Teacher Trinity

Obviously as a teacher you know that one of the main goals would be for me to teach new concepts. What you may not realize is that in order for me to teach 6 subjects I also need to learn them. On top of learning the stuff I need to pass on to kiddos I also have had the added task of learning all that stuff that most people go to 4 years of college to learn in about oh I don't know the last year but mostly the last month. So, to say that my brain has been overwhelmed with new knowledge is a massive understatement. However, I am pleased beyond measure for this opportunity and so thankful that I love to learn. One of the most important skills that I am working on is the fine art of lesson planning. At my previous school things were done, much differently and I was only responsible to plan one main subject (Science) and then Art. The rest of my second grade team planned the other subjects. I was not a fan of that system, because I never felt like I had a good handle on what as coming...

There is no Target here. No Amazon, well there is The Amazon but it's the one with millions of yet to be discovered species, not millions of discounted products quickly delivered to your doorstep. So, right from the get go my approach to decorating and organizing my new class cannot be that of the millions of teachers who flood Pinterest and YouTube with classroom set up ideas.  I cannot just click the link below to get the must have rolling morning cart that will be the lifesaver I never knew I needed. I cannot just run down the street to the Dollar Tree and stock up on amazing bins and decor for my class. Nor can I even count on the lamination and books we are waiting on to be released from customs before the start of the year. What I can depend on is a God who knows my needs and is faithful to meet my needs. A God who placed me here for such a time as this who is bigger than all my worries and who has it all figured out should I just remember that He is God and I am NOT. ...

I left the school at 5pm feeling pretty good about all the progress I made in these first few days in my new class. Yesterday it didn't look like I accomplished much, because I spent most my time organizing my classroom library. I decided the best way for me to know what was there was to just pull every book off the shelf and sort them alphabetically by author. Yes, I know they won't stay this way, but a girl can dream. Perusing the books was a trip down memory lane. It seems most of the books that meant the most to me as a kid were 5th grade books. Just seeing the covers of books like; Island of the Blue Dolphins, Baby Sitter's Club, Nancy Drew, Chronicles of Narnia, Where the Red Fern Grows, and many more brought back floods of memories. I can't wait to introduce these books to my students! Other than playing librarian for a few hours the rest of my time was spent printing and cutting things that I hope to get laminated.  So at the end of the day I h...

I finally got to get in my new class yesterday! This week is optional at my new school, but I am excited to get going! I feel pretty good about the progress that I made yesterday, here are some pics of some projects I knocked out! I got the students mailboxes numbered! Days of the week file system is ready to go!  Got some handy clothes pins ready for student jobs and who knows what else! View from my desk Covered a bulletin board and the back of this shelving unit and ready to add the content. First beachy colored board up! View from our literacy corner.

Seven days and counting till I get to start setting up my new 5th Grade class, but that doesn't mean I am not already hard at work preparing to be the best 5th grade teacher I can be. Truth be told I am spending hours reading about styles of teaching that are totally new to me. I have watched countless YouTube videos and webinars taught by educators with decades of experience and I am learning so much! So, while my friends ask how my "vacation" is going I am truly enjoying this time I have to dig deep and soak up all this knowledge before my "break" comes to an end. I am so enamored with this workshop based teaching style that I can't wait to see it in action. But I know that to achieve these high standards I need to plan. Not just lessons, but procedures. Like I blogged about last time, "if I fail to plan, then I am planning to fail." I have no intention of failing. It seems silly at first when you start to think about teaching procedures. Yo...

According to Webster's Dictionary,  the Definition of  prepare is as follows. 1 a :  to make ready beforehand for some purpose, use, or activity prepare  food for dinner b :  to put in a proper state of mind is  prepared  to listen 2 :  to work out the details of  :  plan in advance preparing  a campaign strategy 3 a :  to put together  :  COMPOUND prepare  a prescription b :  to put into written form prepare  a report As a teacher I am quickly discovering that being prepared is of the upmost importance. Because and I quote, "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail." So, with all this in mind I am so thankful for the gift of time that I have been given between the end of one job and the beginning of the other. Not time to sit around twiddling my thumbs but time to prepare for the start of the school year. Truth be told I was given a stack of curriculum and the school calendar a few ...