Full Circle

     Sometimes you have to wait a minute to be where you really know you should be.  Sometimes my patience is really short with that sort of thing.  This time I waited a quick 20 years! :)  And I do believe its gonna be worth every minute of adventure and excitement and growth!
     When I first came into working with kids as a real live paid professional I had just moved to the University of South Carolina from Glendale, Arizona and I landed a job as the Director of an after-school program for kids from our local housing projects.  Every day, we'd go to the church we worked from and take the bus down the big hill to the projects and pick up a busload of kiddos to spend the afternoon with.  We helped with homework, did art projects, played sports, went on field trips and got lots of love (never as much as we could give) from this amazing bunch of young people.  Fast forward two short years and I started student teaching and soon found a full time teaching position and was no longer able to run the program.
     Over the last 20 years of teaching I have had one amazing teaching opportunity after another but none have shaped me like that very first taste of teaching did.  I always said I would get back to a similar situation and I think I may have finally struck gold!  I have just taken a position as an Upper Elementary Montessori teacher (4th-6th) grade in a downtown Charleston school that apparently is situated directly across the street from one of our housing projects.  I feel like I am coming home.  Coming full circle.  And I couldn't be more excited about all the learning and growing and love I have ahead of me!
     Year number 22 is gonna be the best yet!

A Doozie I tell ya...

Sometimes life throws you for a loop.  For me, that means a lot of God stuff.  It means I have to lean in hard to Him and trust that, in the words of my pastor, Greg Surratt (Seacoast Church), I need to "not lose faith in the end of the story."

2016 was a very rough year for my family and I.  Divorce, a move and crazy immediate family drama are all part of the storm that I have traveled through in the last 365.  It's been hard and it's been sad and it's been yucky and it's pushed me to be all in with God or hang out on the fringe.

Five for Friday on a Rainy Sunday Morning!

It's been a long week for a lot of reasons both in and out of the classroom but it's nice to take some time to talk a little bit about the fun stuff of the week.

So, I recently joined a Facebook group called Carolina Teacher Bloggers.  We are a group of teachers from all around North and South Carolina and maybe even Georgia and Florida.  Some of us blog and some not but the group has scheduled meet ups every once in a while.  This one was last Saturday in Charlotte at the Tyber Creek Pub.  Amanda Madden from Teaching Maddeness set the whole thing up and she even had awesome schwagg!

I just happened to be lucky enough to win some of that awesome schwagg!  

She had a pair of these of Ja*vies of our choice up for grabs and a $50 off a pair of Tieks gift card!  What teacher girl doesn't like shoes!?!  I am usually a practical shoe buyer so I went outside the box on these!  They should arrive this week so stay tuned for a review!

And on a side note, check out Amanda's Blog Teaching Maddeness!  It is really fabulous!

 We also did a small gift exchange.  We all brought a gift and set them on the table and drew numbers for the order we would get them.  We did not do a white elephant type exchange, so no stealing.  So happy about that because LOOK AT MY BAG OF LOOT!

Can't wait to do it again!  I am working on hosting the next meet up in Columbia!

Although it just decided to get chilly in South Carolina and by chilly I mean we have finally hit some 40's for highs.  We have been talking about snow and ice and cold conditions in our classroom.  I have done a pretty good job this year with sending home a family project each month and we then make it into a class book.  I came across this adorable FREEBIE on Pinterest 

and tweaked it a little to make it my own and they went home on Thursday for families to complete over the long weekend!  I can't wait to see what they bring back on Tuesday!

My boys can't get enough of board games and I couldn't be happier about that!  We played a lot of games growing up and it was always craziness because my little brother is a non-stop-comedian-nut-job and I can remember my mom getting fed up with him 9 times out of 10 because he would shut game night down with his antics.  Good times I tell ya! :) The good news is that both he and I are game lovers to this day and have always played games with our kids!

These are my families two latest favorites.

Clue!  Which I played as a kid.  It has changed a little bit but not enough to matter.  I love watching them strategize and fool each other and stretch their brains to figure it out!

We also just got Qwirkle!

Another really cool one that requires strategizing for the win.  

Truth be told, I bought the family Settlers of Catan for Christmas.  We had heard that it was awesome and we would love it and I had shied away from the hefty price tag but thought Christmas was a good excuse to buy!  We opened it, the boys were excited, big punk watched a few YouTube videos about how to play, we punched out the zillion cards and pieces and sat down at the kitchen table to play and after about 15 minutes of Big Punk reading the 32 page (no, I do not exaggerate) rule book, we quietly agreed to pack it all up and take it back.  Maybe some day but for now, we want quick and easy! :)

I have been working on my Sight Word Super Hero Books since the beginning of the school year. 

 I have been wanting to get them on TpT but that next step to getting them together for that doesn't seem to happen...until now!  I am putting up the first 6 weeks of words and next week the rest will be added!

The book is 5 pages long so they can do a quick activity each day with their sight words.  I only give 6 words a week and they are from the FRY First 100 words.  I also will be adding the sight word cards that I give my kiddos each week.

Stay tuned for a big old post in the next few days about how I work sight words in my classroom!

I don't know about you but if we have another rainy day or cold weather indoor recess I might just lose my mind.  If it is below 42* here we can't take the kiddos outside!  Seriously!  I know my Northern friends are rolling on the floor right now but it makes me a little crazy!  And the rain seems to never, ever, ever want to stop so that is keeping us inside as well.  I was feeling a little desperate the other day so on a whim we went on a walk around the school.

As we walked the halls I took pictures (they didn't know) and when we returned to the classroom I started asking them questions to see if they paid attention to what they saw while we walked.  So for instance, I asked if anyone saw any snow on our hike.  They had to describe where.  And I asked if anyone saw any animals and they told us where.  I had the smart board on and showed them the pictures if they guessed right.  It doesn't hold a candle to outdoor recess but they sure loved it and it got us on the move!

Hope you have a great week and a relaxing day off tomorrow!

Check out Doodle Bugs Teaching for more great ideas!

Five for Friday...YES to Friday!

Whew, it's been a long one but if you're reading this it means you made it to Friday!  GO YOU!!!  Why does the week back after winter break almost seem longer than the first week of school!?!  No worries, I'm all snuggled on the coach with a beverage and my fuzzy Star Wars pajama pants on because the bikini weather finally left SC and it's actually cold here!  So, without further ado, let's get Five for Friday under way!

 Flipped the page to January in my self made planner and this was what hit me in the face!  Great way to start the new year!  Now if I can just keep it in mind day in and out!

Back on track with regular runs and feeling really good!  My speed is increasing (when I least expect it...cuz I suck at pacing myself!) and I even am getting my distance back.  I am running the Walk for Life 10K in the morning and am pretty excited about it because it's my first race since surgery!  Wish me luck!

My peeps came for a late Christmas celebration!  We had good times and my sis & bro-in-law gave us this awesome game!  Sequence.  My BIL even made it which made it pretty fabulous!  Look it up! It is a super fun game!

And yes, that is a hammock hanging in the sun room!  The hubs thought that would be cool.  Two actually hang in there and the boys both have them in their bedrooms as well!

Shhh, I'm really glad that school is back!  I miss my babies when school is out!

These are my after school kiddos.

We missed our Dorothy girl a lot!

This ham bone even read to us his favorite smelly book!

It was a good, good week!

My small punk and I have started reading this together before bed.  It's one of my favorites and I have been begging him for a while now to let me read it to him.  He finally gave in and he loves it!  Its a great book about a 5th grade girl who has been labeled and she simply doesn't like it.  It's a great lesson for kids, a great reminder for teachers and a wonderful life story.

Stay tuned next week...or maybe during this coming week for some really fun Sight Word stuff I've been working on with my kiddos.  They love it and I think you will too!

Have a great week and relax a little this weekend!

Hop back to Doodle Bugs Teaching to check out other posts.

Five for Friday on a Quiet Saturday night!

I am a little stunned that I am still standing after yesterday's mayhem but here I am ready to share a little Five for Friday Holiday fun with you!  When you finish reading, hop back to Doodle Bugs Teaching and see the other great ideas teachers shared!

These right here are my new favorite cookies!

No, I did not take the picture because mine get eaten faster than I can gt a picture of them!  I did just make a plate and shared them with the cafeteria staff because they are so fabulous about taking care of me and my little people!

They are so stinkin easy to make and a big hit with all who eat them!  I used this recipe that came from the Duncan Hine's website.  They take about 10 minutes to make and are seriously Awesome!

A friend just made these and let me sample!  

Just as tasty!  They are Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies and also came from the Duncan Hines website.

OH MY GOSH!!!

YES WE DID!!!!

HE'S STILL FINE!!!!

HE NEEDS TO SHAVE!!!

I bought us tickets about 6 weeks ago and it was everything we hoped it would be!  I saw the very first Star Wars in May of 1977 on the big screen!  I was 6 years old and it was the very first movie I saw in the movie theater and honestly I can't remember any other theatre movies.  I would guess we didn't see many in the theatre as that was a pretty expensive venture even then.  I can still remember driving downtown to Seattle and I can see the inside of the theatre!  Crazy since I can hardly remember my children's names!

I am not a crazy Star Wars-fan-junky but I am a crazy junky of fabulous childhood memories and this was absolutely part of my childhood story!

Go see it!  In 3D even if it makes you puke and RPX IMAX too!

I can hardly stand this cuteness!  I found this great pin and over the last few weeks everyone made a jingle stick!  Great fine motor lesson BTW!

So, we made them for the purpose of creating this!

I sent it to parents and they loved it!

This happened this week and it was fabulous!

This is my TT Crew.  TT stands for Two Tuesdays.  About 7 years ago 4 of us decided to start getting together every other Tuesday for dinner.  We text every Monday and pick a restaurant and show up for enough time to catch up and still get home to say prayers and kiss our babies goodnight.  We celebrate, we laugh, we cry, we do life together.  We have added people and lost a few but we still keep our ties.  We always have a Christmas party and we each draw names and promise to give a hand made gift for the person we draw.  

The gifts are fabulous and heartfelt and we cherish our time together.  This year we added a little fun and exchanged socks in a Chinese Gift Exchange style.  We filled the socks with all sorts of goodies and it was great fun!

This right here...

I know I post every so often about backyard fires but I gotta tell ya that I love a good fire!  It has been so stinkin hot in SC...like 75 degrees for the last week or two and today's drop in temp was AWESOME!  I'll take a brisk 46 degrees in December any day!

Hope you have a marvelous holiday season and stay tuned because I am planning to post a few times during the break!