I am still alive!I

It seems like it has been forever since I last blogged, but I promise I am still alive. 

In the summer I work as a camp director and I am pretty much away from technology all week. As much as I miss it, I do enjoy the break. 

On top of being MIA, while I have been gone, my laptop also decided to die. It was 6 years old and a Gateway. They do not even make those anymore. :) I can officially say that I am now a proud MacBook Pro owner and I absolutely love it! I am still learning, but I am sure there are a ton of you all that could help me out! 

I am also teaming up with several wonderful bloggers over the next few weeks for some giveaways and I cannot wait! One of my favorite things to do is share my products with you all! 

I hope to get another post up with some linky parties in it. I have missed some of my favorites over the past few weeks! 

Hope you all are having a great summer! I get to find out what firsties will be in my class in 1 month from tomorrow! 

Loving It!

There is so much that I am loving right now! 

One. This summer cute new blog look that Jenn designed for me! I knew that as soon as I found out that I was moving grade levels that I wanted to change it up. I was excited to have a new blog name too. Luckily, my URL will stay the same and I will keep all of my 6th grade posts up too. I just love how fun and playful the new look is! What are your thoughts?

Two. I am loving my summer job! I work as a camp director for a camp that I have been attending for over half of my life. I am loving my new roll and cannot wait to see how it challenges me this summer. I know that this is great practice for me when I am ready to be a principal. I take my TExES Principal Exam on July 17th!

Three. My new classroom! I went by this week during my off day from camp to do a few things. I did some purging of things that were left by the previous teacher and they are no more! What a great feeling to be starting fresh! 

What are you loving so far this summer?

One Chapter Ends...Another Begins!

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It is hard to believe, but I have finished teaching 6th grade as of 3:35 p.m. today. I may have done a happy dance in the hallway after school to celebrate! Big picture it is bittersweet. The people and kids are what I am going to miss, but I am beyond excited for my new adventure! 

6th grade was never part of the plan for me, well, at least I did not think it was supposed to be. These past two years have taught me so much and I have learned a lot about myself as an educator. 

I will never forget sitting in the elementary principal's office to go over my second student teaching evaluation from my university professor and him telling me that the middle school principal wanted me to finish my student teaching in 6th grade. At the time I thought she was crazy. Why would this girl who always wanted to teach 1st or 2nd grade be crazy enough to venture to 6th grade? I still cannot believe that I agreed to it. I had barely even subbed at the middle school level at this point and had spent 95% of my time in Kinder-5th grade. When I began my adventure in 6th grade, I was a novice who knew absolutely nothing who inherited a total unorganized mess of a classroom. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea how I was going to fix the bridge that had been burned by the previous teacher as well.

While I was finishing my student teaching in 6th grade, a 3rd grade position opened up at the elementary school where I did the first part of my student teaching so I applied for it and got an interview. I personally thought the interview went great, but it was not part of the plan for me at the time. I really had no idea what I was going to do. The 6th grade position that I had been filling in for was open and I decided to apply. I knew I really wanted to stay in the area and this seemed like the best option. When I was offered the position just a few days later, I took it. I really had no idea what to expect and I was just happy to have a job within the district.

The past two years have turned out to be such an amazing experience for me and I know that I am a better teacher because of teaching 6th grade.

This chapter may be closing, but I cannot wait to start writing a new chapter in 1st grade.

(No worries, the blog is staying and my domain is not changing. I will have a new look though in the next week or so though and a new blog name too!)

Next year I am definitely...(Linky Party)

I am beyond excited about linking up with one of my favorite 6th grade blogger, Kim! Be sure you link up and join her linky party because she is amazing!

 I couldn't resist...I had to do it! Of course I will be doing everything differently because I am making a huge change from 6th to 1st grade! This was a decision I made and I could not be happier about it. My dream has always been to teach 1st or 2nd grade and now I am getting to do that! 

 This past year was the first year that they have done Writer's Workshop at the school I will be teaching at and I am so excited about it. We have about an hour built into the schedule for it and I want to make sure that my students get that time each day. I feel like writing is often overlooked and that children come to not like it. I want it to be something that they enjoy on a daily basis!

 I am obsessed with the Daily 5 and cannot wait to use it in my classroom! I just love that the students have a choice in what they are doing and the prep time is way less for the teacher. Luckily, they have been doing Daily 5 in Kinder, so my kiddos will be used to it already. :)

 I love reading about everyone's Sub Tubs. I have been spoiled because on sub plans for 6th grade I only had to fill about an hour of time. 1st grade won;t quite be that way. I think a sub tub will be the perfect solution for me. 

 Being that I am moving to a new classroom, I really hope that this is something I can do. I am going to have to organize all of my materials and supplies in a new space, I just need to keep it that way! 

That is pretty self explanatory! I am beyond excited for the upcoming year and cannot wait to share it with you all!

Five for Friday...on Saturday

I know I am a little late to the party, but I still wanted to play! 

Be sure to had on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to see posts from some amazing bloggers! 

One. I am still stunned by the destruction of the tornado in Oklahoma! I cannot even imagine having to deal with a situation like that while in school! I knew right away that I wanted to give back somehow so I participated in a few things that I found. Check out The Teacher's Treasure Chest and Teacher's Notebook to see how you can give back and get some great resources at the same time! 

Two. I have known since April 4th that I would be teaching 1st grade in the fall and I still cannot believe it! I would be lying if I said I was not excited. I found out yesterday that I will get a key to my new classroom on June 7th! I may have done a little packing already. 

This picture is from over a week ago. It is even more out of control now. I cannot believe how much stuff I have acquired in two short years. :)

Three. Do you remember the nasty hail storm I posted about two weeks ago? Well, my car was not totaled, but I still managed to get a new one out of the deal. I got myself a 2013 Toyota Highlander and I am loving it! 

Four. In First Grade they do Writing Workshop and I am so excited about it! When I did three days of observations in 1st grade I got to see it in action. I also spoke with the AP and she hooked me up with some summer reading materials for me about the Writing Workshop model. Right now I am about halfway finished with About the Authors and I absolutely love it! If you do writing workshop in your classroom, you must read this book!

Five. I guest blogged over at Texas Teacher Roundup...go check out my post!

3 Things I'm Looking Forward to...

First off, I have to share something exciting that I am a part of you! If you are a Texas Teacher you are going to be so excited because we have created a blog that is dedicated just to you! 

This blog will be featuring guest posts and links to ideas that are aligned with the K-5 TEKS in Texas. This is going to be such a great resource and I am very much looking forward to being a part of it!

As many of you know, I am going to be teaching 1st grade in the fall and I could not be more excited about it! I was lucky enough to spend a few days with my new team and I just know that it is going to be the best year yet! I thought that in honor of my upcoming change that I would share the top 3 things that I am looking forward to about 1st grade. 

1. Writer's Workshop-
This past year is the 1st year that they have implemented writing workshop in 1st grade and it has been such a hit. While I was observing I was amazed at the amount of writing that the students were doing. I love how independent the students become and the opportunity that they have to reflect on their writing throughout the year. I also love teaching using mini-lessons so this will be right up my alley.

2. The Daily 5-
I was lucky enough to attend the Daily 5 Conference in San Antonio last year and it did not disappoint one bit! I implemented the Daily 5 in my 6th grade classroom last school year, and I cannot wait to dive into it from the beginning of the year in 1st grade. I love the independence that it teaches to students and the flexibility it allows in the classroom as well. I am hoping to implement the CAFE component as well for some of my mini-lessons during whole group time, but we will see. 

3. Forming Relationships with Parents-

This is something that I have missed while spending these past two years in a middle school classroom. With 105 students I have not had the parental relationships that I would have liked to have. I will be self-contained and I am looking forward to having great contact with the parents of my students. I believe that home is where a child's education starts and I cannot wait to have a better relationship with my students' parents. 

Five on Friday

What a week it has been! It is definitely one for the books!

One. I spent the beginning of this week shadowing in 1st grade and I absolutely loved it! I know that moving to 1st grade was the right decision and that following my heart was a great choice! I just love the team and they are such a fun group of people to be around. I am also super excited because we will be implementing both the Daily 5 and Writer's Workshop. They started with Writer's Workshop this year, but the Daily 5 will be new for 1st in the fall. I am a huge fan of it and I actually implemented it in my 6th grade classroom last year!

Two. We had some serious storms in my Hill Country town last night. I got this picture from my mom today at about 9 a.m. 

 That would be my Camry going off to the body shop. I am not really sure why it had to go because it looks fine to me. :)

Don't you think I can drive it tomorrow? We are thinking it may be totaled because they are going to have to fix every single panel on the car with the damage that it got. I may or may not have my eye on a 4Runner if that does end up being the case. 

Three. I got the sweetest cards from one of my 6th graders this week during Teacher Appreciation. It is cards like that that make me realize why I do what I do. It is one I will keep forever!

Four. In a little over 12 hours I will be walking the stage at graduation for my Masters Degree in Education with my Principal Certification. I actually finished up in December, but they only have graduation once a year. So excited to have this chapter of my life finished. Now it may help if I take my principal exam. 

Five. Tuesday is field trip day for 6th grade and we are headed to the zoo. It has been several years since I have last gone and I cannot wait. You can bet I will be blowing instagram up on Tuesday! 

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