DIARY OF A TEACHER ON BREAK

Hey teacher friends,

Raise your hand if you have not taken nearly enough time for yourself in the past (and by past I mean recent present). Are you raising your hand? I am. I've spent way too much time working this year, and while I'm proud of my accomplishments and the growth I see in my students because of it, I also know that focusing on work as much as I have is not healthy.

As I left school for winter break last week, I promised myself that I would not spend my entire break working. In fact, call me crazy, but I am not doing any school work this break. I am blogging and I am working on my TPT business a tad, but still definitely not full time. I am incredibly grateful to have a full 2 weeks off and intend to make the most of it. I asked teachers on Instagram this question to the right... and of course I didn't think to share the results on this blog in time.. but I do remember that most teachers selected "catch up on work" in this poll. 

I did not write this post to share every detail of my break with you. I wrote it to be honest about that fact that teachers NEED breaks. We need periods of time where we don't focus on work and we do enjoy our time off. I wrote it to hopefully inspire other teachers to do the same. If you're like me and struggle to keep a healthy work-life balance, I hope this post inspires you to get started. If you've been trying to be more intentional about taking time for you and for self-care, then please share in the comments how! I'm sure we'd all love to get more ideas on how we can better take care of ourselves :) Teachers are human too and we need rest.

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TEACHING IN DECEMBER: MAKING IT MAGICAL AND MEANINGFUL {plus some freebies}

Happy December, teacher friends!

I know that December can be a very busy time, not just at home, but also at school. But can I just state something... I love teaching in December. Yes, our students might be a tad chatty. Yes, we have deadlines to meet and prepping to get done for when we get back from break. So yes... this month can be stressful. Until I take a step back and think about those sweet little ones we are so blessed to teach every single day.

This time of the year is incredibly magical to them. We truly are fortunate to get to teach during this special time. We have an opportunity. We get to create an environment that incorporates the magic of  the holiday season and academic skills. And that's exactly what I strive to do during December. Here's how:

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ORGANIZING CENTERS TO MAXIMIZE STUDENT INDEPENDENCE

Hey Teacher Friends!

There are so many amazing ways to organize centers, but it's important to find a system that works for you. True Teacher Confession Time: When I first started centers in my classroom (as a first year teacher) I was so lost. The idea of my students rotating around the room, where to store centers, how students would get them ... I just couldn't wrap my head around it all! As a result, my centers definitely were not as efficient and effective as they could have been.
Looking back, I'm glad I had this experience, because it allowed me to develop a system that really works for me and my students. Today I'm going to share how my center system increases student independence in my classroom .... and I teach Kindergarten, by the way.
Just because they're my favorite... I'm going to show you my Math Centers in this post (but my Literacy Centers work exactly the same).

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