Sunday, August 11, 2013

I am back.....

Yikes! I really thought I had blogged since this month's currently. In the last ten days I have been busy getting projects done in the classroom and at home. Now that summer school and my tutoring are over I have had more time to focus on classroom projects. If you follow me on Instagram you have seen a few of the projects I have been working on in the new addition to my classroom. It is coming along slowly and even though I have got a few additional projects done, I really need to pick up the pace in the next week and half. I will have to do a better job taking pictures to share as I go. I feel like the last couple of times I have been to school I have had to run out the door so quickly that taking pictures doesn't even cross my mind (my classroom is such a time warp- I am sure many of you can relate).

Any way I thought I would pop on my little blog today and share a freebie and a new product that I just got put up on my TPT store (which I also finally finished setting up). First up is my Special Education Communication Log Packet. The packet includes six different communication logs that I have found to be useful as a Special Education Teacher.


Last year I had a Parent Communication Form that I found and used. I kept them in my IEP binder and filed them with each students IEP. Every time I communicate with parents I would keep track of it on the form. I found that the form didn't document everything I wanted it to and the boxes were so little that I didn't have much space to write. I found it helpful to have a written log when I needed to go back and reference things. I decided to create my own sheet that would include everything I wanted to document and left me with more than enough room. I have included my Parent Communication Form as a freebie in my TPT store.



The other communication logs in the packet are a teacher, school psych, principal, team, and an other provider (outside providers the student may have). I found that I didn't always do a great job of documenting my communication with all of these people. I would have notes in different places, emails, posts with information on them and I would have to dig to find them. This year I wanted to make sure I had a better system going and was documenting everything in one place. There are so many important conversations that take place and I want to make sure on my end that I have everything documented in case I ever need it for any reason. I would love to hear about how others document their communication with all the professionals they are in contact with! I originally thought about doing it digitally, but there are times that I don't have access to a computer/ipad/iphone and I can write something down. I hate having to do the work twice and I don't want to forget to transfer things from one to another. I figure I will give this a try and re-evaluate after to see if it was a system that works for me. I would also love some feedback on the packet so I am going to give away a free packet to the first two people to leave me a comment (make sure to leave your email address). The packet will also be on sale until Tuesday :)

I am off to watch some Sunday night TV with my husband and get some projects done. I will be back this week with some more freebies and a back to school giveaway!

Happy Sunday!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

August Currently

Some months seem to go by really quickly, while others seem to last forever! Summer months always seem to go by super quickly. I have been teaching ESY for the last three weeks (today was my last day) and it seemed to fly by. As I was driving home I was thinking to myself that I have another month until school starts, but when I really started to think about it we report back the last week of August and I am sure it will be here in a blink of an eye. This leaves me three weeks to get things done and I know those weeks will get cut down by meetings and early open house for my kiddos. I don't even want to think about how much I have left to do, even though I have been working on things pretty steadily this summer. I just don't know how it is August already (I am sure I am not the only one), with that being said I am linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade's August Currently.


listening- I normally either have the TV or music on as background noise when I work or am at home. If How I Met Your Mother or Big Bang Theory are on that normally is my first go to. If not it is a random assortment of other bad TV.


loving- I had a really good time teaching ESY this summer. It was great to be able to work with a couple of my kids and get to meet some new ones. They were a great group and everything went really smoothly. It did take up a good chunk of time in my day and I was still tutoring afterward. It didn't leave me much time to work on things in my room (if I was lucky it would be an hour or two) or to work on things at home. I had Fridays off which I found myself often running round to stores to buy things that I needed. So I am excited to have a little more free time to get things checked off my list and prep for this school year. I also am not going to miss waking up super early, I would like a couple more days to sleep in a little before I have to be up by 5 am everyday during the school year.


thinking- Like I said before I don't know where the time has gone. I have been consistently working on stuff since we got out in mid June. I do feel like I have accomplished a lot, but I need to get moving on things. We have a number of new teachers to our school this year and they all have a handful of my kids, so I am feeling like I need to start prepping for them. I don't want to take up too much of their time before school starts- we all have a million things to do, but I want them to feel prepared and not overwhelmed.


wanting- I would love to be going on a vacation some where, anywhere. We just really haven't been able to make it pan out this summer. It makes me so jealous to see everyones' vacation pictures on their blogs and on instagram. Being somewhere tropical on a beach relaxing sounds pretty good right now. The weather here has been amazing up until recently, but it is just not the same. I am hoping maybe it will still happen and we can at least take a weekend trip, but I am not sure it will.


needing- My hair needs some love. It grows pretty quickly and it has been a while since my last hair cut/color. I just looked at my calendar and it was April (yikes!). It has gotten bad though, I may have cut my bangs myself a few weeks ago, and not well I may add. I had lighter brown highlights put in my hair last time and they are now a weird blonde color and it is not looking pretty. Sadly neither ladies that I see have any availability any time soon and I am having to wait until Sept. 7 to get in. I am really tempted to try some where else out, because I am not wanting to start school looking like a hot mess or having to cut my bangs again myself. I haven't had great luck with the other places I have tried in the area over the last few years until I found these ladies, so the other part of me is wanting to hold out- I at least know that after Sept. 7 my hair will look good.


b2s must haves- This was a hard one for me, but I feel like these are three of my top ones.

First off would be Scentos/Smelly Markers. I found Scentos last summer and bought a few (they are kind of pricey at a dollar a pop). My plan was to use them for things like making anchor charts and for special activities with my kiddos. My kids loved them and they became a must have in our daily work. We could get anything done as long as we had them. I have developed a large collection of them. I started finding them on clearance back in April and have continued to stock up over the summer. I mean how can you pass them up for .39? I am also loving these Mr. Sketch Stix Markers. I ordered a couple of packages a couple of weeks ago for myself and a give away I am going to be doing. I was on amazon looking for something else when I saw the price had been dropped to $2.71, so I bought two more boxes of them. It is an addiction and I know I have a problem, but I am pretty ok with it :)

Next up is staples pens. These are my favorite regular use pens (I have a small addiction to color pens also). I love the way they write and the feel of them. They come in a pack of 50 assorted (blue, black, and red), so they last me a while.

Last up is post its. They have always been one of my favorite things. I have two have different sizes of them and I love the lined ones. I was super excited when they came out with the giant ones this year and had to buy all three sizes.


I am excited to read what everyone else's must haves are! I am off to watch some Project Runway and make my to-do list for tomorrow.