BTS in a Flash!

I am so excited to link up with Fancy Free in 4th, Ramona Recommends, and Not So Wimpy Teacher for their back to school in a flash series. I start school on August 5th, which is too soon! I feel like summer just started and I'm not read to set my alarm clock again. 

This week's them for the BTS in a flash is teacher faves, and let me tell you have I have a lot of favorite things. My favorite color is pink, my favorite food is basically anything, my favorite book is "Gone with the Wind" and I also have a lot of back to school favorites too!

My favorite back to school activity is something that I learned in college and have never forgotten. I'm not sure if it has a formal name, but I've always called it the "Brown Bag Activity." Even though my students moan when I say "Get your agendas out to write down your first homework assignment" on the first day of school, they always seem to get over it by the next day. The brown bag activity is a fun way for me to get to know each of the kids, and maybe the kids to learn something new about each other. If you are interested in learning more about this activity, its a freebie in my store! Click the picture to head on over! 

First of all, there are two favorites in this picture. I have always been lover of the flair pens, but then I ran across these beauties. I am in LOVE with the liquid flair pens, if you've never tried them, walk run to the nearest store to check them out. I actually bought mine of amazon, because that is another one of my favorite thing, but we'd need a whole blog post about that. The second favorite of mine in this picture is my Erin Condren life planner. If you are interested in purchasing your own and want $10 of, click the picture above! I'm also addicted to buying stickers and everything else that goes with the planner. I just bought my first teacher planner too and I'm in love with it also. Does anyone have any good sticker recommendations for the teacher planner? 

Most teachers drink coffee, right? Not me I prefer to get my caffeine in a bubbly way. Ask any of my past students, I love Diet Coke. I'm not going to get through the first day of school like a VIP with out my Diet Coke. 

Last in this back to school favorite is my favorite back to school read aloud. Teaching the big kiddos we don't often get to read picture books, even though I try. I have found that the big kids love Mrs. McBloom and her crazy classroom. I use this book to talk about keeping our room clean obviously but also working together to get things done. This helps me lead into creating our classroom mission statement and setting up rules and expectations for the school year. 

So, what are your favorites for back to school? 

2 for Tuesday

This week I decided to link up with Chalk One Up for the Teacher for 2 for Tuesday. Since it is almost back to school time I decided to choose two of my back to school products to put on sale until Thursday. 

My school is a Leader in Me school and we Leadership Notebooks (that are actually binders, I know it makes no sense). These notebooks allow students to make academic and personal goals, record their MAP and assessment data as well as anything they are proud of throughout the school year. 

Although this document is not editable, I will gladly create any pages that you might need or want. My 5th graders love keeping track of their dat and they love the feeling of meeting one of their goals. I love the data notebooks because it makes grading and conferences so much easier on me, all of the information is right there for parents to see. 

Leader in me is all about motivating students to be leaders and teaching them the skills that they need to become great leaders. One way that my school decided to spread the leadership love was for each of the teachers to choose one of their favorite leadership quotes to put up in their room.The leadership quote posters are great classroom or hallway decorations that remind students what being a leader is all about! 

Thanks for joining me for 2 for Tuesday! Don't forget to check out these two awesome products on my TPT store, they are on sale until Thursday. 

And the winner is...

I just want to thank everyone who took the time to enter my blog launch giveaway. I was overwhelmed with the number of entries. I am even more excited to continue my journey through the blogging world and can't wait to get to know more fabulous people! Also, thank you to Faith, Family and Fifth, Teaching (Powered by Caffeine), Miss L's Busy Bee's, An Apple for the Teacher, Fun in Fifth, Tried and True Teaching Tools, and Learn, Lead and Love for helping me with this giveaway.  Now for the moment you have been waiting for, the winner of the $50 Erin Condren gift card and the $40 Tallahassee Sunday gift card is...

Please email me at fancyinfifth@gmail.com to claim your prize.

Five for Friday

This week I am so exited to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. This has been an pretty interesting week and I can't wait to share with your some of the most eventful pictures! 

This picture completely sums up what summer has been like in Kentucky this year. We've finally had three days in a row with no rain, and this hasn't happened since sometime in June. I'm sick and tired of rain, bring on the sunshine! 

After all of that rain had my dog, Ruger, turned into a completely different color. He LOVES to play outside and apparently loves to play in the mud too. The after picture does no justice to how muddy and brown he was...but at least he had fun! 

I have been in back to school mode, full swing. I've worked in my classroom a few days and its starting to come along, pictures of that to come soon.  With back to school mode also comes laminating, which I HATE. But I do LOVE these two new products that I purchased. The Reading Comprehension and Skills Posters came from Amy Groesbeck and I can't wait to get them up in my classroom. The Grammar Wall Bulletin Board, which I am SUPER excited about, came from Learning in Wonderland. 

This week I had the opportunity to work with the other 5th grade teachers on our Science curriculum maps. With the Next Generation Science Standards there was a lot of work to be done and it is so great to collaborate to get the work done. While at this district meeting one of the 7th grade science teacher brought her class pet, a squirrel. Apparently she rescued this squirrel when it was a baby so its super clam and walks with a limp. It was pretty neat to see a squirrel up close and personal, but not the pet choice for me! 

My blog launch giveaway ends tomorrow at 12:00 am! Make sure to enter here and check out the awesome teachers that I teamed up with to get this giveaway going. Check back on Sunday to hear who is the winner of these two amazing prizes! 

Cart Rainbow Labels {Freebie}

I hope you all have checked out the giveaway that I am throwing with seven amazing other teachers, in celebration of my new blog! I am super excited to be entering the blogging world, so I thought why not give you all a little freebie. 
Since I am getting into back to school mode I wanted to update my black rolling cart, you all know the one I'm talking about, right? I'm pretty sure there isn't a teacher out there who hasn't seen one of these bad boys. 
I inherited this drawer from the previous teacher that taught in my room, and it needed some TLC.  At first I wanted to spray paint each of the drawers a different color, but that was a little too much work for me I changed my mind.  So, I decided to make some colorful labels to spice up the black drawers. I'm pretty excited with my final results and can't wait to get to school and see how they look on 'ole black beauty. My plan is to use velcro dots to connect the tables to the drawers, then I can easily change them out if I need to. 
Make sure to click the picture below to get your free copy of these rainbow labels. The product includes 8 editable labels and 13 pre-made labels.  They are only going to be free until Monday, so catch 'em while you can! 

Blog Launch Giveaway!

I am so excited to announce that I have been working with seven wonderful ladies to plan my blog launch giveaway. Being extremely new to the blogging world, it is pretty intimidating reaching out to new people to get something like this going. Quickly I made friends with Nikki from Faith, Family & Fifth and let me say, she has been so wonderful and quickly rounded up the troops to get this giveaway going! I am so thankful that Teaching (Powered by Caffeine), Miss L's Busy Bee's, An Apple for the Teacher, Fun in Fifth, Tried and True Teaching Tools, and Learn, Lead and Love where there to help support me in beginning this journey!
When we began brainstorming ideas for this giveaway I immediately knew exactly what I want to give. Since the Erin Condren teacher planners launched on July 7th, I just knew this would be the perfect prize! What do teachers love more than awesome planners? Cute decorations, this is where Tallahassee Sunday came into play. The winner of this giveaway will receive a $50 gift card to Erin Condren and a $40 gift card to Tallahassee Sunday. 
To win, enter the Rafflecopter below. 
The giveaway will run until July 18th at 12:00 a.m. The winner will be announced on Sunday the 19th.  Good luck to everyone! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tell All Tuesday: Top Ten List

Today I am so excited to link up with Teach, Talk, Inspire and My Day in K for my first ever Tell All Tuesday!  http://mydayinkinder.blogspot.com/2015/07/tell-all-tuesday-top-ten-things.html  This week the theme is Teacher Top Ten and I will be sharing with you the top ten things I have learned in the first 3 years of my teaching career, and let me tell you I've learned a lot! 

10. Be confident! There are so many new strategies and techniques that every year I feel like I am being pulled a thousand ways. At the end of the day it is important to remember that no matter what, you know your students and you know what to do for them. Be confident in your ability to these those kiddos that you know so well. 

9. When I first began teaching (a whopping 3 years ago) I was afraid to ask too many questions because I was afraid that I was going to look like I didn't know what I was doing. When I look back I wish that I would have had asked more questions! Just remember that asking questions doesn't make you look like a bad teacher, just someone who wants to do the right thing. 

8. Last year I had one of "those kids" the ones that everyone talks about and no one really wants. Let me tell you, this student was one of my favorite students. All this kiddo needed was some extra love and for someone to not immediately label him as the bad kid. 

7. Let's face it, we all want to be the teacher that every student loves and goes on for years to come singing your praise. This isn't going to happen with every student, every year. I had to realize this the hard way recently, when one of my most loved kiddos told me that I wasn't their favorite teacher

6.  My first year of teaching I had this parent who would always post negative things about the school I was working at on Facebook and it always ended up getting back to me. As a first year teacher it was hard swallow that not all parents would have my back. My principal that year was the best and stuck by my side all of the times the negativity showed its nasty head on the internet. 

5. Even if you think you have enough for 3 hours, you probably don't have enough. The one time you don't have enough to do will be the one time someone important walks in to see you teach. 

4. This goes with be prepared, students will get stick, lessons will not go as planned. Things, happen be ready for them. 

3. Fire drills happen at the worst time, surprise guest speakers show up unannounced and you've just go to be able to deal. 

2. If they like Star Wars, you like Star Wars. If they like Girl Meets World, you like Girl Meets World. Whatever your students like, you should learn to like too. Once your students feel like you care about them, everything else is cake. 

1. I teach 5th grade, which means students ask me questions all of the time and I don't know the answer. Or on the flipside I might think I know the answer, but I'm all wrong. I'm straightforward with my students from the get go that I don't know everything and sometimes I'm wrong. 

Now the fun part, head on over to My Day in K to tell us your Teacher Top Ten!

An InLinkz Link-up

Welcome Y'all!

Hello everyone! I am just so excited to enter the world of blogging, and I'm a little nervous too! I am fourth year, 5th grade teacher in a rural community who is a lover of many things. If you want to get to know me a little better, check out my "About the Teacher" page to learn more. 
If you are admiring my fancy blog design, because I can't quit looking at it, it was created by the amazing Gabby from Gabby's Classrooms. I just cannot say enough wonderful things about her. She was easy to work with, quick and took the vague direction I gave her and created this wonderful blog design. If you are shopping around I would highly recommend Gabby! 
Thanks for stopping in, and check back soon, there might be a giveaway in the works! Oh and don't forget to follow me on Instagram and TPT!