Must Have Mondays

I am linking up with Teaching With A Touch Of Twang today for Must Have Mondays!!



My must have, since I am still a substitute teacher, is very detailed lesson plans! In a huge district with 7 elementary schools, it's very common that I walk into a room without detailed lesson plans.

The more details the better! I know how important structure is and it's difficult to keep that structure when detailed plans are not given. So I am very thankful for this must have!



You don't understand how nice it is to work in rooms that are organized, ready and detailed! Some days I walk away feeling like I wasted a day trying to figure out how to run certain activities, and I get tired of hearing "No we don't!" and "Yes we do!".

Some classes are better at "Do I look like Mrs. So-and-so? Is it okay if I do things a little differently?" However, some classes cannot handle any change at all.

So my must have, is detailed and organized lessons when I walk in!

The Ultimate Chevron Classroom!

This weekend I planted my garden... and I made the ultimate chevron classroom!

It's available on Teachers Pay Teachers! So get yours now!


Included in this file, are two different alphabet posters. One that each letter takes up one sheet of paper, and one that has two letters per page. It is very colorful and has cute graphics.

Then there are the name tags. There are 4 different types of name tags, from very simple to having the alphabet, number line to 30 and left and right hand signs. These are perfect to print out on card stock and to use contact paper to apply it to the desks.

Then I made labels for your boxes of items. Pencils, markers, crayons, scissors.... all of those fun things!

Sometimes folders that the kids have are cuter with a little color on the front that you can write their names on! These are good on file folders and pocket folders. They include To Do Folder for their desks, homework folders and take home folders.

Running stations can always run smoother when you have posters all around the room, or inside the baskets for each station. You'll never have to hear "Where is this station?" The station include, Read to self, word work, meet with teacher, read to someone, listen to reading, work on writing, study spelling.. and blank ones that you can write on yourself!




Last but not least is the classroom schedule. I *think* I have included pretty much anything that can happen during the year. Since I will be teaching in a Muslim private school, I have also included Islamic Studies, Quran, and Salat al-Dhuhr.

I know I am ready to print these out and start hanging them up in my room! Too bad I have to wait for the end of the school year and for the room to be cleaned out. I'm so excited yet, I must wait. I'm also taking these to kinkos or Staples to get printed, to save myself some ink!

So, this is it! What do you think? Do you love all of the chevron goodies!? If so, please check it out on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Class Pet Weekend Journal - FREEBIE!!

In preparing for September, I finished our weekend journal activity!



I'm offering it up for FREE on TPT!
If any of you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed one similar with fun Scrappin' Doodle graphics. Well, I haven't bought the licence yet to sell it on TPT. I'm only allowing myself a certain amount of money per month to spend on school since I'm going to be buying either a laptop or iPad or other table of sorts soon. I would have bought it already, but darn Target $1 section got in my way!!


For this specific journal, you do need to purchase a book and stuffed animal. The book is "Scute's Ocean Adventure" and it is written by the employees at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Scute’s Ocean Adventure tells the tale of a loggerhead sea turtle’s journey from the nest out to the open ocean. Scute interacts with an array of coastal and marine characters, until an unfortunate event lands him in the helpful hands of Dr. Norton. Dr. Norton, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center’s one and only veterinarian, helps Scute make a full recovery and returns him back to a life at sea.

While any sea turtle stuffed animal can be purchased, since I was ordering from the website anyways, I bought the Big Eye Plush Turtle from them as well. I'm thinking I should have bought 2, just in case.

I am going to have a colleague drop off the box to my room, after I open it the book will be on top. I'll read the book and then the letter from Scute himself! He asks our class to take care of a turtle that was hurt and needs our help. The students will take the turtle home on the weekends and record their adventures in the journal.

Since my class will be small, the students will be able to take the turtle home possibly 3-4 times during the year! I cannot wait to compare their creative writing skills.

Please leave feedback if you downloaded it or used it! Feedback will only make my downloads better!

Spelling Dictionary Booklet

Way back when, when I was a student teacher in a 4th grade classroom I was first introduced to the idea of a booklet of words to help them spell words correctly. My mind was blown. You mean this saves out on 20+ children asking you how to spell words? You mean this saves time correcting their spelling when it comes time to edit their papers?

My master teacher called her booklet "Spelling Dictionary" mainly because when students did ask how to spell a word, she would give them the first three letters of the word and tell them to look it up and put it in their dictionary. Yes, I understand this is technically not a dictionary, and yes it took longer. However, not only were the students spelling the word correctly, but they were learning to use the dictionary; which in my opinion is a lost cause today!

When I first started substitute teaching, during those planning periods where I had NOTHING to do, I started making up this booklet. I finished the booklet in no time flat, took it a Kinkos and made a couple copies for the future.


Fast forward 10 years later. Fast forward the technology and the plethora of fun fonts. I revamped my dictionary!



Purchase this book for only $2!!


My first ever booklet turned into a PDF to put on Teachers Pay Teachers. So feedback will be appreciated!

Who is Stephanie?

Welcome to my little blog! I'm so happy you have stopped by for a visit!

In September I will finally be a first year teacher for the 2013-2014 school year. It seems strange to say the term "first year teacher" after being a substitute teacher for 10 years. I had many different long term assignments, K-1-2 Self-contained, Reading Teacher, 2nd Grade, and two different 5th Grades. I learned so much during those assignments!

All of the ideas that have been building are all coming out at once, and this blog will be a great place to put them all, and to reflect on my first years.


My husband and I have been married since August 2006. He has a 13-year-old son and we have a daughter in heaven. Our current baby at home is an 8-year-old Rottweiler who is the biggest sweetheart in the world!


Starbucks and Sonic are my two guilty pleasure drink stops! I cannot get enough of Strawberry Limeades and Passion Tea Lemonades!

I love to crochet and knit. I even have a crochet blog, (Simply Crochet and Other Crafts) even though I don't have a lot of time for that anymore. One of my afghans hit pinterest big!


My favorite movie has to be A League Of Their Own, because, well, there's no crying in baseball!