Five for Fri...Sunday?! Make that seven...

Okay, I've seen other bloggers fib on the Five for Friday, and I figured I had a good excuse this time around with all the packing and grass mowing and last minute dropping off of class pets to their caretakers before my vacation, so I'm doing Seven for Sunday! Forgive me!

1. Movie Star Madness

I've been really popular this year apparently because I've had two different film crews visit my room, recorded another two interviews about mentoring student teachers and teaching reading, and had two different photographers come to take pictures...all from different organizations! I was recently sent one of the videos that I'm in that will be used to show new teachers in my district how I (and 3 other teachers from different grade levels) teach reading using a reading workshop model. Watching this video made me realize a couple things...first, that 24 pounds I've lost recently is really starting to show! I've probably lost about 10 since this video was shot. Second, my voice is not as cool sounding out loud as it is in my head. 

2. The Old Look

I figured I should make a record of what this blog looks like now, because pretty soon I'll be sporting my new look from Megan at Bird in Hand Designs! I'm next on her list, and can't wait!

3. Summer Reading!

I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I haven't read 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny yet. But it'll be in my hands soon! Also, excited to get my copy of Teach Like A Pirate, which many blog readers will have heard of by now. I've already started Igniting A Passion For Reading, and I'm a fan. It's a little more dry than I anticipate the others to be, but there's good information here. I'm also planning to skim through my favorite read from last summer, The Book Whisperer.

4. School's Out!

I shared my End of Year gifts in a previous post, and here's my class on the last day posing for a silly picture. I thought it was a fun filled, but kind of sad day. Still, I'm super excited for both summer and next year! So many ideas for next year! I'm going to try to just relax for a little bit this summer though.

5. But...Planning will happen

And when that planning happens it'll be in my new Erin Condren planner! I'm finally biting the bullet and getting one. I know... they're expensive. Technically it's a gift from Killer B (like that matters with our shared bank account!) I've only ever heard good things, and quite frankly my 5 different calendars, 3 different to do lists, and 18 different locations for keeping those 8 things aren't working anymore for me. This is my attempt to get my crazy level of planning under control. And I am a serious planner. I went with one of the manlier designs, like the one pictured. I think this year I'm going to give up on the attempts (keyword: attempts) to be manly and embrace the side of me that just wants things in my classroom to be cute though. 

6. Vacation Time!

 So, Killer B and I have already made the awfully long drive from PA to GA. Now we just have to relax! We're visiting family in Atlanta for a bit and then heading to Savannah and Tybee Island for a week. The suitcase on the left is mine, B's is on the right. Meanwhile, our dogs have about twice as much stuff as us. 

7. Fun or no?

I've been toying with the idea of doing my own monthly linky for a bit, but all the good ones are taken! Aargh! I wish I didn't read so many blogs sometimes, because if I know someone else is doing something I can't do it because I don't want to be a copycat. Anyway, I read a site sometimes called PostSecret. Basically, people anonymously post digital postcards with a secret on them to the postsecret site. It made me think it'd be fun to have a TeacherSecret linky. I remembered that padlet.com will let people with the link post anonymous messages(without even signing up or anything!), so I set up this link as a test. 

Would people think it's fun to monthly post a secret or two about your teaching/blogging habits? I figured it'd be fun to anonymously post your secret, then link your blog up, people could try and guess which secret is yours. I would seed the board with a few starter secrets of my own so that the first few to link up aren't obvious. If you're interested, check it out! If there's any interest then I'll fancy up a new board each month and make a button and an inlinkz. 

So, that was my Seven for Sunday. Sorry for breaking the rules, but I wanted to get in a good post before vacationing kicked into high gear!