Takin’ A Break From Teachin’

HOWDY folks! It’s been a long, long, long time since I’ve written a post on my blog….who knows maybe no one even noticed I hadn’t posted in a while.

 Anyhow, total sadsville that I won’t be sharin’ any 2013/2014 classroom tour or a caaaute and fun craftivity and great parties in the classroom this school year with y’all.

I decided to take a break from teachin’ this year to take on a new opportunity in the “SALES” world (Telecom/Wireless Industry).

It’s been a rollercoaster thus far. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t miss TEACHIN’….because I DO… something terrible!

BUT I also LOVE my new position and I’m settling into my role as an Account Executive. I do travel a bit and do lots of entertaining.

I love meeting new people and making new friendships is a skill that comes easy to me.

Thank you Jesus!

I have to admit I was crazy emotional at the beginning of the school year! It was really difficult not being in my classroom and gettin’ things organized and ready for the up and coming dual firsties.

It’s also HARD to not have the inside scoop of who your child’s teacher will be.

Thank goodness my children started the school year in an exceptional school for our transition. They still wish for me to go back to teachin!

Well I don’t blame them….life is good when you’re a teacher’s kid. I miss that too!

I miss the goodies in the break room, the smiling children roaming the halls and it’s weird that
I miss that “SCHOOL SMELL”! HA!

 I miss my school babies shouting “Mrs. Hubble”! I miss the billion hugs I received daily from the students that I had the honor of being a part of their
education journey!

Not all is lost at Glitzy In 1^st Grade…I still plan to share activities I do with my own kiddos at home.

I can’t seem to shake out the TEACHER within me…sigh...my poor babies!

This isn’t goodbye…it’s more like a “To Be Continued”…I still don’t know how this chapter will end or what I want to be when I grow up.

 All I know is that I have followed the path the good Lord has set before me and I don’t question his WILL!

He knows what’s BEST for me….I trust that with all my HEART! I am THANKFUL for all my BLESSINGS!

I have a quick Homework Activity share:

Jaxzers is a 1^st grader this year. We do a Word HUNT (In honor of hunting season) game and I extend this activitiy with a Tree Map.

Word HUNT:
1.He looks for the 8 blue cards around the house
2. Collects them & reads them to me (if he can't read them, I hide them again)

3. He sorts them on a Tree Map by vowel sounds or word families (my table from my classroom)

4. Last he writes his words NEATLY!!!

He struggles with writing so we focus a lot on formation.

On Thursday he has to come up with his own words for each vowel sound and classify them in his tree map he started at the beginning of the week.

Each day he has a new set of 8 words to HUNT in order to be exposed to more than just his suggested word list…I throw in blends too!

So there you have it...

   BAM: I hit reading, phonics and writing in one activity. It takes all of 10 minutes to get this done.

He spends the longest time with writing because he doesn’t like to write neat.

BUT he’s figured out how to please this mama and he gets it done the first time around.

 Or no extra computer time, or hangin’ out watchin’ football with dad!

Here is a picture of my three youngest on their

First Day Of School...it's hard to believe I have one in college now...time flies!

Cherish every moment with your babies!

PROUD moments!

Love that she drives me around now...the GOOD life!

Wishin' y'all a FANTASTIC 2013-2014 school year!

Get your TEACH ON!!!

Showin’ Some Love

Howdy sweet folks. I finally made some time to get a quick post in. I admire those who can keep up with bloggin’. It's been an epic fail for me. I made a promise to my family we would spend way more quality time together...so any spare time I have is spent with them. It's still a win for me!

We finally moved into our new home... gettin' organized has been top priority! We couldn't be more thrilled to be in our home. Now the fun part starts...DECORATING! Now on to our school happenings!

We started this week with "How do we write a friendly letter". I had my firsties do a Brace Map (it shows "Whole to Part" relationship). 

We did a "Parts of A Letter" brace map activity. I love how they turned out! I used Ms. Stanford's freebie "Learing to Love Letters" because it worked perfect for this activity! My firsties are "Thinking Map Pros" now!

 

Last week we worked on contractions...I thought I would share our love contractions with y'all! 

For math we did a little Valentine box of chocolates word problems and graphing to stay in the theme of things!

I get really stressed out when it comes to class parties (havin' to top legendary parties from the past)! Over the years... I have become known to the school as the BEST party planner. HA! 

I have felt my parties have been a little cray, cray in the past so this year I wanted to have a little bit more control over what my firsties would be doing durin' party time. 

So I went on a hunt for new ideas. 

I have never done stations because I felt that was way to much work for an hour long party. Sooooo this year I tried it...I found this really fun packet on TPT by Sarah Cooley and I heart it so much! 

I have to say I really enjoyed havin' stations and I felt I had more control over what my sweethearts would be doing during the party! 

We had...

1. Creation Station: Love Bugs, "Looking for Love" Heart Glasses, and

Bling Rings (Pipe Cleaner Creations)

2. Win It In A Minute: Games from Sarah's packet

3. Love Letters: Word Scramble and Search Activities(Packet) 

4. Showin' Some Love & Stuck on Sweets Station:Taste Testing Graphing and passing out your Valentines(Packet)

5. Love Potion Floats

It worked out really great and they had TONS of FUN! 

Jaxzers came down to my class to show me his Olivia Party goodies...his teacher (Ms. Sarah Haynes) did a cute Olivia themed party for her 

kinder dual group!

I LOVE how our dual kinder team incorporates literacy/book characters into their parties for those sweet kiddos to make connections! 

How AWESOME is that! Check out her fun creations! 

I just love this character board! I adore the idea of some learning still going on BUT it's a celebration too!

I got to spend Valentine's Day with my BESTIE... we surprised our hubbies with a "Fly Fishin' Trip" for Valentine's Day!

My oldest is a senior this year it's hard to believe that she was once Jax's age...last week was her Operation Graduation Themed dinner! It hit me like a ton of bricks that she is graduating soon! I wish I had a magic wand to freeze time...I know selfish of me BUT it's hard to let go!

I love you Savannah... I am VERY PROUD of you and your decisions! 

 Our HOME sweet HOME!

So there you have it...  the happenins' over at Glitzy In 1st Grade!