The One About Starting Over

Hey!

So, my good intentions of coming back after summer fizzled away with the busyness of August.  I am sure August is that way for you too though.

After an awesome summer at home with the family, August brought us back to reality.  The reality was that there was a ton of change coming upon us with the new school year.  Me moving schools.  Amy moving grades.  All of the kids changing schools.  The kids being split between schools.  Everything we knew had been turned upside down.  But not in a bad way.  Change can be good, even though I am, admittedly, at times resistant to it.  But we were all very excited about these changes.  They were fun.  Positive.  Exciting.

So, August brought me to a new school.  Well, sort of.  You'll remember that I am now teaching where I attended elementary school forever not too long ago.  The church and school welcome me with wide open arms.  It was an effortless transition.  I have been amazed, humbled, and blessed with coworkers and church members alike eager to have me aboard.  It did make climbing the mountain of change much easier.  

But, as you may know, with moving comes boxes.  As in everything you own.  In boxes.  That you have to unpack.  Find places for.  Hide.  Cram.  Get creative.  You know the drill.  It took me the better part of a week to get everything out and away.  And honestly there are things that I just had to place somewhere with the hopeful promise of returning periodically throughout the school year to finally put away and sort through.

After that faculty meetings began.  As did block planning, lesson planning, back to school planning.  Luckily I am familiar with some of the curriculum so that isn't all new to me.  But you forget about how many little day to day procedures and routines there are to learn at a new school.  Big ones like fire drills and restroom locations and what to do/who to see when you need _____.  Little ones like lunch count and scheduling and recess.  All in all though my coworkers have been eager to help, assist, and offer advice when needed.  Again, I've been blessed.

Despite seeming like I would never be ready and dealing with the hectic schedules of 2 different schools and all of the kids Amy and I made it.  The school year started off very well last Tuesday.  I have 17 kids this year, our cap is 18 and I am sure we will fill that spot soon.  My kids are amazing, as are their parents.  The first day went off without a hitch.  My 10th year teaching and this was the first year with no crying.  One little girl had the sniffles for about 30 seconds, but that was it.  I was pleasantly surprised.

These first 5 days have flown by.  Last week was filled with initial assessments, rules, procedures, getting to know you, back to school activities.  You know the stuff.  This week we began everything, with the exception of Reading Groups.  I am still doing assessments in order to properly group them.  I will begin that next week.

My classroom is huge.  The one downside is that it is an interior room (read: cave) so I have no windows and there are none in the hallway.  In the event of a power outage, I only have the soft glow of 2 red "EXIT" signs to illuminate the entire room.  But, it's all good.  The room I am in now was my 5th Grade classroom so that is pretty crazy.  The walls are cinder block which brings me back to my first job in New Orleans where I also had cinder block walls.  So that was a bit of nostalgia.  I think I am happy with my set-up and haven't felt the need to rearrange anything yet, hopefully I've hit upon a good layout that I can stick with.  I am notorious for changing desk arrangements and/or other room components mid-year.  We will see if this year is any different.  

All in all though, back to school has been a breeze this year.  I have been lucky.  But with all the change and easy transition is nice.  I still haven't been able to make much for TPT but I hope to get back onto that soon and get everything going.  I miss making things, and selling too.  I'll keep you posted though.  

I'll close with some pictures of my classroom.  Nothing fancy, I didn't go all out this year but I am pleased with how it turned out.  I hope your year is off to a great start!

Thanks for hopping by!

Giant panorama of the room when I first moved in.

My box pile.  It got bigger.  Then it went into the recycling because I could barely get in the door.

Finding a home for the frog collection is one of the first things I have to do! 

My name!  On the door!

My word wall.  Literally.  I didn't jazz it all up and decorate it with frogs.  I may do frog letters later and replace those but I didn't have the time or energy.  Note to self: frog word wall letters - make for TPT!

My vintagey (yes it's a word I'm sure) alphabet.  Again, not frogs but a retired teacher from my last school left it and I fell in love with the vintage, old school look and now I just can't bear to be without it.  I get attached like that.

My class pictures.  All 9.  

My door, decorated and ready.

Tags for the kids' backpack pegs.  Not fond of the curtains but I don't have cabinets, just open shelves.  I need to jazz the curtains up though.

Birthdays.

Big panoramic 1st day picture.  I hope it gets bigger when you click on it.

Me, ready for the first day!  Bring it!

The One About Valentine's Day

Hey!

Ok, so I know by now Valentine's Day is a memory.  But I wanted to recap my day.  As you know I was off the day before that with Stella.  Luckily Amy took Thursday and I headed to work and got to celebrate Valentine's Day with my kiddos.  Poor Amy though had to miss her first Valentine's Day with her kiddos and stay with Stella.  But she got to celebrate Friday when I stayed home since I had the day off.  Anywho.

So, not only was it Valentine's Day, but it was also our Friday since we didn't have school on Friday for staff development.  Plus it was the day before a 4-day weekend.  I was geared up for all kinds of crazy antics and wild behavior from my kiddos.  I had, once again, missed a day.  It wasn't looking good for me.

But, I put on my heart antennae (see above) and braced myself.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  My kiddos were angels, or cupids as it were.  They'd missed me.  I'm not going to toot my own horn or anything (TOOT TOOT) but there is a cute story.  One of my kiddos came into the classroom with his eyes covered chanting, "Please be Mr. Drosche. Please be Mr. Drosche."  When he saw that I was, in fact, back he yelled, "YES!" and raced to give me a hug.  Awesome huh?  :)  So the day went off without a hitch.  

Sadly, as you may have guessed from the previous post, I had to forgo some of my plans and fun thematic things.  My apologies to Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras, and a full-on Valentine's Day.  We'll meet again next year.  So, I scrapped some things and we did Valentine's Day activities.  I also took some of the time the kiddos were working on their crafts to sort through and organize absent work and the general disarray of a classroom when a Sub is present.  

But it was a great day!  The icing on the cupcake was the party at the end of the day, after a Pep Rally.  The kids were amazing.  We watched A Charlie Brown Valentine (thanks Netflix for streaming ALL of the Charlie Brown movies, what up!) ate party food, and exchanged valentines.  Peacefully.  Without anyone running around.  No screaming.  No sugar-induced chaos.  It was heaven I tell you, heaven.  Ahhhhh.

So, all in all it was a great day.  It was also the first day in 11, yes 11, school days that all of my kiddos and I were present.  Can you believe that?  For 11 days straight at least one or two kiddos were absent, sometimes with me out to boot!  I hope the illnesses have finally left my classroom for good because I've had about all I can take.  Yuck!

So, finally I'll leave you with some pictures of the cute craftivities we did for Valentine's Day.  The first one is from Cara Carroll's (she is awesome, follow her here) Be Swine (A Valentine Craftivity).  It's free y'all, get it here!  Awesome!  Now, we didn't have time to do all of the activities but I definitely will next year.  This year we did the writing part and they turned out great!  The other pictures show our Love Bug Glyphs.  This is something I made for Valentine's Day and you can get it here.  I love gyphs (a topic for another post) and this one was super fun and easy.  The kids loved it and they made for great decorations for Valentine's Day!  I need to think of a St. Patrick's Day one now!

How did your Valentine's Day go?  Peacefully?  Too much sugar?  What was your favorite craft or activity?  I hope you had an awesome time and are ready for Presidents' Day!

Thanks for hopping by!  :)

Justin Bieber.  HA!  Apparently she's got big plans for him!

Braeden's.  I texted Amy this picture and he melted her heart!

All of our Valenswines!

Even pets can get some love this time of year!

She is a great friend!

Sibling love!

Heart-shaped lips on this one!

Cute!

Heart-shaped eyes.  They really got into the theme!

All of our love bugs hanging out together.

The One About 100 Day - with Pictures

The big day!

Well, last Thursday was 100 Day.  I'm sure you're busy planning your own 100 Day as you read this as I doubt there are that many people who started as early as we did.  One of the perks of being in a private school.  Sure, we may start earlier than everyone else.  But that also means we get out earlier!  No school in June for me!  It also means that 100 Day falls toward the end of January.

So, what are your plans for 100 Day?  As mentioned in the previous post, (sorry it's been a week again) I spend the entire day celebrating the big day.  The kids had a great time and it just so happens that this week we are studying number patterns in Math.  You know, counting on a hundred cart, skip counting, etc.  So last week's festivities were the perfect introduction to that.  They loved making the Froot Loop necklaces, as always, and the little book I made for them too!  Another hit was the 100 Day snack.  Although it came with its own frustrations.  For the first time ever, after 9 years of doing this, I didn't have everyone bring in what their parents signed up for!  I was 3 items short!  This wasn't 70 Day!  Luckily, after some rummaging through the Early Childhood snack supplies and a re-purposing of a bag of Lays potato chips (hey, I was desperate), we had our 100 items!  You've got to roll with the punches people, you know what I mean!  

I took some pictures of it all but I'm only going to show Braeden's face since he's mine.  I'm going to have to get creative next year when I don't have my own kid in my class.  I've blurred the faces of some friends out below but it kind of creeps me out.  Maybe a cute smiley face?  Anywho, I'll figure that out later.  On with the pictures:

Some friends working on their necklaces.

Another friend with his 100 year-old self

Two students reading our 100 Day books: The Night Before the 100th Day of School & 100 Hungry Ants!

Braeden making his Froot Loop necklace

Braeden and his 100 year-old self!

Braeden showing his 100 Day Project - a Lego car made of 100 pieces!

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Another 100 Day project: 100 buttons on a shirt!

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100 heart stickers, in the shape of a heart!

So, it was a ton of fun and by the end of the day I was exhausted and felt 100 years-old myself.  But the kids had a blast and we learned a lot.  100 Day is one of my favorites!  The other, Groundhog Day, is coming up!  But that's a post for another, hopefully soon, time. What are your plans for 100 Day?  Dressing up?  Projects?  Snacks?  Froot Loop necklaces?  Whatever your plans, I hope they're great!  100 kinds of fun!  :)

The One About the Christmas Gift

So, I haven't been teaching for decades, although next year I'll be wrapping up my first one.  Yikes, where has the time gone?  But I digress.  Anywho.  9 Christmas seasons into my teaching career and I have had my share of gifts as I'm sure you have.  There are your usual ones: candy, gift cards (Starbucks being my favorite!), and ornaments.  Then there are the thoughtful handmade ones.  Then there are the random ones.  You know what I'm talking about.  The ones that make you think, "Huh?!"

Now, don't get me wrong.  I truly to love and cherish everything my kids give me.  I always believe it is given in love.  Even if I can't for the life of me figure out what would have possessed someone to purchase it.  Like my first year teaching when, I kid you not, I received a nose hair trimmer.  Seriously.  You can't make that stuff up.  I of course hightailed it to the nearest mirror to see if they were trying to hint at something.  Thankfully that was not the case.  But still, huh?  

As random as that is, it is not the gift I mention in this post's title.  Nope.  This gift is far more random than a nose hair trimmer.  See, it was a few years ago, 4 or 5.  I still remember the little girl, Marcia.  Sweet.  Great parents.  Good student.  So Christmas came around and I have never been a fan of opening presents in front of the kids.  Too intimidating.  Plus there's always so much going on at the Christmas party that sitting down for any extended period of time seems pointless.  So, I always open my presents after the day is over when I'm enjoying the quiet of a classroom and as many leftover sweets as I can consume.  Anywho.  I opened up the present from Marcia.  I was dumbfounded.  It was a giant ostrich egg.  But folks, this was no ordinary ostrich egg.  No sir.  This one was painted with a charging elephant.  But wait!  There's more!  It also came with a stand that was carved to look like, you guess it, an elephant.  I didn't know what to think.  It isn't a horrible gift by any means.  Just random.  A giant painted egg.  An elephant.  I wrote my thank you note and brought it home.

But what do you do with a giant ostrich egg with a painted elephant?  It was not really in keeping with our decor.  So it stayed in its box in the garage.  I guess in a way it's fascinating and I'm drawn to it.  I think about it every Christmas and have occasionally taken it out to look at it.  In a way I guess it has served a purpose.  I remember it.  I remember Marcia.  I'm blogging about it.  It just got me thinking.  What random gift(s) have you received.  Anything better than a nose hair trimmer or painted ostrich egg?  

This post wouldn't be complete without pictures of said egg.  Now, I have to warn you that the pictures do not do it justice at all.  It's extremely glossy so it reflects any kind of light.  But I did my best and I think you get the picture.  Thanks for hopping by!  :)

The egg, in all its glory

Close-up of the stand

It's huge!

It's an elephant.  Painted on an ostrich egg.  How random and awesome is that?!

     

The One About Christmas Crafts

Well, again I've been away for a bit.  But, I'm sure you'll understand given the season.  I think for 2013 I'll make a resolution to blog more.  Both here and at my personal blog.  Although, come to think of it, I think I make that resolution every year.  Alas, life intervenes.  Anywho.

So, today was our last day before Christmas Break!  Not to rub it in to all of you who still have school until tomorrow or Friday.  Thankfully it was only a half day.  This is good because that is already a half day more than my kids had left in them!  Know what I'm saying?  Monday and Tuesday flew by and went surprisingly well.  In between specials and practice for our Christmas program/Advent Service we just barely got in all of our projects.

I didn't go all out this year as I have in the past.  I just played it low-key.  As it turns out, that worked out well since Christmas Break fell during a funny time this year.  Such is the case when it's on a Monday/Tuesday I guess.  I still managed to fit in my 2 favorite crafts though.  Sometimes I think I should try something new, but these 2 have always been so reliable and easy to complete, even in the busiest of times.  So I keep them around as my good old standbys and I add in some smaller new things every now and then.

I thought I'd try and get this post out there since some people (like I often am) may be looking for some last minute ideas to fill the time during these crazy last few days.  That or maybe you'll hold onto the idea for next year?  That or I can just share the ideas!

The first one is a little writing craftivity I've done for so long that I've forgotten where I got the idea from.  It's super simple and cute.  I love it because it has a uniform set of directions/procedures but the kids can personalize it in so many ways, they are always individual and different.  Plus that and I love me some reindeer at Christmastime so this is right up my alley.  All you need is a large sheet of dark brown construction paper, a smaller sheet of light brown construction paper, red construction paper scraps, the writing paper, and crayons/markers.  The kids do their writing first, why Christmas is special for them, and then assemble the reindeer.  I also like this because it's somewhat of a tiered activity, everyone can write something; from the stronger students to those who are not the best writers, they all turn out beautifully.  This is my standard hallway bulletin board display during Christmas and let's get serious, who doesn't like a board-ful of reindeer grinning at them?

Cute huh?

Here's a close-up of Braeden's.  Having your own kid in your class means you can always show their work and not worry about parental permission!


The inside of Braeden's reindeer: "I'm going to Kansas.  I get lots of presents.  It's a lot of fun.  My smile on my face says I'm happy."  Excuse his handwriting!  :/

Cute huh?  I absolutely love it.  Nothing too fancy but it just makes me smile.  Plus the kids adore it too.  The next craft is the gift I have the kids make for their parents.  Again, it is nothing super fancy, but I have gotten many compliments over the years from it.  I'm honestly stoked to finally have one for myself this year!  Yet another perk of having your own kid in your class!  It's just a standard issue noodle craft, but I am a huge fan of making an ornament with the kids' pictures in it each year.  In my mind the parents look back year after year and fondly remember me and all of the fabulous things their child learned/did in First Grade.  I know, probably delusional, but you never know.  It's a nice thought though right?  Plus, maybe they'll remember me in 20 years when they're rich and famous.  I'm just saying!  :)  I start with using the "O" die cut on poster board because the oval shape lends itself better to the picture than a circle, at least I think so.  The kids decorate 2 wreaths (because there are many different family situations out there) any way they please with noodles.  Then I spray paint them.  I take their pictures in front of our classroom Christmas tree and then hot glue those in myself.  Sorry kids.  * On a side note I gave myself a wicked bad hot glue gun burn this year.  I was assembling these and singing along, acting silly of course, to Christmas music, when I got a huge glob of hot glue on my thumb.  A student who was watching me then told me that's what happens when you use a hot glue gun and act silly.  Out of the mouths of children right?  But He was right!  :)*  Ok, back to the post.  Then I have the kids choose where their noodle bow goes (top or bottom) and hot glue that and the hanger on.  There, not too hard at all.  Plus it's super inexpensive and wallet-friendly, always a plus.  Like I told you, nothing fancy, but a great keepsake.  Again, I'll reap the benefits of having Braeden in here and show you his.

Cute huh?  Well, I love it!

So that's about it.  I make other small crafts every now and then but this years that's about all we had the time for.  We also made paper plate angels and popsicle stick reindeer but I'll post about those later.  This post is getting a bit long and I don't want you to be bored.  Plus, I really should be cleaning my room from today's party and the fun of the first semester.  I just had to take a blog break.

So, tonight is our Christmas Program/Advent Service and then I'll officially be on Christmas Break!  I hope those of you with a day or so more left survive!  I'll be thinking of you!  I'll share my secret: coffee (lots), smiles, recess, and crafts!  Again, I hope to blog more often over the break and then again in the new year!  I have some great things in my mind to create for TPT for January so hopefully that will get done!  Stay tuned!

The One About A Desk

My desk.  And an excuse to play with the panoramic feature on my iPhone!

Do you have a desk?  A table?  A landing spot?  I have to personally.  I know a lot of people are anti-desk, stating that a teacher should be up and about and around the classroom at all times.  Well, me (and my feet) slightly disagree with that notion.  See, I need a landing spot.  See how I italiscized that?  To stress the need.  A place to put my stuff.  A place to grade.  A place to organize, gather, sit, collect, hold, etc.  I think you get the picture.  

Now, I don't sit there all day.  I am up and about most of the time.  But if I am using the ELMO or grading or working one-on-one with a student, I'll be there.  That and, of course, on breaks.  See, you agree now don't you.  I'm sure most of you have a similar spot somewhere.  Mine is a table and student desk put together in an L-shape in the front of the room.  The location is crucial as my laptop must be connected to the ELMO and the SMART Board, both of which are in the front of the room.  See, yet another important need for a desk.  So, it's not a desk per say, but you get the picture.

I've had a lot of difference set ups over the year.  There was the ginormous (I kid you not) 6 foot by 4 foot metal monstrosity I had at one school.  It was huge!  But I loved it.  Do you know how many piles of stuff neatly organized stacks you can create on a desk that size?  I've also had a smaller wooden number, basic but it got the job done, a simple computer desk, and another art class-type table.  I have to admit, the ginormous beast aside, my latest arrangement is my favorite.  I'm a fan of the L-shape.  

I wish I could say that I was the most organized teacher out there.  Like some of the great blogs I follow.  But I don't like to lie.  Now, I'm not a mess, exactly.  I like to think of it as organized chaos.  Yeah, that's probably a good description.  But, I'll have you know, I know exactly where everything is and there is a method to my madness.  You know how it is.  You're busy.  There isn't always time to put it away neatly where you found it (despite the fact that you tell the kids that about every game, manipulative, and project they get into).  Sometimes you just need to put it down somewhere.   

There are times though, that it even gets to me and I must purge and reorganize.  With the Christmas season upon us I'm quickly getting there.  So, I've bared my soul, and desk here to you.  I hope you don't think less of me as a person or teacher.  I'm sure everyone has their dirty little classroom secret.  Like my closet, but that's a topic for another post!

So, what about you?  Desk?  No desk?  Everything neatly organized and aligned or creative piles?  I promise I won't judge you either!  It takes all kinds though!  :)