One More Month!

Man, summer sure does seem to fly by. Especially with a brand new baby in the house, an almost 2 year old, and the anticipation of going back to work after 2 years at home with my Riley girl. I have had the best time at home with Riley watching her grow and learn. Let me brag a minute on her. She is 22 months old, okay? She knows all of her colors, her ABC's- she can ID the letters (all uppercase and some lowercase) and say them in order without having to sing the song, she can count to 20 without help- and actually understands the concept of counting objects up to about 3, she knows tons of shapes and can identify them in "real world" situations, she can "read" many of her books alone, she has an ENORMOUS vocabulary that grows every single day, and she is super duper sweet. She is our little blessing, and I can't wait to see what she will do next! Going back to work will certainly be bittersweet, but it's time. And the babies will be with their grandma, so she will be awesome with them. Life is good!
                               

First Grade… I'm Coming Back!

So I am officially going to be in First Grade again! Woo hoo! I am so excited and can't wait to get started planning and prepping. I have an AWESOME team that seems to be really in to collaborating, and I cannot wait to see what this year brings. I am so thankful for an awesome principal, and a new First Grade Team that seems to be on top of it! Love my life. <3

My chunk of love. Two months old and 16 pounds!

So Much To Be Thankful For...

Alright, well I did it! I got a position at an elementary school in the neighboring county of where I taught before. I am so excited for the change and cannot wait to begin in August! I will either have 1st or 2nd, so I am THRILLED about that! I am being impatient though and want to know which one. I am itching to begin planning!
I actually interviewed for the position 3 days before my little bundle of little boy love was due. I got the call the day before my c section, and needless to say, it made me relax and enjoy the first couple weeks with my new baby boy soooo much. Jaxon was born 9 pounds, 7 ounces and was 21 inches long. Big baby! I am glad he was a csection! ;) He is the absolute sweetest, and his big sister is adjusting pretty well. It's got to be hard for her, but she's a trooper!

This is little man on the day he was born.

These two were taken on Easter Sunday after we came home from the hospital. 

And I can't not post a few of my baby girl. These were Easter Sunday pictures, too :)

Anyway, that's all for now. Updates will follow. :))

Coming Soon..

So, it's been forever and a day since my last post, but I am coming back! In September of 2013 I had my first baby girl and have taken the last two school years off to be a stay at home mommy. It's been amazing and wonderful, but now my mom is retiring and going to be keeping her for me so I can go back to work this fall! I am so excited to get back in the classroom, but I will miss my babies soooo much. Babies? Plural? Haha yes! My second baby, a boy this time, is due April 2nd. So Grandma gets to keep TWO! And mama gets to go back to work! Stir crazy is definitely a legitimate thing. But, I wouldn't be going back if my mom wasn't able to keep them. She's the only one I trust! :) Anyway, I'll be back to blog once I find out what my position will be for next year. Praying I can find something in Pk-2!! Till next time…

My Riley Girl!

Five Favorite Things- April Style

Happy Monday!

I'm linking up with Jodi from Fun in First with 5 Things I'm Loving in April!

1.)  I am LOVING that next week (April 26th) is my birthday! For two reasons: 

a) It's my bday- duh!   

b) I am taking off on Friday in my own honor. Hehe! It will be my first personal day of the year! 

2.) There are only 24 more days of school! I cannot even begin to express the joy in my heart! I LOVE teaching, don't get me wrong... but summer is the best part of the year! Beach, lake, books, shopping, sleeping late, laying out but the pool, basically having NO PLANS. Heavenly.

3.) Vampire Diaries! I know I probably like this show a leeeetle too much, but what can I say. We all have to have our guilty pleasures, right? :) And there hasn't been a new episode in a couple weeks and I am in serious withdrawal right now. Thursday can't get here fast enough! (PS- I think it's gonna be a reeaaalllyyy good Delena episode!)

4.) I've got to say I am really loving some books I bought to get myself all prepared for next year. They are: 

• Debbie Diller's Math Work Stations
• Debbie Diller's Literacy Work Stations
• The Daily 5 
• CAFE
• Debbie Diller's Differentiating Small Group Instruction
• Kathy Collins Growing Readers

I spent a BOAT LOAD of money, but I am LoVinG what I have read so far!

5.) Hmm... And I guess my last thing is all of the teacher blogs I stalk. I can't express how much everyone has helped me this year. And how much you are all helping me prepare for next year. I have made more notes and written down more ideas than I can find paper for! I even started my very own blog. :o) I know it's not great, but I still haven't figured out how to balance work, blog time, and free time. I'll get it eventually. Also, I need to get the commercial license from Scrappin Doodles, cause I would LOVE to share some cutie freebies I have made! 

*And I feel like I need to add a couple of other little things: I'm also loving Pinterest, Netflix, Partials by Dan Wells, and the fact that I was chosen to be a part of our school's Instructional Leadership Team and we have $72,000.00 to spend for next year! What?!? I am so excited- 98% sure we are getting iPads for our classrooms! Oh, and also- two second grade teachers and I started a "Teacher Morale Booster" club type thingy in 'sorta-secret' to try and get spirits up at our school. We have a lot of downers on our staff. We just got started redecorating our HORRENDOUS teachers' lounge, and have a lot of other stuff in the works. (coupon books, jokes in boxes, random candy-grams, and monthly dinners) We hope it will improve spirits at our school and flush out some of those Negative Nancy feelings that float around ALL THE TIME! 

Anyway, good night! And I hope to be back soon with something good. 

PPS: PLEASE follow me if you read this post! I just started this blog last month and I would LOVE some followers. Right now, my only follower is my sister. Haha! This is also my first link-up and my first time contacting the blogging world. Help me! :o)

Quickie

Just gonna make it short and sweet tonight. Grades are due tomorrow at 5pm and as of this afternoon, I had ZERO grades entered into the online grade book system we use. Zero. And to top it off, there were "technical difficulties" with the system and I was unable to log on until about 9:45 this evening. Suffice it to say that I was a nervous wreck for two hours trying to get my grades in before the system kicked me off. Thankfully I am DONE and can sleep well knowing my grades are in!!

And I am loving the fact that we get a holiday on Friday! I needed a four day week really bad. And, Spring Break is in about 10 days!! Can't believe it! This year is flying by and it's awesome!!

Anyway, sorry to bore you, I just wanted to unload a little. I'll be back with a freebie soon!! Have a great Wednesday tomorrow!

Lesson Plan Templates

So here are two of the lesson plan templates I created. Our principal addressed the information we should include on our plans at the last faculty meeting. Apparently a lot of people were being lazy on their plans. My current ones were fine, but they were Board issued and I thought they were U.G.L.Y. So, I made sure to cover all the necessary information on some cuter ones and voila! Here is the result. They will look way more complete with actual plans included! Ha.

Feel free to steal. If you would like the Word version I can post that as well. I used the fonts DJ Jumble and DJ Light from DJ Inkers. :)


ELA Plan Template
Math Plan Template