Welcome to Wednesday

Welcome to Wednesday. I just wanted to give you a quick update on the giveaway... It was going to be open until Thursday at midnight, but I've decided to close it TONIGHT at midnight... I just got moved from the wait list on a class that I apparently registered for last month, so I will be in class all day Thursday and Friday (in addition to ANOTHER class that I just signed up for next week, having forgotten about the other one.... And I'm THISCLOSE to a lane change, so I want to go to the classes and get my credits... However, I am not looking forward to 5 straight days of classes!) anyhow, hurry and enter if you haven't already! I will post the winners on Friday and the next set of giveaways will start on Monday.... Let me just tell you, it's so big, I might have to split it into TWO posts! You will not want to miss it :) and, if I learn anything cool in my classes, I'll post about that too.... It's all about how to use your iPad in the classroom, so it might actually be useful :)

In the meantime, head on over to Christina Bainbridge's blog for a chance to win something awesome from learning resources! 

Giveaway Week 1 - Back-to-School

Welcome to week 1 of my back-to-school giveaways… this week we are going to focus on the actual back-to-school stuff!  If you’re like me, you are still enjoying your summer and don’t even want to begin thinking about open house, back-to-school night, or meet-the-teacher morning…. However, it is already July, which means we will be back in our classrooms again before we know it!! (Can someone please tell me where the entire month of JUNE went?!)  Ok, so at my school, we have an open-house the first morning of school, and parents rotate around the school to meet their students’ teachers for the first hour, while the PTA and Watch Dogs keep the kids busy outside.  This is a fun, but stressful morning! Parents have so many questions and they ALL want to talk to you about their little Johnny or Jane. 

Before you start to stress, take a deep breath and remember that it’s okay to just be “good enough” at your open house. Whether it’s in the morning, evening, before school starts, or after school starts, the lovely Christina Bainbridge has you covered.  Christina has an awesome open house packet that has everything you could ever imagine for an open house (and a few things you probably HAVEN'T thought of, like a snack table!! Brilliant.) The great thing about this packet is that all I have to do is print it, and it's ready to go. My #1 rule as a "good enough teacher" is to never reinvent the wheel.  If something great already exists, I would rather spend a few dollars on it than spend HOURS trying to come up with something on my own.  There's no shame in buying an amazing open house packet (and at $4.00, it's a steal for how great it is!!)  Oh, and did I mention that this packet is EDITABLE?! Oh yeah!!  I can type in my class information, print it, and BAM! everything is ready for open house.  Parents show up, I look awesome, and nobody knows my little secret (well, except all of you, because I just told you :) )

Here's a glimpse into this fabulous packet:

After going through this packet, I am *almost* excited for school to start again :) And, the best part about this packet is that it’s already made! Look how many HOURS I just saved myself!!  (More time to hang out at the pool and enjoy the hot summer days!)  See, being "good enough" is really GREAT!

Another fabulous back-to-school resource that I am super excited to use this year is
a set of back to school editable organizational files from teach4real.  This packet is filled with spreadsheets and other editable documents so  that you can add your own class information, print it, and you're set! The documents include student transportation info, a student information sheet, student directory, supply list, customizable welcome letter and more!  Take a look at what's included (I love the cute cover page!!):

 teach4real has offered to give THREE lucky winners this pack!!  Use the Rafflecopter below to enter!

Now, while we're already on the subject of open-house, let's discuss parent volunteers.  I already know what some of you are thinking... "parent volunteers?! How do you get parent volunteers??"  Believe me, I understand.  I have taught in many different settings over the years... I've had parents SO involved that all I had to do was show up at school and my party was all planned, organized, and supplied (which is SUPER AWESOME), and I've also been in schools where parents never step foot in the classroom and I'm on my own for every. single. party. OY! Needless to say, I've become great at simple party planning... remember, 7 year olds are easy to impress :) 

So, back to volunteers... Occasionally I have parents who are able to come into the classroom and help out, but it's not always a consistent, set schedule, and I'm sometimes caught off-guard and don't have anything ready for them. (sound familiar??) Luckily, the talented Adrianne over at "The Tutor House" has created a great binder-system to use in the classroom.  As soon as I saw her binder set, it was love at first sight! This binder has everything you need to get parents involved in your classroom: step-by-step directions to get your volunteer program up and running, volunteer sign up sheets, confidentiality agreements, reading guide (complete with a reading strategies poster and recording sheets!), word study list and games (including game boards and directions), common core math vocabulary (some of those fancy math words can be confusing!!), divisibility tips, and quick and easy math games using a deck of cards.  This binder will make my life so much easier when parents show up at the last minute and want to help.  Take a look, isn't it great?!

In addition to in-class volunteers, I've had many parents over the years who have offered to help at home, because they all work full-time, but I've never known how to organize and execute great at-home volunteering (therefore, I've never utilized parents as much as I could have, and end up bringing home WAAAAY too much stuff to finish on my own!)  This is where Becca Foxwell comes to the rescue!!  Becca has designed the most amazing parent-volunteer system called "Helping Hands", and let me just say... this is nothing short of brilliant!  I think I already everything I need to assemble my "helping hands" bags, and can't wait to get them put together.  I have not yet used this system, but am SO EXCITED to implement it in my classroom this fall.  She has written multiple blog posts about how she uses parent volunteers, so I know this system really and truly works.  Parents can sign up when they come to your open house or back-to-school event, or you can send a note home to parents who aren't able to attend those events. Look at how awesome this packet is:

Christina, Adrianne, and Becca have offered to give their packets away to 2 lucky readers... you can enter by using the rafflecopter below. The contest will run from Monday until Wednesday night at midnight.  If all goes as planned, I'll have the winners posted Friday night or Saturday :)

Good enough tip & a giveaway!

Happy Friday! I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July filled with parades, food, fireworks and fun! I know I sure did!! I've been thinking a lot about how "lazy" I've been this week... I'm 5 for 5 on days I've lounged around at the swimming pool this week... And 0 for 5 on days I've posted new items! ha!! I was beginning to feel a little guilty and forced myself to work at my computer for a few hours this morning before heading to the pool (don't worry, my TPT total is still zero, but my tan is AMAZING!!) I was then able to enjoy a few hours of sunshine before a torrential downpour arrived... Needless to say, I was glad I took a break and went swimming while I could. So my tip today is this: Take time to soak up the sun! Sheryl Crow said it best:

"It's not having what you want / It's wanting what you've got / I'm gonna soak up the sun / I'm gonna tell everyone  / To lighten up"

Summer is fleeting. Before we know it, we'll blink and be back in our classrooms. Sometimes the best thing we can do is to do absolutely nothing at all! We have our whole school year to get things done, but if you're like me here in Utah, you know that the summer sun won't last forever. There's plenty of time to work on things on cold snowy nights, so soak up the sun while you can!!

One last thing before I go, I wanted to let you in on a little secret... Come back on Monday for all the details :)

 

Good enough teacher part one: Pinterest stress!

I'm sure you might be wondering, "what exactly do you mean by 'good enough teacher'?" And for those of you who know me very well, you are probably laughing at the title just a little bit, because you know what a perfectionist I am. But I'm going to let you all in on a little secret.... I'm just as insecure and overwhelmed as the next teacher. What's my trick? Accepting that I'm not perfect and using every trick in the book to make it look like I am!! I promise that most of my blog posts won't be super long, but this one probably will be! Bear with me though, because I promise it will be worth your time!!
 

Recently, I read an article on today.com that talked about moms who were overwhelmed from "Pinterest stress".... Let me just tell you, I'm not even a mom yet, and I also feel that Pinterest stress that these moms were talking about!! I already know that my children's nursery will never be cute enough, their birthday parties never creative enough, and someday they will probably end up in therapy for their lack of exciting, Pinterest-worthy lives! So I'll just apologize to my sweet unborn children now! Sorry, kids!

Along the lines of the Pinterest-stressed mammas, I would like to add Pinterest-stressed teachers to the list. Do you ever just look at a classroom with such envy, then think to yourself that you must be the worst teacher on the planet because your classroom doesn't look as cute as the one on Pinterest?? (Here's me in the corner raising my hand! "Yes, yes!!")  or maybe you're like me... You have tons of great pins on your Pinterest boards, but have yet to ever make JUST ONE of the ridiculously cute items floating around out in pin-land! I am SOOOO guilty of that. But you know what, when the first day of school rolls around, my students don't seem to mind.... They haven't seen all the cute pins floating around, all the ideas I meant to get around to, but just couldn't find the time for  (because I was too busy being lazy at the swimming pool all summer), so I am not a failure in their eyes. They show up, hang up their backpack, find their desk, and are usually pretty darn excited to have a brand new box of crayons with their name written on it! (7 year olds are easy to please!!)

In my decade of teaching, my classroom has never had a "theme".... Yup, that's right. I didn't even KNOW about these cutesie themed classrooms until about 2 years ago.... Frankly, the first time I saw one, I laughed... "Clearly you have too much time on your hands" I thought to myself. (And yes, admittedly, a part of me wished I had more time or were more creative.... But I didn't let it discourage me.)  Now, please understand one thing.... I am in no way trying to belittle those teachers who have the amazing, Pinterest-worthy classrooms.... The great thing about the teacher-bloggy community is that I have made many friends along this journey... I have nothing but love, admiration, and respect for all the amazing teachers out there. I choose to put my time and energy into things beside classroom decor. Maybe someday my classroom will end up on Pinterest, but for now I'm pretty sure it would be classified as a mismatched Pinterest-fail! Ha!! (And maybe someday I will get around to posting pictures... But today I'm typing on my iPad before heading to the pool, so the pics will just have to wait.)

 Well, I've rambled enough for one day.... My point is, it's okay to not be perfect. My tag line says "granting permission to let go of perfection"... So take a deep breath, let out a sigh, and realize that it's okay to not have a Pinterest-worthy classroom. We are all at different places on our teaching journey, and are all doing the best we can. Don't get discouraged by other classrooms!

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share some tips and tricks that can help you in your journey to be "good enough" too! Make sure you're following me, because you won't want to miss out. There will be some great freebies and giveaways too! I will be spotlighting great teacher-created products that will save you time and help your classroom get off to a great start!

Follow me :)

Thanks for visiting as Part of Ashley's giveaway today! Please follow me on TPT while you're at it :)