Happy New School Year 2015

Ok .... here I sit. I had big dreams of being an amazing and inspiring blogger about a year ago. Let's just face it. A new grade, new school, new district, new state, and blogging didn't make its way into my life as easily as I thought.

I have a new dream this year. A big, giant, aspiring dream. Want to know what it is? I am going to see how it goes. That's my big dream. I will blog as often as I can. I'm not making any big promises to myself that I may not be able to keep again and feel {guilty}!!! That is not a fun feeling.

So, today ... Happy New School Year 2015! The funny thing is that today is actually day 6 at my school, and I'm just now telling you Happy New School Year. But, it's ok. I don't feel guilty at all because I didn't promise anyone very much in the beginning.

Currently, my sixth graders are completing a reading screener on Odyssey Learning, reviewing the different types of figurative language and beginning the book "7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens" during our class time. Nothing majorly exciting has happened ... yet ... but it's going to. Just wait and see! This group seems to be motivated, self starters and desire to learn. I can't wait to see the places that we are going to go together as a team.

I hope that you are having a great start to your school year, and I look forward to many great blog posts in the future.

Before you go ... take a look at my new room this year. It's sooooo much bigger than my classroom last year!!! I kind love it here!

My teacher area

Everyone talks about the "movie theater" look of my Promethean.
It was not planned to look like a theater. I had to do that for my own sanity.
Whoever installed my board, mounted it on an existing board in a not centered kinda way.
That's just to appease my OCD eye, and it works!!!

I discovered this old school blackboard hidden behind a marker board in my room.
I took the marker board down and was ecstatic to discover that it is MAGNETIC also!!!! 

Currently Linky Party

Ok ... Honestly .... This is my first ever Linky Party!!!! I am excited to meet some new teacher bloggers. I've linked up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for this month's "Currently".

Listening to my daughter read "Wonders".
I'm trying to kill two birds with one stone. I am getting ready to begin this novel study with my students in a couple of weeks and my daughter needs AR points .... win, win for both of us! This is one of the best novels I gave ever read about accepting others and true friendship.

Loving a day with NO necessary plans!
Life in Singleyville (as we call it) is super busy. One daughter plays volleyball, the other daughter plays soccer and the Mr. & I play co-ed volleyball. September's calendar is looking CrAzY!!! I'm loving that today, we have no plans. The Mr. and the oldest have even gone to pick up pizza so we don't have to cook.

Thinking: Why am I awake?
Is anyone out there like me? If you ever have a day to sleep in, you're wide awake way before you desire!!! I had total thoughts of sleeping in this morning, but there I was, wide awake thinking of so many things that needed to be done.

Wanting to be shopping!!!
I am not a fashionista. I am not a decorator. I am not a shoe person. But, I love shopping. I am an addicted to clearance person. I love shopping around and finding the best deals on things for my classroom and my home. I could shop for hours and never buy a thing and still be happy. Honestly. I love to look. And people watch. There's always people watching to do!!! 

Needing to use my Michael's 20% Q.
I can't think of a single thing that I NEED but tons of things that I WANT. The fact that I have a 20% coupon for today hanging out in my email unused is just about more than I can handle. Oh well. For now, it's lunch time and I'm still happily in my pajamas with a floppy bun on top of my head.

3 Trips: Route 66, California & Alaska
The Mr. and I have big dreams of renting an RV and driving from one end of Route 66 to the other, stopping and enjoying any and every site we want on the way. We love camping and have a pull behind trailer so this would be a perfect vacay for us. Our kids really aren't sure what a vacation is that includes a hotel. We rarely ever have those kinds. I would also love to see the California beaches and the Alaskan sky. So, it's your turn. Link up and tell us what's "currently" going on in your world!
"Currently" with Farley



Farley

Classroom Reveal

School started last week so I might as well have my classroom reveal!!!! I knew that I wanted a bright and whimsical design keeping in mind the need for balance between leaving elementary and the first year in middle school. I am definitely pleased with my final result. I chose a boho bird theme with a touch of rustic mixed with paisleys.


First, the shell that was my starting point! Now, this is after my OCD brain tried to figure out how to symmetrically have my desks placed in the room. I have moved classrooms 8 times in 15 years and this is the first time I have started with a clean, blank slate. It was awesome!!!! I have so much respect for the previous teacher being responsible and leaving the room that way. It's just no fun spending an entire day (or more) cleaning out someone else's junk, is it?

  
And, why not go ahead and see the after ....




There is no storage in my room, but I am grateful for the two shelving units that with an added curtain, give a boost of color to the place.

The teacher area is my favorite! I covered my old school desk with fabric, ribbon and flowers. My name banner gives even more color to the space. I totally love my note area behind my desk. I had one of these in my old room and used it every day! It's just pieces of scrapbook paper laminated, attached together and added paper clips to the top of each page to hold all of the important notes. My awesome Thirty-One organizer hangs on the door ready to put to work. I have one of these at home too and I absolutely adore it!!







There are no bulletin boards in the room (which I am ok with) and there are two long empty walls that just happen to be magnetic. Yay!!! I have chart paper frames on each wall to hold my anchor chart or class brainstorm activities. This works perfect since there is no place for a chart stand in here. These magnetic walls are perfect for holding all of the small anchor charts for the week that I can quickly grab and use wherever I need to.

 

I may be in middle school, but I still love those whole brain teaching rules. My kids learn the signs and chants and it makes classroom management easily attainable. Since our school has a 1:1 technology initiative this year in which every child has an iPad, we have something great to use as consequences when these rules are not followed. Of course, I had to throw a touch of Thirty-One in my room with my all time favorite Lots a Dots pattern and a few rosettes!



The Mr. and a friend built this awesome podium and the bookshelf behind it for my classroom. I needed some place to keep my teaching materials and this is perfect! So thankful for a handy hubby!!

This is an awesome picture of how my church family loves on my school crew. My church is an adopt-a-school sponsor for my school. This is a precious prayer warrior walking down and touching lockers on a Sunday night praying over the students that would be coming into my school the next day. Our church members had the opportunity to walk into every area of our school and prayer walk. Love!!!

And, my reveal is not complete without the amazing group of educators that I have the privilege of working with this year. These ladies are a hard working, dedicated team!!! I'm not exactly happy with them for picking to do an impromptu photo on the one day I wore my school shirt and khakis while everyone else is looking absolutely adorable!!!




Just for fun - a before and after view ...

Thanks for stopping by and taking a tour of my classroom!

My First Blog Post: "Out with the old. In with the new."

Here I am ... new to the world of blogging. Is that even how you say it? Blogging? I have a blog. I am a blogger and I am blogging? Every time I hear the word "blog", the movie "Mom's Night Out" comes to mind when Allyson was so excited to announce to herself that she was a Mommy Blogger. That has to be the hardest that I have ever laughed in my entire life ... when I watched that movie. If you haven't seen it, go now!!!! Get access to this movie some way and watch it. When you see Trace Atkins lay it all out and you have a teeny tiny tear falling out of your eye before you even know it, you will thank me! Don't drink a large soda before you start and try not to go to the bathroom because you may miss the opportunity to laugh really hard!!! By the way, I have self diagnosed ADHD. I can simply not finish one thought without inserting another ... squirrel!!!!

Ok, blogging: This is something that I have wanted to do for quite some time, but I have finally decided to go for it! I used to have a family blog before blogs were really cool. Really, it's more jealousy about how all the cool teacher bloggers I follow on IG seem to have all these linkey? linky?  parties and giveaways and get to know you and all sorts of stuff and I'm not sure what they are even doing. I'm a TPT buyer, but I am not a TPT seller - yet - so I have no TPT materials to give away! That will come in time.

I am teaching sixth grade for the first time this year after 15 years in first and second grade. Hence, the name of my blog: Sixth and Singley. I'm been commuting to our neighboring state of Florida for the past 11 years to teach in an elementary school there. This year, I finally jumped and decided to spread my wings and fly closer to home. I am entering a whole new world with 6th grade. But, my school is 4 minutes from my house. One daughter is at school with me and the other is at our feeder school next door. The hubby is 2 blocks away at our church. This location is a dream come true!

This blog will be about various things that come at the intersection of Sixth and Singley. I will let you know what is going on with school, occasionally my family and church or the fun second job I have as a Director with Thirty-One Gifts.

If there is anything that you want to know, just ask. I'm pretty much an open book. I love my family. I have an awesome church family that is also where my main group of friends come from. You know they are true friends because when it came time to clean out my HUGE closet after 15 years of elementary teaching, they all drove their vehicles 45 minutes to my school and spent the day helping me clean out and pack up. We believe in laughter. Lots of laughter! Life is pretty much a party when we get together.

Speaking of friends and things old (no pun intended), let me take you to my old classroom for a minute!

Check out my closet! I had taken my entire classroom and jam packed it inside here so that the new teacher could go ahead and move into the room before I had a chance to clean it out and pack it up.

Luckily, the teacher didn't move in. We were able to pull everything out and sort it before packing it up.

The closet definitely looked better when we were done! I know, I know. You would absolutely LOVE to have a big closet like that. Yes, it was awesome. It gave me room to hide all of the ugliness that I had to hide. The crazy thing is that there were actually two of these in my classroom! I have great friends, for sure!

Since they had worked so hard, we decided to treat them to one of our favorites, Sonny's BBQ!

Now that I am all moved into my new classroom, in a different state, a different city, a different school district, a different school and a different grade ... the story will continue.

Welcome to my adventures at Sixth and Singley!