I'm definitely in my zone...

Aaah...I've been so excited to be back in a school this past week and hear kids in the hall and smell the laminating machine and feel the warmth of stacks of paper as I grab them from the copy machine.  This week has been a whirlwind!  I arrived at my new school early on Tuesday morning and walked into my new classroom.

No student desks or tables!  It was pretty empty, except for this extremely random find:

Yes, those are 8tracks and yes, that is Barbra Streisand.  And no, I did not take them home to rock out.

So I spent Tuesday de-cluttering and forming a game plan for room arrangement and decoration.  Then I worked like crazy the rest of the week to pull something together.  It's  not exactly how I'd like it, but it will do for now and I'll just keep spiffing it up as I go along...

I have a SmartBoard, which I'm pretty pumped about!  And only 18 kids in my class!  I've NEVER taught fewer than 25 kids.  Ever.  The last year I taught, I had 32 kindergartners.  Yikes!  I mean, it's doable {I lived through it.  Barely.} but definitely not ideal.

The third grade team is departmentalized and they added me in to the mix about a month after school started.  So there's one teacher doing math, one teacher doing reading, and then I will be teaching spelling, supplementing with additional math curriculum {Do the Math} and teaching phonics to one group and focusing on vocabulary with another group.  A little bit of everything!  I'm used to ONLY teaching math, so I'm pretty excited to get to teach reading too!  I will be using Fountas and Pinnell with my phonics group and am looking for good resources to teach vocabulary and context clues to my other group.  Please share if you have something fabulous or know of something fabulous!

This weekend I finally got to create something that was NOT in Times New Roman font.  Aaahhh... I've missed my fun fonts and clip art.  I made a fun little book to go with our study of consonant blends this week.

{Sheesh.  I feel like my photography skills leave much to be desired.  My apologies!  Trying to be quick with a pic from the trusty iPhone.}

Anywho, y'all will still love me regardless of my photography skills, right?  Especially since I'm posting this little booklet as a freebie!  Grab your copy here.

On top of all of this new job excitement, it's also my birthday!  So now I'm off to find some icing cake to eat and presents to open.  Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.  I can't wait for tomorrow-next week will be my first full week teaching!  Hopefully the kids don't eat me alive. 

Back in the saddle...

Hello there again!  It's just been a little over a month since I've posted.  Which is a major improvement for me.

Anybody remember a little over a year ago when I left my teaching position to explore some other options?  Well guess what, my friends?  The grass isn't greener on the other side.  When you're a teacher, you're a teacher and that's all there is to it.  I've been missing teaching for a while and really got the itch to get back in the game a month or so ago.

Sooo....  Ms. Preppy is officially returning to the classroom as a third grade teacher!  And I couldn't be happier!  Tuesday will be my first day and I am PUMPED to be back in a school with a bunch of sweet kids and some awesome co-workers.  I have missed so many things about teaching and can't wait to soak it all back in.

I took a little trip down memory lane last night and read through all of the fun I used to have as a teacher...

I loved giving my students amazing advice.  Like, "Your nose is not an all you can eat buffet."

I forgot how often I used to say things and then wonder, "Seriously?!  Did those words just come out of my mouth?  I mean, did I REALLY just ask a five-year-old why she has a belly button ring in her mouth?!"

Once upon a time when I was a teacher, I made all kinds of catch-phrases happen, such as "WYDTIFOJB" {Would You Do That in Front of Justin Bieber?}

I have missed giving the "everyone passes gas" speech.  And trying not to crack up while giving it.  Because let's face it, sometimes it's just funny.

I used to feel like Bill Cosby in his "Brain Damage" sketch.  Daily.  I've lived the whole brain damage phenomenon in a very different way over the past year.  Like the brain damaged were the people I worked with.  They said "seen" instead of "saw" and "was" instead of "were."  Made this teacher's skin crawl.  

There's just nothing better than having adventures in primary and polka dots.  And I am oh so glad to be back in the land of elementary teacher funness.

Stay {I Missed You}

Oh, hi.

Is this thing on?  Is there anybody out there?

Crickets, I’m sure.  Oh well.  I’d talk to a brick wall, so here goes nothing.

My last blog post was in November.  That was very many moons ago.  I’m afraid I kind of suck at this blogging thing.  And for that, I express my deepest, most sincere apologies.

But here I am.   Not so secretly wishing that I was going back to school shopping and picking out a theme for my classroom and wondering about the 25 {psht, who am I kidding…32!} new friends that would be there to greet me on the first day of school.  Last year I was just SO! PUMPED! about my new job that I hardly noticed all of the back to school funness that I was missing.  But this year I’m noticing.  And it makes me a little sad.  I kind of want to put up a bulletin board in my living room.  But I don’t think my new landlords would go for that.  Oh yeah.  I moved.  To a deluxe apartment in the sky.  No, really.  I totally got lucky and scored a superfab downtown apartment overlooking the river.  If I liked to entertain, I could have some really awesome parties on my deck.  But I’m just too tired after the work week to have a party.  So that’s not currently happening.  Someday…

In other news, I have finished the requirements to sit for my BCaBA exam.  Woot, woot.  Anyone out there in blogland taken this?  Or maybe you’re preparing to take it?  We should form a support group.  I’m not a fan of tests.  Especially major exams that are somewhat life or death.  Well, I probably won’t really die if I fail it.  I’ll just be really disappointed.  And have to shell out more money to take it again.

Speaking of behavior analysis, I really can’t wait until the FBI contacts me to go work for the BAU.  Because that’s totally what I do: criminal profiling.  Not.  But that’s what most people think I do when I tell them I’m a behavior analyst.  Thank you, Criminal Minds.

What I really do is spend my days with a bunch of little people who have autism. It’s pretty fun.  They’re all unbelievably cute and lovable.  Until they try to bite you.  And then it’s more like Shark Week and you’re running for your life.  So far I've made it out with all of my limbs.  Whew.

I have a couple of new friends who have extensive vocabularies.  And by extensive vocabulary, I mean they can drop the F-bomb like a rapper.  It’s quite shocking to hear a five year old say, “What the f--- are you looking at?!”  But after a few weeks of “F---! F---! F---!” being screamed fifty million times in the span of 2 hours, I don’t even notice it anymore.  It’s just like hearing someone say, “Have a nice day!”

 My days are never dull, that’s for sure.  But sometimes {like during the SUMMER}, I wish they were dull…that way I could be at the pool with my teacher friends.   I was born a teacher.  Which means I was born to take a little break during the summer months and an even littler break in the fall and at Christmas and in the spring.  The only breaks I’m getting now are called the weekend.  And they’re not long enough.  BUT….

If I wasn't working all year round, I would have a list T-H-I-S long of stories to tell you people.  Stories about weaves on coffee tables and people swimming down the sidewalk and spider infestations and parents who think I’m also a bank and so many more.

So stay tuned.  Ms. Preppy is back and she has stories to tell!

{She also feels like she needs a new name.  She’s not having adventures in primary and polka dots anymore…  More like adventures in underage cussing.  But that doesn't have quite the same ring to it.}