Five for Friday~ July 8

Kacey is hosting Five for Friday on her blog Doodle Bugs Teaching. Grab a sweet iced tea, pull up a chair, and prepare to read what all of your blogging buddies have been doing this week.

                      

Okay, I must confess....this is not me!  However, it is a picture of the two bathing suits I order from Land's End on sale with an additional 40% off.  The two suits cost less than 1 at regular price! #score

They are just in time for this......

Photo from Wake and Wonder

My family will be heading for our yearly summer vacation on the Isle of Palms this month.  I.Can't.Wait!  The beaches are fantastic and the proximity to Charleston means you can eat at restaurants that specialize in seafood....a family favorite! You can also go on lots of different history tours (which my boys and husband love) and of course there's some shopping for mom. :) #winwin #everyoneshappy

Those swimsuits are also just in time for lounging by the pool at our new house!  We don't move in until August, but this is an actual picture of the pool....I.Can't.Even!  It looks like a resort, and my family is beyond excited as we all love the water!

I have two new products in my store:

You can read all about Hold It! HERE. I am super excited about implementing this system in my media center next year! I love procedures that make our super busy teacher lives easier!! And speaking of making your life easier, take a look at my Teacher Calendar.

You can take a look at the inside pages HERE. At only a $1, this is just a wise use of your money since you receive a new updated calendar every year at no additional cost! Click on either of the pictures to head over to my TpT store to check these out.

Last, but not least, I have been working diligently to finish my first Library Decor and Signage pack. I am in the flattening stages, so hopefully it will be uploaded to my TpT store by Monday.  Here's a sneak peak....

It is chock full of bright happy colors! You really have a variety of choices on size and design in several of the items offered in the pack. I've included the table of contents to give you an idea of what you'll be getting.

I'm going to refill my coffee cup with decaf this time :( and head over to read all the posts at Doodle Bugs Teaching.  Have a fantastic weekend!

Monday Made It~ July 4th

Another week has flown by! It's unbelievable that it's already the 4th of July!! I'm taking a minute out of today's festivities to link up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It linky party. I thought I'd have more accomplished, but swimming with the boys got in the way this last week! #summerproblems  :)

     I often find myself in the situation of teaching with no paraproprofessional (aka teacher's assistant) or volunteer in sight.  This system for reserving popular books will help cut down on interruptions from your older students once you teach them the procedure.

     Basically, you create a station and set up the materials. When the book a student wants is checked out, he completes a “reservation” form. There are several options that include different lingo (homeroom teacher vs. teacher) and require varying levels of information from the student. Once the form is completed, the student places it in the completed stack.  When you have a chance, you gather the slips and enter the holds into Destiny (or whatever system you use). Keep the slips.

The containers came from the Dollar Spot at Target and the frame came from the Dollar Tree.

Here is one of the book request forms. Another form says title and author, and another one says teacher's name instead of homeroom teacher's name. Essentially, I gave you multiple options; use the one that works best for your kiddos!

     When the book comes in, you use the student slip to email the teacher, place the reservation slip in the book, and then place the book in the “Pick Up” box. The student then picks up the book and proceeds to check it out through your regular check out process. This puts the responsibility on the student and removes the “I need help right now!!” factor.  I hope you find this a beneficial tool in helping your media center run smoothly!

You can use the frames or you can just attach the directions to the basket. You have lots of flexibility in how to use this product.

Hold It! A System for Reserving Library Books can be found in my TpT shop. Be sure to swing back over to 4th Grade Frolics to see what everyone else has been creating this past week. You won't be disappointed!

Five for Friday ~ July 1st

Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching is hosting Five for Friday. It's a great time to see what all of our teaching "web" friends have been up to this week!

I finally completed by Teacher Calendar for the upcoming school year! It has a 2 page spread with large boxes with lines inside each box for all of my type A friends. Each month has 2 pages for taking notes at meetings, brainstorming ideas, list making, etc. You have a choice of 8 covers. If you're like me, you like to match the clip art to your own hair/eye color! The calendar is available now for $1 and will be updated each year at no additional cost.

I love Dorothea Benton Frank's books! I am from South Carolina, vacation on Isle of Palms, and love the history of the Charleston area. This book is set on Sullivan's Island which is the island next to the Isle of Palms. Anyway, I love to read about places that I've actually been before. The plot involves 3 generations of women and the complexity that is family. I'm about halfway through it and I highly recommend it; it's an easy beach or pool read!

Speaking of the pool, the boys and I got invited over to a friend's neighborhood pool yesterday. I was enjoying adult conversation so much that I forgot to take any pictures of the boys! (Insert stock pool photo here.... these are random children.....not mine....)

Another benefit of the pool (other than the life saving infusion of adult conversation) was that the boys wore themselves out!! Three hours of swimming, laughing, splashing, and playing with other children did them a world of good. They were all upstairs by 8 p.m. and my husband and I actually got to watch grown-up t.v.  #thatsawin

I am working at a furious pace to finish several TpT projects. Hopefully this one will be ready for Monday Made It over at 4th Grade Frolics.

Essentially, Hold It! provides a way for students to request a book be held for them. They fill out the form, turn it in, and the media specialist can place the hold in Destiny when she has a few minutes in between classes. When the book becomes available, you simply email the homeroom teacher which the student has listed on the form, stick the Hold It! request into the book and place it in the pick up area for the student to retrieve.  All of the signs and forms will be included to make this painless. All you have to do is teach the procedure to your students! :)

My family is in the process of selling our house and moving into a larger one. Our house sold the day after it was listed (woo hoo!!) but finding another has presented a challenge. The first house we found we thought was ours and we told our sons. The sellers backed out at the last second (they hadn't initialed one box on the contract, but had signed on the dotted line).  The second house was waaaay over priced, and after haggling back and forth for a bit it was obvious we would not be coming to an agreement. We are now on house number three. Fingers crossed....we have a binding agreement so hopefully this one will work out. Unfortunately, the closing on our current house is the end of July and we have 8 days before the closing on our new house. Y'all please say a prayer for us. While we have somewhere to stay, we don't have a place for the contents of our house to stay. Aaaand....I go back to work Aug. 1st.  In the end this will be a great blessing for our family if I can just see my way through the stressful situation that will end in a fabulous large enough house for my family!

Refill your cup of coffee and see what everyone else is up to over at Doodle Bugs Teaching.  Happy Friday (just in case you forgot what day it was again)!