First Week Exhaustion

Oh me, oh my.  Yes, I'm alive.  For the past two weeks, I've been dying to blog... this is my release, I find it relaxing and thoroughly enjoy sharing with others!  However, I am going to be 100% honest when I say that as much as I have wanted to blog, I have not been able to muster up the energy to!  .... and if I'm still being completely honest.... I have been so exhausted that I have hardly even kept up with instagram, facebook, reading some of my favorite bloggers, watching Big Brother & Bold & the Beautiful!  I kid you not, that exhausted!  My poor kid, we get home I cook dinner, maybe do a little painting, and then it's all snuggles together on the couch.  (No, I'm really not complaining about that part, I will take all the snuggles she is willing to give!) I don't know what is so different about the beginning of this year as opposed to others... oh wait.. I don't think there is... I think that I just choose to drown out the memory of the BTS exhaustion each year!  So enough of all that... I'm gonna do a quick re-wind of the past two weeks.

I don't even think I've blogged since the N.Tx Bloggers Meet up!  Check out this great group of ladies.  Thank you again,  Mrs. Patton from Mrs. Patton's Patch and Mrs. Thompson from Adventures in Teaching for hosting this great meet up for us! :)  Oh & thank you to Amy Lemons for sharing this great photo with us!  She saved the day with her fancy schmancy camera! ;)

You should check out the blogs of these sweet ladies:

{Mrs. Richardson's Class, Chalk Talk, The Clements Crew, Step Into 2nd with Mrs.Lemons  

Flying High in First Grade, Adventures in Teaching, Mrs. Patton's Patch

Kreative in Kinder, My Silly Firsties, In That Room... Adventures in Second

Hey, it's Jade!, Just Tinkerin' Around,  Saddle Up for Second Grade

First Grade Glitter and Giggles, Smitten With First, 3rd Grade's a Hoot

The Teacher Garden iHeart Second Grade, Maneuvering the Middle

Sweet-n-Sassy in 2nd, Winging it in Fourth}

We started back two weeks ago today!  This year my team is the SMALLEST I think it has been in the past 4 years, only six of us.   However, I have to say that these girls make my day, everyday!! :)

Left to Right: Marilyn, Diana, Sam, Becca, Me, & Kristin

Please excuse the fuzziness of the photo... Apparently my phone didn't deem it necessary to focus! I meant to snag a couple other pictures that we took throughout the week, but ehhhh 2 weeks passed and I still didn't get to snag a copy! Womp, womp.

The week went by SUPER quick, we learned lots of new things, some that are on my to-do list to share with YOU, in a later post of course! :)  Meet the teacher went great!! I had all but 3 of my 24 show up... Yes, you read that right TWENTY-FOUR! Here is the set-up before students arrived!

The first several days came and went, there was a lot of repetition, repeating, organizing, and practicing!  I managed to squeeze in a few of my favorite books, a few new books, and some great reviewing of previous learning!  My kids are totally rocking some of the concepts we are reviewing & while it is a HUGE class, I know it's going to be a great year... or well I'm crossing my fingers! ;)  Here are a few snapshots from our week!

 We are trying to make our science journal a little more interactive this year, so when a Becca, one of my teammates found the interactive science notebook from the Science Penguin, she snatched it up with some additional licenses during the big TPT sale!  I'm loving it already!

 My kids LOVED sharing their All About Me books they did for their first week of "homework."

After spending some time talking about vowels and consonants, we began to talk about CVC words! 

If you remember from my earlier posts in August, my school's theme this year is camping!  On Tuesday, we had a  "campfire" in my classroom.  I turned off all the lights and the students sat around in a circle.  Each student went around, shared their name, something they are good at, and then cracked their glow stick.  By the end it "campfire" area looked really cool & the kids LOVED it! :)

I'm thinking we will have campfires throughout the year, but probably just end up passing around a couple of glowsticks rather than each student having their own!

In writing, we started our list of stories by doing "Apples, peaches, pumpkin pie, you've got a story, so do I!"  I learned this great chant & lesson from Melissa Leach from Leach Teach!  Let me tell you, this is my second year doing this... & the kids L-O-V-E it! :)  If we didn't do the chant before I asked them to get started, they most definitely reminded me!!! I love that they are in 2nd grade and still love this cute & silly stuff! Makes my heart happy!

I felt as though we had to jump right on into the learning/reviewing & didn't have too much time for "fun" stuff.  So on Friday, I decided to bust out the watercolors & let the kids make some artwork using their name for the hallway!! Most all of the pictures turned out cute & it added a lot of color to our bulletin board in the hallway! :)

As I mentioned already, this last week was exhausting. 

It was the sweet & salty that got me through this week!!  Some of my former parents dropped off some sweet flowers for me on the first day back!  This family seriously makes my heart melt!  Last year when my attic fell through the garage... they brought me flowers and they are always giving my sweet treats, just because! :) The E-Card... Well when I saw it... It was a perfect depiction of EVERY.SINGLE. DAY last week!  The picture of B was a good interpretation of her nightly exhaustion, "ay momma, ay!" It is her sweet snuggles that get me through the night!  && When I realized Starbucks brought back my most favorite of favorite drinks, I knew Friday was gonna be a good day!  I am in LOVE with the salted caramel mocha frap!  If you haven't tried it, you're missing out!

And ... Because I can't help but to share a few more of the never ending photos!  The top left picture is probably one of the funniest to me... mostly because there were multiple nights last week that we got home and I see her laying on the dining room like this as I am cooking dinner.  She wasn't shy about doing it at a friends house either, which is where the above picture was taken!  Ice cream was also a must to get us through the week.  Oh & some retail therapy to help drown the exhaustion of the week out this weekend! :)  As you can tell, I'm really going to be in trouble when she is older.  She is a pro at shopping already!

I hope you all had a 3 day weekend & that you enjoyed it as much as I did!! I'm looking forward to the fact that it is only a 4 day work week!! I can do it, I can do it.  ;)

I need s'more time!!!

It is extremely hard to believe that my summer is basically over!! I think I have spent a good 50-60 hours in my room already & it is soooo close to being done!! There are only a few small things that are keeping me from being 100% done.... however I'm pretty positive that even if I get those few small things done, more will be added to the list!! Story of my life.

I wanted to take part in each of the different topics over on Blog Hoppin' this week, BUT life got in the way.  Well... not so much that it got in the way, but I chose to enjoy as much of this week with my sweet little one before we go back!!  This week, we went on an impromptu trip to Sea World... for the 3rd time this summer!! B had an absolute blast, except for when "Shmoo" (Shamu) splashed us until we were SOAKED!

She was out before we even made it out of the entrance to Sea World, poor kid.

We also enjoyed our last lunch date of the summer at our FAVORITE spot!! If you haven't ever been to McAlister's Deli, you're missing out!!  B loves it so much that every. single. time. we drive by she says "momma, momma, eat!"  B's lunch of choice is generally mac&cheese, grapes, & sweet tea!!

In an effort to get B acquainted with her new daycare, I decided to take her a few times this week!  My hope is that next week will go very smooth... Things are going great so far, she is just exhausted when she gets home!! At 5 this evening, she was already laying on the dining room floor with her ladybug pillow pet acting like she wanted to go to bed!!   I can't say I blame her because I was quite tempted to join her on the floor!

While B was at daycare, I was working away in my room!  I managed to get my bulletin board done!!! After a trip to HobLob I was set to go!

Once I have my class list (that is looking quite large 22+) their names will go on the marshmallows over the fire!! I think this is my favorite bulletin board out of all the ones I've ever done!!!! :)  If you caught the post about my classroom earlier this week where I showed how it's set up & decorated... You're probably wondering how in the world I came up with this theme.  Well, our school theme this year is camping & while I don't usually take part in decorating to match (no one does) I also couldn't figure out what the heck I was going to put out there for BTS!!  So after brainstorming for days... I came up with this!! I also made my meet the teacher goodie to match!!

 These are gram crackers stuffed with s'more filling!! They are made by Honey Maid & called Gramfuls!  I snagged a box of 24 for less than $8 at Sams.

To grab the tags, you can {click here}.  

They are editable so you can add your name before printing off!! :)

On top of that... I managed to get a couple other things done today... Here is a picture of a few!  The burlap banner I made is for our photo booth that we will be having for staff next week!! Can't wait!! The chevron banner is still up as a freebie on my Facebook page!! :)

Before I go though, I would like to share a few tips & tricks of the trade! :) 

Tips:  

Remember that each class & student you get each year is new to you.  Don't judge them (as a whole of individually) based on what teachers they had the prior year say.  Let all of your new babies come in with a clean slate.  Form your own opinions & let those of others go in one ear and out the other.  

With that, remember that each class is different.  Just because something worked wonderfully for one group of kids (i.e. classroom management, lesson, etc) doesn't mean that it will work so great for the next.  Be willing to change, be willing to learn new methods for teaching different content & strategies.  After all, if we are not willing to try new things & be a learner ourselves, how can we expect our kids to be?

Tricks: 

I wish I had a picture for this one, but I don't! :( That's what happens when I don't think ahead!!

One of my biggest life savers when I get a new kiddo is having pre-made bags with all the necessities they we will need to get them started together & ready to go! 

What is this bag made up of?

Beginning of the Year Letters 

(classroom management, parent contatct, expectations, etc)

 Homework Journal

Take Home Folder

Labels for Journals & Folders

& anything else special that we use

By having these things ready to go & fixed up for kids when the arrive, it makes the craziness of a new kiddo arriving at your door go a little bit smoother!  I know I can just go grab a bag & we can at least make it through the day!  

For those of you that are back already, I hope you had a great week!! For those of you that start back with me on Monday.... I hope you savor every moment left of the weekend!! I sure plan to, especially since I will be getting to meet a bunch of fellow bloggers at a blogger meet up!! :)  Excite!