Miss B's Books

After reading about half of Donnalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer, I decided I wanted to find out what my students truly loved. During the last week of school I had them respond to a completely open-ended anonymous Google form. On the form, I had the students list their top 3 books of the entire school year and what they liked about that book. I had over 100 titles in the responses, but here are the top 11 results results with student comments below. 11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire "It is magical." 10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days "They went on a summer vacation it was a funny summer vacation." 9. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe* "I liked that exciting parts happen right in the beginning!" "That when things were getting boring new excitement rose." 8. Divergent "That the action in the book was the best thing since 1989. ;)" "it had a lot of action and i love the characters!" 7. Holes ...

Congratulations! You've landed your first teaching job. In addition to the hustle and bustle of decorating your classroom, learning your curriculum, meeting your students, and getting acquainted with your community, you have BILLS. When I landed my first teaching job, it was my first time living in an apartment by myself with a car payment, student loans payments, and paying every utility separately. It was incredibly overwhelming! The best thing I did was create a budget system. Why create a budget system, do you ask? Here are some huge benefits: Reduce "pay day" spending sprees. See EXACTLY where your money is going. Save more money! It only takes 10-30 minutes a week. This is flexible and can be adjusted however you need it to be. After some trial and error, and about three years later, I have streamlined my system. I have been using this system for about six months, and since the simplicity of it has worked extremely well for me, I want to share it. T...