Next Year's Tweaks Linky Fun!

Well, hello, world!! I've missed you :-)

Brenda over at Primary Inspired is hosting a linky party that all of us can most definitely relate to right now - what are you going to do differently next year in your classroom?!? I don't know about you, but I have been thinking ahead for a couple months now, and here are some things I hope to switch up so I can be the best teacher possibly for my little firsties next year!

1) BLOG MORE! As you can see, I've let this wonderful habit seriously slip over the past several months. Lots of that has to do with the fact that we were preparing and welcoming our sweet baby boy, so my priorities were a little different. Now that he's here, I want to get back into creating and sharing and stalking!!

{If you'd like to see more pics of my sweetie, check out our family blog: Scoma Life}

2) Behavior System - I've always had a class that consists of some suuuper sweet kiddos that are great role models... and I've always had one or two special gifts that try my patience daily, and have even caused us to evacuate the room due to student safety from time to time. I'd love to start acknowledging the "good" kiddos more than I need to redirect the ones who struggle to make good choices. In order to do this, I've been hanging out on Pinterest and have found some pretty good places to start!



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3) Have more fun in the classroom! Hopefully with the new behavior focus, we will have more time for fun... and with 25 little first graders in one room, I think we'll need a little laughter vacation every once in a while! :)

4) Daily 5 - I really want to work on trying to incorporate some of these aspects into my day. I can't follow everything due to how our school works our Guided Reading and literacy block, but I can try to do some of it!

Well, there you have it! We'll see how I do now that it's in writing ;)

Link up and join in the party! Who knows, you may inspire me to try something I haven't thought of!

Big News!!

Oh, friends!! It has been *gulp* over 2 MONTHS since I've last posted! I have missed you all so very much, but... there's this little blessing that's been taking over all of my time :-)

That's right!! Meet my little "pumpkin"! The above pic was taken at 6 weeks, and today I hit the 15 week mark... so Pumpkin is significantly larger and more human-looking ;) Man, oh, man - this little wonder has been sucking the life out of me every day and making me too tired to even THINK about stalking blogland, let alone typing my own posts!! However, we have turned the corner, and my energy is back - just in time for the holidays!

I am hoping to get back into the habit of my nightly blog searches... I can't even begin to think about everything I missed while sleeping on the couch and growing a baby! Just wanted to say hello again to all of you lovelies and that I can't wait to dive back into the FUN!

I hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving break... I know I have, and now I'm ready for the next 3 1/2 weeks until we hit the halfway mark of the school year! I can't wait to have some holiday fun with my little kiddos.

To kick-off my new beginning, there will be a sale going on in my TpT store from NOW thru tomorrow for Cyber Monday! Please stop by and browse around a bit! Click the pic to hop over!

PS - Can I tell you how fun it was to create something new... even if it was just this silly little notice of my sale!

Thank you! And "All on the Map"

You guys are so wonderful at lifting a girl's spirits! Your comments and emails to me about my previous post really helped me know I'm not the only one out there who's so frustrated with the way teaching is heading. Some days, I am jealous of those of you who get to teach reading centers, but I don't even have that option with the way our schedule is set up. My kiddos don't go to centers, and they have no down time throughout the day when they aren't being directly instructed by a teacher. One of these days, I'll figure out a time when I can get these first graders into some fun activities where they can explore their learning a bit!! :-)

In other news... Here is the latest in my set of StoryTown activity printables! Click the pic to check out this packet that works with Lesson 6, studying the -all chunk!

Hope you all had a relaxing weekend! Have a tremendous week... may it be the best one yet! :)

Creativity in Teaching...

Alright, y'all... I gotta be honest with you! I am W.O.R.N. out this week!! My kiddos seemed to have taken several steps forward in the past couple of weeks, but then the past couple of days, they've gone a little backwards, and I'm so tired :( Anyone else out there experiencing this same kinda slump?? Honeymoon's officially over, I guess!

While I'm being honest, I have to ask you guys...
Are you allowed to use those wonderful, God-given creative genes of yours in your teaching? Not just your management style, but your curriculum, also? Because, this year, I feel so squelched in that area. It breaks my heart to have all of these great ideas {many of which come from your FABULOUS blogs!!} that I know my kiddos would just die for, but I'm unable to use them!!

Instead, I turn the page each day in our basal... and teach it as it's written - with "fidelity." {Sometimes that word makes me shudder a bit...} And now, we have a new pilot/Common Core math curriculum to follow, as well. It's written by the folks at the Board Office, along with a handful of classroom teachers. Once again, I turn the page and teach what's given to us. I did find out this week that we have a bit of flexibility in this math thing, but not as much as I'd like. Thankfully my principal is creative herself, and she encourages us as much as she can!

So... my question to you: How do you do it?!? How do you follow the rules, yet still fulfill that inner desire to be creative and help your kiddos learn as much as you know they can by creating lessons that are tailored to them and their learning styles??

I'm feeling a bit saddened this year... this isn't what I signed up for when I decided in 4th grade to become a wonderful teacher someday.

A Weekend for Remembering

Hey you guys! I hope you have had a relaxing weekend and enjoyed your time with family :-)

This was not my ideal weekend, that’s for sure. Saturday evening, a colleague and myself went to the funeral of a 3 month-old little brother of a student of mine. Little Gavin was remembered in a very touching ceremony in which his mom and dad both spoke of the hopes and dreams that they had for their only son. Throughout the entire service, my little girl was just bawling, and it broke my heart, y’all. I am so glad I went, so she could see I care about her and her family. I let her know we missed her so much in class, and she said she’s ready to come back. We’ll see her tomorrow, and I will be greeting her with the biggest hug.

Then today, I, along with all of you, couldn’t help but travel back in time to ten years ago. TEN YEARS AGO. Holy moly. I remember like it was yesterday…

I was a freshman at Oklahoma Baptist University, and I was set to meet a buddy in the lobby so we could travel to breakfast. As I walked into the common room, my RD was watching the events unfold on TV. Unknowingly, I asked,

“What movie are you watching?”
”It’s not a movie… it’s really happening.”

Woah. My friend came in and we traveled in confusion to the cafeteria. In there, the big screen was showing footage, and we witnessed the 2nd plane hit. To say I was scared and disturbed is an understatement.

We walked in silence to our class (classes hadn’t been canceled yet, but they were shortly), where I was to take my first test of college ever – in government, none the less. My professor still had us take the test.

And I FAILED. But I didn’t care. My dad was on business in Atlanta and I needed to make sure he was okay. Since airports had shut down, he was unable to fly home, so his business buddies all decided to “steal” their rental car and drive it back to Kansas City. He was telling me of stopping off at Cracker Barrel and plugging in his phone {along with all of the others traveling home} on the hearth of their fireplace. But, he made it home, and my family was safe.

This was a day that changed our forevers. I will never forget.

Hug your kids. Love your family. Have a great week, everyone!

I’m trying something new…

A few months back, Cara at The First Grade Parade suggested switching over to Windows Live Writer to create blog posts. I decided tonight (instead of working on more school stuff) to give it a whirl!

So far, so good… What about you guys?? Do you still use Blogger or did you get sick of it like I did! It seemed to give me so many problems, so I quit! :-) I’m loving how there’s a toolbar up here that looks like I’m typing in Word or Power Point! I’m so comfortable with those programs, that this just makes sense!

Thanks, Cara, for the suggestion!

Also, I think I LOVE short weeks! Every week should be 4 little days with a  long 3 day weekend… don’t you think?!? We seemed to get a lot accomplished this week, and my kiddos had a treeeeee-mendous day today! I love it when I can enjoy a nice {competitive} game of Memory with two of my little beauties during indoor recess… PS – they totally kicked. my. tail. !!On another note, tomorrow evening I’m attending the funeral for the little baby brother of my student that passed away this week; I’m going with her Kindergarten teacher. I’m pretty sure this will be unlike any service I’ve ever attended… I’ve never been to a service for anyone that wasn’t an adult. So sad. :(

My heart hurts.

Well, folks, I heard of some news this morning that I have never had to deal with before. One of my beautiful little girls' little adorable baby brother passed away suddenly yesterday.

We know no details.. she wasn't at school today (we only found out because Mom called the office this morning with the quick explanation of why my darling was going to be absent), but she will probably be back tomorrow.

After the shock and tears passed this morning, my head couldn't stop spinning... poor family! Poor little 6-year-old big sister who is left not understanding why her 5 month old baby brother is gone. I cannot even imagine, you guys.

What are your suggestions? How do I handle this and the questions that will come from my class tomorrow? How do I let this little one know I am here for her and it's okay to cry and be angry and take it easy? I've had parents pass away while I've had their child, but never a sibling and never so suddenly.  My heart is hurting for everyone involved, and I can't wait to give my student a great big hug... it's all I know I can offer her for sure right now.