Getting to Know you Facebook Activity

Here is my version of a getting to know you facebook worksheet. I am planning on using it the first week of school. Get your copy here. or the editable version here

Form Freebie

I am incorporating many of the amazing ideas that I have come across on Pinterest and this is one of them. It's a missing assignment form, which you have students turn in when they do not have an assignment. I thought it would make it much easier to keep track of those who did not do something versus those who are absent. So here it is!

Prepping, prepping and more prepping!

What a few couple of weeks!!! Our rooms were renovated over the summer, so I have been attempting to put my room back together, which has proven to be a lot more work than I was ready for!! The nice thing about starting from scratch is that I have been able to purge and organize. So far I have a color scheme going and I have made some updates for the better!! Here is what i had to work with....

And here is what I have done so far....

Lastly, my major project was taking old beat up bookcases and turning them into something I could live with...

There is still much to be done including finishing up my room, planning, and getting everything to repro on time! Gotta love the beginning of a new school year!

Teacher Toolbox

Thanks to the wonderful teacher over at Create-Teach-Share, I made my own teacher toolbox. I thought this would be a great way to stay organized throughout the year AND to keep track of what I am running low on. I'll quickly go through how I put mine together. First, I made my way to Home Depot and picked up one of these, for about 18 bucks.

I then waded through my scrapbook paper and found a couple of patterns that complimented each other. For the larger drawers, I cut those at 2" x 4" and the smaller drawers were 1.25" x 2". Next, I threw together a template of labels for the various drawers, printed them, and then simply glued them onto the scrapbook paper cutouts. Here is an idea of what the template looked like.

Oh, and here is the link to my template. Finally, here is my finished product. I can't wait to put it to use once I can get into my room!

Getting Organized!

August is almost upon us and I know that means summer is coming to an end :(. But it also means, that I need to start getting organized. The first thing I like to do is sit down and start mapping out what needs to be done and by when. I have created my own calendar that I keep in my teacher binder to map out lessons and just stay sane. Here is August and September, which I am getting ready to pull out this coming week.

First Printable......

So each year I contemplate how I am going to fill that first week. Am i going to do the same thing as last year? Am I going to try something new? Well, for a couple years now I have included "Getting to Know You!" My middle schoolers really enjoy it and it is a great ice breaker. Usually I give them about 20 minutes and someone ends up completing it and after everyone is settled I use the activity for students to get to know me! So here it is....Getting to Know You.

Welcome to The Middle School Abyss!

As I begin planning for the upcoming school year, I thought I would start this blog to share my thoughts and ideas with the blogosphere. I figured this blog could become a creative outlet for my new ideas and successes that I discover on my classroom adventures. Now I am not promising daily updates of amazing ideas, but hopefully you'll stumble along something that is helpful.