Sometimes I miss being a teacher...

This school year started without me and I'll admit I've had a few moments where I have definitely missed being a classroom teacher. The first day of school was hard because I missed having my former students stop in to hug me and say hello. I missed seeing how much they had grown and hearing about their summer vacation.

I will always be a teacher, a lover of school supplies and organization; a rule follower with a heart for kids. I miss being at half price books and picking up new books for my classroom library. I miss figuring out how things are going to be arranged in my classroom and what kinds of get to know you games we will play on the first day. I miss writing the kid's names on every single thing. I miss getting brought apples and being drawn pictures. I miss the teachers I worked with each day who I now call my friends. I miss planning meet the teacher night and writing celebrations. I miss my teacher discount.

Last week I had a chance to go back and visit my class from last year. I surprised them and they were almost as excited as I was! Another thing I miss about teaching...the things kids say. When they all ran over to hug me one of my students yells: "Don't squeeze her too hard you guys, you might pop the baby!" Day made!

While I'm not in the classroom anymore I am still a teacher in my new job and it will always be part of who I am. It's definitely different...but a good different. I'm thankful God knows my heart, my passions and my gifts and has me right where I need to be.

Why being a teacher on Valentine's day is the best...

I have always, always loved Valentine's day, but since becoming a teacher I have treasured it even more. We celebrated Valentine's day early in Room 308 because teachers have an inservice day today. My kids always amaze me with how much love they have to pour out on their teacher. They just want so badly to show you how much they love you in any way they can and it is the sweetest thing in the world. We can learn so much from those sweet little minds. I hope you all feel very loved today!! Make sure to tell the people around you how much you love them. Happy Heart Day! XOXOXO

Need a last minute Valentine treat for the kiddos in your life? These sweet Valentine's are perfect!

On having the same job as your spouse...

For those of you who don't already know, my husband and I are both teachers. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine to be in the same career field as my husband, it just worked out that way and I'm so glad it did. Want to know what it's like to have 2 teachers under one roof???
 
Paper clips and shredded post it notes are almost always found in our dryer

Snow days are the BEST when we are both home together. Our snow days always include a donut run to Bonnie Lynn Bakery and we make sure to stay in our pajamas as long as humanly possible.

We throw around teacher lingo like differentiation, MAPS, ERB, Common Core and perfectly understand one another.

We always come home with lots of good kid stories...we should seriously write a book.

We get lots of free professional photos of ourselves. Every year we are required to get our picture taken for our school ID badges and I guess they think that we want wallets of ourselves each year because we get them free of charge. Let's just say I need an idea of what to do with all these professional pictures of us besides give them to our grandmas and throw the rest away.

We are never, ever bored. We always have something to copy, cut out, glue, color, grade, etc. while we watch t.v.

Having our Summers "off" together is bliss, even if we do usually spend them working. Someday we plan to take RV trips with our kids and just take off for weeks at a time just because we can.

Once a year we each get buy one get one free Chipotle on Teacher Appreciation day. Ah-mazing!

We know all the cool kid vocabulary, shows, hot items, etc. I own about 15 rainbow loom bracelets.

We know and understand what it really means to see the light bulb go off for kids when they finally get something because of us. It is one of the best feelings in the whole world.

All in all we love being on the same schedule, being able to help kids and being able to completely understand each other in the career we have been chosen to take on.

Romans 12:5-8 MSG: "So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelous functioning parts of Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't...if you teach, stick to teaching."

Do any of you have the same job as your spouse or are we just weird??

I'm that teacher.

I'm absolutely in love with this picture and yes I have permission from the student's mom to use it. Thanks Jackie. :)

Teaching is a tough job. You think you sign up to actually teach children, but really you sign up for so many other things. You are a nurse, a counselor, a banker, a parent, a referee, a party planner and so much more. In my 6 years of teaching I've learned a lot about myself and a ton about kids.

I'm that teacher who as a child made her younger sister and all their stuffed animals play school. I was always the teacher and always in control of the chalkboard. Sorry Alyssa!

I'm that teacher who cries at the end of every school year

I'm that teacher who spends her paycheck on things for her classroom

I'm that teacher who even happy cried during her interview

I'm that teacher who loves to see my students outside of school

I'm that teacher who invited her first class of students to her wedding

I'm that teacher who has had a few mini melt downs at her desk

I'm that teacher who loves children's books just as much as her kids do

I'm that teacher who prays for her students

I'm that teacher who makes a memory video for her students to remember their year by

I'm that teacher who celebrates published stories with a party and homemade treats

I'm that teacher who talks about her cats so much that her kids actually want to meet them

I'm that teacher who becomes pen pals with old students

I'm that teacher who knows every Disney and Pixar movie that her student's reference

I'm that teacher who still gets nervous on the first day of school

I'm that teacher who tried to do everything her first year, but just couldn't

I'm that teacher who has her husband come in every year to be a Mystery Reader

I'm that teacher who's job never seems to end, but I just have to be thankful that I have the opportunity to bless and be blessed by children every single day. Not every day is perfect, in fact most of them aren't, but those days when you see the progress you are making in the lives of kids makes it all worth it!

Teacher Style {What I Wore}

As an elementary teacher the clothes you wear are extremely important. You are often on the floor with kids and you hardly ever sit down so comfort is a MUST. That being said I still want to look somewhat fashionable so I've been working on a few outfits. Here are a few I've put together...
1. Dress: Banana Republic, Sweater: LOFT, Belt: Limited
2. Dress: Whole Foods, Sweater, Kohl's (Lauren Conrad)
3. Dress: Kohl's, Blazer: H&M, Belt: Old Navy
4. Chambray Top: Limited, Striped Ponte Pencil Skirt: Limited  (I call this look my "Meg Henning"because when I put it together I thought of her so thanks Meg.)

I've really been trying to "up" my teacher style without spending a lot of money so I've been remixing my summer dresses. I'd love any suggestions for other cute and comfortable outfits you wear to work!

Merona Dress: Target, Necklace: Fossil, Boots: Fergalicious

*Linking up with Shanna for Random Wednesday

My Classroom {Tour}

I have been working hard on my home away from home aka my second grade classroom for weeks and I'm happy with how it has turned out. Today as you read this I am welcoming in a new class of kiddos and this will be their home too. I always want my room to feel comfortable and welcoming to them because it is their space for the next 9 months too. I don't like clutter because I think it's distracting to the kids. I love simplicity, but cute and colorful simplicity always.

This bulletin board gets filled with letters from people all across the country. We send out our flat selves after reading Flat Stanley and then post each letter we receive on this board. The kids love this activity...and I do too.

When you first walk in my room this is what you will see. My library is one of my favorite parts of the room because I've worked extremely hard on leveling and making the books ones that kids love to read!

This is the other half of the room that includes my word wall and a little reading nook. My desk is in the back right corner.

Since my school is in the middle of the city I love that my room has huge windows with natural light and great views!

A closer look at my word wall and math shelves.

The view from my desk. :)

I love books and have several displayed all throughout the classroom. This is my "teacher shelf."

This is my guided reading table where I work with small groups. The crate seats are one of the best projects I've made to date. Cute and great for storage and the kids love them! See my tutorial on them here.

So there you have it. A mini tour of where I'll be spending a majority of my time for the next 9 months! What do you think? Could you live here? :)

How a teacher preparing to go back to school is like a mom preparing for a baby

As a teacher you are often mistakenly called "mom," "grandma" and sometimes even "dad." I know everyone has to already know how much teaching is like parenting, but as I have been setting up my classroom these last few weeks I've been pondering the comparisons between an elementary teacher preparing to go back to school and a mom preparing to have a baby...

ONE: You have to get your rooms ready. Everything has to be washed and everything new has to be wiped down. You spend countless hours debating what should go where and how high to hang things with your future children in mind.
TWO: You start rampantly trying to cross things off your list before the big day because you know you will have no time once the day arrives when your kid(s) come. You think about preparing meals in advance and even planning out clothes you will be able to wear when the kid(s) come because your style is about to change.
THREE: You start planning out events that you will do with your soon to be family. Songs to sing, games to play, activities and things to do on your first days together.
FOUR: You set out books and toys that are your favorites to share and you hope your children love them as much as you did as a child.
FIVE: They are under your complete control and supervision for a solid 9 months.
SIX: You go out and get your haircut, nails done, eyebrows waxed, etc. knowing you won't be getting pampered for quite a while since you will have people besides yourself who take priority.
SEVEN: Once the kid(s) finally arrive it's all about firsts and you document it all in pictures to put into a slide show to document the year. Routine also plays a big role and if a routine is offset your children will let you know!
EIGHT: When your new children arrive you are nervous, but excited. Your heart is full knowing how much they will love and adore you even if they don't always appreciate all you do for them at the time. It is worth it!

Good luck to all the new teachers starting another school year (and all the mom's starting their new journey). You DO make a difference!

*And no I'm not pregnant...at least not that I know of. :)

The time I took my students to the top of the Carew Tower...

One thing I absolutely love about my job is being downtown. I never in a million years would have pictured myself teaching downtown, but God knew what I wanted more than I did! My second graders have been studying community so instead of just looking at books I decided we needed to get out in the city ourselves. We had a field trip already planned to walk to the patent office to get some of their inventions patented so we went from there to the Carew Tower to get a view of our city! The Carew Tower is one of the tallest buildings in Cincinnati and you can go all the way to the top and get a great panoramic view. On the way to the Carew Tower the kids wrote down all the community workers they saw along with all the places that provided a good vs. a service. It was so fun to be out downtown with my students. Just watching them get excited talking about Skyline providing us with goods made my little teacher heart happy.

We were 49 stories up (574 feet above our city) and so many of my students and their parents had never seen this view of Cincinnati. It was amazing seeing their faces light up seeing the Bengals stadium, our school, the river, etc. I really wish I could share their sweet faces with you, but I think these pictures show you enough. We had an amazing time together and I can't believe how quickly my time with them has gone this year! We only have 2 1/2 days left and I am getting sad thinking about my kids moving on.

Do you have a place like this in your city? If you live in Cincinnati or ever visit I highly recommend taking in the view from on top of the Carew Tower!

Things 2nd graders know ALL about...

One thing I just love about being a second grade teacher is getting to read my students published stories. I always feel so proud when they actually apply what I've taught in their stories and usually I laugh out loud over several of them and run to show my husband. We recently did a Non-fiction unit where they wrote a book about something they were an expert about. There's some excellent advice in these second grade masterpieces. Here are a few of my favorites...

Oliver is an expert on roller coaster riding etiquette...no hats allowed.

Isaiah is an expert on the kinds of people that play football...they are obviously mean.

Chloe is an expert on the care of plants. If you plant a garden for goodness sake don't step on it!

Diairra is an expert on the clothing store, Justice. If you are trying on clothes make sure they fit

And now for my personal favorite...

Langston is an expert on Dogs. If you have a dog, give it affection or it WILL turn on you.

 ...so love them beyond affection okay dog owners? Haha. I love my job.

SPD: Sweet Spot Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day sweet friends! I hope each of you feels especially loved today! I'm doing my part in sharing the love by giving my students a cute little treat today. Such an easy project inspired by Martha that I think will be a big hit in Room 308. See the original pin here.

All you need are a few packs of candy buttons, some fancy scissors and some colored card stock. I cut the candy buttons up into 3x3 squares and did my best to cut out a heart shape. Then I mounted them with double sided tape onto card stock and used my fancy scissors to cut a heart shape around each one. I love how they turned out and I can't wait to pass them out to my students at our Valentine's day party this afternoon!

And tonight Drew and I are making a special dinner together. He is surprising me with the entree and sides while I'm taking care of desserts and drinks. Can't wait to see how you all celebrate! XOXO.

The best compliment

 One of my student's moms emailed me after the first week of school with this story about her daughter.

Chloe is wiped out today. She loved school this past week and she has no anxiety at all about it which is so nice.  After the first day of school, she came home and dressed like you, the sweater with the skinny belt on the outside of your sweater, and then she closed her door and Micah and I listened outside her door and she was playing teacher.  So cute and she has always really liked your style of teaching.  Jarett said, wish she could teach Chloe every year:)

This made me realize all over again how much I can truly impact my students simply by the way I make them feel (oh and the way I dress). I don't plan to take that lightly.

                                                                                          Source: luxefinds.com via Allison on Pinterest

Name that movie...

Back to school basics

Dress: Target, Cardigan: Gap, Belt: gifted, Utility Tote Bag: Fossil (similar one found here)

School started on Monday and I have to say this year is off to a wonderful start. I knew this year was going to be a special year because I am teaching a class of students that I have taught before. When I first start teaching at my school I taught these kids in Kindergarten and then last year got moved up to second grade so now I have my precious kiddos back again. These kids already had a special place in my heart and it is so fun to see them "all grown up." God knew I needed this year to be amazing after last year's challenges and He is already showing up big time! I've been MIA from the blog for a few days because my mind is just jello. There are so many things you have to think about when you teach the first few weeks of school to an elementary student.
My first day went something like this...
-Teach kids how to sit in a circle on the rug
-Teach kids how to line up
-Teach kids how to walk in the halls
-Play get to know you games to build classroom community
-Teach kids appropriate behavior on the playground, in the bathroom and in the lunchroom
-Teach kids how to sharpen a pencil
-Teach kids how to listen for your quiet signal
-Read books about being a good friend
-Teach kids how to organize their desk
-Teach kids how to put their back packs/lunch boxes away
-Oh and stop to take a breath

And that's just day 1. As an elementary teacher you can assume NOTHING. These kids are blank canvases and you are the artist there to mold them into shape. Let's just say I did not stop talking all day long, but after day 3 your talking and modeling starts to pay off and it feels so good.

(Shirt: Gap, Skirt: Target, Necklace: Shabby Apple found here, but won by me in a giveaway!)

For those of you that are teachers I'm going to tell you about a few of my favorite teacher items.
1.) My teaching bag from Fossil. (see picture up top) This bag is amazing and so durable. I can carry several "teacher books" in it as well as my laptop, planner and papers to grade. It has a million pockets for my grading pens, post-it's and paperclips and also has two side pockets for my water bottle and umbrella. (Lesson 1: A teacher must always be prepared)
2.) My Franklin planner (pictured above). I could not live with out it. It is visually appealing and I can buy new re-fill pages every summer to go inside.
3.) My crate seats! I made them last summer and people are still asking about them. My kids love them and they are great for storage! Find my tutorial here.

4.) The Daily 5 book...I use this book to help me teach Reading Workshop and it has so many amazing ideas.
4.) The Cafe book...another book by the "sisters" who wrote the Daily 5. I use this book often for Reading Workshop as well as guided reading groups.

And there you have it...the first day in nutshell and some of my teacher favorites. Now back to lesson planning...

Carrie Underwood Christmas Style!

One definite perk to working at a private Christian school funded by rich donors is that we get invited to their big Christmas party every year. The Christmas party is held at Music Hall and is always amazing. Last year was my first year going and the guest performer was Darius Rucker. Not too shabby right?

Well this year takes the cake...the performer was Carrie Underwood and let me tell you that I am in love with her. She is beautiful, talented, loves Jesus and is just a fabulous performer.
A few teachers I work with and our hubby's went to dinner downtown before the big show. We ate at an old bar and grill that has been around for literally 100 years and the food was great.

Carrie put on one heck of a show. My favorite was when she sang Jesus Take the Wheel and then went straight into How Great Thou Art...I seriously got a little choked up. She got a standing ovation after that song and she deserved it.

After the show there was a "light" buffet meaning free drinks, shrimp, meatballs, fruit and desserts galore...and a band performing in the ball room.  What a great way to kick off the holidays...with Carrie!

Something nice to come home to...

The other day I got not one package in the mail, but two. One I was expecting the other was a surprise from my dear friend Carrie over at Life of the Liles.

The first package was a Pampered Chef Food Chopper that I won from Sweet Peas and Bumblebees when they had their Birthday Bash giveaway.

I am so excited to use this baby! I have just the salsa I want to try with you...

Source: thecreativevault.blogspot.com via Allison on Pinterest

My surprise package was "a just because" package. Carrie found this adorable apron, packaged it up with a sweet note and sent it to me. It made my day.

What am I using this cute little apron for you ask? No not for the kitchen...try again. Think classroom.
I'm using it as my conferencing apron!  Let me explain. When I am trying to assess my students or do guided reading groups during Reader's workshop I often get interrupted. I have heard of other teachers wearing a "conferencing hat" letting students know that they are not to be disrupted when they wear it, but hats and I don't get along. So when I saw this adorable apron with its big pockets and perfect length I imagined a conferencing apron. The pockets will be for post-its, pens and paper clips and when I wear it my students will know I am conferencing...then if I travel I have all my materials with me ready to use! Thank you Carrie Jo! It's always nice to have surprises waiting for you on your door step.

Cheers

With all the craziness that the first week of school brings my "teachery" friends and I decided we needed a girls night out and tried hard not to mention the "s" word (school). We went to one of my favorite places called Cheers to Art and painted a brand new painting. This was the most detailed painting I've created in all of my Cheers to Art visits and I love how it turned out. It is now hanging in my family room. Here's a peek at our night...

I'm so thankful to work with such fabulous ladies! CHEERS!

Goodbye Summer...Hello 2nd Grade!

Today was the first day of school. I loved getting huge hugs from my former students and meeting my new kiddos, but the first day of school causes a few things to occur...
1. Sleep deprivation. I woke up at 3:30 thinking about how I was going to teach my kids bathroom procedures. Really? That's just not right...but I did recall a cute idea I saw on a blog somewhere, which of course I'll share because I'm sure you are dying to know. Instead of using a hall pass (which I hate because I think it's gross kids take them into the bathroom and then half the time they forget to bring it back) you use hand sanitizer bottles. Mark one bottle GIRLS and the other BOYS (I laminated a star die cut and used a small hook to put it around the neck of the bottle so when we run out of sanitizer we just move the labels). Place the sanitizer bottles in a central place near the door. When a student needs to use the restroom they simply move the bottle of their gender onto their desk. This lets me know who is in the restroom, lets other students know they have to wait their turn if the bottle is missing and it reminds students to sanitize if they forgot because yes this does happen.

2. Loss of social life. I'm actually shocked that I am making time to blog because my list of things to do is out of control.

3. Failure to implement anything successfully but my lesson plans. This just in: my new meal plan is on hold until next week.

4. Boring blog posts. There are no pictures in this post. LAME.

Please forgive me.

Signed,
One tired teacher

Welcome to room 308

I've been slaving away at school for the past few weeks, but I'm happy with how things are coming along!
Here is a sneak peak at my 2nd grade classroom...

This is my 4th classroom in 4 years and I think it's my favorite!

Cubbies with reading tubs on top for Reader's Workshop

Student mailboxes and games

Reading corner and Word wall

I love books. Here is my 2nd grade leveled library!

My big comfy teacher's chair and easel

I absolutely love my view of the city.

100s chart and math tools

Guided reading table with the crate seats everyone is asking me about!

I still have a lot to do, but I'm well on my way!