A little bit of this, that, and one more thing

I am having commitment issues! If you checked out my blog this week (on Monday Made It) you know I am doing a hot air balloon theme in my classroom this year. I haven't done too much to prepare this theme except make a 110 page packet and those hot air balloons (that took almost 3 days to complete!). Then, I found something. 

I headed to Walmart to pick up some colorful duct tape the other day (I am working on making some phonics phones for my guided reading) and found this:

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you... That is mustache duct tape! OMG! I got a little too excited over this... and I had no one to share my excitement with (my little one that was with me wasn't too impressed!). This duck tape gave me some inspiration, for this...

The whole time I was making this I was trying to convince myself there is a way to mix hot air balloons and mustaches... LOL- I don't think there is! Now I want mustaches too...Which theme to choose? HELP!! If you have an opinion, please leave it! The hot air balloons I made the other day are super cute, but I can always hang those in Addison's room (which I happen to be currently redecorating...)! Oh the options...

Anyway, if you love mustaches check this packet out...

In other news, I am super excited about something I got in the mail a couple days ago... a pencil sharpener! I know, its the little things that make us teachers excited (the duck tape, the pencil sharpener, etc.) You might have heard other teachers talk about this little friend:

Classroom Friendly Supplies sent me this awesome sharpener and I am so excited to use it this school year. My usual pencil sharpening procedures include NO TOUCH THE PENCIL SHARPENER (except me!)!! I have done all the pencil sharpening in the past. The kids have a tendency to either break the sharpener or get frustrated because the pencil won't sharpen correctly. You end up going through tons of pencils and sharpeners and we are all unhappy! 

This sharpener is going to solve my problem because: it always sharpens pencils! You have to follow certain steps when actually using the sharpener, but since I will be starting with this baby at the beginning of the year I can just throw that in with all the other procedures! I am super excited. If you want one these click here, it's only $24.99 with free shipping and you'll never need another sharpener ;)!

Last but not least (in fact, probably the most important!):

Chapters 1 and 2 have the overview of the Daily 5, but Chapter 2 provides notions about the classroom that have to be in place in order for the Daily 5 to work. Much of this is (hopefully) what is already happening in your classroom- building a classroom community, providing a trusting and safe environment, etc. Last week I talked about stamina and building stamina (another one of those components). One more component that jumps out at me- staying away!! 

When center time is occurring in your room, are you all up in your student's business? I mean between reading groups checking out the center groups, making sure they are on task, yadda-yadda-yadda! We all do it, we want to make sure they are doing what they are suppose to be doing. When teaching and modeling how to complete the Daily 5, one main component (especially during Read to Self) is to stay away! Don't bother the kids while they read... STAY out of their bubble! During silent reading time it might seem unusual to not walk around and make sure everyone is on task, but if you build stamina correctly and model correctly you shouldn't have to be doing this. They will just do what they are suppose to do! Wouldn't that be nice?!

Those are my free words of wisdom for the day... hehe... If you read the book you will learn much more :) Check out the blog hop below to read a little bit more about this chapter- my companions have done a much better job than I this week! 

P.S. I am also guest blogging over at Teachery Tidbit today... Check it out for a freebie!