Celebrations

Hey everyone,

It's been a year since we kicked off the Primary Punchbowl blog and we are celebrating big!

In my classroom we celebrate birthdays big! My students get bookmarks, a brag tag, a certificate, VIP supplies and of course being sung to during the day.

You can snag a sample of the bookmarks my students are able to pick one from. I have in the past punched a hole in the top and added some ribbon to make it a little fancier. The students LOVE bookmarks and what better way than just to print off a bunch and have them ready for the birthday students.

For summer birthdays we do celebrate half birthdays. I let the students bring in treats and we celebrate June birthdays in December and July birthdays in January.

Continue on the blog hop to Luv My Kinders to grab another freebie.

Mixing Up the Punchbowl!

Hi friends,

I hope everyone had a great end of the school year or your last few weeks are going well! I've been on summer vacation for about two and a half weeks. My oh my, where has the time gone?

From the title of this post you'll notice changes are coming my way!! Last week I accepted a 3rd grade teaching position at a new district. This means not only a new grade level to teach but I'll also be working in a different district! Boy am I nervous.... I have a lot of different emotions going on right now. I had my interview Tuesday, Wednesday I was offered the job then came a hard part on Thursday. I had to resign from my current school... You see, this past school year has been less than wonderful. I have had mixed emotions about how the year went and had very little support from my administrator when it came to things both personally and professionally. Enough with that, while I'm thankful for my two years at that district it is time for me to move on. Friday I went into my classroom, packed up my stuff so on Saturday we could load it all up and make the move home with all my teaching stuff.

It is time to purge, trash, recycle and sell things off. There is no way I can take all of this to my new school. You see, at this new school I'll have curriculum that matches the standards better, new technology and a newer school! They rebuilt this school within the last 8 years. My word, is it a gorgeous building. I'll be working on a team of 5 teachers...

Here comes the questions-

How will my new team welcome me?

While I'll be one of the new teachers on the block will I be treated differently than the other new highers?

How long will it take me to prove myself to my team? The parents? The students? The community?

Will I be able to learn all new standards, curriculum and ways the district expects things done in this next year?

Will I be less stressed? Happier? Feel like I made the correct decision?

Let me back up on that last one... I already feel as if I made the correct decision. While I understand the frustration from my soon to be former administrator I don't feel bad about accepting this new position any longer as he had some hurtful things to say last week after I handed him my resignation letter. I'm already sleeping better and can feel myself relax for the first time since school ended.

Will I enjoy working on such a large team?

Will I enjoy teaching third grade again? (I taught third grade my first year I taught)

I know it will take time and effort on my end. I'm excited, nervous and ready for this change. I now go back to work on July 29th, with the students coming back to us August 3rd. I'm excited to be in one of the best school districts in my county. Now if I can just settle my nerves and believe in myself for this big change! Some people try for years to get a job in this school district. I apply once, interview once and I land a job. That right there my friends must mean I am doing something correct in my career.

Follow my friends and I at the Primary Punchbowl as some of us are shaking things up and are changing jobs for this coming school year!

Until next time friends- Which I promise won't be too long from now. Take care and relax some this summer. YOU DESERVE IT AND HAVE EARNED IT!!!

Brag Tags

Hey y'all!

Sorry my blog has been full of tumble weeds! I promise to come back and blog here later this week. In the meantime, you can catch up on how Brag Tags are going in my classroom over here at The Primary Punchbowl!

I promise to do a classroom tour, update you on life, the first quarter and into the holiday season real soon. Stick with me as amazing things will be happening the rest of this school year!

Teacher T-shirts

Hey everyone,

Last year when I was in Las Vegas at the SDE Conferences I ran into a booth at the Expo which sells amazing teacher shirts! They go by the name of A+ Images and can be found online at A+ Images
Hello comfortable T-shirts for jean days. They had sale bins with T-shirts for $5 which is a fantastic steal. Here's my bag of T-shirts from last summer

I bought around 4 if not 5 T-shirts to wear. I have worn them weekly on Friday and sometimes during the week when we have special activities happening within the classroom or on our campus. Here are a few of the T-shirts I picked up last summer.

While I was in Las Vegas again this summer it was a no-brainer to stop by their booth again! They of course had new shirts for sale both in the $5 sale bin and outside of the sale bins. I picked up a few more shirts this summer to wear and add into my mix. The quality is wonderful and like I said they sure come in handy to wear when I can dress down.

This summer I was fortunate enough to get a blogger shirt made by them.

I was able to receive the T-shirt right before I left for Las Vegas and was able to wear it to the Teachers Pay Teachers conference! It was the perfect shirt to wear around with fellow teacher bloggers and authors.



If you are interested in t-shirts- you can click the links above (the company name).  You can also follow A Plus Images at these different social media sites:

Facebook

Pinterest

Instagram

Want to go to Vegas this summer?

Hey everyone,

The wonderful teachers at Primary Chalkboard are giving away $300 tuition to and SDE 1 day conference, $200 cash as well as a gift card for $25 to Crystal Springs Book store for the conference at SDE! Last year I had a BLAST at both the I Teach 1st and the Teachers Pay Teachers conferences. This year I'm hoping and praying everything pans out so I can attend the I Teach 2nd Grade conference! I really would love to meet more of the bloggers I follow and am friends with on Instagram and Facebook.

Head on over to Primary Chalkboard for the chance to win!

About me

Hi there!

I grew up in a smaller town in Southeastern Arizona. Growing up I wanted to work with kids. In High School I gave up that dream to go to Massage Therapy School. I packed up and moved to Texas where I attended Massage Therapy School. During this time I started to know this wasn't my calling and I craved working with children. I finished Massage Therapy School and the day after our graduation I packed up the car and moved back to Arizona. I enrolled in Education classes as soon as I could. I started my teaching degree and haven't looked back. That was almost 10 years ago!!! I have been fortunate enough to travel and experience many different cultures here in the States as well as overseas.

I married a soldier and we moved to Germany. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend three and a half amazing years in Germany. I traveled a LOT and miss being able to get in the car and drive to such amazing places in a short period of time. Out of all the places I've been able to travel to it is hard to come up with a favorite spot. One of the top places is Garmisch, being surrounded by the Alps and having such rich history around. Another favorite was London and Dublin! I know crazy right? Living life in Germany helped to show me how simple life truly can be. It's amazing to see how different we live, what us Americans value and what they value more in life. Life here moves way TOO fast, we all need to slow down and take time to enjoy life. We lived a short drive from Nuremberg which was such a blessing. What an amazing city, full of life, history and such powerful stories.

It's been almost two years since I moved back to Arizona. While he was away in school he asked for a divorce and well here I am living in sunny Arizona again and ENJOYING life! I wouldn't change anything for the world. I have grown and changed in many ways. I currently work in the District where I completed my student teaching years ago.

First Semester and tour of my classroom

WOW! Christmas Break already? Where has the time gone? The school year is now half over with. Hard to believe 2015 is a handful of days away! It seems just like yesterday we started school. The first semester is over with. We have a few things to wrap up in January when we return.

Here is a look at my classroom and what we have been up to for the last 90 days.

Storage galore compared to my last school!!! These pictures are before the madness, before I got everything set up and into place. Still working on moving and organizing even after 4 months.

This cabinet was cleaned out some and I covered it with a giant gray sheet!

Part of the cubbies with all of our ELA curriculum on it.

Cubbies with manipulatives and center games on it.

99% of this cabinet belongs to me! I have bought tons of items in previous years as being at Charter schools you tend to not have curriculum. I need to sort things out and get rid of a few things still.

My classroom getting set up. Still have a LOT to do!

This blue book shelves against the wall will house my library that I've worked hard to build over the last few years.

The beginning of the class library :)

Who can't help but spend $$$$$ at Target? Yup this pretty much all came from the Dollar Spot but the folders. Those came from the school section.

Back of my classroom. Coming together slowly

This was before I had to switch furniture around and finally settle on my classroom the way it is now.

Two giant white boards up front <3

This is what I settled on doing with my desk area. It wasn't an easy choice but with having the possibility of 30 students I had to move and rearrange things. Not 100% happy with it still to this day.

Ready and set up for Back to School Meet the Teacher Night! WOOT