Back to School Thoughts (& Freebies)

It's the last few days of June. I still have the entire month of July to enjoy my summer break. So what's on my mind...planning for next year of course!

When it comes to classroom décor and set up I am a fan of the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy. With that in mind I will be utilizing the same general colors and theme (or lack there of). I have black backgrounds on my boards with rainbow colored borders. This way it is easy to incorporate whatever color of baskets or other accessories I find. I actually left my bulletin boards covered. *Here's hoping it is still safe and sound when I head back into my room next month*

Teacher Tip: I cover my boards with fabric so I don't have to worry about fading. I bought a cheap set of sheets from Walmart!





Part of my décor includes little motivational signs spread throughout the room to keep students thinking positive. I have made these into a freebie and posted them in my TPT store!

Click either to check out the set in my store.

Another thing I've been thinking of is how to keep my students engaged and entertained those first few days as I am sorting supplies, correcting my roster  and greeting parents. With that in mind I created a set of activities I can use to keep students working independently while I get my life together. :)

Grab them in my store before your first day!

And in case you need a little more to prepare for the first day, I got you covered!

Keep learning, whether you're at school or home, with this fun word search from Education.com! Learn even more with these great educational reading games.

Answer key found here :)

3 Ways to Make the Most of Summer Break

Sweet Summer Break has arrived and I am oh so grateful. Even with some time away on maternity leave this was definitely a full year. Teaching is hard work man! So I was thinking about how to make sure I make the most of my time off. So often it feels like I wake up and it's late July and I've accomplished little to nothing. Hoping to be a little more productive this year I've come up with some simple steps I want to follow to get all I can out of these months of freedom.

Recharge

Before I can get anything done over the summer the first thing I have to do is recharge. This looks different for everyone depending on your favorite ways to relax. For me this includes reading for entertainment (not for PD!), rolling my yoga mat back out, binging some Netflix, drinking coffee while its still hot...the little things. Whatever you enjoy, take time to indulge. Our job isn't easy and requires us to give so much of ourselves to others. You have definitely earned a break.

Reflect

Once I've taken some time to relax and focus on me, I'm ready to switch gears a little and start thinking about the upcoming year. I know there are some amazing teachers who take this step at the end of the current school year, but I'm not that good yet lol. I usually take some notes about what worked and didn't work throughout the year so I take a look at those and consider changes I want to make for the next year. Sometimes this includes products I want to make or procedures in my room I'd like to revamp. I usually use these notes and ideas to create a to-do list and start getting busy preparing for the next year.

Reignite

Now that you've rested up and done some preparing for the next year there is still a crucial step remaining. Take some time to reignite your passion for your career! You want to be able to give your students the best teacher you can be. This could mean attending a conference or local PD, reading a book from your professional library, or even just meeting up with some teacher friends and sharing your thoughts for the upcoming year. You want to start the year refreshed and ready to take on new challenges.

So those are my steps to make sure I get back in August ready to hit the ground running. I'm sure I could come up with more but honestly the longer the list, the less likely I  am to do it :)

What do you think? What are your keys to maximizing your summer break? Feel free to share!

Life After Maternity Leave - Ways to ease the transition

Coming back to work after maternity leave can be scary! I had no idea what I would be walking back into. I spent a great deal of time preparing materials and my students for my leave but the reality of what happened once I stepped out of that door was beyond my control. So I've come up with a few tips to make the transition back into the classroom a little easier.

#1 - Plan ahead

I wasn't exactly sure where my students would be on our curriculum maps since I tried to avoid "work stuff" while on leave. So I took a look at where they SHOULD be and planned my week from there. I also kept in mind how important it is to be flexible. As I said in my Maternity Leave - The Real Deal post, it's helpful to come back midweek so that you aren't facing a whole week of uncertainty. And similar to the beginning of the year, I tried to over plan activities so there isn't too much down time.

#2 - Over Plan

Similar to the beginning of the year, I tried to over plan activities so there isn't too much down time. You want to keep students busy so that there is little time for students to get off task and misbehave. 

#3 - Start (back) strong

As you come into the year start off on the right foot and remind students of your rules and expectations. This can be done in a morning meeting or a little class pow wow. Take time to ensure they know how you will be running the classroom from here on out. 

#4 - Let it Go

The craziness that occurred while you were gone cannot be undone. I heard plenty of stories about how my students were totally different little people in my absence. I was disappointed in some of the behavior I heard about but I knew coming in yelling at students and getting on to them wouldn't get us started on the right foot. So as hard as it was I knew I had to let the past go and start out with a clean slate.

#5 - Print Pictures

Print pictures of your baby and put them everywhere. It may seem silly but it helps! I have about 5 pictures up at any given time (I change them out frequently!) plus he's the background on my laptop. Here's a few of my faves!

What tips would you add to the list? Please share and make a teacher-mom's transition even easier!

Maternity Leave - The Real Deal

As I come up on the last 2 weeks of my maternity leave I have some time to reflect on the whole process. I was blessed to be able to take basically 3 months off with my little guy because I had so much sick leave on reserve. And honestly even that doesn't feel like enough time. I wish I lived in one of those countries where you get like 6 months to start off with! But regardless I wanted to share some of my experience.

This blog post doesn't have details of my maternity binder yet because it's still at school so I haven't been able to get good pictures of it. But I will do a post on that asap.

Preparation:

-Find out who your school's contact is for planning leave & don't be afraid to bug them! 

I have no idea how many emails I sent to our "Leave of Absence Coordinator". At first I was reserved. Only asking the basic questions. But as I got further into planning I sent her every question I had. I realized it was better to be safe than sorry. The smallest mistake or wrong piece of info could have a major impact on your plans. For example, I thought the school day was 8 hours and it turns out it was 7.5. That little bit of a difference added up!

- Start looking into your options early on!
From my experience I was offered 6 weeks of leave initially. I knew that wasn't going to work for me so I started to calculate how much leave time I had and dividing that by the number of hours in a school day. Then I took out a school calendar and started counting the days out. I played around with the number of days I had but basically decided to use most of them, leaving about 3 on reserve. With FMLA you can take up to 12 weeks but there is no guarantee that those days will be paid unless you have time off you can put towards it.

**Tip: Consider coming back in the middle or end of the week to make the adjustment a little easier. My first day back is a Thursday**

- Plan for the unexpected

All my planning and calculations were great until I went into labor early! I actually found out I had pre-eclampsia and had to be induced (wasn't expecting that!). With my original math I planned to work until Nov 3rd and my due date was Nov 5th. I actually worked until Oct 25th and was in the hospital the next day. I say all that to say you may want to plan to take leave a week or so before your due date to give yourself a cushion. I just knew I'd make it to my due date but clearly Lukas had other plans. Plus due dates are an estimate! Another option would be to not utilize so much of your leave that way if you have to step out early you still have some time that can be put towards it.

- Prep your students and your classroom

Students: As the time for me to leave came closer I really didn't know how to address it with my students. Initially I was hesitant for some reason; I guess I knew some students would be sad, others would be preparing to let loose on the sub. I just didn't want to think about it. But the longer I waited the more possible it would be for me to leave without getting a chance to prepare them at all. So a few weeks before my due date we discussed what would happen when I left. I sent home a letter to parents explaining the dates of my leave and what would go on during my absence (a long term sub would be hired in). I took a few more opportunities at the end of the day or during morning meetings to talk about my expectations while I was gone and how I would return with plenty of time left in the year.

Classroom: I organized my classroom as much as possible. I put labels on drawers and cabinets. I took pictures of certain areas and put them in my maternity binder (more on that in another post). I also realized that no matter how I prep, I have no idea what I would come back to and I made peace with that.

During Maternity Leave:

- Try to ignore work

Key word - Try! I occasionally checked my email and I must admit I went up to the building to drop off graded work I never got to bring back (because grades were do soon!) but other than that I tried to mentally clock out. Time flies by before you know it! Cherish it and enjoy time with your little one.

- Productivity is not important

If you're like me you may overestimate what you'll accomplish while on maternity leave. I thought maybe I'd get a chance to blog a few times, make a couple TPT products, stay on top of household chores. Yeah that wasn't exactly how things went. The first few weeks I was focused solely on taking care of this tiny human and sleeping whenever possible. I did attempt to stay on top of chores because I swear a messy house gives me anxiety but I had to realize that I couldn't do it all.

- Take advantage of your lack of schedule

Midday trips to Target were like a vacation! Same goes for trips to the mall. There was much less of a crowd and it helped me get used to getting out the house with a lil cutie and a stroller. I also took the time to go to Stroller Strides, an exercise class for mommy's and their babies. It's run by an organization called Fit4Mom. You should definitely check to see if you have one in your area. Super fun.

(Clearly the classes wore him out!)

- Plan for your return when necessary

Don't wait until the last minute to think about your return. In my county you must submit a "Return to Work" form a month before you actually return. You also want  to consider arrangements for nursing if you are planning to do so. I got plenty of good information from other teachers on my Instagram when I asked for some advice. (Check it out @MartinTeachingCo). I also scheduled a meeting with my principal about a month before my return to arrange when I could pump, where, and any other arrangements. I plan to follow up with my pumping at work experience in a later post.

Thanks for reading! What tips would you include for expecting teachers mamas?

And just for fun here's another pic of my little guy 

Back in action! & a giveaway

So my blog is finally fixed & beautiful thanks to RissDesign!

I am so grateful for her help in making my blog all better!

My school year has been off to a great start. Third grade is pretty awesome so far. The level of independence that these students exhibit is such a welcome change. I loved my firsties but these third graders can take an activity and run with it! It's refreshing! I look forward to what else we can accomplish this year.

In other news, we are less than a month out from my due date. Little Lukas Martin should be here any day now. I cannot wait to meet this lil guy! And I'm definitely feeling super pregnant lately. My new school is huge and I walk so much each day that I come home to inflated feet. But that's all part of the pregnancy fun.

And at least for now we are on FALL BREAK! Thank goodness for that.

So hopefully now that my blog is all better I can get back on my schedule, although I know lil guy will definitely be in charge of our schedule here soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Now check out my giveaway  by clicking the link below

Want to win a $5 TPT giftcard? Click here!
This giveaway is now closed!

Work in progress

So my blog is a little broken!

It will be fixed ASAP :)

Ch ch changes!

Man, I've been absent from the blog world for a little bit. But things got really busy, really quickly! So just to recap...

- As you know from my last post, I'm pregnant. 5 months :)

- We moved houses (OMG, that is SO fun while pregnant -_-)

- I moved schools

- I moved grades, now teaching 3rd!

So that's a lot of moving and shaking that I wasn't necessarily expecting. But it is all good news. Our new place is nice and closer to my new school and hubby's job. Plus we have another bedroom which will be the office/ nursery. My new school is huge, like 9 teachers on the 3rd grade team huge, but everyone seems very welcoming! And it is a gorgeous newer building with a wide range of students served.

Now about moving grades...

I am excited and nervous at the same time. I have been in first since I started teaching 5 years ago and always said it was my ideal grade. I did love it but I was ready for a change. I am eager to see the difference with these slightly older and more independent students. However, all my experience, materials, even TPT products are geared towards 1st grade. So I'm trying to switch my mindset to cater to this new group of students.

With that said I will take any and all advice you are willing to share!

*I have already started following some upper elementary people on social media.

*I am reviewing standards and topics that will be covered.

*I am starting to purchase books that will appeal to my new audience.

*I am trying to visualize how I will set up my classroom which is difficult in a new space.

(Like I didn't even know if 3rd grades still came to the rug until a coworker and I discussed it.)

*And I'm due in November so somewhere in there I need to plan for maternity leave

Whew! I'm a little tired just thinking about it all but I know change can lead to growth and I'm so excited to grow as a teacher and round out my experiences in the classroom. Plus I'm thankful for this summer break allowing me to mentally get myself together, while enjoying all the naps I can squeeze in lol.

Once again please share any tips you have for switching grades, setting up a 3rd grade library/ room, helpful Teachers & Sellers on TPT, etc...

Thanks in advance! :)

P.S. I know, I know I'll need to switch my name...but to what I have no clue. Add that to the giant to-do list