Cloud 9

Today was my first day back after break and we came back to a new principal!  I was super nervous going in this morning, but all that subsided once I met her.  Today was a great day spent talking about my favorite thing....CURRICULUM!

Its so nice to be appreciated ha!

I am so happy that my new principal enjoys talking about curriculum and man does she know her stuff.  I can already tell she is going to be a great fit for my school. I can sum her up in 3 letters...FAB!

We started the year with an interim which has made for a difficult beginning.  Leaving the classroom was never an easy decision, but I didn't expect all the ups and downs that I have experienced the past 4 months.

When we first heard we would be getting a permanent principal after Christmas break, my head began to spin with all the possibilities of who it could be.  I would have never guessed we would be getting someone with HS background!  I will admit, I was anxious about this at first, but then the hubs reminded me of my FAVORITE principal of all time, Rebecca.  She came from HS too and it was the best thing for our school.

 Don't worry, Rebecca The Huff will not be replaced! (Insert sappy song here)

How was your first day back?  (or are you a lucky one who's still on break!!!)

Whirlwind, Freebies, and Camping, Oh My!

WOW!  I am beginning to think I am never going to recover from week 1!!!!  I have not
even had the energy to blogstalk, pin things on Pinterest, or look at all the fab new things my fave sellers have at TpT and TN!!!  What.is.wrong.with.me????  Oh yea, the first week of school just kicked my butt!!  I have been coming home daily and crashing and not moving off the couch or the bed until the next morning.

I am LOVING my new job as an Instructional Facilitator.  Using the bathroom when I want, having lunch alone(no kids spitting on my food, hovering over me) and I have more time to spend with my twins.  Don't get me wrong, I am busy, but there isn't the same pressure to have everything ready for the kiddos the next day.  Check out this cute treat I made for my teachers!

I got this cute graphic from Pinterest (before starting work!)

As I have been busy getting things ready for my teachers, I have a few freebies to give you.  First, I have a Daily Five choice bookmark.  I created it for my teachers because they wanted to choose which Daily Five rotations their kids attended daily.  It also includes Meet with Teacher, which allows for you to have guided reading as a choice.

Click the pic to pick yours up!

 The second freebie is Word Wall Cards for 1st grade.  These include math, reading, science and social studies words for first grade.  If you want them click here to pick them up.

Over the holiday weekend, we went camping with our extended family and some close friends.  We tent camp and had the best time relaxing in a hammock, creek stomping, and catching up on my Kindle reading.  I will post more pics when I get the energy to get up and look for the camera cord.  Enjoy these few for now!

 My girls the morning of our camping trip.  They get the lazy idea!

Our weekend home!  It did rain, but it was ok!

I'm off to catch up on my 1,000 plus on Google Reader!  At least tomorrow is Wednesday!

Workdays are a Teacher's Best Friend

I could get used to working 3 days and having 2 in a row off!  I don't know about my other bloggy friends, but the workday on Friday and the one tomorrow have been the ONLY workdays we have had all year.  They have been a long time coming!  I have my to-do list ready to go (yes, I know only 2 items will get done out of my 100+ list) and am ready to plan up a storm for the 3rd 9 weeks.  I'm sorry that most of you have to work tomorrow :(  But rest assured my day won't be all fun.  I will be sitting in on tutor interviews in the AM with other teachers.  I am really glad that my principal gives us this opportunity, but my list of to-do items won't be getting any shorter!

Last week I went to Classroom Central which is a shop for teachers in Charlotte and Gaston County that is loaded with FREE stuff!  I'm talking pencils, notebook paper, markers, crayons, glue, all the normal fun classroom supplies we all love.  But its more than that, they also have things like brand new paperback books, bulletin board materials, and pocket calendars.  Check out my haul!

24 paperback books for free!!

3 of my 5 bags of freebies I loaded up on!

One thing on my list is adding all my new books to by classroom library.  I have them labeled and ready to go.  

I also am working on a sweet Titanic unit to go with my communities and people change over time Social Studies unit.  I.Love.The.Titanic!  I haven't done this one if about 5 years and I am so excited to bring this unit back.  Be on the look out for it in the next few weeks on TpT.  

I want to leave you with one last thing.  I made math key word posters for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  If you like them, pick up your set on my TpT store, here.

Ohhhhh and don't forget to enter my giveaway for my Soil unit!  The deadline to enter is Friday the 27th.  If you haven't entered, click here.

Whoa What a Week!

This was a short week, but man was it packed!  Monday, I sat in front of my computer to work on my National Boards staring at a blank screen, and enjoyed a delicious meal of tacos.  Tuesday, I heard the best news ever, my school is staying open!!!  After the board meeting, my principal, Rebecca, approached me and my other two teammates and looked us right in the eye and said, "Game on tomorrow!" Several months ago when we visited another school and decided to dump our reading anthology Rebecca asked us to present what we had learned to the rest of our staff.

Fast forward to now and I will tell you, its not easy to present to the home crowd!  I had already done this presentation at another school, and knew the material well, but when it came time to present to our staff, I was afraid of how it was going to be perceived by the other teachers.  We didn't want them to think we were 'showing off' or saying 'look at me!'  Well, our worrying was for nothing!  I work with some of the best teachers out there and they were so excited about the change and asked tons of questions and several grades went and downloaded the curriculum immediately to use during their workday Friday.   The conversations between all the teachers was AWESOME!  Also, Amber, over at Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher was able to come and learn more about this program and is planning on using it in her classroom!  Make sure you check her out, she is always sharing great ideas.  In the end, I know that all our students are going to benefit from having teachers who are willing to move into something new because they know its best for kids.

This all happened, and it was only Wednesday!  Are you tired yet?!??!?!

Thursday we had a field trip to the   Gaston County Museum for a program called Let's Build a County Seat.  My students were able to act out a court case and found the defendant guilty!  They also got to learn about what the civil war was like in our area.

Our group learning all about the Civil War 

I think I could've been a solider! 

One of my teaching partners, Erica, ready to shoot the enemy!  Too bad she was fighting with the Confederacy, and she's from Michigan!!!!  Love it! 

And we are now on Friday!  It was a much needed workday!  We spent the morning visiting a school in a neighboring county that is using Pearson Investigations in math as well.  And if you remember some of my earlier posts about this, my team started using Investigations in November and have had huge success with the program.

Thank goodness Monday is also a workday, because after this busy week, I NEED IT!  Now on to work on my National Boards play on Pinterest!

And the Weight Has Been Lifted

For the past 2 months my Board of Education has been contemplating closing my school.  I have worked in my current school for the past 7 years and love it and all the people I work with.  I have been an emotional wreck during this while still trying to put on a brave face for my students.  Well tonight was the night the Board was to make their decision and several parents spoke in favor of our school.  When it came to the part where the board had to vote on the closing of my school I was.A.Nervous.Wreck!  Well
 I am happy to say that our school will remain open and our students will be able to learn another year under the amazing instruction or our teachers and under the outstanding leadership of our principal!  YAY!!!!!!!!! I can FINALLY sleep again!

Oh and to brighten your day, here are some pictures from Taco Night.  We were celebrating my daddy and my favorite aunts birthdays.

Kenley wearing the birthday sombrero 

Raegan's turn with the sombrero

Kenley with my Fav Aunt, Debbie!

The rest of this week will be a piece of cake!!!!  Can't wait to show the Board their decision was right :)

1 Month Down, 9 More to Go!

I can't believe that we have already been in school for 1 month! Where has the time gone? My class this year just might be one of the best I have had in my 8 year teaching career. They seem to be bright and eager to learn as well as mostly well behaved. This year I have decided to tackle the subject of Social Studies and attempt to make it more interesting to my students. Each year we get out the textbook, read, answers questions and at the end of the unit take a test. BORING!!!! As a student I loved learning about Social Studies and now as an adult, I love to go see historical sites and learn about history. I want to make it come alive for my students and see their faces light up with excitement about what they are learning.






The first unit we started with was geography talking about continents, our country, our state, our county, and our town. We studied all about the seven continents using interactive lessons and projects instead of cracking open our book. Our third grade team planned a 7 continent tour that took one whole afternoon in our multipurpose room. The students had a passport and loaded a "plane" to visit the continents. Our principal was our flight attendant and we videoed her telling the students where we would travel next, what the temp would be there, and what time it was there. We showed a quick in-flight video of each continent as we "flew" there. Upon arrival, each student created a craft that was associated with each continent.

My students loved the unit and it was much more successful at having them remember that we live in the state of North Carolina, rather than the saying our state is USA!




Using Heiroglyphics to write our names

Our next unit is mapping! Look for more to come on this :)