Keep it simple: EOY

*EOY is teacher lingo for end-of-year. BOY is beginning-of-year. MOY is middle...you get it.

Don't overcomplicate it. 

Teacher gifts: Last year, I went all out with cute little gifts of a glass iced coffee cup or whatever. They were a flat-out hassle to deliver and the one I kept for myself shattered and broke, so....

This year, Sutton had 3 teachers and Wells had one. Four Starbucks giftcards it was and a handwritten thank-you note for each. *As a teacher*, the cute stuff indeed looks cute but is rarely useful or worth hanging onto. I still remember the kids who gave me giftcards over the years because the practical efficiency of their parents stuck with me. Every single person, even if you hate Starbucks, will use a Starbucks giftcard. Sorry, but it's the truth. Although a kid did give me a nice notebook, and another gave me neat post-its and some great pens. That's always appreciated!

Birthdays: Wells got to take in a treat because he has a summer birthday. I could've panicked and tried to custom-order something because that's my tendency; then he told me he wanted cookies and then he told me he wanted donuts and then he told me he wanted cookies AND cupcakes and the kids would have to "make a hard decision" and I said no... then he didn't want to go to Walmart and told me to get donuts and that's what I got and it actually doesn't matter. It's what he wanted.

Student gifts: In the past, I've really hemmed and hawed over the perfect end of year activities or gifts for my class. This year, for field day, I ordered us some gear from Amazon. That was it. They don't want fancy stuff. Kids, honestly, want experiences. So sunglasses, eye stickers, headbands, and wristbands to go with our pink shirts it was!

Speaking of field day, it's A Thing here. I don't like organized fun so I put off the mile-long list of tasks required of me for my class to participate. I picked the color myself*, they picked our team name, and then I decorated the flag myself at home. 

*I wanted forest green. Then I was told it wouldn't be good with the black font because the writing on the shirts wouldn't be visible. I had about 2 hours in the middle of the school day to pick a new color. 

Summer activities: Speaking of overcomplicating...my pet peeve this time of year is the parents who put their kids in camps all summer long. In Missouri, summer school is a legit summer camp-style activity and it takes up all of June. Anyone can attend. But in other places, I've noticed parents are putting their kids into camps or spending $$$$ to send them off to camp and/or trying to figure out the logistics of having a place to send their kid every day lest they have nothing ("nothing") to do at home. Most of these are working parents, so I get that. But did anyone ever consider just hiring a babysitter? Having someone come to your house each day or dropping your kids off at a reputable sitter has to be 1/2 the cost of the camps. I babysat in the summer and one year I watched a toddler for $23 a day (which is what the mom paid for daycare the other two days of the week I didn't watch her) and, funnily enough, I babysat a toddler and an infant a few years later for $20 a day a few days a week, which was so below what I was worth and really speaks to what people are willing to pay for childcare if they can get away with it (but that's none of my business, I suppose :). (In either case, I had no business babysitting small children with my zero experience being around babies lol.)

All that to say, pay a teenager $60 a day to come to your house and care for your school-age kids for a few weeks out of the summer if it's about the childcare (you know, and not about organizing every second of your kids' lives and making sure they have More Fun Than Anyone Else.)

Do you have any other tricks to make the EOY and BOS (beginning of summer) uncomplicated? This is just my experience and realizations after many years of this. 

The decision to homeschool.

I'd say, round February-ish, I started becoming completely disillusioned with the public school system. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy teaching. It wasn't the students. It's not the school itself. It was the system. The system that dictated how much your kid was going to learn in a given school year: Knowledge being doled out on the terms of snow days, virtual learning ("learning") days, and sick days. I first realized this was a problem back in 2020 when my students were being quarantined when they weren't even sick and even when I went on maternity leave and, though the teacher who took my spot was hardworking, they couldn't find a certified teacher to finish out 4th grade for my students (going as far as asking me if I were going to take the "whole 6 weeks off" because they were out of options). 

Education was been gate-kept. Not intentionally or with malice, but it has. This year, our school had 17 school days off between January and February due to district sick days, snow days, and federal holidays. That's 17 days of 1st grade my kid won't get back. That's 17 days of 3rd grade my students won't get back. Imagine how much content could be covered in 17 days. 

Something happened in 2020 where we decided school was "extra", like organized learning wasn't one of the most important parts of childhood. And that trickledown effect has come with us into 2024-2025 and I honestly don't think it's going away. 

So anyway: All of these thoughts and experiences were being mulled over in my head, and then I started to think about curriculum. Curriculum is the element of school I'm probably the most passionate about. Especially in elementary, if you don't have a solid uniform curriculum available to all students, and taught by all teachers, you get a mish-mash of skills and standards being taught. Each curriculum is organized a little bit differently, so if you switch from one to the other, especially moving state to state, you might miss a skill or standard that's already been taught. For example, if you don't get "telling time" at the end of 1st grade, you may not see that again until the end of 2nd grade. That's an entire year of not being given explicit instruction by a teacher on how a clock works. That's a lot when you're 7 years old. This is how you end up with gaps and it's how I ended up with a class of 4th graders on a military base who had had wildly varying experiences in 3rd grade in 2020 (some never seeing a classroom that year...Hawaii...). And then the kids didn't even have a certified teacher to carry them through the last 10 weeks of the school year in 2022. 

So, thinking about Wells, specifically: When I considered that we'd be moving 2-3 more times before we "settle" somewhere and I thought about how many gaps there would be in his education because of that, I felt like homeschooling would be the right choice for next year. I wasn't planning on working next year, and this way he can get what he needs to be a successful 2nd grader and we'll see where we are when it comes time for 3rd grade the next year. He's one of the more advanced kids in his class and it would crush me to know he's missing bits and pieces if he gets, God forbid, a lazy/unskilled teacher or just has a major gap in whatever curriculum is being used. I've seen a lot lately online about how schools are failing our kids and, with the new school choice laws coming about in 2025-2026, I want to point out that you, the parent, are still 100% responsible for your child. You do not get to blame the school. You get to decide. You have to decide. You can't blame the doctor or the dentist if you don't like them; you find a new one. You need to find a new way for your child to learn, whether that's a new school or taking it into your own hands. You are their advocate. 

I made this decision around the end of February. Scott hopped on board really easily for some reason, even though he hasn't liked the idea of homeschooling in the past. I ordered everything we would need to do 2nd grade and it's ready to go. I did do a lot of research and talked to many homeschool moms I know, mostly military, to get a feel for their "why". My "why" seemed kind of selfish at first ("it will be inconvenient to find him a new school and I don't want him to have to deal with that transition") but the WHY popped up after I'd already made the decision...

I'm relieved I made this decision when I did. It's a whole separate long sordid tale, but we probably won't be scuttling off to our new location (Kansas, guys, so not super exciting) as soon as June rolls around. Scott doesn't start work until later in the summer so we will list this house, try to sell it, and then buy a new one in Kansas. Financially, it makes the most sense. So we won't have an address by the time school starts! Meaning, I don't even know how I'd register him. He'd have to start 2nd grade here most likely or miss a huge chunk of 2nd grade. All that transition, when you have two kids who aren't particularly excited about moving in the first place, would make it worse. This way, we have the freedom to basically do whatever we want (like travel) until we find a place to live in Kansas. 

It's a lot of change in not a lot of time but the relief in knowing I don't have to have it all figured out today is worth it. I've discovered that homeschool is just the way you do life and you make it fit your life, not make your life fit the local school schedule. With the military still dictating our every move, this is what makes the most sense right now. 

But anyway, I'm excited. I will have a lot more to say after we get going but I have a loose plan and I have a curriculum I'm excited about...We still have a lot of life to get through in May, so I'll probably start plotting out the fall sometime this summer. 

**Note** Wells has made tremendous progress in the last two years. He had a great two years of preschool, to start, and then he had wonderful teachers for kindergarten and 1st. He actually asked me why I'm taking him away from the school that has taught him so much (*crying emoji face goes here*). I gently explained that he wouldn't be at this school next year anyway since we're moving so it doesn't really matter. I would have no problem with him continuing onto 2nd and then me being his 3rd grade teacher but that's not the way army life works. (he also absolutely hates getting up for school at 6am so, win-win)

No summer school

 

I made the decision that we would not do summer school this year. If anything, this summer will be my experiment into homeschooling, doing some of the basics each day. We can go to library story times, Wells can play tball, we can go to the pool since Sutton is older this year and hopefully more agreeable. 

There is no reason why Wells needs to be in summer school. I need that entire two month break and I think he does too. 

The Sunday scaries hit me in a big way each week, and I can't imagine pushing through an extra month of that. Sure, it'd be an extra paycheck, but the regular daycare will not be available in the summer. I can't fathom dropping Sutton off *somewhere else* and leaving her there all day. I also don't want Wells going on field trips without me. Last year, I went on the field trips with him and I still had moments where I wished I'd stuck an airtag on him. You see,  I've taken kids on overnight field trips.  I've done field trips to any and all places you can imagine including amusement parks and water parks. I, for the life of me, do not understand how parents just...let their kids go on field trips? I never didn't do the best job I possibly could and we never had any issues. However...no one watches your kid like you do. I follow way too much true crime for me to believe he's always going to be safe. 

And I don't trust my 5 year old who can't swim at a pool without me. Unfortunately all the field trips are to the pool this summer. If I were teaching summer school, I wouldn't be able to go on the primary grade field trips with him. I'd have to go on my own trips, Sutton would be in a strange daycare, and Wells would off somewhere without me. 

Call me neurotic, but it is what it is. 

So the plusses of teaching summer school (one extra paycheck for the month of June and not having a stranger in my classroom) do not outweigh the minuses.

Plus, Scott's block leave is in the summer and, while I don't know that we're taking a big trip or anything, it's nice to have the option.

Wells does summer school

Kindergarten had an ocean theme at summer school. 

I actually laughed when I thought about Wells going to summer school. No way. He doesn't have to be in school for an extra month. He will only have a month and a half left of summer. Totally unnecessary. 

Then I thought about it...

He needed to get used to a new building. 

It'd be nice if he became familiar with the teachers. 

He might *gasp* learn something.*

Then Scott said What's the worst that could happen? He could make a friend. 

Then I thought about how all the kids around here already know each other. I don't want him to be the odd man out on day one of kindergarten. It'd be nice if he had some friendships in place. 

Then Scott said What else is he going to do? Watch tv all day?

That settled it. Wells was going to summer school. 

Every morning for the last 4ish weeks I dropped him off at 7:30am and picked him up at 3:30pm. He got used to a whole new group of kids, a new set of teachers, he ate breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria, and he got to know the lay of the land in our new school. He's spent more time there than me so far! 

When I think about it, it was completely intentional on my part, sending him to summer school; I'm trying to make life easier in the fall, not harder. If he's already comfortable there, I won't have to worry about him adjusting to kindergarten. 

This is not a big school but it has lots of big kids, so it's not like his preschool experience (for me, anyway). I walked in with him on the first day, but otherwise I just dropped him off in the car line and picked him up in the car line. There's no signing in, signing out. I don't get pictures posted on Facebook in a special group about what the kids did that day. Truthfully, I have no idea how parents just...drop their kids off at school, having no idea what's going on on the inside of the building. It's crazy to me. 

Scott told me to put him on the bus but that was a little too wild of an idea for me. The bus. Imagine. 

There have been a few pool trips where I talked to a lot of the teachers and got to know some of the kids. We even went to a birthday party last week. I can tell that these teachers love teaching.  (Um, it also doesn't hurt that I was in the building several weeks ago and talked to the summer school kindergarten teacher for a bit...I'm that mom already.) It's also a small enough school that every child is known by name, so I'm sure every teacher knows who this little extrovert is at this point. 

*I am actually a HUGE proponent of year-round schooling. No one in the world needs 3 months in a row off of school/work. You lose so much learning. Two-week breaks spaced throughout the year would be much more effective for everyone.

How I feel about quitting my teaching job (again)

If you're new, you can find the links to my previous teaching jobs on my about me page. The only time I ever intentionally quit a job to stay home was in 2018 when Wells was born. 

This year, since I was pregnant when school started in August, I knew I likely wouldn't be back for a second year. I stayed home for two full years with Wells. I couldn't fathom sending him to daycare; I was too anxious about his well-being. I read horror stories at one point about babies and daycare and, well, that was enough for me. 

This time, the logistics involved seemed like too much for me to handle. I know moms do it. I end up doing most of the day-to-day parenting because of Scott's work and travel schedule. And since we don't have family around to help, I would have to seek out strangers to assist me and I am not up for that. 

Logistically, this past school year, I would leave the house with Wells around 7am. I would drop him off at preschool before-care at 7:15-7:20. Then it would take me anywhere between 10 minutes and 45 minutes to get to work. I say this because my work was about 4 miles from his school. Since it was on the military base, the line to get through the gate was unpredictable. I can't tell you how many times I was late. Kids arrived at 8am. Usually I was getting there 5 minutes before them. It would, most days, take about 30 minutes to go those 4 miles. That is completely nonsensical. No one needs that kind of stress in their life. In order to go back this next school year, I would need to find a daycare for Sutton and add a second drop-off to that time schedule. You might say, you should've left the house earlier. True. It was really hard to get out the door with a 3 year old who fought me through the entire getting-ready-journey in the mornings though. I could not make it happen before 7am. Sorry. Plus, you weren't supposed to drop them off before 7:00 at preschool. So, theoretically, I could've left at 6:45am, but that only ever happened a few times when the stars aligned (literally, as it would still be pitch black outside at that time). 

So logistics are the biggest reason I'm not going back. I can't deal with that kind of schedule in the morning just to pay about $1400 a month total to have someone else take care of our baby and teach Wells. 

Secondly, my school wasn't enough to draw me back. Sorry. It just wasn't. Details aside, I didn't feel like I was getting what I wanted and needed there. If I had been going to go back this year (like if a baby hadn't been a factor), I would've tried to move to another building anyway. I could not go through all of that up there for another year. Add in all the extra teacher responsibilities too...I want to want to teach, so it's really unfortunate that I didn't want to try to make it work. 

Now, if we are here for another year, and Wells is getting ready for kindergarten and we decide to send him to the local school, maybe I'll try to work there. Maybe, at that point, we could have someone come to the house to watch Sutton, like we used to have for Wells. It just really depends. Basically, I refuse to pay for more than one child to be in childcare at a time. It's not worth it on a teacher's salary. I have a contact in the local district who really vouches for it, so maybe that would be an option in a year or so, for both me and for Wells. 

Until then, I'm good with being at home. Being a military spouse means you are truly the manager of all things in the household. I totally floundered mentally this past school year with Wells and working. I truly didn't have a lot of fun with my job either. I always have in the past, more or less, but teaching was not fun in 2021-2022. I went over that in this post and in this one, so I won't re-hash it here too. But while I wanted to want to go back, that's not where I'm at for 2022-2023. It was a pretty easy decision to choose to stay home for a bit. 

(Not) Back to School

School starts today at my old building.

If you're unfamiliar with my current circumstances, I'm taking a year or two (or five) off from full-time teaching because we're going to be moving more than once in these next few years due to the army, and I have a baby to take care of and childcare would cost most of a teacher's salary in this part of the country.

Last minute mad dash to get everything done.
The month of August is threat-level midnight for teachers. My piles and to-do lists were always unreal. I LOVED it, but it's incredibly stressful.

Surprise hundreds of dollars I "need" to spend.
There's always ten last-minute somethings you need to buy or pick-up or "try" for the new school year.

Teacher icebreakers and meeting new staff.
While I always thoroughly enjoyed that first day back, going through the motivational videos, the powerpoints, the introductions to the new staff (turnover in Colorado is unreal) was exhausting. All I ever wanted to do was keep checking the gradebook online to see how many more kids were being added to my list and get back to my classroom to continue on with my to-do lists.
Oh, and the icebreakers. There was always some lame way to get teachers to "know each other" and share about our "summers". My summers in Colorado, I've mentioned before, usually just included painting and mowing the field, so this was always my least favorite question to answer.

Trying to figure out new kids and parents.
It's so exciting to meet new kids. I really enjoy it. I always make it a point to shake their hand and talk to them, not just their parents, at meet-the-teacher night. However, you never know what you're getting into when you see 30 new faces looking at you on day one. Or when you see their names on the class list and desperately try to figure them out based on their school picture from the previous year. Exciting, yes. Somewhat terrifying about the awe of responsibility you're about to undertake? Also yes.
And parents. Well, you can tell who will be hard to deal with based on their reaction to unpacking the school supplies on meet-the-teacher night. You can also tell who will be absolutely delightful and it gives you faith in the work you're doing.

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In the end, I would go back in a heartbeat and I hope to after a few years. I taught for 10 solid years; 2 of them subbing, both day-to-day and long-term positions, and then 8 years in a row in my own classroom, in 3 different states.
But, by saying I would go back, I mean I would go back to teaching as soon as it worked for our family, in a different state, under different circumstances. I would not go back to my previous position, in my previous location. I'll miss a lot of the people that I worked with, but I won't miss teaching in Colorado because it made me dislike teaching so much of the time. I have no problem explaining and defending this position to anyone who would ask me about it: I have the experience in other places to back up my opinion that Colorado schools just aren't that great. In the end, I've realized that I am definitely in a bit of mourning for my current lack of a professional position, but I'm not in mourning for the position I gave up.

I won't list all the things I'll miss about teaching because the list is long, but a lot of what I'll miss are parts of school that I experienced in other places. Someday I'll get back to those, but this year off may be just the shift and reset that I need. Plus, going back late, after a maternity leave, even under the most ideal circumstances, would be a traumatic event for all involved I'm sure.

Scott put a pig next to him (a dog toy) because he's been putting away a shocking amount of milk lately. 

Education Issues (S&T 2/9)

This was supposed to be a random confessions post today but ideas started popping into my head earlier this week and I figured I'd go on record. The too-long; didn't read version is: Just because you don't like what the current President is doing, don't think education is really an issue in this battle. It's been a problem for awhile and this is the first anyone is actually talking about it. 

I find it interesting that no one minded who the Secretary of Education was until a unpopular President handpicked someone for the job. Don't get me wrong: she is completely unqualified; the villain in the general overview of what our country is doing/could be doing with public education.
I haven't looked into her that much because, not only is it disheartening, it doesn't really matter. I know this is equivalent to sticking one's head in the sand, but who the Secretary of Education is isn't actually the point. The point is that our nation's educational system has been in a downward spiral for awhile.

I'm on the front lines. It's terrifying out here. Every state uses different measures of success. Every district uses different curriculum (because selling curriculum to schools is a business, plain and simple). And every school requires different criteria from its students. Plus, the current culture affects our educational system more than the label "Secretary of Education" ever could.

Truthfully, I don't fear DeVos. I don't like her, but I'm not afraid of what she will do (which will likely be nothing because I don't think she or the President really care about education).

I fear what will happen if the above-linked culture continues to run our schools. Things are already bad when it comes to testing, accountability on the schools' parts, etc. NO ONE takes poverty into account when it comes to ranking schools or rating teachers. Poverty is the root of the problem in our schools and until we solve poverty, schools will be in trouble. Poverty affects test scores, it affects how kids learn, and it affects what kind of money schools receive from the state. Each state has a different system for giving money to schools, so all states are NOT created equal. When I get students from out of state (in any state I've worked in, really), I never know where they're going to be. Parents often see the differences in schools right away.

Obama's administration actually did a lot of harm to the public school system, as teachers see it. The bar is not set high, and we're in trouble as a country. It's easy to blame any future implementation on an unqualified Secretary of Education, but things are already bad.

A former professor of mine posted this:

(Which came from this Facebook page.)

And for me to speak my peace/piece...For the record: 

• I do not believe in charter schools. Many are for-profit. If a district opens a charter school, that school funnels money from the public schools and can use it for whatever they want. There is not an accountability system. Charter schools operate within the district, but don't have to follow the rules of the district when it comes to money and testing. Most public school districts already offer school choice: as in, you can pick any school in the district to attend.
• I am a proponent of private education if you can afford to pay for it. I don't believe it's any better or worse than public schools. 
• I am a product of public schools, have only ever taught in public schools, and I believe in the system. I do believe that, out of the four states I've taught in, Alaska has it the most together. District-specific, though, the one I worked for in Missouri impressed me the most. 

And, in the end, I'm glad I have the ability and confidence to homeschool any future children we may have. Because I totally would. That's how confident I am in general about the current educational landscape in America. DeVos has very little to do with that.

And if you're here for Stuff and Things....

Why I stopped checking my work email at home.

I actually put this practice into place and had been mulling it over for a few weeks, and then Gretchen Rubin did a podcast episode about it. So I knew this was justifiable and I probably need to tell everyone about it in order to hold myself accountable. 

These are the reasons why I stopped checking my work email at home AND I deleted the app for it from my phone:

1. I'm not on-call. This is the biggest reason. I work 7:45am-3:45pm. I am not obligated to anything other than that. I spend time most weekends grading papers or writing plans. Or in the morning before work, grading papers. Or at night, grading papers. All teachers do these things and I'm okay with that to an extent. It can't all get done at school; there's not enough time. But I am not going to be on-call for parent questions or updates about what's happening the next day from coworkers/admin during my off hours. There is nothing that can't wait until the next morning.
Sometimes I do allow myself to check my work email on Monday when I wake up and check my regular email, just because it's nice to know what I'm walking into.

2. It was giving me anxiety. So I would get these emails in the evening. And then I would fret. And I would worry. And I would commiserate and complain with coworkers via text. And it would literally overtake my evening (not that I was doing anything other than watching Jane the Virgin, but still). I don't need that kind of pressure. In this case, ignorance is bliss. I can't do anything about it at 7pm anyway.

3. Weekends are for things unrelated to work. They just are. It didn't bother me quite so much when Scott was deployed and I spent a lot of time doing schoolwork on the weekends and was okay with that. Last year, it wasn't an issue anyway. This year is...different. Something had to be done in order for me to maintain sanity. Therefore, I stopped checking work email at home around the end of October.

4. Most people don't reply on the weekend anyway. Not because they have a personal policy against it (hello there), but because they're just busy with other things. So, me doing business on the weekend wasn't actually getting me anywhere.

What about you? Are you willing to *work* on the weekends?

Pinterest Tricks That (Really) Do Work in the Classroom

These are things I have used and will continue to use. I found them on Pinterest (clearly), so the links will take you to the pins.

This list of Beginning of the Year Procedures, so you don't forget to go over something. Checklists are great for that first week.

This Non-Fiction Notes strategy. I don't have it made into an anchor chart, but I have it on a piece of paper I project and the students copy it down. I should make it into a form for this coming year...
I use it for articles, partner-reading, and videos. You can give any video a purpose by making them accountable for completing this task at the end. Sometimes BrainPop can just explain it better than I can, you know?

What Does My Grade Mean?  I've made this into a handout for parents and students and also have one to project on the board as I hand back tests. Kids always want As (uh, so do the parents) but sometimes they (students and parents) don't get that a B or C is fine, because learning is the goal. Anyway, we still do letter grades in 4th and 5th grade in my district but it's a jump from the standards-based grades that they are used to in the primary grades. This is a handy explanation.

I love this colorful bulletin board display. It's perfect for hanging work and anchor charts and easy to change things out often. I would HIGHLY recommend making one if you have the wall space. The picture of mine is in the graphic at the top of the post.

For Open House/Meet the Teacher Night, I used cardboard boxes with labels to have the kids sort their own supplies. It was amazing. Here's a picture of mine.

I used this substitute form when I taught 2nd grade. Currently, my district provides one for the sub so I don't make them fill out two.

I did this highlighter trick next to the turn-in box. It worked two years ago, and didn't work well with this last group I had. I'll probably try it again this coming year.

I did this math trick with 4th graders. It works well with inquisitive kids.

And Flocabulary has some very engaging songs/videos for older kids. I did not find this on Pinterest, but I pinned it.

Why I wouldn't use these Pinterest "tricks" in my classroom

First, the clip chart. I don't like clip charts and I don't use them. I could write an entire chapter on the "why" of this, but to keep it short: they didn't work for me. 

1. Every time a student does something good or not good, you tell them to clip up or clip down. That is dozens of times a day you are breaking instruction or pausing in your train of thought to tell a student to clip up or clip down. 

2. These students are getting up out of their seats, breaking their path of learning, to clip up or clip down. It's distracting for everyone. 

I took a class a few months ago and someone suggested a clip chart as a great method of student accountability and everyone ooed and awed and I thought Is this 2006? 

I feel like this paper plate version would fall apart by mid-September, especially if the students are the ones moving the clips. 

I really do have many thoughts on management systems because I've used some really bad ones and some really good ones. It's trial and error every year with each new group of kids. But I will be elaborating on this in the future. 

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I can't even with this. Maybe in a center-based learning primary school. Maybe in preschool. I can't even imagine what would happen if I set something like this up (if I were allowed to...I wouldn't be allowed to).

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I have a homework folder system too. It does not look like this. 

I would like to know who has the wall space for this kind of system. It looks like they probably have 30 folders up there. I could think of 30 other things to use that space for. Also, how are they attached? I feel like they would fall down. 

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Speaking of homework turn-in, I'm all about listing reminders next to the turn-in tray. However, if you put your reminder on the bottom of the tray, the only student who sees it will be the first one to turn in their work. The first one to turn in their work either doesn't need the reminders because they are incredibly on top of things, or they rushed through it and won't read the reminders anyway. It's like a law of physics. 

As for the clip part (what is it with teachers and clips?), I've never tried it. I initially think it may only work if you're doing one assignment turned in at a time, but maybe you could tweak it to work for you. You'd have to train the kids well, though, on how to use it. 

And we need to consider that the source of the above picture is Buzzfeed (worthless.com when it comes to teaching ideas) and the source of the idea is photobucket. I give that the side-eye. 

But I have seen this in classrooms before, so maybe it does work?

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Obviously, what I've been doing with my spare time is perusing Pinterest and picking out all of the stuff I would never do or use. Stay tuned for a list of Pinterest tricks I would definitely use! I've been writing Pinned It/Did It posts for years now anyway.

Here's to not packing up my stuff again

Every year, I feel like I rehash my resume in an attempt to explain the constant upheaval of the last few years. This is the first year in which I'm not moving, yet I feel the need to rehash again...just to make my point. 

This is the first year since the spring of 2012 in which I will not be packing up my classroom and moving to a new school. It's a really weird feeling to be getting things ready for next year without packing up dozens of cardboard boxes.

It's the real thing when the trimmer comes down.

My first classroom was 2010-2011. Then when another teacher moved, I lobbied for her room (a better room) and moved into it for 2011-2012. I stayed in the same place for 2012-2013. Then I packed up and moved to Missouri for 2013-2014. Then I packed up and moved to Colorado for 2014-2015. THEN, I got a position at a different school (my first voluntary school move ever) and packed up and moved across town for this past school year. I've only ever been in the same room for two years in a row. But I've taught for 6 years now. Those are startling statistics to me.

So, for next year, I will be in the same place, doing the same thing, with the exact same people. That is very strange to me and, I admit, seems a little boring. I feel like cleaning out files, and packing up boxes, and moving around furniture. I'm so used to that part of springtime. However, I will use this energy to get ready for next year. To be honest, I feel like it's time to PCS because we've been here for two years now.

I have NO idea where we're going next or how long from now that will be or what our long-term plan is. These days, having no plan has become my plan. While that's kinda nice (I get bored easily), it's such an odd way to live.

In fact, if Scott stays in the military, we may get to stay here for a few more years (if all goes according to a fictitious plan) or we could choose to go just about anywhere for what it is that he wants to do. We could even go back to a place we've already been...because it's terrifying to move somewhere new. I truly have no idea what's coming next. Which is part of why I focus on one week at a time right now...no control anyway, so I won't worry about that part of things.

As for this summer, I plan on REALLY focusing on getting some teaching material on this blog. Pinning-tips that make sense (i.e. not stuff from Buzzfeed), strategies, etc. I'm not one to make my own worksheets for teacherspayteachers.com or anything (I just steal everyone else's...), but I have a wealth of information to offer at this point, so I'll be putting that out there.

Cheers to the end of another school year!

Beach Day

I had this picture jump into my mind as my class was 17 stations into a TWENTY-TWO station outdoor rotation of games today.

It was Field Day today, which is nothing but a day of games and "fun" at the end of the school year. Just about every elementary school does one. And the picture that jumped into my mind was the beach day episode of The Office. Field Day is the Beach Day of my profession.

My job was just to write down scores. 40 yard dash, long jump, bean bag toss, base run, etc.

I also did a lot of yelling instructions.

Our last station was water dodgeball. The kids decided to seek their revenge on me.  Apparently I've forced them to do schoolwork all year. They were vicious about it and I was soaked and chased and I actually ran quite a distance and they followed. I've never seen this group of kids commit to a task in such a way.

Now I'm tired, sunburnt, and I still feel gross from dirty dodgeball water even after a shower.

TGIF.

Ohhh...this is why I do my job

I'm very glad I posted this a few weeks ago talking about why it's hard to work as a military wife and why I keep doing it, even when it's stressful and not military-friendly as an occupation.

But a few weekends ago, I realized why I do what I do.

A parent painted this for my classroom door.

I went to a school district event a few weeks ago and talked with coworkers from this year and last, and I saw some of my students from last year. I got to witness how much they'd grown and what they'd accomplished since last spring. They're a wonderful bunch of kids. A tie for the best class I ever had (the best being the group of 2011-2012 in Alaska).

For a few hours, I was part of my own little community.  And I might argue that I kind of have that
every day, but I think the feel of it gets lost when I'm constantly being accosted by 27+ students.

It can be very difficult to forge out an identity when you're a military wife. You pick up, you leave, you plant yourself in a new place, you get somewhat comfortable, and then you pick up and leave again.

And we can add in the fact that, for many military wives, meeting new people and doing new things is always on the bottom of the list of fun stuff to do. We miss the people we used to be stationed with...or the people from our hometowns. It's hard to start over, right?

However, I'm realizing that it's not like that when it's related to my job. I've embraced each school, each opportunity, and each group of kids. The best friends I have here ARE coworkers. I have military acquaintances, but I have friends who know me as Kristin, and not just as Scott's wife. Plus, military wives can get oddly competitive. Teachers aren't really like that. I can't control Scott's job. I can work hard at the complexities of my own though.

All in all, I keep at this because I enjoy having a community and network that's not reliant on the military. And obviously I would support and follow Scott anywhere and try to create a purpose for myself in that place. This isn't about that; it's about doing something to occupy and better myself while he's not here. A wise army wife once told me to not expect my husband to entertain me when he gets home from work/deployment. Something for me, created by me, is necessary.

And my favorite part of teaching is seeing the kids AFTER I have them just to see how they turned out.

Well, that's my favorite part after the buying of school supplies in August. It's hard to beat that.

I think "once a teacher, always a teacher" factors in here. It's all I ever wanted to do, so I'd have a tough time not at least trying to do this every day.

Saturday Phone Drop

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures this week. It's been an overwhelming one, to say the least.

Since I no longer have class on Tuesday nights, I decided to use that extra time to make my hair a slightly lighter shade of blonde with some highlights. Usually I do this on the weekends so that if I screw it up, I have time to get it fixed before work. This time, I did it at 6pm on a Tuesday and I had two important meetings on Wednesday. That was living on the edge. 

I love TJs soups. My coworker lives right next door to TJs. She walks there. Life is unfair, right?

So anyway, she picked me up some soup as a surprise. 

Outer order = inner calm. I believe in this SO much.

I'll be putting it into practice this weekend. I kind of feel like I'm slowly going insane because I have a little too much to do.

A student wrote Scott a letter. They had to pick a hero to write to and I told them they could write to a soldier and I would send it to a soldier (I figured Scott could hand them out to his company). 

This kid (identifying info obviously removed) loves the Broncos and kept asking if he could "add just a little Broncos' colors". I responded with NO every time. 

Ignore the lack of question marks. I didn't proofread these. Authenticity is better for something like this, right?

And fun fact: this kid hates the Steelers. We got these little bracelets for some assembly this week and they were black/white and black/yellow. I only had two black/yellow ones in my pack, so I made sure he had one, and I put one on too. I said, "Hey there Johnny, we have matching Steelers' bracelets!" and he was not pleased. Everyone else had a black/white one. Someone asked if they could trade and I said, "I don't care. But you can't trade with Johnny."  Johnny (obviously not his real name) was not happy. He told me it "burned" his wrist because it was Steelers' colors and he's a Broncos fan.*

That was seriously the best part of my week.

*Every day, I have to consciously make sure I don't wear blue and orange together OR write on the board in blue and orange marker because he and many of the others will point out that HAHAHA you're a Broncos fan now!

I can't stay home all day, I can't stay home all day, I can't...

At least twice a year, I get all introspective and start to wonder why I do what I do. Why do I work when so many military wives don't?* Granted, a lot of those military wives have kids they are taking care of all day long, but a lot are stay-at-home-wives. Why not me?

There's many reasons why I keep working...
#1 It's nice to be able to use my degree.
#2 My degree has been paid off for years now and I've required no extra certifications, so my salary is just my salary. I'm not working to pay off loans.
#3 It helps me stay sharp (this sounds dumb, but it's true)
#4 It doesn't make me depend on Scott's schedule. If he's gone for days at a time (or, you know, months), I have other things to focus on.
#5 I didn't have a job, I guarantee you I would stay home most days and studies have shown it's good for people to leave the house (right?).

The downsides are that my schedule doesn't always fit with Scott's and I can't really travel when he's not here. A lot of military wives go home, to wherever home is, during deployments. I've never done that.

That doesn't mean I haven't entertained the idea of taking on the role of army wife full-time. I actually miss a lot of gatherings and get-togethers because of my job. Most of those things are during the day. And when I'm forwarding FRG emails at 6am, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just not have to do that.

Drinking hot chocolate out of my mug from Germany. Sent by Scott during his travels last year.

Here's an example...an acquaintance posted on Facebook about how she got everything in order for her husband's change of command.  I'm not knocking the SAHM gig (eh, maybe I'm indifferent toward her though), but I, too, prepared for my husband's change of command ceremony. 

In case you're wondering why Scott didn't do this stuff himself, the change-of-command ceremony refreshments, etc is usually the responsibility of the family and Scott was busy with the actual taking command part. He was working 15-18 hour days.

My day(s) went like this:

I took a day off work so I wrote sub plans. 

Then I went to Costco by myself after work and bought hundreds of dollars worth of food and drink

(this was the week before Christmas...that should set the scene for Costco). 

Then I got up super early the next morning (ceremony was at 10am), drove super far in morning traffic to the Dunkin' Donuts and spent hundreds of dollars more on donuts and coffee. 

Then I set it up mostly all by myself, spent all day hanging around his office, talking to people, etc. 

That night, I had to go to an army Christmas party.

The next morning, I got up and went to school, cleaning up both a mess from the students and getting a terrible report from the substitute. Exhausting, mentally and physically.

I believe it was also Christmas party day at school, so there was so much to do that I think I've honestly blocked a lot of that week out.

Another example of being a working army wife: 

I dropped Scott off for deployment #2 at 1am on a Thursday night, back in December 2011. By 8am, I was in my classroom, putting math problems on the board and trying to stop crying before the students got there. 

Obviously I don't know how long we'll be in Colorado or where we'll go to next. When we talk about it, the possibilities seem endless. I could tell you the front-running locations/jobs, but it changes daily. It's extremely unsettling to not know, but it's also exciting. I came to a peace a long time ago, not knowing what's next. I'm okay with it. When I mentioned that I was already bored with Colorado (granted, I do tend to bring boredom upon myself...as the great Betty Draper would say), Scott asked why and I explained. I ended with We (I) haven't even been here for two years. You've conditioned me to constant upheaval. This just doesn't feel right. 

For which he apologized and that wasn't what I was looking for. I've changed SO much in the last 7 years. My whole outlook and viewpoint have adapted to whatever it is now. And sometimes I don't even know what my outlook is, which is kind of scary. I do start to fear that I won't be happy anywhere. I mean, is that what it's coming down to?  Would I like to live closer to family? Yes. Am I afraid to move back to the east coast after 6+ years of living west of the Mississippi? Yes.

Regardless, being a working military wife has its plusses and minuses. Plus: the time goes by A LOT more quickly. Minus: when Scott sends me a message asking what I'm doing at 8am, I'll send him a picture that looks like this:

Good, bad, or indifferent, it is what it is. I'm obviously not the only working army wife, but being in the minority is an interesting feeling.

*After 3 bases, this is the trend that I've noticed. I realize many military wives work. I just haven't come across very many. 

More Teacher (Non) Hacks

I found a two more Buzzfeed articles that insist they have hacks for teachers. 

Here's the first teacher non-hack post I did awhile back.

The first one is called "Cheap and Ingenious Ways to Have the Best Classroom Ever".

Let's get started.

#3 and #4.  I'm not buying chevron material and crafting benches out of crates. Kids are gross and they'll get them dirty. Also, if you teach 2nd grade or above, kids can't sit on the edge of a crate. It's cheap plastic with no support underneath.

#6. You can separate your community art supplies by color, type, and size all you want. They're going to get mixed up and messy because children. My students all have their own pencil boxes with their own stuff. I run a classroom based on capitalism. It's much easier to sort out the supplies they bring, make up for deficits myself (i.e. give them what they need), and keep everything separate. 

#7. Use tin cans for supply caddies. I bought caddies for $7 each at Wal-Mart. They're much nicer than a pile of tin cans. I did try this once and ended up not liking how they turned out. Buying cheap little pails or containers is the better route to go.

#9. Any school worth its salt will provide you with an easel if you teach the primary grades. I wouldn't even know how to go about building one, let alone make it look like I didn't try to build it.

#10. This will only work if they're your books on your personal shelf. Of course no one will remember to put them back in the correct location.

#12.  Have I ranted about these No Name signs yet? They are impractical because there's always more papers than clips and no one will look at it anyway. Side note: This sign hurts my eyes. Too many patterns.

#15. These crates will be knocked over by noon.

#16. Using a hook isn't that hard.  I solved the "stuff on the floor problem" by holding the students accountable for picking up their own things. They learn to do it if you ask them to enough times.

#21. I knew my friend had tried this so I sent her a text about it as soon as I read the article.

#23. I'm not going to build my own furniture. I'm just not. 

#26. I want to like this idea, but I want people to stop telling me to do things with fabric. 

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The next "article". Or rather, just a collection of photos, was written by this guy who believes children are our future. But he hasn't written anything else about education and he doesn't know how to construct an actual sentence.

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Have you seen anything out there lately that you know would just never work in a classroom? Pinterest is full of as many bad ideas as it is good ideas.

School Stuff and Things 2/25

My students had to write about "Pretend you are on a game show". They could barely come up with a game show. I had to explain the concept of what a game show actually was. (What do they do with their summers if they don't sit around and watch game shows like I did when I was 10?)
Then, one girl showed me her paper and she had decided to be on The Hunger Games.

Because it has games in the title, it must be a game show I suppose. 

But it gets better.

Another girl said Yes, that's it. I would like to be on The Hunger Games too. And she started ferociously writing her paper.

It took everything I had, all my willpower, to just give up and nod along.  I have a feeling they've never read The Hunger Games.

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Speaking of school, a student compared me to Miss Honey in Matilda.

There's no greater compliment. I also admit that this is one of the students who I had to help adjust to the rigors of 4th grade. The fact that the kid still likes me means a lot and tells me I did my job well.

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This is the PIT.  The Learning Pit.  I told my students we're going to be focusing on the pit for the rest of the year because if they're not down in the pit, they're not learning.  It's an amazing representation of how we ALL learn, actually.

You're going along, all happy, and you realize there's something new to learn and you fall in. You're confused, you struggle, you need help. You, with the help of your prior knowledge (that backpack) and your peers, make it out the other side.  It's a process.

One kid made the observation of Hey, the side you come out on is higher than the side you started on because you learned!

And I made sure I emphasized the part that we would all (me included) be throwing ourselves into the pit for the rest of the school year because if we're not in the pit, we're not learning. Trust me. You want to be in the pit.

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