Currently September

Coming to the end of week three! I cannot believe how fast time is flying by already!
I'm adjusting to my new kiddos and getting into the groove of things. A dead camera battery equals postponing some pics of my room later, so here is where things stand...

LISTENING: I love Throwing Shade! It's a amazing podcast my friend got me hooked on about a year ago. Bryan & Erin constantly crack me up! Great background nose while I'm working at home or when I need a quick laugh. Last week, my tweet was "favorited" by Erin! This is only epic because I tweet once every five months! Obviously, being from the south, we're not BFF! :)

LOVING: This is year nine and I'm constantly amazed at how often I'm inspired by my students and colleagues. I've feeling pretty lucky. This upcoming week, we're starting W.O.W. (Words of the Week). Hoping to increase student understanding of academic vocabulary for our World History class. In a nutshell...Students will be given 4 vocabulary words to focus on for the week. They'll be encouraged to use those words in their responses and speech to each other. We'll see how it goes....

THINKING: I'm starving. I wish someone was here to cook for me, but unfortunately, that's not my life. Not sure what's for dinner tonight, but I do need to start meal planning as temps start to fall. Yay football season! :)

WANTING: Along with a cook, I need a maid. I decided to reduce the clutter in my house and rearrange the furniture upstairs. Not sure what possessed me to make these changes at the beginning of the school year, but whatever. I'm gonna be super happy with my house feels like home again!

NEEDING: I had an amazing workout schedule over the summer. I miss it so! Can't wait to get back on schedule starting tomorrow. It'll be great to get moving again & to see my workout buddies!

3 TRIPS: My three trips are all upcoming (hopefully). In three weeks, I'll be in DC spending time with my bestie! YAY wedding week! She's marrying a great guy & I'm super thrilled and honored to be her MOH. I'm looking forward to see everything come together and to spend a few days away. Hoping to visit Austin, TX in October to see another friend get married and to visit an old college friend. Love the city & enjoy spending time with people that constantly make me laugh. Lastly, I'm hoping to visit the Carolina coast. More friends, my lil' sister, and delicious seafood makes it a perfect location to relax. Crab legs, anyone?!?! *Dream trips: Return to Spain & Brazil...*New Places: Finland & Lebanon

Checking out to grade papers! A teacher's work is never done,
BUT tomorrow is Friday!
Happy day! :)

Currently...

In one week, I will have officially finished my first day back at work! It's really crazy what is going to happen in the next two weeks before my new group of kids come on the 18th!

Sitting here trying (unsuccessfully) to plan for the upcoming school year.
Listening...I love me some NeedtoBreathe! I have to smile when I think about them!  I went to high school/ college with them and never would have thought this would be their life! However, I'm super proud and love watching their success!

Loving...I've been working out on a fairly regular basis since the spring. I found a place I love to go that's full of amazing and supportive people! I ordered my MOH dress in April and received it at the end of June. I was freaking out when I brought it home because I could barely get the zipper up. I tried it on two days ago to see if there was any progress and it's a smidgen too big! Happy dance! The wedding is in 7 weeks...I do believe things will be okay! :)

Thinking...I have a group of friends on FB who committed to setting a goal/ resolution each month instead of failing miserably a one or two goals at the beginning of the year. I tend to become really anti-social at the beginning of each school year so my goal for August is to have dessert once a week at a local restaurant. I don't eat out much and when I do, I'm always too full for dessert. I was going to change my goal, but now that my MOH dress fits...it's a go!

Wanting...This is the third time my car has been in the shop since February. It has caused me much stress and makes me want to move to a city where I could live in walking distance to everything I need! I haven't gotten any phone calls so I'm hoping the work is going smoothly and there are no hiccups that would cause my bank account to cease to exist!

Needing...I cannot get into my classroom. Normally, I'd be okay with this. This year, I'm a little anxious. We return on Monday, August 11th. We meet our kids and parents on the 13th. I'm hoping to have things looking presentable by the time they arrive! Hope there are some fairies that magically set up classrooms!

Now...I'll get to work!

Be sure to check out Teachers Pay Teachers! The sale ends August 5th!

Hope everyone has a great school year!

The Final Countdown...

Yesterday, I was so tickled to wake up and see that I sold my first product through TpT! This quickly reminded me that I have a job that I've been neglecting to prepare for (minus the countless hours I've spent on Pinterest this summer)! After looking at the school calendar, I realized I have two weeks before I return to school and three before I meet my new kiddos! Where in the world did the summer go?!? I find this difficult to comprehend and overwhelming! There is so much to do before the craziness of beginning another school year arrives.
I should probably upload all the pictures from last year and the summer break. I know there is some really good stuff I meant to blog about. Hopefully, I 'll be able to share of highlights over the next few days.
Thinking back, this past year was a crazy one for the record books! Cheers to time healing battle wounds!
This year's mantra:

Foreign Love Affair

Lots has been going down in Room 605 over the last few weeks! My favorite activity has been counting down the days until Spring Break! (I know you're wondering and the count is at 2)! Yay!

Lately, we have been studying the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome, but we took a day to learn about the countries of Malaysia, Senegal, Uganda, Brazil, and Morocco a few weeks ago.
We had the pleasure of hosting international English teachers at school for a day. These teachers are participants in the ILEP Program (International Leaders in Education Program) and are partnered with Clemson University. Go Tigers!

My kids were completed captivated! We learned about different foods, climates, holidays, and school requirements among other things. Before the day was over, my students were already asking when the international teachers would return! I find it amazing that we as humans can for lasting bonds in such a short amount of time! I'm so grateful my kids could get a small glimpse of this big world we live in. We had such a wonderful day!

 

Currently March...

It's March! Why is time flying by so fast and yet so slowly??? Spring Break is still more than a month away! I sure do hope I can make it without losing my mind.
And with that lets link up courtesy of Farley....here's my March (currently):

 

Listening: I'm so obsessed with the Gatsby soundtrack. Love, LOve, LOVE it! Very versatile with a lil' bit of edge.

 

Loving: I started crocheting a few months ago and (for the most part) love it! Somehow, the repetitive movement helps me relax. My friend and I are opening a booth this year and  hope to sell our crafts for a profit. Should be good clean fun! If I can get used to all these patterns and stitches, life would be golden!

 

Thinking: I am not a fan of bulletin boards. I've been trying to do a better job this year of changing them out and making them meaningful. I'll take all any ideas that can be easily executed (in the comment section)...thanks in advance.

 

Wanting: Sleep is such a treasure. Really not a fan of not sleeping more than 3-5 hours a night during the week! Please don't look at the timestamp.

 

Needing: My bestie from HS is getting married this fall. Super excited minus the fact that we live so far apart and cannot do all the fun things together. However, technology is awesome and keeps us connected. If only our schedules were easy to navigate. Spending some time this weekend looking searching for the perfect look. Yay shopping! :)

 

???: Any guesses? Leave them in the comment box below.

 

 



Thanks for stopping by!

Is it Spring Break yet?!?!?

February 2014 Currently

I haven't done one of these in a while. However, with multiple snow days on my hands, I have no excuse! It's also the middle of the month, but whatever. Link up here: Farley's Blog

 

 

I don't feel that there's anything questionable in this edition.

I am LOVING everything about Janelle Monae! She's amazing! Hope that make it to one of her concerts on day....yeah, bucket list!

We've used all of our snow days and then some. It never snows this much in the south. Hopefully, all will be forgiven. I was so looking for to some long weekends this spring, but mother nature has other plans.

My coffee pot broke two weeks ago. Not sure how, but it was not a good day. I just unpacked my new system and I LOVE it! It's red and shiny and programmable. Such a good decision!

Wanting & Needing...Seriously want to bake some cookies, but I don't think I'll show any self-restraint when they're done. I'm getting cabin fever and really need to workout/ move more. I really don't like being sedentary. I have been going to Zumba at a studio in town in love it. Hopefully, the roads will be cleared by Friday and I can go out and shake off this snow day weight I might be gaining.

Lastly....

TRUTH: I am a salsa dancer. Love the dance. Love the people. Love the music. 

FALSE: I hate mushrooms and I hate ravioli. the end.

TRUTH: I really do want to be a party/ wedding planner...one day. Unfortunately, rural SC isn't the place to hone those skills.

 

CHEERS TO SNOW DAYS!

SNOW DAY!!!

I have been awake since 5:30 am. For some strange reason, my body did not want to sync up with my brain because today is definitely a snow day! However, I felt like a little girl on a snowy Christmas morning watching the sunrise! I am still in some what of a trance five hours later!
Lots of new things going on lately....
(1) Making a renewed commitment to my blog (again). (2) Preparing to present at the state middle school conference...oh gah. (3) Started a TpT store AND (4) created a Resolution Revolution with about 12 friends where we make one resolution a month and update each other on our success/ failures.
In other news, we're starting our unit on monotheistic religions in class. My kids wanted to learn about Christianity first and I had 45 minutes to impart some knowledge. Instead of doing our traditional vocabulary (flashcards or foldables), I had the kids choose from one of three words from our lesson to define and draw a picture of as their bell ringer. Before the lesson, they partnered up and taught another student their word. This worked really well and took less than 10 minutes. Students were quick to identify the words throughout the lesson and could give the meaning in context by the end of class. Freak snow day success! I'll take it!

Now for editing/ updating site designs...
Happy Snow Day(s)!

First Semester Update: Part 1

I can hardly believe that I've literally not blogged since August! Time certainly does fly...

In my defense, I spent most of August through October completing requirements for my website on global education. A few new things are going to be added to the site over the next couple of weeks as I prepare to present at the SC Middle School Conference in February. You can access it here: Wildcats Globalized

In the classroom, I've been focusing on a few things this year including the following: technology use (with purpose), vocabulary strategies, and map skills.
I'm fortunate to teach about a variety of cultures, belief systems, and governments in my World History class. This year, I have 4 "regular" classes and 2 "advanced." Much of my time has been focused on developing an "advanced" curriculum since this is the first year we've had this track at my school. It has definitely been a learning process.

My first few posts of the new year will be dedicated to sharing some of the work of my students and some techniques that have worked and some that have failed.

Much of the first semester was spent of developing map/ geography skills. Many of my students couldn't label the seven continents on a map and also had difficultly finding North America. I knew we'd have our work cut out for us.
Already, students have completed several mapping assignments. Most are drawn/ traced by hand and labelled according to a requirement sheet. Two maps we've done this year are pictured.