Jen's Notebook

I’m so sad to admit I haven’t blogged on my web sight in well over a year. Why??? The main two reasons are CCSS and New teacher evaluations! Yikes!!! Every teacher in America understands with only that said. So, I am now a year and a half into teaching CCSS in every subject and half way to finishing my first year in the new evaluation system. With that said, I am so tired! 🙂 I wonder how new teachers are going to make it through all of this. My district has no set curriculums so we are inventing everything and I am on the long comprehensive form of evaluation. If I had known this is what it would be like all those years ago would I still have become a teacher? If I am really honest with myself the answer would be yes. I love working with the students and their families, being around other educators who have so many great things to offer, and most importantly I have found that I truly love inventing curriculum! So, yes I would be a teacher again and again! Teachers are hardworking, caring, kind, and all together a great group of people! Thank your child’s teacher today for what they do! It will mean more to them then you can ever imagine!

Once August 1st comes I can hardly stand the overwhelming feeling that I need to get my classroom ready for all those beautiful new 5 year olds that will be walking through the doors soon! But our janitor has an overwhelming amount of work to get the building ready before they come back to school also. So how do we find a nice balance, I go on Saturday so I can stay out of his way! I don”t mind, I mean we both need to get our jobs done. Saturdays are always nice and quiet in the building. Only a few teachers venture into the school. I usually can get a lot finished. And if I get it all finished, I will have much more time to visit with my colleagues and hear all about their summer adventures when we come back to work! 🙂 Enjoy your Saturday! I will happily be cleaning out my classroom library and putting up bulletin boards!

Every year about this time I start shopping a little more than usual. Gratefully , I have noticed  throughout my years of teaching that each year brings better and better bargains for teachers as well as the students. So lately I have been out looking for these wonderful and great bargains for my classroom ( All of us teachers know, we have to find good bargains!).  And this year I have found lots of great items for my classroom ranging in price from $1.00 to $2.50 each. My favorite finds have been at Michael’s, Target, Walmart and The Dollar Store! Each of these stores have a teachers section with their back to school bargains. Name plates for a dollar, bulletin board borders for a dollar, totes, and lots of organizational tubs for 2.50! I am having a shopping hay day! Here are a few pictures of my great finds.

I hope each of you is out finding great bargains as well and enjoying our last few weeks of summer vacation!

I am always looking for new and exciting websites that have to do with teaching kindergarten. This is a fantastic site titled Kindergarten Kindergarten. The author has tons of free ideas that you can use in your classroom. She has included pictures as well as detailed step by step instructions on how she teaches each activity. I hope you will enjoy her ideas as much as I have. Here’s a link to get you started on the Kindergarten fun: http://crisscrossapplesauce.typepad.com/blog/

Have you ever noticed that everyone thinks teachers  love everything apples? I’ve received  tons of apple gifts from friends, family and students over the years. And I have loved them all! They have been thoughtful and kind gifts that I have proudly displayed in my classroom. But, I am not an apple kind of person. Before I became a teacher no one would of ever thought to give me something with an apple on it! It’s funny to me how we as people attach certain items to professions and the people that work at them. And apples are definitely for the teacher!

So, I had to laugh when my daughter bought me a black shoe tape dispenser and a black purse sticky note holder for my desk at school recently. They are so me! I love shoes! I love purses! I love to wear the color black!!! I can’t wait to put them on my desk! My colleagues will laugh and say that is so you! And I will be wondering how many of my teacher friends would much rather have the black high heel shoe on their desk than an apple? I bet  at least a few!

I started this website almost a year to this day because I wanted to give back to teachers. I love that teachers are so willing to share their ideas both at work and on the Internet. I have found so many fantastic ideas to use in my own classroom over the years. So I thought let’s share. Through this year process I have learned three valuable lessons. 1). It is really hard to blog! My hat is off to all the bloggers who post such great things! 2).  I am not very good at keeping up with my website but I have promised myself I will try harder this next year. and 3). The world wide net is made of SPAM! Yes, SPAM!!! As of today I have received 500 spam comments on my website!!!! Silly, I know, but it sure made me smile this morning!! Have a great weekend all! 🙂

This time of year is so hard to plan. The kids are ready for summer vacation and I am having a hard time holding their attention. We have 15 days left and they are counting them down. So I have my check list of things to finish the year and I am counting down with them. I found a great idea on Pinterest. I bought each of my students a pail and shovel (at Michaels with a 25% off your entire purchase coupon). All of their end of the year paper work such as report cards, pictures, testing grades, etc… goes into the pail and home with them for summer. This is the first year I am trying this out but I love the idea. Enjoy the last remaining days of your school year to the fullest.

Making a classroom gift for my students to take home on Mothers Day is sometimes hard. I want a gift to be hand made yet there are not a lot of ideas that I have found that a Kindergartner can make and take home to their mom. Of  course I am also looking for a cost effective gift as well. This year we made a flower card that I found the pattern for on the Michaels website and a foam magnet for the frig. I bought all the supplies at the Dollar Store. My teacher friends and I love the dollar store! The problem is I don’t feel these are very original, and I love original. So any ideas would be so welcome! I hope you have a wonderful Mothers Day and if you have a school aged child, they bring home a unique, fun gift for you this year. 🙂

My best friend thinks I have an addition. I know, your thinking it’s garage sales because of the title of this entry. But no!!! It’s buying things for my classroom and students. She says I spend way to much of my money on things for my students. There is no doubt that she is right. But, as all teachers, I want to give my kids a fun learning environment with as many of the extras as I can. And if you want your students to have the extras, your childes teacher has to buy them. With huge cutbacks in education, the expectation is that teachers will buy all the extras (and a lot of the essentials) themselves. Is this right? Of course not! But I am still constantly going to garage sales, the Dollar Store, Clearance Sales, etc. and buying things for my students to use in class. And I would bet if we took a poll of teachers in America, we would find that I am by no means the only teacher giving back. Teachers love what we do and we put ours hearts and our pocketbooks into our work. Happy Sunday!!!

I received the cutest gift today from one of my students. A bag full of Smarties with a note from her that said “Thank You for making me a Smartie!” It was adorable and even more adorable  was after she gave it to me and she added, “Teacher, there’s enough Smarties for you to share with all of us at snack time. I counted!” 🙂 She made my day!!!