Lots of Love

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

I'm using the day off to check things off my to-do list. It's definitely starting to be the busy time of year with ARDs and assessments.

When I wasn't busy trying to get caught up on ARD paperwork, I created a new token board system.  I will  be completing a lot of assessments in the next couple months,  and I will need a good motivator to get my little ones to work.

So, thanks in part to: 

Here is what I created (sorry for the glare): 

The hearts are from Kady Did Doodles and the stars are clip art. One of these days I will figure out how to post it for others to use, especially if there's interest.

I also made a Valentine's Day themed file folder game using the hearts. I heart great freebie finds!

I've still got to make the motivator choice PECs, but most of the pictures I need are on my classroom camera. Oh well, more work for another day.

On non-school related topics, this three-day weekend was much-needed. I enjoyed spending as much time as possible with my husband. We enjoyed a trip into the city and great food. After my hubby comment that I needed at new purse, my current Vera bag has seen better days. I'm now enjoying the search for a new handbag, apparently I need a nice sophisticated one.

My dream purse, if I had no budget, would be the MARC BY MARC JACOBS 'Classic Q - Natasha' Crossbody Flap Bag in Cinnamon Stick.

But for now I dream, and add purses to my wishlist for my hubs to buy for me! :-)

Wishing everyone a great week!

Stacy

Just Keep Swimming

Thought from a Monday...






Trying my best to unwind to prepare for all the paperwork I have to finish.

Hope you had a great start to the week,

Stacy

Post Remix

I had a post going for the whole week, but I realized I had clue which direction to go in so I decided to start a whole new post. 

First...I finally got a Scotch Laminator and I love it! I don't know why I didn't buy one before!

Second...if you are needing plastic storage containers, Michaels is having a 40% off sale. Plus, you get a teachers discount. The scrapbook 12 x 12 boxes were $4.  I'm so glad I had to wait for Ulta to open this morning otherwise I would have totally missed out on this deal. 

I don't know about you, but this week felt really long. I guess this is normal for the first week back but by Friday I was completely wiped of energy. I spent whole day yesterday to recover, and watch Downton Abbey! I can't get enough of this show, even though the premiere was two hours long.

Short and sweet this week but l'm just trying to survive this season of assessments and ARDs. Now off to finish planning and finish working around the house.

Have a great week!

Stacy

Technology!

I'm so thankful that it's Saturday, and I'm getting a much needed break. It was definitely hard getting back into the routine and getting swamped with new responsibilities.

Monday: First day back to work after the winter break, I was feeling freshly productive. A question for the Speech Pathologist that works with my kiddos, and a review of my lesson plans I realized that I skipped the whole first week of Stories and Rhymes from our curriculum. My first reaction was to just flip flop weeks, in order to make things easier. But after a quick talk with one of the aides in our suite, I changed my mind and decided to make a new lesson for this week using nursery rhymes. Not a huge crisis, but it was definitely a Monday moment.

We had a few meetings but thanks to my wonderful aides lots of work was accomplished! :-) I seriously don't know what I would do without them.

 It was a rainy, damp week.

 

After a long needed break, I've finally started working on lesson plans and activities for the next month. Yes, you heard me right. I'm planning a month at a time in order to bring me sanity while I make my way through assessments, ARD meetings, and updating IEP's.

With so much going on, I'm trying out using both monthly lesson overviews as well as planning out my centers for the month.I feel like October and December were so much just me surviving the crud that if I don't plan ahead this semester will be one long headache. My classes are about 2 hours and 45 minutes long. So the majority of my lessons are made up of a story and a small group activity, plus centers.

 

January Currently

listening - these are welcome sounds of my husband being home from work

loving- that we finally own a grown-up dresser instead of just Itzo storage cubes

You can get your very own "Currently" by visiting Farley at http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/. 

A new year and a new start

As 2012 came to a close, I reflected on what areas of my life needed improvement. What I came to recognize is that I need to practice the art of reflection. I learned during my student teaching that reflection is a critical part of being a teacher. After taking my current teaching position I have thought many times about my need to reflex but hadn't found a way to incorporate it into my life. I'm turning to a blog to help make me accountable to this process in order to better myself as a teacher.

I'm a new teacher, although I've been out of college now since 2009. I started wanting to teach in Elementary school, I even student taught in 3rd and 4th grade, and graduated with a degree in Elementary Education. But that's not the path God created for me. God finally led me to a place where I would become a Pre-K Special Education teacher.

Never in my whole life did I ever consider this as a career path, but I'm so glad that God led me to this place. The past few months have been an amazing journey of growth, discovery, and a huge run-in with the first year teaching crud. (Yes, I was sick for over a month and a half. No one said this would be easy).

Going forward I plan to post updates once a week, probably on Fridays, to chronicle the learning explorations going on in my classroom and reflections on my teaching.

I hope this post is the start of many new explorations. Thanks for stopping by!

Allons-y!

~Stacy
Pre-K Explorer