My Slant Box!

I wanted to do this earlier, but throughout this past week, I've been sick :(
 Today was the first day that I actually wanted to do things so I had to post about whats been going on since the start of the school year. Most importantly though, i have to tell you about my August SLANT box. On Tuesday, I received my SLANT box from Mrs. Mathis all the way from Ontario, Canada!

First of all before unveiling anything. I want to thank Renee from Mrs. Mathis' Homeroom for her hard work in putting together this box. Love it!

Here's a picture of my box: 

When I opened the box up, there were a lot of cute items that Renee had put together. Including a little Canada flag pin which is now on my ID badge for school.  

Here are some of the items: 

There were even items for my cat, Crookshanks. She LOVES the treats! 

I really like the mug for my tea that was sent. It's perfect for my desk because my classroom is always soo cold. It's so fitting!  

Finally, my favorite item in the box were some personalized Marshall in the Middle key chains!!!! LOVE THEM!!!

I love my SLANT box! That you again Renee. I also want to thank Jameson at Lessons with Coffee for organizing this! I will definitely be participating in the SLANT box exchange again in the future!!

That's all for now! 

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Back to School Sale

Well ready or not, my students are coming back on Monday (oh and I have pictures of my classroom to reveal then too)!  To celebrate going back-to-school, I'm joining up with TpT sale and all of the items in my store will be an additional percentage off!  Don't forget to enter the code BTS13 to get the total percent off your purchase!  Have a great beginning to your school year!!! :)

Oh and by the way, thanks to Ink n Little Things for the cute banner! Love it :)

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New Items & Classroom Set-Up

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe that I am in my final week working summer camp!  This summer has flashed in a blink of an eye. A lot of that probably has to do with the fact that I work full time Monday through Friday.  I know, I've been a little MIA from the blogging world over the last week because I've actually been setting up my classroom and putting the final touches on some new products that I made to kick off the year. I also am only working two days this week at the camp because I am kicking off the school year on Wednesday.

Here are some of the items that I have been working on:

1. First is my classroom theme for the school year.  I've been working on it for a while and I finally put the finishing touches on it.  Most of the items are available individually, but I like the who bundle together.  Also of this is up in my classroom and I'll have picture of it later this week! 

2.Classroom Supply Labels: I'm usually an extremely organized person.  This year I decided to create new classroom supply labels for my bins in my room. 

3. Polka Dot AR Chart: Since I am teaching Language Arts this year, I wanted to create a cute AR Chart for my classroom. So here a freebie if you want it. The item is editable and allows you to type in your students' names.  Click on the picture below to snag a copy of your own. 

4. Cooperative Learning Groups (Sports Themed): Although this item is in the sport themed classroom bundle. It's probably my favorite in the package. Since I teach science, I am also grouping the students in various ways. Last year, I started a new system where I had my students getting into to groups of four.  From there they were to develop a group name and assign roles for their group. I then took the slip of paper that I gave them and posted it up some where in the classroom where the students could see it. This method worked really well, so I decided to bring it back this school year, but with a twist to tie-in with my sports classroom theme.  I developed large posters for the wall & smaller task cards to hand off to the students while working in groups. Click on the picture below to check it out :)

Anyway, that's all for now.  I promise to return with before and after shots of my classroom when I complete it Wednesday. 

Toodles :) 

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I completely accept!!

Hello everyone! I am pleased and very excited to announce that Jameson from Lessons with Coffee recently nominated me for a Liebster Award. Getting a blogger award is a great way to learn more about fellow bloggers and I'm honored to be receiving it.

As many of you know, the Liebster Award is for up and coming blogs that have less than 200 followers. So what is a Liebster you may ask? A Liebster is a German word that means sweetest, kindest, dearest, cute, endearing, etc. Such a thoughtful award :) 

Here are rules to accept this award: 

(1) Link Back to the Person that Nominated You

Thank you Jameson!

(2) Answer the questions from you nominator
1. Do you like your handwriting? I get a lot of compliments on my handwriting, but I don't particularly see why people like it.  I know that my handwriting is neat but I prefer many others over my own.
Here is a sample of my handwriting:

2. Are you a get to work early, or stay after school late teacher? I'm both actually, haha... I'm usually the first person to work and the last person to leave on most days. I've become friends with the day and night custodians and the secretary.  Everyday, I drive a little more than 40 miles to teach.  Since I live Ohio and drive through the heart of the snow belt, I like to give myself some travel time just in case the weather is bad or there is a traffic jam.  When I arrive to work early, I usually make myself a cup of hot tea and grade papers until I have team meetings for a half an hour before school starts.  At the end of day, I then prepare for the next days lesson.

3. Talk for a second about one initiative that your school has adopted that you either loath or love. Our school district recently got grant funds to focus on blended learning. When I heard about it I had to join in. With technology being such an import part in my students lives, I feel that I need to keep up all of the changes.  Throughout the school year, I will be creating a blended learning course

4. What is one new thing (or thing if you are new) that you really want to try in your classroom this year? Hmm the choices... Every year I'm coming up with new things to implement in my classroom. Since I am switching grade levels and am teaching a new subject, I find myself coming up with even more things this year.  One of things that I will be implementing is piggybacking off of Ladybug Teacher Files. I am going to do my own version of the Great Pencil Challenge, I'm really excited about it. The reason why I decided to do this is because I am teaching 35 minute science classes and am worried about the time constraints.

5. How do you handle substitutes? When I do take a day off, which isn't often, I am very meticulous and find the when I'm taking a day off or working with a substitute, I leave such descriptive  details that a random person off the street could teach my lessons. When working with other substitutes, I try to be as helpful as possible. I understand that they may not be familiar with the policies of the building or that particular classroom.

6. What is your favorite kind of candy? Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I could eat a bag in one sitting if given the option. 

7. What is the first thing you notice about people? Their smile. A smile tells me how friendly a person is.  If its a kind smile, I am more likely to say hello. 

8. What are you reading now and how do you like it? For fun, I have been working my way through the James Patterson's, The Woman's Murder Club series. I like the series because its interesting, keeps my attention and is an easy read when I'm really tired. For professional use, I've been reading "Teaching Science with Interactive Notebooks," by Kellie Marcarelli. Over the past year, I've been using science notebooks in my classroom and love them. The book gives a lot of examples and illustrations for ideas to use in the future. 

9. Do you have any special talents? I would like to say that I do, but unfortunately I don't

10. Is there a YOUTUBE video that you always show kids (I am selfish here and going to do You Tube time everyday...I need a play list! lol)? It depends on the subject, for history, I love showing the daily clip of what happened on this day, it always gives the kids something's to talk about. 

(3) Share 11 Random Facts About Yourself

1. I have a cat named Crookshanks that is named after Harry Potter. She is quite the character and knows her name.  When you say it she makes peculiar sounds that are not meows.  

2. I am a workaholic, hardly a day goes by when I'm not working on something.  Not only do I work throughout the school year in my teaching job, I also work full time (over 40 hour a week) running a summer camp with 235 kids and 23 counselors. I also try to find time in my busy summer schedule to blog and create Tpt products. My husband says that if I wasn't working I wouldn't know what to do with myself, which is probably true.

3. I am quite short, 5' 1" and a half to be exact. I gotta add in that extra half of an inch to make me feel taller. Many if not all of my students are taller then me.

4. I religiously watch Cleveland Indians baseball during the summer. Win or lose, I am a diehard fan! If I'm not at the game (which I would rather prefer to go), chances are I'm watching it at home. Go Tribe!! 

5. I come from a very musical family. My dad performed in musicals and shows in high school and college and passed the love of the theater to me. Hardly a day goes by when I'm not humming or signing to a song. I recently saw the Book of Mormon when the tour came to Playhouse Square. The show was hilarious! I loved every minute of it.  There are not many shows that I haven't seen that I love in some way.

6. I love diet coke... I know it's not good for me and that pop in general is bad, but I love to drink a can a day. I can't help it, its where I get my caffeine fix since I don't actually drink coffee.

7.  My siblings are I are really close. They are my friends for life. My sister is 14 months younger then me, my brother is 14 months younger than her, and my sister is 2 years younger than him. All in all, there are 4 of us in 5 years.  All of my friends are friends with my siblings and my siblings friends are my friends. 

8. I met my husband on a set-up (unknown to me) at a No Doubt and Paramore concert.

9.  I have a Simpson's clock in my office at home that chimes clips from the show every hour.  I really enjoy those clips even though I have heard them hundred of times.  Although I have not watched the show in years, the clock reminds me of my childhood, growing up watching the show and quoting Bart Simpson. 

10. I love to read books. I usually finish a book at least a book a week.

11. Most mornings I don't need an alarm clock to wake me up. My internal clock wakes me up about 15 minutes before the alarm rings everyday.

(4) Nominate Five More Blogs with Less Than 200 Followers

Easing in to Room 100

Shenanigans in 6th-Math

Anchored in the Middle

Principal Principles 

 Oh My Science Teacher! Middle School Blog

(5) Pose Questions for Your Nominees
1. When was the first moment you realized that you wanted to be an educator?
2. What's your favorite season of the year?
3. What was the name of your favorite teacher and why?
4. What's your favorite food?
5. Do you love or loathe exercise?
6. What is the most watched movie/DVD in your collection?
7. Do you collect anything, if so what?
8. What is one skill or hobby that you have always wanted to learn?
9. Why did you decide to start blogging?
10. What's the first thing you would do if you won the lottery?

Welp, that's all for now.  Thanks for sticking around till the end. Oh, and if you're interesting in knowing my answers the the questions I gave to my nominees, just ask :)

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Slant Box, Giveaway, & Currently

Hello Everyone, I can't believe it's August! Where has the time gone this summer! I have exactly 12 days until my school year kicks off with three in-service days. It's definitely crunch time now!

It's been a few days since I've posted, but a lot has happened.  I recently got nominated for a Leibster Award by Jameson at Lessons with Coffee.  I'll post my responses tomorrow, I'm so excited!! Jameson also recently posted this awesome idea that she had to link up with fellow educators called the Slant Box.  If you want to learn more about it, click on my button on the right hand side of my page :)

Also, Stephanie at Princial Principles is throwing this really awesome back-to-school giveaway. Click on the link below to enter for your chance to win!!

Finally, since it's the start of August, it means it's time to link up with Farly at Oh Boy! Fourth Grade for this months edition of Currently.

 

Listening: I love John Mellencamp! I can remember many summer days when I was a kid driving around with my mom listening to John Mellencamp. My favorite song is "Small Town." 

Loving: Last Friday I decided that I needed a change, so I cut off about 6 inches to give myself a cute little bob to go back to school with. 

Thinking: Dessert, I'm thinking ice cream, cookie dough or mint chocolate chip, Mmmm

Wanting: Since Tomorrow my summer camp is throwing a benefit car wash for a child in the community who has cancer.  I want it to go well so we raise a lot of money for the family, but it is adding a lot of stress on me right now. 

Needing: I need to go to bed at a normal hour tonight because of my big day tomorrow.  I need to doesn't mean I will though :-P

B2S Must Haves: 

1. Flair pens! I love all of the colors and they are the best pens to grade with because they act like markers, but don't bleed through the paper.  I get a set every year. 

2. Papermate pens in blue: I always by the cheap set for $1 for 12, I love them. 

3. Desk Calendar: I am super organized all the time, I have my phone calendar, desk calendar, pocket calendar, and lesson plan calendar every school year.  

That's all for now :)

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50 Tpt followers in 50 Days!

Well, I've only been posting and creating items for Teachers Pay teachers for a few months.  When I started posting items, I had hoped that I would develop a fan base. So I'm excited to announce that over the past 50 days, I have gained a follower everyday.  Although 50 is not many to some, to me, it means the world that fellow teachers like the items that I create for my classroom.  To celebrate gaining 50 followers, I am throwing a 15% off sale on my Teachers Pay Teachers site Sunday, 7/28 through Wednesday 7/31. Happy shopping!!  I hope that in the upcoming months, my fan base will continue to grow. For now though, I'm going to celebrate the little things :)

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Mini-Genre Labels & Posters

As I commented in an earlier post, I'm going to be teaching Language Arts for the first time this year! Although I know many of my colleagues organize their books according to genre, I never felt the need to organize my classroom books that way because I was teaching science & social studies.  However, switching subjects has prompted me to change my views, so I created Mini-Genre Labels & Posters for my book bins that I'll be using over the next few weeks.  There are 16 different labels and they come in two different sizes and colors.  Click on the picture below if you want to snag a set for yourself.  

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Busy, Busy, Busy

I know it's been almost two weeks since I've posted, but I've been super busy creating and constructing things cute things for my classroom this school year. I can't believe that I have less than three weeks until the start of a new year! Yikes!

All I've doing is stashing stuff that I've bought up for the new school year.

Some of the items that I've created, I got off of Pinterest, while others I created from scratch and have added to my teachers pay teachers site. 

Here are some of the items that I did/found: 

1. At the end of the last school year, I read about The Great Pencil Challenge from Ladybug Teacher Files and thought that it was an outstanding idea! This year I'm teaching 35 minutes science classes, so to save time, I'm going to use the challenge and have extra pencil sharpener's for the students as an incentive so that they don't have to get up during the middle of class. Hopefully that will save time and I'll be able to get through lessons a lot easier.

2. The the second idea that I found this summer was Teach a Roo's "Ticket out the Door" poster. Last year I had my students "tweet" there way out of the classroom for my technology theme. However, I loved the sleek look of Teach a Roo's poster, So I had to make one of my own: 

3. The third thing that I created were these really cute genre pictures. I'm actually gonna be teaching Language Arts this year for the first time so I decided to label all of my books. The result, these really cute labels for my classroom. I have small ones for my bins and bigger ones for a my bulletin board display later in the year. I you want to snag one of your own, they are available in my Tpt store. 

4. Finally, I have been hard at work on my classroom theme for the year which is sports/team work. With the new Ohio Teacher Evaluation System going into effect this year, I want to encourage all of my students to be intrinsically motivated. I feel that this theme allows the students to establish personal goals and accomplishments that they want to make as the go through the school year. I have tons of resources and file that I've created to make this classroom theme a success and will reveal more in the upcoming week.

Anyway, that's all for now! I can't believe how quickly the summer has flown by. I'm so excited for the start of a new year.  I feel like a kid in the candy store!

Toodles for now :) 

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My Lesson Plan Book

Along with creating a Teacher Binder, I also created my own Lesson Plan Book.  The planner has long term planning, monthly, and weekly planning.  The whole book is 175 pages and has three separate covers to choose from.  I plan to print out the book and have it put in the spiral bound in the next few weeks.  I'll post more pictures once that happens. 

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Found it Friday!

So during my free time today, I came across this amazing blog Technology Rocks Seriously. For months I have been watching coworkers and people that I follow on pinterest pin the freebie classroom posters that the website offers but had no idea where the came from.  After a little bit of looking around I found this awesome blog! I love that there are many freebies available to teachers that are colorful and bright, but that's not the best part there are featured apps for the iPhone, iPad or websites to try out.  The site also teaches you how to create various technologically based items as well.  I highly recommend checking it out.  I'm sure going to be following it on Bloglovin'.

Here are some of the posters that I grabbed while on the site.  

If you want your own, click on the link above. 

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Bloglovin'

I am a lover of trying new things so here it goes! I've recently been introduced to Bloglovin' thanks to a few fellow bloggets (yeah I made up the word, but I think it works, haha) who informed me about it. I know, I know I've been living under a rug! However, what's a gal to do, but join in :) I am looking to gain some followers and to reach out and meet fellow teachers. So if you like my blog, are a member of bloglovin', and are looking to meet some new blogger pals.  Follow me please :)

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/9172473/?claim=72vh8jubbkq">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

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July Currently

Well it's early enough in the month, so I decided to link up with Farley for July's Currently. 

Fonts By: Hello Fonts 

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My First TpT Sale!

Well, its only been a few weeks since I started posting my teaching products on teachers pay teachers and everyday my follower count is increasing.  So, in celebration of my first month on Tpt and the 4th of July, I will be putting my products on sale! Click on the link below for more information. :)

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Measure Up! Tools that Scientists Use

I created a fun science lab to introduce tools that scientists use in their everyday life! Designed for upper elementary and middle school students, the lab is a great way to start inquiry skills at the beginning of the school year. There are 10 stations that the students rotate through. Students learn about the individual tools and how to use them, They complete a lab sheet and an exit slip when the lab is finished.  Check out the lab yourself by clicking on the picture below!

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Subject Area Banners

Over the past few weeks, I have been racking my brain, trying to think about a way to decorate my classroom for the upcoming school year.  Since I'm switching grade levels and teaching middle school, I wanted to appeal to all of my students to encourage them to reach their fullest potential. Although, I love doing cutsy items, the boys don't always find them appealing.  So after some thought, I decided to focus on a sports/team work sort of theme.  I wanted the students to strive for success on every level.  To kick off creating the items for my theme, I created Subject Area Banners for the Core Subjects.

If you like the subject area banners above, you have a change to win it! Recently, I decided to join up with  Middle Grades Maven to help her celebrate reaching 1000 followers on her Teachers Pay Teachers account! Click on the link above to enter. 

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My Teacher Binder & Calendar

Over the past few days I've really been slacking on working on school stuff because I've been putting the final touches on summer camp that begins this Monday.  However, today I finally found some time to finish up the products I've been working on over the past few weeks.

Every year I buy a calendar at the store between $10 to $15 dollars.  However, this year I was feeling a bit ambitious and decided to create my own calendar and decided to share it with other teachers.  Click on the picture below to download a free copy.  You can also purchase an editable copy that is available in a zip file.  

I also edited my teacher binder that I use every year in my classroom.  It has 51 pages with different title pages to choose from, dividers, birthday charts, to-do lists and much more.  Check it out!

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Starting Summer Break!

Welp, it's only been a few days since the school year ended at my district, but I've been hard at work creating items for my classroom next year. I know I should probably take a break, but I'm actually working most of the summer at my second job.  Anyways, over the past week, I moved rooms & switched grade levels at my school.  What better time for me to reorganize all of my things, right? So, here are some new classroom numbers that I put together for my students lockers in the fall.  They are free for all! Happy Summer Break :)

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Day 1: Start-Up

Hello everyone, I'm new to the blogger community and am learning as I go. I plan to use my blog "Marshall in the Middle" to share with fellow teachers the happenings of a middle grades science and social studies teacher. Over the new few weeks, I will begin to post pictures of items that I use and try out on in my classroom. :) Stay tuned.

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