This school year has been crazy! I made the move from first grade back to kindergarten this year. I enjoyed my 2 years teaching first but kindergarten is really my "happy place". To make things even better, I am in the room next to one of my best friends. We are having so much fun working together and it has been a huge bright spot to the year... and this year needed a bright spot!
Our school has been under construction since last spring and it has been challenging. I have done a lot of packing... and a lot of unpacking... and then more packing... and more unpacking... You get the idea. I moved into my new kindergarten room at the beginning of the year. Then, I had to pack every. single. thing. for our move in October. I had to empty every cabinet and every drawer and had about a week to do it. (While teaching kindergarten all day and going home to 4 children every night.) After getting "settled" in our new room we learned that the construction was moving ahead of schedule. So... I packed every. single. thing. AGAIN. The boxes and furniture were moved BACK to my classroom over Christmas break.
Thank goodness, we had a teacher workday the first day after the holiday break. However, it was a little overwhelming to walk in that first day.
Boxes, and boxes, and boxes. So many boxes!
Needless to say, it was a very long day. After hours and hours of unpacking it started to look like a classroom again. Unfortunately I was too tired to think about taking photos by that point so you will just have to take my word for it. We are slowly getting back to "normal". I still can't find anything and there are still boxes hidden in the closets... but we are getting there!
Are you as obsessed with teaching videos on Youtube as I am? There are SO many great ones! I feel like I can find a video about almost anything I need these days. My favorites are the "Have Fun Teaching" videos. Do you know about their channel? It is awesome. We especially love the Alphabet Sounds and sight word videos. Our all time favorite video is for the sight word "said". I don't think I will ever have a student spell that word wrong again! So, we did a lot of singing this week. We do a lot of singing every week.
If I ever stop teaching, I think I could have a very successful new career as an Uber driver. My oldest started high school this year. That means that I have become a full time chauffeur get to see her enjoy all kinds of new activities. She is cheerleading for basketball season and I am having a lot of fun watching her.
One of my twins has been having a hard time for the past few weeks. I think he has a really bad case of third-grade-itis. I don't know how you third grade teachers do it! It seems like every kid I know goes through a tough time in third grade. He is doing great academically. He is just "off". He has been down. He is one of the happiest kids I've ever met and he's been sad. It breaks my heart. That's how I got roped into THIS.
I'm still not exactly sure how it happened... Their class has new pets. I can't even tell you what kind of "pets" because I am so grossed out by them that I refuse to acknowledge it. Their names are "Cuddles" and "Wuddles". Sounds "not gross" enough, right? So, somehow I agreed to let them take Cuddles and Wuddles home for the weekend. It was Friday afternoon... I hadn't slept well... Matt was smiling with those dimples that get me every time... and they were curled up in the corner of the cage so I couldn't really see them. Somehow I agreed.
Then we started to carry the cage back to my classroom and they woke up. When they were sleeping, all cuddly and wuddly, they looked kind of like hamsters. (Which, by the way, I am not really a fan of hamsters either but I am not terrified of them.) They did not look like hamsters when they woke up. So, I kind of freaked out. But he was smiling... with the dimples... so I still let him take them home. I made them put the cage in a big bin and covered the bin with a towel so I didn't have to see them. Then, they put the cage in their room and have kept the door closed tight all weekend.
...But that's not the end! Cuddles and Wuddles are nocturnal. So they wake up and run around the cage and make gross noises and scare me all night. Oh, and wake up my kids. So, no one has slept all weekend. I can't wait to "thank" their teacher for this great experience! (But he keeps smiling with the dimples... and saying thank you... so it was still totally gross and miserable might have been worth it.
I am super excited because this week I FINALLY got all of my Kindergarten and First Grade Close Reading Units bundled into one HUGE file!
This bundle is over 1,100 pages and includes 18 different products at a HUGE discount! The really exciting news is this bundle is going to continue to grow as I add new close reading units to my TPT store. The price will be going up each time a new unit is added. However, if you purchase it now you will be able to re-download the bundle and receive the updates for FREE! My students love these units and I hope that yours will to!
So... all caught up! Happy 2016 and a happy "Back to Blogging" day to me! :)
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