All we need is love and a little bit of dancing!

Hey Teacher Friends!

I need a moment to share my feelings! Hope you do not mind!

Teaching is not a job that people completely understand. We are teachers, mothers, fathers, secretaries, managers, nurses, problem solvers, curriculum writers, and employees. I do not know about you but there has been a time or two TON of times where I have felt completely overwhelmed with all that we are expected to do and handle.

For the last few weeks I have been in this haze of stress. All I could think about was all of the small stuff we are required to do, but I was missing the BIG picture. I got my degree in teaching because I LOVE to spend my time teaching children. I love when they walk in our room in the morning, and their little smile lights up the classroom.

Two weeks ago, I was in a haze of stress and searching the internet for teaching ideas. I just happened to come across a YouTube Video titled Kid President's Pep Talk for Teachers and Students. I clicked on the video and my whole mood changed. Listening to this young man made me realize I NEED TO BE MORE AWESOME!  And when I can't be awesome...I need to dance...because we all know that dancing is fun and relieves lots of stress! :)


Then one day last week, I had just had one of "those days" and I broke down in tears. My poor husband tried talking me through my problems but I was stuck in this rut. Then I was upset with myself for being upset!! So, I decided that an early bed time was most likely the best thing I could do for myself.

I laid in bed and my thoughts turned to my students and how much they care for me. How hard they work everyday. How much I love spending my life with them. I thought about how I owe them more than what I was giving them.  Laying there I came up with this concept of a Class Cheer. We could do this cheer anytime in the day. We could do this when we just needed to add a little happiness back into our learning.

Now we have watched several of Kid President's videos! The students can't get enough. We have decided that our class motto this year is "Be Awesome."

With Kid President playing through our minds we worked together to create our Class Cheer. We do it everyday to start our day. Then we do it again throughout the day when we are sleepy, grumpy, sad, or even scared (especially of the fire drill). This little cheer has allowed me to focus on what I love about teaching. This cheer has made my students excited and I have even heard them encouraging each other to Be Awesome!

So Thank you Kid President! You helped this "stuck in a rut" teacher find her way back to her path. Another thank you to my amazing students, both past and present who have worked hard for me each and every day. You are Amazing and I love you very much!

So... What are you teaching the world?

THE Planner

Teacher Lesson Planner
by Erin Condren

Alrighty friends, 

There has been all of this debate over whether or not the teacher lesson planner by Erin Condren is worth the money. So I have decided to share some pictures with you and give you my thoughts about the planner. If you are on the fence I understand why! My friend Kheila at Two Friends in First told me about it a couple weeks ago and I said, "You want to spend how much??? On a PLANNER??" After watching the video together my head started spinning and I was trying to decide if it was just teacher hype or if it was worth it. I went home, went onto erincondren.com and looked at as many pictures as I could. I still do not know if I really had a justified reason to buy it, but I decided to take a leap of faith and spend the money.

They have lots of options when you are purchasing! I did decide to get the colored pens, extra sheet protectors, and the pen holder. I also personalized the front cover with my name. I put a note on my order that I would like the colors on my book to match my blog. Which they did, and it turned out great!

Sheet Protectors - In the back of the book

Pen Holder - It is adhesive and you decide where to place it

The Color Pens!! Could you buy something similar at Staples.. YES, but the colors are not going to match and you are going to pay very close if not more than what you pay on her website!

So I have now ordered my planner and then it is the WAITING game! It took about 2 weeks after I placed the order to have it in my hands. Not bad, but when you are dying to hold it and look at it, it feels like an eternity! 

These are some of the silly things that ended up on my Instagram!

When I got home... this was waiting at the door

ugh and of course I was doing the potty dance! 

What is it as soon as you walk in the door you have to the bathroom?

Then it was time to open, but not before a photo shoot :)

There it is... in all its glory :)

Free stickers!! That say Mrs. Zaminski!

Here she is! 

I feel like she needs a name or something?

You can probably tell I am a little nutty.. 

Well I was at Hobby Lobby and I saw this stand and I thought....

It was only $3 and it looks SUPER cute! 

So now that I have told you about the journey to get it here, it is time to analyze this baby! Was it worth all the money and energy I put into it???

You can see from the pictures above what the front and back cover look like. They are a harder laminated cover. The pictures below will show you what all this planner has to offer on the inside. 

In the front it has a Dates tab

Here you will find a listing of dates that would be important to a teacher

Then there is the Absent tab

there are several sheets where you can record your students absence and whether or not they turned in a excuse. Personally I think that is AWESOME! I can never keep track of who turned in notes and I am hoping that this binder will help!

Then the Graph tab

Here you can graph data or just do your seating chart :)

I am loving this year at a glance! You can put the MOST important things here

so that you do not forget them when planning! I am already starting to fill mine in, do not mind the writing :)

Then there is a tab for each month. Here is an example of the month view for July

The numbers for the date are not filled in.. that was a bummer in my opinion!

Other than that I liked the layout!

Behind each month spread is a notes section that just says,

"What's going on in July"

Here is another example of a monthly spread without my writing ;)

Here is the Lessons tab

I really like the lesson layout. My only complaint is that there are only 

42 weeks in the book. I am teaching summer school so 46-50 weeks worth

of planning sheets would have been nice. (It might be something easy I can request for next year)

Student Checklist tab

I think you can see what this is used for!

I wish there would have been a separate grade section in addition to this section

Notes tab

preprinted stickers to use throughout the planner ~ LOVE THESE!

blank ones that you can personalize!

Pocket folder so that you can store items you need

Then the laminating sheets!

A small pouch to hold some cute little items!

two year calendar

So this is my thought. I could either make a document very similar to this or buy one from TPT, but it is going to take time, patience, and a lot of energy just to make the thing. 

I would have to send it to the office supply store to get it printed and bound. It is going to cost you $0.49ish per color page on regular paper (lets say there are 150 pages take that X .49 and it equals out $73.50.) Now you have to pay to get the cover laminated and get it bound together. We are talking close to $100.00 for a finished product! 

Do I think it was worth the $59 I paid for it.... the answer is YES YES YES! I love this planner already. Erin Condren did a fabulous job thinking about what will really work for teachers. I think it will be nice for me to keep all my information in one place and no longer have to worry when I have a meeting. I will just grab it and go! Ordering on the website was easy and their customer service treated me great! I will order from her again, that is FOR SURE! 

I hope this helps if you are on the fence about buying one :)

1st Grade Rocks

Kay is retiring and 1st grade is rocking her retirement party in style! We love you Kay!!

Kay has taught for 36 years and she is an amazing women! I have only worked with her for one year and she always made me feel welcomed and supported. I think I am going to miss her beautiful smile and warm heart the most! I know she will enjoy spending her retirement with her new grandson!
XOXO Kay!

I am in LOVE with our jackets! Just $5 on sale at Walmart! A little Puffy Paint goes a long way! 

K-A-Y  H-E-L-M     Lets Go!       Kay Helm

Kay wanted a cheer and a stunt and that is what she got!

Teacher Appreciation!

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week has been filled with warm and fuzzies! It started on Tuesday morning as I worked on a little something for my team memebers. I wanted them to know just how much they mean to me and how much I appreciate all of their help and support through my first year of teaching. I came up with this for each of them.

Then, I got to Skype with my best friend and her class. Our classes have been pen pals all year. They have loved writing back and forth and getting to know someone new. We spent some time in the morning getting to know one another "face to face". My kids were so excited to see Casey's belly! They knew that she was pregnant but when she showed her tummy they just giggled and awed! I am very lucky to have such an amazing person as a best friend and I was glad we were able to do this project together!! Happy Teacher Appreciation Week Casey!

MORE FUN!

Then my very sweet soon to be mother-in-law just LOVES to make me cry. She wrote this very sweet blog post about me. Click on her picture to take you to her blog.

Then because we all know that there is nothing better than free food.. Davey and I went to Chipolte for buy 1 get 1 free burritos. It was so GOOD! After dinner I was spoiled by the hubby and got to go to the learning source. It is a great little shop in Mechanicsburg. They specialized in teaching and education materials. I got a few things for next year already!! (Hard to think it is not that far away!) Then a great night would not be complete without a small vanilla ice cream cone! I am so glad I have a VERY supportive, LOVING, and UNDERSTANDING man that stands behind me  :)

Am I blessed of what? I think so! Happy Teacher Appreciation to you!!