Plugging Away

Still immobilized from my foot sprain, I've been moving soooo slow to get my planning done.  I have all the time in the world and it's taking me forever to get anything done.

I feel really creatively stifled at the moment when it comes to getting activities ready for my students but I keep hoping that something will come to me soon

There is another sale coming to my store to kick off the new year.  Everything will be 20% off starting January 1 - 4 so check out the store for the sale and new items I'll be adding soon

Winter Break!

The day goes by so much quicker when it's a half day and the kids go ice skating!

To celebrate winter break there will be a sale in my TpT store over the weekend and Monday!

Now for some much needed relaxation!

Just Another Day in 6th Grade

They successfully played a piece in 4 parts for the first time on the mallet instruments and then proceeded to do tiny dances behind their instruments...to which I responded:

"You guys are so spastic and weird."

to which one 6th grader replied:

"Why thank you!"

I love the days when they stop being hormonal pre-teens and are themselves again

Get Your Wishlists Ready!

The great thing about a whole week off is the time I have to catch up on my work and make some great resources for my lessons.

In anticipation of my 3rd - 5th graders coming back I've been making more powerpoints to accompany the songs they will be learning along with some pretty cool spur of the moment worksheets I've been coming up with.

With cyber-Monday coming up.  Teachers Pay Teachers is getting ready too join in on the deals as well.  Check my store (and others's as well) and start a wishlist to be ready for amazing deals on Monday.  I will be offering 20% off my store Mon - Wed.

Check back for the TpT banner and sale flyer!

Hooray for Great Teachers who make better worksheets than me!!!

As I was sitting down to write out another tedious workbook for my middle school students a Google image search of some worksheets led me to Susan Paradis.  I now have enough worksheets to put a work packet together for my students without it taking too much time.

There are a lot of resources for teaching piano, so one day maybe if I get a piano lab I know where to find resources. Much of the activities that are for piano I can use to help my students begin writing melodies.

How I missed this earlier on, I do not know...or maybe my brain is just extra creative today!

This Just in from TpT!

Very happy that I discovered this site.  See their status update below for a discount code, "LIKE" them on Facebook, and spread the word!

WOW!!!! We did it together! 100,000 LIKES ON TeachersPayTeachers.com! We are thrilled, proud, and think every one of you is fantastic. To celebrate, please use promo code "FB100K" for 10% off the entire TpT site (including sale items!). This promo code is only announced on FB and will only be active through midnight Hawaii time on 10/14 (that's a day and a half to get everything on wish list). WE LOVE OUR TpT'ers! (Date corrected: We're a little excited over here :))

The Babies Have Arrived!

None related to me, but my K-2 babies.  Some brand new, and some coming into my room for the second and third times.

I wish I could say I knew what to expect from all of them, but with the mix of a lot of students new to our school and some continuing difficult behaviors, after the first day of getting them oriented, I hit the ground running with routines and happily it wasn't complete chaos.  I am waiting for those kids I have been warned about to show their true colors, but I'm fine waiting until June for that.

My hope is to foster more cooperative learning with all of them to see what will result.

Here is the basic seating arrangement for the little ones (sorry for the blur, my camera did not want to focus that day).  Amazingly, they all fit fairly comfortably and it is perfect for the kindergartners.  I have between 25 - 29 students in each class so I'm happy they all fit well.  It has been a challenge to get them moving with the different leveled platforms in my room but I've appreciated the kids' flexibility as I continually figure out how best to use the space I have

The colored mats have been my best idea so far.  Now I know it's only been 2 days but amazingly they have survived the tugs of the kids (here's hoping they can make it through 5 more weeks).  They were smaller than I anticipated but for the price they will do and it doesn't bust my budget to get more if I need them (thank you Amazon!)

As I work out the tiny issues I still have in the room I will get some more photos up