Come on...Irene!

So...I've spent some time inside lately due to the torrential rain and windy winds. Irene did a number on so many people! My husband and I were lucky enough to have very minor damage to our deck. Only one board was damaged when a massive tree limb fell exactly vertical through the deck. We had many leaves and debris in the yard, but after a quick clean up, we are back to normal! We are some of the lucky ones who never lost power...praise the Lord!

All this time inside gave me more than enough time to spend my last (sad face) days of summer working on...SCHOOL WORK! What did I do, you ask? Well, I worked on my classroom library (labeling all the chapter books with AR level and points & putting a color sticker on each binding to represent the AR level--phew!), cut out laminating, organized what I could, and lots more!

Today was supposed to be our first day of teacher work week...but Irene put a damper on that. One more day of summer!! Except what did I work on?? More BOOKS for the classroom library...it never ends. And...I'm feeling the pressure because we have Open House on Thursday...which means my room as to be READY! Can we say behind schedule? I've have LOTS to do once we go back to work. Fingers crossed for Tuesday...can't believe I'm crossing my fingers to go back to school...

Hope everyone survived the storm...and earthquake (last week)! A friend of mine decided to endure a blizzard as well to make it a hat trick--she went to DQ! Love it :-)

~Amanda~

MIA

August has been a crazy month for me! I feel like I have been gone forever! I spent some time in Savannah, Georgia for the first time (beautiful) and have also traveled to NC and MD in the last few weeks. Needless to say, my blogging time has been limited, as well as my time working in my room. We have teacher work week next week and will have a significant amount of time to work in our rooms, so it will all have to come together during that time. I'm sure many of you out there are already back in full swing. Some school systems nearby were supposed to start today but the earthquake really shook up those plans and they postponed the start of school by one day! My guess is that they wanted to check all the schools to make sure they are OK for students and faculty.

I have spent a couple days in my room trying to get things started. I had to move rooms since I'm moving up to 4th grade, so there has been lots of organizing! I don't have my student desks yet...so the room looks fairly large. I'm sure once they are in, the room will look significantly smaller. I managed to get my fabric and borders on the bulletin boards and begin working on my "teacher corner." I've had to make some modifications this year because my new room is smaller than my old one, and I've had to get rid of 2 tall bookshelves. That doesn't leave a lot of space for my stuff! Yikes!

I hope you enjoy the photos of the slow & steady transformation. I'll be posting more as I spend time in my room next week.

~Amanda~

Before...

Before...

Before...

After...

Notice the curtains I made this year!!

After...

It's been a week!

I can't believe it has been a week since I posted!  I've had a crazy week!  I spent a few days in DC watching the Braves play and touring our nation's capital.  It was so much fun, and I got some great pictures to share with my kids this year!  I also attended a Promethean conference yesterday.  I learned how to use ActivInspire to create animation.  I haven't had much time to explore my favorite blogs or Pinterest this week, but I did manage to create my Daily 5 checklist.  I'm going to share it below as promised.  My plan is to use this same checklist throughout the year, but there is always a possibility that it will need to be altered.  I'd love to hear your ideas!  Please leave a comment if you use Daily 5 and how you use it in your classroom!

~Amanda~
Daily 5 Checklist