Tell Me More!

Super late to this party! I'm linking up with Mrs. Lemons today to tell you all about ME!

I like dogs, but I am scared of big dogs.

I have a cat who I love very much. Her name is Natalia but I call her The Keekster. She sleeps with me every night! PS: This is not my bed... although it sort of looks like it in this picture. It is a makeshift bed because my bff Nicole spent the weekend with me!!

I really like flowers. They make me super happy. Yesterday I went to a farmer's market and there was a little stand where you could make your own bouquet for $5! It was sooooooo hard to move on to the next stand.... I might find myself back there sometime soon. :)

I don't like eating meat but I love steak. I especially don't like eating chicken although I love boneless chicken wings. And on that note, I detest eating meat off of bones! It really really grosses me out.

I have a little brother. He is 24. We have had our ups and downs as sibling-friends but now we are pretty close and I enjoy him!

I eat everything plain. I don't like sauces, syrups, salsa, or condiments. It actually took me a long time to accept the idea of buttering bread... you know, like when you get rolls with your meal at restaurants? I'm down with butter now though. :) People really get weirded out when I order plain hot dogs for some reason.

I was in a sorority in college, Alpha Delta Pi! It wasn't a HUGE part of my college experience because I had an on-campus job, too, but I was Finance VP and I had a fun time. :)

I am not a runner. I am terrible at running and it makes me feel bad to do it. However........ I applied for a Girls on the Run team for this upcoming school year and I reeeeally hope I get to have one!

I have the two best cousins that ANYONE could have! They crack me up and when I am hanging out with them I feel like I am hanging out with myself. I am a pretty big fan of myself  so that is cool with me, haha!!

My favorite kind of sandwich is tuna, unless it has onions in it!!

That's all!!

January Currently!

Hooray for Farley! I love the currentlies.

My OLW for the moment is motivation! I have a huge week planned for the first and second graders and I am super motivated to get everything done! Watch out kiddos - I am on the loose!!

A little story for you - I have a laptop and a desktop. My desktop has been acting crazy for the past few months. Like, I could never restart it because it would take like 2 hours to get past the Windows screen so I could actually do something. So I would just leave it on 24/7. My brother fixed it this weekend (it was something with a hard drive?) and so my computer was wiped of everything. I don't usually use this one for blogging so I hardly lost anything.

However, when I went to do this Currently, I realized that my newly wiped computer apparently doesn't have Paint???? I'm sure everyone else does their Currentlies in a fancy program but I just did mine in Paint! But it isn't here! I am boggled.

Don't worry though. I found that I could use the Picasa editing thingy to add text to this picture and it was actually super easy!! Yay Picasa!

I have much more to share, however, it will have to come after school today. Have a good Monday, friends!!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! And happy last-day-of-break to me!

I'm loving the New Year's craft-ivities that I have seen all over the blogs (especially those at Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons and The First Grade Parade)! I can't wait to use them tomorrow. I hope my students come back excited to learn and write, write, write!!

I'm loving that my BULLS are tipping off in a few short moments!!!!!! Also I'm loving that our record is 5-1 so far!!! Go Bulls go!!

I'm loving that my brother helped me make my whisper phones today!! We haven't painted them yet (we're waiting for the weekend) but I can't wait to debut them tomorrow morning! I bought the supplies back in August or something and finally got around to making them today, haha.

I'm loving that it is supposed to be 50 this weekend! Wowzer!! We've hardly had any snow this year or frigid temperatures. I am fine with that but I'm sure we will have a blizzard in February or something.

I'm loving that some sweet bloggers have given me awards lately! Thank you to Laura at Kinder Kraziness and Tanya at A Class Act for giving me the Versatile Blogger Award!

I actually received this a while back (check it out here). But I am more than happy to share 7 more things about myself, haha!

1. I don't like drinking straight from glasses in restaurants. I will sit patiently and wait until I get a straw. I just don't trust the edge of cups for some reason.
2. I'm not technically a vegetarian but I don't eat a lot of meat. I specifically don't eat ground beef! No hamburgers, tacos, chili, or meatloaf for me. Yuck.
3. I wear glasses and I probably always will... because I am way too scared to get contacts. Whenever something gets close to my eyeball, I freak out. Sigh.
4. I really love drinking tea in the morning but it's not to wake up, because none of my teas have caffeine in them. I just like to warm up. :)
5. I have family in southern California and I think it is the most beautiful place!!!! So many hills and flowers and warmth. For a while after I graduated, I was looking for a job in California but I quickly found out that their education job market wasn't much better than it is here in Illinois! Sadness.
6. I'm really obsessed with the gas mileage that my car gets. Right now I am at 34 MPG and I am feeling a little glum about it because a month ago I was at 37 MPG!! Today my dad and I went to a car dealership and I saw a Mustang that got 15 MPG and I almost threw up. Well, not really. You know.
7. Joakim Noah is my favorite athlete! I hope he never gets traded from the Bulls because I won't know what to do with myself.

What are you loving today?

Christmas Survey!!

Happy Friday!!!

Yesterday, on my first vacation day, I went back to school to do a little cleaning and to pick up my teachers' manuals. I feel like I will be going back a lot... oh wells. It's kind of nice to be there in the peace and quiet. :)

Anyway, Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher did this survey a few days ago, and before I go out and buy the last few Christmas gifts that I've been putting off, I will do it too!!!!


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
I'd much rather wrap presents. I am not amazing at it, but I am much worse at arranging tissue paper inside a gift bag. I have no idea how people do that!!! My gift bags always look terrible.

2. Real tree or artificial?
We always had real trees when I was little but now we have an artificial one. I would really like to have a real tree in my own personal home, but I don't really know how I feel about arbitrarily cutting down trees... plus I think it can be costly?

3. When do you put up the tree?
My mom refuses to put the tree up more than like 4 days before Christmas! :(

4. When do you take the tree down?
These answers are making me sound like a little kid..... but, again, my mom would be happiest if the tree was down on December 26th.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Not at all!!!!

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
I know I had an American Girl (Molly) but that might've been for my birthday?

 7. Do you have a nativity scene?
We have one at home and I have one in my classroom, but I don't have one personally. My dream is to get the Willow Tree nativity!

 
8. Hardest person to buy for?
My younger brother. He always buys everything he wants right away!

9. Easiest person to buy for?
My boyfriend! I keep mental notes of random things he says throughout the year and then I have tons of ideas when it is Christmastime!!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I love mail so I love sending mail!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Once we had a secret santa exchange and I had asked for dangly earrings. I got some really cheap gross looking ones. Somebody who was there ended up taking them for her 5-year-old, haha!

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
I love Holiday Inn, The Holiday, and Love Actually!!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
If I have ideas early then I buy them right away so I don't forget! Otherwise I am a last-minute shopper.

14. Ever recycled a present?
Not besides those earrings previously mentioned!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
My mom makes a delicious potato casserole type of thing. I promise it is delicious. My dad is on a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet this year so my mom says she isn't going to make it!! I am so sad.

16. Clear lights or colored lights on a tree?
Doesn't matter to me!

17. Favorite Christmas song?
That is tough... I guess I like most of them!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home?
The farthest we go is like 10 minutes. Haha! Although if I go with my boyfriend on Christmas Eve, his family goes to Indiana, which is about 2 hours away or so.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Oh yes. I think I have The Night Before Christmas memorized.

20. Angel or star on top of the tree?
We used to have an angel when I was little, but our kitten climbed up the tree and knocked it over. Now we have a star! At school, one of my girls made an "origami angel" at her house and brought it for our tiny tree.

21. Open the presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
We open them on both days!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Not knowing what to get for people.

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color?
I like all the ornaments that I've gotten over the years. A long time ago, my mom got me a nutcracker one with a little string on the bottom. When you pull the string, his mouth opens and closes! Love it.

24. What do you want for Christmas?
I will be really happy if I get seasons of Seinfeld!!!! I watch Seinfeld like it is my job.

PS: Is anyone as psyched as I am that the NBA season starts in T minus 48 hours??? That is actually the best Christmas present that the world could give me!!

I've Got Sunshine!

... on a cloudy day - like today in the Chi!

Thank you to the two awesome ladies who bestowed upon me the Sunshine Award!!

Reagan from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits is an inspiration to me! She makes the cutest units and activities for her students, and I would love to be a first grader in her class. :) Her Geometric Math Quilts are in my TpT cart waiting for tomorrow!!

Keri from teach play smile is also awesome! I love how she shares children's books that go along with content (my fave). And she teaches a split class like me! Yeah!

Go check out their blogs!

Here are my answers!

Favorite color - Mine is purple. But I also like red, and pink, and magenta, and other reddish purpley types of colors!

Favorite animal - I like zebras!! I think their stripes are cool. As far as a pet... we have two miniature Schnauzers and one cat and I love them all! Here is our pupster, Max!

Favorite Number - Meh, I don't really have one. I guess I like 8 because of how it is symmetrical and kind of fun to write!

Favorite Drink - I like the Tazo Passion tea from Starbucks... and I like Coke... and I like Youthberry tea from Teavana... and I love fruit juice of (mostly) any kind!!

Facebook or Twitter - I have both but I am on facebook way more. I like being able to keep up with my high school and college friends even though they may be far away!! And whenever I write in my blog, I share the link on my facebook and I always get some people who come check it out! Thanks friends!!

Your Passion - Right now, my passion is definitely teaching and trying to become a better teacher. I love the blogging world but sometimes it makes me feel very small... because everyone knows what is going on and I feel like I am just trying to stay afloat!! I'm hoping it's just a first-year thing.

Giving or Getting Presents - I like both! I am usually not an early shopper but I have a couple people's presents already purchased for Christmas!! Hopefully I won't be running around at the last minute this year!

Favorite Day - My birthday! Or any warm day in summer. It actually has not been that cold here in Illinois so I can't complain too much. :)

Favorite Flower - I like gerbera daisies!

I think most people have gotten the Sunshine award, so I encourage you to check out my sidebar. I need to add some more peeps but those the blogs I really love!!

Also, I'd like to say an incredibly belated thank you to Ana at Ingles 360 for giving me the I Heart Your Blog Award!!! I just checked and she gave it to me in October............. yikes.

Aaaaaaaand one last thing. This weekend I've been relaxing and planning a bit, and I am becoming a little frustrated with my schedule and school day! I feel like I can't fit everything in. I also feel like I am putting very important things on the back burner because I just do not have enough minutes! None of my specials are at the same time each day, some days I have two specials, we have a super long lunch and a morning recess, we have Mass on Friday..... ahh!!

Do you have any tricks you use to squeeze extra minutes into your day?? I am desperate!!

Versatiles and Versatile Bloggers!

I figured those two things go together, right?

First, over the summer I won a set of ten mini VersaTiles cases from ETA/Cuisenaire because I liked their facebook page. If you don't like them on facebook, you should go do it now! They have lots of giveaways and offer many free resources.

They asked the winners of the giveaway to post pictures of their students using the VersaTiles once school started. I just remembered the other day to take pictures, and I posted one today so I thought I'd share it with you too!

Luckily, one of the free VersaTiles pages on their website was for doubles, and that's what we worked on with second grade on Thursday. I think I'll have to make my own pages with their templates with all of my free time.........

Anyway, my second order of business here is the Versatile Blogger Award!!

I received this award from three lovely ladies!

Leslie from Jack of All Trades

Jennifer from Rowdy in First Grade

and........ Nicole from The Kinder Kid!

You should for sure check out their blogs! They're all from different grade levels but they all have awesome ideas and are all-around the bomb dot com. :)

Since I won the Versatile Blogger Award, I need to share 7 things about myself and spread the love to 15 people! Here are my 7 things........

1. In a week, I will start my second class of six to earn my ESL Endorsement! This class will be my methods and materials class, and I am SO EXCITED!!! Methods classes were always my absolute favorite in college. I'm really happy I decided to work towards my ESL endorsement because I am incredibly passionate about working with English Language Learners and ensuring that they get equal treatment in school and elsewhere. Equality and acceptance is super important to me.
2. At my school, teachers can eat hot lunch for free and we can have free milks too! Since my class gets a morning milk break, I typically drink two chocolate milk cartons a day!! If I'm having a rough day, that chocolate milk is always there for me. So delicious! When I am old, I will probably have the strongest bones ever.
3. I am not well-traveled. I have been to Florida for family vacations when I was little, and I've been to the San Diego area for family weddings in recent years, but there are many places that I want to go! Specifically, I want to go to San Francisco and Washington D.C. Also I am obsessed with southern California so I would like to go there again!!
4. Dead animals really creep me out. I know they can't come back to life and get me...... but I am still scared of that happening. If I am walking my dog and we see a dead squirrel, I run away.
5. I love my Snuggie! I joke a lot that I am going to bring my Snuggie to school with me when the weather gets colder, because the word on the street is that my room is the coldest in the building. I am probably the coldest person in the building on any given day, so this is not a good combination.
6. I have two cousins who I love like sisters! They are my BCFs (Best Cousin Friends). One of them is going to the University of Illinois right now to be a teacher! When she has a classroom and starts a blog, she will be popular fast because she is very creative and artistic!!
7. I love using exclamation points!! In college, I got points taken off on several projects because I overused exclamation points. I can't help it, I'm just excited a lot!

That was a really lame list but oh wells! I was going to to type out my list of Versatile Bloggers, but instead, I'd like to direct you to my sidebar where it says Bloggers Who Inspire Me!! These peeps are all amazing and share great ideas that help me be less boring in the classroom. Some of my new favorites are:

Mrs. Williamson has THE CUTEST IDEAS!! She makes me want to teach Kindergarten.

Mrs. King also has cute ideas, especially her new adaptation of The Techy Teacher's cloud viewer! And first grade is a challenge for me right now, so she is a good help!!

Hope is also amazing, and she teaches second grade, so that's the other half of my kids!!

Ms. Alley teaches in CPS - my dream! I love to see what she can do with the limits on her as a CPS teacher.

And it wouldn't be an award post without mentioning Meredith at Keen on Kindergarten!!!! I want to fly her to Illinois so that she can guide me in Math Work Stations. I think maybe I should stop saying that and just try them.....................

That's all!! Happy Sunday!!

Meet the Teacher Monday!

Can I just say how very exciting it is to refer to myself as "the teacher"??? It fills my heart with joy.

Moving on, this week is Teacher Week hosted by the teachers at Blog Hoppin' and I am very excited to join in! So here is some info all about me. :)

[Here's me and my brother earlier today! We dropped him off at Purdue so he can start his last semester of classes tomorrow morning. I will miss him because we had a nice summer living at home.]

Tell us a little something about you...

My name is Jill and I have been waiting my whole life (at least since first grade) to be a teacher! Besides teaching though, I really love to read (A LOT) and spend time with my boyyyyfriend. We like to eat a lot and go on walks! I also like beginning crafts, not necessarily finishing them. I am very easygoing and positive and nothing ever gets me down! It's awesome.

How long have you been teaching?

I have been teaching for exactly 4 days - well, actually, 3 and a half! This is my first year with my own classroom but of course it's not the first classroom I've been in since graduation. A few weeks after I graduated, I started my job as an instructional assistant/one-on-one paraprofessional in a first grade classroom in the suburbs of Chicago. I learned a lot because the teacher I worked with was really good! She had a tough class but she made it work. After that, I subbed on a day-to-day basis for a few months and then I landed a 7th/8th grade maternity leave position, which led to my job now - 1st/2nd grade combination class! My school is small and I only have 12 students, which really is perfect for my first year. I know that someday when I have 35 or something, I'll look back on this time in my life and cry. Haha!

You might not know...

One of my dreams is to teach in the inner city. Right now, I teach in a private school in a low-income community, so although my students aren't wealthy by any means, they can afford to go to my school so they're not as low-income as most of the town. However, I want to teach in a school where I can really feel like I'm affecting my students' lives and helping them to create a better future for themselves. I know the challenges are HUGE so I hope after some years of teaching, I will be up for it.

What are you looking forward to most this school year?

I just asked this question to my students for their first dialogue journal entry! One boy said "a puppy"........ whatevs. I obviously am very excited about having my own classroom. But I am also really excited about the Daily Five! I started it on Thursday with Read to Self and we are up to 2 minutes and 37 seconds. They are really motivated to beat their old time, which is good, because I had to stop them a few times at 17 seconds... ay caramba. I can't wait to see it all come together!!!!!

What do you need to improve?

Just from my first week, I know that I need to improve my consistency in classroom management. It is hard to stay on top of the students (even when you have 12!), but it is really important to me that they listen when I'm talking and respect their classmates when they are talking, so one of my goals this week is to really crack down on the extraneous commenting and chit-chatting that goes on while I'm teaching in the whole group setting.

What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?

First and foremost, books! Chapter books, picture books... nonfiction books, fiction books... I love them all! I had to box up a ton because my shelves didn't hold them all! And of course the students are going through the two boxes that I didn't hide in the coatroom, haha! Besides books, though, I do love Sharpies and post-its! And white-out tape! And cardstock, because god knows you need to keep your printables sturdy!! I am also really into bullet tip dry-erase markers, which apparently no one makes.

So that's me! I am super excited for the rest of this week! Go link up!

Top Ten Things To Know About Me!

I have seen this linky party all over my Google Reader today, and I wasn't going to do it because I already did a linky party today... but now that I am procrastinating and trying to avoid homework, this sounds like a GREAT idea!!!

10. I drive a stick-shift car and I love it!!! When I had to get rid of my Accord because it was costing a crazy amount to fix it (and things kept going wrong), I knew I didn't have a lot of money and I didn't want car payments. Manual cars are less expensive, so that's why I bought my car. Also, my boyfriend drives a stick-shift car, so I knew he'd be able to help me if necessary. It took some tears and some patience, but I can really drive it now! And it is pretty fun.

9. I loooooove the Chicago Bulls! I think I watched every game this season... I might have missed one or two. I also went to a game in Milwaukee for my birthday! I was super happy when they made it to the playoffs and super unhappy when Miami advanced and we did not. But I am psyched for the preseason to start (only three more months!!!). Joakim Noah is my very favorite player, and this year I got a Joakim shirt!!

8. I really love anything involving weddings. Going to weddings... looking at wedding magazines... perusing other people's wedding pictures... Although my own wedding is not on the horizon at all, it doesn't matter - I still like them. I am always on the lookout for unique wedding venues, as I do not want a typical church-and-country-club wedding. I don't really have anything picked out as far as my own wedding, but I will say that I like dresses like this one by Jim Hjelm!

7. I love mail. For a while I was participating in Postcrossing, which allowed me to send and receive almost 500 postcards from around the world! I have the most amazing postcards now. I hope I can use them to teach about world geography, and if I had a class over third grade, I'd probably sign us up. One of my new obsessions is Letterfu. Using their designs, you can send a letter without any envelope! It's all folds like origami. SUPER awesome, and I just got a Letterfu letter in the mail today from my other most favorite family member, my cousin Kelley!!!

6. I really like my handwriting because it is neat, but it is not "fun." Like, I will happily write out every single word wall word to put on my wall this year, but I can't write a title for a poster or decorate stuff like that. I wish I could!

5. I applied for Teach for America and got to the final full-day interview before I was rejected. :( I was reeeeeeally sad. On my list of regions where I wanted to be placed, I had Chicago, Milwaukee, South Dakota, Miami, and Hawaii. It was pretty frustrating not to be chosen, since all the other people in my full-day interview group had NO IDEA how to teach. But, I like to think that everything happens for a reason. I have my job for the fall now which I know I will like, and that might not have been the case had I gotten into TfA.

4. I am not a big fan of sugary things like doughnuts or chocolate or cake. I do like peppermint patties though. For snacks I prefer salty things like pretzels!!

3. I love sushi! Yesterday I ate sushi and it was amazing. My favorite is the California Roll (I know, I am very daring). I did also eat spicy tuna rolls though! I enjoy dunking my sushi in soy sauce, which my boyfriend tells me is offensive to the sushi chef. I'm sorry sushi chef, but I love me some soy sauce!!!

2. I think I would be happy teaching any grade. For a long time I said my favorite grade was first grade, and I do love first grade. But I spent 3 weeks subbing in a third grade class which I really enjoyed. The students were more independent, but they were still silly and loved school and the fun writing activities and math review games I'd bring in. Then I filled in as a long-term sub for seventh/eighth grade, and I really liked that, too! So, I think I would love anything. :)

1. When I get married, I don't know if I will change my last name. For a long time I swore up and down that I would, because I don't really like my last name now. However, the more I think about it, the more I think that I want to hang on to my name for a variety of reasons. But if you change your name, that's cool with me! I won't judge you. :)

And those are my Top Ten Things To Know! Link up with Mrs. Owens to share yours. :)