Just Breathe

It has been too long.  I don't even know if anyone has ever read my blog, so I don't know why I feel bad for not blogging!  I want to begin writing and reflecting on my teaching, though, so I guess a weekly blog entry (or more, if I can) will be a good place to start!

Thoughts right now:  I'm overwhelmed, as I always am, prior to the beginning of the school year.  I have a million different lists, both written and in my head, of things I need to plan, print, laminate, organize, do, buy, put together, etc... I have a zillion new programs and ideas I want to implement in my classroom.   School doesn't begin for another week, but I'm planning to be in every day this week to get my room ready.  I had to move to a new room, so I have a bajillion boxes to unload and put away before I can even get to the fun stuff!  My mind is racing, meaning I'm already not sleeping.  I've started having the back to school nightmares . . . you know the ones.  I can't turn it off!  It is the curse of a teacher. 

I need to just breathe.  I need to remember to be present with my little ones both here and at school.  Right now, I have three kids, who I love and adore, who need my attention.  In about a week, I will have closer to thirty, because my kids at school will be my kids.  I need to breathe, so that I can remember to just LOVE them all, and to be there for them.  The other stuff will fall into place. 

Just breathe.

Monday Meme: Bloom's Taxonomy.

Um, YES, please.  :-)

Monday Meme: Laminating

Hello, friends!

I finally gave in and got a laminator at home.  Just a cheapy that I actually found at Aldi's.  I wish that I had bought a bunch more film, though, because I'm out already!  I do love how much thicker the film is than the stuff at school.  But school lamination is free!  Such a dilemma!

Here's your eye candy and funny for the day:

Do you laminate at home or at school?  Or both?  What criteria do you use to decide what gets laminated?  Or do you laminate EV.ER.Y. THING??

Skip Counting Made Easy!

My kiddos still need daily practice with skip counting.  I made it visually easy for my visual learners with this number line.  Every day we are in school, I put the next apple up on the wall, going around the room.  Then we count by 2s, 5s, 10s, as far as we can.  Evens are red numbers, counting by 5s are on green apples, counting by 10s have a worm coming out of the apple.  Fun and colorful.  Have a parent cut them out for you at home one night after you have laminated them, and then you can use them every year!

 

I have ideas for other themes, but would love to know--what would you like to see that would go with your room theme?

Monday Meme: Assessments

I think you really have to have a good sense of humor to be a teacher.  You have to be able to laugh at life, at yourself, and with others.  Laughter is good for us.   It is medicine.  On that note, I am starting a weekly feature called Monday Meme, where I share my favorite teaching memes.  Here is my contribution to your laughter bank today:

If I had Ryan Gosling cheering me on, I would feel so much better about myself!  LOL!  We have WAY too many assessments.  STAR reading and math, F&P individual reading assessments (like DRA), quarterly benchmark tests for math and reading, it is INSANE!  How do YOU do it all?

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Let's Try this Again!

So I've been missing in action . . .
Not that anyone has noticed!  :-)

I want to try to blog regularly.  For now, that may just mean once a week.  We'll see.

This is the first year that I'm actually thinking about teaching over the summer, like ALL summer.  I kind of like that!  I think that means I'm actually passionate about my job.  What fun!  I've been busy planning in my head, on paper, and on the computer . . . all sorts of things.  Now if only I can make sure that I can follow through!

More to come.  Let's do this!