade you teach (mine is from when I taught 1st grade... I haven't made this year's yet, and I'm sad that I'm making a goofy face in my 2nd grade photo), then you make this: (and yes, it's a photo of my computer screen... my lappy is being mega annoying right now)

 Link up with Jodi! 

am i speaking french?

my favorite teacher website turned blogger, Mrs. Bainbridge is having a "my teacher says..." linky party.
1. I find myself asking my kiddos: "am I speaking French/Spanish/German??" when they're not doing what I've asked them to do.
2. when they're wasting time (not lining up properly), I say "oh that's soooo sad..." it's really funny when you hear them say that to someone else...

click here to link up!