Happy Tuesday!!  I know many of us are already back to school, but there are still a few people that have not finished their classrooms!

I am linking up with the Creative Classroom to bring you a new linky party this week!!

I have a secret way to decorate my classroom, that I'm sure many people might already know about, but I love it!!

How many people use fadeless paper to decorate their bulletin boards!?!  I love the paper, but it is expensive, and sometimes hard to use, especially when you want to cover a larger section!!

I have found an easy solution for you!!

I use a TABLE CLOTH from Walmart!  Thank you $1!!  I love that Walmart has many different colors, and depending on when you go you can find patterns too!!

The best part for me is that it is easy to hang by yourself!  You can staple one corner up, and then since it's not paper it doesn't rip when you let it hang down as you move down your wall and hang up the other side!!

If you have an awesome teacher tip that is tried and true make sure to link up with Ashlyn and share your tips!!

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Cassandra

I was so excited when I saw everyone getting super cute stitch fixes!  I figured it would be a great investment, I could get some cute clothes, and I wouldn't have to spend time trying to figure out when I could get away from the kiddos long enough to go to a store and try on clothes!  This way I could do it in the privacy of my own home!!  I signed up a long time ago, June I think!  I knew we'd be out of town for all of June, and part of July.  I figured it would be fun to have my first fix come in time for my birthday so I scheduled for my first fix to arrive Wednesday, August 20.

Here is what the clothes looked like when I took them out of the box.  I was pretty excited looking at these pieces!  Check out that beautiful coral color!!

Here is my piece by piece of the box.

This first tank wasn't too bad, but it was really flowy and way too big for my liking.  I like my tanks loose, but not this loose.  The buttons were cute, but cut a little too low.  This was a no for me.

This next tank wasn't as flowy as the first, and actually has a really cute back that I realize I forgot to take a picture of!! Sorry!!  The white pants were also part of my fix, but I couldn't take a much better picture than this.  They fit well, but were very see through!!  I wouldn't be able to wear them because of this, but I am keeping the tank.  So another no, but one yes!!

This skirt was such a toss up for me!  I loved how soft it was, the fit, the length and the style.  I just wasn't crazy about the print.  My husband was even less crazy about it than I was.  He isn't one for bright patterns, or something out of normal, so he really didn't like it.  I was really torn, but decided to send it back.

When I took this dress out of the box I REALLY wanted to LOVE it.  It was such a great color, came with a belt, and looked great in the picture on the style sheet.  As soon as I put it on I knew it was going to be a no.  The top was very loose fitting, which was so strange compared to the body hugging skirt.  The skirt hugged in all of the wrong places (especially two babies later!)  It just wasn't flattering.  I was so sad!!

I ended up only keeping the one gray tank, and wasn't even overly excited about keeping it.  The only reason I kept it was because my husband said I should keep something since I was so excited about this Stitch Fix, and I had been talking about it forever.  The prices were not my friend either.  I am a faithful shopper at places like Target, Old Navy, JC Penny, and Walmart.  The dress I wore earlier this week came form Walmart of all places and I think more people like that #ootd than my outfits that come from New York and Company.

I love the idea of Stitch Fix, but I just didn't love the prices.  I wish that there could be an idea like Stitch Fix for those of us who shop at places like Old Navy or Target.  Both of these places carry "pricer" pieces to me, things I wouldn't buy without a coupon, or gift card, unless they were on sale.  I have never owned expensive clothing, and it took me until I was 27 to finally buy a pair of shoes that cost more than $20.  Thank you for introducing me to the world of Toms Chelsea!!

I have seen people get amazing things from Stitch Fix, and I have seen many IG friends who have loved their fixes and kept ALL of their pieces!!  I am not opposed to trying again, but not right now.  My Pinterest account wasn't linked to my Stitch Fix account, but it would have been nice to know it wasn't working before my stylist sent me my first fix.  It is now fixed, and I plan on adding new things to the board before I order my next fix.  I may try again closer to the holidays, or in the new year, I haven't decided.  I also have to convince my husband that it's worth trying again.

If you haven't tried Stitch Fix yet, and you are interested you can use my referral link.  If you order a box, then I'll receive a $25 credit, which may help me order my next box that much sooner.  I hope I haven't deterred you from trying it if you are interested, I do love the idea, but I wanted to be honest in my experience!

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Cassandra

I am linking up again today to share with you what I love to teach!!  Thank you Blog Hoppin' for such a fun week of posts and hopping!!

I love to teach MATH!!  Math is my favorite thing to teach because there is so much you can do with it!  You can play games, you can create worksheets, you can find the answer a TON of different ways! I love exploring in math, and trying to help kids see the different ways to find the same answer.

This week I have started to train teach my kids how to get out supplies on their own, and put things away.  We have been playing BUMP games all week.  I learned more about BUMP games at the SDE conference this summer, and created some of my own BUMP games.

For this week I created BUMP boards with multiples of 3s, 5s and 10s.  You can find them here!!

Next week I plan on adding 2s, 4s, and 6s.  This gives them practice with counting in these multiples, and right now I told them they can only cover that number.  We are going to talk about decomposing the numbers in a few weeks, and how they can cover up two numbers that make that number instead. It will put a whole new twist on the game for them!

I'm so excited we are using Mrs. Olson's Lucky Little Learner's interactive notebooks this year too!!  We have started with the money notebook.  I have been amazed at where my kids are, and how much they need help with.  I always forget that these kids DO NOT play with money!!  These have been so fun to put together so far, and the kids are learning as they do it!!  I am excited to start the time one next as a review as we are learning about time right now.

I have a Saxon textbook, even though I am not a HUGE fan of it, so I love finding fun activities to do with the kids!  Some of my other favorites are from Schroeder Shenanigans in Second!  My kids last year loved scoot games, so I created some for them to work on too!!

Thank you for hanging out with me for the week, and checking out my classroom, and learning a little bit more about what I do every day, and why I do it!!  Make sure to go to Blog Hoppin' to check out what else amazing teachers love to teach!!

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Cassandra

Two blog posts in one day, what is going on!?!  It is my productive night, AKA my sitting in bed blogging night.  Yes, I am neglecting those spelling tests sitting in my teacher bag, and I will regret that this weekend, but right now I need this outlet!

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' to share with you my schedule!

I created this visual for my blog, but I give my parents a schedule that shows what we are doing each day, broken down with our specials where they go, so parents and the office know where we are, or what we are working on.

I have found that by giving parents a more detailed schedule of our day it helps eliminate them making doctors appointments during our core subjects!

Now, before you worry that I am spending too much time on science and social studies, and not enough on math or reading, let me explain.

Our school bumps for math.  This means that I send three third graders to fourth grade, and I receive four second graders for math.  Due to this I am very limited in when I can have math.  Since we are moving kids around, we all schedule math at the same time, and 9-10 is what I was given.  I wish I could spend longer on math, and I always try to start a few minutes early.  Last year I was able to have math from 8:45 - 10, but I was only sending three, and gaining one.  This year with sending and receiving so many it makes it harder to add time when I don't have kids there.

Then in the afternoon I have a special EVERY DAY, except Monday, at 1:15.  These specials range from 30 minutes to 45 minutes.  Some days, for example Wednesdays and Thursdays, I have two specials in the afternoon, so I have almost no time for science or social studies.

Make sure to check out Blog Hoppin' so you can see what everyone else is doing all day too!!

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Cassandra

Organizing is something that I truly try to manage, and get ready before school starts, but I think it really depends on your kids, and the cards you are dealt.

I am a day late to the party, but I am linking up with the fabulous ladies over at Blog Hoppin' to share my organizing tips and tricks.

Last year I had two aides, so I had someone in my classroom with me from 8 - 12, EVERY DAY!  This was amazing, because I could have my aides do my grading for me (I graded all tests, and would look over homework), and my aides did all of my copying.  My aides knew my room as well as I did.  I didn't have to tell them where things were, they just knew where things were.

This year, I have 24 kiddos, and no aide.  I am in charge of all grading and copying this year.  I am not complaining about not having an aide, just saying that my organization this year will have to be different from last year.

I am a firm believer in teaching the kiddos your organizing method, so that way they can help you stay organized!  I try to organize everything they will need or have to use as well, so that way we all stay organized!  If the kids won't use your organizing method, then your method won't work!  Especially when it's our kids who are using the materials!

Last year I spent a lot of time putting all of my books into bins by what they were, or author.  I had my aide go through and label each one of my books with the AR quiz number, how many points it was worth, the reading level, and how many words were in the book.  We have a huge contest where our kids are trying to reach 1,000,000 words, so my kids were constantly asking how many words were in a book!  These labels are all inside of the book though, so I do not have them organized AT ALL by their reading level.

The bigger green bins are from IKEA, and I believe they were $2.99, or $1.99 each?  I bought them last summer, so I don't remember.  Then I have been searching for and buying more of the smaller green, blue and pink bins that you see.  They are from the Dollar Tree of course!

At the SDE conference this summer I heard someone talk about a salad bar with all of the math manipulatives, and I thought that this was a GREAT IDEA!!  I had all of this stuff, and I knew where it was, but my kids had no idea how to find it!  I bought this rolling cart at Michael's last year when they were running them super cheap!!  I actually have 3 in my room!!  I then went through all of my math stuff and sorted them out and cleaned it up.  This is the stuff we will use the most, and then I will pull out seasonal counters, or other things we'll use and have those on top.  On top of the shelf I have our rulers and timers.

Finally, turning in homework is always a HUGE struggle for third graders.  It's not that they don't do their homework, they just FORGET to turn it in!!  I have these bins where they are to turn in their work.  I have not updated or changed these labels from last year, but I will be doing that this year.  We ALWAYS have math homework to turn in.  The other subjects are in the air, as I am doing A TON in notebooks this year!

These bins are right next to their cubbies though, so when they are putting textbooks away, or unpacking their backpacks it is in a convenient area for students to turn in.  These are NOT on my desk, as I am trying to eliminate the idea of it being "my" desk.

I also have my students write their numbers on every sheet of paper they turn in!  This way I can quickly go through the papers and see who is missing.

I hope that these ideas will help you keep organized!!  Make sure to check out Blog Hoppin' so you can see some other amazing teachers who love to organize!!

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Cassandra

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' again today for day two of their meet the teacher week!

Today is all about where I spend my days!!

I already shared part of my classroom reveal, but here is a recap of my three newest areas in pictures!!

My fantastic new word wall is a HUGE hit with my students!!  They love asking for a new word, and adding it to our word wall.  I even had a student ask in the middle of our social studies lesson the other day if he could add our vocabulary words to the wall!!  It is coming in handy, and the kids are USING it!!  Best idea ever!!  Thank you Pinterest, and some amazing people I saw use it!!  (Catherine, Marcy and Ashley you are my inspiration!!)

I love how neat my work display looks this year!  It is out of the way, uniform, and so cute!!  Plus, the kids can easily see each other's work now, and I used numbers so I can reuse this next year!!

Right now my Daily 5 board is blank, other than Catherine's reading strategy posters below.  I can't wait to start filling it up!!

I will have more classroom pictures to share tomorrow, when I share my organization!!

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Cassandra

I am so excited to be linking up with the fantastic ladies from Blog Hoppin' this week for all of their fantastic back to school link ups this week!  You will want to make sure that you check back every day!!

I feel like I have been sharing A LOT about myself lately, but I will try and share some things that you may not already know about me.

I have been married for 7 years now, my husband and I met during my junior year of college.  We actually met at Fish Fest, which is a Christian music festival in Irvine.  My husband had just broken up with his girlfriend the night before the concert.  Now, we are talking about 2006, before Facebook was big, and there was no IG.  We were still using iChat, or instant messaging to talk, and even texting wasn't too big yet.  Needless to say, before we left the concert that day he asked for my screen name!!

We started talking on instant messaging the next day, and a few days later he asked for my phone number.  I knew that he had just broken up with his girlfriend, and I had not too long before that broken up with a boy that I had liked since elementary school.  We started talking, and took things SUPER slow!  Well, for the first week! haha

Before school was over in May, we were making plans of when I would come back to visit that summer.  We went on our first official date in May, to a Brad Paisley concert, and that was the night of our first kiss!  Two weeks later I came back to visit, and we exchanged those three little words!!

I swore he was going to ask me to marry him for my birthday, but he made me wait until the Friday night before Thanksgiving break!!  I had our wedding planned, bridesmaids asked, dress, venue and catering picked out four days later when he came to my parent's house for Thanksgiving!!  We were married seven months later, June 30, 2007!

We've had our ups and downs since we got married, and we have lived in two apartments, his parent's house, a friend's house, and our first home!  We have lived in four cities, and two states!

We are both teachers, so we are able to explore during the summers, and go on many fun vacations!!  Our favorite friend vacation was two summers ago when we were able to go to Hawaii!!

We spent a week with these two fantastic people in Kawaii and I can't wait to go back!!  We are hopeful that we'll be able to go back in 2017 for our ten year anniversary!  We're hopeful they won't be pregnant or have a newborn so they can go with us!!  We have done many trips together, as we have always lived apart since we have been friends!  We have spent time in Orange County, Sonoma, Vegas, Scottsdale and Phoenix!  Now that we have babies our times together are less frequent, but always just as great!!

Baby girl's god parent's are another set of amazing friends we have!!

My senior year of college Nicole was a sophomore and we somehow convinced the boys that I was an RA for that we were twins, but had different parents because our parents were divorced and remarried.  She lived with our dad, and I lived with our mom.  It was SOOO funny!!  We have made many, many memories over the years!!

I was blessed to be in many weddings one summer, these two weddings were only two weeks apart, and were for two of my sweetest friends!!  Nicole's wedding was BEAUTIFUL, but my camera died before the wedding started, so I don't have a picture of the four of us from her wedding!!

I would not be the teacher I am today without this fantastic lady!!  Chelsea is AMAZING!

Chelsea started at my school my third year there, and I was nervous because the person she was replacing was pretty great!  I was excited to have another young person on staff with me though, as I was the youngest person on staff by 5 years before Chelsea got there!!

This girl has helped me in so many ways!!  She was with me through both of my pregnancies, the first one to come visit me in the hospital and at home.  She is always there for me when I need a shoulder, or an ear!  We have had many ice cream dates!  Now, she has moved on and her mission has taken her to Vegas!  She is doing amazing things there, and I miss her greatly, but am so thankful that I was able to see her THREE times this summer!!

An amazing person that has had a fantastic impact on our son was our youth pastor, Logan.  This guy always goes above and beyond!

Uncle Logan played the drums at church, worshiped for us during chapel, and always was eager to come over and play with us!!  Uncle Logan and Aunt Ashley are greatly missed, and my Bubs is still looking for them at church!  Even as I am typing this he keeps looking at this and saying Uncle Logan and Bubba!!

I wish that there would be a time in life again when I would be with all of these fantastic people in my life, and that I could spend time with them all again.  I guess that is why everyone says enjoy college while you are there, because in those moments those are your favorite people and you will never have an experience like that again.  I am so thankful that I will have another time like that though, when we get to heaven and I get to rejoice and party with these people every day!!

If you've made it this far THANK YOU!!  I hope that you now know a little bit more about me, and the amazing women who have helped make me who I am!!  I wouldn't be the woman I am without my MOM though!  She is truly my best friend, and my biggest supporter!!  Plus, she is an amazing grandma and my kids wouldn't be half as amazing as they are without her!!

Check out the amazing other author bloggers, and get to know them as well!!

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Cassandra

This Friday morning, as I sit here in the quiet, awaiting my son's morning announcement that he is awake, I thought I would sneak in a quick blog post with Doodle Bugs Teaching for my Five for Friday!!

First, I hope that you love my new blog design as much as I do!!  Lindsey is amazing to work with, and was patient with me!  She started my design about two weeks ago, and then things got crazy when I quickly went to Utah last weekend!  She was so patient, and understanding that I wasn't able to get to my email right away to confirm or chat about designing and what she had done.  I am SOOO HAPPY that I was able to work with her, and that I now have this new beautiful blog design!!  I LOVE IT!!

This week was my first FULL week back to school!!  We started on Monday, and we end this afternoon.  A half day on Monday, and then four full days makes for a long first week back, but I am glad to be back at this!!  I LOVE IT!  I've seen this picture floating around IG, and it is so true!!

My son had his first day of preschool on Wednesday!  He is in the 3's class this year, and he has some amazing teachers again!  We can't wait for another fun year!  Now we are just getting used to the transition, and how tired he is in the morning, and at night when we get home.  Hopefully he'll start taking his naps at school!

I have made two goals for myself for this school year, and I shared them with my parents last night at our back to school night.  My goal is to leave on Wednesdays, and then not do anything at home.  I don't know how likely that goal is, but I need one work night when I am home with my family and not stressing about work.  Then I am also going to devote Sunday afternoons 12 - 6, to just being home, and being with my family.  My kiddos are 3 and 16 months, and they aren't always going to want to play or hang out with mommy.  I have to take advantage of this while I can.  Most parents seemed to like my idea, or boundaries, so we'll see how the year goes.

Finally, we started Daily 5 this week!  I am so proud of my kiddos!!  I forgot to take a picture of our stamina board, but we have grown so much this week!  These kids have never done daily 5 before, so this was a brand new experience for them.  On Tuesday, they were able to get 4 minutes!!  Wednesday we built up to 15 minutes, and then yesterday we made it all the way to 18 minutes and 22 seconds!!  I can't wait to see how far they'll get today!!

Thanks for reading along, and make sure you go link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching so you can show us what you have been up to this week!

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Cassandra