I've had a rough few days.
Between unpredicted backlash after what was supposed to be a joyous day and finding a live scorpion in the house, ready to sting one of my fur babies, I've been on edge. I was furious that I needed to call the pest control company for the third time in six weeks to come back out and spray, but my six month issue with them is another story. Our cable company was consistently changing their rates and story, which only lead to further frustration. Essentially, I've been feeling a lot like this:
But I'm holding in my inner she hulk.
I was humiliated by a family member on social media completely out of the blue. The situation was blown way out of proportion, I truly did nothing wrong, and I was publicly shamed without just cause. My perception of this person has changed and I am having a very hard time moving forward. I've spent a lot of time crying about this mind boggling situation.
Instead of commenting and sparking a fight on Facebook for all the world to see, I simply untagged myself and set a text message, inquiring as to what the concern was and asking why this wasn't addressed privately. I am dissatisfied with the response and lack of resolution, but I am working on forgiving this person.
I did not retaliate, though it was suggested I would. I'm not that kind of person.
Instead of focusing all my energy on what's going wrong, I'm focusing on what's going right.
I had tremendous support from friends who saw the hurtful words and reached out to make sure I was alright. They sent loving and gentle reminders of the type of person I try to be: kind, giving, thoughtful. They offered words of support and prayer, both of which were appreciated.
So for try it Tuesday, I challenge you to look around and see what's going right. Look for the positives.
It's so easy to focus on the hurt and negativity that surrounds us. It's a struggle to find the good things some days. When you've been scorned, it seems impossible.
But you can do it. I can do it. Let's spread positivitiy.
Yesterday, I had a two hour lunch date with two wonderful women at work. We talked about their family vacations, their babies (both boys are a few months old), and my upcoming wedding. There was nothing but love, Starbucks, friendship, and cake pops.
(I haven't succombed to the whole coffee drinking thing, but I'm in love with their peach green tea lemonade!)
I also went to Joann's in search of classroom things, but instead found some very cute craft items for my wedding in the magical clearance land. Plus I had a 20% off my whole purchase coupon, which just made it better.
I went grocery shopping and stocked the fridge with healthy salads. Eating right is connected with feeling right, so I'm pleased to try to make these healthy life style modifications.
I had a twenty minute chat with my bestie before she heads off on vacation for a week. She's going to snag some Mayan post cards for my munchkins because she's amazingly thoughtful like that.
This morning, while i relaxed in our hammock, I got to watch Waffles run around and play in her pool. She is so excited about everything and I'm enjoying this puppy stage. She'll go from frantically chasing a bird to snoring next to me on the couch in a matter of minutes. I'm so glad we rescued her. Even when I'm furious at what she ate (air conditioning insulation, a tissue box, and a pumice stone...all in the same day), I have to remember that she's teething and 4 1/2 months old. Then she looks at me with her puppy eyes and her ridiculous ears, and all is forgiven.
Seriously, how does this face not make you happy?
I get to return to my classroom tomorrow. I'm so excited for year seven and to implement some new strategies I learned from my DEN tribe. I get to decorate my classroom and create a happy learning environment for my students.
I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on TpT lately and it's nice to feel appreciated. I make all my products for my own bunch of students, but I share my resources with others. It's nice to know their students are using (and loving) them too!
I feel valued and appreciated by my fellow colleagues.
Seriously, I hit the teaching jackpot with my school. My first school had some amazing people, but also some stinkers. At my new school, it seems everyone supports everyone. We are there to learn from each other, to inspire our students, and to have fun.
Yes, we take our jobs seriously, but we also have lots of fun while doing it. I think that fun component is super important. What other job has administrators supporting a prank war to deal with end of year stress?! (More on that later.)
What's going great in your day? What positive moments are you going to focus on?
My last few days of summer are here and honestly, I'm quite okay with it. I had an amazing summer and will return to work feeling refreshed and energized for the year ahead. I've got some great new ideas for things to try in my classroom, courtesy of my DEN tribe. I go back to my classroom on Wednesday and my bags are already packed!
I'm spending today doing various adult things (laundry, dishes, Costco) but breaking it up with fun activities (20% off my whole purchase at Joann's?! Yes please!) and girl time (Starbucks date with one of the nicest people at my work).
Tomorrow will be a day devoted to Netflix and finishing a book I started (Al Capone does my homework).
I've read the first two and created TpT guides for them, so this is my next task. The narrator is a young boy (Moose) whose father is a guard (now associate Warden) on Alcatraz Island in the 1930's. The book follows his interactions with other children, including his older autistic sister Natalie, and famous (infamous?) inmates. I use this to illustrate the importance of setting with my students.
I also finished this:
In high school, I loved Sloppy Firsts (and the four sequels that followed). As cliche as it sounds, I grew up with this character (Jessica Darling) and her adventures.
I was really excited when I found a preteen prequel (and really, really excited when it was only $5 thanks to Scholastic's book flyers). However, I was hesitant to put it in my classroom library because of the possible content.
I vividly remember loaning Sloppy Firsts to a friend, only to have it returned several days later with a scathing note from the girl's mother inside about the profanity and filth of the novel. The first book is a sixteen year old's diary where she deals with the frustrations of high school, seemingly unfair parents, and the struggles of being yourself while trying to fit in. I'd be fine if high schoolers read the novel, but not my ten year old munchkins. They're already in a hurry to grow up too fast, so they don't need to read about the sagas of high school.
However, the It List focuses on Jessica's adjustment to middle school. In this story, middle school starts in seventh grade, but our district has middle school in sixth. There's not much of an age gap between my students and the ones in this book, but I decided to read it first just to make sure it'd be fine to place in my library.
It will be. The main character deals with jealousy issues with her best friend (she got her braces off!), trying out for the cheerleading team, dealing with new friends, and trying to figure out a mysterious boy in wood shop. (Spoiler, it's Marcus.)
It was a quick read and apparently there's a sequel. It comes in at a 5.3 reading level and 7 AR points, so it's a good fit for my fifth graders.
I'm fired up for August, how about you?!
I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I spend too much time on Buzzfeed.
However, today I stumbled upon {an article} about 35 DIY classroom crafts and was hooked!
Here are my recap thoughts:
1) Who is Where Board
Most of the ideas would take up too much space in my classroom. It's not that I have a small room, but it's that fifth graders are much larger than first graders. Higher numbers also mean that I'd need double of various things.
This "who is where" board for example:
Love it, however, it's not going to reasonably fit 34 magnets on it with student names. My students struggle with remembering their numbers. In case of an emergency, I'm not going to quickly remember who #18 is, so I'd want to put their names on the magnets...which means larger magnets and more space. Realistically, I'd need two and then students would not put their numbers back on the right boards and then waste time finding their number...sigh. So many different ways for this to fail with my fifth graders.
It's cute...just not practical.
2: Ziplock bag pockets
This I can get behind! It'd be great for students to store flash cards or little reminders that go home to parents. They could choose the duct tape and if it rips, there wasn't a large time or financial commitment to the task.
3: Detergent Caps
I struggle with students and their pencils. I'd love for each student to have a pencil box, but am unwilling to buy 34 of the same sized ones. Plus pencil boxes tend to accumulate pencil shavings and secret notes, so I don't love them. These however, could be a solution!
(If you'd like to contribute detergent lids to my craft project, I'd appreciate it!)
4: Crystal Lite Containers
They've been recovered and magnets have been added. I like the idea of storing my markers horizontally to help them last. I don't like the idea of permanent markers being stored so close to my white board because I see me using the wrong one.
5: Old Tee Shirts
Oh yeah, did this my first year! I've got ASU ones in my classroom.
6: Frosting Containers
The blog mentions using them to hold small items. I'd use them to hold bulletin board borders!
7: Metacognition Paint Chips
I use colored {responding cups} instead!
8: Pom Pom Erasers
Yeah...these look good for about thirty seconds. I just have students use a sock instead.
What craft projects do you have in your classroom?
I love freebies, especially on TpT. I get really excited when I see the word "freebie" on pinterest on teaching boards and frequently repin if I think the printable or activity will be useful in my classroom.
As a TpT seller, I have freebies. To me, a freebie means it's downloadable and immediately usable in the classroom. Sure, there might be some prep work (especially if it's a center and I want to laminate it), but as the name implies, it should be free.
For example, I stumbled upon this great {freebie}!
She's got lists upon lists for classroom organization, prep, and managing back to school stress. She also wrote a great blog post about how she uses this product, which you can read {here}.
However, not as TpT sellers & bloggers are as cool as her. Many times I click on a link that's described in either the picture or the pinterest description (or both) as "free", only to discover it's not free at all. I don't want the "free" preview that just has the table of contents, I want to see what the actual product looks like.
Don't be a tease and advertise exciting classroom products as freebies, only to discover that's not the case.
I started this blog a few years ago as a way for me to document my growth as a teacher as well as share ideas with others. Since then, I've had several wonderful educational opportunities and expanded my PLN outside of my district.
Maybe you're here because pinterest brought you here. Maybe you follow my teaching board and clicked on one of the pins I generated about anchor charts. If so, welcome to my blog!
Maybe you're here because you saw something I posted on facebook about wedding planning. If so, hi! We still don't have a date or venue, nor have I officially asked most of the wedding party (just the MOH and officiant), so you didn't miss any major announcements.
Maybe you're here because you saw my post on twitter or we're in the same professional learning network. If so, welcome tribe!
To my followers, thank you. I have followers here and on TpT, both are highly valued!
To my readers, thank you. I know my 50,000+ views aren't all my mom! If you are a frequent viewer, why not become a follower?
I've only taught in one district, so I'm not sure if other teachers have the joy of mandatory videos before the start of the school year. We aren't technically given time to watch the videos, it's just assumed we'll magically have free time on a prep to do them. However, like most teachers, I choose to knock them out before I head back to school.
This year, I logged in and saw that I have 11 mandatory videos and quizzes to take. ELEVEN. Some are ten minutes, some are over an hour. Most have quizzes. You can't skip through the slides, even if you're a fast reader, and must wait for the monotone voices to finish. As an added bonus, they often like to freeze in the middle and restart, testing both my patience and sanity in the process.
I understand why the videos are necessary. I understand that some teachers make beyond inappropriate choices with students. But these videos are dull and are going to take the entire day.
I have all day math trainings on August 14, 17, and 18th. I report back to my school on the 19th and get munchkins the 24th. I was a little nervous about how I would set up my classroom since I was originally told we couldn't get keys until the 14th and that overlapped with the training.
My brain went into overdrive, thinking if I could go in on Saturday, but only if the air was turned on and which days I'd stay late next week...
But then I got a glorious email from my lovely administrators. We get to get our keys on the 12th! Problem solved!
I'd rather do a little bit each day (and since the air is only on 7-1, this helps!) and ease into the beginning of the school year. I plan to set my alarm starting Monday and get adjusted to a more structured routine.
This week I did start my back to school supply shopping. Thanks to coupons and deals at Office Depot and Target, I feel I was able to stay within a reasonable budget.
In years past, I stocked up on the expensive shower caddies from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
However, they were an expensive investment and were not treated well at all. I ended up throwing all of them away at the end of the year because they were cracked from being stepped on.
Last year, I went the dollar tree route instead...and they're still in great shape, so I can reuse them!
However, by the end of the year, the materials in the bucket were very well used. No group had a complete set of the ten markers, 24 colored pencils, pencil sharpener, and scissors by the end of the year.
I'm thinking that I'll use washi-tape to color code the supplies this year. I tried doing colored star stickers and packing tape, but that wasn't very successful.
I already have the baskets and the back pack hooks color coded with washi tape and that worked fairly well last year, so I'm excited to try to build on that organization system.
I've got almost all my supplies, I know when I'm going back, I've just got to pack my stuff into my tote bags.
However, I don't know how many munchkins I'll have (I planned for 36) or a class list.
So I subtly tagged my lovely administrators as this on Facebook:
We are a subtle bunch!
Happy back to school!
