Summer Bucket List

Looove Deanna's idea for a link-up all about SUMMER.

We have just 3 and a half days left in school so I can practically touch summer. My list is half bucket list/half plans I already have.

1. Ace my first 2 graduate school classes! I started my Master's program 2 weeks ago & want to graduate with a 4.0!

2. Spend quality time with my friends! I'm still very close with a group of girls from my sorority pledge class. Even though we group text all the time sometimes, I want to see them in PERSON. We did so well at the beginning of the year with birthdays, holidays & engagement parties. Luckily one of them is getting married in three weeks so we will all reunion soon for the bridal shower, bachelorette party & wedding day!

3. READ. I love reading. Apparently I'm not the only teacher who does, because this has been on just about every list I've read. Check out my Pinterest board of books that are on my wish list! Also, wanting to finish the Divergent series; I'm on the last book!

4. Speaking of my Pinterest, I need to organize my hot mess of teacher boards. I have 3 teacher boards: one for teaching ideas, one for anchor charts & one of classroom inspirations. Lately, it's been hard to figure out WHERE things are. I didn't want to be "that girl" with 100 boards of different teaching things, but I'm not in college anymore so teaching pins are 99% of my pins anyway. That and animals. I have a problem with animal pins.

5. Get off the couch and work out. I've been wanting to make this a priority for a long time, but it never happens. Maybe this is the summer I'll do it!

6. Binge-watch Netflix. Orange Is The New Black, Private Practice, Scandal. Oh and old episodes of Grey's Anatomy for no reason except that it's my favorite.

7. Go to California! I haven't been on a vacation in awhile and I am so excited! Can you believe that every family vacation we've been on has been on the East Coast?! We've never gone all 5 of us to the West Coast. I can't waaaaait!

8. Of course, thinking about teaching. I can't turn my brain off for the summer completely! I'll be reading professional development books, spending unnecessary amounts of money on things from Really Good Stuff, Lakeshore & Scholastic. I have a problem. I have tons of little projects I've been holding off on until summer. I want to make a banner of covers from hardback books. Like this one from Maria. I am also creating a leveled library in addition to my already themed library. WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?! Oh, and buying some sort of math manipulative organizer. I'M THE WORST.

9. Looking into becoming a Stella & Dot stylist. I love the jewels and know someone who already sells it. I miss working at Express and styling people, but I'm not sure if I really need another job?!

10. Spending time working at the preschool! I love working with kids with autism and have been a teacher's assistant in the summer before. I'm so excited to spend time with some little ones.

What are you planning for summer?

My First Stitch Fix!

IT CAME.

I have been waiting a month for this baby to come in the mail and I couldn't be more excited!

For those of you who don't know - here's the scoop on Stitch Fix. It's a website where you fill out a survey about your style, sizes, what fits you like - a "style profile". Then you pay $20 for a stylist to read your profile, stalk your Pinterest fashion page & pick out 5 items for you. Then you try everything on at home. That's the beauty of this. How many times have you gone shopping and thought - oh I wish I had my scarf/cami/tank/pants/shoes to try on with this?  NOW YOU CAN. And the stylists even make it idiot-proof with styling cards like this:

You also fill out information about price ranges you are comfortable with for different types of clothing (accessories, pants, dresses, tops, outerwear, etc). They stay in your budget and that $20 styling fee? Yeah, it goes towards the clothes in your fix that you want to keep. AND if you keep everything, you get a sweet 25% discount.

As of now, Stitch Fix has clothing, jewelry, accessories & bags. Everything I got in my fix was clothing! Here's my reveal and review :)

First, we had this amazing dress! Not going to lie, I have a couple similar to it (obviously my stylist got my vibe!) but this one is chiffon and long enough to teach in.

This was a KEEP.

Modeling the dress with my new wedges! Don't mind the forlorn dog.

Next was this blazer. Not a fan. It felt very "grandma" to me. Definitely out of my style comfort zone. But I do appreciate my stylist giving me something out there to try!

Third was this cute tulip print top that I PINNED two weeks ago! How crazy is that?! I'm telling you, these stylists pay attention. And use your Pinterest board if you provide the link (which I'm recommending if you haven't caught onto that yet).

The price was a little higher than I would have normally spent on a top, but c'mon I pinned it. How often do you actually BUY something you pin, amiright?!

This was a KEEP.

Fourth was this adorable top. By the way, sorry about the hair. Long days in first grade, you know how it is. I love this color and this is such a versatile top. I can wear it with shorts in the summer or with a cardigan for teaching!

This was a KEEP.

Last was a pair of skinny pants. Let's just say they were a little too skinny ;) Nobody needs pictures of that!

If you're interested in trying out Stitch Fix, click here. That's my referral link - if you liked my recommendation and decide to try out Stitch Fix using that link, I'll get $25 in credit (enough for another fix!).

I had a BLAST getting a Stitch Fix! My style profile is updated with some summer wants: maxiskirts/dresses that actually fit my 5'2" body, printed shorts that don't clash with my ghost legs and more printed tops! I've already scheduled my next one for June 17th so stay tuned :)

Linking up with Maria from KinderCraze for her Stitch Fix Link Up!

Life Happened.

Wow! So much to share, friends.

It's been awhile. I guess that life just happened. But, I'm back and feeling very reenergized. I have just 8 and a half days of school left. I have to box up and move my entire room by the last day of school. I have report cards to do. I have end of the year summer workbooks, awards, and gifts to prepare. I have just started my Master's. And yet, I feel energized. This must have been why I kept so busy with classes, activities, work & my sorority in college. The busyness just keeps me going.

Here's what I've been up to. We are having SO. MUCH. FUN. lately. We are doing Reader's Theatre until the end of the year. Here are some cute anchor charts I whipped up for my firsties:

This first one is from Pinterest. Not sure who came up with it originally (sorry!), but it's genius. It totally MAKES SENSE to my kiddos. Fluency has been a big focus for Reader's Theatre in the past few weeks so this is perfect.

This one is actually an original. Shocking, I know. 99% of my anchor charts are copies from Pinterest. This is allllll me :) We refer to this everyday. My firsties totally know what 3 things they need to do to become their characters in their acting. I have quite the little actors in my class, let me tell you!

This week we will audition for parts for our plays and begin practicing them. The past few weeks we have been just working with our partners on being characters in books from our book boxes. They have been doing a great job with it. They're ready to make the leap to reading scripts! So proud of them!

We ALSO had Teacher Appreciation Week. GLORIOUS. Our PTA was incredible! They went with a  Movie Star theme & went above and beyond with decorations:

^apparently I'm married ;)

^I die. 

You can tell they let any kids write on these; my firsties wouldn't write anything with a hashtag haha!

I received so many gorgeous flowers from my friends!

Speaking of flowers. Here's ME in flower form! Haha.

We wrapped up our flower/plant study with this cute craftivity from the lovely Cara Carroll. You can find it on TPT here.

We made these cute, simple crafts for Mother's Day. It was one of my teammate's ideas. Simply have each student trace their hand on green paper and use die cut flowers and baskets to make the bouquet. I also didn't get any pictures but my kiddos also made Haley's free All About Mom booklet. They turned out SO cute!

Anyone else's laptop look like this all the time? We are living the Go Noodle life in Room 102. It has been SUCH a lifesaver. We did Flow the other day and it was AWESOME. I keep testing out new ones with my kids to see which ones I like!

SADLY I haven't been doing very good at taking pictures of my outfits lately. I did splurge on some Tory Burch Reva flats with my tax refund and am dying to get some pictures with them on. It's been rainy so I haven't been wearing them too much & am still trying to break them in!

I also purchased my teacher planner for next year. I have (and love) my current Erin Condren planner but went with a different cover this time around. I can plan a blog post later about how I use mine if some of you would like to see how I use it! I know it seems weird to still write it out but that's the way I remember everything! I would be lost if I didn't write things down. Here's the NEW one I ordered. Get 20% off ALL MAY on teacher items with the code: LIVELOVELEARN.

Annnnnd I signed up for Stitch Fix! I am dying of excitement. After seeing Maria post about her Stitch Fixes, I just knew I had to sign up. It's coming Tuesday so expect a blog post about it!

I'm hoping to keep everyone posted over the summer about my preparations for next year. I'm planning some reorganization of my math manipulatives AND adding a leveled library to my classroom. It's going to be a LOT of work, but I am so excited! Here's a sneak peek of something new coming to my classroom. I snagged this beauty for just $20 at a yard sale (a total steal!):

When does YOUR summer start? What changes are you planning for next year?