New Appreciation for Kindergarten Teachers!!!

If you would have asked me how the first day of school was today at 1:29 p.m. I would have said, "It was my best first day ever!"

 

Then came 1:30...

 

...and Kindergarten music class.

*Remember I'm teaching 2nd grade and K-2 music this year.

 

I wondered why I didn't have any back-to-school "nightmares" this year. Obviously, it was because I would be living one for 20 minutes today. Ha!

 

You know those dreams where the kids are out of control and won't listen to you...

 

Yep! That was me today in Kindergarten music.

 

All I can say is Kindergarten teachers are amazing!!! I mean, I knew that already, but I didn't really know that (with first-hand experience if you know what I mean).

 

In fact, I'm pretty sure this picture should say "I teach K...What's your super power?"

 

 

I have a new plan for tomorrow and it includes "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "Couch Potato Pokey" which I'm hoping praying will capture the attention of those little 5-year-olds.

 

Nightmare aside, my new bunch of 2nd graders (and even the firsties in music) were great! It was a fun day in my new school...and best of all, when I was so exhausted I just needed to get out of there, I was home in about one minute! ;-)

 

Oh, and if you have advice for dealing with Kinders, I'd love to hear from you!

 

Wisdom for Wednesday - Be Careful with Words

Hi there! Glad you stopped by for a little...

 



 

 

Wow! There is so much wisdom in this quote I almost don't know where to begin... In fact, I'll keep this very short because I don't think I can add much at all to such a powerful quote.

 

Teachers - We are entrusted with precious little kiddos each and every day and we ALWAYS need to be careful what we say to them. Sometimes what we want to say should not be said!!!

 

The same is true for what we say (or leave unsaid) in our adult conversations.

 

Here's a passage I memorized years ago to try and help me remember this truth:

 

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:29-32

 

 

Have a blessed day!

 

 

 

P.S. First day with kids tomorrow!!!!!

Take a Peek at My Purchases...

As you are reading this, I am at my first "real" day of staff development at my new district. Friday was new teacher orientation, but all teachers will be back today. I'm so excited...by the end of this week I will have had two days of staff development, a work day, Meet the Teacher night, and two days with my new class. I can't wait to meet my new bunch!

 

Anyway, I thought I'd show you a few things I bought at the TPT sale. I'm pretty excited about them.

 

The first one comes from Emily over at: 

 

 

I spotted her Rainbow Edit poster in her classroom pictures here.

 



When I saw that she had it in her TPT store for a great price, I immediately added it to my wish list. It is a simple--but wonderful--system to help kiddos be able to look for and identify errors in their own writing.

 

Next up...this started with Pinterest.

 

 

This Bloom's Buttons pack comes from Colleen at:

 

 

I love this idea! Colleen explains it really well in this blog post. I'm hoping it will help me do better asking those higher level thinking questions. :-) 

 

And finally, this one I debated (I'll explain below) a bit...but I'm really excited about using it. It comes from Hope at:

This is Hope's P.S.A. (A Math Problem Solving Strategy) pack. She explains it in this blog post.

I knew this product would be great. I've always felt like I could improve at teaching problem solving to my kiddos. I love the way this breaks it down into three easy to remember steps. 

My hesitation came from the price (anything over $5 on TPT makes me hesitate - does that mean I'm cheap?) and the amount of colored ink it will require to print. In the end, I decided to purchase and I am going to e-mail and ask Hope if it would be possible to get a less color option... We will see.

 

I hope you were able to get some goodies at the sale too...well, if you're at home reading this, you could still be shopping! :-)

 

Have a blessed day!

 

 

It's HERE! The TPT Back-to-School Sale!

 We're going shopping!!! You should too. ;-)

 

We hope you find a lot of goodies (not just from us)! Click the pic to take you to our TPT shop to get started. 

 

Five for Friday Fun!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs' Five for Friday! I finally remembered to take some pictures this week--my last days of freedom! I reported back today for new teacher orientation.

 

House guests! The last couple weeks I have let my kiddos have friends (the ones in this pic happen to also be their cousins) over. We are so busy during the school year that my answer is usually no... We had two friends Monday to Tuesday and these two Tuesday to Wednesday. I couldn't believe the dishes!!! Mental note: Buy paper plates next time!



Hair appointment! Of course, I had to get a last minute visit in to have my hair done. This pic was taken in my kitchen after the appointment - didn't want to be too weird taking pics at the salon. Hee hee!

I spent some time thinking about first day activities for my music classes. First I thought of musical chairs. Then I remembered horror stories of Kindergartners crying when they get out...and I don't have chairs--just benches--anyway. I decided to look for something else. I found a Hello song here. I then had my son write it to music for me. Yes, those are the fingering numbers above the notes. He was just horrified when I asked him to do that for me! Ha! Thankfully, the curriculum looks great and it came with CDs and fun Smart board files so I think I will do okay when I get going.
I also tried to make a deal with my principal that there would be no observations or walk-thrus during music for at least a couple months. He just laughed... :-)
***If you're just joining us, you can read about how I became a 2nd grade classroom teacher and the K-2 music teacher here.

I may have sent the above text to Kristi while she was at a 'work day' on Wednesday. ;-)
***Sorry it is blurry...I think I need an app to do a screenshot...
We have had a few weeks of rain and cooler weather...and I mean lots of rain! The lakes, ponds, and rivers have filled up--and so has my yard. It really has been crazy! I felt like I was losing my summer tan before summer was even over so I decided to brave the cooler weather and water to do one of my favorite summer activities - float on my raft in my pool.

I had new teacher orientation this morning. It was a quick meeting - small district - only 3 new teachers total. Then the administrators took us out for lunch. Afterwards we went back to our rooms and worked. This is a picture of one thing that I accomplished. I have no wall space! Two whole walls are whiteboards. One wall is windows. And the last wall is bookshelves. This was a challenge...it is a "bulletin board" attached with scotch tape because I don't want to damage the whiteboards!

That's my FIVE! Click the button below to go link up!

 Have a blessed weekend!

First day with those little ones!!

Ok, can I say it..........I'm tired :-).  I had my first day with my new little kiddos.  It is so much fun to see how excited they are about coming back to school.  They get excited about every little thing....which is awesome!!

 

I don't know about you, but every year I get very nervous for the first day of school.  I have been doing this for 15 years and you would think it would get better.  The night before, I can't sleep and in the morning before the kids come in my stomach gets in knots.  So, today was no different....stomach in knots and couldn't sleep much the night before.  After it was all said and done, it was a good day!!  :-)

 

I will say that I am very tired and I'm sure the little kiddos are as well.  We have our Back to School Night tonight, so I'm sure when I get home I will crash and be able to sleep. 

 

I hope all of you are having a great year so far if you have started and for those who haven't started, I hope you get rested up before you do start back up. 

 

 

 

 

 

Wisdom for Wednesday-Students

Thanks for coming back for another week of:

 

 

 

I found this quote and thought that it was fitting since I am getting ready to start school with new first graders.  As a teacher, I believe that the very first thing that has to happen in the classroom is that you must build a rapport with each and every child that walks into your classroom.  It does take time and effort on your part, but unless that child knows how much you care about him/her, they aren't going to want to be a part of your classroom.  Once that rapport is established, then the learning can begin. 

 

 

 Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me. 

Mark 9:37