A Peek At My Week

I have a feeling its going to be one of those CRAZY weeks in middle school.  When I say crazy, I mean it's going to be a struggle for that precious instructional time.

To start things off, today is a teacher's workday to end the 1st nine weeks. (Can I get a AMEN that we're 1/4th done with the year!)  I decided to take off this optional teacher workday because my house needed some TLC and I finished submitting my grades last week. We rarely get a day that isn't designated anyways....might as well enjoy it!

Tomorrow, the entire 8th grade takes the ACT EXPLORE Test.  This ensures chaos from a flipped lunch and elective schedule to accommodate time for testing.  I would guess 90% of students forget the test is tomorrow after a long weekend, so I can already anticipate their smiling faces in the morning when they're reminded of this test.

This week is everyone's favorite BOOK FAIR week at our school.  As a language arts teacher, poof! there goes another half day of instruction time...! I'm starting to think that we won't get much done this week....eek! Not the way I want to start our brand new 9 weeks off!

And probably the most important CRAZY peek at my week is the same for everyone else too...Halloween!   For students, and teachers, I think this makes for the longest day ever.  Kids are anticipating their evening festivities and teachers have trouble keeping students on task.

What are some special things do you do on Halloween for middle schoolers?  I'm not passing out candy, just a special Pumpkin Halloween Homework Pass good for my class only.  Candy for 90 students adds up quick, especially the good kind! :) Here's a copy of my homework pass if you're interested!

At my school, we don't have any "fun" special Halloween activities planned...just another normal school day.  And for that, I am thankful.  There will be enough excitement in the air as it is.  I'm planning on doing a "3:15" spooky short story lesson on Thursday that I found from I'm Lovin Lit's blog.  
I hope you have a frightfully, fantastic week!

S.L.A.N.T. Box Exchange

I was so excited to join in on the September S.L.A.N.T. box exchange.  Don't know what a SLANT box is?  Well, it stands for "Sending Love Across The Nation to Teachers" and that's just what it is.  Teachers and bloggers are paired up with each other from across the nation to exchange fun teacher essentials spending no more than $10 each month. You can opt in or out with only a one-month commitment at a time. If you're an educator who's interested in participating in next month's SLANT box exchange, you can sign up at Lessons with Coffee's blog.  I had so much fun picking out gifts for my partner who lived all the way in California.  Here are the goodies I sent her way.

 

The SLANT box I received came a whole 50 miles away from another town in NC...it's such a small world sometimes!  I think she did an awesome job and it definitely brightened my rainy day. I loved how everything was bright color-coordinated and very FUNctional as a teacher. 

 

 

What a great way to start the week! I hope you have a great week too!

 

 

Classroom Tour 2013-2014

After many years of blog stalking fellow teachers around the United States, I decided it was time to create my own teacher blog.  First off:  a little about myself.  I'm a third year teacher in eastern North Carolina and I'm currently teaching 8th grade English Language Arts.  For my first two years of teaching, I taught 8th grade Science and Social Studies.  So far, this year has been a dream--even in a brand new subject area. I'm so grateful that my students are fabulous and I get the opportunity to learn alongside them as I teach Language Arts.

Here is a little tour of my classroom for the 2013-2014 school year.  After lots of pinning, I decided to go with a movie theme (mainly because I loved the bold color combo of red, yellow and black.)  As of September, it's still a work in progress but I'm loving the color scheme.  This is the first year I have done a "theme" in the middle school classroom and I can already tell it's helping me keep things more visually organized and tidy.

 

 

I need to snap an updated picture of our reading corner.  The "celebrity of the week" gets to hang out in this area which now has a side table and a cozy lamp.  The greatest addition to my classroom this year has been a mirror.  Adolescents love to look at themselves and I know how important it is for students this age.  It's my goal to cut out unnecessary bathroom trips. :)

 

 

Thanks for looking. Come back soon!