It Was Not An Easy Decision

My apologies for being absent for the last 39 days.  Lots of changes around here.

I have been checking my IG account a bit, but blogging has not been possible. I hope you had not forgotten about me :)

Let's go back to January....  I decided it was time to update my resume... you know, to look for a 'new' job.I decided that teaching is totally my thing, so the only thing I could think of, was to apply at the school my own two children attend.  I gathered my fresh updated resume, my five letters of recommendation, my references, and asked the administrator (I guess private schools do not have principals) for five minutes of her time. 

One nice cold day in January I handed her my paperwork.  I think she was a bit surprised but nicely chatted with me about her school.  I knew much about her school through a parent's eye, but I had questions as a possible future staff member.  I was told the chances were not good.  The school is small (about 250-300 kids) and teachers do love it there.  I left knowing I would probably never get an interview nor a job :(

March came around and I had heard nothing from them.  I had given up.  My husband and I had been discussing plan B,C, and D by then.  Sure enough, I get a phone call asking if I wanted to interview for a position. I am pretty sure I interrupted the lady on the phone before she could change her mind.  My family and I went on our cruise and the day after we came back, I sat in front of 5 nice ladies (all administrators of the other campuses in the area).  I was glad the administrator from my kids' school was there.  She made me feel much more comfortable.  So, they asked me if I was interested in being a Spanish teacher.  I quickly explained to them that teaching Spanish had never been my ideal.  I have always wanted my own classroom, and being a specialist was not what I was really looking for.  Some people thought I was crazy for not taking the opportunity to get out of the classroom, but like I said... I belong in the classroom.  We continued with the interview, and said our good byes.  

A day later, I  receive an e-mail with a job offer. I called them back and they offered me a job as a part time intervention assistant, and part time K-5 Spanish teacher.  I quickly accepted, but beg them to keep me in mind in case a classroom job came available.  I am going to be totally honest with you, I was not thrilled, I was excited to have the opportunity to get my foot in the door, but not thrilled. 

I then received my contract in the mail.  I called them to clarify some things and then received a new offer.  I then, once again, said yes as fast as I could! 

Meet the newest Third Grade Teacher with a Second Grade Blog :) 

Making the decision to say yes was easy.  Understanding that I was about to leave my home for the last 8 years was not.   I will not lie  and tell you that everything was peachy at my old school.  There were a billion things that made me doubt my decision to leave on the daily basis.  It was my home.  My happy place. I cried. I talked it out. I convinced myself.  I asked for advice.  I wrote a pros/cons list.... It was still so painful.  I knew I could not continue to be my best if I stuck around, so I decided to let it go and believe that everything had happened for a reason.   Once I signed my contract, I then shared it with my team. My amazing team of women who had put up with me for years.  I am not easy to be around sometimes :)  I am too passionate for some. LOL 

I also shared the news with my students and with the closest parents I had worked with for years. My heart ached for days. I am still in a bit of painful denial.  I miss my friends.  I miss those who know me inside out. I miss the comfort they brought to me. I miss my feeling of belonging...but I know I will get there in my new school. 

The hardest day was going to the office and hugging my assistant principal.  I cried. We cried.  I said good bye to my friends. I had not cried like that in a long time.  I walked rapidly to my car and let it all out.  I was having a hard time breathing. I was in pain.  I still am.

I had 5 days off between school years. Let's talk about exhaustion!  Everything at the new school is different. Everything. Not in a bad way, just different.  They use textbooks. I  had never held a reading or math textbook in the last ten years of my career. They have leveled classrooms. They have amazing high expectations that fit my personality ( I have always been the strict teacher).  They do not have a cafeteria. I have one team member instead of 5 or 7.  She is amazing and I could not have had survived without her. Thank you Ms. B.!!!

Everyone has been super welcoming and sweet.  I am going through training and all sorts of new information. My head is about to explode, but I am HAPPY!   My own to kids are thrilled mom works at their school now :) 

I miss my second graders, but third graders are not bad.at.all. :) and kids in school uniforms!!!

I am sorry for the long novel.  If you have been following my blog, you know my posts are short and sweet :)

Here's to an amazing year... To learning. To more time with my family. To new friends. To professional growth. To happiness. 

Wishing you an amazing school year!

Love, 

Keep Calm and Survive Second Grade... with Awards Your Students Can Wear and Resumes

I am trying to stay calm.  Calm is something I do not know well unless I am sleeping :)
I have 7 weeks left of school. We still have much to learn, assessments to complete, and then... my end-of-the-year activities will commence.  I am ready for that fun part :)
I am trying to enjoy every last bit of fun I can have with my kids.  They have been fabulous.  I think they are ready for third grade :(  I am not ready to let them go, but I guess that is what happens, right?

I am here, joining a super nice bloggy friend, Angela,  who organized (and invited ME!) this keep calm blog hop. I hope you get a chance to say hi to all these bloggy friends, and find something to keep you calm.

Keeping reading... there is a freebie for all of you, second grade teachers.  I DO promise to edit and add more grades, but it may have to wait a bit.  It is conferences time for me and I am crazy busy.

Let's start with End of the Year Awards your students can wear.  I created them last year, and my kiddos really liked them.  I will be redoing them for my fantabulous class this year.   

They are editable... meaning you can add your students name :)

Find them HERE

I also created them in Spanish.  

Find them HERE.

Feel free to check my last year's post HERE.

Moving to 2014...

Today, we completed our resumes. I explained their purpose and showed the kids my real resume.  

My students from a few years back had written resumes, but for some reason I did not do it the last few years.  I remembered how much our third grade teachers enjoyed getting them in the kids cumulative folders, and I knew I had to share them with you.

Let me show you some pictures. 

Your freebie :)  Find it HERE

Don't leave after getting your freebie and leaving me some love :)  Then...go visit the next blog and visit the girl who lives in a divine place.  I am so jealous every time I see pictures of her beautiful paradise.

Find her HERE. 

Keep Calm and Survive Second Grade. 

Speaking and Listening Goals

Having to teach and assess speaking and listening goals (like SL.2.1 and SL.2.3) was hard for me this year. Was I supposed to listen while my students talked to their friends, grade their retelling abilities, or listen while they were arguing disagreeing with each other?

While my class has always been one that collaborates from day one, I still wanted to have a teaching moment about speaking and listening goals. I wanted a teaching tool.  I wanted to have something tangible I could assess too.

I had to teach my kiddos that your speaking voice can change the outcome of what happens.  People are willing to help you if your tone is a nice one.  If you are rude and tell people what to do, well, your friends may not want to do so much for you. 

I still have one friend who has a hard time with his tone, and finding his manners.  I ask him to find his manners in his backpack if he wants to talk to me :) 

While listening to the kids, I realized that they are always talking about their friends.  When you ask them about their weekend, they talk about their friends, so... this came to life!

I have a created a product with discussion cards about friendship. You can find it HERE. 

Let me show you how we did this in our classroom.

We started by making a big circle in the middle of our classroom.  I posted a question about being a nice friend. 

We then had a small group of brave girls who wanted to share what a great discussion looked like.  The rest of us paid close attention to everything they did. 

I gave the kids a small piece of paper (included in my product) where they recorded what they saw. 

After we reviewed what a great conversation looks and sounds like, we divided the class by tables (4 kids per group). They received a friendship card and discuss it agreeing, and respectfully disagreeing while sharing their thoughts.

We tried a few cards and then the kids went back to their now mini circles, to discuss once again,

and record their final thoughts. They used a checklist to check off what they observed during their small group discussions.

While they recorded their final conclusions I snapped a picture of this glorious moment.  Do you see them working together??!!!  A dream come true :) 

Is this something you think you can use?  I am choosing two friends to get this tomorrow.  Help me by pinnning it and leaving your pin and e-mail address.  

Happy discussion time!

I Should Have Blogged About It: Student Teacher Gifts

Do you happen to take pictures of things around your classroom,  thinking you'd like to share on your blog, but do not get around to it?

I take pictures all the time, and by the time I am ready to post...  I do not think is good enough for a post, something else comes up, or I am terribly tired to do anything. 

For right now, I have decided that since I took lots of pictures, I will begin a series of things I wanted to share with you.  I am hoping you see something cool.

Let's begin with part one:

As you may remember, I was lucky enough to have (my first) a fantabulous student teacher.  Saying good bye was hard!  I am happy to report that we have become BFFs. I need friends, you guys!

I'd like to share with you how we said good bye to our student teacher.  

I purchased a plastic bin at Michael's.  I have a container like this one, which I use to carry my guided reading books from the book room to my classroom.  I wanted to get her something she could later use.  

I then created two cute covers to spice it up.

Fun paper, a box of blank cards, color pens, stickers, notepads, apple note pad, PTA goodies with our school mascot, and of course, a jar for some chocolate.

I did all the shopping and wrapped everything with tulle (bought her favorite color).  I wanted the kids to share their wisdom, so we created a book with advice on how to be the best teacher.  

As you can see crafts are a big deal in our classroom... and learning from me was truly the best advice :) 

I purchased a mini scrapbooking album and filled it up with goodies as well.

For the first page, I took a class picture. Then I took pictures of my student teacher with the kids. We did it by table, so we had 6 pictures at the end. 

I glued the pictures and then glued a small thank you note matching the kids pictures, so she'd remember them years from now.

The last for pages were filled with gift cards. 

We had cake (can't find the picture) and juice. I am pretty sure I ate about 3 slices of the cake.

I miss her. I miss her. I miss her. #maybeiwillgetluckyagain  #ilovemynewbff #studentteachertaughtmealot 

Mother's Day Album

Our presents for Mother's Day are done!  Wrapped and ready to go.  I can hardly believe it.
I am a week early...pinch me :)

Check out these beautiful women! We started with a front and back cover using card stock.

 I purchased photo albums from Dollar Tree, tissue paper, and tulle.  

The kids wrote about their moms using a variety of prompts.  

They  illustrated each prompt, cut them out, added them to each album, and told me ALL of their mom's secrets.  I know it all by now :)

I updated my product a bit and it will be on sale for 48 hours :) 

What did you make for your kiddos' moms?

I am choosing two friends to get this. All you have to do it is Pin it to Win it :)  Don't forget to leave your e-mail and your pin... along with your comment.  I love reading your comments!