Five for Friday: Back to School Edition!

Another school year has begun! And somehow I managed to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the weekly linky... It has been a great week!

Preparing four classrooms is extremely time consuming. Luckily, I was able to use my Back to School resource that I created two summers ago so that I could focus on the other million little details of getting ready for my students. One favorite activity from the pack is the talking monsters. Some of the dialogue that students created was pretty hilarious!

Click on the product pic for more details!

There's something so therapeutic about visiting the book store before the school year begins. I found several great ones to add to my collection, and I used these two for the first day. I LOVE Scaredy Squirrel, and the students BEG me to read the other books throughout the year. A few years ago my 4th graders took it upon themselves to begin an adventure journal with Scaredy as the main character, and they took turns adding stories to it throughout the year. It was adorable. They even threw him a birthday party at some point! You just never know how much a single book might change a kid's life.

I seriously don't know what I would do without my part-time teaching assistant, especially at the beginning of the school year. She spent countless hours helping me label and organize my four classrooms. I would be sleeping at school without her. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

I know I'm the last woman in the world to discover Gossip Girl, but I did about 6 months ago. It's so addictive... Not to mention a great distraction from work stress. ;)

This week I discovered a morning treat that allows me to hold onto the summer for just a little. Bit. Longer. Check out these strawberry lemonade smoothies! They are SO delicious (and easy to make).

I'm curious, what are your guilty Netflix pleasures? (I'm looking for suggestions. ;))

Happy weekend!