Walk of Shame

Good golly, I haven't blogged in forever...8 months and 25 days to be exact. I don't want to make excuses, but I'm going to.  In no particular order, here are my excuses perfectly rationale reasons:

Grad school

New job

Moving

Buying a house

Moving again

Puppy snuggles

I'm not sure how that last excuse snuck it's way onto the list, but I went with it because puppy snuggles are real.  Enough of the excuses, on to a FREEBIE!  I whipped up a cute, simple page and wanted to share!  

We all know that lots of kid regress over the summer.  We also know that many of of our lowest bunnies that we have spent the entire school year trying to help tend to regress the most over the summer break.  BREAKS.MY.HEART.  My school has a free tutoring program for our kids with Significant Reading Deficits (SRDs) and our tutoring team wanted to create a simple reading challenge for the summer.  Our hope is to just keep these lovelies reading.  

We are using an online reading program that tracks their minutes, but you could have parents initial each beach ball when the child reads X number of minutes.  Our kiddos are coloring in a beach ball each time they read 100 minutes, and if they read 1,000 minutes over the summer, they will be invited to our celebratory party when we return to school.  We might even have a hallway parade to celebrate! This PDF is editable so that you can customize the direction portion of the page.  

Want a copy?  Shake your head up and down!  Hop on over to my TPT to grab this FREEBIE!  FREEBIE Feedback is always appreciated!  

Let the Color-Coding Begin

As I begin to wrap my head around how I want to organize my "stuff" for the new job, I know this much is true:  it will all be color-coded!  That shouldn't surprise you one bit!  Head on over to TPT to grab this simple freebie!  

Can We Still Be Friends?

Yippee ki-yay, I got the job!  However, first and foremost, my next step is to make sure we can all still be friends.  You see, my new job is in RtI.  For some people, that's a dirty word that brings up thoughts of never-ending paperwork and more meetings than one could imagine.  Heck, it probably elicits anxiety and nervous tremors from some of you.  But you see, I'm passionate about making sure that all kids get the help they need without making the life of a teacher even more difficult.  

As the new RtI Coordinator at an elementary school, I'm looking for some insight from all of you.  What parts of RtI at your school would you change and how would you change them?  Is there a component of RtI working really well at your school?  Please share!

I can't wait to share my upcoming adventures!  

Tomorrow is a BIG DEAL

Oh, boy.  I have an interview tomorrow for a job I really, really, want.  It sounds like a match made in heaven.  It's the perfect combination of things I enjoy doing.   There's a cherry on top!  The position isn't full time-it's 80% time, which is perfect since I'm beginning grad school in October.   I'm taking a bag of stuff with me to the interview so that I can show, not tell.   Hopefully tomorrow evening I get to write another blog post announcing my new job.  Fingers crossed! Prayers said! Buddha belly rubbed!

Oh, and kids come back to school on Monday.  Yikes!

Cheaper Than Therapy

Must.find.job.  While waiting for new job postings to pop up, I'm creating up a storm!  It helps keep me focused and sane.  I'm cranking out new labels for my entire classroom library (all 27 banker boxes worth), a mini-calendar set, and a new word wall!  I decided to do fiction labels in one color, and non-fiction in another because sometimes the little darlings forget.  For my word wall, I made the vowels pink and consonants green to help the kiddos keep that straight.  The mini-calendar is a work in progress.  I'm hoping to use a big oil pan to make a place for our calendar, schedule, clocks, weather, etc.  

Now I just need a classroom to put all of it in!  Here's a sneak peek!  Nothing too snazzy, just a facelift!

I've turned down some opportunities for 5th grade interviews.  Call me crazy, but I'm not passionate about teaching fifth and I don't want to take an interview slot from someone that might be the perfect fit for some soon to be fifth graders.  Faith...and deep breaths.

Following Our Hearts

I have news.  BIG news.  BIG, EXCITING NEWS! Since you've obviously read every single post I've ever written, you know that my hubs is in the AF and we move every 2-3 years, which makes me an expert classroom packer-upper.  Seriously.  I should have a special badge.  We were stationed in Colorado Springs, CO from June 2011-July 2013.  We arrived in SC July 2013.  Ready for the news?!  We are making our LAST big move...back to Colorado!   In an effort to reduce their forces, the AF offered a voluntary separation opportunity, and we took it.  It was a big decision to give up his job security, but in our hearts, we know we belong in CO.  I will be able to find a forever home at a school!  I arrived a few days ago so that I can get a new job at the start of the school year.  My father super hero flew out to SC to help me drive and pull the trailer classroom on wheels...all 3,100 pounds!  My hubs will follow in December when he transfers from Active Duty to the Reserves.

To celebrate, I created a little FREEBIE for y'all!  You can print the full page size, frame it, and add some decor to your classroom.  Or, print one of the smaller card versions and write a sweet note for a co-worker at the beginning of the year!

This teacher is off to find a job!

Love My Peeps

It's Freebie Friday and I've got a sweet and simple freebie for MY peeps just in time for Easter.  In this post, I mentioned how much I LOVE the Peep clipart freebie from Krista Wallden, so I whipped up an easy printable to show all of my peeps some love!

Use these cards to tell YOUR peeps how "hoppy" they make you!  They'd be great for students, co-workers, and friends!  I'm attaching mine to some baked goods and using them as the tags, but you could just write a sweet note and leave it at that.  All you have to do is print and cut.  No curvy cuts, folding, or fuss!

I showed them to my hubs the other night while I was writing out my messages.  He didn't laugh.  So then I showed him again because clearly he didn't get it.  Why else would he have not laughed?  The second time he laughed.  Smart man.  I know all of you appreciate my humor!

Ready to hunt down your free copy?  Hop on over to my TPT store to put this FREEBIE in your basket!  Show some love and leave some feedback!

Thanks to TBA for hosting Freebie Friday.  If you've never visited, go check it out!  There are so many great freebies out there to take advantage of!