35 Days Until School!

I cannot believe how fast this summer has flown by! There are so many things I want to accomplish and prepare for my second year in the classroom. For this reason, since I left school in late May, I've felt the coming school year looming and approaching.  For the past five weeks or so, I've been working at my school for Teach for America's Institute and have been able to reflect, prepare, and spend time with some of my future kids! I'm so happy I took the job as a faculty advisor because I've gained some valuable insights watching new teachers grow this summer.

It's difficult to sum up all the things I've been working on and planning for this year, but I'm hoping to start posting my plans and progress over the next couple of weeks.

Two fun and affordable things I did the last two days :)

(1) This coming year, I will be doing Writer's Workshop with my second graders and needed an "Author's Chair" for sharing time. I did a quick search on Craigslist yesterday for a child's rocker, and found a cute and cheap chair for $10! Below is the "Before" picture of the Author's Chair. I'm planning to paint it and hang a sign from its back.

(2) I also paid a visit to an amazing place today with my teacher-friend, Cara! Treasures 4 Teachers is an organization dedicated to helping teachers with limited funds find the supplies they need. They have a warehouse-like room full of free or discounted used and new materials teachers can use. For a small membership fee of $35 a year, you can visit as many times as you'd like! There is a whole section of free materials and $5 a bag section (you can fill your bag to the brim!).  I spent $28 and came out with 32 binders, books, 8 packs of dividers, 7 huge packs of sheet protectors, hanging file folders, portfolio folders, and a bunch of other small items.  This place is a life-saver for us poor teachers!

Me with my shopping cart of binders! I'm going to use these for Daily Five and Writer's Workshop :)

I'll update my blog with the "After" picture of the Author's Chair once it's finished!