My Teacher Planner!

  I have been a planner fanatic for many years now. I personally think everyone should use a planner in their every day life wether you are scheduling meetings, writing to do lists, lesson planning, or coordinating kids and family events. Planners simply make the world go round! I spent weeks, maybe even months, trying to decide which planner I would get for my first year of teaching… This may sound silly but I looked at every planner! For student teaching I bought a digital planner, and printed everything out myself… Let's just say printing your own planner is for those with a lot of time and patients. I bought the planner and instantly wanted to begin writing in all of the information I have on sticky notes for it. I printed, and printed, and printed some more. It took forever, and I'm convinced it at least tripled the original price of the planner and it was only for three months of student teaching!

  I already knew I did not want to repeat this process for my first year as I teacher. I know I will need to put the time into other areas such as curriculum, creating things for my firsties, decorating, sleeping, and making sure I have my classroom ready on time. With everything else going on the last thing I wanted to do was spend hours customizing and printing a planner. So I decided to buy an Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner. I LOVE IT! It was worth absolutely every penny spent. It literally has everything!

  I read a lot of reviews saying that people never used many of the sections, but I do not see how this is even possible! I already carry my planner with me everywhere. Again, a planner is a life essential in my opinion.

I don't think there is a more perfect planner out there for me!

  I did opt to get extra checklist pages because I plan on using this section for more than just a grade book. I will use it to keep a paper copy of my grades, but I will also use this to make sure students turn things in like permission slips and whatever else I think I need a checklist for…

  Shopping for my classroom is exciting! I am doing my best to find coupons, sales, and any other way to save money. Hopefully this will all pay off!

  Right now I am very thankful for Pinterest and teacher bloggers!

Just Keep On Teachin'

I'm Going to Teach First Grade!

       I am so excited that I will be a First Grade Teacher next year! Hopefully I can create a colorful, exciting, and energetic classroom for all of my little firsties! The first things I thought of were what would my theme be? Which planner should I get?? Where can I find AFFORDABLE books in order to filly my very own classroom library? I feel like I just want to know everything now, so that I can go ahead and start planning everything!

     Planning ahead is what I always try to do. It may not always happen, but at least I have the intentions to be prepared. When I accepted my teaching job, I knew the first thing would be to figure out which lesson planner would work for me. I know that for me, I need to be able to have everything in one place for quick reference and ease of transport (for all the time planning at home). I have FINALLY decided to take the plunge and purchase the Erin Condren Lesson Planner. I am very excited about this and cannot wait to get it in the mail so I can take a better look at it! Another great options for a planner would be the planners made by A Modern Teacher. Her planners are amazing, but I just don't have a the time to devote to fully making it the way I would like it to be, so I decided to go with the EC planner. Hopefully I made the right choice… I guess we will see…

     BOOKS! Oh my could I spend hours and hours wandering around a bookstore. I could also spend WAY too much money on books for my classroom!! While looking through Pinterest, I stumbled across thriftbooks.com. My life has changed FOREVER!! These books are used, mostly in great condition for a fraction of the cost. Even cheaper than amazon and half priced books! I didn't know that was possible!!! IT GETS BETTER! You get free shipping after spending $10 on books and you can sign up to get a coupon! Coupons and something free in one place? YES please! When I get the books I will post pictures so that you can see the quality if you are on the fence.

I feel like my brain is constantly on overdrive with wanting to get everything ready….

     This is such an exciting time! I just want to plan, and of course buy everything!!

If you are thinking about ordering from Erin Condren use this link to get a discount after you make an account: https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/kimberlymcgilvrey0417

Letter to Parents!

     My mentor for student teaching in incredible! I am so lucky to have the opportunity to learn from her and be a part of her classroom. She asked me if I would like to create a letter introducing myself to send home to all of the students parents. If you know me, you know I love creating and designing things for the classroom. I have written a letter to parents before, but it was just a class assignment. I did some research (mostly on Pinterest) and found some examples of what to actually write in the letter to parents. I want the parents to have a good impression of me, so I took some time designing and editing my letter.

     I was very excited to be able to make something that I will be able to send home to each student's parent. I want to present myself in a way that shows that I truly care about their student, that I am creating, and that I would like to be able to communicate with them. I feel that being able to communicate with parents is essential in order for a classroom to run smoothly.

     I am obsessed with owls, and well pretty much anything that is cute and creative looking. I hope this is helpful to those looking to write a letter introducing themselves as student teachers. Student teaching here I come!!

Good luck to those of you preparing to student teach!

As always,
Just Keep on Teachin'