Currently

Have a wonderful new year!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

PS... Tonya's Treats for Teachers is having a 13 for 13 giveaway! Go check it out!

Favorite Casual Outfits of 2012

I'm feeling so much better than I did earlier in the week. Only problem now? There's a lot of snow outside my window and I'm not all gung-ho to clean/move it. (Although I will have to in a little bit to mail my rent check...)

Onto my favorite casual outfits...I classified casual as anything with denim, since I can't wear that to work.  (although apparently denim skirts don't count? as other teachers have been wearing them)

Shirt: Target
Tank & Skirt: Old Navy
Shoes: Zappos

I LIVE in my denim skirt in the summer. I think they are uber comfortable, yet cool.

 Sweater: Maurices

Shirt: Target
Tank & Skirt: Old Navy
Shoes: Burlington Coat Factory

I like to mix colors than you wouldn't think would normally go...like this light blue with pink. Surprisingly, I usually do a good job with not clashing. :)

Shirt & Jeans: JCPenny
Tank: Target
Shoes: Endless

I love this one because it's super comfy, as well as it being one of the first times that I've layered three necklaces together to give it some more interest (as well as the pop of the pink tank in all the blue)




Sweater & Tank: Target
Jeans: JCPenny

Shoes: Amazon

The top of this outfit sparkles like crazy (although you can't see it very well). The sweater is silver sparkly with crystle buttons, and the black tank actually sparkles as well. Top it off (or bottom!) with black glittery flats, and it's a perfect holiday outfit. 

Button-Down & Jeans: JCPenny

Vest: The Limited
Shoes: Endless

It's comfy, put-together, and makes me look like an almost-30 instead of an almost-20 (which has been known to happen on multiple occasions)

This is my absolute favorite outfit of 2012. I would wear this anywhere (including to work if jeans were allowed)


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Favorite Work Outfits of 2012

Hi Peeps!

I'm feeling slightly better, but spent a lot of yesterday sleeping, dozing and napping. Hopefully I'll kick this sucker soon.

I decided to reflect back on my favorite work outfits of this year, and show you some of my favorites (again).

Sweater: Maurices
Shirt: Kohls
Tank & Skirt: Target
Shoes: Famous Footwear

I love the plain combination with the pop of blue...this is one of my favorite open cardigans that I've purchased.

 Sweater: Maurices

Tank: Target
Skirt: NY & Co
Shoes: Endless

I love the 'surprise' of the bright blue pencil skirt, as well as pairing it with flats instead of heels.

Top & Pants: JCPenny
Shoes: Payless

This is one of my favorite shirts (so favorite, in fact, that this was my picture day outfit!)

 Sweater: NY & Co
Tank & Shoes: Target

Pants: Kohls

This one is a comfortable alternative to dressing super nice, but still looking like a teacher.

Sweater & Shirt: Maurices
Pants: JCPenny
Shoes: Endless

I love the sparkly part of the top, and the cardigan has pockets! (even though I had to roll/fold up the sleeves since they were so long)

 Tank: Target
Sweater: NY & Co

Pants: JCPenny
Shoes: Payless

This is one I also love because of the simplicity...all neutral colors except for the pop of pink in the tank.

Shirt: Old Navy
Vest: The Limited
Pants: Kohls
Shoes: Endless

This is one of my all-time favorites, mostly because of the vest and the shoes. It also shows that you don't always have to wear a vest like this with a button-up,  which is how a lot of people style it.

Up next, favorite casual outfits of 2012!


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Christmas Outfit

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday and have gotten all the presents they wanted. :)

I myself have been blessed with the gift of the Christmas Cold, so I've been taking lots of decongestants, cough suppressants, and aches and pains medicine. I've also been sleeping an awful lot, cuddling up with my blankets. I always seem to get sick on vacation, like my body knows that it has the time to let the germs go 'Yay, Party!'. I'm hoping to feel better soon.

Since I'm not feeling 100%, I changed my plan to wear my red sparkly shirt and went for something warm and comfortable on Christmas.

Sweater, Jeans: JCPenny
Boots: Endless/Amazon


I plan on spending the rest of my vacation in comfy, PJ-like clothes, willing myself to get better, so I can at least enjoy my time off without being sick!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Happy Holidays!

Have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza and Festivus for the Restivus!

Smiles and Sunshine,

Kaitlyn

Free!

WoooHoooo! I'm free for the next 11 days :) (One of the longest Winter Breaks we'll have...the only time it's longer is when Christmas lands on a Wednesday...next year!).

I'll be spending lots of time with my friends PJ and TV, with Couch playing a supporting role. ;)

Today was a fairly easy-going day. Although I did have 6 kids out (bringing my total down to 9). Well, I still gave my 4 tests, and when we get back from  break, those kids will be having some fun activities while their friends are making up the tests they missed!

After our last test of the day, I read my most favorite Christmas story ever.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! After I read the book (in the middle of a rainstorm...it's a little too warm for snow!), I showed them the movie.

Because I am that much of a geek that I have all the original Christmas Classics...which are the best Christmas movies in my opinion (and I never feel until the season has started until I see How the Grinch Stole Christmas!!).

The kids were amazed that the movie was almost exactly like the book! I think that they really enjoyed the surprise (we hardly watch any non-educational movies in my class...a BIG change from last year when that seems like all we did right before breaks!).

Today's Outfit

Sweater: Maurices
Shirt: Burlington Coat Factory
Tank: Old Navy (itchy sequins/sparkle!)
Pants: Kohls
Shoes: Endless/Amazon

I'll be doing a post soon about my favorite outfits of the year, since I'll probably only have one or two more outfit posts this year (like I said, PJ and I will be spending a lot of time together :)

Happy Vacation!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Sparkly Goodness

Most of this post will be dedicated to the sparkly goodness of recent outfits of Holiday Parties/ Celebrations. However, there will be some educamation stuff near the end :)

1st Holiday Party (attempt)

Sweater & Shirt: Maurices
Tank: Target
Pants: JCPenny
Shoes: Nine West via TJ Maxx





2nd Holiday Party (Family Christmas)

Sweater & Tank: Target
Jeans: JCPenny
Shoes: Amazon







Sparkly Fun for Work

Sweater: Maurices
Pants: Kohls
Shoes: Target

3rd Holiday Party (Reschedule from 1st attempt)

Sweater: Target
Tank: Target
Pants: Dockers
Shoes: Nine West via TJ Maxx


Today we had our Holiday Parties at school (with our class and our staff party).

Usually, I give the kids their own presents with tags, labels and everything. However, this year I wanted to try something a little different.

First, all my kids got two books (all the same). Then, I wrapped them.

Then I had the kids grab a present with the strict instructions NOT to open them. I told them to sit in a circle, and I was going to read a story. Depending on what I said, they were either going to pass the present to the left or the right.

Then, I read the story Lefty the Elf (which I got here). The kids loved it! I made sure to pause in between each swap to make sure they had a present. When the story finished, they opened their gifts. They were all very excited to see Geronimo Stilton: A Christmas Tale, My Teacher is an Alien and cute little bookmarks that I got from The Wild Rumpus.

I had written little notes in each of the books, and I told the kids that if they wanted me to put their names in them, that I would, but they needed to line up. Most of them did :)

Tomorrow is our last day before break, and I have 4 tests that I'm going to give, and then have a holiday surprise after our last test in the afternoon (I'm planning on reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas and then show the original movie (the half hour one)). Hopefully the kids like it!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Abenaki & Holiday Poems

In this last week before break, I'm trying to cram in some more Social Studies. We rotate through Science, and at the start of each quarter, we get a new class. We have that class for 20 days/lessons, so no Social Studies during that time.

I've already covered our state symbols, government and map skills. I'm focusing a little more on our state history, learning about the Abenaki (our Native American tribe up here), which will morph into Explorers, Colonial Life and then the American Revolution (yay!) (This is much more interesting than last year, when it was just our state history and regions :).

So I'm trying to squeeze in the Abenaki this week, with us finishing on Friday, so I can start Explorers before they come back and the next Science switch happens in the last week of January.

So I got my creative on, and decided that we would make lapbooks!

I didn't make labels...I let the kids decorate their own!

The middle has our state map with the names of the tribes and their 'areas' colored in

Left side

Right side

What I did was take our book and divide it up into sections. The lessons in the book also thoughtfully divided up the 'big ideas' into smaller focuses, which helped me create the foldables.

This kids seem to really be enjoying this! (and the freedom I've given them) I'm having them take notes on each section, and put their notes in the foldables.

Today we also started our Holiday Sensory Poems, which I got from Nicole Shelby.

   

We started by brainstorming a list of things that we thought of when we thought of the holiday. 

Sorry for the blurry/glarey quality

The kids started their first drafts today, and tomorrow we'll look at them and revise to add in more 'pretty' language :)

Yesterday's Outfit

Sweater & Tank: Target

Pants: JCPenny

Shoes: Endless

Tomorrow I am planning an outfit post of sparkly goodness! I have four outfits that have some sort of sparkle to them, three that I have worn to holiday parties (or attempted parties...our staff party was Friday, and was rescheduled for tomorrow). So no judgement on repeats, I promise to style them differently! ;)

Smiles and Sunshine,

Kaitlyn

Monday

Today was a fairly normal day....except we had a delay! I got to sleep in for two extra hours (one of my favorite things to do!).

So, we had no Social Studies and no Math, but we did make sure to get our spelling pretest in :)

It was also a melancholyish day. My students had no idea what was going on, so I didn't bring it up. I'm more than willing to answer their questions, but I'm not going to go out of my way. We learned, we joked, we practiced sarcasm-all in all, a normal day in 4th grade (which is all I ever want for them). There was an air of sadness that I felt hung around the teachers and the school-but I think most students remained in the dark.

I did have one friend upset after recess (when I thought they were all going to find out), and I asked her if she wanted to talk, but she said she didn't. I did remind them all that they can talk to me about anything.

This week we are rushing to finish up all our units, so nothing get carried over break. As it stands right now, I'm giving 3 tests on Friday (I know, horrible teacher-but our party is on Thursday :)

Today's Outfit

Sweater & Pants: JCPenny
Black Shirt: I honestly can't remember- either JCPenny or Kohls most likely
Tank: Target
Shoes: Amazon

Here's hoping to a smooth & calm rest of the week.



Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

-

I have no words. As you have probably heard, there was a terrible school shooting today in Connecticut. A place where kids are supposed to be safe, taken care of and experience the joy of learning has been dishonored.

My thoughts go out to the families and community in this difficult time.

Please keep them in your thoughts as well.

-Kaitlyn

1/2 Class Fun

Today was a crazy day. Most of my kids are in Chorus and Band (of course, I'm the teacher who has the most kids out when this happens...the others just have one or two), and they had a concert tonight, so they spent much of the morning rehearsing.

I couldn't teach anything new or important, as I only had about half my class. So what does one do when half the class is missing?  Some winter fun, of course!

I started off reading Snowflake Bentley to the kids.




The kids really enjoyed it...I don't read stories to them enough! (With all the stuff we have to get through, fun read alouds have fallen by the wayside :(

After, we made Snowflake Similes that I got from Deb over at Simply the Classroom (you can see her blog post about it here).

First, we brainstormed a list of things that they think of when they think of snow. We came up with a lot of different things (some of them weird!), and I put a line next to the 'good' choices to guide them.

Then the kids got to work creating their brochure. They came up with the similes, decorated the pages with snowflakes/ pictures of their similes.

After that, they created a Winter/Snow Poem to go on the back.

They are mostly finished, and we will share it with the rest of the class tomorrow :)

So, when you only have half your class...do something fun, yet educational (but not too educational! You don't want the others to miss things! ;)

Today's Outfit

Sweater: JCPenny
Pants: Kohls
Shoes: Amazon

Tomorrow's outfit will be full of sparkly goodness, as our staff party is tomorrow and I am being 'festive'. We also only have 6 days left until break (5 days once tomorrow starts!)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Synthesis/Synthesize

For Reading this week, our strategy is synthesis (synthesize). I'm not quite sure why we are teaching this so early, but we are blazing ahead!

I've been teaching it using think alouds and think alongs with the reading series, and I have also created an anchor chart (of course! ;) to help the kids.

The kids practiced the strategy today while reading, and I floated to help them come up with the new insights. The graphic organizer they used had them pull out three pieces of information, and then use that information to make an inference about the story (that's when I 'guided' their thinking to use the information).

Tomorrow we'll practice again (our series does 2 days of modeled reading/practice, 1 day of shared reading/practice and 7 days of interactive reading/practice...but the consultant says we can extend shared reading).  I usually follow the structure exactly (my kids are pretty awesome :), but I think that I'll extend the shared to give them a little more practice in doing it together.

Today's Outfit

So this sweater is one of the tops I purchased the other day...I just fell in love with it! (plus it's sparkly! :)

Sweater: Maurices
Gray Sweater, Pants: JCPenny
Shoes: Payless

Sorry for the blurry picture...I didn't realize it until I was uploading!






Yesterday's Outfit

Sweater, Shirt: Kohls
Pants: Dockers
Shoes: DSW

We have our staff party on Friday, and I have another sparkly top to show you then. Here's hoping we can party well!



Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

12 in 12

It's hard to believe that they year is almost at an end. It seems like I was just here, December, blog-stalking, but living with my parents and in my last semester of grad school. It's funny how much can change in a year!

So I'm linking up with the 12 in 12 linky. I saw it last year when it was 11 in 11, but didn't have a blog to participate :)



12. Favorite Movie

hmmm...this is a tough one. The only movie I saw in theaters this year was The Vow...but that was definitely not my favorite. How about some oldies that I saw on TV for the first time this year?

How to Train Your Dragon

Cars 2

These were both so cute!

 I also saw this fairly recently...and it's one that I would go out and buy...

Crazy Stupid Love

Very funny!

11. Favorite TV series

Ooohh, this is hard too! I watch a lot of TV, so it's hard to pick....but the winner is.....

the Big Bang Theory!

 

Bazinga!

10. Favorite Restaurant:

 Hmmmm... I don't eat out a lot, but if I had a choice...

 

9. Favorite New Thing I've Tried:

Oooo! This one is easy. Blogging! Moving Out! Decorating by myself for Christmas!

8. Favorite Gift:

Okay, I'm going back to 2010 for this one because it has become invaluable. Money saver (ish) Back saver. Space Saver.....

My Kindle! (I have the Kindle 3, just like below. It is my bestie!)

 

7. Favorite Thing Pinned:

Another tough one! I've been pinning for a year, so it's hard to pick.

Can I do boards? 

No?

Okay, how about some of these?

One can only hope right?!

Source: keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk via Kaitlyn on Pinterest

This one speaks for itself. :)

Source: mentalfloss.com via Kaitlyn on Pinterest

This is my all-time favorite poem

 Source: curatedstyle.tumblr.com via Kaitlyn on Pinterest

And...the reason I needed a Kindle :)

Source: obseussed.com via Kaitlyn on Pinterest

6: Favorite Blog Post:

Hmmm. I like this one (The End) and these (Morning Meeting and Making Rules)

Y'all seem to like the Currently's and Monday Made Its the best...but those are my favs :)

5.  Favorite Accomplishment:

Rocking my observation, moving out, landing a job before June

4. Favorite Picture:

The view from the beach when I visited my friend this summer!

Of course, I have some of me and my sister from various graduations (Me from Grad School, her from High School), but one must protect the innocent (or not so innocent....hehe! :)

3. Favorite Memory:

Walking across that stage and knowing that after 4 years, I was done. No more classes, no more papers, no more professors.

And, getting the call that the superintendent of my district wanted to meet with me and my co-workers telling me that I had gotten the job (and that they were all thrilled for me!)

2. Goal for 2013:

-Keep my current job (to the best of my ability...sometimes it's out of my hands)
-Make some new friends (no offense to the old ones, but you live far away! :(  I'm an introvert, and it's really hard for me to make friends...although I think I have made some headway!

1. One Little Word:

Try

This year, I really want to try new things (and some old things). Start dating more, making friends, going out more, exercising (ish....yoga counts right?! ;). All I need to do is try.

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn