Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Summer Time and Maternity Leave

It's July 9th and I'm ready to get back into my classroom.  I've been off now since April 18th for maternity leave. I had my sweet baby boy on April 22nd.  We've had a great time getting to know one another, and I LOVE spending time with him every day, but it's time.  I can't stand being cooped up in my house and my other two babies are ready for this summer to be over as well.  My oldest informed me that this is the worst summer ever because we haven't been our normal busy selves due to the baby. 
My 3rd little nugget!

My 2nd little nugget.


My 1st little nugget.

We have seriously done nothing this summer.  We usually do our Summer Bucket List.  Which consists of 2 buckets of fun things for us to do.  We've done ZIP, ZERO, NADA.  And they are not to thrilled about it.  My sweet husband has, however, brought them to the Bounce House and to Toys R Us were the Elsa doll has still not shown her face.  We've been to my sister's house a few times to swim and then we've cleaned the house umpteen times.

When I left my classroom in April, I had scrubbed it down and organized it so well for my sub.  When I returned to pack up the day after the last day of school, I couldn't find anything.  Which is to be expected since someone else was in my room.  So, instead of organizing everything nicely, I pretty much threw everything into boxes and on bookshelves and called it quits.  Plus, they turn off the A/C during the summer and my little man was with us.  I had to strip him down to a diaper and do the best I could to keep him cool.  Summer in S.E. Texas is not too kind to us.






So, now that I've been off for 2 months, it's time to go back.  I can't wait to get in there and do some things a little differently.

My Pinterest boards are overflowing with ideas that I must try.  I've been steadily going through them and writing down the ones I want to try this year.  I'll keep you posted on what I've done to get ready for school.  For now, I'm going to get some shut  eye.  My little man is stirring and like they all say, "Sleep when the baby sleeps."


First School Blog for Me

I am constantly looking for new ideas to use in my classroom, and have found thousands that I would like to try to incorporate into my daily hectic schedule in first grade.  Ain't nobody got time for all that.  So, I must be picky and choose only what will work for my babies.

I'm starting this blog to keep track of the different activities, lessons, classroom management procedures, etc. that I try and have liked and vice versa.  I will give feedback on how things worked, or if I would improvise or try something completely different with and for them.

One thing I've noticed in the blogosphere is that there are a ton of blogs dedicated to the Common Core. Texas does not participate in Common Core; therefore, most of the resources available do not follow along with the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) that I must follow in order to ensure that my babies have been taught everything they must know and master before moving on to 2nd grade in the great state of Texas.

So, here I am.  I'm joining thousands of other educators that love their jobs so much that we're willing to stay up a few extra hours when we should be cleaning house, folding laundry, or in my case when I should be sleeping because my 2 month old baby is snoozing away and will probably wake as soon as I turn off my computer.