Life strikes again...and Monday Must-Have's/Made-it

Oh boy...did "life" ever hit me hard this past weekend. I have had a really rough couple of days. The kind of days where your life completely changes forever. You will never be the same, but these life experiences are what make up your story and without that, you wouldn't be you. I don't know if this all sounds confusing...but that's about all I want to say about it. Just trying to explain my absence and lack of communication if you have been trying to get in touch with me.  I feel bad that I haven't been able to respond to all my sweet, new followers!  Sooo...if you are a new follower of Sweeties In Second...WELCOME to the party! :)  I hope you find something you like!

I am linking up with both the Monday Must-Have's and Monday Made-It because I think my Monday Made-it is also a Must-Have!  (At least I hope it will be!)  There are FREEBIES with this one!! :)

I was inspired by the teacher wife and Simply 2nd Resources to create my very own Teacher Binder!  One of my main goals this year is to work more efficiently by being organized.

I used The Teacher Wife's cover along with Miss Tina's Font and Scrappin' Doodles clip art to create the cover of my binder. (sorry for the glare...)

Then, I used Becca's idea (from Simply 2nd) to make my own dividers.  So much cuter and creative than buying a pack of dividers from Wal-Mart/Target.  I put a cute Scrappin' Doodles clip art on each page, then made the little circle divider piece.  I laminated all my pages using my little laminator friend. :)

In the Lesson Plans tab, I'd like to use The Teacher Wife's idea for doing more of a "weekly" plan where I can quickly look at the activity and not have pages and pages of lesson plans like the ones I use to turn in to my Principal.  It is too much paper to be flipping through and then I get all lost and can't find this, that, or the other.  (Note: these are NOT completed 1st week plans...haha!)

In the Curriculum Map and Pacing Guides tab, I will have our monthly curriculum map that I created for my grade level, plus all of our district-wide pacing guides, in case there are ever any questions.  Just good to have all of that in one place.

In the Contact Logs tab, I have created a Parent/Teacher Contact Log.  It looks a lot like our Clinic passes that we use.  I am going to copy it on bright paper and send it home for parents to fill out the top, then I will keep it as a reference for when I do need to contact parents.  I can use it for notes from the conversation as well.

If you would like a copy of my Parent/Teacher Contact Log, you can download it for free {HERE}.  I used Doodle Tipsy font, which I found at Lettersnstuff.

In that last three tabs, I don't have much just yet.  I don't have a class list, so I can't do any of the student info pages.  In the "Student Info" tab, I plan to put things like a class list with student numbers, a list of classroom birthdays, lists of who gets pulled-out and when (I am probably going to have at LEAST 4 different groups getting pulled-out this year.), Student allergies/Medical conditions so that I know what to do in an emergency, Transportation list, AR goals, and then a Class Emergency Split List to tell which teacher students will go to if I have to leave in an emergency.

If you would like a copy of my Student Information pages, you can download them for free {HERE}.  I used Doodle Tipsy again and MTF Jumpin' Jack from http://misstiina.com/fonts/.

I am planning on putting all those pages that you get at your Opening Meetings that you just need to have as a reference under the "School Info" tab.  Misc. will just be whatever else I need it for--volunteers, notes, field trips, whatever.

So, that's my Monday Made-It, but I have a few other "Must Have's" for teachers.  These are things I cannot live without.

My Scotch Laminator--I have actually had one of these for a few years, and it really has made my life a lot easier.  I do still have to use the regular laminator at school for anything that doesn't fit into the laminating pouches, but overall, I am able to do a lot at home and save time.  Of course, you have to have the pouches, too!

My glue guns!  AND DON'T JUST BY THE $1 ONES AT DOLLAR TREE!!  I learned my lesson the hard way my very first year of teaching when I blew up a glue gun and thought I was going to burn my school down.  I have a glue gun at school and one at home. :)  Of course, don't forget the glue sticks, too!

And lastly...this one is a little expensive and thankfully, my school has one for me--my ELMO document camera.  My is a little "old" by technology standards, so it doesn't have too many bells and whistles, but it is perfect for me, just the same!

Well, there ya have it! :)  Good luck to all my teacher friends out there starting school today!! I hope to be back again this week with one of my Summarization Units.  I just need to get out somewhere that has better internet than I do that can handle uploading.........  :P