I won't lie there were days where I would sleep until 9:30 or 10am some days, but honestly it is well deserved. Many people think I work 8:00am to 3:15pm which is very true.. That is when I have students in my presence to be taught and nurtured and taken care of.
However what many people don't know is that teachers usually arrive to school 30 to 45 minutes before students come in and stay up to almost 2 and a half hours after they leave. There are days I get to school at 7:00 am and stay until 5:00 or 5:30 depending on what time they Janitors are locking up for the day if one is out it is usually 5:00pm. No it is not everyday, but more than some people think.
What isn't seen is the binders being brought home, the books to utilize for lesson planning next week, or the following weeks to come. People don't see all the behind the scene work. I read a blog earlier today calling teachers stage performers and this blog hits the nail right on the head! Jennie's Blog IT IS A MUST READ! I read it and was thinking the entire time.. this is truly how it is!
So many people are like you have a great job you get the summer off.... and yes I do love that. I choose this career because I love teaching, I love children, I love seeing their face light up when they GET IT! I love being able to show a student they are smarter than they may believe and if they try and do their best it will get them far in life. I want students to love learning and being able to enjoy school. I have always loved school and no I wasn't stereotyped as a NERD I just put forth my best and loved learning. I have wanted to teach since I was in Kindergarten and the love of wanting to do it kept growing. I did figure in that one day I would have my own kids and want to be home in the summer with them so that is a plus! <3
I like to be crafty and creative. There have been times while my students were working on projects that I would draw up Anchor charts for my class and my teammates liked them enough that I made my team hand drawn copies this summer and myself new ones. Seeing as I wanted them laminated and most industrial laminating machines in town only laminate up to 24inches in width I had to redo a set for myself since my originals were 27inches because I couldn't live with cutting them in half and having a seem.
SOOOOOO here's the big secret of what teachers do in the summer. WE make, buy and come up with things and ways to have a better school year than the last, we try to make it more child friendly, stimulating and educational!
This is one I did just for myself because I had some students who thought they couldn't write and they could. I like it because it shows spelling errors in the process as a way of sounding out words to let them know they can spell it wrong and I will still be happy they tried their best!
The following are ones that I made 4 of each one so my teammates and myself would have :)
In first grade we learn about plants and part of that is the learning what you can an cannot eat!
Math can be hard for some so here are some different ways to show students how they can do math!
This one is very clear. I feel like if they know what the purpose is of writing they will be more enticed to want to write to share with they classmates and myself.
Have you ever had those students who just truly not put forth any effort when it comes to drawing and adding detail? Well this is my new problem solver. If they don't have all the components by the time it is turned in I will ask them to go back and fix it. Pictures can make or break their work I just want them to see they can be so creative if they just add little pieces here and there.
This is a big one for Kindergarten and 1st grade they learn it in both grades, but I love this visual. If they are unsure I ask them to go show me what sound they think it is or which strategy they need to try. I love this as part of morning calendar time because if they see and hear it everyday eventually it will start to click!
Teachers buy things for school in the summer. The brown bags are full of poster runners that follow our curriculum, stamps, ink pads, stickers, crayon boxes, boarders, and many other supplies to be used over the course of the year.... Plus why not buy it on discount at the Teacher store that's going out of business and shutting its doors. It was discounted and then additionally 35% discounted! :D HAPPY TEACHERS!
Bringing home work for Summer!
Over the year with a new curriculum, in a new grade it was a challenge of being organized, however I thank myself for putting extra worksheet copies in a file folder according to subject and as a normal organized person would the beginning of the year in the front and adding to the back of each folder daily! This helped tremendously when it came to hole punching and binders for the subjects. I had a folder for each subject for the 1st and 2nd nine weeks combined, then for the 3rd and 4th they were separate. In the end I feel like I put them in somewhat of an order from August to June :)
The Lovely stack of organized Chaos!
One binder down and Joshua asked what I was up to... I felt a picture would suffice :)
Literally after sitting at the counter from 8am until about 3 only stopping long enough to eat my lunch.... I was organized!
The next day I printed up cute little covers to slip in my binders.
Hopefully these hours I felt were well spent will pay off this year and many years to come :)
Now for fun! :) I made this at the beginning of the school year
... Last year. Hot gluing crayons on a canvas of your choice size then melting crayons with a blow dryer was ALL THE RAGE on Pinterest. Daddy helped we laid the crayons out on the canvas as I wanted to make sure they were equally placed in a chevron format then put clear packing tape across the crayons to pick them up. We rolled them up like a round of machine gun bullets it should work right?? YES It did thankfully. It was a wonderful way to unroll it back out as we put down the hot glue. Then with the hair dryer in hand I melted away. Lastly adding all the cute craft paint on the top and a picture. I used two hunting dog collar magnets to hold the picture on so if I ever choose to take it off or change it the task would be simple and no holes in the canvas.
WELL this school year it didn't have a real home in my classroom it was moved from place to place wherever it would hang or sit still and took some abuse. Unfortunately the crayons came off and it looked neat, but I need a change. Pinterest had already caught my eye once again.
To re purpose this canvas would have been a pain so I pulled out the staples and used the frame.
A few years back at our local fabric store Hancock, I had bought some pretty striped heavier duty fabric in the remnants section for about $1.50yd compared to the original price because of $4 or $5 a yard and there was roughly 2yards of fabric. It was a smaller panel, but I had to have it and knew I could use it one day on SOMETHING.. just had to wait it out and it would come to me!
I forgot to take the plain frame, cutting fabric, ironing and then stapling however it wasn't difficult.
If you look carefully you see my printed pinterest inspiration above my board ;)
Next I decided what colors I wanted to use(oh wait those are the only colors I had ). So I started out and just went with it.
Then I went back and did the fabric paint again on the "In Our Class We do" and the first letter of each word to make it POP.
I even added some of the cute pictures from the pinterest version.
Lastly after my venture into town today I had grabbed some glitter glue and added a hint of some color to the already bright colorful fabric. Hopefully they students will love this and follow it as much I would like them to.
"In Our Class We do... please, thank yous, kindness, honest, compliments, May I?, clean & tidy, raise your hand, happy, it's okay, quiet (as a mouse), hugs and healthy"
I feel that this will be some good over all rules to follow as well as the traditional being a Leader with our Sean Covey Leadership School Theme program: Seven habits of a Highly Effective Leader.
Leaving you with one last blog to read, I may not be considered as Godly as the Lady in the blog I'm posting and the way she ends it, but it is her blog and right to do so. I do pray in my own way and my own time, I care about each child in my class deeply and the situations they face whether they tell me or not I can see worry, fear, anxiety and all other emotions on their face and I know it may not be my business, however I still hope and pray that they go home to safe, warm houses, with food and a place to sleep and comfort where they are. I have my beliefs and everyone else has their own, I will not push mine on anyone they are mine and mine alone, HOWEVER the rest of this woman's blog touches me deeply how true it is. No I don't have my own children yet, but one day I will and one day I will spend more time with everyone else's children than my own while I am at work during the week, but it's a choice I made to become a teacher to help better the minds of those who pass through my classroom.
Until more crafts are created :)
~ Mary
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