Friday Favorites- Back to School Edition

Welcome to Friday Favorites! We made it through the first week of school, WOOHOO! Is there anything better than the first week? Everyone is buzzing with energy and excitement. There are new outfits, organized supplies, and a world of possibilities are placed before us. Also, the school supplies...ohhh the school supplies. I could stand in the school section of Target for hours and this year, the Dollar Spot was on point.

This week my Friday Faves are all about school supplies I can't live without.

Le Pen in Blue 

Ok folks, don't get distracted by the multiple colors of Le Pens available. They are fine, even pretty nice I guess. But NOTHING compares to the blue. My sweet friend Carole H. told me about these pens last year. I do consider myself a pen connoisseur, but I had never heard of these. Knowing my picky nature about pens, Carole decided to bring me one because she knew I would be hooked if I just tried it. I am in love! The blue is so bright, it writes so smoothly, it is the perfect pen! 

Stabilo Pens

 Stabilo 68 

Stabilo 68 (pictured below) is sort of like a marker, a really awesome marker. The colors bleed through paper a little more than the Stabilo 88, but it still works great on thicker paper. I use them in my Plum Paper Planner all the time. 

 Stabilo 88 

Stabilo 88 (pictured below) is a fine point pen/marker that is great for writing in planners or agendas. They are almost always on sale on Amazon and you can find them on Zulily or even Groupon at times. 

I really wish I worked for Stabilo. I don't know how many people I have convinced to buy these pens.

May Books

 

Give me all the May Books. You can do anything your heart desires with these little notebooks. There is an option that will work for almost anyone. They have monthly and weekly agendas, daily planners, prayer journals, pregnancy journals, and newborn notes. I generally purchase the standard lined notebook in the classic size. Here are two I used in the past year...

I use them all year long to keep running lists, take notes, and keep myself organized. The size I buy are small enough to fit in your purse or car. My friend Alison gave me one for my birthday 2 years ago and now I have been through at least 5 of them. Here is a pic of a May Book I was using this summer. Notice the Stabilo 68 markers make this page really pretty.

Bonus: They were created by a fellow Plano Senior High alumni.
Warning: Visit this website when you have some time to play with the designs. I could spend hours creating new books. They make great gifts too.

Gel Highlighters

What will they think of next? Our principal ordered one for each teacher for our back to school inservice. I have now purchased my own set with all the colors. Trust me, you need these in your life.

Halo Top Ice Cream

 I know, you're thinking, "What? This is not a school supply!" But really, it is because I am sure I wouldn't have gotten through the first week of school without it. Each pint contains 240-280 calories. Yes, I said PINT! So, you could eat the entire pint and still have less calories than a TV dinner (That was my rationale on Wednesday night anyway). Also, each serving has 6 grams of protein. If you ate the entire pint you would have consumed 24 grams of protein. WIN! And yes, there are currently 4 pints of ice cream in my freezer. You can get your favorite flavor at Whole Foods or Kroger. If you try it, let me know what you think!

I hope all my fellow educators had a great first week of school. Get some much needed R&R this weekend. I know you're excited to really dive in next week.

Find Your Strong

Our building has a new principal for the first time since it opened in 1998 and we have all been excited and nervous all summer. It has been a little like Christmas morning around our building. I know it was a big transition for our new principal too, but she has come in with a positive attitude and inspired us all. She seeks to carry on the legacy of our former principal, and is doing it with her own flair. I feel so lucky to have her!

This year our district motto is "Strong schools. Strong students." On our first day back, our principal showed us a few video clips from a marketing campaign for Saucony shoes. The theme was about finding your strong and it was easy to relate the characteristics of strong athletes, to strong teachers. This is one of the videos she showed us...

Then she gave us a few minutes to think about our strong, what motivates us to walk in our building every morning and give our students everything we have. On my drive home that afternoon, I started trying to narrow down my focus of what motivates me daily. I tried to think of all the things I do during a school year and honestly, I was getting pretty overwhelmed with trying to find the perfect "strong". Then this song came on...

After I dried my eyes, I realized it is not anything I do that motivates me. It is the people around me. It is the students, my fellow staff members, and the parents in our community. We all support each other through the good times and the bad. Here are just a few pieces of my "strong" journey...

My strong is the students that inspired my mom and I to WANT to be at work when she was battling breast cancer. My strong is the school community & staff who came out and Raced for the Cure with us and had a "pink out" day in her honor.

My strong is the way the staff supports each other through their accomplishments. There is no jealousy. A win for one of us, is a win for all of us. I am so honored to work alongside so many amazing educators.


My strong is my teammates who have taught me so much over the years. I find strong in the memories of my former first grade life every. single. day.

My strong is the school that has been my home for 11 years. It is an honor and gift to watch my former students believing, achieving, and excelling in big ways. My first group of first graders are starting their senior year tomorrow. I hope they find their strong and achieve all of their dreams.

My strong is the countless cards, texts, food, and prayers we received this summer when my dad was in the hospital. My strong is realizing that the best way to stay strong yourself, is to support others in their journey for strong.

That's the beauty of the education field. We are in it together. We have to be a solid unit to function at our fullest capacity, just like a family.

Our principal made a video of everyone saying their strong and I can't wait to see it. In the meantime, I wanted to keep my strong close to my heart and mind all year long. I created this and hung it behind my computer to have a constant reminder of why I love my job so much.

What is your strong? 

Click the picture below to print a strong poster and write down your own inspiration.

Plum Paper Planners

My name is Tracy, and I am a paperholic. I am obsessed with planners and everything that goes in them. I definitely use my digital resources too, but I just really love to get a new planner and make it mine. I have tried various planners in the past and finally landed on one that was perfect for me. Well, actually, 2 that are perfect for me. I use the Plum Paper Large Teacher planner to keep myself organized at school and the Erin Condren Life Planner to organize my social life.

First, let's get into my teacher/counselor planner. This planner is by Plum Paper and I happened upon them while cruising through Etsy one day. This planner is simple, clean, and easy to use. Of course, I spent over an hour trying to decide which cover I wanted (even though my planner will be open most of the time and I will probably look at the cover 5 times total). I finally decided on this one:

I am a little picky about the inside of my planner. My first criteria is the the planner MUST have a vertical layout. I have never used a horizontal layout and I just know I would be lost if I ever tried to switch.

Each day is broken down into 7 subjects. I use mine hourly because as a counselor I don't teach subjects and my schedule changes each week. Here is a view of a page before I have totally marked it up.. Note the nice, clean lines and handy checklist boxes and places for important reminders. You can have them personalize the subject lines or just fill them in however you want like I did.

There are also tons of options in the back to keep you organized. You'll notice that I put Washi Tape across the subject lines. I just wanted to spice it up a little, so each month has it's own Washi Color. I love to use stickers to remind me of important events and meetings. I picked these up at Michael's last week. They are technically for the Happy Planner, but they work great in my Plum Paper Planner. Shout out to my 4th grade friend Abby for helping me spend MORE money on planner supplies ;). Also, did you know that Michael's gives a teacher discount?!?! #buymorestuff #itslikeitsfree

I keep all my stickers in the handy back pocket of my planner. Here is a picture of the pocket and some other stickers I just love! 

This year, I am trying something new. I got some Avery 8167 labels and made teacher labels to put in my planner. These serve as my reminder of the day and time I visit each classroom. It gives a cleaner look to my planner and saves me from writing all of the information down.  

I mentioned that I found 2 planners that were perfect for me. I also have an Erin Condren Life Planner. I know people say you should only have one planner, but my Plum Paper is more like my teacher lesson plan book than a personal planner. It would be weird to have my friends birthdays and social events in my school calendar. More on EC later. I didn't realize this post would be so long. I guess I should have known that a person who can spend 3 hours straight looking at planners online could write more than just a  few sentences.

Comment or message me if you have any questions about Plum Paper.  

Welcome

Welcome Friends! I am so excited to start blogging. I survived completed my first year as a school counselor, and I LOVE it! Now that I have gotten my feet wet, I want to start documenting my experiences and resources. Come on, who doesn't love looking back at their lesson plan book from their first year in education? #handwritten.

If you don't already know me, my name is Tracy Bulino. After some alliterative thinking I landed on the name the Caffeinated Counselor. Honestly, I don't even drink that much caffeine, it just seems like I do. I will say, in the mornings I am fueled by my Keurig and Starbucks (Unsweetened Passion Tea, anyone?).

I have spent hours upon hours admiring my fellow educators blogs and teacher materials and decided to try my hand at it. I taught first grade for ten years before taking on my new gig as counselor. If you are following my blog or checking out my resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, you will probably see quite a few 1st grade materials. It seems silly to leave all those fun activities sitting on my hard drive.

Here's to a great 2016-2017 school year!