Five for Friday

It's Friday . . . and that means Doodlebug's Teaching's Five for Friday linky!

I am loving - loving, loving, loving - this article from Cult of Pedagogy about how to be a marigold.  Which sounds weird until you read it.  And then you'll find yourself thinking a lot about and looking for marigolds at your school.  It's written for first year teachers, but her ideas apply, no matter how many years you've been teaching.

This is my last full week of summer - kids come back on August 3, and we have inservice two days next week - so I'm enjoying lots of these this week.  For one, because they're yummy.  For another, because I drink them and go to the bathroom anytime I want.  That won't be true in a couple of weeks.

I'm the proud owner of one of these!  

Thanks to the advice from Just a Primary Girl, I bought the Canon SX280 from Amazon last week.  (On a side note, I'd put it in my cart and then waited anxiously to see if it would go on sale on Amazon Prime Day.  Epic disappointment.)  I've been using my iPhone camera to take pictures for blogging, but they were so blurry, I decided to spring for a real, honest-to-goodness camera.  I really like this one because it's good but not expensive, and you can upload your pictures wirelessly from your camera to your computer.

Which means the pictures should be nice and crisp for my classroom reveal next week!  I am really loving how it's shaping up this year . . . which is pretty different from how it looked last year.

See what I mean by blurry?  Yuck.  Anyway, be sure to check my blog post on the 28th for this year's big ta-da!

I'm also considering a bit of a blog makeover.  I love this avatar - with a few customizations - from Hey Hey Designs.  

So exciting!  I love the beginning of the year and fresh starts.  New crayons, clean desks, shiny floors.  

What do you love most about the school year starting?