You Know You're a Teacher When...

You know you're a teacher when.......

1. You literally have to unload your car of all your "teacher stuff" to allow one of your children to sit in the seat.
2. You gravitate to the crayons and the smelly markers in the store.
3. You have piles all over your house because you have so many things swirling around in your head.
4. You have to Back to School shop for your children a few weeks ahead of time..just in case you get that all important letter stating you can head into your room a week early.
5. You carry around a hole punch and post it notes in your purse.
6. You start menu planning.
7. You keep buying ink and lamination.
8. You have a to Do List a mile long! You no sooner cross something off and then you add something else.
9. You grab more notebooks just in case.....
because they are on sale.
10. You start having Back to School Dreams.


How do you know you're a teacher?

9 Weeks of Monday Made Its

1.

Well...after seeing all the great ideas this summer I figured I better catch up with the rest of you! I am joining Tara http://4thgradefrolics.blogspot.com/  for her 

My first project which is above was getting bright green bags from Michaels. Those little Monster bags will be my students Birthday Bags for the year. I am filling them with bright green water bottles, pencils a certificate and anything else that I may come across in my travels. Here is a tip..I painted the teeth on with White Out!

2.

I have been seeing the Eye Spy bottles all over Pinterest...so I picked up some rice and some Kool Aid as well as rubbing alcohol and went to town. Once it's dry I will put them in bottles along with Sight Words or Math Problems...the ideas are endless. Then the children twist and turn the bottle around to locate what they are looking for.

Check out Denise over at

http://sunnydaysinsecondgrade.blogspot.com/2011/09/synonym-shaker-freebie.html

she has some additional ways to use these bottles.

3.

I don't know where I found this idea...but thank you. Added Eyes for Reading.

4.

This is my Sweet Seat in the making. trust me...I did not eat all this candy. However I loved this idea. It's a chair awarded to a student for Good Behavior. I was also thinking that on their birthday they could sit in the Sweet Seat. Thank you to....Pinterest....imgur.com

5.

Reading pointers...decorative tape and wooden pieces form Michaels...idea from....

http://frogsandcupcakes.blogspot.com

6.

7.

Love how these turned out! I am in the midst of making a few more to put around my classroom. I got the Monster Theme  Idea from Amanda over at:

http://www.teachingmaddeness.com

8.

I have been downloading Leveled books throughout the summer. Someone mentioned to use duct tape. Students will be motivated to get to the fancy stuff. Just picked up Angry Birds and some other fun prints. This is a work in progress.

This was found on http://missfrenchfirstgrade.blogspot.com

9.

Monster Eyes to keep the kiddos on track.  They have all different types of eyes out since Halloween is around the corner.

10.

This  is for my door. The jury is still out regarding Cookie Monster's eyes. I may change them.

I took a boa and a wreath. That's it. Oh and a glue gun.

Last year I literally killed myself making crazy elaborate doors...... that looked like this:

This year I have decided to make a cute wreath each month....and hopefully it will be less stressful. 

So sorry for this picture filled post.

It looks like I have 10 Monday Made Its!!  Guess I am a week ahead instead of 9 weeks behind! 

Randomness

My mind must already be in school mode... The past few nights I am seriously wide awake at 3 in the morning. Ideas and lists are swirling around in my head already and I don't go back until after Labor Day!

Before I even hit the pillow last night though a major jolt of thunder swooped over our house and actually caused the entire house to shake. This was a bit unnerving since I was the only one home. I was ready to scurry down to the basement if need be! They are calling for the same tonight. Not looking forward to that.
I have started organizing and purging my school materials from last school year. Do you ever just throw things in a bag and then just bring it home and go through it when you are good and ready? I am nearing the end of this tedious process. I can then focus on things that  I want to make for my
classroom.


 I  am switching my theme from the jungle to cute monsters. Love all the things I have seen on Pinterest. I feel Iike my To Do List keeps getting longer and longer. I realize it will eventually get done.

Another area I am focusing on this summer is Math Daily 5. I have been blog stalking and gathering some ideas to implement this in the fall. This picture above I took off the internet with images so I am not sure who developed this...but now I am on the hunt again. I love Daily 5 so I am hoping I can swing this as well.. I have also been reading Guded Math this summer..... I think this could possibly go hand in hand.

I have also been cooking some pretty good dishes this summer. The Pioneer Women's Snowpea Stir Fry  is delicious. So is Ina Garten's Corn Salad with basil. I have also made Toffe Bars with graham crackers,butter,brown sugar and pecans. These I found on the Cooking Channel...by Julia Baker.
 Talk about yummy!

So here is hoping since I have all this randomness jotted down that I can sleep a bit better tonight.
Thank you for humoring me.

Teaching and Teens

As I sit hear I am listening to the dull hum of the floor fan. There are no daughters yelling at each other nor is there a demand for me to make a meal or even referee for that matter. You see it  is summer time in the Teise household. Both of my daughters are working or busy hanging out with their cousin and friends. My husband is busy working 2 jobs and fishing. So you see I am basically by myself a good portion of the time in the summer. Very little conversation.
I have decided that this is actually like teaching. You are given a room full of children, a few teaching assistants and a curriculum to follow. Once that bell rings you close your door for the bulk of the day. On occasion you come out to have your little charges get "fed" and "watered" so to speak. Then we trudge back in to continue the day's activities. Before you know it it is time to pack up and call it a day. Any type of adult conversation may just be purely with the people that you are working with in the classroom. You may go the whole week not seeing various colleagues that you work with. Which at times this seems strange. You are in the building for 180 days and you may only see each other once a week. 
Otherwise, you are basically by yourself as if you have teenagers working their summer jobs.
Can it be lonely? Absolutely! People crave conversation from others. Maybe this year make it a point to seek out one person that you are working with and chat, even if it's for only a few minutes. It does the soul good.
Well I hear my teens coming home even now as I type.....I'm off to make dinner and have some adult conversation. Did I tell you that my oldest is now officially an adult as of yesterday? :)

Meet Me

http://www.theteachingtribune.com

I am meeting up with The Teaching Tribune for their Monday Meet. You should do the same.

I TEACH: I have a Special Needs Class of 8 children in grades 1st and 2nd. This was my first year back at the Elementary Level in 15 years! I have to say I had a ball.

I HAVE: 2 daughters in High School. Alex is a Senior and graduating in 2 weeks! EEEK! and Torre is a Freshmen. Both my girls are named after guys ..Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties and Torre is named after Joe Torre when he was the manager of the New York Yankees.

I WATCH: I love watching the News. In addition I watch the Food Network, Grey's and Dancing with the Stars. When I have time I will watch NetFlix...right now I am watching Downton Abbey whick I love.

I LISTEN: I enjoy listening to any type of music on the radio.

I READ: I enjoy reading professional books in the summer. This summer I plan on reading the new addition of Daily 5, Close Reading, and I will be rereading Guided Math. I also love checking out blogs along with any type of new children's book.

I DO: love my summers off so that I can make things,read,rest and relax at the beach.

Now it's your turn.

Wishing Upon a Star

Wish I may I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight. Do you ever just.....

1. Feel like laying in bed all night after school and not getting out till mornin? Some days I know that I just overdo it! My body is screaming and my head is pounding.

2. Want to scream at the top of your lungs at people who just don't get it? I'm not talking students either?

3.  Wish that  all the PGPs, SGO's and other acronyms would just fade away into the sunset?

4.  Wish you could hold onto your class for another school year? I have been in love with my 1st and 2nd graders all year! I keep getting choked up know that out of 8 I am losing 7 to a whole different building. We have had a magical time together and I really don't want it to end. :(

5. Wish you had a maid? There are times that I don't feel like cleaning the bathroom,don't feel like loading the dishwasher,don't want to wipe the baseboards...the list goes on and on....

6. You could close your eyes and your paperwork would be complete?

7.  wish for all the money in the world? Just had to put that in there! lol

8. That time would just slow down! My oldest is graduating High School and it's starting to get a bit sad around here. I still remember when I brought her home from the hospital.

9.  People would listen the first time so you wouldn't have to repeat yourself 20 additional times?

10. Wish you could simply teach?


What would you wish?

My Top Ten To Do List

Ahh the lazy days of summer are fast approaching. This time of year I always make a To Do List. We will see by the end of summer if I have accomplished all my "To Dos". I am linking up with Mrs. Jump over at

http://

mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com/

1.

Get my daughter Alex ready for Culinary School. I still can not believe she is graduating High School in a few weeks. We have to gather quite a bit of material since she is going into Baking and Pastry.

2.

Get Organized at my other house. If you remember we bought a retirement home a little over a year ago. I am still unpacking boxes and trying to get organized.

3.

Work on my new Classroom theme. With the help of Pinterest I am going to make my room into cute little Mon Star theme. I have pinned quite a bit and my list for this is quite extensive. I am also tapping into Amanda Madden

<center><a href="http://www.teachingmaddeness.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Teaching Maddeness" src="http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o601/madden_amanda/teaching-maddeness.png"/></a></center>

4.

Hitting the beach when I can. Since I have basically grown up here by the shore...hitting the beach in my spare time is a given!

5.

Read for pleasure and for professional enjoyment. Plus I will most likely throw in a few other titles as well. 

6.

Increase exercise

7.

Try to Blog more. I am more a Blog Stalker than a Blog writer. I feel since I don't contribute to TPT that I really don't have anything to offer Blog Land. Although maybe I will dabble in TPT..who knows.

8.

Try a new recipe each week. I have started simply cooking like one person for the entire week..example The Pioneer Woman. Love her recipes. One week I WAS the Pioneer Woman! lol

9.

Pack more of my things from the current house to take down to the Retirement house.

10.

Lastly...simply rest! I have had such a fun filled year teaching 1st and 2nd graders again. It has been nonstop!

What's on your list?