Happy summer!
It's mid-July and my summer break is almost over. I have about a week before teachers report back. Like many of you, summer is to-do list season. I have a short, but time consuming to-do list this summer. A list that includes, "cleaning out" my Teachers Pay Teachers store (more on that task later in the post), organizing my basement (insert frowny face), sharing a little about my past school year, and (for the second summer in a row) moving classrooms.
While, I don't know if I'll ever get my basement truly clean and organized, this afternoon I have a few minutes to share a little about my past school year.
So, yay! for checking an item off my summer to-do list.
If you ever visit School Is a Happy Place, you've probably noticed that I have been conspicuously absent during most of this school year. I'm not a prolific blogger but, I normally do not let months go by without a post. That is, until this past year.
Rewind back to the end of last summer, I had a very last minute job offer at a wonderful neighborhood school that I had wanted to work at for years and is very close to my house. When I say last minute, I mean hired Friday afternoon and teachers report back on Monday. That weekend, I had to pack my classroom home, in which I had lived for 17 years. I had to simultaneously move in and clean out a classroom of a 30+ year veteran teacher that decided to retire at the eleventh hour.
My moving team, was comprised of my parents, my husband and my nine year old daughter. They were awesome. We loaded and unloaded and cleaned and purged and dusted and painted. It was a crazy amount of work, in a super short period of time. But, we did it. We had my classroom ready for open house night in less than one week.
The move to this new school meant a grade level change. I went from an established first grade teacher to a newbie third grade teacher. Since my daughter had just finished third grade, I felt as though I had a good idea what I was in for.
Starting school in such a whirlwind was really stressful for me. When I was hired years ago, everything was totally last minute as well. However, back then I didn't know the difference between starting the school year prepared and organized and starting the year unready. I was just happy to have a job.
Now, I know how difficult it can be to start the year on the right foot, if you haven't had enough time to set up your classroom to your liking and to have big picture curriculum plans in place.
The beginning of the year was certainly not what I wanted it to be but, I reasoned that this season would pass and I would eventually find my footing. However, as the year went on, the stress and the anxiety did not dissipate. While I really liked the students and staff at my new school, I very much missed my friends at my old school.
By the end of the first semester, I felt as though I had made a huge mistake leaving for this new opportunity. By spring break, I knew I had to make a change. I could not continue on with this "under water" feeling that I had. I also felt terrible that my family had to live with a wife and mom that was overly stressed by her job.
Shortly after spring break, I learned that I had good chance to return to my old school system and back to first grade. After lots of prayers, discussions, and deliberation, I decided to go for it. Thankfully everything worked out. I was rehired by my old school system and had a chance to go back to first grade.
Now you know why I've moved classrooms two time in two summers. Fingers crossed that I will not have to move again for a good long while.
As you can tell, with the challenges last year, blogging was not a priority. Hopefully this year will provide opportunities to share some of the goings-on from my classroom and it won't be another year before you hear from me again.
Now that I've shared about my past school year. I want to share some centers that used to be available at my
Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Every now and then I add a free item to my store. To keep the store from getting to "cluttered," I sometimes remove older free items or items that have been retired. I still want to share these resources, so I've moved them here.
Below you will find a brief description of 10 free math and literacy centers formerly available at my
TPT store. You can click on any of the pictures to download.
Touchdown Turkeys is a math center that is part of my
Thanks and Giving {10 Math Centers for November}. This center provides students practice with basic addition facts.
(This center is retired and is not longer part of the November center set.)
Snowman Comparisons is a math center that is part of my
Baby It's Cold Outside {10 Math Centers for January}. This center provides students practice with number comparisons using > and <.
Hot Chocolate Blends is a literacy center that is part of my
Baby It's Cold Outside {10 Literacy Centers for January}. This center provides students practice with initial blends.
(This center is retired and is not longer part of the March center set.)
Reading Buddies is a literacy center that is part of my
Oh So Lucky {10 Literacy Centers for March}. This center provides students practice with irregular verb tense.
(This center is retired and is not longer part of the April center set.)
Carrot Loving Contractions is a literacy center that is part of my
Hop to To {10 Literacy Centers for April}. This center provides students practice with contractions.
I hope some of my experiences and some of these resources are helpful to you.
Alright, time to tackle some of my other summer to-do's. Wish me luck. ;)
