First Year Advice

O what I wouldn't do to go back and teach my first year all over with my amazing students, but then again, I don't because what I know now is much more valuable and worth the 6 years it took me to make it to my 7th year of teaching!

 My first year is kind of two years. My first 94 days were spent in a family leave. I was there from January to June and oh my were they crazy! I was married to my job and an emotion mess from just being so overwhelmed! It was also a TAM classroom, so I had to follow everything that was in place. NO changing! It was tough!

 The next year I was on my own. It was glorious. I had some management, but not like I have learned! Here are some tips for first year teachers:

 1. Write down every procedure you plan on having in your class. Even bathroom and drink. Be flexible if your plan doesn't work, but stick with it, otherwise they won't be procedures.

 2. Have a go to person. The person you can cry to, but also share a laugh. I learned that having 5 amazing ladies to start my day with make it all better! I can even pop my head in their door during planning just to be like, "OH my goodness, I left a kid in the room for 45 minutes sleeping! We went to the assembly and I forgot him! What do I do??" (True story!!) This person(s) will give you the best advice and root for your success, just make sure they are positive!

 3. Sleep! Go to bed early at least 3 nights a week. Reserve one night a late night. For me it has always been Thursday for Grey's Anatomy. It has been my stress relief since the get go. Very rarely do I do work on this night. Even though I go to bed late, I still feel rested in the morning because I wasn't working.

 4. Laugh when you make a mistake. I cannot tell you how often I felt I couldn't laugh because it would look like I didn't know what I was doing. Yup, technology fails. Yup, your hand moves to quickly and you hit a kid on the arm accidently. Yes, you are so tired you walk into a desk. So what! Laugh, you are enjoying what you do, so will your students.

 5. This one is going to kill some people but....You don't ALWAYS have to laminate everything! I know. It sometimes is an addiction, but I have found to laminate posters, homework folders, centers, and some things for the hallway. After that, I've had enough cutting and I'd rather spend that time with my daughter. She's more important. Just one thing I gave up and it feels REALLY GOOD!

 Well now it is your turn. What advice would you give to a new teacher???  Don't forget to link up with Stephanie in room 6 with your awesome advice!

Stephanie in Room 6

It Has Started

So about Saturday of last week it hit. I had 1 month until I report back to work. That means all the little things I do the NIGHT before Meet the Teacher, needed to get done ASAP! So I started looking things over, buying graphics from DJ Inkers because if I'm sticking with my beach theme, I'm sure as heck going to convert EVERYTHING to beach theme. On Monday I went to Wal-Mart TWICE! Then I went to Staples, were I bought myself a nice new printer. Not just any printer, one that is wireless AND prints double sided....(Can you tell whose going to have a longer Parent Newsletter this year?) Then I just busted out the MacBook that has been sleep for about 2 months. I also bought labels, because it is what I do EVERY year. That night I sat infront of my computer creating labels for my ticket back, that say, "Aloha! I've got P.A.W. Power!" I then stuck them to 30 bags and then reinforced the sides with BLUE Duck Tape. The bags look something like this.

After that I had talked to my hallway buddy, who is a "Tree Hugger." Literally we sat down to plan a theme for her and we thought earthy feel would be good, then I said Trees and she has taken it from there! She got Palm Tree Labels! Not sure I could teach first without her! Next after working way too late on these bags, I ran up to Skating Camp to teach Art. I think I've spent hours looking at blogs AND Pinterest making sure I have all the little details ready. I finished my labels for Meet the Teacher for parents. I use Kristin's idea from A Teen Tiny Teacher. It went over super well last year. This year I went and bought the Avery bag set. It was a little $$ and I thought I could use them for 2 years BUT they fed wrong, so I only have enough for this year. Lesson learned, only feed one sheet at a time. Now I just need to buy hugs to fill the bags. Yesterday I went and did some crazy shopping. I went to JoAnn's and Target. I bought notebooks for Friday Journals. They were 17 cents each. I'm not complaining, since I got 30 in blue. I don't like to procrastinate with supplies like that, since I know colors go fast. Today I bought my blue homework folders from WalMart. I plan on working on them this weekend. Today I created my Survival Kit. Instead of it being a Back to School Survival Kit...It is a Surfing School Survival Kit! I figure if I'm going full out, we will be a surfing school! I hope to share some of my creations on Monday. Have a great weekend everyone! I am beach bound tomorrow! YAY!

Tell Me More

Finally Linking up to Tell Everyone more about myself. Let's see, where to start?? 1. Let's start way back when I was little. I had red hair. My mom swore she wouldn't bring me home if I was born with red hair. Lucky for me, I was born with newborn, black hair. :) But one day, at about three months old, I woke up with Red Hair! She swears it was just one day, and looking through albums of pictures, it was one day.

2. Since I was 5, I was ready for school weeks ahead of time. I have loved going to school since Kindergarten. It never stopped! I picked out my outfit and bag days ahead. My mom cried. I swore I wouldn't do that to my kid, but now, I'm not so sure... My first day of school

3. I thought at 9, I would become a pediatrician. I stuck with that dream until I was 17. I applied to all my college choices Pre Med. Then after volunteering in a second grade class with my favorite person in the world whose known me since I was a baby, who became my mentor student teacher....I decided to apply to one last school....as an Elementary Education Teacher. 4. At 7 I started getting serious into Archery. Like, I needed a new bow every year for awhile. Every six months, I got things redone on it just to make it last longer. I was the red head that was uncool because I had red hair and I shot a bow and arrow, something NO ONE DID! Now I can say, I was cool when Brave wasn't out. 5. I have a super cool daughter. She is my world. Yup, I'm a single mother. Nope, I don't regret a thing. She was the best choice I have ever made. She is like 4 going on 14, but I love her for keeping me on my toes daily. She won her first skating competition this past March. Here is a picture of her skating during this competition.

6. Skater Child has crossed eyes. She has been wearing glasses for nearly a year. She is on her third pair. Next step is surgery. It really effects her with writing, so I'm hoping that we can have all eye issues resolved within the next nine months. Between Prayer, an amazing doctor, and not letting it go by, I'm hoping that it works and surgery isn't needed. She still crosses her eyes with glasses, but they are getting better when her glasses are off. She can't patch because it is both eyes. 7. I'm really shy and standoffish if you've never met me. I look like the bitch you wouldn't want to talk to which is why I struggled to start this blog. But once I've gotten to know you and you get that I'm not always like that, I'll talk your ear off. Thankfully, I work with some amazing people, that got me out of being standoffish really quick because being in the hallway for 15 minutes in the morning, makes for a great day! 8. I never wanted to teach in the same school I went to. I had no desire to teach at my building. I actually thought about turning down my job, but I decided to give it a go! So glad I did! I'm that wacky person that remembers everything and the smell is still the same! 9. I don't name my cars. I've had 2. I just got my third. Guess what? It has a name. Well, a Nickname. It is a Jetta, so we call it Jet Jet! And it has a Jet Pack! It came with a first aide kit and my daughter fell in the parking lot at Busch Gardens and I scooped her up and said, "Let's go get the Jet Pack from Jet Jet!" It stopped her crying and it stuck! 10. I'm still a red head. Best choice I've made. Even though I've thought about dying it all sorts of colors, red is my favorite! It makes me who I am. It did take years for me to love it, but I'm glad it took time. Good things do come to those who wait!

11. Last but not least, my last name is Short. I am not short, by any means. One teacher actually called me Ms. Tall in school and still does to this day! I'm 5' 7" and I aim to be tall! Thanks so much for hosting this linky party Miss Lemons! If you haven't linked up, go do it now!

Time to Shape Up!

Well, not get fit Shape up, but get your students shapes in order. I have created Shape Shuffle! It is up on Teachers Pay Teachers now. This amazing package has 8 Shape Posters, 5 activities, 1 assessment and a score sheet for the assessment! This is a pretty good bargain if you teach first grade. Not only does it focus on shape names, but corners, sides, and following directions. Some activities would be great for morning work or centers. I'd love to post a picture of it but I'm having trouble. Being new to the whole blog deal is tough, but I'm sure I'll catch on quickly. I have it on sale for $2.00. Let me know what you think! Happy Teaching! Miss Red Head

Second Post

I'm sorry. I know you are only suppose to post once a day, but I just posted my first freebie on TeachersPayTeachers. I'll post the final product shortly, but head over and download Place Mat Labels! Here's the Link! Enjoy!

Inspiration

I'm finally feeling motivated to get started preparing for this year! I say I'm ready to go back to work but I'm more ready for summer to be over than being prepared to go back to work. So I purchased my Staples Discount Card two weeks ago. It has more than bought itself. I have oodles of binders to put together and a project I'm going to work on this afternoon/evening since I have a lunch date with 3 pretty awesome people! One is my hallway partner. The other two are two paras that we have both worked with. So it will be a fun time. Poor skater child will not be with me, but napping at her great grandmother's house. :) Fun! She has been glued to me since June 22nd. She rarely lets me out of her eye site. Sometimes, I even have to tell her every detail of what I'm doing so she is calm when I'm not in the same room as her. Onto today's project. I am planning to make my own mini charts as Creative Teaching Press calls them. They look like this:

They are pretty awesome looking, but rather expensive. I was thinking of ordering about 4 sets and personalizing them for subjects on my Kidney table when I worked with small groups in Language Arts and Math, but decided that I could make those for a whole lot cheaper. So I bought Construction Paper (I'm debating about buying the small poster board packs, but not sure) and some glue. I need more printer ink, so I need to buy that before setting to work. I'm excited to get crafty, as it is not my strong point. Teaching Arts and Crafts this summer is certainly helping! I'd really love to redo my classroom in the Dots, but it isn't in the cards this year since I just redid my classroom LAST year and I have a ton of stuff to use up! I was hoping Carson Dellosa would come out with more Surfing Theme things, but it isn't shaping up that way. Well have a great day and I'm hoping to post many ideas that become reality over the next five days of no alarm clock! AHHHH!!!

I'm Crazy and I Know It!

This summer has been INSANE to say the least. I've already been on vacation, so I'm home for the rest of the summer. Well at least my town, since the bathroom remodel is taking FOR-EV-ER! My cousin passed away, now 15 days later my grandmother, who has been in the hospital for 2 months, passed away yesterday. It hasn't been fun. It has been a roller coaster. I broke down with my grandmother about 2 months ago and honestly started the grieving then, but together, I think it is going to be a very ugly two months until I go back. Poor skater child. I am so over summer and ready for work. I'm ready to jump in, feet first, and just start. I know it sounds odd, but my mind is craving sanity and teaching and being in my classroom gives me that. Skater child is amazing, but at her age and the sassy mouth = lots of tears (not from me, caused by me) because at 4, no child should be that sassy! Sleeping has been a hot mess, so yes, work, I NEED YOU! Right now, I'm working on a Shapes Packet for Teachers Pay Teachers, but I will be very nice and post a piece or two of it in the next day or so. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! I've enjoyed mine with skater child, trying to get life sorted out. Pools and slides it is for the rest of the summer!

Living Near the Beach

I LOVE living at the beach. So much so, that I make my classroom a beach theme. I found that having this theme this year was EXTREMELY successful because I always felt at ease because I was in my comfort zone. I also feel it allowed me to connect with my students because it is something almost all students have done or heard about. I plan on posting some fun beach printables that I created and use in my classroom. If there is anything you would like to see added, please let me know. I plan on making this my weekend project. Have a great weekend! Miss Red Head

Looking Ahead

I started this blog to give to Skater Child to know what I do when I'm not with her. Recently, my cousin passed away at 35 years old. Was this expected? Yes and No. She was a Type 1 Diabetic. She also had Addison's Disease. She was not only my cousin, but my best friend. The sister I never had. Skater Child's God Mother. She was also a mom, wife, daughter, artist, sister, Girl Scout Leader. In conclusion, I don't want to leave the world with knowing that I've left my daughter a place to look to. A place to look to see how I changed the world, one class at a time. I may not touch the whole world, but I know I touch 20+ lives a year and what I do with them, may help other teachers and they help me as well, making my teaching better. Each summer I try to write down some goals I have for the school year. Normally, I jump head first into planning the day the current school year ends. This year I gave myself 3 weeks off. It has been insanely busy this summer. (PJ days?? What are those??) (Some days I'm at a family member's house, yeah, no being lazy). Summer camp, vacation, cousin passing away, summer camp, and free week with no plans, so today being the third free day, I'm posting my goals and getting a jump start on what I normally do in August, I'm going to plan to do slowly through the month. Goal 1: Propose to my admin why I should do Daily 5 with Cafe to boost my students learning instead of teaching to one specific group for 90 minutes. Goal 2: Implement Math Stations (I started last year, but this year, it will start in September, not January. Goal 3: Produce a weekly newsletter, instead of biweekly or month. Consistency is key! Goal 4: Try 1 pinterest idea a month. I love Pinterest, but I don't use it as much as I should. Goal 5: Use TeachersPayTeachers to sell some ideas. That's enough for now. I'm excited about this year and looking forward to doing even more this year with my class than last! Do you set goals for yourself every year?

Welcome and Currently

Hello! I'm finally jumping in head first and beginning my teaching blog. I have started ones in the past, but this is. My end all, be all. I plan to post here about my teaching lives. Two things you must know about me. I am a red head and I also seem to have all those students that just ramble on and on about anything to me, the class, or each other. Either way, there is a whole lotta rambling going on. To some, this might just be talking. To me, it shows learning. Okay, onto filling out my first currently.

Well I did it. I finished my first blog. I hope to make this site more creative and fun. Maybe a red head on my template or something? Who knows! ~Stephanie