Back to School Party

Today marks day one of a new school year. Big yellow buses and a trail of cars will be dropping off the children at the doorstep. And all of the teachers thinking: "Ready or not, here they come!"

One of these years, I'd love to host a back-to-school party - it would sure get everyone excited about the big day! There's tons of inspiration online, but here are a few of my favorite party ideas:

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How cute are these place settings?

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These would be awesome party favors!

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Apple cupcakes and school bus cookies? Yes please!

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Don't forget the drinks!

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A pretty display couldn't hurt!

What about you? Have you ever been to or thrown a back to school party?

Maternity Leave

We've been extremely blessed to have had William in June: both my husband and I have been off all summer since I'm a teacher and he's a grad student! But now with back-to-school looming (I start Friday and the kids start Monday!), I have a few thoughts on going back to work. 

First, this:

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Shocking, isn't it? I mean, c'mon... Pakistan?!? 

My school district doesn't give any paid maternity leave. If you want to stay home with your baby, you'd better have a lot of sick days and personal days stored up. So I'm grateful that I had 2 months to stay at home, worry free. 

That said, my husband and I want to avoid daycare at all cost (and we have no family around to watch the baby). Max can work from home three days a week, and I'll be taking an "intermittent maternity leave" the other two days a week. I have some sick/personal days in my bank, but not enough to cover the whole year. But I think the pay cut will be worth it, though!

You know how some mamas are really excited to go back to work? I think I understand that. But I don't feel that way.... maybe if my job involved actual adult interaction instead of managing a class of second graders. Right now it just seems ridiculous to me to leave my baby to go take care of some other people's babies!

So in a way, I'm blessed that I'll only have to go in three days a week (I'll be planning for a long term sub for the other two days). I have some worries - mainly about pumping and messing with my milk supply - but I hope everything will work out!

Do any of you working mamas have tips about pumping? I'd be grateful to hear your advice!

A List of Do's and Don'ts for Back-to-School

Friends, I'm so thankful for a long summer every year when I don't have to work. I'm always sad to see it end, and I know it's coming to a close when I get bombarded with back-to-school ads and commercials.

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I officially start again on August 23rd. In honor of my impending first day back, I thought I would repost something I wrote on a different blog of mine from a different lifetime.

Presenting:

What to say to a teacher for back-to-school, a list of do's and don'ts:


Things to say:

1. It'll be okay.
2. You'll be fine once you get in your routine.
3. The kids will be so happy to see you!
4. Are you having fun going back-to-school shopping?
5. It's so great that you got all that time to rest and recuperate!
6. I hope you have a great year and a great class! 
7. Wow, where did the summer go?
8. It'll be okay.

Things NOT to say:

1. Is your classroom all ready to go?
2. It's about time you got off the couch!
3. So... you'll start actually earning that paycheck now?
4. It's about time!
5. Don't be such a baby.
6. Aren't you soooooo excited to go back to school?
7. My kids have been wild! I can't wait to send them back to school!
8. Only 180 more school days to go until next summer!

When Teaching Goes Right

I could tell you a lot of stories about teaching gone wrong, my friends. But every once in while it just all comes together, and when it does it's simply magical!

Last week, I was introducing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" as a poem/song to my small group of Kindergartners (I teach K-1 students with hearing loss - no sign language involved, just a lot of oral language remediation.) We had just finished "singing" the song and learning the gestures when I happened to turn the page in the teacher's manual.

It was a page I hadn't seen before, and it suggested making spider snacks as an extension activity. With a start, I realized that I had ALL of the ingredients on hand! So I made a split-second spontaneous decision and decided to go for it... we ditched the worksheet and had some good ol' fashioned Kindergarten FUN instead!

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The kids were well behaved and loved every second of it (especially the eating part!). And I felt more happy and fulfilled as a teacher than I had felt in a long time. So, win-win!

Have you had any victories lately?

Naughty or Nice?

Last week, I read It's Christmas, David! with my Kindergarteners. Have you ever read this book? It's fabulous and funny to boot!

Anyways, I teach children with hearing impairments, which means they also have a significant language delay. They didn't know what "coal" was or what "naughty" meant. I had brought in some coal (a gag gift from the Dollar Tree) and they all decided that it was NOT a present they would want. The book provided plenty of examples of what "naughty" meant!

Afterwards we "wrote" (drew pictures) of what it meant to be naughty and nice.

What about you? Do you threaten your kids with reminders like "Santa's watching!!!!" And does it work?

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

I love reading The Grinch Who Stole Christmas to my students each year. This year, we did a fun extension activity where we wrote/drew what we would do to make the Grinch grin!

They looked a little bit like this (the fabulous Ms. Williams did this in her classroom too!):

I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of mine!

Anyways, there's lots of Grinch-themed inspiration on Etsy... take a peek:

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PS: The lucky winner of the large ad space for Arizona Russums is Jaclyn!

My School Turkeys

We are in full turkey mode here at school. And I love it! Doing seasonal stuff with my kindergartners and first graders is such a welcome break from our regularly scheduled programming.

We've read My First Thanksgiving and I'm No Turkey.

We've written a list of things that we're thankful for.

We had our Thanksgiving Music Program on Tuesday. (The kids were both hilarious and adorable!)

And today we're making Turkey Tracks! Except we're making them with peanut butter and straight pretzel sticks (because I'm not sure about how my picky eaters will handle chow mein noodles!)

It should be messy but FUN! I am especially excited because once today is over, I have the WHOLE BLESSED WEEK off for Thanksgiving! Do I hear an Amen? :)

I'm Beat

It's been one wild week or two around these parts.

I'm beat.

What made this week so special? I got two new students, putting my total to twelve. This may not seem like a lot, but each of my deaf education colleagues have six. There's nothing I can do about it: it's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Also? My first graders went from calm (and at times quirky) to outright defiant and aggressive. Case in point:

I've had 5 straight days of this. I'm ready to hide, too.

Also? One of my kindergartners has decided to express herself by hitting. Last week she scratched me in two places (drawing blood) and yesterday she punched me in the face. She has a lot of issues going on so it's hard to hold it against her. But still.

Thank goodness it's Friday, folks. I need a break!

Back to School is officially here!

I go back to school today! Actually, we have a week full of professional development meetings before any of the kiddos arrive. You know, in case we forgot how to teach over the summer...

In honor of this momentous occasion, I leave you with some back-to-school inspiration:

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Halfway Over

I'm trying not to think about how my summer vacation is halfway over already (I know, I know, I'm just a spoiled teacher.... bear with me!). There's a lot of fun to be had in the meantime - we'll be going on a road trip to visit my sister and her hubby in NJ and my brother in Maine.

I've been trying to get my classroom all set up and ready to go so I don't have to worry about it while I'm away. For those of you that don't know, A LOT goes into setting up your room before the beginning of the year. Would you like to take a peek at my progress?

As you can see, my classroom theme is frogs this year! Those frogs on the door display are going to have my students' names on them.

Having a cute classroom is part of what motivates me to to go back to school. As it is, my heart sinks when I see "back to school" signs at the stores already!!!

I'm linking up with Casey today:

What's on my heart today

What's on my heart today is that there's nothing like being a teacher!

The fun little projects

The excuse to do some cooking

The hands on learning

But more than all of that, I'm glad that I have a job with a clear beginning and ending. Because truthfully? I would be incapable of being a good teacher if I didn't have the summer to recuperate.

And it's hard to talk about having the whole summer off when I'm around people that have "real" jobs. I feel guilty. I avoid the subject. I don't brag about the awesome places I get to go or the fun stuff I get to do, because I don't want to make anyone feel bad!

But today, in honor of sharing what's on my heart, I just want to say.... it's the last day of the school year and I am EXCITED for all of my summer fun to begin!!!

(PS: I'm linking up with Casey today!)

Epic Win-day

Today is an epic win-day for two reasons: 1) I'm drawing the winners from the sponsor giveaways, and 2) it's the students' last day of school! (Staff will be back tomorrow to clean out rooms, but it hardly counts as "work" if the kiddos aren't there!)

Too School for Cool Fine Art Print by Lora Risley Images.

Soon, I'll be hearing the pitter patter of dozens of excited children exiting the building!!

(Have I mentioned before how thankful I am to have a job with a clear beginning and ending? It's wonderful!)

But without further ado, here are the sponsor giveaway winners:

Chic Geek Design winner is Anonymous (urchiken at gmail dot com)

Elephant's Trunk winner is Beth.

If you didn't win, I hope you still have an Epic Win kind of day!!

Teacher Appreciation Week and some winners!

This week at school has been sooooo fun! The theme has been "We're WILD about our teachers!": Monday we wore zebra prints, Tuesday was leopard prints, Wednesday was flip flop day ("Bear" your feet!), Thursday was "Monkey See/Monkey Do" day (twin day!), and today is "wild mane" day.

So I won't be making any stops before or after school today because currently my hair is streaked with pink glitter and I have twisted ponytails covering the top of my head!

Even more fun this week have been all the goodies from the parents, the PTO, and even the neighborhood ladies! I've eaten like a queen this week! I totally love that our school is mostly Hispanic because when the parents cook for you? It's better than anything you can find in a restaurant! YUM.

And I've been enjoying all the little cards my students have given me... proclaiming that I am the "best" teacher EVER, haha :)

Have you thanked your child's teacher yet?

I have two winners to announce from the sponsor giveaway day in April:

Brooke won the earring from Craftee McGee

Emily R. won the personalized key fob from Hoot Designs

I've contacted the winners via email. If you didn't win, don't despair! I currently have a $15 Starbucks gift card giveaway going on here!

Good luck and have a great weekend!

Take Your Blogger to Work Day

(**I'm linking up with Gina from Hiyaluv for "Take Your Blogger to Work Day"!)

Other than a few awkward years in third and fourth grade when I wanted to be an actress so I could marry Brad from Home Improvement, I've always known that I would be a teacher.

As the oldest of three children, I've always been: 1) bossy, and 2) really bossy. So telling other children what to do all day just seemed like a natural fit!

I'm kidding. Sort of.

But I am the child of two teachers, in a family of teachers. It's in my blood and I think that from a young age, I knew better than to fight it.

In high school, I was challenged to think about what kind of children I wanted to teach. And because of my fascination with language learning and acquisition, I went into oral deaf education. That means that I teach language to children with hearing loss through listening and speaking. All of my students wear hearing aids or cochlear implants. I don't use sign language! (although I wish I knew more, just for fun!)

I am one of those incredibly blessed people who can say that they are doing their dream job! (Right now I'm teaching first grade and I love this age!) Sure, I have my share of rough days... days when the administration seems like they're TRYING to make me fail, days when I feel discouraged, days when I need to step away from my students to calm down. But there are all those other days.... days when the kids make me smile, when they finally "get it", when I get to channel my creativity into planning engaging lessons and making materials.

Also? June, July, and August. Just sayin'!

Being a special education teacher also gives me some special skills:

• I can say things like: "You don't have to pull your pants all the way down to pee" with a straight face.
• I know what the word "diphthong" means.
• I can tell immediately when a kid hasn't had his meds.
• I know if there's going to be a full moon without ever looking outside.
• I have a large bladder.
• From down the hall and around the corner, I can tell when someone's brought goodies to the teacher's lounge.
• I can run in my heels after a kid who's decided he'd like to play outside instead of do his work in the classroom.
• I can make a 27 page legal document understandable to a parent.

And finally....

• I know how to make almost any activity educational! See pictures below for proof :)

Handmade with kids

There are a few times a year where teachers are expected to help the children make gifts for their parents. I'm thinking specifically of Christmas and Mother's Day.

Every year, I feel a bit of pressure. What did last year's teacher do? What is easy, inexpensive, and not totally lame?

Thankfully, since I work with special needs kids, I only have six kids to worry about. And fortunately, there are fantastic people like AmberLee Fawson to help me with ideas. She's put together this fantastic Giver's Log for anyone you want to give a handmade gift to, old or young.

I've decided that I'm going to have my kids make these super cute personalized soap bottles pictured here:

You can find the tutorial here.

I think mom and dad will be pleased, don't you?

It's for the dogs

Today ends my first week back to school with the kids! It's been a long week, but a good one. My first graders are so cute! I taught fifth last year so their small little selves were a bit of a shock at first, but I love them.

Part of my job that I'm not really fond of is Lesson Planning. It's a necessary evil, I suppose: I'm a far worse teacher when I just try to wing it. What really annoys me is that on top of my own personal lesson plans, I also have to submit a separate lesson plan with this special format for the principal. These are a waste of time because the format doesn't lend itself well to... well, actually teaching.

I think this cute little magnet from Cafe Press says it all:

Favorite quote

Today ends my first week back at work, filled with meetings, meetings, and... more meetings. On Monday, the kiddos arrive! So I thought it would be a perfect time to share my favorite quote with you. It also sums up quite nicely my personal philosophy of education. And Mr. Rogers said it! Do you remember Mr. Rogers? With the cardigans and King Friday? Good times....

So here it is:

"It's easy to convince people that children need to learn the alphabet and numbers. How do we help people to realize that what matters is how a person's inner life finally puts together the alphabet and numbers of his outer life?

What really matters is whether he uses the alphabet for the declaration of war or the description of a sunrise, and his numbers for the final count in Buchenwald or for the specifics of a new bridge"

Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers)

Just beautiful! I should really frame it and put it on my desk at work -- for a little encouragement when I'm feeling too tired to be a good teacher...

I found some lovely prints on Etsy to go along with the theme of the quote:

Alphabet animals from Ink Tree Press

Ocean numbers from The Paper Tray

Now I know my ABCs from Sugar Fresh

Mister Numbers from Sugar Fresh

All aboard for first grade!

My classroom theme this year is going to be pirates! But not scary pirates. Cute pirates-- because these are first graders after all.

Although teachers don't report back to school until August 16th where I'm from, I've already been in my classroom to set up my bulletin boards. Here's a peek:

I've also been having a blast looking up pirate stuff on Etsy!

Check out these awesome favor boxes from Vintage Twee. Wouldn't they be great to hold small knick-knacks and rewards for my students?

Or how about these pirate clipart pictures from Woofy World? I can think of all kinds of uses for those... maybe to designate classroom jobs?

I think it would be awesome if I wore this pirate ship shirt from Happy Family on the first day of school. Not really teacher dress code, but pirates are supposed to be rebellious... right?

I love it when my day job inspires me to be creative!

It's almost four o'clock and I may or may not still be in my PJ's ...

Well if you read my interview here, you'll know that I'm a special education teacher!

Here's a shot of me on our recent Field Day (translation: the kids run around in 98 degree weather while the adults "supervise"). It was fun, but it was HOT! Those squirt guns sure helped, though!

And now that my school year is officially over as of last Friday, I'm just as happy as can be!! Now I'll have lots more time to add inventory to my shop, and to do other pressing things like lounge around on the couch and eat ice cream (you know, the important things in life....).

I think this darling mug from Brookish's shop sums up my feelings exactly:

What are you happy about today?