Teacher Talk Tuesday

So today is Teacher Talk Tuesday over at I'm Blog Hopping! as part of Teacher Week 2011! 

Well today they say we should give some words of wisdom or advice to new teachers.......And I have a few tips to share but seeing as how I am only in year two I am looooooving clicking on everyone else's links to learn more myself!

So here are my tips:

1) HAVE FUN! In my mind this is the MOST important thing! If you are having fun your students will be having fun as well!

2) OVER PLAN! Keep printables, activities, etc in arms reach in case something comes up and you neeeed them!

3) Keep records....I had a super fun parent come back with questions, questions, questions, questions, questions and all I had to do was pull out my student binder. This binder holds my parent communication logs, test scores, examples of student work, conference forms, etc. It will save your booty! Remember my dear sweet teacher friends, CYB! Cover your booty!

4) Do not attempt to go have your butt kicked at the gym by your trainer and then expect to be able to move around with your primary kiddos two days later! Haha when this occurs have class stretch time, especially when you need to reach the top bottom on the SmartBoard and can barely lift up your arms!

5) Keep YOURSELF first! I had a tough time with this the first year and am really trying to remember it this year. I love love love teaching it is the most rewarding job in the entire world. But also the most demanding and it will keep you tired! If you are sick my sweet teacher friends, TAKE A DAY! I know getting a sub in can be tough and you have to PLAN for making sub plans but if you need the day you need to take it because if you don't you are going to end up out of school sick for  a week!

6) Ask for help when you need it! Do not be afraid to ask more veteran teachers for ideas, books, help with plans, etc. 

Those are my tidbits of advice for now. I am still working on number 5 myself but I have promised myself that I would do better at following my own advice. Hehe! I hope that you all are enjoying heading back to school! 

Meet the Teacher Monday! (Woops, it's Tuesday!)

Hey everyone! I decided to hop onto the Teacher Week train over at I'm Blog Hoppin! This is the blog that  Babbling Abby started and she created Teacher Week last year! I did not get into the whole teacher blog thing until the middle of the year last year so I totally missed out and it just makes me oh so sad! :( 

Well time to change that, and I am planning on doing a lot more blogging this year! So here goes....Hopefully Teacher Week will give me the strength I need to get through this year, because unfortunately I think it may be a little challenging!

So on to Meeting Me, the Teacher! :)

That is me at a friend's wedding that I just recently went to! It was such a great time and it was awesome getting to see friends from college that I had not seen in a while! :)

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Tell us a little something about you...

I am Miss C! I have one furry child, named Winston and he provides many entertaining stories that I tell my kiddos at school! I have an awesome family. My mom has been teaching for 14+ years and my dad works in the NBA! I have an older brother and a younger sister. My sister is 10 years younger than I am and is now the only child at home getting everything her little heart desires, haha! (Sorry that was my middle child syndrome coming out there!) 

How long have you been teaching?

This is my SECOND year teaching.  I was fortunate enough to do my student teaching in second grade and then get hired at the same school in the same AMAZING grade! I love my team, there are nine of us! Our school is huge! We have over 1,200 kiddos at this time and still growing. We are the largest elementary school in the area and it is definitely crowded but I love my team, my school, and most definitely my administration!

You might not know...

That mid year last year, I sat down and thought what in the world I would ever consider doing other than teaching....And guess what I came up with?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Although this job can be challenging in so many ways I would NEVER make a career move! I plan on starting my Masters in the Spring in Administration and Leadership so that when I do chose to no longer be in the classroom I could be a curriculum coach or an Asst Principal! 

And you might not know........that I love to paint signs for things! I painted two for my own polka dot themed room! And I have also painted two for two of my awesome teacher friends, and I am currently working on three more. And when I was bringing one into school this morning I had ANOTHER teacher ask me for one! YAAAY! 

 Sign for one of my best teacher friends! :)

 This sign goes under my SmartBoard where our big meeting carpet is!

This sign goes above my classroom library! Please forgive the terrible cell phone picture quality! 

What are you looking most forward to this school year?

Honestly....I miss my babies from last year! They rocked there were my first class ever and I will miss them for the rest of my life......BUT this year I am looking forward to having a little bit more knowledge of the curriculum which is definitely going to help me snaz up my lessons a little bit more! 

What do you need to improve?

I want to work on adding to my reading lessons to grab a whole of my students' attention. We use the SRA Imagine It! curriculum in every literacy aspect. And to be honest, it can be quite dull and boring for me so I know that it is hard for the students to focus on at times. If anyone else uses this curriculum and has ideas I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE PUFFY HEART BIG SMILEY FACE LOVE to hear them! I have been searching blogs all summer for ideas and have found some super awesome was. 

What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?

COLORFUL pens! I hate writing in boring blue, black, and red ink! I bought two packs of colorful pens yesterday! 

Is Dr. Pepper a teaching supply? I would like to think so! It is definitely a slight addiction. It gets me through every day but I am really trying to cut back! :-p

My SmartBoard! I love figuring out new ways to use it in each lesson and during our literacy workstations.

Picture books! I love finding a new picture book that I can incorporate into any of my lessons!

My hot glue gun! I hot glue just about EVERYTHING!

Now there is Meet the Teacher Monday! Now if I can only get to the Teacher Talk Tuesday post before I fall asleep right here on the keyboard! :)