The eagle has landed!!

... well sort of.  We are *this* close to securing a date for our wedding!  Can I get a woopwoop!?  We spent ALL weekend going to reception venues... some (well, one) we LOVED and a whole bunch we... didn't.  Yikes.  I even took off Friday to head home early and get stuff done.  Don't worry, this is already our fifth week of school.  FIFTH!  I so can't sympathize with you guys and gals just getting started.  I'm mostly just jealous.  

Having a sub makes me nervous this year... I have one of those classes.  I literally wrote a whole page of "what to do if little Johnny does this..." "how to handle little Sally's total breakdown..."  I didn't get a call from her or the police so I can assume it went relatively smooth.  Guess I'll find out tomorrow!

Speaking of tomorrow - it's September 10th (what?!) which means Tuesday is September 11th!  Last year I found it pretty difficult to discuss the events with firsties... it's a challenge making that day "kid friendly" but I have found a few sources to help this year!  

PS quick flashback story - Last year while discussing Veteran's Day one of my kiddos was convinced we were currently under attack from the bad guys... he was super concerned about precautions we needed to take ASAP to get out of harms way! Poor baby.  Don't worry, I clarified... but he may be scarred for life.  

I got this book last year and I'm sure most of you have seen it, but it is great! 

Especially for first grade since it was written by first graders!  Last year after reading it, one of my kids says "Wow, we can be authors just like those first graders!! Let's write a book!" You go, girl!  But it's a very sweet, inspirational story depicted by first grade illustrations about 9/11.  It can lead into lots of great convos. *Warning* you might tear up mid story.  Just saying, be prepared. 

Susan over at T.G.I.F. shared that Brain Pop has a free movie which I can't wait to show.  She also shared some great freebies, so go download stat!  I am also thinking about making a class craft like:

(source)

in conjunction with some sort of class unity activity.  Do you do anything special for September 11th?  I'd love more ideas!!

My first Currently!

Happy Monday! And yes, it actually IS a happy Monday because we no school! *happy dance* Labor Day is such a well placed holiday for teachers.  They knew we needed a break already :)  Well here goes my first currently link up!

Ok so I know there's a lot about wedding stuff in there but my goodness have you ever planned one?? We've only been engaged for a month and there's already so much to do!  And so many places are already booked up a year in advance!  I'm already having wedding dreams every night... who knows how to turn my brain off for me?  I feel like deciding who to invite is so cut throat!  It gives me anxiety.  

Fall is almost here!  I had a little glimpse of fall weather yesterday... it was gone by noon but boy was it nice.  Fall means footbaaaaalll! I am so not a football guru but I LOVE tailgating, the Grove, and football foods.  Makes fall fabulous.  And the internet - well it's just awesome.  I can find out SO much wedding stuff without having to leave my couch.  Blogs, pinterest, facebook, I can't get enough.  It's bad for my posture...  Seriously...

Excuse that this post has nothing to do with teaching.  Hey, it's a national holiday!

Freebie Friday on a Monday!

Well I'm a few days late on the end of the back to school blog hop buuuuuut better late than never right??  I don't actually have an excuse... I just slept a lot ;)  This is officially my first time uploading something to Google Docs and posting it so I *hope* it works!  Let me know :) 

I created these this summer (one for each month) to post on the wall in my writing center... ya know, to give kids a few word ideas to use during work on writing.  So far we haven't use them LOL but that's because we haven't become independent there yet... so the August one might be useless.  I'll include September in there too!  Well I hope someone out there can use them!

 

I got the adorable clip art from Carson Dellosa - I think it's ok to upload since it's free... right???