Charter School+Me=LOVE

Ok, life has been a little crazy lately, I'm celebrating one month of employment today! I could not be happier! I'm not sure how much of it is me being more on top of things this year and how much of it is my kiddos this year, I seriously have the coolest group of kids ever! and I am officially maxing out at 20 - what a HUGE difference it makes from the 32 I had last year o___o

Stallworth is all about class size reduction, so when we had a huge influx in enrollment the first few days, we (my new teacher bestie, another first year like me) talked to our principal about our concerns and literally the next day they hired another first year grade teacher (another first year teacher too!) You have got to love the efficiency! and how receptive our principal was :)

Moral of the story....I LOVE LOVE LOVE charter schools! While we have to do more 'work' as far as curriculum <- what some veteran teachers have said to me..... hmmm... we don't have to move on until our students have MASTERED a concept! I don't feel like I am going to let any of my kids down and I love it.

Other awesomeness: every class has PE ever day, 30 minutes (the kids get their exercise and I get prep time woop woop!) We eat lunch with our students everyday (I love hearing their stories, and it's a great time to teach them those manners) We create our own assessments and have to turn in the data every Monday (sounds like a ton of work, but it really isn't and I am loving the accountability, it keeps me on track)

And now that I am settled, back to blogging! I hope to share what has been working for me so far this year and I definitely plan on giving thanks to those who I blog stalked in the begining <3

Thank you to Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations (I bought Mel D's coupons on Teachers Pay Teachers and it they have been such a huge hit with my kids! I will never buy another 'treat' ever again!) and Extra Special Teaching - who I have REAAALLYYY been stalking lately.

          

Hooooooray! Now to really start planning

I had an interview last Thursday at a small charter school about 30 min from home. The interview went so well! --a special thank you to Mrs. Wheeler at mrswheelerfirst.blogspot.com) whose 5 finger Retell came in handy for my demo lesson--



Well, I am happy to report that I got the job!!!! Oh HAPPY DAY! I happened to be at Sea World with my family at the time, people must have thought we (my hubby and I) were crazy jumping up and down after we got the news!

So now, I am happily in full blown planning mode - today's tid bit: The rules, the rules, the rules of the class...

I made these little posters for my class rules. I really fell in love with the whole brain teaching rules, there are just 5 of them and they cover everything in a simple and fun way - my students last year loved the song/chant and moves for each rule. Ps. I tweaked the rules a little to go with my sports theme next year - well, I just changed keep your dear teacher happy to keep your dear team mates happy and added MVP to all of my clipart - because I am going to make a HUGE deal out of being the Most Valuable Person.

Get your own copy of the rules HERE and check out the song HERE

Interviews, interviews, interviews!

Had the shortest little interview yesterday for a hiring pool, went great! and I got called back for the second round!!! Oh, and I should add that it is for the district that I not only student taught for... but basically grew up in! Super nervous, but super excited... 

My next interview is tomorrow, so of course I am getting myself all psyched out about it... oh jeez! thought I would take a little break and do some blog stalking.... on TBA of course... which lead to me adding my blog to their first grade links! yay! now to obsessively check my blog patiently wait for new followers!

Also, I thought, since I am in super apply-interview mode that I would post about my 'online' resume. I stole the idea from my sister's boyfriend, who has a fancy website of his own - like a myname.com situation! - but hey, it played a big role in landing his big fancy job.

So, since I of course love me some blogging - I created a blog resume - I made sure to pick the new dynamic display so that it would look the most like a website. After ALOT of trial and error as to what to add, how to add it etc... I think I am finally happy with the end result. The best part is that I can always add to it with out being so pressed for space (ie. paper resume). I even had the blogger url printed on my business cards.

Had a ton of these made for about $9 at VistaPrint.com

The best BEST part is that thanks to the wonderful world of Google analytics and Blogger magic, I can see how many views that page has... it is up to like 2,000 - craaaazy!

I also use Google Docs soooo much... especially to add things like letters of recommendation, professional development certificates, a printable resume... click HERE to see how it turned out.

I maaaaaaaaaade it!

Well, the school year is over... I made it through my first year! hoooooorraaaay! 

Not going to lie, I did get a little teary eyed after I turned in my keys last week.... sigh 

Hamilton Elementary, my very first classroom <3

and I hate this waiting game - waiting to hear if I will be asked back at the same school or from one of the other 10 that I applied to yesterday! 

Meanwhile, I do plan on keeping busy this summer, if there is anything this last year taught me it was that I am no where near as organized as I thought I was (or as I want to/need to be). Of course I have been stalking teacher blogs for tips on organizing my future classroom. So far, I am loving the color coding going on at a cupcake for the teacher and all the tips over at Clutter Free Classroom.

I have a ton of projects lined up already!