Surprise bargains

Today, while waiting for my car to have some work done on it I ran some errands. I'm an avid couponer and I was in a different city with stores not in the town in which I live. The work on my car was supposed to take about 3-4 hours so I had my list, coupons and was very excited. One of my first stops was Target. I love their Dollar Spot. I can always find something I can't live without such as Pacman or Strawberry Shortcake band-aids. :) Today I scored huge for my counseling office.

Everything I found will go great in my elementary office or on a bulletin board or even as an addition to a classroom lesson. I got two packages of posters. There are three posters in each pack and each one is different. I found packs of 24 count bookmarks that match one of the posters. I bought several packs and I may go back to get more so I'll have enough for the entire school. They were just $1 and it's a small school. I also found some foam shapes that will work great on a bulletin board. One of the posters says something about lending a hand. I found a pack of multi-colored foam hands! I got a package of over the door hooks so I can hang my purse/sweater/coat when the weather turns cooler and a magnetized locker mirror. I had one of these in my other office, tucked into a cubby and used it all the time. Everything was just $1 each which was wonderful since I have been purchasing so much! The American Girl DVD I purchased for our girls' night out came in. Now I just have to find time to preview it. I've found a sock monkey poster, "Gossip, Put A Sock In It" and matching bulletin board border. I found paw print bulletin board border, (we're panthers) and some window clings that are the same, all in our school colors! I was able to purchase some positive posters last week, too. They weren't quite as cheap as the $1 for three Target deal, but they were a great price. My car didn't take three to four hours. It took over six hours! I didn't make it to work but, I found every deal on my list that I'd matched up with coupons. My car is loaded with office goodies and I will be going to work bright and early tomorrow to get some more work done! We have open house Thursday evening and there is a lot to do!

New Information

Yesterday and today I spent at the ALCA workshop. I don't know if any of you reading this have every been to, through or heard about ALCA but, it is reall good information. With all the Common Core changes and, here in our state, School Report Card changes, it has been great information of which I was in great need! Yesterday I rode with the new principal. That was a great time for us to visit and get insight into one another's personalities. Today I was on my own. Over the weekend I got a second desk moved into my high school office. I will eventually put a hutch on top of it. This set up sits against the wall, as would I when sitting there. The plan is for my computer to go here. My other desk sits in front of that facing the door. My desk chair sits between the two so I can just rotate to face one or the other. The desk facing the door will be my working desk that I use when others are in the office or I'm not working on the computer. Though I did get everything shredded that needed to be and the extra cabinets and tables out, I still have a lot to do there. I haven't even started on my elementary office. I contacted the elementary principal today to see how her moving out of it was going. She said she had hoped to start moving out last Thursday. We're all in limbo waiting on a new addition to be completed. It's not yet finished so she hasn't started moving yet! Open house is next week! I have things to do in the high school that need to be completed by August 1st. I can work around that office being incomplete, but need time to work in the elementary and really wanted that office to be set to go by open house. It may not make it. After the Thursday, August 1st open house in the elementary, I have high school and middle school enrollment the following Monday and Tuesday. Wow, putting it all down here makes me realize how little time there truly is!

Making Room

After hanging out at home for the last two weeks, I finally made it to school again! I worked in my high school office and with the help of a friend yesterday and made a lot of progress! I got the desk moved over to make room for another (2nd desk) to be placed behind it. I cleaned, a lot, and feel really good about that, now. I got nearly everything loaded in to the office, out of boxes and off the floor. Most things are put away, though I know that will change again. Today I spent a lot of time shredding. There was testing information all the way back to the early 90s! We only have to keep five years! Why oh why do counselors not get rid of old information? I had to do this at my previous school, too. Only there it was testing and student records both, dating back to the 80s! The head maintenance person was in and out several times today and offered to give me the grand tour of the entire campus, so I took time to do that. I'm glad I did because I learned some things about the upcoming year that I wouldn't have known ordinarily and had a great time getting to know a coworker! In the high school I won't have a bulletin board in the hallway that is just mine. There is one that I will share with newspaper clippings and other notifications. However, there is a television mounted in the hallway where every student enters and exits each day. It's right by the main office. I will be able to put informational power points on it for all to see. This will be great during testing season to put out reminders for students. Since it's a high school building I thought I'd use it to introduce myself. Nearly all the teachers are new this year, I might be able to have some join me and put slides in to introduce themselves as well. In the elementary I have two ways to introduce myself in the classrooms (a poster for older grades, Mrs. Potato Head for younger grades). I also thought the power points on the television would be great to promote silly holidays (sponge day, national bubble wrap day) and things like Red Ribbon Week, etc. I've been book shopping again. The Big Test came in for my elementary office. It is such a cute book! I also received The Organizational Skills Bootcamp and The Bully Free Classroom. I'm getting thoroughly excited about the upcoming year and I hope you are, too. Tomorrow I'll being going back to do a few more things in my high school office: cover the bulletin board with fabric, hang some things on the wall and shred, shred, shred!

New Materials (Again)

This weekend was so much fun! While out and about we went to Barnes and Noble. I LOVE Barnes and Noble! I forget how much I love it until I walk in and start browsing. I don't get to go very often, which is probably a good thing. By the way, if you haven't signed up for an educator's card, you need to do that. You can save a lot! You don't have to purchase educational material to get the savings either. I made a list ahead of time in hopes we would be going there while out. Most of my books (for me personally) are on my iPad these days. I have no more room on any bookshelf in my house. So, I was thrilled to go shopping for actual physical books. We have a pool and throughout the summer I relax by floating and reading. It's my favorite summertime thing to do. I can't take my iPad to the pool so I've sort of been at a loss this summer. I still have three books on it I haven't read yet. I found three of the five books on my list. Now, I can kill two birds with one stone, reading in the pool and reading for school. The first one I found was Wonder. I didn't realize it was a NY Times Best Seller! I'd been hearing bits and pieces about it and saw someone on the Today show list it in a summer reading list for kids. So I put it on my list of new books to purchase. As a former special education teacher once I read information about it I was very intrigued. I've just started it and so far it is really a wonderful story! Another book I purchased is Gifted Hands. It is about someone who overcame adversity and circumstance, used a God given gift to do amazing work and be successful in the medical field. The last book I purchased is The Drama Years. The last two I haven't started yet and probably won't until I finish Wonder. Tomorrow is a busy day. I'll be going to the high school building (after doing somethings around home) then to the dentist. If I have time I'll drive over to the elementary, too. Hopefully I'll get to pick up keys tomorrow. I'll definitely be measuring windows for curtains.