The letters must go out and school products that I LOVE!!

   I had to go to school yesterday to print and send out my welcome letters to my new first graders. I hope they are getting excited about school. 

    I send home a parent survey so that when the students come to me I have some information about their child. Do you ask parents to provide any information about their child at the beginning of the year? 

   Here is a little peak into one thing I got started in my room after I mailed my letters. This is a sad curtain that I made out of a sheet. I need to either get a steamer or take them down to iron them. The picture doesn't show the right side that I still need to finish. I have decided that my bulletin boards will be black background and these large shelves will have grey curtains. 

   I read another blog recently where they shared their favorite back to school supplies (for teachers) so I decided to share mine. 

Last year I was introduced to Flair pens! I had a variety pack of colors, but there was only one purple in it. So I went on Amazon and found a box with just purple!! LOVE!! 

Another thing I was introduced to last year (thanks Cassie) was Planbook online.  I love having my lesson plan book online. You can easily add standards to a specific lesson or move a lesson from one day to the next. I use to use google docs to do my lesson planning, but I will be using Planbook.com again this year as I love it. Oh and did I mention it's only $12 a year. 

I will never be without my own laminator again. A few years ago I bought this laminator at Walmart for $19.96 (it's even less expensive now). I use it a lot and it is worth every penny. You can get the laminating pouches at Sams Club or Amazon (which is where I have found the best prices). 

This year I decided to order twistable crayons for all of my students as I realized that regular crayons have so much waste. Basically, the kids use them until the tip is dull and then they don't want to use them. Hoping these new crayons, although more expensive, will end up being worth it. 

   These are a few of the things that I can't start the school year without. Feel free to comment about the things that you can't be without. I love hearing what other products people like to use. 

~Erica

A work in progress

So yesterday I worked in my room for a few hours and realized it is certainly a work in progress. I have a lot to do! In 11 years of teaching, I have switched rooms 8 times so I am used to having to redo my room. I know teaching is not about the room, but I can’t focus on instruction until my room is organized and inviting. Today I also put my son to work taking the plastic off new clipboards and whiteboards. Not his favorite task, but he did it. Below are some pictures of my room (before and after of my few hours of work).

Before

After

 

 Before

  

                 After

Not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but this year I am going to have three tables with different types of seating. I am hoping to allow for student choice with this, but not sure yet if first graders will be able to appropriate select their seats. Time will tell. One table will have regular chairs, on will have stools (some regular stools and some woobly stools), and then a table lowered so students can sit on cushions.  I am hoping this will help to keep kids engaged and stay focused.

I will post more pictures of my classroom once it looks a little less like a bunch of piles of stuff. 

For now, I will leave you with this Kid President video. Now please remember he is a kid so some of the things are rather silly, but number 4 and 1 are my favorites. 

One more thing! Here is the link to my Amazon wishlist for my classroom.  https://amzn.com/w/3HUMBSO67XGSY

Just in case anyone wants to help out my classroom. 

~Erica

I think I have been in denial.

So yesterday I went to my classroom and realized I have a TON of work to do before it will be ready for students. Now I know I still have time, but I have a feeling I will need to be there at least once a week if not more in order to be ready and that's just the time needed to organize the space the way that I want it. I still have some things to buy as well (like black sheets for the bulletin boards). I will post pictures once my room is a little more presentable, right now there are lots of piles. 

I have been in denial about having to switch grades again. It's a bummer when I look at all the TPT stuff I bought last year for second grade and now I get to buy more stuff this year for first grade. I am sure I will love my first grade students, but I don't really love the idea of learning a whole different grade level again. Oh well I guess the magic student fairy didn't bring more second graders to our school so first grade here I come. Now to go TPT shopping for first grade stuff. 

~Erica

Another year ends and a new one approaches (okay so I still have almost two months of summer).

So this school year came to a weird end. The last couple weeks of school we had a bad stomach virus go through our school and there was one day we had only about 1/3 of the students and even less of the teachers (I was one of those absent that day). Then four days before school ended we had an issue with the water pump and the students ended up having no school one day. The teachers had to be there which was amusing as all I could thinking about when driving in that day was how I had to drive somewhere to get to the bathroom. The good news was that after only about 2 hours the water was back to working (temporarily as the fix needed to be completed during the summer). 

The last day of school my students had "fancy" day and we all dressed up some and ate in our classroom with table clothes and flowers on the tables. It was fun and I think the kids really liked it. Perhaps fancy day on the last day of school will have to be a transition. I also realized that I need to find a new meaningful book to read on the last day. For years I have read, "Oh the places you'll go", but I realized it's not something the kids really understand as there are too many weird words and big ideas that they just aren't ready for. So now I am on the hunt for a book that tell my kids how awesome I think they are and that I will miss them. Let me know if you know of one. 

Next year I will be teaching a new grade (yes again) one that I have never taught before. I will be teaching first grade. Although I would have loved to stay in second the numbers just weren't there for me to stay so to first grade I will go. I am also moving classrooms (YES AGAIN, LOL) and today my summer friend Claire (my friend's daughter who I am hanging out with this summer) and I went to my new classroom and starting making it look nice. I still have a lot to do, but I got the basic layout figure out today. I have plans for some different types of seating next year in hope of allowing kids so freedom to pick a seat that will work for them. 

This year I have battled feeling like I wasn't a great teacher as things were super overwhelming and to be honest I wondered if I just wasn't meant to be a teacher. What I have realized is that when I stop stressing about all the mandates, assessments, paperwork, etc I am a pretty good teacher. My goal is to focus on my strengths and the wonderful students that I get to work with and enjoy myself. Maybe someday I will become a princess, but for now I think I will enjoy being a teacher.  ~Erica

Oh what a year it has been. It's all about perspective.

Well I can honestly say this was probably the second most challenging year in my career as a teacher. What got me through? Without a doubt it was my amazing students. What made this year so challenging? This was my first year in a classroom in this new district and let me tell you the requirements for students and teachers are significantly greater than what I was used to. Don't get me wrong I like high standards for both students and teachers, but what I learned this year is that sometimes the goals we set are very difficult to reach. It's like that one big bright red apple at the top of the apple tree. Let's face it there is only a certain amount of time in the day. So I spent the first 3/4 of the year feeling like a failure as I just couldn't fit in everything during the day that I needed to and the amount of time I needed outside of the classroom was about triple what I had needed for the last 10 years. I don't mind doing some work outside of school (we all know right or wrong that it's part of the job), but I really like my time with my family and I need time to relax. My personality is such that I want to be perfect (or as close as possible). So this idea that I was working very hard and still feeling like I stink was not good for making me feel awesome. I was faced with the fact that maybe I couldn't really do this thing I loved so much. Maybe I wasn't able to keep up with the changes and requirements. Let me just tell you that when you have changed careers and gone back to school to be a teacher and you are faced with the fact that maybe you aren't good enough, well let's just say it was/is heartbreaking. I had wanted to be a teacher since I was five!

Then one day I stepped back looked at my students and my teaching history and realized that what I was doing WAS enough and had been for 10 years. My students had always made progress and were as well behaved as they needed to be. So maybe I can't do every little thing that people outside of the classroom want me to do, but in the end I know I am doing right by my students. 

So with this new perspective I am at peace with who I am as a teacher. I might not be perfect, but I am doing my best for my students. 

  Writing Haiku poems on a beautiful day. 

~Erica