I'm Back!

It's been way to long since I've been on here.  For those of you that have stuck around, thank you! To my new visitors, WELCOME!

Since I was last here I have switched schools and grade levels.  I am now teaching at the same elementary school that I attended as a student and teaching Kindergarten.  I never thought I would love teaching kindergarten as much as I do.

Friends...I have found my LOVE of teaching again! Kindergarten is the best. They are so cute and eager to learn. Not to mention the growth that they show by the end of the year.

Last year was my first year teaching Kinder at my school and it was stressful.  I had just begun my graduate classes, had to switch schools, grades and curriculum. I spent most of the year leaning on my team for support and they got me through the year with flying colors. I really can't thank them all enough!

This year, I am nearing the end of my graduate program and I can't wait to get started this school year and really help my team.

I hope to share some of my ideas as I do them all year. Many of which are tips and ideas I learned at the iTeachK conference this past month in Vegas!

Have an amazing start of the school year!

I'll be back...

Lost my MOJO

The start to the school year has been the worst one I've had in the past 7 years.  Here are just a few of the reasons why...

First, my grandmother in law passed away on Monday.  It made it hard to focus on getting ready for school to start.  The funeral was on Friday so that meant taking off on day 3.  Ugh!  It's hard enough writing sub plans when you know the kids, but when you've only had 2 (very hectic) days with them, it was next to impossible.

I found out I was getting identical twins on the first morning of school.  Nothing like a last minute add 30 minutes before school starts.

Then on Thursday my friend who had been hired to teach at my grade level with me got word that her position had been cut.  We all absorbed her kiddos so I went from 24 to 28.

As I'm typing this post, I got word that I'm now getting another student which will put me at 29.

I have just went from 5 round tables of 4 and 1 rectangle table of 5 to 7 tables of 4.  Where do I put number 29?!?

Any advice from teachers that teach large classes?  I had 24 last year and I thought that was a lot.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

You know school is starting soon when....

Oh boy!  It has begun....dreams about school!  You know school is starting soon when you start dreaming about the upcoming year.

In last nights dream it was the first day of school and EVERYTHING was different!  The school, the location, the rules.  I went into the office to check my mail and there were people in there that had to do it for us.  We weren't allowed to make copies, walk into the office, check our mail, nothing!  Now, I'm all for some help but it was seriously insane.  And, we hadn't had our retreat (I plan our staff retreat every year) yet and school was already starting.  Not to mention our school was in a brand new location and you had to cross streets to get from one building to another.

Have any of you had strange "back to school" dreams yet? Or am I the only crazy one?!?!

Three Weeks Down

So here I am, three weeks into school and things are finally falling into place.  Pre/Post state testing is complete, intervention groups are in place, the schedule is finally starting to make sense and the kids are settled into the groove that is school. 

I have a student teacher which is SO GREAT!  Just having another set of eyes, ears and hands is so helpful and I had such an amazing student teaching experience that I love being able to "pay it forward." 

Now that we have settled in, I'm hoping to have more time to blog...I have missed so much that to try and catch up would be ridiculous. 

I hope you all had a great start to school and if you haven't started yet, I hope it all goes smoothly!