Ch-ello.

Well, hello there.

Quite some time has passed, once again. My apologies.

Looks like I'm even suckier (that's not a real word but should be) than we thought at posting regularly.

So what's happened since my last post from April..? Quite a lot!

For one, I am now into summer II of being a newbie teacher. Exciting stuff. Summer has been so relaxing, to the point where there are times I feel like a hobbit, and leaving the house to just get the mail takes an uncomfortable amount of motivation (I'm exaggerating..kind of. By 'kind of' I mean not at all.)

The super duper exciting news I have to share with you is that Joey and I bought a house! By bought, I mean we now have a mortgage, but still! Now if only I knew how to clean, cook, renovate, and do all those other things grown ups are supposed to know how to do. We'll get to that in a future blog post...hopefully.

There really should be a blog for newbie house owners. If there is, I've yet to find it.
I'll admit to you that I've been neglecting teacher blogs a bit and spending a lot of my time as a hobbit looking at DIY home decor blogs. Those have been so fun to pinterest through.

The third piece of big-ish news is that Joe came along with me to Israel 3 weeks ago and finally met all the extended family. Minus 24 hours of food poisoning, he had a wonderful time and didn't leave scarred or scared. Except he'll probably never eat a sandwich made on the beach ever again. We believe that's where the bug came from. (But in the sandwich's defense, it was SO scrumptious!)

Unfortunately, because of the traveling, house purchasing, Game of Throning, and good ol' summer laziness, I haven't put in that much time to reflecting on the past school year.
So, here it goes.

The second year was certainly less stressful than the first. This is based on the decrease in monthly migraines (woot!)
Needless to say, it wasn't perfectly smooth, but let's face it...there's no such thing as a perfectly smooth year (not just in teaching, but with anything). If you know someone who claims to have had a perfect year, then they're blatantly lying to you.

My biggest challenge this year was having 7 boys and 1 girl in my kindergarten classroom. But that turned out all right! The boys loved the little girl and a huge plus for the girl was that she never had to deal with kinder-girl drama! Kinder-girl drama can be pretty rough, so she's a lucky ducky.


...As I am writing this, writer's block is hitting me smack in the face. Going to stop now and continue soon (promise!)

(Thanks crafterminds.com for this image. It describes perfectly how I'm feeling.)

Where have I been?

WHOA. I've really been MIA for a while here.
These reflections are therapeutic and I should really keep up.
Why the long absence, you ask? Busy few months, I suppose. But that's not an excuse.

To keep you in the loop, and to keep myself updated for when I read these posts way down the road, Joey proposed!

We have a date and venue. Only a bazillion more things to do but we're trying to stay focused on just being engaged for now.
House hunting seems to be getting in the way of that "focus," but I'm kinda sorta enjoying the starter home search. We almost found a home this past weekend, but were out-bid. Or out-offered? Not sure what the proper lingo is here.

But, yeah, we'll keep looking.

In other news, Joe and his friend, Tom, started an inspiring-ly amazing business called Push Your Boundaries.
Check it out here!

Their work is all about motivating others. This seems to be exactly the type of message we need to be hearing nowadays.
Needless to say, they have put so much time and effort into this venture. Thanks for the inspiration, guys :)
And, in case you're wondering, their shirts and sweatshirts happen to be the softest and comfiest I've ever worn. On the weekends, I've been living in this one:

Teaching this year has also had me motivated. The second year has been completely different, in every possible way.It's true what they tell you. It gets better! One and a half years of lead teacher experience are behind me. "And that has made all the difference."
I'm excited to see what year three will bring.

This year's kindergarten class is energetic, adorably eager to learn, and has definitely kept me on my toes (in the best way.)

Teaching-wise, the most amazing thing I've done for myself this year is google these words: kindergarten blogs.
There are so many educators out there that are happy to share lesson ideas and classroom systems that they use. And teachers in every grade do this!
Yes, I know this was in the last post and I'm repeating myself here...but wanted to reiterate just how helpful teacher-blog creepin' has been.

One of my favorites is called Chalk Talk
Whenever I'm stuck or would like to spice up a unit or sight word lesson, this blog is the first I go to.
It's also a nice way to see how this teacher's year has unfolded in comparison to mine.

It would, of course, be nice to hear more about challenges other teachers are facing/their ideas and strategies, but since many of these blogs are public, getting this honest over the internet is not the brightest idea.
 
The next two months are going to be the busiest yet. Expect another long while until the next post.
Sayonara, for now.

Recycling

I've been slacking!
Thanks to hurricane Sandy (who, by the way, has been way more intense than expected), I have some time to blog.
Looks like it'll be a short 3 day week.
I was supposed to be attending a workshop this week but Monday got cancelled because of the storm and the second part of the workshop (today) was shortened..but all in all I definitely learned some things that I'll be bringing back to the classroom and into some units.

So how has year 2 of teaching been, you ask?
For one, having a REAL summer was rejuvenating. I'm still feeling well rested thanks to all that time off..and that's made a huge difference.

I'm also feeling like less of a hoarder this year. If you currently saw my desk, you might think otherwise..but the rest of the room is much happier than last year's room was (in my opinion at least). This past August, the massive amounts of stuff in my room went through a serious cleanse. The library is SO different from last year's (thank goodness). The play area is far less cluttered. The room just feels and looks much easier on the eyes. Yes, it's teenie, but a small space is a fantabulous reason to get rid of that junk you just don't need.

Year 2 has been different mainly in terms of my planning.
I have recycled almost ALL of my classroom systems/procedures and some lessons from last year.
Every weekend, I blog..er, well, blog-search. I've found some amazing kindergarten blogs created by some truly inspiring teachers.
Not gonna lie to you, it's a little bit overwhelming to see their amazing classrooms via their blogging and pictures. They just really know what they're doing (and that's with 20+ students) and it makes me feel very behind. How will I ever get there?
But anywho, on a more positive note, as I go through these blogs, I find lesson ideas. Some do tie into what the students are learning and others tie into basically nothing related to what I'm teaching, but they seem amazing so I save/use them anyways. It's been a relief having these lessons that I know work because there's PROOF of it in the blogs. I'm also teaching with more confidence thanks to this recycling process.
It probably sounds bizarre, but it'd be so reassuring to hear horror stories from experienced teachers about their first years in the classroom. I wonder if there's a blog for that? It'd just be so nice to know for sure that amazing teachers also struggled through their first years on their own. This sounds like deja vu. Have I said this before? Probably.

On a positive note.

Sometimes I can be quite a kvetch so thought this post could be on the optimistic side.
So here goes. I'll share with you 3 things about starting this year that I am looking forward to (and let's hope this helps with the end-of-summer anxiety us teachers tend to feel).

1. The new school building has air conditioning!!!
We moved to a new building temporarily and the AC is already glorious. The kindergarten room is an igloo. Probably too cold even, but for now I don't care! Not sweating while unpacking has been splendid.

2. I'm no longer living in the basement.
I moved upstairs, bought a REAL person queen sized bed, and am in love with my new room. I do miss living in the basement (was down there since sophomore year of high school) but living upstairs has been refreshing. Plus, I got rid of so much dust collecting junk before moving up. How does this help me look forward to starting the new year you ask? Well, for one, there are less bugs in the upstairs bathroom (score!)
And waking up upstairs will be slightly less painful than it was last year (let's pray that this is true). As the months got chillier, waking up in the coldest part of the house became quite the challenge.
Oh, and speaking of starting the day off early, for some reason there is this misconception that teachers start their days around 8 or 9 and get out at 3. I'd like to just make clear now that THAT IS A LIE. My day starts at 5:45 am and ends at 6 pm. I leave my house by 6:45 am (next year I will need to leave earlier since my commute to the new building is longer) get to school at 7:25 (depending on traffic) and prep until the kids arrive around 8. And yes, the students go home at 3:15, but us teachers do not. Preparing and planning for the next day takes a while too ya know.
Okay, but I promised to kvetch less so let's end my tangent there.

3. Kindergartners are adorable and their comments are hilarious. I can't wait to teach, learn, and laugh with this incoming class. 'Nuff said.

That's all for now folks. Sweet dreams.

Here it goes again.

Hiya.
I went to school today to continue the unpacking process. I swear to you I was in there for hours but if you could see the room now you'd think that close to nothing was done. Luckily, I'm bringing the mom force in on Monday. She's amazing and I could really use the direction. My head is refusing to return from its exotic vacation at summer la la land. It's been hard to function and get that teacher 'tude back.
I've had 3 days now of on again/off again tension headaches. They are the worst.
Well, migraines are obviously worse but you get what I mean.
I'm well aware that they're poking and prying because it's just about mid August and I'm not ready to start this year just yet. Recovering and relaxing has been much needed. I'd like to keep this recharging process going for at least another month. Wouldn't that be nice? Summer would be sah-weet if it went all the way through September.
The one productive thing that did get done today was going through the ginormous binders that held pieces of my lessons from last year. Organizing them was...dare I say...fun? Looking back to a year ago felt kind of crazy. Surreal even.
On a whole other note, Lee learned how to ride her bike today! It was an exciting moment. And better late than never. Lil munchkin is growing up fast. 

Sorry for not even attempting to share any type of advice in this entry. I guess all's I can say is after getting through your first year of teaching, relax like there is no tomorrow. Your body will thank you for it once the end of August rears its ugly head.
I did feel a teensy weensy bit of excitement about the year starting today. There is of course something wonderful about starting fresh. Let's hope that more of those chipper moments come up as the next few weeks zoom by.
The sweeping hamster's facial expressions below say exactly how I'm feeling:
Excited, nervous, unsettled, eager..and ready for some serious classroom cleaning.
He's passionately sweeping the table! How cute is that?

You're never alone, there's always someone new-ish.

After wasting some time on pinterest (that's a lie because time on pinterest is never wasted) I decided to randomly google other teacher blogs. And guess what! It turns out that there are other first year fellow teachers posting about their first years of teaching as well! Why didn't I come across these blogs earlier?!
Even though the first year is behind me now, it was still a relief to read their words of wisdom. Now I know that I wasn't alone in this. Yes, there are other clueless, eager, and scared newbies out there. And, to my pleasant surprise, they've endured difficult experiences that seemed to almost mirror my own. This isn't supposed to sound coo-coo or sadistic. It's just SO nice to know I'm not crazy for feeling the range of emotions that seemed to rush through me this past year. It's mid-July now and I'm still recovering.
Did you know that there's actually an article out there called the "Phases of First-Year Teaching?" There's even a "First-Year Teaching Roller Coaster" diagram. I find this semi-hilarious because roller coasters terrify me as do the toughest parts of this past year.

And holy smokes, from September to right meow, that little chart in the article is RIGHT ON.

It's been a while.

I've been slacking.
Two months too late but figured the posts must go on.

So it's here. Beautiful, glorious, and so far even more amazing than I ever dreamed possible. SUMMER. (May be a slight exaggeration, but that's okay.)
I do miss the kiddos. And the sweet gifts and letters (from parents AND students) made my very first last week of school a truly memorable one.

Reflecting back on your first year of teaching is easier said than done. That might be because there's so much to say. I'm not really sure where to begin.
I was told before September that the year would fly. Not gonna lie, it didn't exactly zoom on by. There were weeks, sometimes days, that truly felt like they'd never end.
I'd be lying to you (or as one of my munchkins would call it, "fibbing") if I said that it wasn't a tough year.

Well, let's see.
I...
Was more tired than I think I've ever been (physically and mentally). Learned to hate traffic and rubber neckers like it was a second job. HATCHED ADORABLE CHICKS. Did not eat enough at school and ate WAY too much once I finally made it home. Learned and laughed with 11 amazing and hilarious kindergartners. Have grown more and more grateful for my mom by the minute. Found some fun ways to spice up my lessons on pinterest. Discovered that an obscene amount of caffeine helps obliterate migraines. Created and recreated my first classroom. Made it through (and even enjoyed) field trips. Unpacked and repacked my room thanks to help from some wonderful people. Still can't cook but have slowly taken on baking. Learned that kids love listening (or at least are really good at pretending they're listening) to personal anecdotes. Survived my first year of teaching.