I'm Back!

Hi everyone! I'm back and very sorry for my long hiatus. Soon after getting this blog up and running I was ecstatic to find out that hubby and I are expecting our first little addition to the family in November! Accompanying that however, was a great deal of morning sickness followed by summer vacation and so I put the blog on pause and decided to live up my last baby-free summer. Here I am at 30.3 weeks:

 

And now, it's back to school time! I did manage to get a *few* school-related things done this summer and the one I am most excited about is my DIY "Share Chair". I found an old dining room chair for $5 and transformed it into a very special classroom chair that I'll use for show & share and student presentations. It's already a hit! Amazing how a little paint can encourage students to speak in front of their peers :)

Heading back to school also seems go hand in hand with sending oodles and oodles of notes and forms home with students (unfortunately). I do my best not to overwhelm families with notes but there are a few that are beneficial to send home. One of which is what I call a "Welcome Letter" and I've revamped mine this year to be a little more fun and personal. I also send home a "Getting Acquainted" form for parents to fill out which helps me get to know their child.

   

One of the activities that we did on the first day was an "All About Me in 3rd Grade" bunting banner. It's super cute, helps me get to know my students and contributes to classroom decor! Check out my TPT store for this freebie (for grades 1-6)!

One goal that I have set for myself this year is to improve on the frequency of POSITIVE communication with parents. Receiving a little note every now and then to let a parent know about something kind their child did or what excellent effort they showed on an activity etc. can go a long way. To help with that, I created a set of positive note cards. I printed and chopped several at the beginning of the year and hope to send at least 1 home each week. That might not sound like a lot, but I want this goal to be attainable. I also keep track of who I've sent notes home with so I can hopefully send one home with everyone before starting over. These can also be found as a freebie in my store! 

Happy back to school season!

My Classroom!

Happy Monday! Daylight savings happened, sour milk went into my first cup of coffee, and I have a blister on my toe from some cute shoes that I thought I could wear all day. But aside from all that, life is GOOD!

My classroom is finally starting to feel like home again. I suppose not many people say that their workspace ever feels like home, but I think elementary teachers often view their classroom as a second home. You spend so much time there and eventually it starts to reflect your style and personality. Plus, the students deserve a workspace that is welcoming, easy to navigate, visually appealing and full of tools. One of my favorite things to do is tour other classrooms. There is so much to take in - furniture, layout, seating plans, storage solutions, reading corners, bulletin board ideas, anchor charts etc. I almost always walk away from a classroom visit with an, "AHH! I want to do that!" moment.

I WISH I could say that my classroom is exactly the way I envision it, but it is not. It's a process, especially now that I'm working at replacing everything I made/bought/accumulated pre flood. But considering all of that, I'm quite happy with it so far. I'll continue to post about future room design projects as they happen. *Disclaimer* My desk is never as clean as it appears in these photos and it may never be again... but a girl can dream!

So this is the view when you enter. A nice size room (though a little narrow)

My "bubble" of a workspace in the corner. My new SMART board is the coolest. Anyone else have one like this? It looks like a regular whiteboard, but it's not, it's SMART. Also, the speakers are in the ceiling now, which I love.

My attempt at a panorama of the front of the room.

Classroom library etc. 

Work table in the back corner for guided reading and other fun :)

Like I said, it's a work in progress. I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Welcome!

Welcome to my take on teaching in the primary grades! I certainly don't claim to know it all when it comes to elementary, but I hope to share some ideas, resources and experiences as I figure it all out. Starting this blog happens to come at an already very busy time in my teaching career, but I figure, what’s one more thing at this point? 

Some background info:
On June 20th, 2013 a natural disaster in the form of a flood struck the small town where I teach.  I can still remember evacuating the school that day thinking that it was just a precaution. Unfortunately though, almost the entire community was under water for a period of time including my elementary school which sat in 6 feet of water for many weeks.  Everything was lost. The school was essentially destroyed but our spirit wasn’t and despite losing ‘things’ many around us had lost their homes and so it was all about having perspective. Views of the school and town:

When the school year started September 2013, we were without a school to call our own and resorted to teaching in a community hall (you know, where wedding receptions happen – NOT teaching). Long story short, it was not ideal and by the end of November we were moving on to temporary home number 2!

Temp home number 2 was a combination of 26 portable classrooms arranged in the backyard of our friendly high school counterparts. They welcomed us with open arms even though it meant taking away their football/soccer fields and sharing their gymnasium with us. This new home felt like a HUGE upgrade in comparison to temp number 1, despite not having a library, gym, and staff room (or staff washrooms, if you can imagine). 

**PRESENT**:

About two weeks ago I finished packing up that portable classroom because our true home was FINALLY READY for us to move back. It had been 614 days displaced (but who’s counting, right?). They’ve carefully remediated and rebuilt our building that was completely stripped down over the past 20ish months and IT’S READY!! We opened the doors to our families on February 24th and it was perfect. The smiles on their faces as they toured around and re-familiarized themselves with the school and their new classrooms truly warmed my heart. 

The above picture shows my classroom prior to unpacking. Happy that is over!!
*New classroom pictures coming soon!*