Twas the night before school...

Tomorrow marks my 32nd "First Day of School".  I have not had a break in first days of school since the year before I started preschool.  I'm feeling a little old at the moment.  :)
What am I doing to celebrate my incoming first day of school?  I made up 34+ bags of crockpot meals to share with my school buddies.  Yeah, you read that right... it was an assembly line of ingredients... 5 different recipes... and it tickled me silly that I was able to show my friends how much I care about them.  Not trying to brag, but I really do have a great friends at my school and in town.  
What else have I been up to?  My puppy decided to wake up at 5:45 this morning and we were out the door on our morning walk by 6:45... I was then at the grocery store by 7:30 buying the rest of the ingredients for the crock pot assembly line, and then hurried to get 5 of us ready to leave for church by 9:15.  It was my morning to teach the 4 year olds... they are a precious group of kids.  One of the little boys prayed for snack this morning and was so adorable as he went on and on and on.  That alone made my morning.
I still need to finish up laundry, start the dishwasher, clean the house, finish up my school projects (none are due tomorrow), help the boys choose their clothes for tomorrow, and pack lunches with a little note tucked inside.  I should probably also try on my dresses to see which ones still fit from after the summer... want to make a great first day impression.  You know how it is.  I need to make sure the camera is charged for the official picture by the front door tomorrow morning for my own 1st and 3rd grader, and to bring with me to take pictures of my own students' first day of 4th grade.  I want to make sure that my Monday Made It post will be ready to go, though I will be so sad tomorrow morning as there will be no time to read anything until tomorrow night.  I should probably also log on to get my new families' email addresses out of the system and let them know some reminders about being now one of the "big kids" at school - different dismissals, different gate options, where to line up, etc... why didn't I think of that a little sooner than at 2:45 in the afternoon??? Oh yeah, I was busy laughing and singing along with my music in the kitchen as I was making up those meals.
I know today's post is not the usual information that I dole out - but I hope you forgive me for this moment in time.  It might be the stress talking - too much to do and I'm not motivated to do anything except type at the moment.
Hope you have had a wonderful weekend!        

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Newbie Bloggers Blog Hop - Introducing Me!

I am relatively new to this blog thing, so I wanted to link up with Janis from Grade Three is the Place For Me to introduce myself.  

Here is what people are sharing:  

    1.  what state you are in
    2.  your current teaching position

    3.  your teaching experience

    4.  when you started blogging

    5.  share a blogging tip / blogging resource

1.  I am a native Californian - but I don't go around saying "dude" and "cool" all the time.  I am not blond, I am not ditzy, I'm not liberal, and I don't own a convertible.  I do love the beach, but it's not often that I get to go visit.  The truth?  I'm brunette, own a mini van, am pretty shy and conservative, and I wish I could live by the ocean - but those houses are way out of our price range... instead it's a 4 hour drive to the beach town I love (which my middle son gets car sick every time we drive to it), and I live in a town that is almost constantly windy and makes my allergies go nuts. 

2.  I am currently teaching 4th grade.  I love 4th graders, really really love this age level.  They can be independent, can "get" a joke, and still love their teacher.  I love the curriculum of 4th grade in California.  I love the history behind our state.  4th grade was the age level that I had wanted to teach since my student teaching days, and I'm so glad that it worked out.  

3. This will be my 13th year of teaching.  The number 13 has always been a good number for me, so I'm expecting a terrific year.  I have taught in 3 different school districts teaching everything in some manner from Kindergarten to 8th grade, including being a Special Education teacher and a Science teacher for 2 of those years.  At one point I was given the honor of District Teacher of the Year.  I really love teaching.

4.  I started my family blog this past Spring Break.  From that the teaching aspects kind of took over and I started up I Love My Classroom.  I just turned on the "Follower" option a couple of weeks ago, and it has definitely become more interactive.  I love blogging!  

5.  I don't know what type of blogging tip I can share that you don't already know.  I guess what's working for me is seeing the different linky parties going on and joining in on the fun, adding my blog to Teaching Blog Addict directory (just added to the Teaching Blog Central), making sure that I have an image on each blog post so it can be pinned onto Pinterest, creating a Facebook page for my blog so I have a place to talk directly to people when I have those random pictures and wonderings (I love to socialize), and posting the links on both my own Facebook page and I Love My Classroom's page.

Thanks for visiting me!

 

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