Optimum Organization

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, it's been a whirlwind since I accepted my FIRST teaching job last week. :) Now everything is crazy, and I have tons and tons to do before school starts. I have so many ideas and I just don't know where to start. I'm linking up with Fun in Room 4B for her Optimum Organization linky party!

 I don't have many things to post, but I'm hoping to get tons of ideas for my new school year.

I don't have my camera to take a picture of the ones I  made, but I got the idea from Teach Junkie. They are containers to put all their pencils and etc in that they leave in my classroom and then they know where to pick up a pencil if they've lost one. Then, I'm hopefully not shelling out all sorts of pencils. :)

If you have any ideas let me know! :) Any advice for a first year teacher?! Come on ladies, help me out! :D 

One more question?! Laminator. I am looking into getting one. Does anyone have one they would recommend, or not advise me to get? I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I want one that works well!

With love,

B

It's a wonderful day! Liebster Award!

Happy Thursday! :)

It's the best Thursday I've had in a while. Why may you ask?! Some of you have been following along with my interview process and the process of landing the first big job... well I have SUCCEEDED! I officially accepted a position as a 7th Grade Social Studies teacher and JH track coach! I couldn't be more excited! I was offered it yesterday, and since then I've been on cloud nine! It's gonna be a wild ride, but I couldn't be more ecstatic about it! I hope you follow along through my first year, I could use all the tips and tricks to surviving the first year.

Also, Rachel from Senorita Creativa nominated me for the Liebster award! This is an award that is given to recognize new blogs and welcome them into the community!

To accept this award I must:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me

2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers

3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator

4. Share 11 random facts about yourself

5. Create 11 questions for your nominees

6. Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

 

Questions for me to answer:

1. What is your must-have teacher tool? My must have teacher tool is  Todays Meet . When I'm working with secondary students who almost all have smart phones, I love using this because it is a great quick assessment tool and my students don't even realize they are being assessed. My favorite assessment. :)
2. What is your favorite age to teach? My favorite age to teach is middle-schoolers, some call me crazy, but I ABSOLUTELY love it. It's a wild ride, but so rewarding watching them mature through the years!
3. If you had to eat one food/dish every day for the next year, what would it be? Pasta, hands down. I love Olive Garden, it's my favorite restaurant and I could eat there every meal for a week. I'm a big pasta eater, whether it's tortellini or spaghetti, it's all magnificent.
4. What is your favorite subject or topic to teach? My favorite subject to teach is probably either geography or American History. I'm a social studies guru, and I love American History.
5. What is your favorite place to buy teacher clothes? Old Navy is probably my absolute favorite, but I can always get a steal at Target. New York and Company is another favorite to get dress pants at because I can get them extra long, and being 6'1", I need them extra long. :)
6. Chevron or polka dots? I've been bit by the chevron bug. I love chevron.
7. What is your best teaching-related memory? Well, I don't have many as I'm heading into my first year as a teacher, but I have to say my last day of student teaching was probably my favorite/saddest moment. I loved student teaching and I always thought my students "liked" me, but the amount of crying, and wonderful cards and notes I got were amazing and really concreted that I am an actual teacher, and I'm good at it. :)
8. What is the funniest thing a student has said to you? While substituting this past spring in a 1st grade classroom, I was asked if I had any grandkids, and I said no, I don't even have kids! I'm only 23! And his response was oh, I think my mom is younger than you! Ha, it made me giggle!
9. What is your favorite organizational tool (teaching-related or not)? I'm big on labels, binders and checklists. I think that my planner is my favorite organizational tool, because I'm a big planner and checklist lady and I have checklists for everything. Sometimes, I put things on the list, just to cross them off! :)
10. If you could talk to yourself before you started teaching, what would you tell yourself? Well, I'm just getting started, but patience and self confidence are two things I struggle with, and I just need to remind myself, everything will be okay, just be patient and have confidence in yourself!
11. What is your favorite movie or tv show? My favorite show currently is probably Gossip Girl or the Bachelorette. I have to get in my dose of girl drama. :) My all-time favorite show will always be Criminal Minds. I love any law/crime show but Criminal Minds takes the cake.

 11 Random Facts:

1. I was on the Kansas State Women's Rowing Team through college. 
2. My dream job would be a wedding planner, as I love weddings and planning so it goes hand in hand! :)
3. I am allergic to pineapple but it's one of my favorite fruits!
4. I graduated with 25 students in my entire senior class. 
5. I'm 6'1" and one of my best friends is 4'11", when we walk together, I swear people think I'm walking my little sister home from school.
6. I love playing Call of Duty on X-Box. It's a good stress-reliever and exciting when I do well! :D
7. My favorite meal is mashed potatoes, spaghetti and corn. I could eat it everyday.
8. I have a Dr. Pepper addiction.
9. I was born in California, but didn't live there longer than a few months.
10. I love dill pickle chips. Lays Dill Pickle Chips are the BEST! :) :)
11. I love to bake desserts, but hate desserts except brownies. And even then, I only like the middle piece of the brownie pan.

 11 Questions for YOU to Answer:

1. What's your best piece of advice for a first year teacher?
2. What's your favorite teacher website?
3. What is your dream job?
4. What's your favorite subject or topic to teach and why?
5. What's your favorite food?
6. When did you know that you wanted to be a teacher?
7. What do you like to do during the summer?
8. Who's your hero and why?
9. What's your favorite organizational tool?
10. What's the best pin you've pinned on Pinterest?
11. How you do you start off the school year?

 Nominations: 

1. Emily from Once Upon an Eager Teacher
2. Jamie from  Teaching Tidbit
3. Vanessa from The Educated Crown
4. Mrs. Bryant from Teaching is a Hoot
5. Melanie from Finding the Joy

 Love you all, 

B

Talkin' Tuesday

I'm going to complain, just for a few minutes. As most of you know, I'm right in the middle of the big job hunt right now. I had an interview last Wednesday, and they told me I would find out if I got the job yesterday or today. I spent all weekend stirring about it, driving myself crazy over it.

Well, yesterday the principal called yesterday and told me that I was one of the top two candidates and he wanted the vice principal to meet me before he made the decision. That's all find and dandy, but I'm not sure what we're going to talk about and traveling all the way there (2+ hours) for a 20 minutes chat. I know I'm just being a brat about it. He said we could meet in the middle so I didn't have to travel as far, and I said sure I would love to. We made a general time of 12-12:30 on Wednesday and when I asked him where, he said well let me call you back with more details. Andddddd... I never got a call. So now, I still sit here not knowing when or where we're meeting tomorrow.

On the flip side, at 9:35 AT NIGHT, I got a phone call from ANOTHER district wanting to interview me. The only time he had open was 2pm on Wednesday. The problem? The two meetings are over 2 hours apart from each other. Hmm.. sense a problem? Yes, I do too.

Ideally, the first school will just call me today and offer me the job. :) That would be the ideal situation. If they don't, which I'm assuming they won't... I'll have to ask if we can just meet in their town for the get together with the vice principal because it's only 30 minutes from the other interview.

Either way, I just want a job. I want my own classroom to decorate, my own kids to teach, my own big kid job! :)

End of rant.

I'm sorry for complaining, it will never happen again, I just think both of these schools are edging on the unprofesh side of things..calling me at almost 10pm and not calling me back at all when they said they would to schedule things.

I will leave you with my fortune from a fortune cookie that I have left at my desk all summer through all this job hunting.. :) It's a perfect fit.

With love,
B

Happy Monday!

Welp, here we are. The weekend is over. Most weekends I wish were much longer than they are but theis one is a little bit different. I'm having a love/hate relationship with Monday today. As you know, I interviewed last Wednesday..and have been waiting IMPATIENTLY through the holiday weekend for the beginning of this week. He told me I would find out either Monday or Tuesday, so now I'm going stir crazy waiting to find out! AHH!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend filled with tons of family, friends, food and fireworks! My firecracker cookies and cupcakes were a hit, and everyone loved them! I didn't get a picture of them because they were all gone! Oops!

This weekend one of my college girlfriends came back into town from Ohio, so we went out and had a good time, it also reminded me how excited I am to get a big kid job, because we're not in college anymore and can't keep up with our younger friends! It made me feel old, but also glad I'm finally growing up. However, it made for an unproductive rest of the weekend. I spent most of the weekend on pinterest because it didn't take much effort. :) Here's my favorite pin from the weekend.

It comes from teachjunkie.com . I totally need this in my classroom. All these different organization tools I'm finding on pinterest make more that much more excited to get a big kid job!


I hope everyone else had a great fourth. If anyone has some great 4th of July stories, or any good pins they found this weekend, let me know! I would love to hear about them!

With love,
B

Favorite Pins Friday!

Ooo, I'm excited! I'm joining all these linkys! Blogging is a blast, and this linky I get to bring in my other love, PINTEREST. :D Thanks to The First Grade Parade

My favorite pins for the week, oh where to start?!

My ultimate favorite for the week is from Skreened. This t-shirt is the bomb, and I think I need to purchase it for Ben and I would make him wear it all the time. :)

Another one of my favorite pins of the week is from Shugary Sweets

REESES PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE DOUGH DIP. It looks like heaven in your mouth.

Thanks to Good and Messy for this next pin. It looks like a fun craft and super easy as well. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I love this cup! :D

I definitely need motivation sometimes, and I think this is a great idea, I could totally use it in my classroom too! A motivation wall from banannabean on tumblr! I'm not sure of the ORIGINAL post, but this is as far back as I could trace it.

Finally, I'm still a girl planning her perfect wedding before she's even engaged..and all my friends are at the age where they're all getting married, so my pinterest is COVERED in wedding stuff, so rather than bore you with all the wedding things I've posted, I am only including one! And it's actually useful and can be useful for anyone! Thank you Love, The Grows for this pin. It's 100 questions couples should ask before getting married! Very useful in opening up the communication in a relationship before you take the plunge and get married.

I suppose that's all I have for the day, I've been busy applying for jobs, prepping for interviews so I haven't been on pinterest as much as I wish.

I can't wait to see everyone's pins!

Happy Friday!

With love,
B

Interview day!

Well, today I had my big interview! Ahh! It went so well! Best interview I've had so far! He said he'll let me know on Monday or Tuesday! So after my interview I went shopping, you know a typical girls way of celebration! :) spent the money I don't have yet...but that's okay! 

Nowwwww, I'm spending my evening trying out my Pinterest recipes. I'm making the firecracker cookies tonight and I'll make the cupcakes tomorrow! 

Here they are before frosting! Now I have to wait for them to cool, therefore giving me time to blog! You'll have to check back and see how they turned out and if they were a hit at the party! :) 

I hope everyone has a blessed 4th of July! And remember to thank a soldier, as they fight for our freedom! 

Happy 4th of July! 

With love,

B 

*4th of July Recipes*

So today, the goal is to explore Pinterest for the perfect 4th of July recipe. I am planning on heading over to a friends house for a 4th of July celebration to eat drink and be merry! However, I don't like to bring the typical store bought dish. She asked me last week what I wanted to bring, and I told her I'd bring a dessert...nowwwww, I have to find one.

There are so many options. Do I want a healthy dessert? Chocolate? Cold? So many options! Chances are, I'll end up making two, so I have more chances to try new recipes! :D

One of my front runners so far is Firecracker Sugar Cookies! It's a sugar cookie with buttercream frosting and red and blue pop rocks on them! I remember pop rocks when I was a child, and they sure are fireworks in your mouth!

The recipe is here: Firecracker Sugar Cookies :) Thanks to MomDot

Another idea is cupcakes. You can never go wrong with cupcakes, right? :)

I saw a picture on pinterest for angel food cupcakes that were red and blue with whipped topping on top with strawberries and blueberries.. That would make it nice and light and SORT OF healthy, right? :)

I would have to wing the recipe because pinterest just included a picture. I hate when that happens, it's a good looking picture, but then there is no recipe attached to it! How rude!

But here is the picture I found! :)

Don't those just look divine?

What's your favorite 4th of July recipe? Have any new recipes you think I should try?! Throw them my way!

With love,
B

Currently

Listening: Sitting at my summer job, listening to Pandora while exploring this teacher blog lifestyle. Phew, it seems like a headache, but I'm sure after I do it for a while, I'll get the hang of it! I'm excited for it, but now I feel like I need to get a new computer to go with it! :D

Loving: Sounds cliche, but with all the decisions I have to make, my family and friends are definitely the ones I console in to help make this decision.

Thinking: Summer is flying by! It's July 1st, already! WOW! Before you know it, school will be starting again!

Wanting: I am dying for my own classroom! I'm ready to decorate it. I'm ready to be a real teacher. I'm ready for it all!

Needing: However, with that I realize I have to be patient. God has a plan, and the right job will come along, I just have to be patient. That's a struggle for me. I have little patience. VERY LITTLE.

Tips, Tricks or Hints: It's my first day! What are some tips, tricks or hints you've learned? Throw them at me! :)

With love,
B

Trying to Land the First Job!

It wouldn't be a complete blog if I didn't post about trying to land the big job. I may be getting ahead of myself, creating this blog but I just want to get a head start. I read my friends blogs from teaching and it makes me excited to finally get the opportunity to do so myself!

I turned down three job offers this morning, and I still don't know what to think of it. I've been trying to land the big job since March. I interviewed three weeks ago at a school district and then received a letter the next week saying I didn't get it. Typical. However, I received a phone call shortly after that from the district saying I was the runner up, and that they wanted to interview me for a different position. This one would be in the Special Education department. I am certified 6-12th Grade Social Studies, so this would be quite the change. I interviewed with them because I thought it would be good experience and it bought my time before I HAD to make a decision. Last Thursday, I received a phone call offering me THREE different positions within the district. I had no idea what I was going to do about these three jobs. To make matters more difficult, I received a phone call Friday afternoon for an interview at a different school teaching Social Studies! My dream job! The twist, I had to let District A know this morning if I wanted their jobs, and District B's interview is Wednesday..

After a weekend of thinking, I decided my heart just wasn't into District A and the positions they offered me, and it would be unfair to the students and myself if I settled and accepted them. So now, we just hope the best with District B. If it doesn't work, then I'll keep looking. That's how it goes. I just hope to land a job so I can have my own classroom, decorate it the way I want it and teach young minds!

Keep checking back, and follow my road through my first year of teaching!

With love,

B