Monday Made It/Crunch Time!!

Wow! It's crunch time over here in the Williams' house! I start New Teacher Orientation next week!! (Still no word on when I can get into my classroom though o__O!!!!!!) I can't believe that another Monday has come and gone. This will maybe be my last Monday Made it because school starts in three weeks (AHHHHHH!!!!). So I'm linking up with Tara and the Gang over at 4th Grade Frolics!

I cracked open my laminator today and used up the two free pouches it came with! Holy Moly I'm in love!! I think it's the most amazing purchase I've ever made, super easy to use. Step 1: Take it out of the box. Step 2: Plug it in! Step 3: Push the On Button/Wait for the Ready Light. Step 4: Ready to go!

So I found you've been ticketed by the desk police inspiration on Pinterest of course! Originally from Third Grade Love. She's giving away freebies so you should take a look! I love the idea, but I thought they needed to be a little bit smaller and more durable so I could use them over and over again!

Here's the original:

And here's what I came up with!

 I laminated them as well so students can return them to me. This will allow me to check their desk and make sure they actually cleaned it, but also I can reuse the tickets again and again!

I also started working on some of my storage bins today. I made my own label using photo shop. Here's a blank one if you would like to use it!

And then I wrote on them and used packing tape to put them on the Sterilite bins I bought from Target (Love their college sales btw!)

That's all I've really finished so far, I have a lot of other WIP projects but I'm busy being a mommy to Tyrion. He's a little sick so I've been giving him meds, but thankfully he is on the mend!

Come and join the party!

August Currently!/Portable woes

Wow! August already...I have 20 days before I meet my kids for the upcoming school year and 24 before the first day of school! I'm starting to panic a little. This year I'm going to be in a portable and the portables are still being set up and adjusted in front of the school building so unfortunately I can't get in their and start setting up yet -___-! I'm panicking just a little...time is slowly slipping away.

Anywaayyyy to the August Currently! Come link up with Farley and the rest of the gang over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade!

I just ordered myself a personal laminator after seeing it on many blogs, I'm eagerly waiting it's arrival so I can get started on laminating my stuff for back to school!

The Creative Teacher is by the same people who brought you the Organized Teacher. It has a lot of great idea for lessons that will both engage the students and promote higher order thinking. It's awesome!

All I have to say is, ever since middle school the glittery BIC mechanical pencils have been a staple in my back to school cart. I must have thousands of them. 

So come join the party! 

And here's a picture of my little pricklebutt playing hide and seek with me and the bf this morning

New [School] Year Resolutions

So like any teacher, there are definitely things that I KNOW I need to work on to make sure next year goes off without a hitch. However, as a new teacher, I also know that I need to be realistic in my resolutions so not to give myself a panic attack every time something goes wrong. 
Here's an opportunity for me to set my goals in public in attempts at actually keeping them! Amanda over at Teaching Maddeness is hosting a New School Year Resolution linky party where you state resolutions for the upcoming teaching year. So here are mine!
Resolution #1: Don't go bankrupt! This is my first year teaching so of course I'm starting from scratch. I don't have any school supplies in reserves and I need to basically create a learning environment that is conducive and safe within the next two weeks. No pressure right? I swipe my debit card as if I have endless funds even though that is not the case. So, my resolution is to prioritize, do I really NEED those extra packs of sticky notes? Not really, though I do WANT them. 
Resolution #2: Take it a day at a time. I am a serious perfectionist (aren't we all), so when I was doing my student teacher I attempted to be planned almost a week ahead of time. Now I know that is an unrealistic expectation to have for myself now that I'm starting my very first year of teaching. I need to learn to live in the present instead of the future, which is one of my greatest personality flaws. 
Resolution #3: Don't be afraid to ask for help. Last year during my Master's/Student Teaching I almost had a mental breakdown because I was attempting to do everything by myself. I pride myself in my ability to do pretty much everything without asking for help, but sometimes that is not the best policy. This year I'm going to do my best to take it slowly and remember that even though I might feel like I know everything, I definitely don't. 
Resolution #4: Take some time for yourself(myself). Everyone always says that nothing is as stressful as your first year. Well, being on the cusp of my first year, I'm trying to get into the mindset of that being a reality. I'm going to set a time at the beginning of the year and when that time comes, I'm going to walk out of my classroom and go home/the gym/the bfs house, what have you, so I can get a fresh start for the next day. 
So that about sums it up! Come and join the party!