So...what have you been up to?

So...what have you been up to?

Full disclosure: I hate this question, especially during the summer time.

If I share that I've been working on classroom stuff, especially with other teachers, I'm sometimes met with attitude.  Yes, I know it's summer but my brain and teaching ideas don't just turn off.  I'd rather do a little bit of work to make the transition back less painful.   (Read more about my decision to cut my summer short {here}).

If I share that I've watched a lot of Netflix, I'm met with a similar attitude from non-teacher friends.  Plus I feel like a lazy bum if I wasn't amazingly productive.  I'm not cut out for the stay at home mom thing.

I just can't win sometimes.

So, here's the recap:

Crafting
 
I've enjoyed crafting time.  I made a wreath for my mom, for a good friend, and for hopefully my future SIL Leah.  

(L's wreath)

  

(Mrs. K's wreath on her front door)

(Mom's wreath)

I'm working on a banner for my classroom and a photo booth frame (inspiration from another teacher on Instagram).  

(Pre-cut banners were a find at Target! Hooray for less work.)

I've got three more wreaths in the works. 


Reading

I knocked out Teach Like a Pirate, Your School Rocks...So Tell People, and The Essential 55 this summer.  Professional reading keeps my mind sharp and the ideas flowing. 

I also read The Dark Prophecy and created TpT products. 

I also read several magazines and some just for fun books on the airplane ride(s). 

I enjoyed:

I'll be writing a more in-depth book review with my "a ha" moments in a few days, so stay tuned!

I'm also working on:

We'll start with the classroom first because that's a less daunting task.  Plus it coincides with my {clean desk} goals!


House Improvement Projects

I deep cleaned and reorganized the pantry:

(Yes, we have a doomsday-prepper sized pantry and I love it.)

I cleaned out closets.

I finished staining our cabinets so they could be installed.  

(More on that adventure {here})

I continued to tackle organizing the garage.  With classroom supplies in there, it's difficult!

I made sure the guest bedroom is ready for when friends from Florida come to visit in September and October.


Teachers Pay Teachers

I am no where close to my end of the summer goal of 250 products, but I did make a {year of journal prompts} and various activities for {The Dark Prophecy}.

I also started a journal of my future projects:

(I'll try to create one new thing a month.  That seems reasonable.) 


Prepping for Next Year

I picked out bulletin board ideas and started the banner.  I snagged supplies for 70% off (thank you Joann's).  

I'm reusing blue fabric for one bulletin board, undecided on a second, and snagged a tan sheet for the third at Goodwill for $2.99. I'd call that a win!

I bought pillows for my classroom library (thank you sales at Joann's and Target).

I revised the grade level long range plans to fit my teaching ideas:

I brainstormed future lesson ideas...by looking at Pinterest.

I also felt very strongly about Target rolling out back to school items right after the fourth of July. 

There was still over a month left of summer at that point.  Calm down guys.

However, {this video} does a pretty good job of summarizing how teachers feel about school supplies being out too early.


Helping Others

I helped K with her upcoming Labor Day Weekend wedding by finding table center pieces and loaning her various items (head piece, card box, etc).  I loved it, she's an awesome friend, and it could be her something borrowed.

I am helping host a baby shower at the end of September and we've had a few planning sessions on the logistics of the event.

I had lunch with another friend several times to help her plan her son's Sweet 16.  I went shopping for materials with her and loaned her photo booth props.  While I didn't attend, from the looks of it, he had a wonderful time and that's what matters.

I went into work to help with open library on a few Wednesdays and reorganized the Sunshine Club's cabinet.

I continued to clean out the garage and donated boxes to a friend who is moving.

I brainstormed paper topics for friends who are finishing up teaching degrees and loaned out books (so the published authors were the experts). 

I helped my mom with the start up logistics of her Etsy shop (coming soon!)


The Rest 

We went bowling. I'm still awful.  Wait no, I'm a teacher and this is a growth mindset situation.  

With practice, patience, gentle guidance (and beer), I transform from awful to mediocre over the course of several games.  I ended up with a 105 (without bumpers).  Hubby is still undecided if he wants to do a bowling league with me.

We celebrated a friend's 30th birthday.


I had brunch and lunch with gal pals several times.


I went to Gilley's for line dancing and birthday celebrations.

I enjoyed bonding with the couch and Netflix.


I had lots of pet snuggling time.


I had the oil changed in both vehicles and B's truck got new tires.  He put new windshield wipers on my car (because that's love) and I look forward to the annual smog check and registration in a few days (not).


I spent a week with family in Arizona.


I hosted B's graduation party.

All the pets went to the vet.  Some were more behaved than others.


We spoiled our niece and nephews on their birthdays.


I did a lot of blogging,

Sometimes with help.

I had lunch dates and mani/pedis with friends.


Oh, and we enjoyed an amazing two and a half week honeymoon.  We visited Arizona for family time, saw friends in Florida, went to the beach, played mini golf, saw alligators, went to Universal Studios, and then jetted off to St. Maarten for a week.


I've got a few more days until I officially have to be back to work, but I'm ready to ease back into it.

Thanks summer 2017, it's been lovely!

Nine for Nine

As I'm savoring the last few weeks of summer break, I'm looking ahead to year nine.  Yikes, nine?  Sigh!

Last year I had the most amazing year with thirty six fifth graders.  We had some bumps in the road, but overall, I had amazingly supportive families and loved co-teaching with Ms. S for PBL (project based learning).  We tried curriculum units with moderate success (the timing, planning, and copying was more intense than we anticipated).  I had a lot of fun with my students, they learned a lot, and I'm proud of the work we did.

I've enjoyed my summer.  I tackled some craft projects, crafted, napped, vacationed, saw friends, and read books.  

But now it's time to look ahead to the 2017-2018 school year.  I've got my bulletin board ideas mapped out (thank you Pinterest) and will ease into the school year by headed back early.  (More information about my super short summer and decision to return early is found {here}.
In honor of year nine, I've decided on the following goals:

1) Have a clean desk on a more consistent basis.  Read more about my struggle {here}.

2) Continue with my {teacher instagram} account.  

I had great success with class dojo last year, but I want to step out a little more and use social media to create more of a classroom environment.

The idea was inspired by Your School Rocks, So Tell People! and approved by my administration.  It wasn't approved so much as I texted my principal that I was going to do it and wanted to make sure they were in the loop. In my opinion, it's always better to ask for forgiveness than permission.  

I then recommended the book to her and let her borrow it, so she's able to see the rationale behind it.  To be fair, I've got an amazing principal who encourages us to take risks and try new things.  She doesn't micromanage (which is good, I need freedom and creative opportunities to be successful).  As long as she is told the "why" or purpose behind the action, she tends to be on board.

So my purpose for a teacher Instagram account? To share the awesome things my students are doing with the outside world.  I'll continue to use class dojo for close up face pictures of my students, but post the artistic (non FERPA violating) pictures on my teacher account.  That way aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc can still see all the things my kiddos are up to.  

I will also use this as a forum to post inspirational messages.  I have friends that battle with depression, so seeing supportive messages may help.

Read my thoughts on the book {here}.

3.  Provide more prompt feedback with writing tasks...maybe.

I'm not supposed to say it...but I hate grading writing.  I'd rather do literally anything else.  In fact this is how I feel about grading writing:

Hopefully it'll be better in third.  There won't be as many essays to grade.  They won't be as long. I can give smaller, more frequent assignments and focus more on the mechanics of writing instruction.

With smaller assignments, I can (theoretically) grade them faster and provide faster feedback.  Fingers crossed!

On a side note, I totally bribe myself with Panera when I'm grading writing.

I am not ashamed.

4. I want to take a more active role with community involvement this year.  I went to most of the social events last year, but only the girls' soccer games.  I'd like to be more prevalent at school events.  This will go hand in hand with our school's new house system, based on the Ron Clark Academy.  

As a member of the Reveur house, I'll be bonding with not only  my own students, but kiddos across the school. 

(More on the RCA {here}.  Fair warning, it's a long post and Ron Clark information is at the end.)

5. Provide my students with more computer time.  One of the benefits of being in the pod is that computers are right outside our door.  Third grade will also be the first time my students take standardized testing on the computers, so I want to give them ample opportunities to be familiar with computers.

6. This one is a little tricky for me.  I want to collaborate with my grade level, but not do all the work.  This balance is something I've struggled with my whole teaching career.  I want things done right for the benefit of my students, but I don't want to do everyone's work.  This commitment to excellence means sometimes I pull more than my fair share of the weight. I want to learn the new curriculum, continue to build my {TpT store}, collaborate with new team members but not be taken advantage of.  

7. Along with goal six is setting limits.  Last year, I sold all of my preps to be a Read by 3 strategist. I loved getting into classrooms and mentoring new teachers.  It also meant I needed to juggle a lot and be flexible with when other teachers wanted to meet and discuss classroom events.  While my contract time is 8:26-3:36, I unofficially made my work hours 7:10-4:45.  Living close to school means I was home by five and left work at work (most of the time).  I'd like to keep to that schedule this year, even though I'm still in limbo if we will have Read by 3 again.  We're waiting on funding from the state to determine if I'll be a teacher/strategist again this year.

8. Continue to build up my PLN (professional learning network) with twitter chats (specifically #TLAP on Mondays), blogging, Instagram, book chats, and the DEN on facebook.  My husband loves me, but he really doesn't want to sit around discussing teacher philosophies and classroom ideas.  (To be fair, I don't want to engage in an in-depth analysis of his fantasy baseball stats or how his latest round of video games went.  We stick to the highlights.)  I've got a stack of books to read, 4 of them being related to teaching (and one being for our honeymoon plane ride):

I'm excited to implement Ron Clark Academy principles in the classroom.  I'm excited to learn more about Google Classroom.  I'm excited to try to create video updates (another idea from Your School Rocks) instead of (boring) paper newsletters.



9. Be open to change.


What are you looking forward to this year?

Cutting my summer short...

July marks the half-way point for summer break.  Due to {calendar changes}, we've got a 9 week summer.  That's a bummer.

Granted, I've spent a week with family in Arizona and am looking forward to a two week honeymoon. I've completed one book and am half way through two others.  I've had craft time, seen friends, enjoyed movie marathons, and napped without guilt.  I've went into school to help with open library and cleaning tasks.

I've had a good summer break so far and will continue to enjoy my well deserved time off.

  
(For all the squawking about summer break, I worked an average of three unpaid hours a day during the school year.  I'm also paid for nine months of work that's dispersed over a full year.  The government keeps 25% of my paycheck each month, then gives it to me months after it's been earned.  I also don't earn vacation time. I get one universal flex day and between 1 and 4 personal days depending on how much sick time I use the year before.  Next year, because I took 3 sick days, I get 2 personal days.  That's three days off for the entire school year before it impacts next year's personal days.  I'm also doing work over summer break, so it's not unstructured time-off. I'm dismounting from my soap box now.)

Students start the 2017-2018 school year on Monday, August 14th.  Teachers are required to report back on the 9th.  I however, am choosing to cut my summer short and return the 3rd.  Here's why:

1) I've got a brand new classroom to set up.  The teacher who left my new room wasn't moving out in a timely manner.  I have bookcases to move, boxes to unpack, a library to reorganize, and bulletin boards to hang.  This all takes time and the one day we're guaranteed in our classrooms to work simply won't cut it.

2) I've got a new curriculum to learn.  Moving from fifth to third hopefully won't be the drastic change I'm envisioning, but it's still a change.

3)  I don't do well with stress.  I've got a friend getting married early September and she wants help assembling wedding favors on Saturday, August 12th.  She was one of my bridesmaids.  How awful would I feel if I blew off returning the favor and helping her with her wedding because I procrastinated setting up my classroom?   I'd rather leave the weekend before school starts open for fun things, not being in my classroom.

4) I live ten minutes from where I work.  The air conditioning is only on from 7:30 until 12:00 each day.  I can use that week to transition back into the routine of school (and being dressed by 7 am each day).   I can go in, work for a few hours, blast music, slowly tackle items on my to-do list, not wait in line for the copier, and still have a bulk of my day left.  Chances are I'll do lunch with co-workers, making the day more exciting.  Spending a week slowly transitioning back to teaching sounds a lot better than a drastic and abrupt end to summer break.

Weeks 2 and 3

With my staycation in Arizona winding down, I'm not really sorry about not accomplishing all my summer goals in a timely manner.

B was supposed to be on a work trip to Texas when I planned this staycation (and birthday celebration for my bro's gf).  However, that got cancelled but he insisted I still take my mini-trip (but without the pets).

So for the past week(ish), I've been shopping, napping, eating out, watching movies, and lounging about with my family.   It's been lovely.  We're spending my last full day here doing brunch at home to celebrate a birthday, then my mom and I will visit Marshall's and Joann's.  

Next month, the hubs and I will be going on our island honeymoon and after a discussion he now realizes he does in fact need flip flops/sandals for the beach.  Thus, the Marshall's trip.  

My mom is also looking forward to launching her quilting Etsy shop later this year (stay tuned), so we've got some props to buy (for staging the quilt) and banner colors to look at (for the photography set).  She's visited the postal store to look at her shipping options.

I've also {crafted} and continued to work on Teach Like a Pirate, although it's not a book I can just breeze through because I stop and jot down ideas about what I want to do next year in my classroom.  (Again, the whole sparking ideas thing might just be the point of the book.)

I'll be driving back super early tomorrow morning to beat the heat.

The rest of the week is devoted to:

1) Picking up my mom's wedding album from Costco

2) Finalizing honeymoon details

3) Cleaning and painting our built ins

4) Two different planning meetings with friends.  One is for her son's sixteenth birthday, the other is for a baby shower in Sept. I'm easily bribed with food.

5) A coworker's birthday BBQ

6) Finishing Teach Like a Pirate

7) Oil changes on both vehicles, plus a brake change for the truck

8) Cleaning out the Sunshine closet at work

9) Manning the library for 2 hours.  Our principal has opened up the library for students to come visit on summer break. I sent out the message on class dojo because I'm hopeful some of my students will come with their younger siblings (my future students)

10) Perhaps getting around  to fixing the format of this blog.  Sadly, adventures in fifth is no longer relevant.

11) Following ITSE posts from a distance.  Maybe one year I'll apply...

12) Posting the morning messages PPT on TpT

13) Continue to work on The Dark Prophecy

I'm exhausted just looking at this list.  

Product delay

Last week I stated that my newest TpT product would be available today.  It's 185 days worth of morning journal entries.  It has been peer edited by a colleague and is ready for its final edits.

However, it's also June and I'm on vacation...

It's a staycation with my momma.  There's shopping, napping, movies, and lots of girl time on the horizon for the next 72 hours.  All that fun doesn't leave time for editing (and my laptop is at home.  Drat!)

New product will be available on Monday afternoon-ish.  Thanks for understanding!

Week 1

I'm officially a week into 

And man oh man, have I been productive (at least in my mind).

In the past week, I've:

1) Attended a {training} with mixed feedback and feelings.  Mrs. O, a kinder teacher at my school loves WBT and offered to let me come observe some lessons. I told her I'd be taking her up on her offer because I don't want to completely write off the entire philosophy based on a less than ideal training.  Plus if she's passionate about it, I want to see that passion and joy in action.

2) Took this one to the vet:

She's pretty much perfect.

3) Read this book:

4) Reflected on {previously mentioned book} and created a teacher Instagram account to build a sense of community.

5) Renewed my teaching license, got finger printed for a background check (again), and got a new badge with my married last name:

6) Attended a beautiful baby shower for a friend.

7) Caught up (ish) on blogging.  With help.  Always with help.

8) Finished a {TpT product} for a dissatisfied customer.  Hopefully the modifications I made will make him happy.  I also uploaded the product into my Lightning Thief {bundle} for free.

9) I continued to work on a morning message board, which I {previously shared}.  My goal is to finish a CCSD version (because that's what I'll use) and a generic version by Monday.  One of my teacher friends has agreed to peer edit and return it to me by next Thursday, so that should be up shortly.  

Sneak peek:

10) Helped a friend celebrate her birthday (by having beer and pretzels). 

Looking ahead to week 2:

1) Lunch date with Mrs. K and Ms. H (as a reward for being done with the previously mentioned product)

2) Teeth cleaning (thanks mama)

3) Celebrating L's birthday with family

4) Seeing family

5) Making significant progress in The Dark Prophecy (if not done completely)

 
6) Finish cleaning out pictures from my phone (to make space for honeymoon pictures)

7) Make vet appointments for the kitties  

8) Finally see Wonder Woman

But first, a nap!
 

One and Done!

As {previously mentioned}, I've got some professional reading to tackle this summer.

This afternoon, I sat down with  Your School Rocks...So Tell People! with the intention of tackling a few chapters.

 

 Two hours later, in one sitting, I was done.  

It was a good, quick read that reaffirmed a lot of what I am already trying in the classroom.

My take-aways?

1) Continue to use class dojo to communicate with families about all the awesomeness that's happening in the classroom.

2) They aren't reading the paper newsletter.  Find a different (digital) way to communicate.  I like the idea of weekly podcasts.  I like the idea of them being limited to 2-3 minutes even more.  I'm hoping to figure out how to link them to Instagram instead of posting to Youtube.

3) Respect FERPA. Get permission before posting face pictures and don't use last names.  When in doubt, take artsy, behind the head shots.  It's hard to identify backs of heads & hands.
 
4) Create a classroom/teacher Instagram account.  I've got a personal one that I use and I'm already snapping pictures of class events for dojo, so why not?  In addition to this book being in favor of using social media, dozens of other respected educational articles back up this idea.

I didn't check with administration first, but created one that's totally separate from my personal account.  I shared a message on class dojo with last year's class and explained that families are welcome to follow me, but I won't follow back (thus ensuring their privacy).

One of the big "a ha" moments while reading was how often teens are on social media, so why not use that as a positive force.  One chapter focused on teachers/schools that were sending daily positive affirmations to help students start their days off right.  I have a teacher friend in Texas who has been doing this for years within the Discovery Educator Network (DEN) with massive success.  Why couldn't the same ideas be applied to the classroom?

I'm eager to see how this evolves, but I've got my branding hashtags ready (classroom specific, school specific, and the 50s pod specific). 

I stumbled upon this:

Which I plan to use.  I want the account to feel like a classroom account, so I will be sending students out with the iPads to take pictures.  I'll have them send to me and then I'll post from there. I also like the idea of them writing the captions and mini-blog posts.  Students tend to put forth a lot more effort when they have an authentic audience (meaning not just me the teacher). 

I've got two followers so far, one parent from last year and one teacher friend's professional account.  She used twitter last year and was my inspiration for the project (and who recommended the book to me), so it's nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of in the realm of technology.  Thanks Mrs. K!

Summer Goals

 

Summer 2017 Plans:

Professional Growth and Responsibilities

1. Attend a 3 day Whole Brain Teaching conference (6/12-6/14)

This, unfortunately, became a one day adventure.  Read more {here}.

2.  Renew my teaching license (done 6/14, along with a name change with the state DOE and HR for CCSD)

3. Set up my new classroom early.  We report back the 9th, but I'm picking up my keys on August 3rd.  With a new classroom and a new grade level, I'm treating myself like a new teacher next year. 

4. Clean out the Sunshine (social club) closet.  We're going to use left over funds to purchase some table cloths for future events (so we don't have to keep buying disposable plastic ones).  We also have the goal of buying a Keriug and setting up a cafe table in the teacher's lounge.  We'd have creamer in the fridge and charge a dollar a K-cup.  I'd like to do a teacher survey first to make sure there's an interest in it before we spend a few hundred dollars on a whim.

5. Finish Your School Rocks So Tell People (completed 6/13/17), Teach Like a Pirate, and Ron Clark's Essential 55

Home Improvements

1. Finally stain the cabinets for the master bathroom.  We ripped out the medicine cabinets and had a carpenter build custom shelving to fit inside the wall holes.  I just need to stain them to match the rest of the cabinets:

When we're done, it will look like this (above).  I've already stained the rest of the bathroom cabinets (below).

They've been sitting in the garage for months waiting for me to find the time to stain them.  My goal is by the time we leave for our honeymoon in July. 

2. Clean out our master closet and donate unused items to charity.

3. Create a new wreath for the front door.  A friend posted this on instagram:

 PC: Andi Hunt (Instagram)

It'd be fairly easy (and cheap) to recreate.  Plus our front doors are similar colors, so I already know it will be match.

4. Touch up paint in our master bedroom and hallway.  After living here for three years, there are some scuff marks.

Friends & Family  

1. Host B's graduation party (check! 6/10/17)

2. Take all 3 pets to the vet for their yearly check ups (Waffles is scheduled for this week, cats are early July)

3. Help plan a baby shower for his second cousin.  She's due early October, so we're thinking Labor Day weekend.  They're fairly certain it's a girl and I'm pretty positive I've only planned baby boy showers (three of them?).

4. Help Katie make her wedding favors. She's getting married the Sunday of Labor Day weekend and I'm her day of wedding coordinator.  

5. Finish my mom's wedding book (it's almost done I promise!) and order our wedding pictures to put into the album.

Side Job Goals

1. Finish the Dark Prophecy and create the matching TpT guides

2.  Finish the partially completed projects for TpT.  I'm currently at 216 products.  I'd like to be at 250 at the end of the summer. 

I also plan to nap, a lot.