Summer is here! Free Summer Productivity Printable

Ahhhhh :) We're 4 days in and it's starting to feel like summer! Sure the weather has been

all. over. the. place.

It cannot decide what it wants to do out there. But I'm getting my mantel decorations and mindset finally into summer mode! And then...my mom has to go and text me this morning saying "6 months til Christmas!" Gee thanks, mom. She's a kill-joy fall/winter lover. (Love you!) :)

Well I never got around to posting June goals. Here's a quick update on how I did with May goals:

Goals for May:
1. Go to the gym or run 5 times
2. Make 1 new recipe
3. Hang living and dining room curtains
4. Blog 1 time other than this post
5. Choose a paint color for master bedroom
6. Paint master bedroom
 7. Project Life date with my mom
8. Finish "Love Does"

Ya, I'm not doing so great. But hey, half is better than none!

I had a great finish to the school year--can't believe I've successfully taught for 2 years!

At the end of the year, we were reading "Because of Winn-Dixie." So to wrap-up the book and welcome summer, we had our very own party copying the party they have in the book! We had egg salad sandwiches cut into triangles with frilly toothpicks, a jar of pickles, Littmus Lozenges, and Dump Punch!

We also copied the decorations from the book. We made our own luminaries and used battery tea lights.

 Some students brought dog pictures for us to stick around the room.

We hung yellow and pink streamers. After we finished decorating and filled our plates with goodies, we watched the movie! The kids had a great time and it was fun to make the book come to life.

The next week, I attended 5 curriculum meetings, finished report cards, cleaned out my classroom and officially locked the door on the school year! Oh, but I will be spending plenty of time working on curriculum this summer. I got approved to teach Language Arts in a different way, which I'm really excited about but it does mean some extra work for me in the next couple months.

Even though I have many things I want to accomplish this summer, I decided not to do monthly goals for the summer. Instead, I've created a weekly breakdown of tasks by category to help me stay focused and productive yet also enjoy some relaxing and fun. I find that I tend to look at a long to-do list and either pick just the "fun" things or end up doing none because "hey, it's summer and laying outside reading a book all day sounds perfect!". So I scheduled time for the fun things but also made certain days focused on tasks such as cleaning, organizing, and curriculum. I spent some time searching on Pinterest for a printable but wasn't finding something that fit me really well. No problem. I'm pretty good with Word and so 5 minutes later I had my own printable, which I'm sharing with you today!

While I'm not a graphic designer and didn't make it all cute with different fonts, colors, and images, I did try to be creative with the names for each day! There are many littler tasks in each category that will get accomplished (or not haha) each week but I wanted a place to write down the bigger goals for the summer. We'll see how it goes!

Here is the PDF FREE PRINTABLE of my Summer Daily Plan
And if you aren't a teacher, or want the days in a different order or want to rename them and just my blank template, here's the Editable Summer Daily Plan

For my weekly page that I fill in with specific tasks for each day, I use this fun and cute free fillable PDF from Erin Rippey at InkTreePress.com Be sure to check her website out--she has some super cute stuff!

One of my summer goals (as you may have seen under Wednesday's column) is to do some good ol' blogging! So be sure to come back periodically for some fun tutorials and DIY projects I've been doing around my home.

How do you stay productive during the summer?

March Goals

Happy March!

I am so excited for this month! First, because it is the month in which winter is NO more. I like all the seasons but winter just sticks around for waaaaay too long in these parts. And most likely even when it is officially spring, I am sure it will still look and feel like winter. But somehow, "the first day of spring" helps me mentally start getting over the freezing cold and never ending snow.

Second--this month ends with the start of spring break! Unfortunately that also means another set of report cards to get done. But this month, I will have loads of motivation! Two days after the quarter ends, we are headed to

 IRELAND!!!

Isn't that beautiful?!?!

Those are the Cliffs of Moher and I will be there!!! I am preparing myself to be wet and cold but taking tons of pictures and soaking up all the amazing landscapes. This will also be my first time to Europe so I'm pretty excited to add another continent (and country) to my (very short) list.

Here were my February goals:

1. Go to the gym 5 times
2. Read 2 books kinda
3. Blog 2 times
4. Cook 1 new recipe
5. Get my Project Life out of the closet and start working on it again
6. Narrow down an idea for the curtains for my living room

While basketball and report cards were not an issue this month, I had so many sick/absent students that it created lots of extra work for me to keep them on top of their work and then I got sick too and lost all energy and motivation to do anything. I did make it to the gym 5 times but my workouts were pretty mild as it would wipe me of all my energy. I finished 1 book and am currently reading 2 different books "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth and "Love Does" by Bob Goff so that kinds counts as read 2 books since I didn't say "finish". :) I blogged once and have another post 90% done but it just didn't get finished before March. I did cook something new and it was very yummy. I made Balsamic Glazed Lamb Chops. Thanks to Kayley at "The Kitchen McCabe" for the recipe. Sadly, I never did get my Project Life out. I planned to do it last night after Wyldlife but we decided to hang out with some friends and I'm glad we did. Depending on your definition of narrow, I have narrowed down my ideas for curtains. It's actually the blog post in progress so you will hear and see more about it soon! So not amazing but not terrible! And hey, in my defense....February shorted me by 2 days!

Here are my March Goals:
1. Go to the gym 6 times
2. Finish "Allegiant" and "Love Does"
3. Brush up on my photography skills and how to use my camera beyond Auto so that I can fully capture Ireland with awesome picutres
4. Get my Project Life out and start working on it again
5. Make a March Madness Bracket
6. Blog 2 times other than this post
7. Make 1 new recipe
8. Really narrow down curtain options and buy some--or the fabric to make some.
9. Do 1 crafty thing! March is National Craft Month and I feel like I should partake even if it's in a small way.
10. Decorate my house for spring!

Wow, way more goals than previously. But I'm feeling motivated and 80% of my lesson planning is already done for the next 6 weeks since I'll be out of the country for all of break and don't want to come home and write lesson plans. We'll see how I do!

Any tips for international travel? 

What to pack? (I HATE packing and tend to over-pack every trip) 

How to survive the looooong overnight flight? (I will NOT be watching the new movie "Nonstop" despite how much my husband wants to see it!)
Do you have any goals for this month?
Do you decorate your house for spring?
Do you watch March Madness at all?
Will you be crafting at all for National Craft Month?

Classroom Before and After

I had a lot of fun setting my classroom up! Last year, I was hired a few days before school started and shared a classroom with the afternoon teacher so I never really got to set up a classroom or make it my own much. This year it was overwhelming knowing where to start because I had SO many Pinterest ideas filling my head along with some space constraints in my new room.  Here are some pictures to show you what I walked into and had to work with.

Standing in the doorway looking left. The file cabinet and cupboard are gonna move.

Sweeping to the right

Looking straight ahead towards the back door

Standing in the corner looking back

Facing the front door and front of the room. Notice the empty bookshelf on the right. 

That small cabinet is moving too.

So those wooden boxes on the wall are actually the student desks. They are built onto the wall and fold down to create a desk surface and about 6 inches depth of storage space. Cool idea but definitely something I had to really get creative to make work for me since I couldn't move any of them and they use up almost all of the wall space.

Starting to bring all my stuff in and unpack.

Moved the file cabinet and cupboard and shifted the bookshelves down so the projector cart could fit.

Small cabinet moved to the empty wasted space by the back door.

It has to get messy before it can get organized.

Fun things first! After getting the bulletin borders and cursive ABC's up, we covered cans (just empty cans from canned food) with fun paper to match the colors of the borders. Then we filled them with all brand new school supplies! Mmmmm

My hubby helped me color all the letters of the alphabet for my Boggle board. I wanted to give the letters some color and had it match the borders. After one set of the alphabet, he took it to his fancy copier at work and made 3 more sets. I laminated them at school and am all set for Boggle all year!

Emptying old files, organizing throwing away, re-organizing by color.

Assembling my pocket chart stand!

Ta-da!

This is going to come in SO handy with little wall space.

All finished! Looking towards the back door.

The whiteboard always has the Entry Task and Journal Prompt for the day. That door leads to the 2nd grade classroom. The closed wooden cabinet has 2 computers in it.

This cabinet has all the extra supplies very neatly organized in it. As students break or wear out pencils they put them in the pink bucket and the Pencil Sharpener person sharpens all of them at the end of the day.

Close-up of the crayon wreath. My mom made it for me last year.

Classroom rules and reminders.

Using the pencil vase my mom made for me last year to hold our flags. You can see how the desks work now. During the week they rotate all their books like you would on a bookshelf and keep personal supplies on the other side. On Thursdays, we have to turn the book again and shut the desks so a Sunday School class can use our room.

p.s. the desks are no where NEAR that neat anymore.

I used border strips to break the wall into different sections. Each section is for posters, charts, pictures, and class work for different subjects. For the first week of school, I had 6 questions up that the kids answered with sticky notes. The questions were color-coded to match the different sticky notes I had and the kids had to write their answer on a sticky note that the matched the color of the question. I like things to match, okay?

Those pom-poms were from the wedding I got to decorate for this summer. They were just going to be thrown away and so I grabbed a few to add some fun by my desk.

Loving my supply cart! My mom got it for me from Ikea. I keep everything we need (in the cute cans) on a daily or weekly basis here and since it rolls around I can move it out based on our needs.

I used 3M double-stick strip to stick a corkboard strip to the top of my whiteboard. I then used pushpins to hold my pocket chart up. I created my own schedule cards based on the size of my pockets. I have since added a second pocket chart below hanging from suction cup hooks since our schedule would not all fit in just one after the first week of school.

I used the little chalkboard frames for the kids to hold for first-day-of-school pictures.

Closer view of my corner. The jobs are on those two cork boards. I just rotate the names under the jobs each week. You can kind of tell but the bookshelf is now full. Our school joined with another last year and they had hundreds of books up for grabs so I filled two plastic totes FULL. YAY. I'm working on a library app on my iPhone that allows me to check the books out to kids and then back in when they return.

I returned the 27pocket organizer because it held papers and folders vertically and was actually to narrow for folders. I got a second 10 pocket organizer and the two of them together works great! Folders and papers fit horizontally. Each student has their own "mailbox" I call it. 3rd graders are green and on the left, and 4th graders are blue and on the right. I keep my copies for the week in the pockets above. I can't imagine NOT having this.

It's a tight fit and some days we feel more cramped for space than others. But it works! I'm really proud of the ways I figured out to use my space best and get creative with storing things taking up as least amount of space as possible. I love my classroom. I've also received several compliments from parents saying they love the colors and how fun it looks. YAY :)

First Day of School!

My 21st first-day-of-school picture.

2nd as a teacher.

Back to (a new) School

I had good intentions to post the photo tour of my new house last week before we left town for a wedding.  I took all the pictures and got them on my computer. But once again, the many tasks of everyday life got in the way of my blogging.

I started this post on my iPhone in the car to the wedding last week so that I wouldn't have left my blog for a whole week. However, lack of service in the middle of nowhere on the way there and complete exhaustion on the way back prevented me from finishing it. So here I am now. The photo tour is still not done. It's on my to-do list, it's on my mind, but so are SO many other things. Two of which I am going to explain in this post. And the third, I realized last night! Did you know there are only 7 days left in July!?!?! Where did summer go? This tragic realization has motivated me to (try to) get some stuff done that I said I would this summer and that means therefore, less time to blog every week. It has also freaked me out, made me sad, and made me excited that school will be starting soon!

Last week, I stopped in WalMart to look for something in housewares but I didn't make it there for at least 15 minutes because the colorful aisle of Back-to-School supplies blocked my route was right by the front door. Being a teacher, it is quite nearly impossible to walk past school supplies without touching, smiling, and yes usually buying something. This day was no exception!

I just had to get this adorable notebook for myself. Of course I have lots of notebooks but a teacher can always use more. :)

 Aren't the birds just so cute??? I seem to be acquiring a thing for birds in decor lately...

There was a scripture verse on the back.

This notebook is called Love Petals by Dena Designs. My mom informed me that she designs fabric for Free Spirit Fabric. She has some very cute stuff! I haven't been able to find the bird design in a fabric so maybe she just made this for notebooks. There were 5 other notebook designs. You should check them out!

I also got this! I have never seen something like this before. Right off the top of my head, I don't know how exactly I will use this, but I'm sure I can come up with something! If not, I'll return it.

They also had one that only has 10 pockets (I bought that as well so I can decide which one I want, or keep both!)

I also got this super cute ABC cursive chart. It was only 97 CENTS!!!

And how could I pass up all these fun borders? Again 97 cents each! Ya, I couldn't. 

Something I did not buy, but thought was so cool--8 packs of crayons in various shades of ONE color. So you buy the brown pack, you get 8 diff browns. How fun! I didn't buy them because well how could you get just one? I would want all of them. See...I have a back-to-school supply shopping problem. :)

So now that I have all this fun stuff, I have to figure out where to put it........

in my NEW CLASSROOM!

That's right, I have a new teaching position!

I will no longer be teaching Kindergarten in the public school system. After three interviews for public school positions and uneasiness about teaching two sessions of Kindergarten all year (that's 50 five-year olds and their parents!), I got a random text from a friend. She knew someone at a private Christian school in the area and they had an opening for a 3/4 split classroom with only 14 students. She recommended me to them and gave me a name and number to contact. 

Ever since I first started down this education path, I never saw myself in a private school (I'm not totally sure why) and I was still hopeful that something else would open up in the public schools. Well I decided to call and at least get more information so I could feel better about saying "no". 

Funny how things work out sometimes.

Through a couple phone calls, a somewhat interview (I asked 90% of the questions), a tour, and face-to-face meeting I just kept being more and more intrigued and pleasantly surprised by this school. Which just kept making the decision harder and harder. I made a pros and cons list, I talked to my husband (every night) and my parents. I prayed. I himmed. I hawed. I prayed again, asking God to just put some new thought in my head or someone to say something new about this whole thing that would just strike me and give me peace. 4 hours later, He did. My Kindergarten teacher friend called me and talked for about a half hour with me. She said a couple things that I really needed to hear and gave me peace.

Finally I made a decision.

• I decided that $500(ish) less a year is no big deal when I would have 36 less students.
• I decided that Fridays off is pretty sweet.
• I decided that 3rd and 4th grade is so much what I want to teach.
• I decided that one year of half-time experience in the public system is not enough "tenure" and retirement to hold onto it.
• I decided that knowing what I am teaching in mid-July would be so much less stressful than finding something in mid-August.
• I decided that 2 minute commute is awesome.
• I decided that helping lead a school into Common Core and technology integration would be a great opportunity/experience for me.
• I decided that joining a small, Christian community would be a really good fit for me.
• I decided to teach 3rd and 4th grade at the private Christian school.

 I AM SO EXCITED!!!

On Monday, I brought home a second box of curriculum to start going through and got the key to my classroom! It is small and the desks are built into the walls so I am definitely limited in space and how to use it. I have been pinning like crazy and filling my head with so many awesome ideas! Now I just need to start reading the curriculum and ACTUALLY planning some lessons. So that is one of the big things I really need to get a move on.

The second one is a writing credit. Before I left my Kindergarten position, I signed up for a credit to develop the writing curriculum for the year. Its actually kinda fun (ya, I know I'm weird) and I'm already deep into it, so why quit now? Plus, it gets me one more credit. So I have to keep plugging along with that as well.

And now, I'm off to my summer nanny job!

I really am hoping to get the photo tour up this week as well as a couple more posts, we'll see how it really goes!

If you are the praying kind, I wouldn't mind a few to help me in these last few weeks of summer to balance my nannying, summer fun, writing credit, and planning for 3/4! :)

What is your favorite back-to-school supply?

What little item do you have a thing for in decor? (ex. my thing with birds lately)

Have you ever made a job switch that was such a hard decision but then you were so excited?

It's Better When...

Monday, Monday

Today was a good Monday.

You know those typical Mondays when you dread going to work, when you get there it's hectic, when you have a huge to-do list for the week, and when you are already looking forward to Friday afternoon?  Well today was kinda not one of those days.

Yes, I still groaned when my husband's (super loud) alarm went off 3 times. Yes, I still made a mile-long list to hopefully tackle this week, and yes I am looking forward to Friday already and our plans for the coming weekend.

BUT....this Monday was better than most because....

...getting out of bed is better when you make a hazelnut latte!

...doing your hair is better when you have a brand new cut and style that you love and feels heatlthy! (and getting many compliments throughout the day doesn't hurt either)

...an outfit is better when you include coral, such as adorable wedges and super fun dangly earrings both gifted from your great mom (not to mention the teal scarf as well!)

 

...teaching is better when you get to collaborate with your awesome team.


...driving home is better when you can roll your window down and open the sunroof!


...folding laundry is better when you watch "Friends" :)



....a house is better when it has a roof!

...working out is better when you have brand new, cute, work-out clothes to make you at least feel like you are fit and athletic when you really are gasping for breath and have terrible foot cramps

...biking for 7 miles at the gym is better when your husband encourages you and pushes you to finish strong during the last 5 minutes.

...chicken is better when you add garlic (a little brown sugar doesn't hurt either!)

...dealing with the politics of teaching is better when you have a husband that gives great inspirational speeches to make you feel better.

...and blogging is better when you have readers and comments!

So tell me, what are a few things that can instantly make YOUR day better?

A Blessed Week

What a week! Last Saturday, I blogged about making a dishwasher-safe Sharpie mug. I linked up to 10 parties and was then invited to link up at 3 more. This post became a record for my blog! 21 comments and 234 views is BY FAR the most my humble little blog has ever seen! I feel so blessed in this small thing. On top of the popularity of the post in those numbers, my post was chosen as a favorite from two of the parties. Thank you to the following blogs that featured my DIY project!

 

While this blog excitement has definitely been a highlight in my week, I have been blessed in several other ways!

On Sunday, we had some wonderful friends over for the first grilling of the season! The weather has started warming up and we all thought a little grilling would not only be fun but might coax summer to come sooner. We decided kabobs would be fun and then we could build our own. I prepped red onion, cherry tomatoes, green bell pepper, pineapple chunks, potatoes, kielbasa sausage, pork, and chicken and then we skewered away. Don't they look so summery?!

On Monday, we had a shocking surprise, which I will blog about this weekend! :)

Tuesday was my last day of school before spring break. We celebrated Easter by writing from the perspective of a bunny and sorting jelly beans! It was a fun day but also a little bit crazy as spring break is very much needed for all of us. That night, I tried a new recipe. I saw this pizza that looked so delicious! I adapted the recipe a bit for time and diet reasons. I used Pillsbury pizza dough from the can instead of making my own dough. I also cooked the pizza in the oven instead of a skillet. Finally, I did not use cheese as I don't really care for cheese and my husband is allergic to dairy. I did sprinkle just a bit of parmesan since it didn't seem like pizza without cheese but it didn't need it.

When it came out of the oven, my hubby was shocked at how good it looked. Then, after one bite, he said "you can make this again!" I love cooking and like to try new recipes. I feel so blessed because he both enjoys and supports this. He is fun to cook for and I love it when he loves the food. We both got to take some leftovers for lunch the next day. I had several other teachers eyeing it, asking if it was homemade, and asking for the recipe! Pizza success :)

Tuesday ended with an extra blessing in the form of a very TALL person---my "little" brother. He was driving from school to my parent's house and texted me after 10pm to see if I was still up as he was driving by and wanted to know if I wanted a hug. Isn't he so great? Of course I wanted a hug! I climbed out of bed, and tiptoed to the front door. My brother is 6'8" and gives wonderful bear hugs! He is 2 1/2 years younger than I am and we are very close. Because he goes to school six hours away, we don't get to see each other very often so a late night hug and 3 minute catch-up chat was awesome!

On Wednesday I had the majority of my parent/teacher conferences. I was blessed by several of my parents telling me how much their child loved being in school, loved learning, and enjoyed having me as a teacher. Those are the things a teacher needs to hear every so often to know it is worth it. :)

Thursday presented a new job opportunity for me! One of the 4th grade teachers at our school is not able to come back after break due to some personal reasons. They needed a long-term sub to take her class so they asked the ALP math teacher. That meant, there was no one to teach ALP math for 3rd and 4th grade in the afternoons. From previous conversations, my principal knew that I was interested in intermediate grades and that I loved math. Since I am a half-day AM Kindergarten teacher, she asked me if I would be interested in taking over those two math classes. While it does mean I have only 10 minutes to switch from Kindergarten to 4th grade math in a classroom at the other end of the school, no time for lunch, and giving up a good chunk of my spring break to develop lessons, I said "yes"! I do have interest in teaching an intermediate grade at some point. I think this is a great opportunity and  will give me a good experience to know if I do enjoy 3rd and 4th grade and teach some deeper math concepts. I think the hardest part for me right now is trying to transition my brain from adding and subtracting within 5 with my Kindergartners to very bright students. My frame of reference is a bit skewed as of now :)

I got to end Thursday with a great phone chat with my best friend. It has been a long time since we talked and it was so good to catch up. She has been my friend since we were 8 and no matter how long we go without seeing each other or talking, we pick up RIGHT where we left off and are laughing right away. She always has the best stories to tell. I am very blessed by her friendship and love the time we do get to spend together.

Today I was blessed by some quality time with my husband. We got to sleep in and get some much needed rest. Then we handled some business related to the surprise from Monday. :) We also went for a drive around the area. A little basketball filled the afternoon and evening although my bracket is totally dead now.

I am very much looking forward to this weekend and the following week of break. I hope to be productive and yet find time for relaxing as well.

Check back soon to find out what the surprise is :)