10 Things I Want my Students to Know

I am so excited to join Karli for her 10 Things on Tuesday Link-up!

I decided I'd focus on 10 things I really want my students to know.

1. I am for you, NOT against you. I will always advocate for your best as your teacher. As my student, rest assured that I've got your future in mind and I will always strive to ensure that I'm guiding you in the right direction. 

2. I don't live at school. I know you know I have a family, but I'm always tickled when you assume I bunk up in the classroom. I do agree that it seems like I'm always at school. Haha.

3. When in doubt, or not, choose chocolate. I appreciate every gift you give, but I'm running out of room for holiday themed mugs.

4. My boundaries don't mean I'm mean. They mean I care. I care enough about you to help build character and reinforce your moral fiber while I have you in my class. Afterall, you are the future. 

5. Teachers are not rich. I'm grateful for my job and I work hard. I may get an end of the month paycheck but it only goes so far. Try and remember that the next time you insist on wanting an iPad in the prize box.

6. I didn’t just choose teaching. The Lord called me to this profession. I will strive to honor Him in all I do.

7. Teachers get sick too. When I'm absent, it's for a good reason. I know you believe I should share all aspects of my life, but I promise it's not necessary. 

8. I love to laugh and have fun. The powers that be are quickly killing everyone's love of learning by implementing unrealistic standards and ignorant expectations on both students and teachers alike. I promise you this: if you work hard we will play hard. I do my best to keep learning fun so hang in there.

9. I am a safe place. You can always come to me and I hope you will.

10. I don't want perfection. I simply want you to try your best.

Mourning My Maternity Leave

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Monday...back to being my least favorite day of the week. This Monday in particular is very difficult. After a wonderful 8 weeks of maternity leave, I will be heading back to work. I'm so envious of places that offer longer and/or paid maternity leave. If I could have afforded to take the remaining four weeks I most certainly would have. But such is life.

Checking emails is already a bit overwhelming. Meetings, deadlines, and concerns regarding next year's budget (already!) make up most of my emails. I love coming back to discussions of whether or not more teachers will lose their positions for next year (insert eye roll). Because of my maternity leave, I'll be 20 days shy of being able to earn tenure this year, which only adds to the stress whenever budgets are involved. I'm walking into a classroom of students I have met once, not to mention have very little working knowledge of their academics. I have a whole new set of parents to get to know and I can only imagine how many times I'll hear, "That's not how Mrs. ________ did it."

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Honestly, I want to cry. Packing my babies' bags for the sitter was agonizing. I know to some this all sounds melodramatic but seriously, my heart aches at the thought of going back to missing so much of their little lives each day. I was fine when I was in the daily grind and I was kind of numb to that reality. It's all very fresh right now. Add to that hormones and limited sleep,  I can be classified as a hot mess.

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Now...the flip side of this is that I serve an awesome, gracious God. I wanted N to be at least 3 months before I had to return to work and he turned 3 months this past week. I do love my job. I feel I am a good teacher and I have a passion for what I do. I just have to learn to give myself a little grace. Fortunately I'll be coming back to a very loving and supportive group of friends and coworkers. I don't have the luxery of working outside the home as an option and since that is the case I consider myself quite blessed to have a job I love, with people I treasure at a school that I embrace as my second home.

While this week, and many days to come, will prove difficult,  I am so grateful for both the time I've had with my babies, God's provision and a job that I know I am called to. It's easy to worry and stress but that does nothing for anyone. Besides...now I can start the countdown to Christmas Break ;)

Linking up for Mommy Moments

Oh Hey Friday!

::tears:: My summer is over. ::more tears::

I've had some wonderful memories with my itty bitty and I'm slightly grieving all of the time I'm away from her during the day. I hate the thought of how much I'm missing...so I try not to think about it.

I love my job. While being a mom is the most important job I'll ever have, I also know that I've been called to teach. I feel so blessed to be able to do so many things that I love.

For this week's Oh Hey Friday! I thought I'd share a few reasons why I love what I do (this is actually reinforcement for me as I get back into the swing of things but hopefully you'll enjoy them as well.)

OHF 1
Ever since I was a little kid I loved buying new school supplies. There is just something so nostalgic about a brand new box of crayons. I've made a couple of trips to the store, and while I'm trying to really limit the amount of money I spend on teacher/student supplies this year, I can't help but add some things to my classroom supply arsenal.

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OHF 2

I love new ideas and great resources. I adore TeachersPayTeachers.com and the amount of free resources that can be found there. This week the site was running a sale and I purchased two great products. I have some foot work to do but once I get this "All Done!" center completed I'll be golden. I bought the remaining supplies I'll need and I am slowly getting it put together while putting my own spin on it. A huge shout out goes to Miss Kindergarten for making such a wonderful resource! (Hopefully I finish this sooner rather than later and will be able to show pics of my completed project.)

OHF 3

Not only did I enjoy buying new school supplies as a kid, but I loved going school clothes shopping. We were given a modest amount to spend and it was ours to do with as we saw fit (with parental guidance of course...they refused to let me spend $100 on one pair of shoes.) It's been a long time since I treated myself to some new clothes. I figured now would be a good time since I've not only lost weight but I've been cleaning out the closets as well.

You can see some of the items I purchased here. I'd still like to add a "teacher" shirt to my wardrobe...here are a couple of ideas that I'm considering.

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OHF 4

Another project I look forward to at the beginning of the school year is coming up with a simple little goody for the kids at Open House. This year I ran across this cute (and inexpensive) idea and ran with it. I made up my own label and stapled them to the gummy packages.

OHF 5

Finally, I adore my school and I adore my kids. I take my teaching very personally and I hold myself to high standards. I not only teach academics but I teach social skills, self confidence, self-worth, compassion, mercy, etc. Academics are very important but I take a personal interest in also cultivating good citizens out of these tiny people. They are our future. These first grade little minds that I help mold each day have the amazing potential to make wonderful, beautiful change in this world. After all, I see some of these kids more in one day than their own parents. Every moment I have with them is important and precious and every year I go into the new school year with this in mind: Each one of these students were placed in my room for a divine purpose. I am the teacher that has been chosen to impact their world and what I do with our time together means something.

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Linking up with September FARM and The Farmer's Wife for OHF.







Mid-Summer Reality Check

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It's true. I spend many days of my "summer vacation" planning for the upcoming school year. While some of this does include adding to my Teaching board on Pinterest, it also includes many other school related activities. For instance, I work on various classroom projects, organization, school open house materials, etc. This year I decided to tackle a project that I've been contemplating for the last couple of school years...a personalized planner. I've purchased several different types of planners over the years and none of them have had exactly what I want. This year, I decided to invest a little time into making one of my own. I was inspired by several types of planners on TeachersPayTeachers but didn't really want to put out additional money for them, especially since I would have to pay for the paper and ink. I thought surely I could come up with my own, design a layout that works specifically for my needs, and then have the ability to revise it as needed.

 

Thanks to free clip art from MyCuteGraphics, I was able to get a design I liked, and aside from what I have invested in time, paper and ink, I have a wonderful, inexpensive planner that I am super pleased with.

 

 

 

My planner includes a place for lesson plans, monthly calendars, parent contacts, and grading. I've already begun putting together some lesson plans.

 

 

 

 

It's crazy to think that the summer is half way over. I really thought I would have accomplished more by this point. We have countless home projects that need to be tended to. Maybe July will be more productive in that area. Despite not having accomplished many things on my "to-do" list, I am glad to say that I've made many memories with my daughter. She is growing up so fast and the school year will begin again very soon, and truth be told, a teacher's work is never really done...

 

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