Planning and prayer through a mini disaster...

As you may know because I may have mentioned we are moving.  

I am realizing that once we move in exactly 10 days life will be hectic (haha, as if it isn't now!) and summer will be O.V.ER. much, much, much too quickly!  

We move our stuff into storage (250 miles away) July 15, drive back to St. George to party with some friends and close on July 22nd. 

(Please pray everything goes well for CLOSING we just had a home inspection today and discovered our water heater has been leaking for WEEKS and are now in the middle of major water heater repairs as well as tearing out sheetrock that is more than a little moldy, precisely what I needed today! This was NOT in the budget!!!)  

Then we are to turn around and drive those 250 miles once again to make the FINAL move and close on our new house on July 26th.  

We have meetings at both of our schools Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the next week, then a full week of New Teacher Induction (how I loathe that I have to go to a full week of new teacher induction meetings after teaching for 10 years), then we have a week before school starts!  Panic.  

Everything is depending on the fact that this house SELLS, it has to sell!!!  

In an attempt to make me feel better so much more stressed out, everyone keeps telling me their moving horror stories, how their house took 6 months to close, how they went through 4 buyers before they finally sold, how their moving truck got in an accident on the freeway and all their belongings were scattered across I-15... fabulous.  How do your horror stories help me relax???  How?

So how do I deal with my stress?  I plan.

Yep, while work men tore out my water heater and dealt with the NASTY mold I sat inside and worked on my planning pages.

(While my kids had a lunch of Popsicles, Goldfish crackers, and Hawaiian Punch.  Please don't judge too harshly.)

It got my mind off of how much this is going to cost me, on top of how much everything else is costing me, uugh.  On top of the fact that I am so far away I can't unpack my classroom, or decorate, or run copies, or, or, or!  And once I get up there I have to do all of that and unpack a house, and get 3 kids settled, and have both hubby, daughter, and I ready for a new school year.  Moving may just cause my mental break down if it doesn't bankrupt us.

I had to remind myself that this will all be worth it, that I KNOW this is where the Lord wants us to go, that there is a plan I do not yet fully understand.

So to help me deal, once my plan pages were done I moved onto this (as I tossed my kids some fruit snacks):

I am now curriculum mapped for everything but math (due to the fact that my math curriculum is 250 miles away).  It is amazing how a little planning can calm a girl down (that and a silent prayer or two).

Now I just have to figure out how we are going to live without hot water until Monday!  Good thing the kids got baths last night!

We booked our room!

Hubsters and I have almost been married 10 years!  EEK!  I suddenly feel so old, haha.  

We have been trying to figure out our anniversary trip for months now.  Our anniversary is over spring break (one benefit to getting married on spring break in college and then becoming a teacher... you always have time off for your anniversary).  We always had a great excuse to do something fun to celebrate.  Then almost 3 years ago...

...our youngest baby (who is not so much of a baby these days) was born over spring break (best spring break ever) and so going away now means being gone on her birthday.... major momma guilt.  So for the past 2 years our anniversary get away has become a family vacation and little Maggie gets to spend her birthday on vacation!   This worked out great for us and we loved celebrating our anniversary/Maggster's birthday together as a fam.

But with this being the big 10 we decided we were going away, just the two of us, no matter what!  Maggie is turning 3 and we will celebrate her birthday before and after we leave... I am sure she will forgive us.  

So once I got over the guilt of leaving my baby on her birthday, maybe I am still not completely over that... hmmmm.... and made sure my mom would take the kids, because if I can't be with her on her birthday Grandma is the next best thing, right?!?  We had to choose a destination.  Hubby has left this completely up to me... he just wanted me to make up my mind... days ago.  haha.

So I began trying to choose where to go...

Cruise (I am afraid I will get seasick)

Skiing (I am not as young as I once was and if I blow out my knee, who is going to teach my classes and take care of my children)

New York (not in the budget, but oh I wish)

Seattle (because that is where we honeymooned 10 years ago.... but it is so cold and rainy this time of year... I really would rather visit in the summer months)

Hawaii (definitely not in the budget)

Hubsters  then told me he would rather not fly... hmmm... okay within driving distance from Southern Utah... Cali?

Santa Barbara (I am a huge fan of Psych so this just seemed like a great idea!  Finding a hotel ON THE BEACH was just not going to happen though.)

San Diego (eh? I really would rather go here with the kids,  Sea World... the Zoo...)

I really wanted something near the ocean... not too busy... with a relaxed atmosphere... but still had shopping and great food (because according to my hubby that makes a good vacation).

Then it hit me I was trying so hard to find a place like MONTEREY.  Why not just go to Monterey?

We went to Monterey two years ago when our baby girl, Maggie, turned one.  I loved it.  Our hotel was right on the beach.  I woke up to the sound of waves and walked on the beach everyday.  The food was amazing.  A perfect getaway.  It was a wonderful family vacation but how great would it be for just the two of us.  No need to visit the aquarium, which I highly recommend my kidlets loved it, or hang out at the park, or the children's museum.  We could do grown up things.  We can go to nice restaurants and talk, cause that does not happen with three little kids.  Maybe even sight see.  Drive down highway 1.  Sleep in.  Relax.  Read a book on the beach.  I am not saying I don't love making a sand castle, but the thought of going to the beach and just enjoying it for me... not worrying if my kids are too close to the water, or reprimanding my little man for throwing sand in his sisters' eyes.  

So I made our hotel reservations today...

This photo of BEST WESTERN PLUS Beach Resort Monterey is courtesy of TripAdvisor

...at the same hotel we stayed at two years ago.  I finally made a decision and  in March I will be waking up here for 4 beautiful days!  Just me and my best friend.  I am kinda excited. And yes those are stairs, to the beach, from the rooms... yep.  It is kinda like heaven on earth.

Now I just have to start shopping for all the things I need for the trip, new clothes are definitely in order.  Nothing gets you through January like planning for a vacation!

Assessment Time....

Report cards and SEP's are just around the corner, eek!  Report card testing is NOT my favorite part of teaching.  I hate filling out report cards and testing, testing, testing.  Despite my lack of excitement I will be spending time the next two weeks making sure my kidlets are where they need to be. To make this task a little more bearable I made a quick and easy assessment sheet to keep myself organized and make all that record keeping a bit easier. Here is a copy of the assessment form that I made for our team to use.  Feel free to snag a copy for yourself.  Just click on the image below.

Happy Testing.

How do you plan...

I am linking up... let's be honest I am hoping to be a giveaway winner, who doesn't love Erin Condren?  Sign me up.... {{swoon}} I am a planner, and I LOVE MY  PLANNER but an Erin Condren planner, that is beyond love, and beyond the teaching budget... enter giveaway.

Head over to Jessica's blog to link up with how you plan and enter her great giveaway to win a $25 giveaway to Erin Condren... me, me, me!!!

Okay... planning.

I am a binder kind of girl.  I have tried so many pre-made plan books, binders, etc. over the past 9 years... so many.  The awful planner you get from  the school, an adorable planner from CTP, that I had to write the exact same things in every week, over and over and over... It wasn't until I became a Reading Recovery teacher that I fell in love with the binder.  Something about keeping all my lessons in a binder, being able to add pages, etc. etc. etc.

Fast Forward to today.

I make my own planning pages.  I hate having my guided reading and weekly planning in separate places.  I have been teaching long enough now my plans are more like reminder notes, I don't need a lot of space.  (The first few years of teaching my plans were.... detailed... very, very, very detailed.  This system would not have worked then.)

Here are a few snippets of my planning system.

Above: Pictures of my planner.  I chose to print in black/white (just to save some ink) but if you click on my planning labels to the side or just out my TpT store you can find lots of my planning pages for FREE!  Happy Planning.

Sidenote: I go back to school on Monday, eek.  So much to do.  I am hoping to post a classroom tour over the weekend of the finished room.

Summer is nearing its end...

I start my advanced interactive whiteboard class tomorrow, I remember signing up for it in May.  I told myself, "Well that will be the end of my summer!", after my class I will have to get my room set up, copies made, books bound, assessment letters mailed off, meetings to attend, and then school starts... Eeek!  The list making has begun...

The kids start August 15th, it will be here much too quickly.  I love teaching I do, but I LOVE summer!  I love sleeping in (as much as my kiddos will allow) taking time in the morning to make a real breakfast, cuddling on the couch, reading teacher blogs, naptime!  I got the dreaded back to school letter yesterday from my principal...

 time to kick it into gear and get that room together.  With my move to a smaller classroom this year I am having to be super creative as to how to fit all of my favorite kindergarten items (like my puppet stage and sand table) into my teeny tiny space... "I think I can, I think I can!" (Little Man has been a bit obsessed with the Little Engine that Could lately, my apologies.)


One of the many things on my to do list is to copy and bind this:

{click HERE to go to my TpT store}

  As well as our Zero the Hero Books, one of my all time favorite TpT purchases, from Kathleen at Growing Kinders. 

 I even bought the extension pack, LOVE.  I linked the PDF pages into my interactive whiteboard calendar with a link right to the page that corresponds from our hundreds chart, we can look at the page together on the IWB before they go to their seats.  Switching from my traditional calendar to my IWB calendar was  a HARD change for me, but it saves me SO MUCH SPACE and I have to say being able to link music and PDF's is a nice option.

Well hubby will be home from work soon and so maybe I need to wake the kiddos up from naps and ummmm... shower, don't judge these days will soon come to a close and I will be up and showered before the dawn!

Happy list making!

Teacher Must Have's

I am linking up with my top 5 teacher must have's~ DO you realize how hard it is to choose just 5!?!?  Soooooo hard!

First on my list, a good teaching easel.  I have taught first grade, reading recovery, and kindergarten and could not have functioned without my easel!  (I never used or needed one in fifth grade!)  If you are teaching primary grades you NEED an easel, preferably one with some storage and hopefully a place to hang a pocket chart from time to time!



Storage Containers... I am a little obsessed with storage and probably have more containers that the average teacher.  However container obsessed or not you do need to contain all those classroom items.  My first year the budget was tight so I looked at the dollar store, Target's dollar spot, I always checked the 'giveaway table' at the beginning of each year, old teachers were always getting rid of stuff.  But another great resource is your staff developer (or the equivalent at your school) we would get new books, teaching manuals, etc. etc. and they would often come in cardboard book holders or magazine file (type holders) etc. It is easy to spray paint, modge podge, etc. to make them match your classroom decor and they are FREE!!!




Gallon Size Baggies!
I use baggies of all sizes in my classroom but Gallon is my most used size by far!  Each term I send home flashcards, book marks, ABC charts, letter tiles, etc. and ALWAYS put them in a gallon size baggie for parents to hold onto and store the items.  I use them for listening centers, etc etc. etc.

Baggies are ALWAYS on my donation list and we go through them like crazy!  Stock up!




Speaking of bags, I ALWAYS keep my grocery bags, I store them in my closet and whenever a kiddo happens to forget their backpack (which is at least one kiddo each day it seems) I pull out a bag!  We put their stuff inside and then hang one handle on each shoulder, just like a backpack!  It works great and prevents their papers and take home books from getting lost on the way home!




My last MUST HAVE is... my planbook!  A great planbook is essential!   Click on my links for free downloads of my planning calendar and planbook pages.  Hope this helps and 'Happy Teaching!'

More Planning and Another Award!

 
 

 Since I have been sharing bits and pieces of my planbook, have I mentioned that I love my planbook?!?  I thought I would share my information pages that I keep in the very front of my beloved book. They keep me all together and organized, ahhh.  Just click on the picture below to check 'em out!

And on another unrelated note, two very lovely ladies nominated me for another award:

Special thanks to Crystal at Mrs. Jones' Junction and Lori at Homemade First Grade for the nominations:

Here are the requirements for accepting this award:

1.  Thank the blogger who nominated you.  Thanks again ladies!

2.  Include a link to their site... see above.

3.  Include the award image on your blog...I added it to my my awards page.

4.  Include 7 random facts about yourself:

• I love, love, LOVE sleeping in... I never get to do it with three little kiddos but I LOVE it (on the very rare occasion that it happens).
• Diet coke addict. Need I say more?  It kinda gets me through my teaching day.  During the summer I try to go without and it is BRUTAL!  I indulged yesterday and I am fairly certain a heavenly choir sang! 
• I love to bake, but hate to cook.
• Hubby and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary in March!  I can't believe it has been ten years!  In my mind we are still those young college kids, reality check!
• Speaking of Hubsters he is an amazing musician.  He sings all day and so do my sweet kidlets!  Thanks to his influence music is a HUGE part of my school day and I was finally able to get over my fear of singing with people in the room.  I no longer care who can hear me.
• Oh and the Mr. is taking me to Wicked for my birthday in September, in Vegas, I am THRILLED (not about the birthday getting older is not on my list of fav's but Wicked... that is something to be thrilled about)!  
• I am trying to simplify my life.... starting with the massive amount of clothing that my children have.  I am cutting it in half and getting rid of the rest (which is so hard for me to do).  Wish me luck!

5.  Nominate 15 other blogs for this award...

(I am working on this and will update as I nominate) 

The Daily Alphabet 

Mrs. Plant's Press 

Adventures of Mrs. Smith 

Kinder Cuties

Run Miss Nelson's Got the Camera 

Read Write SIng 


Once Upon a First Grade Adventure  
Crafty Cousins

6.  When nominating, be sure to include a link to their site...see above.

7.  Let bloggers know they have been nominated.   I am leaving a comment on  the most recent post on each of the 15 blogs!!

Congratulations to you all!  I am so excited to get to know all of you a little better, thanks for welcoming me to the blog world!

Classroom In Progress & a Freebie

Well I am linking up with Surfin' Through Second and her classroom theme linky party.  Let's be honest my room is still far from ready for kindergarten kidlets to walk through that door, I was thrilled with myself when I got all of my stuff into cupboards and out of the hallway, moving this year has taken more time than I thought it would.  I have been hauling my three kiddos over to the school for a couple hours after swimming lessons each day trying to make a little progress.  It is amazing how little I can get accomplished with the help of  5, 4, and 2 year olds!  I think we spend more time cleaning up what they get out than getting things up on the walls... it does give me lots of time to sit in my new space and just look around trying to decide what will go where, am I the only one that just sits and looks at the room forever before actually doing anything?!?

I finally have enough done that I at least have something to show you but you should see the ginormous pile of lovliness I just picked up from the District Media Center that still needs to be cut out, laminated, and then hung on my walls... ginormous!  So until I am ready for a complete reveal here is a sneak peak of the work in progress.  My colors are apple green, pink, and turquoise.  I am also a bit partial to dots.  Check it out.

Oh and I mentioned in my previous post how much I LOVE my planbook, so here is a freebie of my two page spread I use.  I teach 2 sessions of kindergarten so it is set up for my am and pm students.  I like to have my guided reading plans (at least a quick outline) right in my planbook.  So one half of my planbook is set up for guided reading and literacy centers.  The other half of my planbook spread is for math, literacy, and content.  We have early release on Friday and I use that time for math rotations (I took that out of the planning pages since most of you will not have early release on Friday).  If you like it but need a couple changes let me know I may be able to tweak it for your needs.  Just click my blog icon above and it will take you to my freebie!  Enjoy!

summer and a freebie

Please tell me I am not the only teacher who spends her summer days making planbooks, curriculum mapping, and updating my classroom.  My hubby kindly reminded me yesterday that it is July and I have spent my entire summer working on school projects (minus taking the kiddos to swim lessons and enjoying way too many sno cones of course).  Note to self: tackle some other summer projects, like sorting through the kids clothes.  Until then, since I am planning I thought I would share a little freebie.  I love, love, love my planbook (it makes me super happy, and super organized which is super necessary).  I hope you can find a use for my planbook calendars.  Maybe I will share a copy of my planning pages tomorrow... if I don't end up doing something frivolous like a drive to icebox for the best sno cone EVER... seriously I need to make time to enjoy my summer, it is going to be over soon, way too soon.

Grab your Freebie below: