Tell All Tuesday: A Goal, A Wish, and A Dream

Happy Tuesday!!! I know many of you have headed back to school and I hope you are having an amazing time so far!! I'll be headed back in a few weeks, and I can't stop thinking of all the things that need to get done!!

One way for me to take my mind off of BTS is to link up with my incredibly sweet friends from My Day in K and Teach Talk Inspire! They have hosted this incredibly fun linky all summer, but just like the summer, all good things must come to an end!! Today is the very last installment of Tell All Tuesday!

This week the link up is focused on heading back to school. Many teachers in the Western part of the country have already headed back to school and many more are headed back this week. Along with my fellow East Coasters, we have a few more weeks of summer left. Most places on the East Coast don't go back until after Labor Day! Our state is trying to pass a law that will restrict school from starting until after Labor Day. We shall see if that comes to pass!!
Today's topic is for your classroom or school year, and is titled 'A Goal, A Wish, and A Dream'. There is so very much I want for my kinders and my classroom this year, it's hard to narrow it down!!

I know as teachers we always want the very best for our kiddos. We all have our own hopes and dreams for the classroom, and surprisingly many of our wishes and dreams are very similar!! Great minds think alike!! Here are mine.

A Goal - Organization!! I feel like this is my goal every year, and each year I get a little closer to the level of organization I want. I'm not disorganized by any means, but there is so very much more organization that I want to get done in my room!! I can't wait until I can finally say I am totally and completely organized the way I want to be!!!

A Wish - I want each and every one of my kinders to reach and surpass every goal, educational and otherwise, that they set for themselves. If they want to be able to tie their shoes by the end of the year or if they want to be able to write a short story, I want them to feel successful and accomplished. All I want is for them to make as much growth as they possibly can and be super ready for first grade next year!

A Dream - I know how important kindergarten is. I know that we, as kindergarten teachers, build the foundation of each child's learning and that we have an impact on their feelings towards and about school. I want to instill such a love of learning in each and every single one of my kinders that they will become intrinsically motivated to continue their educations. I want them to keep learning and growing all the way through college, and that each of my Littles will make the very most of their situations. I want the very best for them, and that means they need to most education possible!!


So there's my goals, wishes, and dreams for this year. Swing back over to My Day in K or Teach.Talk.Inspire to see who else has linked up, and you can link up too!

You can still link up for Spotlight Saturday!! It's a Teacher's Show and Tell where you can share your favorite products, activities, resources, tips, ideas, tricks, and everything else that makes classroom life easier or more awesome!!

Tell All Tuesday: My Dream Classroom

Tell All Tuesday is a link up hosted by My Day in K and Teach.Talk.Inspire. This is such a fun linky where we get to learn a bit about each other and share a bit about ourselves!

This week is all about your dream classroom. How fun!! i know everyone has thought about what they would want to add to their dream classroom! Now is a chance to share your big ideas!!

My dream classroom would be big. Lots and lots and lots of storage space for books and everything else a teacher has. Surrounded by windows that let in lots of natural light, but also has black-out blinds/curtains for all those glow in the dark lessons! Enough room for the center activities to not overlap with each other and plenty of spots to put cushy chairs and pillows for reading and getting work done. Walls I am allowed to put holes into and a ceiling that I can hang stuff from. Bathroom in the classroom as well as a small kitchenette with fridge/freezer, stove, sink, cabinets. 

A bright, colorful space that is warm and welcoming to students and makes them excited to come to school every day!!

I would DEFINITELY do as much as I could with my dragon theme! I have made A LOT of the dragon-themed decor for my classroom, and I am really in love with it!!

 I made our classroom door tags, complete with their name on a crayon.

 These are my classroom mascots, the inspiration for my decor! I have big plans for these guys this year!!

 I made a dragon-themed alphabet line, with a dragon holding an image of something that begins with the letter on each card. The vowels are in red ink and the consonants in black.

 Close-up o the ABC line.

 Above the SMART Board is my number line. It features the numerals 0-20, and each poster has the number word, numeral, and matching set in a ten frame.

The sets in the ten frames are created with sparkly gems and jewels, because dragons LOVE sparkly gems and shiny jewels!!

My schedule cards feature dragons, and our day is tracked by moving the dragon down the rainbow to his castle.

My Word Wall features letters created using rainbow letters. I love the scribble effect, and rainbows fit perfectly with the magic of dragons!

If I had unlimited funds and could add some fund theme pieces to my classroom, here's what I would do!

Check out all of these dragon pillow pets!! They would be perfect to scatter around the room and students could use them to sit comfortably on the floor while working.

Oh my goodness, look at these seats!!! I'm loving the dragon furniture!! What kinder wouldn't love to curl up in one of these chairs with a book during Read to Self time?? I would have these all over the room, enough for everyone to have a dragon seat!

Thanks so much for reading about my dream classroom! You can link up too and share your dream classroom!!

Make sure to swing back over and see who else is sharing their dream classroom! A lot of great ideas are being shared!!!

You can still link up for Spotlight Saturday, a Teacher's Show and Tell for favorite products, activities, resources, tips, tricks, techniques, ideas, and anything else about our classroom lives that we want to showcase!

Tell All Tuesday:My Reality Show

Tuesday means it's time for one of my favorite weekly link ups! Hosted by Teach.Talk.Inspire and My Day in K, today is all about Tell All Tuesday!

This week's topic has been the hardest one by far for me! This week we were asked to complete the sentence "If my life was a reality show it would be called....' I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I'm really not a big reality TV watcher. GASP, what did she say??!! I know, I know, it seems crazy to say that when reality shows are on every single channel all day long. I just never really got into it. The kind of TV that fascinates me is Discovery Channel, Investigation Discovery, and every Snapped and MSNBC Lockup marathon I can catch. Not exactly the kind of TV one would want their life modeled after!!! :-)

So it took me a long time to decide, and I think what I chose fits my life perfectly at the moment.

For all of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I was in a car accident in the very last week of January. I was headed home on our local highway, cruising along doing the speed limit at 55 mph when I was hit head-on by a pickup truck. Here's what happened to my car.

Notice that parts of the car which should be under the hood are now on the windshield??

Every single air bag in my car deployed. The steering wheel, the driver's side curtain, the knee level air bag. I do believe all of those air bags not only saved my life, but saved my legs too.

I had to be cut out of my car with the Jaws of Life. I can remember the sound of the saw turning on and the screech and groan of the metal in my door as it was cut off of my car.

Every window shattered, and I remember the glass cascading over my like rain. No lie, I was pulling shards of glass out of my hair for a good week after the accident!

So why am I showing you all this? Well, I survived this accident with only a few injuries. One of them was pretty major though. I not only dislocated my ankle but the talus bone in my foot broke. According to my doctor, the talus bone is the hardest one in your foot to break and it is also the hardest one to get to heal.

Your foot's not supposed to bend at that angle, right?? Well, this injury literally knocked me off of my feet. i was told I may have to have surgery in order to walk normally again. I spent a few nights in the hospital in the city, and was finally able to go home after I showed that I could hop around on one leg using a walker.

From that day on, for the next 6 months, I was unable to walk. The only time I left the house was for doctor's appointments. I had to live on the recliner downstairs because I couldn't manage the stairs, no way.

Weeks and months went by with me on the couch, not able to do a single thing for myself. Went to see a doctor who gave me the wrong advice and did more harm than good to my recovery, setting me back months. Sad, sad times.

What a boring reality show that is!! So my life as a reality show starts now, mid-July, with me FINALLY being able to stand up on two feet. Everyone at school calls me 'Murph', and I am about to make the comeback of a lifetime, so I thought 'Murph's Comeback' would be the best title for my reality show. Now that I can finally handle putting weight on my foot, I am slowly practicing how to walk again. 

I wear this giant brace for stability, because the slightest bend or twist could put me right back where I started from. I also use a walker since I am unable to stand or walk without some sort of assistance, be it walker or crutches.

Every day I am taking another step towards where I was before the accident! I first have to get to the point where I don't need a walker, then I get to move to a smaller brace, and eventually will be able to walk without any kind of assistance.

I am setting goals for my walking practice every day, getting my ankle stronger. I have every intention of buying myself a FitBit to help me get back in shape. I have so very much work to do still, but I am lucky enough to be able to get better. Never ever again will I take something as simple as walking for granted! 

Murph's Comeback is all about me getting back to myself, getting my body physically able to walk like a 'normal' person, and getting back into shape. I would love if you would stick with me through my Comeback Journey, and I promise to keep you updated with my progress!! I still have several laser treatments to go, not to mention months of physical therapy, but I am ever so slowly making progress towards being able to walk all on my own!!

Thank you so much to everyone who has followed my journey since the accident! Your incredible words of kindness, support, and encouragement have really helped me through some dark days. And link ups like this have helped me to stay sane and keep on some sort of schedule, whereas without them I might just spend the days sleeping the hours away.

Thank you all for reading about Murph's Comeback, and I hope you will come back for future installments!!!

I imagine there are some much more exciting and well-thought out My Reality Show posts on the link up, so make sure to swing back over and read the rest! You can link up too!!

Don't forget that you can still link up for Spotlight Saturday, the Teacher's Show and Tell weekly linky party! Come over and Spotlight your favorite products, resources, activities, and ideas! This week I Spotlighted one of the fabulous hosts of this linky, Diana from My Day in K!

Tell All Tuesday: Top Ten Things Teaching Has Taught Me

Today is Tuesday, so that means it's time to link up with My Day in K and Teach. Create. Motivate. for their awesome Tell All Tuesday link up party!

This is such a fun weekly linky where we can learn more about each other and get to share a bit about ourselves too! It's so much fun to read everyone's responses to each week's topic! This week is no exception!

This week we are telling all about the Top Ten things being a teacher has taught us. Lots of alliteration to this weeks topic!! :-)

Being a teacher has taught me so much, and I honestly love each new year because I learn something new. In no particular order, here are ten things being a teacher has taught me.

It's important to not only be a team with the other teachers in your grade level, but also with your students. In your classroom, work together to set the rules and expectations. Make sure everyone knows where supplies go, so that everyone can be responsible for keeping things where they belong. Working together as a team can help make your school year go by smoothly!

Kids love to point out the obvious, and they find the simplest things to be hilarious. Every so often they are going to find something hilarious about you. Whether it be that you just spelled a word on the board wrong or that you wore two different colored shoes to school that day. It was dark that morning, okay?? You need to be able to laugh at yourself, there are going to be days when that's all you can do!!

Regardless of how many years you have been teaching, every single year is so very different from the previous years! You are going to have a constantly changing group of students who bring with them their constantly changing families. What worked so incredibly well one year may never work again, and you'll have to be prepared to adjust for that. Remember to change with each year and tweak what works to fit each new challenge!

Please know that I mean this both figuratively and literally. You are going to have to know how to quickly adapt to change, like when you're being observed by other teachers in your district and the bulb in your projector stops working and the SMART Board crashes. You are also going to know how to quickly adapt to change in direction, since your kiddos will stop on a dime right in front of you or completely dart across your path like a game of Frogger...

Every child is different in so many ways. From personality to learning style, every child is unique. This seems like such a 'duh' piece of advice, we all know kids are different. I bring this up because it is important to remember that each child is unique and they all have different learning styles. You will need to adjust your teaching methods to best meet the needs of the various learners in your classroom.

No matter how much you prep and plan your lesson, inevitably something will go wrong. Usually it's the day that you are being observed by your principal and vice principal and district supervisor. The computer crashes. Your manipulatives have disappeared. One of your littles throws up all over the floor and another walks in it. Realize that things are going to go wrong, and accept that when they do you will get through it. Take a deep breath and remember to be flexible!

It is very important to laugh as much as you possibly can! Your kiddos are going to be brutally honest and tell you all about everything and everyone in their lives. You are going to laugh at the things they say, the things they do, and the things they wear. Take time to find the humor in all situations, because there are days when it will be you're either laughing or you're crying!

Carry a clipboard or a notebook around with you. To your planning sessions. To meetings. Just when walking your kids to their special. You never know when someone is going to tell you something important when they see you in the hallway, and when they do you can write it down. If you write it down, chances are you won't forget it! There is always something you need to remember or somewhere you need to be, so write it down as soon as you find out and you won't forget!! Whenever you are talking with a parent, whether on the phone or in person, write it down! Write down the date, who you talked with, and what you talked about. Trust me, you never know when this information will be needed later in the year!

Find an organizational system that works for you and STICK TO IT! You are going to have so much to file and tools to store. You need to know where things are in your room, filing cabinets, and computer files. You'll have to organize your student data records as well as the different committee notes you have. Figure out how to organize the papers you'll use during the week, what you'll do with extras, and how to address student absence. Papers will pile up quickly if you let them, so start the year off organized and continue on that way!

Tell yourself this every single morning. When you wake up. When you're in the shower. On the drive to work. Before the first bell rings. No matter what happened the day before, no matter how bad things got, you have to let it go. You have to treat each day as a fresh, clean, blank slate. Holding on to the bad things that happened the day before only adds to your stress and the stress in your classroom. Remember that no matter how crazy things get, how much of a headache you have before lunch, or how many things go wrong: every single day is a new day. Treat each day as a brand new start and your stress will be less!!

I hope you enjoyed reading about ten different things teaching has taught me. I am so proud to call myself a teacher, and I am so grateful to be a part of this amazing community! Swing on over to My Day in K or Teach. Talk. Inspire. to see who else has linked up to share ten lessons they have learned!

Don't forget to link up with me for Spotlight Saturday! It's a Teacher's Show and Tell where you can showcase your favorite products, activities, resources, or ideas!! Tell us all about something amazing that we need to try in our classroom or with our kiddos!

Tell All Tuesday: Summer Flashback

If it's Tuesday in the summer time than I am linking up with My Day In K and Teach. Talk. Inspire. for their awesome summer linky party, Tell All Tuesday!

This week it's all about flashbacks. We are to share a past summer memory through photographs. I am flashing back to last summer, when I got to take a really amazing trip with my nephew!

We headed to Easton, Pennsylvania (a little over a 3 hour drive North of where I live) and had a chance to visit and tour the Crayola Factory. How awesome is that??? It's like a teacher's dream to visit the Crayola Factory! It's a really incredible tour, called the Crayola Experience, and I was tickled pink just looking at the factory from the parking garage. Doesn't it look so awesome??

Check out the croswalk we used to get from the garage to the factory. I really love how they use so many details and that the Crayola Experience began before we even entered the building!

It was an incredibly sunny day, but we just had to get a selfie next to the amazing mural that was painted on the outside walls of the factory! As soon as we walked in, we got an amazing bag of goodies that included tokens for all of the interactive parts of the tour!

Here's my nephew standing next to the World's Largest Crayon. Yes, it's 100% real!!

I had to get a picture of the information for that giant crayon! Look how heavy it is, sheesh!!

There were so very many interactive things to do there! One of the floors was all about making your own markers and crayons. This is one of the double-ink markers we got to make and keep! It was so awesome watching the process of it being made! We put a token in the machine and the machine had a clear plexiglass front so we could see the entire process from start to finish!

We also got to make our own crayons and design their labels. I had a great time trying to figure out a dragon-themed name for each color!

There was SO MUCH to do there! We made crayons that were different shapes, created drawings using liquid crayon wax, visited the interactive floor and used iPads to make our creations dance along the wall!! We ate at the food court surrounded by facts about all things Crayola. We sat through an awesome demonstration that showed us a behind the scenes glimpse of the factory! There were vending machines full of crayons, markers, and modeling clay! An entire floor was dedicated to creating sculptures using their modeling clay. We ended our trip with a visit to the HUMONGOUS gift shop! An entire wall of the gift shop was dedicated to all of the colors of crayons and markers Crayola makes, sorted by color. You could buy a tin and create a mixture of whatever colors you want! I'm still in awe over the size of that gift shop and everything that was in it!!

My nephew and I had such an incredibly amazing time, and I'm glad that I have so many pictures to remember it by. The trip was long, a little over 3 hours each way, but it was totally worth it! I can't wait to go again, I had such a great time!

That's my Summer Flashback! You should swing over to My Day in K to see who else has linked up to share their summer flashbacks. There are some really great posts, including pictures that go back many, many years!!

You can still link up for Spotlight Saturday! Come showcase your favorite products, resources, activities, or ideas! I have learned so much through your posts, and I can't wait to start using some of your awesome ideas this school year!