A case of the Mondays...

When I woke up this morning I knew I was in for a long day... When my alarms went off I had that feeling of "why in the heck is my phone going off I just went to bed" despite my 6 hours of sleep, but after too many days in row of 5 or 6 hours my body was not having it. However, as I am a teacher, not a fabulous CEO that can move her appointments back at a time suits her better, I dragged myself out of bed and got on with my day.  One where I'm feeling particularly sleepy, I usually don't wear the outfit I previously selected and instead go for one of my three favorites.  With the mentality "look good feel good" I figure that on days I need a little extra something I should dress in something with "a little extra something", and let me tell you, quite often it works!

And of course, until my heater decided to turn on I had to wear my favorite item in my closet, the trench coat!

Trench coat ( t. Babaton-Aritzia) Skirt (J Crew-here) T-Shirt (Etsy) 

But... When it does come on, I feel like I'm teaching somewhere tropical... So for most of the day, I really looked like this....

This morning, however, the Mondays were determined to make it a long day! I got my self ready, running a little later than I prefer, but still in good shape, heated up some milk to make some hot chocolate, and then this happened....

Seriously universe?! It's my FAVORITE mug! I know it's a Monday and you're trying to mess with me, but did you seriously have to mess with my Minnie Mug? Uncalled for!

Needless to say I was not happy! But now, on the verge of being late if I didn't leave pronto, I made my hot chocolate, poured it in a travel cup and was on my way!  I started to get the feeling of success when I arrived at school on time (I HATE being late places, so that was crucial to a good day), I got into my classroom and remembered that I didn't feel like organizing Friday night and that meant I needed to Monday, it's like coming home from vacation to a pile of laundry you didn't do before you left plus what you need to do now. But I managed to get started, check my email, decided I'd organize after school and went on with my day, which turned out to be quite fabulous! My students were awesome, the little 7th graders are starting to learn about the first English colonies in what is now the United States.  They were so intrigued by the idea of the lost colony of Roanoke (find out more here is interested, it really is fascinating!) I'm positive I have future detectives and historians in my room! 

The Mondays did manage to catch up with me though, unfortunately.... When I got out of my meetings today I was really feeling tired and decided to call it a day, go home, eat, fold some laundry and get a couple things ready for the rest of the week at school....what actually happened: got home, turned the drier back on for a few minutes, ate a few bites of cookie dough ice cream, turned on Monday Night Football, took clothes out of drier, folded three items, fell asleep on pile of laundry for a the first half of the game and halftime, woke up to a 21-14 Jets lead, looked at my to do list and stared blankly at it wondering why little animals from all over Seattle didn't come into my apartment and cross a few things off my to do list for me like they do in Disney movies.... I feel gipped.... I swore I was a Disney Princess! 

Since woodland animals are going to help, I suppose I should cross a few items off myself. I hope the Mondays didn't come after you quite as much as they did me.

Until next time,

Karissa

October or Oktober?

I just love October! Pumpkins, costumes, sparkly bat decor, and boots! Fall fashion is my absolute favorite time for trends! Boots, scarves, leggings, coats... What's not to love?! I've been digging through my closet, bringing all my fall favorites from the inner depths to limelight! It makes me so a happy :) But before we get to teacher outfits, I'm had a really awesome couple days of lessons with my 8th graders.

In Washington, 8th grade history covers Washington state history and world geography.  We are currently looking at the Native people in Washington state, focusing on Coastal Native Americans for the last two weeks and Plateau Native Americans coming up next.  To start off the unit I read the students a creation story that is prominent in many Coastal tribes, they LOVED it! I thought they would have interest but I was not expecting so much buy in from reading one story.  After finding out how much they LOVED the creation story, I went with it and did a whole art integrated week of lessons and guess what, it was a huge success! 

Like I said, I started off with the creation story (here).  I read it out loud as they followed along, using their reading strategies (ie. circling words they don't know, making connections to prior learning and writing questions in the margins, and underlining important details), partner turn and talk trying to infer what the story was about, who is was told to, why it was told, etc., and for homework they had to write a one paragraph extension of the story. The students where so creative with it, it was fabulous! We did an art analysis the next day, looking at art from several coastal tribes, both current works made by tribal members as well as much older and traditional art. They took some notes on what the cultural and spiritual characteristic of some animals, shapes, colors, etc., found in the art observed.  THEN the fun part came.  Now that they had all of this amazing background knowledge, that they were totally eating up I must say, they got to create their own art inspired by coastal tribal style, the colors used, animals we learned about, shapes or the creation story they had read.  After they finished their piece, they created a story to go along with it.  Some stories were informative, many taught lessons, and others were rather whimsical. Over all I was SUPER impressed by the amazing art and written pieces they turned in! 

Here are two of the pieces:

This piece was done by quite the little artist. She titled it "Beaver".

This is was done by a young man, he titled it "Salmon".

I think I was most excited by how genuinely interested and intrigued my students were about a culture they had no real prior knowledge of.  Many of the m expressed wanting to learn more about other cultures and many were inspire to learn more about their own culture! As a teacher I'd call that a success! 

Now, enough about the learning, on to fall teacher fashion! 

On Monday I was feeling quite cheery; so I decided to add some spice to the typical boots, cardigan, black trousers by throwing a pink flower in the hair and putting on my favorite pink lipstick :) 

The one full length picture that I took off this outfit came out blurry -___- ugh! But at least you can see my flower and lipstick! 

Yesterday I got to deal with a flat tire, boo... But I was feeling like a rock star before hand, so here this is my rock inspired outfit :) and big thanks too B for helping with my car situation! 

Sweater (Wilfred-Aritzia) Pant (Mossimo-Target) Boots (Steve Madden-Nordstrom)

Let me just tell you about these pants! Last holiday season I was shopping for my lil sis Mak at Nordstrom and of course couldn't refrain from trying on a few things myself, and the lovely people at Nordstrom always bring you more things to try on.  One of those items put in my fitting room by the sale associate was a pair of pants, black cigarette pants made from a fabric with black velvet flowers.  I am not much of a velvet fan but I loved these pants as soon as I tried them on, just KNEW I had to have them! That was until I looked at the price tag.... a whopping $280... As much as I loved them, I am a teacher after all and that's not in my price range! A few hours later I stopped at Target on my way home for some holiday bows and wrapping paper, I happened to walk through the clothing department and found THESE amazing pants, for $24... And just like my mom, LOVE a good deal! 

Here's a better picture of the fabric :) 

And one more selfie... Aftert Monday's fun with makeup I decided to go more natural with the look on Tuesday.... And you can tell that my sweater is actual more of a wine color. 

Earrings (Kate Spade-Nordstrom) Watch (Michael Kors-Nordstrom Anniversary Sale) Bracelets (Etsy-see previous post) 

And finally, the end of this novel post, today's outfit... What can I say, I really do love all black! 

Trench Coat ( t.babaton-Aritzia) Pants (Joes Jeans-Nordstrom) Blouse (Mossimo-Target) Shoes (Tory Burch-Nordstrom) Tourquoise Bracelet ( J Crew) Watch (Micheal Kors-Nordstrom)

This outfit just screams NYC to me, maybe it's because it's all black, or maybe the trench coat, I'm not sure but regardless, I really do LOVE this outfit! Well I apologize for the novel length post but the last few days have been a bit hectic, so I put it all into one, during Criminal Minds commercials of course! Now off to focus on the end of the episode :) 

Until next time!

Karissa

Casual Friday :)

TGIF! Many of you are familiar with this end of the work week sentiment... However, while I was browsing through Pinterest last night I saw the BEST alternate use of the phrase:

This just makes me smile, and will be my mantra :) 

But on a more traditional sense, I am SO excited that it is Friday.  You might think that I have fabulous plans that await me, BUT no, it's just been a LONG week! I had the fabulous opportunity to attend a Family Night at the Spiritwood Boys & Girls Club, which is in a brand new beautiful facility in the Lake Hills area of Bellevue.  This particular Boys & Girls club is located in a government assisted housing site and serves children in low income families at both Spiritwood and the surrounding community.  This particular club is near and dear to my heart because I used to work there while I was in Grad School.  In addition a good friend of mine and coworker from back in my Spiritwood days, Markeese, now runs the site.  I had a lot of fun seeing past kids I used to work with and seeing all the fabulous things Markeese was doing at Spiritwood.  

As much fun as I was having yesterday evening, it made me realize exactly how tired I was, and boy I was exhausted! So exhausted in fact that I didn't even have the energy to finish the movie I put on (Kingdom of Heaven... History nerd, I know!) or do a short little outfit post from yesterday.... So here is yesterday's outfit!

Blazer (Nordstrom Rack) T-Shirt (Aritzia-found here) Pants (Skinny Minnie-JCrew here) 

And my FAVORITE part of my outfit from yesterday, my shoes!

Shoes (Converse) I saw these shoes on Pinterest, which took me to a link where they were being sold, with the studs for $130.... As much as I loved them, and will certainly drop a pretty penny for clothes and shoes I love, I decided that I could buy the shoes, and the studs, and do them myself... Which I did :) total cost $57, $50 for the shoes, $7 for the studs, shipped to my house! 

Normally I wear that outfit with my favorite Tory wedges, but I was a little bit sore, my trainer friend LC kicked my butt at the gym the night before and heels seemed like cruel and unusual punishment' therefore I went with my trusty studded chucks.

Today however, I didn't have to worry about still being sore, because it's Friday, and Friday means casual Friday :) I decided to show a little Seattle support with today's outfit, a t-shirt from the Woodland Park Zoo (the zoo here in Seattle). 

Tshirt (Woodland Park Zoo) Jeans (7 For All Man Kind-Costco... Someone made the mistake and returned a Nordstrom pair of 7s, had the Nordy's tag still attached, and Costco sold them to me for $50! same style different wash found here) Watch (Michael Kors-Nordstrom) Shoes (Toms-I know you can't see them but I thought I'd share anyway) 

What I love the very most about my appearance today is my curly hair :) Those that know are fully aware of my love to straightening my hair, in fact there was a time in my life where if it wasn't straight it was in a messy bun.... Then I started teaching, and not being a morning person it was just in a messy bun constantly... But recently I have started embracing my curls... And don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't love my curls, it's just the time and effort it takes to make them look good, mainly showering in the morning, as a perpetual night showerer this whole morning shower idea is not only foreign but completely ludicrous to me. Why is the heck would I get up an extra 30 minute just to have wet hair all day, or an extra hour and half to blow dry and straighten it?! Yea... That wasn't going to happen... But thanks to hair products and some effort my hair is looking fabulous curly, so I'm embracing it! 

Well I think it's time for a nap and then a workout! Happy Friday!

Until next time,

Karissa

Feeling Fabulous!

Today I did NOT want to get out of bed... My alarm went off, I looked at my phone expecting that there had been a mistake, after all I swore I had only bee asleep 5 minutes... much to my dismay it really was 6 am, damn! I stared at the clock on my phone in disbelief for a solid 17 minutes, at which point I realized I really needed to get up, since 6 am is later than my normal alarm time.  Thankfully, my outfit, including jewelry, makeup, etc was already laid out and I had leftovers for lunch ready in the fridge, yes! Success! So I decided to add a little flair to my day, in the form of red lipstick.  I LOVE bright lipsticks; there was a time in my life when red lipstick was worn frequently, however in the last 4 years of teaching I have toned things down to tinted lip gloss status... Until today that is, and guess what, I love it! Something as small as red lipstick really did put a pep in my step and it lasted all day :) Between that, old school Usher blaring though the speakers in my car/phone/iPad and my awesome lesson on Coastal Native American Art (a later post on this), how could my day be anything but fabulous?! 

Today's outfit! Two of my students said I looked like a movie star from back in the "black and white film days", which of course made me smile :) What it actually came down to was no time to straighten my hair, but hey, I'll take it! 

Leopard Print Sweater (Aritzia), Jeggings (Joe's Jeans-Nordstrom), Trench Coat (Aritzia), Pearl Necklace (vintage)

This outfit will certainly come back, but I think with straight hair :) 

Until next time, 

Karissa

Getting To Know You...

I've talked about my "Day 1" classroom activity a few time, but never actually explained what it was! Getting to know you're students and building a positive, tight-knit classroom culture is by the far the most important thing that needs to happen the first month of school.  In order to do this teachers try to come up with activities that students will actually be in to and that will help with the goal... I have tried a few over the years that I liked, but decided to do something a little different this year... The get to know you beach ball! Not only did I love the idea of it, but it ended up working even better than I imagined!

Here is my beach ball:

You might be wondering what all the writing is, they are questions that help students get to know you, and each other, and of course helps you as the teacher get to know a little bit about everyone.  I decided to theme my questions but the colored section on the beach ball ( those that know me are absolutely shocked! Not lol), color coding is a major part of my life, as you will come to find out.  

White: Academic/School related questions (ie. easiest subject, most challenging subject, one academic goal, etc)

Green: Favorites (favorite color, movie, tv show, musical artist, etc)

Orange: Do You... (Have any siblings, pets, speak other languages, have a hidden talent, etc)

Blue: Personal Characteristics (personal goal, three adjectives to describe yourself, nickname, if a. Movie was made about your life what actor/actress would you want to play you, etc)

Red: This or That (chocolate or vanilla, pepperoni pizza or cheese pizza, beef or chicken, etc)

Yellow: Dreams (what would your dream vacation be, dream house look like, dream car, dream job, etc)

The get to know you beach ball! Beach ball bought at Target ($1 at end of summer sale), questions/categories written on with a sharpie

The best thing about this beginning of the year activity is that it can be done/used more than once! For the first month of school, any time we had an extra minute or two at the end of class I'd grab it from behind my desk and toss it to a kid.  When I did this the first day of school I had students sit on top of the table, at their assigned spot.  Since that is how the activity was introduced, my students immediately put their stuff away and sit on top of the table at their assigned spot as soon as they see me grab the beach ball.  You could of course have the students sit in their seats if you didn't want them sitting on their tables or desks.  

This activity is so great (can you tell I'm a fan? lol) you could totally use it with another group of people, not just students... Sports team, project team at work, whatever! Can you tell I'm a little excited about it? 

Now for today's outfit! Usually I pick out my outfit the night before, hang it on the hook on the outside of my closet door, set the coordinating jewelry on the bathroom counter, pull out the makeup I'll wear and hair products and set my shoes out.  I do this for two reasons, if I don't plan out my outfit I get really indecisive in the morning and I'd rather spend that time sleeping, the other reason is because I move SO SLOW in the mornings, my brain isn't quite working so I like to have everything planned out.  However, last night I decided to take a candle light bubble bath, put on some slow jams, pour myself a glass of champagne and relax... After said relaxation session I was quite sleepy and decided to just call it a night, without laying out my outfit.  Thankfully, my brain was working this morning, otherwise this could have been disastrous, like navy blue and black together, or gold clothing accents with silver jewelry disastrous! In the end I left the house is a fabulous rock inspired outfit, if I do say so myself :) 

Blazer (Nordstrom Rack) T-Shirt (etsy) Corduroys (jcrew: toothpick skinnys) Studded Boots (Steve Madden, Nordstrom Anniversary Sale 2013) Bracelets (Etsy)

Well you can't totally see the fabulousness of the boots, they are fabulous, let me tell you, but you get the idea.  Off to do more grading, I swear it never ends!

Until next time,

Karissa

Sorry for the Delay...

The first couple weeks of school are crazy for a teacher (duh!), I know, I'm stating the obvious, but it's true! This week is the first week that schedules are normal, class rosters are more or less stable, printers/copiers are fixed and you really start to dive into curriculum.  It's also the first week that I've felt 100% since school started! Yay! Of course, being sick/feeling under the weather for the first 2.5 weeks of school does create a bit of a backlog... I mean there are grades to update, emergency sub plans to make, bathroom passes to sign and pass out, etc. I guess it's a good thing I love my job :) 

Anyway... Something I intended to start from the beginning of the year was a teacher outfit post, but having been sick/slightly overwhelmed with the beginning of school it hasn't happened, until now of course.  All of my fellow Seattleites know this, but I suppose I should put a couple disclaimers out before I get comments like "you wear that to work?!"  

For those who don't know, Seattle is a very casual city, makes sense if you think about it, a city full of technology companies who believe that as long as you're good at your job, you can rock your jeans and Pink Floyd t-shirt, running shorts and marathon t-shirt or distressed jeans, peplum top and stilettos (I wish!) and socks and sandals really are a common occurrence, tragic as it may be.  So yes, compared to other parts of the country I might be on the casual side, but in Seattle I'm quite put together, I promise! Also, we have college gear/Seattle gear/school gear Fridays, where teachers pretend they're back on campus of their alma mater and wear their UW t-shirts, Seahawks jerseys, and our middle school hoodies; which is not only acceptable but highly encouraged! Phew.. Now that that's out of the way, here's today's teaching outfit :)

Maxi dress (Roxy store in downtown Disney), Sweater (Banana Republic), Necklace (H&M), Watch (Michael Kors), Earrings (Kate Spade-Nordstrom on sale!) Bracelets (Etsy -Craftistikone)

This is such a Monday outfit! I didn't get enough sleep last night, who am I kidding I never get enough sleep lol I need like 9 hours, I know, what a funny joke, in reality I get about 6 and last night I got 5, it's ok though, it was worth it... However as worth it as it may have been I still woke up not wanting to wear real clothes and yoga pants with an oversized sweater was out of the question :( but maxi dress to the rescue!

 This one I love even more because it comes from The Happiest Place on Earth, DISNEYLAND, to say I love anything and everything Disney is an understatement. Well this beauty was screaming my name while walking through downtown Disney with my parents and sibs, and my dad told me to go ahead and try it on, which means if it fits, I'll buy it... Seeing as this rarely happens ( both me shopping with my dad and him buying clothes) I took full advantage of the situation and said gee thanks daddy! And of course it fit like a dream!

 The sweater might be my very favorite thing from Banana Republic ever! Right out of grad school my mom took me shopping for "teacher clothes", she too thought that yoga pants and oversized sweaters or UW hoodies wouldn't be classroom appropriate and took me to find some things that would be, with the stipulation of course that the things I've found were on sale, and not just on sale but like REALLY on sale.  This item however was not, but I convinced my mom that this $60 sweater could be worn with a multitude of outfits and pieces I already owned and she bought it for me anyway! I know I have the best mom ever! But I will say this, it was probably the best $60 she ever spent (maybe with the exception of my camo capris from Abercrombie & Fitch I had to have, I wore those from 9th grade through college, at least once a week, man I loved those! sorry, back on topic best $60 she ever spent...) because I seriously LIVE in this sweater in the fall and winter! In the classroom with slacks and a blouse, over a dress, with leggings and boots out for drinks, yoga pants and a black tank so I don't look homeless grocery shopping on Sundays (in between football games of course!)... Needless to say this sweater is a very versatile favorite! 

Stay tuned for at least 3 teaching outfits a week... I will try to do everyday but then you will notice that I have favorite outfits that I wear all too often, and you really don't need to see that post every week! Well, I should probably tackle grading this pile of quizzes in front of me, hope you have a fabulous Monday :)

Until next time,

-Karissa

Classroom Tour

I know, I know... This is long overdue, my apologies! With new kids, backpacks and all the joys of starting a new year you also get lots of germs, and unfortunately I caught something... Can you imagine a worse time for a teacher to get sick?! I think it's just a bad cold (so I have been teaching and utilizing cold meds and hand sanitizer) but after two weeks of this I'm finally going to the doctor tomorrow.  Anyway, long story short, my evenings and days without kids since school has started (last Wednesday) have consisted of hot tea, naps and the occasional low brain function required school assignment.

So the new year has started, I love my room and I love my kids! I say being two for two is an AMAZING way to start a new school year.  One plus of my job this year is that I moved from teaching 5 periods of 7th grade history and 1 period of 8th grade history last year to teaching 4 periods of 8th grade history and only 2 periods of 7th grade history, which means that I got to loop with a lot of my students.  It makes the beginning of the year that much easier when over half of your students already know your routines and procedures.  Obviously they need reminders and I still go over it, for everyone's benefit, but there's less complaining about the rules they don't like (no chewing gum, for example). Oh my 7th graders, they are so little and cheerful, it's fabulous!  We did a couple ice breakers that were fun, informative and went really well... You never really know with middle schoolers, some things they think are awesome and others they think are the lamest thing on the planet.  I'll do a post about those later, but here's what you actually want to see, my classroom: I'll give a tour first and then focus in a some of my favorite things!

This is the view from the front of my room, my desks is in the back left corner, student notebook bins are under the tables in the back and center table is my supply table the student tables are in a modified horse shoe.

Yes those are mason jars, since I work with middle school kids I can get away with mason jars knowing that they probably (fingers crossed) won't get dropped/broken.  I keep popsicle sticks in them with each students' name to use to call on students equitably.  Each class period has their own jar.

 This is the left side of my classroom.  The door to my room is on the far left, left side of the wall is for student data (standards proficiency) and exit tickets for each class period.  The grey bulletin board says Social Studies, that is where materials on our current unit are.  For the beginning of the year I have the Declaration of Independence reproduction, a poster on the Presidents and a poster visually showing the history of the US flag.

And here is the front of the room. The little black rectangles to the right of the Ms Willhite's Class sign have exit procedures.  I have my teaching point and the standard(s) being addressed on the far right side of my board, one column is for 7th grade, the other for 8th.

 My "About Ms. Willhite" board, and my teacher's toolbox. 

The "Influential People" board and my clipboards on the bottom.

My desk :) please excuse the mess, this was before school actually started... I was still in chicken with my head cut off mode trying to make sure everything was ready for the kids to arrive.  The table under the Influential People board houses student supplies like pens, pencils, rulers, kid scissors, highlighters, etc. a hole punch and a paper cutter.  You can see a plethora of small white binders on the book shelf; I keep one per class period, which has student information sheets, behavior logs, hard copy attendance, allergies logs, and a class list. The white roller bins act as my desk drawers, as I actually have two tables acting as desks. And of the course, class mascots Minnie Mouse and my sock monkey zebra watch over the class from the bookshelf with my Spirit Week award trophy from last year... Yes, I am that teacher that dresses up for spirit week.

And finally, the back wall... The white graphs will be for class period data tracking.  For each standard addressed, the class proficiency average will have a pin at that number, yarn will be tied to each one, with 80% being the goal (hence the line at 80%), with the unit test score average as the last pin.  It will be redone for each unit. The numbered black trays are turn in trays, the milk crate is where absent students find what they missed and the black bins are labeled with class periods as well, which is where students keep their notebooks. 

Okay.... That might have been the longest post ever... If you're still with me, you just be a teacher or family, otherwise I'm sure you got bored by bulletin board 2.  More to come from the world of Middle School Social Studies soon, in the meantime, more tea and cold medicine and seating charts! Hope everyone's school year is going fabulously!

Until next time!

~Karissa