Back to School Boost Sale!

So tomorrow TPT are holding a Back to School Boost sale for just ONE day! This is a perfect opportunity to grab those last minute things you need before starting school (or something to help you along the way if you've already started!)

 Here's links to some of my products that I have found a HUGE help, and I hope you will too!


Classroom Essentials;

These are my phonics helping hands;

Some literacy essentials;

General units;

 

And a freebie...

Hope there's something here that you find helpful!

Let me know what you've stocked up on

Teacher Week - Where I Teach

Hi All!

This post will be nowhere near as in-depth as I would LOVE to show you, unfortunately I can't really share photographs of my classroom anymore (long, uninteresting story) but I can show you what I've been using etc and some teeny tiny titbits of my room.

This blog post will probably make me the saddest as I LOVE sharing my ideas in the classroom, I really feel that blogging and TPT has made me a much better teacher - but I guess some people just don't get that.

Anyway, I digress.. here are my meager offerings of 'Where I Teach' as part of Blog Hoppin's Linky!

I don't really have a 'theme' but this year I wanted to embrace a sort of 'natural' look in the classroom as I've moved to Reception. I bought some super cute chevron border (which cost me a small fortune) and a different border for each of my termly topics.

I also bought some pre-cut lettering which was THE best thing I have ever done in my teaching career. Seriously! This has saved me SO much time printing and cutting out stupid lettering - I will NEVER again cut out letters for my displays. No sir. Never!

So this is what my displays now look like with my borders and hessian. It's a little crinkled (my mom tried ironing it - yes, you read correctly, IRONING my displays! But it didn't really work, it made the hessian sag a little) .. I'm hoping that when the kiddos work is up then it will be fine!

 Here is my teeny tiny planning section of the wall where I will put my plans for the week, should any inspectors drop in and want to see what I' m doing! You'll also see part of my hand signals that I have up. That was last years BEST thing I ever did - it completely stopped silly interruptions in lessons - AH-MAY-ZING!

As you can kind of see, I no longer have a desk. I'm kind of pleased about this, as my desk last year just became a waste ground for any kind of crap I could put on it. Even my kids used to nag me to clean it up!!

 

This is my cute little seating area - last year I was lucky enough to have ready made seating spots - this year, NADA! After a little heart attack I composed myself and I have sorted this situation, so look out for a blog post in a few weeks for how I sorted my 'carpet seating area'  and a BIG giveaway that you won't want to miss!! (You can follow me now so you don't miss out!)

 I LOVE having things hanging (as well as lovely lighting) and here are a few of the things in my room - I made the owls a few years ago, the bunting is from Twinkl and I (and my very kind Mommy) bought the GORGEOUS lanterns from Ikea. I had a big area that needed divided, it was difficult to see where the investigation area and the malleable area was separated - now my kiddos have a visual divider so they know they are in separate areas of the room.

 Well, I hope you enjoyed my whistle stop tour of a teeny peek in to my room, sorry I couldn't share as much as I wanted!!

Teacher Week - Who

This week I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week 2014!

So here are 10 facts about me that you may, or may not, know!

Adores: Christmas & Winter!
Loves: My family & pets
Hates: Mean people
Can't Do: Click my fingers!
Can Do: Shop for England!
Teaching: Reception - this is my 5th year of teaching!
Favourite Food: Cheese.. mmm!
Favourite Drink: Coke - I am a major Coke fiend!
Favourite Teaching Website: TPT
Favourite Website: Reddit


That's all for now - check back tomorrow for where!

Meet The Teacher Blog Linky

Today I am joining Stephanie for her Meet the Teacher Blogger linky!  

I've loved reading all of the links and thought I would add mine, as I'm relatively new to blogging! 

My name is Dani and I teach in the UK. I'm going in to my fifth year of teaching - I'm hoping it's going to be the best year yet! I've previously taught in Reception for 2 years, Year 1 for 2 years and now I'm moving back to where it all began, Reception.

I live with my boyfriend and our animal babies;

 Sledgehammer

 Charlie

and we also doggy sit this little cutie - my sister's dog Tyler

I have a fabulous family! 

 

Q: These are a few of my favorite things…

 

Christmas!! Oh my goodness, it's my all time favourite thing! 

 I start harassing my poor boyfriend around mid-November to put up the tree, which he never agrees too - so I normally wait until he goes out and I put it up anyway! 

I also love spending time with my family, watching trashy TV such as Big Brother, Teen Mom & Made In Chelsea and generally slobbing about!

Q: If you weren’t a teacher, what would you want to be?

 

I think about this lots. I normally think ice cream taster, or mattress tester so I get to sleep all day. I'm REALLY good at sleeping! 
 

Q: Three little words that describe you. 

Creative, Nerdy, Messy!
 
Q: Finish this sentence, “___________________, said no teacher EVER!!”

 

"I get paid SOOOO much to do so little!", said no teacher EVER!!

 
Q: It’s your birthday and you can invite anyone {dead or alive} to the party. Who are you inviting?

My family! It wouldn't be my birthday without them! (Did I mention by Birthday is CHRISTMAS EVE! Even more exciting!)

 
Q: If someone wrote a book about your life, what would be the title?

 
The Diary of a Workaholic.

Q: You get to pick one superpower. What is it?

 
I could stop time. Then I could just stop time at 6am, have a few hours extra sleep before going to work, stop the clock when I have papers handed to me that needed to be handed in 5 weeks ago etc etc!

Q: What’s your favorite quote or saying?

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

- Eleanor Roosevelt 

My ALL time favourite quote - it's really helped me when I've ever doubted myself or felt self conscious.

Q: If you HAD to sing one song on American Idol, what would it be? 

 
 Probably something from a musical! Like On My Own from Les Mis or something from Hairspray!

Q: Are you a morning person or a night owl?

 
A night owl. I'm definitely NOT a morning person. Like, don't.even.talk.to.me morning person!

Q: What’s your favorite resource that you’ve created in your TPT shop?

 
Hmmm.. probably my newest resource which is my phonics pack! This pack is going to save me SO much time when getting my phonics lessons ready - all of the resources I need are just a click away!

Q: Share something we might not know about you!

I'm really weird about what number the television/radio volume is on. It HAS to be on an even number. If it's one of those crazy TV's that doesn't show the volume, I have to turn it down to zero then count the clicks until it's on an even number. This makes me sound crazy, I'm really quite normal! 

Now it's your turn! Visit Stephanie's blog, grab the buttons and the questions and link up!

 I hope you enjoyed finding out about me!

 

A much needed makeover!

I've eventually got round to giving my blog a makeover!! Hope you enjoy :D It's not perfect, but it's took me a long time to figure out how to get it looking like this - I'm sure I'll be adding to it as my skills improve.

Five For Friday

It's Friday already - what?! This Friday I'm linking up with DoodleBugs for Five for Friday - so here's what I've been up to! 

 

I'm a huge animal person, so in the holidays we went to my all time favourite zoo, Colchester. I got to see huuuuge tortoises (my favourite!), I got to hold a hissing cockroach, feed a giraffe, elephant and I took some cute photographs of the chimps! 

_______________________________________________

 

Last week I also went in to London - we visited Harrods where I was totally taken by the Christmas section and HAD to buy a bauble for our tree. We also ate lots of delicious food - including those GORGEOUS macarons from Ladurée. The raspberry had some sort of marshmallow filling and it was beyond delicious!

_______________________________________________

 These are the boards in my new room - I've gone for a super cute chevron 'theme' this year. I also backed them with hessian, they look a bit creased at the moment but I'm hoping it will drop out and as soon as the kids work is up you won't notice them.

 _______________________________________________

 These were my end of year presents for my kiddos. We had been doing an 'Under The Sea' topic so I thought these tied in perfectly, inside there was a little fish puppet, fish stickers, a notepad, pencil, treasure coins and a jigsaw puzzle.

_______________________________________________

I eventually finished up my Phase 3 phonics pack and will soon be trying to finish off my Phase 2 and 5 packs - but this one took it out of me. Check it out by clicking on the picture.

If you head to my Teachers Notebook store here then you can get this pack for 30% off this weekend.

Hopefully the next few weeks of my holiday don't fly by - and come back to see more of what I'm doing in my new classroom this year!