Five for Friday {July 17th}

Hello, Friday! It seems the closer we get to August, the sweeter Fridays and the weekend become.  I know you’ll want to throw rotten tomatoes at me for saying this, but I am actually excited about going back to school soon.  I truly thrive off of the structure that having a schedule gives me.  Don’t get me wrong… I love breaks, too.  Structure is my happy place and I am excited for it to be back.  Not to mention, I’m a nerd and I just love my job.

I can’t believe this week is already over! It really flew by due to the fact I have been going nonstop and that is not changing any time soon.  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday to share a peek at my week with you!

Today marked the end of week 2 for Insanity Max: 30 for me.  I cannot express to you just how different of a place I am in today than I was at this time last week.  The increase in my strength in the last two weeks in astonishing and my endurance is building. I love how awesome I have been feeling.  I have been consistently drinking my Shakeology as well.  Boy, I forgot how amazing it makes me feel!  I will be blogging about     my first two weeks soon

  

 

I’ve pretty much made every possible thing for my classroom that I can.  I purchased an awesome set from Schoolgirl Style and used the paper to create a birthday chart, class job, schedule cards, bulletin board labels and more.  So what’s left to do now? Create for my husband’s classroom of course! He is doing a simple Americana theme and I have loved making a few things for him.  The last thing I made were some labels for his book boxes. 

One of biggest part of my week has been my Orientation and Mobility class I started for my vision impairment endorsement.  This class was such a game changer for me.  It was incredibly hands on.  We were “blind” for a big portion of our experience.  We learned some of the basics of guiding, using a cane, and introducing ways to help students with visual impairments.  The biggest thing I will be taking away from our experience is something that will stick with me for as long as I live.  We were taken to Cheddars and had to eat an entire meal blindfolded.  Talk about humbling.  You never realize how much you rely on your vision until it is taken away.  I am planning on incorporating a version of this activity into my instruction when I talk about Exceptional Children’s Week with my kiddos this spring.  Definitely life changing. 

Another Beachbody event to talk about… Summit 2015 is happening now! I so wish I could have gone, but with the way my classes fell and our finances it just wasn’t possible.  I watched the Opening Ceremony last night and there were a ton of awesome announcements.  The Master’s: Hammer and Chisel is a new program coming out in December.  It teams up 2 master Beachbody trainers to create a body masterpiece like you’ve never seen.  Shakeology Boosts are available next Monday! I am so excited for the vital greens boost as well as the focused energy boost.  It is going to up my nutrition game for sure.  More details about the Beachbody Performance Line and Cize were released as well as new features for Beachbody on Demand.  Hello, Beachbody app! That will make my Vegas trip in September much easier because I will only have to take my iPad!

 

Last but not least this week is a celebration.  One of my best and sweetest friends had a baby in March named Jase.  Jase was born with gastroschisis, which simply means part of his digestive organs were born on the outside of his body.  He is the strongest human I know.  He has been through many ups and downs but I am so excited to say that he is finally coming home! I have been praying so hard for the last few months for this little fighter and I am so excited for my bestie and her hubby.  Folks, God is SO good!  Their little family has been through so much.  If you’d like to help out, visit their Booster page and buy a shirt!

Go check out 5 for Friday and see what other teacher bloggers have been up to this week!

Monday Made It - July 13th

Holy cow, I am having a hard time accepting how fast time is passing.  I have enjoyed one of my last free weeks before life really gets going again.  My fourth class for my visual impairment endorsement began today and goes until the 27th, which is my last day of summer! Therefore, the last week of my life has been full of relaxing and crafts. Such a stress reliever!  Go check out all the awesome blogs who have linked up with 4th Grade Frolics... there are a ton of awesome ideas and freebies!

 

 

 This was a total surprise made it and I love how it turned out!  I took one of the glass vases I had around the house and used E6000 to glue these glass marbles I had lying around to the side.  It is so pretty and sparkly! I love it.

 I hate how horrible this picture turned out, but I love how this turned out.  As an upper grades elementary school teacher, I feel some independence needs to be turned over to the kiddos as we begin the prepare them for middle school.  I have tried sign in/sign out sheets which work, but they are labor intensive.  I fully believe in using a number system and it saves so much of my sanity... and it works perfectly with this. I can't wait to implement this in my classroom.  

Side note, did you know they make fabric duct tape?! It is AMAZING and worked so well for this project!

 

This is, by far, one of my favorite things I have made for my classroom.  I just love it so much.  These pictures  just don't do it justice.

 I got this idea from Miss DeCarbo last year and never got around to actually making it.  I don't have a huge window in my room this year and I didn't want my light blocking curtains soaking up all that precious natural light. So, this idea popped into my head and it turned out so well.  It really brings all the colors in my room together. 

That's all for this week! I hope you all have a fantastic week and are enjoying your summer, or what's left of it - at least!

Five for Friday [July 10th]

Happy Friday everyone! It has been an awesome week! I feel like I have been incredibly productive, which is good because I start my next online class on Monday. (insert sad face here) It has been a wonderful thing to have the last 2-3 weeks off.  I've made the most of these weeks!

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share 5 things I've done over the week or so.

 

Like I shared with my Monday Made It, budget has been a huge focus for me lately.  I am trying really hard to control my spending and to make wiser choices.  Just knowing this has really limited my spending a great deal and I know we are going to benefit because of it!

 

My new school is a 7 Mindsets school and after finally finishing the book, I could not be more excited to begin using these as a classroom teacher.  They are such a wonderful set of ideas to live by and I can't wait to see how they impact my teaching and our life outside of work as well.

Shaun T and I have a love-hate relationship.  I did T25 a year ago and had awesome results.  I started Insanity Max: 30 during the holidays and our big move and it was just a total flop.  I am 4 days in now and I am enjoying it so much more.  I love that each workout has a modifier track where I can see the modifier the entire time.  I also love how much Shaun T supports doing the modified version.  Trust me, even modified, this workout will kick your booty... and it is over in 30 minutes! You can't beat it!

This past Tuesday, the hubs and I went on a mini field trip with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law down to IKEA.  Looking back, I can't believe I didn't take a single picture to document the trip.  We don't go very often and it is absolutely my favorite place which is usually documented... but alas, no pictures.  Since my new budget system has been put into place, I went into the trip with a specific amount to spend in mind.  I am proud to say I didn't go over and was actually under my limit! This is one of the things I went looking for and have been for a while.  I saw this on Pinterest and knew it would be the most affordable system for mailboxes for me right now.  This entire set up was less than $25, the shoe organizers are very sturdy and spacious, and I can re-purpose it if it doesn't work effectively after a year!

 

My move to a new school has caused me to have to downsize a bit.  One of the things I had to leave at home was my bin shelf that I used to use as a place to store math manipulatives (which are now living in our house :\).  At first, I just put the shelf and all the bins in one of our guest closets because the primary colors go with nothing at all.  While I was at Home Depot yesterday, I got the great idea to spray paint them.  I can't wait to show you the transformation and to actually be able to leave this out instead of tucked into a closet!

That's all for this week.  Stay tuned for posts coming this weekend and early next week.  I have some almost finished products I can't wait to share with you!

Mastering the Balancing Act

As a teacher, I feel that finding balance is truly one of the most difficult part of our job.  If you are anything like me, teaching is not just your job, but is your passion.  As cliche as that sounds, for those of us who find that true- it is SO true! Teaching is something that is not just Monday through Friday, 8:00 till 3:00,  August through May. It is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year type of commitment.  It can be life-consuming, if you let it.

I am still, in my own mind, a new teacher.  I have two years under my belt; in those two years, I have learned more than I can imagine.  With that being said, I realize I still have an expansive amount of knowledge left to gain.  As a new teacher, balance is even harder to find for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, you haven't fully learned who you are as a teacher yet, making every decision that much more difficult. You are making decisions that will impact these kids forever... no pressure at all, huh?  You are also trying to maintain your old life while being on top of things with your new job.  Not only are you a teacher, but you are a daughter to son, sister or brother, significant other, and a friend.   Talk about overwhelming!

You are also feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders.  While Pinterest, blogs, and Instagram are absolutely fantastic, they create huge (and sometimes unrealistic) expectations for future teachers.  Who doesn't want the perfect room with everything organized to a T and color coordinated everything?! I know I still do, but as a new teacher, it is just impossible.

Add all of those factors together and you've got a recipe for what very well could be a disaster.  What is a new teacher (actually, any teacher) supposed to do to find balance? Here are the nuggets of wisdom I have either been given or discovered for myself.

Above all else, keep your family, friends, and faith first. 

As I began my first year of teaching, I let so many relationships slide.  I began to think that my job was number one and while it was important, letting my relationships with my family, friends, and God suffer did not make me a better teacher.  In fact, my teaching suffered because of it! Luckily, I gained some wonderful teacher friends who helped me discover this balance.  I will tell you this, it is not easy to balance this.  There will be sometimes when things will have to take a backseat to work, but those instances should not make up the majority.  Rely on these three foundational aspects of your life and I promise your students will benefit in the long run.

Take time to exercise!

I know that as you read that one, you laughed.  The last thing you want to do after a long day of teaching is workout.  Please trust me when I say that you will never regret it.  Even if it is a 15 minute walk with you dog or children, it will relieve so much stress.  I have grown to love quick programs from Beachbody like T25, Insanity Max: 30, and 21 Day Fix.  If you can swing it, work out in the morning before you go to school.  You will have so much more energy and will not have to worry with it after school.  If that isn't an option, treat it like an appointment you have as soon as you get home.  Getting out some of the energy and stress will be so worth the time you invest.

Eat as clean as you can and on a consistent basis.

 Before you sigh and get frustrated, I am not saying you can't enjoy ice cream, pizza, fast food, or cupcakes.  I am saying, however, that you need to enjoy those things in moderation.  If your food is clean, your body will have the fuel it needs.  Following on the coattails of this, make sure you eat consistently! It will be so tempting, especially as you are getting your feet under you, to skip lunch to do work or get ahead. Don't do this, at all costs.  There is nothing worse than a hangry teacher!  Keep your foods simple, balanced, and clean.

Keep it simple, sweetie!

Don't try to overdo it this year.  You'll want to do all the cutesy things on Pinterest and to buy all sorts of things for your classroom.  Keep it simple. Pick a few cutesy things to do and then put your focus on the huge things that will make or break your year.  What are those things, you ask?

In my opinion, they are (in this order): classroom management, communication (between parents and students), and using effective, research-based strategies.  With hindsight being 20/20, I wish I would have spent more time focusing on those 3 things than all the other hullabaloo that I actually focused on.  The way you approach those things will be effected by your school, which brings me to your last point.

 

Lean on those around you and do NOT be afraid to ask for help. 

I look back on my first two years of teaching and one thing stands true: asking for help from my teams and learning from them were pivotal to my survival.  Veteran teachers know what they are doing and are (usually) more than happy to help.  Don't be afraid to go outside of your team and ask for help.  There were so many wonderful teachers in my building who I did not get to know till my second year because I didn't step out of my 4th grade box! Ask for help from anyone and everyone and use their advice to make you a better teacher.

 

Hopefully this helps someone out as the stress of back to school is coming.  I would love to hear what tips you have from your experience on achieving that so heavily desired feeling of balance!

Monday Made It - July 6th

Before I get into my post, can I just say it is so hard for me to believe it is already July 6th. A month from today, our first day of school will be in the books. Where has my summer gone?! Goodness, me... must not focus on that! On to this week's Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics.

This week's made its are personal things, as I have *tried* to take a hiatus from creating things for my classroom for the last few weeks.

       

 One of my goals this summer was to really focus on looking at our budget and how to start saving more money.  Mr. B and I bought a house in December and I started my vision impairment endorsement a month later, so finances have been strapped.  I made this handy dandy tool to help me keep up with my spending. I have even included a generic version as a freebie below.

Personal Budget Template - Color

Personal Budget Template - Ink Friendly

My next made it was for our 4th of July shindig we had this past weekend.  The beauty of it is, I did not buy anything to make this cute centerpiece.  I had the glass beads, candles, ribbon, and mason jars at home.  They were perfect and were a great addition to our party!

That's all for this week's Monday Made It. See you next week!