Retirement Booklets FTW

Helllloooooooo out there!  This year, guys.  This year.  It's somethin'.  Mostly I'm just keeping my head above water and being social.  It's really good.  I feel like maybe I hit that 10 year teaching mark and just needed a little breather where I focused more on me and less on school.  You know?  Do you?  Please tell me that's a thing.  Have I blogged this same feeling already this year?  Well, it's true.

National Boards has been a force to be reckoned with... I've been writing, rewriting, and video taping, and re-taping, and watching-ohhhh the watching- myself teach in the videos.  It's been an interesting process and everyone tells me once I'm done it will make me a better teacher.  My deadline is in 4 short weeks and I MIGHT be freaking out just a TAD.

I'm kind of looking forward to this summer to regroup my teaching, organize my school year, and feel like I have my act together.  It will happen.  I'm starting to once again have a few creative thoughts (it's a process, ya know?) and I think I will re-energize.

But in the meantime, school years are wrapping down all over the place.  That means retirement, and that's why I have Retirement Booklets FOR THE WIN.  Plus there is one for teachers (or students!) who are leaving the building.  Easy for last minute print and prep, and super cute when they are all done and put together.  I'll be honest, when I left my last school my teammate had students complete the "We Will Miss You" booklet for ME and it was adorable.

So if you're looking for something fast, easy and thoughtful, I've got you covered.  Plus I added a new donut themed booklet because I'm obsessed with donuts and I assume everyone else is, too.  If you want them all, grab the bundle!

            

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Officially Summer | Lots of Changes!

I am finally officially on summer break.  Yippee!  I cannot believe my first year teaching in Washington state is complete!  This has been a crazy adventure.  I'm loving it.  Admittedly, this year I haven't blogged a bunch or even been motivated to hop on the computer and write about what I have been working on.  I've felt a bit uninspired this past year.  That's not to say my move has left me without creativity or that my new (amazing) teaching position isn't interesting and inspiring and fantastic.  It's just that I've been focused more on figuring things out, finding where things are, getting to know my coworkers, and just generally fitting in and finding myself in this new place.  It was important to me to get settled and unfortunately, blogging just wasn't always on the "top priority page".  Now with a full teaching year under my belt, I'm feeling more like "me" and feeling a bit more inspired, relaxed, and ready to get back at it!

But that doesn't mean that there aren't any BIG changes in store for next year!  After 9 lovely years in 4th grade, I'm making a big move (well, big move for me!).... 

to 3rd Grade!

I'm super excited to take on a new challenge, but those little 3rd graders scare me just a bit right now!  I mean, they come in as 2ND GRADERS!  I checked in all my 4th grade materials and checked out the 3rd grade materials and now they are in a nice stack in my living room waiting to be sifted through.  I was a bit shocked at first about the move (even though I offered and agreed to it!) because this is a bittersweet move for me.  I've loved my 9-10 year olds!  But I think I'm ready to shake things up a tiny bit and jump in to some different curriculum.  Yay!  Ideas for bloggers to follow (or Instagrammers, Twitterers, or anything else) are welcome!  

I'm also beginning my National Boards next year... 

Hopefully I can knock out a few components this next year and get this sucker accomplished!  Next year will be a lot of work!  Any tips for studying for the Component 1 test are appreciated...eek!

So I suppose after taking a year to get settled, I was ready to jump back in and tackle some projects.  I also gave my blog a little face lift- how many times is too many times to do that?  This is the second time in a year, but I think this one will "stick".  I've loving it.  A few things might start looking a bit different, but everything is still there and in it's place!  

If you're on your summer break now, I hope you're enjoying it and relaxing!  

            

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Teacher Retirement + Teachers Moving On {Gifts from the Class}

Happy SUNDAY!  I am prepping for a super fun week and getting those plans in order.

Popping in REALLY FAST because the end of the year can be super busy and exciting and maybe stressful, and on top of that, we usually have some special teachers in our buildings who are moving on to other schools or moving on UP to retirement.  Yay for them!

So all I'm saying is that usually we are scrambling to pull some kind of class gift together (or is that just me?), and for that reason, I created retirement booklets and a going away booklet (for kids or teachers!) and just today I bundled them and they are up and ready in the RTL store.

Each sold separately.  All sold together.  Whatever you want.  ...and JUST IN TIME for that fancy sale happening in a few days!  

That's all.  Back to my sunny day of planning and prepping.  

            

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Moving West & Friendly Stress

It's the last week of school!  Not only the last week of school, but my last week at this school.  Not just my last week at this school, but my last week at this school in Kansas... because I decided to move.  To Seattle.  Just for fun.  For an adventure.  Because maybe I'm crazy.

I decided to move to the west coast, so this is my last week at the school where I started my career and have had eight fabulous years of teaching.

I'm in the midst of the end of the year craziness.  Grades are due.  Cleaning the classroom.  Cleaning out desks and sending materials home.  Kids are rowdy and I'm finding something productive for them to do in the meantime. Not to mention the end of the year excitement in the air.  And I'm packing a classroom to move it across the country.

I don't often feel stressed.  Not to be confused with not being stressed.  I am sometimes stressed but don't feel it; usually then I get sick.  I am currently focusing on channeling my energy to make the end of the year as great as possible while still trying to get my personal life together to make this big move on my own.  But even I have to admit, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with it all right now.

But in all my end of the year procrastination and personal brain breaks, I found this TED Talk about how stress can be healthy for each of us.  Teachers know stress.  They know it really well.  It comes in many different forms and can just appear at any point of the day....with a student, a colleague, or parents.  But really, it is healthy.  That's what I keep telling myself.

If you're getting close to the end of the school year (or if your last week is this week, like me), then good luck.  If you have a few more weeks to go, keep doing a great job!  Don't forget to take time for you!  Hit the gym, take a walk, or put on some tunes.  

            

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BeFunky: Photo Editing

This is not a fancy post about photoshop or any other software I would have to pay a fortune for...because I don't know the first thing about those.  This is photo editing for amateurs who like free things.

I do love photography.  It helps that everyone in today's world can appear pretty decent because of digital photography and things like Instagram that allow us to filter and manipulate our photos however we would like, not to mention all the pins on Pinterest regarding photography hints and tips.  I can fake it with the best of them.

For photo editing, I can use the simple filtering and editing on my camera or through iPhoto, but when I want to put together a collage, add fonts, or do any other editing, I've been using BeFunky.

My favorite feature of BeFunky is that I don't need to sign in to use it.  This is thebomb.com because that means my pictures aren't linked to my email account.  Typically that's not a huge deal for me, but when it comes to pictures of students, I try really hard not to personally put them anywhere on the internet.  One year I used one of those slideshow sites to make a slideshow of my classroom (no students), and then when I looked up my email address on one of those creepy stalker websites, it had those pictures on it!  I don't want my students' pictures to be out there when people search for me or anyone else.  This site doesn't require sign in, so you don't have to be as concerned.

Plus it's free, easy, and mostly just fun.  There are collage options for social media sites, as well as individual picture editing, or just playing around with images.  Go play!

Here's what I worked on today...
As I put together my slideshow for the end of the year, I was trying to decide on a cover for our DVD.  I had the perfect picture:

I made it for our auction this year and I have been trying to figure out a way to use it in something for the class all year.  However, I'm a colored ink snob.  I like things in color.  I'll use it if I need to.  But it costs me an arm and a leg over the course of a year, so I avoid it when possible.  I was pretty sure printing 20 of these suckers was going to dry up the ink supply rather quickly.  

I went to BeFunky and I ended up with this, which I'm really digging, because my sleeves are different colors so they do their own color filtering.  It took me forever to settle on one good one since there were so many options available.  

I did add font at the bottom for the final picture.  Now they are printed and ready for me to slice up and put in sleeves.  Productive little Sunday!

What photo editing site, program, or app do you like to use?  Why?

            

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End of the Year Slideshow

It's that time of year!  No, not the end.  Not yet.  But we're getting warmer and the end is in sight.  It's Spring Break, which is when I usually start gathering my pictures and setting up my slideshow.  I only have about 2 more months of school, so I'm starting to choose my songs.

I had so many people check out my end of the year slideshow post from last year {check out last year's selections here}, so I thought I'd share once again, except in music video format.  Of course, the videos are only for your viewing pleasure since my school video exclusively features my students!

I aim to keep my songs fairly recent since that's what my fourth graders relate to the most, plus it adds to the year "memories".  I also try really hard to investigate appropriate lyrics, so these should all be appropriate for elementary students.

Here's what I'm leaning toward this year (in no particular order!):

Happy (Pharrell)

Everything is Awesome (Tegan and Sara; Lego Movie)

I Wanna Be Like Me (Sara Bareilles)

Best Day of My Life (American Authors)

Go Get It (Mary Mary)

I'm at a parochial school, so this song may not work for everyone!

And my runner up (if I have more pictures and need more songs):

Let it Go (Idina Mendez; Frozen)

Am I missing anything or do you have a song to add?  Let's hear it!

            

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