Oops I did it again!

So I left my last post hanging that there will be big changes coming.  I can officially tell you now that I will be with a new county next year!  I will still be teaching 5th grade Science and Social Studies, so that is a plus!!

Now my new school seems pretty great so far, but I'm not officially back on the clock until Thursday.  Unfortunately our school was last on the list to be cleaned and it still isn't ready.  So I haven't even started in my room yet.  In fact, all my items are in the garage- piling up with new items! :)

My new team will consist of 6 teachers total instead of 3 like in the past.  1 of the teachers was there last year in 5th grade, but all the others are new to the grade or school.  We've gotten together a few times to plan.  It is kind of exciting to start fresh, but nerve wrecking, too!

Anyways, I want to share with you my SLANTbox for June/July!  I participated last May with Lessons with Coffee.  You can find our more here!  This month's theme was Sunshine.  So I sent a nice yellow and pink (because that is Sarah's favorite color) box.  You can check out her blog about her box.  While you are there you should look around!  She is full of great ideas!  I had such a great time getting to know her, too!  We have so much in common it is simply amazing! :)  Go visit her at Learning by Hart!!

I received a box, too!  My box came from Amanda at Third Grade Fabulous!  I must say that she hit the nail on the head! I absolutely LLLLOOOVVVEEE my box!  If you follow me on Instagram (@supaams) then you know that I obsessed with hedgehogs!  Well, Amanda filled my box with LOTS of hedgie loot that I had never even seen before!!!

I had polka dot folders (another favorite) and clipboard with notepad.  I had hedgehog Post-Its, hedgie picture, and a CUTE notebook that I used at my professional development on Friday! :)  I think I received the best box ever!! ;)

I'm working on some other blog topics, but I have been slacking!  I will definitely get back on board whenever I am in my room and actually getting ready.  (Haha, this should be sooner than later!)

First Monday Made it Over the Summer!!

Happy Monday!!  I'm totally excited to get back into Monday Made It's!  This week it isn't one for my classroom, but it is something that I could do again and utilize in the classroom.  I was thinking about Open House night or field day!

Here it is...

How cute, right?  These were for my cousin's bridal shower!!  I'm going to walk you through this simple process!  I will say that I didn't teach myself, but my good friend Lora came over and showed me how to do these!  I've talked about Lora before because she is so dang creative, but doesn't have her own blog!  I ALWAYS tell her to get on it because she would have lots of bloggy friends!!

STEP 1: Cut your cardstock into strips

Step 2: Use this handy dandy hole punch at the top of the strips!

Step 3: The fold.  The first fold is just folding over your hole punched items

 Step 4: Flip it over and fold the other side.  Basically the two folds should meet with one being shorter and the other longer to be your pouch.

Step 5: Cut a piece of scrapbook paper.  This is just a little shorter than the side of the folded cardstock you will be using..  See next step for better explanation.

Step 6:  See how the paper just sits in the longer fold!

Step 7: Another cute hole punch, but this one is small and dainty.  Put two holes on each side of the long fold.

Step 8: Insert two of these cute MINI Brads into your two holes.

Step 9: Add your embellishment.  For school I'm thinking a "Welcome to Mrs. Lazenby's Class" would work!  

Here are some more pictures from the shower...

I made this, too! ;)  My cousin's new last name will be Odom. :)

I hope you enjoyed my link up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made it! :)

#SLANTbox

Happy summer folks!

I've been on summer break since May 28.  My days have been filled with Lifetime movies, lunches with girlfriends, and spending time with my dog! :)  Exciting, right?

I definitely enjoy summer, but I do end up getting bored very quickly.  I used to work during the summer and was even planning on it this year, but decided not to at the last minute.

Here is a little project I did because of boredom! ;)

The far left is of all the expired and WASTED food in the pantry.  I also cleaned the fridge, freezer, and spice cabinet.  The two other pictures are of my organized  pantry!  This also leads to another project that I am working on, which is to try and cook more!  I do not enjoy it, so I hope by the end of the summer I can be a little more tolerant of it! ;)  This is also will help contribute to my Weight Watchers, which I'm down 28lbs! :)  I still have a LOT more to go, but you have to start somewhere!

Anyways, the best part of my summer thus far arrived in the mail on Friday! :)  Have you heard of Slantbox before?  SLANT stands for- Sending Love Across the Nation to Teachers.  This lovely idea was created by Lessons with Coffee.  

Each month has a theme.  The theme for May was "May I Introduce..."  The box had to have some type of monogram and be all about your partner that was selected for you.

I sent a box to Angel over at Diary of an Alien.  If you want to see what I got her, I'm sure she will blog about it later! ;)

Katie from Rock and Teach  ended up with my name!  I must say that Katie did a GREAT job of "introducing" me!

Pink packing peanuts, SCORE! ;)

Everything was placed in the cute canvas "Hello" bag.  It included a pink L, which will be great on my desk!  A burlap monogramed keychain!  A CHEVRON stamp!  AND THESE CUTE PENCILS!!  Instead of erasers they have pink gems on the top!

Seriously, she did great!  Thanks, Katie!

I will definitely be participating in SLANTbox again!

Happy June!

Listening: Lifetime movies are definitely my downfall for when I'm home alone.  The hubby hates them, but I cannot resist!  I hate though when they start showing repeats!!

Loving: I've been hanging out with friends and family since school ended and have more plans for next week!  During the school year I don't get out much, so this is the best.

Thinking: See more family time, this one is at 6!  I'm still in my pjs!

Wanting: ;)  Well, surprise- I'm going to a new school in a new county next school year!  I'll still be teaching 5th grade Science and SS though!

Needing:  Well, the family and friend time is great, but Friday was an all nighter. Saturday I was up SUPER early and didn't get to bed to real late!  Then today I woke up earlier than normal..  Maybe tomorrow I will sleep in!

Summer Bucket List:  Of course I want to get to the beach, etc.  I have two trips planned, but my serious goal is the weight loss.  I started Weight Watchers in March and have lost 28lbs, but before July 18 (2nd beach trip) I told folks I would be 50lbs lighter!  I'm hoping to reach that goal!

Join the linky party over at Oh Boy 4th Grade!  Farley wouldn't mind! ;)

Cha-Cha-Changes...

A sign of a good teacher is that you're always preparing for next year, right?  Or does that make you insane?  Either way I know that there will be BIG changes next year.  I'm not going into details now, but yea it's a coming..

So I'm planning on how I want to set my classroom up and the color schemes.  I absolutely love inspirational posters, but I'm ready to change the ones that I have out!  So as I was reading blogs tonight I stumbled upon something.

Check out these cute posters from Rock & Teach.

I think these would be a great addition to my classroom!  What do you think of inspirational posters?

Will you have any changes for next school year?

I love RANDOM Posts.

Just wanted to share some pictures that I've been hoarding...

This is part of my current hall display.  Definitely nothing fancy, but I'm proud of all the work!  On the top row are posters that summarized events that we had been discussing in SS.  All the groups had different ideas for presenting the information and it worked out perfectly!  The second row are our chemical and physical change comic books that we created!  Again, I'm a proud teacher! :)

An example of of the groups poster. This was about the Watergate Scandal.  I loved how they decided to create a newspaper article!

Not much color on this poster, but this group illustrated the Camp David Accord!

Timeline of events that occurred during the 1950-1960's.  Students had to write a summary of the event and find the dates for the event then glue them on the timeline!

Another display that my students created were summaries of different decades.  They had the 1950's-2000's.  They had to tell us about the presidents, the government spending, the way America was dealing with foreign countries, and any other important events that may occurred.  Students also chose to include music and clothes because we listened to music from each decade we discussed!

And last, but not least... :)  

Motivational posters made from two different classes for my homeroom.  Yes, the green one has HEDGEHOGS on it!  If you don't know, I'm obsessed with hedgies!

A student gave this to me, she said it was a hedgehog that came from her kids meal. :) <3

Another teacher bought this for me, the same one that made the green poster! :) Love it!

Preparing for State Testing

We just finished our state testing on Friday of last week.  What do you do to prepare for state testing?  I use the typical Jeopardy and Are you Smarter than a fifth graders, but here are some other items that I've created, bought, and thought of over the years...

I made my own Government BINGO cards.  Each card is completely different and the students are mainly reviewing important documents we discussed, amendments, and the amendment process.

On the other side of the same card is an overview of SS for the ENTIRE year!  This is always fun to see kids trying to recall these important events that we've not talked about since the beginning of the school year.

I downloaded these Where Am I Cards and students had fun trying to guess where I was.  Next time, I think I will ask them to point it out on the MAP!!  Here is the link to get these for FREE!!

I started doing these when I taught third grade and I love them, plus the students do too!  Basically, you fold the paper at the bottom up about 2 inches.  You then write three clues about a person and have students guess the Who Am I?  I actually let my students draw names out of bag to get their assigned person.  They then read them to the class and have their classmates guess!  You could do this with Where am I? or even What am I? and do vocabulary words!

Here is the answer, which is written under the 2 inch flap.

In Science, I had created games already for each unit, so we pulled those games out and revisited them.  So what about you, what do you do to make reviewing fun and meaningful?