Liebster Award

I'm so lucky and honored to have been nominated by Susan from Thoughts From Mrs. Susan for the Liebster Award!  It is an award that recognizes new blogs! Thanks so much Susan; you're the sweetest!

The requirements in order to accept my nomination are:
1. Link back to the blog that nominated me
2. Nominate 5 blogs with fewer than 200 followers
3. Answer the questions posted by my nominator
4. Share 11 random facts about myself
5. Create 11 questions for my nominees
6. Contact my nominees and let them know I nominated them!

Questions from Susan:
1. How do you spend your free time?
Teachers get free time? hehe just kidding! In my free time I like to hang out with my boyfriend and friends - usually watching movies, playing games, doing something outside, etc. I also like to read, scrapbook, surf blogs and pinterest for new ideas for my classroom, and blog!
2. What makes you laugh?
A good comedy movie/show, a good book, my boyfriend, friends, and family
3. How long have you been teaching?
I am going into my 5th year of teaching.  I taught for 3 years at the high school level, then had the opportunity to switch to the elementary level last year and love it!
4. What is your favorite subject to teach? Why?
As a resource teacher, I mainly work on Reading all day, but do have other groups such as Math and Writing (all depending on my kiddos IEPs).  I love teaching reading because of the great connections my students make and conversations we have. I love teaching Math because it's so literal, comes natural to me, and has so many real world applications to it!5. Where is your favorite place to vacation?
Anywhere warm, but with a dry heat! I loved visiting my best friend in Arizona, but she's back here now so not too many reasons to visit there.  I also have family in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada that I LOVE visiting! It's so gorgeous up there too!6. If you could only take one thing on a trip, what would it be?
If I could only choose one thing to take on a trip, I would probably go with chapstick! It's just something I have to have at all times! I even have a little holder on my school lanyard that holds a chapstick in it!  One time I forgot it and the librarian at my school just happened to have a brand new one she hadn't used and gave it to me! So Sweet!7. What is your favorite book?
Eek just one?? If I had to choose just one book, I would go with The Perks of Being a Wallflower (I read it YEARS before it became a movie though).
8.  What do you like best about where you live?
There is ALWAYS something to do!  I live in a large suburb with everything you can imagine; plus I'm only 30 minutes away from Chicago so I can go to the museums, parks, or anything else with a quick drive or train ride in!
9.  If you could meet anyone, who would it be?
I would LOVE to meet any player from my favorite sports teams! (White Sox, Bears, Hawks).  I've contemplated hanging out in the city this summer just to see if I could see one of them out with the Stanley Cup as it makes its rounds! No luck yet :-( 10.  If you had a day to yourself, what would you do?
A day to myself with no work, homework, or cleaning? I would get a manicure and pedicure, read, watch all my favorite movies (I have a HUGE collection), and probably pig out on all that food that is bad for you, like my favorite, ICE CREAM!
11. What is your greatest accomplishment?
I'd have to say getting my Master's (well technically I just started my last 5 week course today, but I know it'll fly and I'll pass with an A so it's okay :-) ) while teaching (most of it while starting with a completely new age group, in a new school, with new policies, new curriculum, new everything! It was like 1st year of teaching all over again!) and tutoring 15 hours a week after school as a second job.  All while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.  When it's all over, I'm not sure what I'll do with my spare time...maybe some things under Question #10!

11 Random Facts About Me:
1. I LOVE to organize! I feel like it's an obsession of mine - and yet (as you can tell from my "Show Us Your Stuff" Linky Posts) I feel like I NEVER have time to do it.
2. I LOVE doing math word problem - I always have ever since they're first introduced in school.  I love the challenge and how they make you think.
3. I am the proud owner of 3 cats and 1 pup that I love because they are my children.
4. I'm a die-hard White Sox fan, born and raised, and my boyfriend is a Cubs fan (some how we get along, although I tend to get a little "In Your Face!" about it at times lol)
5. I'm a perfectionist. So while tasks are easy to do, they become time consuming because it has to be perfect...i.e. my Master's internship that I now have 3 weeks to complete.
6. I save Sundays in the Fall for football. All day from Noon-10:30ish.  I also participate in a Fantasy Football League!
7. I did gymnastics for 10 years and played softball for 15 years.  People can't believe it when I say I played catcher because I'm tiny.
8. I love being in the outdoors, going camping, going to Lakehouses, and just relaxing....my allergies don't agree with that very much though.
9. I love my mom almost 8 years ago when I was 20.  It took a big tolls on my family and me, but I did the one thing she wanted me to do and that was graduate from college.  I ended up graduating with honors and now I'm almost done with my master's! I think she would be very proud.
10. I LOVE LOVE LOVE coffee!! Especially more so now that I quit drinking energy drinks.
11. I have a tendency to over analyze which in turn causes the problem to actually happen, makes things take too long to complete, and makes me worry something is right.  I'm getting better with it though and starting to get a "go with the flow" attitude...with some things at least!

Questions for my Nominees!:
1.  What was your favorite subject when you were in school? Why?
2.  If you had to choose one food to eat the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
3.  Why did you decide to start a blog?
4.  What got you inspired to teach?
5.  What were your goals for this summer? How many are accomplished (or almost accomplished) and which ones are they?
6.  What is your favorite part of teaching?
7.  What do you feel is the hardest part of teaching?
8.  What do you do for fun?
9.  If you could choose one place to live, money doesn't matter - cost is no object, where would it be and why?
10.  What is your dream vacation?
11.  What are your goals for this upcoming school year?

My Nominees Are:

Amy Harrod @ 24/7 Teacher

Jennifer Smith-Sloane @ 4mulaFun

Alyssa Roetheli @ 4th Grade Racers

Carla @ Comprehension Connection

Meredith @ Diary of a First Year Teacher

Thanks again Susan!  It put a big smile on my face and made my day when I saw your comment that you nominated me!

My 1st Monday Made It! ...Part 1...

I FINALLY have something made for a Monday to participate in 4th Grade Frolics's Monday Made It! Well sort of...it's a 2 part-er due to weather.

I inherited these Book Bins from a teacher that was retiring...but they needed a face lift (plus the colors didn't match my theme of my classroom!)

SO I've begun the face lifting process! (those are some other containers I want to spray paint to match too - not the laundry basket thought :-) )

 The things spray painted green are letters that spell out my name that I am going to string together with ribbon to hang above my desk!

 I used spray paint specifically for plastic and that is glossy so it'll have a nice finish.  It took about 3 and 1/2 cans (give or take on the 1/2) for the outside of the Book Bins and the two little tubs from the Dollar Tree.

I only have the outside done since the spray paint won't stick or try properly if it's over 90 degrees and/or more than 65% humidity...I'm hoping that if I wake up early enough tomorrow that it'll be cool enough in the morning to finish the insides (and touch up the outsides from the fantastic wind that blew the corners of the newspaper up, making it stick to the boxes!)  I can't wait to finish them and see how they look!

I also finished creating my classroom decor, but don't know how everyone always has picture collages on their blogs of things they made via the computer so that'll have to wait until I figure that out, or it gets hung up in my classroom, which ever comes first! Happy Monday!

Well of COURSE there was another Classroom/Supply Shopping Trip - I'm a Teacher! ;-)

I think it is inevitable that teachers will continually post pictures and collages of pictures of all of their exciting finds for the next month and a half...and I LOVE IT!!! Who could not get excited of these kinds of things?!?! With that...my most recent excursion!

1st Stop: IKEA! I love this store because it's so cheap! And now they have a loyalty card, so you get certain discounts each month!

 I got 2 of the lime green body pillows for my reading corner, I got the black side table for my reading corner, I got 3 of the tall floor lamps in hopes to not use the florescent lights in my room!, I got the lamp base and pink lamp shade for my desk (might as well make it cozy since I'll be spending tons of time there!), and then I bought 12 of the lime green frames and 12 of the hot pink frames to hold my Desire to Inspire Brights Subway Art and Classroom Rules Posters by Hope King over at 2nd Grade Shenanigans!

Next Stops: Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree, and Five Below!

At Walmart I got 20 more clear pencil pouches for 47 cents each! (These ones will be to hold their tickets [see below] and their SPOTS [our PBIS incentive]), more laminating pouches (I'm sure they'll get used quickly!), and then this super cute, perfect sized pink create! It's the size of a desktop hanging file holder, but it was only $3! It's "technically" a locker crate, but as teachers we always use items for other things than their original intention. ;-)

At Target I got the gift wrap (See Below) and more of these pails from the Dollar Spot! (I already have tons of them that I use to hold markers, pens, tickets, etc.) These 2 are going to be used to hold the students' numbers by my job chart so I can remember who had a job already and who hasn't (since they'll be getting "paid" for their jobs I definitely want to be fair!).  I'm going to change out the ribbon on them to one of the zebra print ribbons that I have!

I did ended up exchanging my Dollar Tree erasers because my boyfriends' Dollar Tree had 8 packs instead of 6 packs AND these ones are way cuter! :-)

Then I went to Five Below and I got these chairs in black to match my room! (They didn't have the fun bright colors at my Five Below, only basic colors :-( ) I got 2 chairs for $5 each to put in my reading corner!

On the the next! - Lakeshore Learning! (A teacher store by me) - This store I bought a TON at so be prepared! lol

This store takes my money year round, but I feel it is the best teaching store in the area!!  First, everything I got was 20% off! The Planner in the picture was free (Not sure what exactly I'm going to do with it because I write my lesson plans on the computer, but who can pass up free?) I got a Common Core Reading Comprehension Practice Book for Grade 3 (I'll be going to back for the other grades since I have another 20% off coupon!).  I LOVE this book because it's differentiated into 3 different levels, and gives a correlation chart to guided reading levels!

Then I got 2 of the sentence strips storage boxes - 1 for the blank sentence strips and 1 for the ones that I can save for the next year.  Also these may be getting spray painted because the blue just doesn't go with all my other items (OCD, I know lol).  (I also got another border storage that rolls up because my other one is over stuffed :-X)

I got the super cute Welcome postcards that I am going to write to my kiddos with their Welcome Back gift on the first day of school.

I bought 4 packs of the tickets because I am going to implement parts of Teri's Classroom Management System over at A Cupcake for the Teacher! They're super cute, but I bought a ton because I don't feel like laminating all the little pieces...mainly I don't want to add that to the already tons of cutting that I will have lol.

Lastly, below I bought the yellow letters to go with the frog bulletin board set that I bought for one of my Back to School Bulletin Boards.

I bought the zebra letters to go with the lime green gift wrap (Target) and the pink, lime green, and zebra print double sided border to decorate my desk and my aide's desk with our names.

ANNNND I bought the boho birds, teal gift wrap (Target - hard to see the color in the picture), Teal Appeal Letters (I WISH all letters came prepunched!!), and green border for my Door Decor this year! (Of course the green border will be used for other borders as well since it's part of my theme - but I could only find this color that I wanted at Michael's, AND it was buy 2 get 1 free!)

PHEW That was 5 HOURS of shopping right there! I also finally got my lime green and hot pink pom-poms to go with my zebra print pom-poms from Hobby Lobby!  BUT with the exception of a few random things (art supplies, fabric, etc.), I am DONE shopping! (I have to be done otherwise I'll be more broke than I already am lol).  Off to upload my Decor that I finished creating to Office Max so it's printed in high quality versus my printer! <3

My Name is Justina and I'm a School Supply Addict....

Okay...soooo....I have taken the first step and I have admitted I have a problem with school supplies...BUT like I've mentioned before, as a Resource Teacher I virtually have to get supplies for all my kiddos I see throughout the year, so I have to over plan to make sure I have enough for the kiddos that join my groups for RtI as well...but sometimes I probably go a little overboard this time of year. Is there a 12 step program for School Supply Addicts? :-)  Here is my latest shopping excursion (on the plus side with the exception of a few things I have everything I think I need now!!)

I went back to a different Target to check out their Dollar Spot and was VERY excited about the goodies and all the things I got for the little about I spent!

The 9 books, 2 border storages, and 3 packages of Birthday Certificates were from the Dollar Spot! How could I pass up books for $1 that were lower leveled books?!

I got 20 bottles of glue (one for each of the kiddos supply bins that I'm assembling) for 50 cents each! My boyfriend said, "What if they go cheaper later in the summer?" My response, "Target has a 90 day return policy.  I'll just return them and buy them again!" :-)

Then I got 3 boxes of highlighters so each kiddo has one in their supply bin.

The border storage (I only found one before) I'm going to use for my Common Core "I Can" statement cards that I'm going to be purchasing from Jason's Online Classoom's TPT Store! His are exactly what I've been looking for because they have great visual examples of each standard on the card too! Check them out! But I needed 3 border storages because I need one for each grade level I see!

Lastly, I forgot who's blog I saw them on (my apologies - I will try and remember!!) But I bought myself the Pilot FriXion Erasable Pens! These ones are Pink, Orange and Purple, gel ink.  I tried them out and they are WONDERFUL! Best erasable pens ever!

 On to the next! I went to Michael's and got Zebra Print Value Pack papers 3 for $10!! (I think they misplaced the sign, but I still got the deal!)  That way I can use it for backgrounds on different posters I hang up or virtually anything!

I got 2 of the glitter koozies because I thought they were cute and I can use them for pen holders. They were only 2 for $1!

Lastly from Michael's I bought the glitter tape that I have been eyeing for weeks! (I got a 40% off coupon in and e-mail and decided it was time to use it on that.  PLUS they were on sale from $14.99 down to $8.99!)  This will make decorating my clothespins easier, faster, and less messy!  (Last year I did the whole modpodge actual glitter ones which worked but took awhile to drive and had glitter everywhere! lol)

I got my kiddos erasers and pencil sharpeners from the Dollar Tree (LOVE THAT STORE!).  I realized I miscounted on the erasers (I was exhausted at this point) so I'll have to go back and get one more. (However, I also want to check the Dollar Tree by my boyfriend's house, because when we were there a month ago, his Dollar Tree had 8 erasers for $1 versus the 6 erasers I got for $1).

 The 4th stop was Staples! Since there was a misprint in their Ad, I really got lucky! I got each 2 pack of scissors for 85 cents! Their Ad said $1 for the 2 pack, but there was supposed to be a limit of 2 - which to my benefit, got left out of the Ad! Then I got 15% off with my Back to School Pass! (I'm pretty sure this thing has already paid for itself!).

I got the shoe tape dispenser for $5.95 down from $9.99, AND it comes with jewels if I want to bedazzle it ;-)

As you can see I got more of the friXion pens AND staples had them as highlighters too! I tried the highlighters and they smeared a little bit, but I think I just didn't give the highlighter enough time to dry.  I figure I'll try them again and if anything I'll just return them and tell them they consistently smear ink. (I hope they don't though!).

I of course picked up the 1 cent eraser caps, bic pens, and index cards.  I got 4 of each since I did 2 separate purchases, AND they rang up free with the Back to School Pass! (I shared a package of bic pens and eraser caps with my dad :-) )

Staples also has an AWESOME binder recycling program!  Bring in an old binder and get $2 off your new binder - with no limit as to how many you can do! So I took in 6 old, dingy binders and walked out with 6 brand new ones that'll match the binder organization I'm doing this year! (1 1/2" binders went from $5.99 each to $3.98 with the recycling, to $3.38 because of the Back to School Pass, and the 2" binder went from $6.99, to $4.98, to $4.23)

Lastly I picked up some more staple removers (mine seemed to go MIA last year...I will be labeling them this year..) and a second stapler for my reading table.

Then there's Office Max! The top photo is from a couple days ago (some items were even from the beginning of June too) then the bottom picture was from today.  I LOVE my new planner and was very excited when July 1st hit so that I could start using it already!

I ended up exchanging the green folders for the blue folders because I changed my mind on the colors I wanted to use for the different grade levels (to make it easier on myself this summer I kept the same colors.  Next summer when/if I have more time I'll change all the colors over).

The Flair marker pens I got at the end of June for buy one get one free!

And the plastic pencil cases in the top one I got them for 50 cents each! They apparently had the wrong sign up and they were supposed to be $2 each....naturally the wrong sign was in my favor - when I went back today the fixed the sign :-( Looks like I'll have to do something else for the kiddos reward tickets and PBIS spots.

I picked up a couple more 25 cent rulers so I had an even number from the picture above, 2 of the little square post-it note cubes (only $1 each), 2 more glues because they were only a penny each, and then these cool refillable Pilot B2P Ballpoint Retractable Pens! They're made out of recycled plastic bottles.  They had black, blue, green, red, and purple in it - and on clearance for $6 for 15 pens!

Then there's some other random little things that were all on sale of course too!

Also, apparently with the Office Max reusable bag, if I shop there within the next couple weeks with the bag they'll fill it with goodies because I'm a teacher!

Well that's my recent shopping spree to add to my "piles"! Please tell me I'm not alone with my addiction?

Diary of a First Year Teacher: Giveaway!!!

Diary of a First Year Teacher: Giveaway!!!: Check out this awesome giveaway!! You get to choose any 3 products you want-how great is that!

Show Off Your Stuff Linky...Again - Blame Target!! ;-)

Okay...so I have ONE more pile, but that is because Target put out their Back to School stuff; including in the Dollar Spot section, and I just COULDN'T resist!! SO here's one more pile to add to Christina's Linky Party!

(At least it fits into 4 Target bags...I should've also taken a picture of my trunk that has all the book bins and other plastic containers that I need to spray paint lol)

"Show Us Your...Stuff" Linky!

Man I feel like I haven't posted in FOREVER.  I've wanted to do the Monday Made Its...and haven't...I've wanted to be able to post awesome "look what I've done so far this summer for my classroom!" posts...but can't...because I've been working solely on my Master's program (not how I imagined my summer...). Enter: Christina's Show Us Your Stuff Linky Party!

Now...you know you all have piles and piles of stuff that you either bought this summer or brought home this summer. My reason for all the piles:

1. I've already done back to school shopping....and container shopping...and well everything classroom shopping including hitting up Scholastics Book Warehouse Sale for a SECOND time this year!

2. I'm moving classrooms this year, and didn't know when I would get back in mine.  SO I brought almost ALL things personal home...plus I wanted to organize it all this summer...now that I have only 4-5 weeks left (including having to set up and organize an entire new classroom!!)...and after taking these pictures...I have realized I have got to get my BUTT in gear!! 

Alright...here goes nothing...don't go running and hiding from the scary mess!!! (Like I often want to lol)

Well those are my piles! Hopefully in 2 weeks I'll at least have "non-pile" pictures to share because it'll all be put together and organized! :-)