School's Out!

May 20th I said good-bye to 16 of my favorite second graders for the last time. Hugs and high fives went all around -- we all survived it! It was a great first year teaching, full of challenges and rewarding moments. One of which came 20 minutes after having put the kids on the bus. The father of the quietest, shyest girl in my room called the office to get in touch with me because the little girl was "so distraught that she'd never see [me] again." I talked to her for a couple minutes and reassured her that she'd see me again. Moments like that made all the challenges from this year worth it.

Cleaning out my classroom was bittersweet, but brought some great closure. How different it looked on my first day! I won't be returning to Tyndall Elementary next year and I know I'll miss it, but I'm confident there's something great still in store....
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After our inservice days, myself and nine other wonderful Tyndall ladies drove out to Rosemary Beach, FL (about an hour away) and rented a condo for a couple of days. We spent the next 48 hours unwinding and enjoying frozen margaritas the beach. I even brought along my favorite dessert -- a chocolate peanut butter cup torte! It was a great way to finish out the school year, with the ladies who all helped me in so many ways this year. But RoseMary, Susanne, and Psyche, we missed having you there too!

Gorgeous condo neighborhood!

We ate dinner out two nights. This was us at Crabby Steve's on the beach. It was so yummy, and really well priced for being right on the water!

Grits A Ya-Ya -- a meal I ordered at Great Southern Cafe.

Smoked gouda grits with spiced grilled shrimp, bacon, spinach, and portabella mushrooms topped with a haystack of sweet potato strands.

Not only are they adorable, these homes have some amazing views!

One night we watched a FAST wedding on the beach. From the bride's walk down the boardwalk to the family portraits and tearing down the chairs? Six minutes. No lie.

Thank you, ladies, for including me in all of the fun this year! It's been so great being a part of this supportive team!

Counting Down

My friend Lisa, whom you saw here, is always wowing me with her cute, creative crafts that she makes. From colorful tissue paper Easter centerpieces to the custom wedding and birth announcements she designs, I am always impressed.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I told Lisa that I only had 30 days left with my class before summer break. We excitedly started making plans about how we can spend afternoons together once my days were freed up -- shopping, gym trips, beach trips, lunch dates, you name it! I came home from work that Monday and was greeted with a cute creation of Lisa's on our front door.





I was so excited! Each flower had a number 1-30 with a Starburst candy taped to it. Needless to say, the countdown has continued next to our front door, and that little sugar pick-me-up has helped me get through the last four weeks. (How is it that teachers get more excited for summer than students?!)

And look, Lisa! We're now down to only 9 days left! Woo hoo!!!

My First Day of School

All ready for my big teaching debut!

I know what you must be thinking... the first day of school? This is October 13th?! Well, yes, yes it is. But if you ask any other first-year teacher, they would agree that you probably don't have time to blog about the first day of school until the first quarter is done. And the grading period ends tomorrow.

So with that said, I shall now fill you in on the biggest change I've had these past two and half months. I was hired as a second grade teacher five days before the first day of school last August. Needless to say, Shaun and I had a very hectic five days up at the school, setting up the classroom and running errands all over town to buy teaching supplies.

We clocked a couple 14-hour days, but we did take one evening to go out and celebrate my new job. We went to this cute restaurant in Panama City called the Granite Cafe and had a great dinner. Shaun has a coworker whose band actually played at the restaurant that night, so we listened to them for a while too. The picture below is of us at the restaurant.

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But now for the tour of my classroom!

This is the front door and my class library corner. The chart by the door is my Character Counts behavior system.

My computer stations and some of the students' desks. They're no longer in this shape though. All the kids are now in table groups of 4.

The view from the back of the room toward the board.

This is our class job chart. Each child's name is on an envelope that passes from mailbox to mailbox each day. I thought it was really cute and one of my favorite buys. :)

The writing center table is on the left in the back. You can see the reading rug in front of my desk too. It's now in the front center of the room, but same principle. :)

Our class Word Wall. Since I was fairly low on wall space (They put me in an older grade's room, so it's not as big as a 2nd grade classroom should be, but I made do.), I borrowed this idea from another teacher. The ribbons hang down and I velcro the sight words onto them alphabetically. It was very labor-intensive to make, but Shaun did a great job with it!

This is my little corner. I'm almost never back here, but it's there nonetheless. The roses were given to me at orientation from one of my students... how cute is that?

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Well there you have it, friends... my first classroom of my teaching career! Hopefully I'll post more pictures with a more updated setup, but this helps give you a general idea for now.