Overload!!

Overload, that is all it is called.  In the attempt to get ready for my new classroom for my first teaching job, I like many others, have been pounding the internet on Pinterest.  I joke that is teaching doesn't work out I am going to open a rehab center for Pinterest addicts like myself.  There are soooo many great and amazing ideas that I don't even know where to start.  I am trying to limit my focus on Lang. Arts & Social Studies, because that is what my teaching focus will be on.  But, also to have some sort of idea how and what to start off with at the beginning weeks of the school year.  There are so many great examples of procedures and methods that would be beneficial for a classroom of 6th graders, but also lesson ideas which I want to implement.  Almost too many, I don't have a clue where to start.  What topic should I start off with in Language Arts - narrative stories to get a sense of my students' imagination or autobiographies to help get to know my students better?  When should I start setting up the expectations of the spelling list/test?  I really want to have my students practice penmanship - because I am really irritated in the lazy and illegible handwriting and having to decode what they are passing off as homework.  There are a few things I do know:

1. I want a lesson plan book from the Erin Condrin website.  These planning books are amazing & I so want one especially for my first year teaching.  To check these out go to the following website - http://www.erincondren.com/store/
2. I want to upgrade the reading material for literature in the classroom.  I am trying to get a class set of "Bud, Not Buddy" - if interested in contributing to my project go to http://www.donorschoose.org/project/wanting-to-read-the-adventures-in-bud-n/992980/
3. I want to learn and grow with my students.  There is nothing like seeing the aha moment come upon your student's face - better yet is when you student helps create an aha moment for yourself.

I cannot wait for my new career to take off - July 12th cannot come soon enough.  This is the first activity I have on my calendar as a elementary school teacher - the first of many.  I CANNOT WAIT!!!