November Currently

I am linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for November Currently.  

Happy November!  I am currently listening to reruns of New Girl on my computer!  

I am loving this cooler weather.  Winter is my favorite season.  No allergies, sweater weather and curling up on the couch are just a few of my favorite reasons.  

Today I finally submitted my grades for Marking Period #1!  The marking period ended on Friday.  Lets just say grading for two grade levels is a time consuming task. 

I am totally wanting a day off right now.  My housework has been neglected due to the end of the marking period and needs some attention.  

I am needing patience.  Thirty chatty students really try your patience.  I love them all but there are days when my patience is way thinner than others. 

I am ready to start reading "Out of My Mind!"  I got it from a dear friend in my last SLANT box!   Just trying to find spare time to actually sit down and start it.  

Peek at my Week

Welcome to a new week!  My week is fairly busy. I am posting this peek a bit late but oh well. 

Monday:  Today we started new spelling homework!  I created a product on TPT.  This is a paid product but after one evening I am so excited about it.  I reorganized my classroom after school.  After that I delivered a packet for a Thirty-One hostess!  So excited that I have 4 parties this month.  Extra income plus a chance to win bonus money!  

Tuesday: After school on Tuesday's I babysit for my parents neighbor.  We play games, go to my parents to visit the animals and run around the yard.  

Wednesday: Parent Teacher Conference Day.  No students but parents all day.  Our normal schedule is 10-2 and 3-7.  Due to having 31 students I am starting at 10 and going until 7:30PM.  It will be a long day.  When looking on TPT for a product that I could use for my conferences I could not find one.  I decided to create one!  Yes I created something.  I have a few products but have never been very good at creating the cute things the rest of you can.  Check out my Parent Teacher Conference Form at my TPT store! Enjoy this freebie and let me know what you think.  

Thursday: I have an early morning meeting at 7AM.  I can already tell the end of the week is going to drag.  Of course add in the full moon on Wednesday.  

Friday: As of now there is nothing planned for Friday!  Maybe I'll get a night to relax.  

Hope you all have a great week!  

October Currently

Hi All!  I am linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for October Currently!  

Listening: It was morning when I started this and when everything is shut off I can hear the trains going by about a mile down the road.  Sometimes that noise is peaceful...except at 11PM when i can't sleep :) 

Loving: The cooler weather.  I love Fall and Winter!  I have bad allergies so I love when it finally frosts.  I also like to wear pants with my sweaters!  The majority of my teaching wardrobe is for cooler weather.  I live in North West Ohio and teach in Michigan so most of the teaching year it is cooler outside.  

Thinking: I am thinking of things that I need to change at school.  After a month I feel the need to reevaluate my room set up and make adjustments.  That will happen this week. 

Wanting: A day to catch up on sleep.  Two weeks ago was the fair and that takes a lot of my time.  Then I jumped into a crazy week and feel behind not only on grading but also sleep.  

Needing: More hours in the day.  The end of September and beginning of October always seem to be so busy.  It will get better I keep telling myself.  

Trick or Treat:  Here is a little trick.  This year I have a little bit of help during my guided reading group time.  I put every group in their own hanging file folder with all of the materials for the week.  When someone comes in to help they grab the front file and get to to work.  When we are finished the file goes in the back!  

Happy October everyone!  

Five for Friday

Hey everyone!  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week for Five for Friday.  

I'm excited for my first week on this great linky party I've seen on so many other blogs!  

We survived our first full week of school!  Things went very well and by today (Day 8) we finally met our schedule time requirements!   

I love mail!  This week we got a package from GoNoodle.  I participated in a #ChampChallenges competition and was selected to receive a classroom set of pencils.  

A few generous donors helped our elementary to get a new math program.  We are not using Math Expressions.  The items all came in last week and I am so excited about the program.  Week 1 and my kids are getting it so far and the teaching method makes sense to me.  This is going to show those awesome results!

I have these bricks for bathroom passes and they are working very well!  Watch for a Monday Made-It post soon :) 

I have successfully completed all of my beginning of the year testing!  I starting looking at results and the progress kids made over the summer excited me!  

Happy Friday!! 

Classroom Reveal!

The moment I've been waiting for is here! 

It is time for my classroom reveal!  

After a few bumps in the road I can finally post my classroom reveal.  

My classroom starts every year as a clean slate.  My walls are slightly bare and boards are as well.  The kids will fill them with work once they arrive.  

We get lockers this year!  Go Noodle Monsters on our lockers! 

Here is my desk.  

My new clip chart.  The kids loved it today.  

These are views from the door.  Yes my room is HUGE!  

Pencil jars, book basket, speaker, and more.  

Vocabulary wall and the corner for small group with an Instructional Assistant.  

The writing table for Work on Writing. 

My books are all sorted and organized!  Talk about a huge task.  

My jobs board.  This is also the wall that was removed to make my room larger.  

The desks and the front of my room.  

I am so excited to have a weekly "Hot Read!" 

I'm ready for kids to come!  

August Slant Box Reveal!

This month was my first month doing the SLANT box exchange!  You get paired up with two teachers from a different area of the Nation to get to know throughout the month.  At the end of the month you send a box to one partner and a box comes to you from the other.  It was so great to get to know two new teachers.

Now the big reveal of the box that was sent to me!  The box from Ally showed up in my mailbox today.   

This month's theme is "Hometown Pride."  

Here are the contents of my box!

I got a great postcard from Texas!

I love chocolate!  Put this right in the freezer since it is hot out and can't wait to eat it!  

I love this adorable horseshoe as a sign of luck!  I'll have to hang it in my classroom. 

This is super cute!  I love the pink plastic mason jar with a straw!  It will be going to work with me.  Of course it has a packet of sweet tea attached that I can mix in with some water. 

Ally has a huge sock monkey collection.  Now I have my first sock monkey :)!  It also has a "cowboy" hat! 

Who doesn't love sticky notes?  

I love everything in my box.  It is so much fun to get a box full of goodies to start of a crazy week! 

Check out Ally's blog too! 

Organizational Tool

After working in my classroom for the last 3 days I realize that I am WAY more organized than I though.  I am starting a new grade so going through the supplies for the curriculum that were not in order has made me want to pull my hair out.  My biggest goal for this year is to start off organized and ready!  If I start out behind I will be treading water all year long.  

This year I am doing lots of organization methods, but one that I have found to be very helpful is my Thirty-One Fold N File!  

It is sitting on my desk slightly hiding.  Inside this are file folders!  I have one for each day of the week.  During my prep time I make copies and get everything ready for the next week.  This holds all of these copies.  At the end of the day I can pull the next day's file out and set it on my desk.  If I ever need a sub the work is already sitting on my desk!  

This one is courtesy of a fellow Consultant.  It shows the usage better.  

Being a Thirty-One consultant I like to play with product and see where it is best fit.  In my picture on the top you can see I utilize a Fold N File as well as a Hang Up Organizer.  The Hang Up organizer holds items to go to the office, to copy, important documents I refer to often as well as my calendars for the month.  Get these products and more through me!  Let me know and I can help you out by sending a Fall catalog and giving you the tools to order online :)  

Where do I teach?

I am linking back up with 

again today for Back to School Week!  I know many of you are back into the routine of school either with Professional Development days, students have come back or you are setting up your room.

I am currently still in the stages of setting up my classroom.  I teach in a small town called Waldron.  It is located in the great state of Michigan.  This is actually my hometown.  I attended the school for K-12 and now I am in my 5th year of teaching.  I love my district.  We have one building K-12 and around 280 students K-12.  We are small but the kids get a lot of great opportunities because of this.

This year I am teaching in a "double" classroom.  They took out a removable wall and made my classroom twice the size it was.  This switch just happened yesterday so I am still just getting situated into my room.  Stay tuned next week for a classroom reveal post!

Here you can see my color scheme.  It is all still a work in progress.  

Who Monday

Today I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for a Back to School Link Up.  

I am Emily Bechsetin.  This is my 5th year teaching and yet another new challenge.  Each year I have had a different and new challenge.  Here is the breakdown of my assignments: 

2010-2011  1st Grade (17 students)

2011-2012  2nd Grade (30 students)

2012-2013  2nd Grade (22 students)

2013-2014 1st/2nd Grade (8 1st, 14 2nd)

2014-2015  3rd/4th grade

I attended Saginaw Valley State University from 2006-2010.  I have my Michigan and Ohio teaching licenses.  So far I have only worked in a Michigan school.  I grew up in the town that I teach in!  The best part is that I understand the culture of the area because it is my hometown.  

On June 15, 2013 I married my best friend.  We had been together for 5 years previous to that.  After marrying him we moved to Ohio.  I know what your thinking how can I teach in one state and live in another?  The school I teach in is located 3 miles from the state line.  My heart will always belong to Michigan though.  I will NEVER be a Buckeye!  I bleed Blue!  My husband is very supportive of my career.  He is a heavy equipment operator and works very hard during construction season!  In the winter he works on projects like woodworking, tractor rebuilding for his families mini rod pulling team, etc.    

Aside from teaching I am also a Thirty-One Independent Senior Consultant.  I love to host parties and have some "me" time with the ladies while making some extra spending money.  I love to shop so of course I can use the extra spending money!  

I also am the Assistant Rabbit Superintendent at our county fair.  I help with the rabbit department at the fair by doing set up, rabbit check in, show day maintenance and help with the sale.  Of course our fair is the last week of September so it is always a crazy week with school and the fair at the same time.