Happy New Year! It's pretty hard to believe that it's 2016. It's even harder to believe that we are somehow halfway through the school year!!
What better way to start the new year off than with a Currently post hosted by the fabulous Farley?!
Listening to my iPod on shuffle: I've got commitment issues with picking one genre in the new year. My musical taste is all over the place right now. I've just listened to a pop song, followed by some R&B, then a bit of Sinatra, and some Fleetwood Mac. This is exactly why I have to make playlists for road trips with friends. They laugh at my main listing :)
Loving feeling refreshed: This might be the most refreshed and chilled out I've ever felt coming off of winter holidays. I'll likely regret it tonight and tomorrow (Planning Sunday anyone??) but it has been SO lovely to just lounge, sleep in, get in a few good workouts, and not think about benchmark scores and educational politics.
Thinking about how crazy January will be: We go back to school Monday for a full week, and the nine week grading period ends Friday. The following Thursday we have parent conferences so Friday is a professional development 1/2 day for staff. Then another 4 day week for students for MLK the next Monday. I don't enjoy trying to squeeze 4 days of instruction in to 3, and I really don't like giving all those tests in one big, long, painful day!
Wanting a "work day" on Monday: With all that fuss about a couple of 4 day weeks, I must say that I'm quite jealous of all of you who get a work day on Monday. That makes SO much sense. I want one! Just imagine all the things I could get accomplished!
Needing to finish my semester outline: I like to make a rough outline of each semester. I do one for fall and one for spring. It's time for the spring one, but every time I sit down to work on it a certain 18-year-old cat comes to sit in my lap. I'm actually typing this with her in my lap now. We will enjoy this last night of lap cuddles before there is no more time for lazy fun :)
One little word--optimistic: I don't know that I've ever felt this excited for a new year. I just feel like this will be a good year. Hopefully I'll confirm this feeling after the full 366 days. Yay leap years!
It's Currently time again! I'm always so optimistic for the 1st of the month.
Listening: Sunday planning equals multitasking. I work while half-watching but mostly just listening to TV shows from my DVR.
Loving: I love fall/winter seasons. I get to have a lot of fun in my classroom. People are generally nicer to each other. It's great :)
Thinking: I'm working on my Educational Specialist degree. I may not make it! This year I've started working out regularly, doing these classes, philanthropy commitments...all on top of my usual teacher work. I understand just how much of an impact sleep deprivation has on a person :)
Wanting: I believe I was wanting cold weather last month. Louisiana never gave it to me :( All my scarves are still waiting for me!!
Needing: We have next Wednesday off for Veterans' Day, but I'm SO ready for Thanksgiving break. I need a few days to just exist, catch up on some sleep, truly enjoy my DVR shows, and remember that I'm a person outside of teaching!
Yummy: I live for salted caramel mocha season at Starbucks. I don't understand the PSL obsession AT. ALL. SCMs, however, are what I wish for all year long. Top it off with the fact that it's now red cup season, and I'm golden!
It's Currently time! Farley has done it again--a super cute graphic to summarize my life.
For real, October is my absolute favorite month. It means fall weather is finally coming to Louisiana, fall drinks are officially allowed, the best scented things are here, and I can watch Hocus Pocus a million times without feeling guilty :)
Listening: I love a great beat for background noise while I work. Both of these songs fit the bill!
Loving: FALL. Spiced everything, salted caramel mochas, apple cider, cool weather, beautiful nature colorings, cool weather. It's such a rewarding season after surviving an oppressive Louisiana summer!!
Thinking: My kids lost their minds today when they saw my decorated classroom and got an email from our visitor :) A note about the Switch Witch (Winifred Cromwell): I got multiple weird looks at my pure excitement over finding a Halloween equal to Elf on a Shelf!
Wanting: A couple of guilty pleasures have premiered, and I'm ready for a few more. I suppose I should finish the remainder of my DVR episodes from last year. I spent some much needed summer time sleeping, even though I don't feel like I've slept in months.
Needing: I love scarves. I have a bit of an addiction. It's time to pull the (rather large) storage container out and start putting some accessories in rotation.
Boo-tiful: I cannot leave the house without mascara. I don't care if it's the only thing I've got on my face, but it must be there! Lip tints are fantastic because I'm not worried about reapplying during the day. I'm lucky to get bathroom breaks, people. I certainly don't have time to worry about how I'm looking!
I'm off to find my scarves. I've met my exclamation mark quota for the night :)
I'm a few days late with this one. Back to school has felt a bit crazier than usual this year!
It's time once again for this month's Currently post. I'm linking up with Oh Boy 4th Grade to bring you a bit about what's going on with me right now.
Listening to "Wildest Dreams":
I've had this song on repeat for days now. It also doesn't hurt that Miss Swift included Scott Eastwood as her leading man in the video!
Loving my new small group table:
I took the leap and got rid of my desk this year. We are starting with small groups Tuesday when we get back from the long weekend. It was a big bigger than I expected when the box came in, but it's really inspired me to do some great things with interventions this year.
Thinking about how excited I am for all things fall:
Fall and winter are my favorite seasons. I love the cooler weather, fall smells, fall drinks, snuggling under blankets, warm fires, etc. My countdown to the first day of fall has begun, even though I know it won't actually feel like it for a while longer!
Wanting construction at school to move quickly:
We are getting upgraded bathrooms at my school. They were only able to finish the Pre-K/K bathrooms attached to the rooms and one of the main ones over the summer. Now that they are demolishing the other two large ones (including the one RIGHT across from my classroom--ugh!!), we've got 500-600 students all using the same one. It's been slightly chaotic figuring out a master schedule so we aren't all trying to use it at once.
Needing more hours in the day:
So not only am I teaching and volunteering with my church council, but now I'm also trying to really kickstart my TPT store. Oh yeah, there's that bit about starting on my Ed. Specialist degree this semester. Because I had SOOO much free time before, I just needed one more thing to do :)
3 goals:
1. I really love the #happyclassrooms movement on social media. It's about time we band together to show everyone the million positive things happening every single day in our rooms.
2. Somewhere in between needing more hours in the day, I need to make time for ME. Teachers are really bad about taking care of ourselves, so I want to make it more of a priority.
3. August was my best month to date in TPT. It really gave me the motivation I needed to really work on building my brand and making quality products.
How is it possibly August already?! I blinked, and summer is over! In honor of August, I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade for the Currently link up.
Listening to The Karate Kid Part II:
I don't know if I've actually seen all of any of these movies. It's serving as background noise at the moment.
Loving having a great AC:
It rained the whole month of June. It was bone dry the whole month of July, with 100+ temperatures the last half of it. We had a couple days more of rain, but the heat and humidity are back. You can barely walk outside right now! My poor little learners may not be able to have outside recess to kick off school if this keeps up.
Thinking about my To Do list:
I'm pretty sure it's what I'm always thinking about! It's really bad right now because I forced myself to take June totally off from thinking about school. I always work the summer away and am tired when school starts back. This was a fatal error because it's proving quite difficult to get back into a work mode.
Wanting a few more weeks of summer:
I'm fairly sure this could be said about any teacher at the moment!
Needing to switch from summer to school mode:
Like I said, NEVER totally taking a break for a whole summer month. A mostly break, sure. Completely shutting off my teacher brain absolutely not.
BTS RAK--a happy goodie:
I seriously adore my fellow 2nd grade teacher. There will be only the two of us this year with bigger class sizes. Last year was a bit crazy for us with two new textbooks, a totally new daily schedule, and lot of changes from the state. I'm looking forward to this year with her!
Please send a few positive thoughts my way about getting back into a school groove. I may need them to stop staring at my pile of things to do and actually work on them :)
I'm visiting my grandparents for a bit, and it's what is on the TV as my background noise.
Loving my new blog design:
It's like Gabby climbed in my head to figure out what I wanted it to look and feel like. She's amazing!
Thinking about my upcoming PD presentations:
In about 2 weeks, I'll be driving down to Baton Rouge to present at a state conference. This is my first time presenting to a major audience (more than just my grade level in-district), and the nerves are starting to kick in. I've got to edit my presentations in the next week and upload them so people can download the slides during the conference.
Wanting the blackberries in the fridge:
Blackberries may very well be my favorite fruit. My grandmother got some fresh from the local grocery, and if I hadn't had a chocolate lava cake, they would be mine! At least I know what I'll have for breakfast tomorrow.
Needing to cross items off my to-do list:
Now that it's July, I'm thinking about the classroom I need to unpack and set up. I've also got my back to school purchase list to start working on. Next weekend I'm in charge of organizing child care for 30+ kids ages 3-15. There's more (we teachers ALWAYS have much more!), but those are the major things on my mind right now.
All Star list maker:
If I don't write it down...it may not happen! I've got my school list, home list, TPT/blog list, etc. I've got my planner set up for the coming school year, and my Plum Paper lesson planner is in the mail as of yesterday. Now I just need to get faster at marking things off and slower at adding them!!
