Summer Bucket List

It's summer. Finally. That time of year where teachers get to do all the things they put on hold the rest of the year, because they were too busy with school stuff. Here's my "bucket list" for this summer:

1. Play with my daughter!

Isn't she adorable?! I have a ton of cool activities pinned on Pinterest just for her. Like this glitter bottle I made yesterday:

The original directions can be found here, although they didn't really work for me. My glitter is no longer settling to the bottom. Too much glue, maybe? I will continue playing around with it until I figure out the right amounts. This might be a good project to make for the classroom as well—especially for those kids that need a sensory break. Even though mine isn't working properly, my daughter doesn't seem to mind:

2. Crafty things. (Again with the pinning on Pinterest. It's like an addiction or something.) Here's my first creation:

Ahh. I love my husband! He deserves a medal for everything he's had to put up with this past year.

3. Relax and read some good books. First up on my list, Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.

4. Blog! I plan on working on this blog as well as my photography blog.

5. Okay, I'll admit it...I am also planning on doing some prepping for next year. I just can't help myself. I am so excited to be at my new school with my new team! :)

6. Did I mention relax already? Yeah, that one is waaaay overdue.

Not a very long list (or a really, really long list if you look at my Pinterest boards!), but a satisfying one.

What's on your summer bucket list?

A welcome and a freebie!

It seems strange to be starting up a teaching blog right as I'm ending the school year, but there's never a bad time to say "thank you." And that's basically what this blog is. A big, fat "thank you" to all the teacher bloggers and Pinterest fanatics out there. You see, I'm wrapping up my thirteenth year of teaching, and for too many reasons to go into, it's been a rough one. I had to reassess why I was a teacher in the first place: the kids, of course, and my passion for spreading the love of learning. To keep that passion alive, I started spending a lot of time on Pinterest. A lot of time. You know what I'm talking about. Admit it. You spend too much time there too, right? (Please say yes, so I can tell my husband I'm not the only one.)

Anyway, it turns out that there are a lot of teachers on Pinterest, and in the blogging world, who are really creative and awesome and, most importantly, share their creative, awesome stuff! They've saved me a ton of time and made my teaching even better. And while I was getting super excited about all of this and maybe driving my husband a little bit nuts, a thought popped into my brain…Hey, I've made a lot of my own stuff. I could share it and maybe save someone else some time too! Because, as we all know, time is a hot commodity among teachers. So here I am.

And here is my first gift to you:

Reading Strategies Bookmark

This freebie could be two separate bookmarks or one double-sided bookmark depending on what you want to use it for. One page is the IPICK acronym from The Daily Five, and the other page (shown above) is a list of "Handy" Reading Strategies to help kids decode difficult words. I give my students bookmarks throughout the year that focus on the different skills we are working on in reading. This bookmark is what I use at the beginning of the year, since we start out with lessons on choosing good fit books. Most of my students come into my room familiar with the strategies on the Handy Strategies side since our entire school does Daily Five and CAFE. If they didn't, I would probably choose to introduce the Handy Strategies bookmark after I had taught them the strategies. Let me know if you find this bookmark useful!