My Top 10 Reasons I Became a Teacher

Hey all! Today I am linking up with my fellow Chalkie, Terry from Terry's Teaching Tidbts for her Tuesday Top 10! I love Top 10 lists! This week it's 

How fun is that? I always think back to why I became a teacher and why I am so happy I made the decision to become one. I didn't start off that way. I went to school to be a doctor-- like all Asian kids do. 

However, long story short and some large school loans to still pay off (and disgruntled parents), I changed my mind and I have been teaching young children for 12 years now! I love it for these top 10 reasons! 

10. Kids don't judge you. 

Kids are honest. Their learning and how they respond is so honest and I love that about them. You pretty much take them for face value. 

9. School Supplies! 

I have a fetish for school supplies--especially stickers! I have an entire drawer dedicated to them. I collect them and I admit, that I am a little stingy to give them away. I mean, I do put them on papers and such but I have a special collection, ahem... just for me. I love pencils, papers, washi tape, all the fun craft things! 

8. We get to play with cool apps and gadgets! 

I love using apps to help teach! I am a little geeky (but fun and cool, too) and love to use my iPad and activboard to teach with. We sing and dance our way to learn sometimes! Learning should be fun, engaging, and interactive. 

7. I love to create and be creative!

Creating meaningful lessons is what teaching is all about. I love to sit down and really look at my maps and see what scope and sequence I am needing to teach and find new and unique ways to deliver my instruction. My students will not always remember the "test" I gave them but they will remember the learning experiences that I give them to go through the process of learning and that is what is most important to me! I love when they get it and they so excitedly tell me that and I love that I can rejoice in that success of learning. Or if they are struggling, we can work together to find a way to make that struggle a success! 

6. Kids are blessings! 

No class is ever perfect. #truth

I believe that children are placed in your class for a reason; for you to love them and teach them. Some you will have to love extra hard. Some classes have their quirks. However, they are your babies!  I have been lucky to have a classful of great kids every year. I love their hugs, cards, apples, slip-ups when they call you mommy or GASP! Grandma! haha! I love their smiling faces (the best is when their front teeth are missing!) especially when they are smiling at you. 

5. Teacher Role Models

I can still remember my teachers' names from kindergarten to high school (most of them). My most favorite teachers are Mrs. Harkenrider who was my kindergarten teacher and Mrs. Hepsworth, my 2nd grade teacher. I loved them so much! Mrs. Harkenrider was so sweet and kind to me-- I went to school speaking no English but I just remember being comforted by her hugs and smiles. Mrs. Hepsworth was also so sweet and kind! When I became a teacher and started teaching at my current school, she was actually the media specialist at my school! Life really does become full circle sometimes and where we were once student and teacher, we are now colleagues. I told her how she inspired me to go into teaching and she always said she knew I would do great things! I love her!!! 

4. I work with the best team ever!

I know that working with a good team is important and not necessarily why I became a teacher, but they are one of the main reasons why I stay sane as a teacher!! These are my girls and I love them. We have been teaching together for many years and we get each other. They are my tribe as my sweet bloggy friend Tamara calls it. 

3. I go to school with my kids! 

As a mom, this was important to me. I wanted to be able to share in their day and their school experiences. I love that I get to go to school with them during their elementary years and see them at lunch or in the hallways. I know it won't be that way for middle or high school but for elementary school, I am enjoying having them with me. 

2. I love learning!! 

You never really stop learning. I learn something new everyday. In fact, I learned that a watermelon is both a fruit and vegetable!! Did you know that?? Anyhow, I try to encourage my students to always extend their learning and find out more about the things we learn about in class if they are still interested. I find myself constantly reading or watching some documentary on something. 

1. I wanted to have a career I loved!!!

Teaching is such a rewarding career. Obviously, I am not in the teaching career for money; if I was, then I am in the wrong profession. Teaching is a passion that I have always had and it is one that I go to bed at thinking that I am helping to shape the future. 

So that's all! I am sure we all have some similar reasons! I hope you'll link up with Terry or share them here with a comment! I love hearing stories on how teachers got their careers started! 

Meal Plan Monday

It's Monday and I'm on Summer Vacation! Hopefully you are, too! If not, hang in there! The light at the end is coming closer.. do you see it??

I love summer. Plain and simple. I really do need this time to recharge and enjoy actually being a mommy and wife. Don't get me wrong-- I ENJOY being a wife and mommy during the school year but I really enjoy it MORE in the summer when I am not stressed out over:

grading papers

lesson plans

students

parents

admin

professional development

staff development

progress monitoring

ect...

This week I am linking up with my sweet friend, Tammy from The Resourceful Apple and her Meal Plan Linky! What a great idea!!! One thing I have always enjoyed is meal planning and cooking! If you follow me, especially my Kitchen Recipes Board and the Teacher Foodies Board, you will see I love to cook! I really do. I know most people find it a chore and a bore but I find joy and peace cooking. I love finding new ingredients and trying new recipes. So here I am to share in a new recipe I found while pinning away! A wonderful, low-fattish (not a word but it's my word) and delicious chicken salad recipe! I have eaten it for 3 days now (for lunch).  It's that good, people! 

You can download the original recipe {HERE}. 

I tweaked mine a bit. I used pecans instead of walnuts. I also used already cooked rotisserie chicken because I didn't have enough time to cook the chicken myself so mine had a mixture of white and dark meat. Still came out just as tasty and it was a bit quicker! Just a little tip if you are in a bit of a hurry or want something quick! 

I hope that you will join in on this fun linky or her Facebook page to share in some great meal planning ideas! I know I shared a great recipe for a fabulous s'mores dip that was GONE! 

Happy Eating!! 

Read Across America Week!!

Hey everyone!!! It's Read Across America Week and I am linking up with my Chalkie sisters and kinda doing a hodgepodge of the past few days and linking up! I've been a bad blogger (always honest here) and have been falling asleep! That's what 37 has done to me! So lets get started! 

I actually kicked off off linky party with some of my favourite books that my boys and I like to read! You can read my post here. I wanted to add some other books like:

Any of the Skippyjon Jones books are just awesome!! In fact, my cat, Skippyjon Jones Hamlin is names after him!!

He is a gorgeous boy! But he is actually a bad boy!! He poops on the floor. Every.Time!!! Long story.... but I love him!!! 

Any of the Janell Cannon books are my faves, too! I love Verdi as well! Although, Stellaluna also gets me choked up when she and her mama find each other!! Love!!

If you've never read Owl Babies, it is just so darn cute and the pictures are stunning! 

I love to read this book during Halloween (plus, Halloween is my favourite holiday!) and it is great for sequencing and getting kids to be active participants in the story!

Again, I love this book because you can actually "sing" it to your kids instead of reading it. 

This week at our school, we are making a whole week of it. In fact, we got together with our media specialist and came up with some activities:

It has been pretty fun, so far! You have to know that my team and I always go all out for events like this. Today at our PD, everyone looked at us and was like, "Look at first grade!" LOL! Yes, we are that team! 

Here we are from yesterday, dressed as "Things"

And here are my "things!!"

So cute!!! <3

Then, today was "Wacky Wednesday"... we were all a hot mess!

I always say it... I cannot love these girls any more than I already do!!! 

We worked on wacky centers today, too! We made up silly stories using a quick little center I whipped up! They rolled dice to find the character, setting, and problem:

Click on paper to grab this writing!!! 

They had to come up with the solution to their own stories!!! They were hilarious!! I was too busy with some paperwork but some read me their stories and they were hilarious! One had a chameleon on an airplane and there was a dinosaur on the airplane terrorizing them. So their solution was that the chameleon blended in with their airplane surroundings and stuck it's tongue in the dinosaurs ear to stop it from roaring!! LOL! How fun is that!!! 

My class also worked on my Silly Cat Mirror Tricks center-- which they LOVED!!

Click pic to grab your copy!! 

You could hear their words of amazement!!! They loved it!! 

In activity, we dabbled in some art for the wacky activity to go along with our centers. Although it is not "wacky" I thought for them to go "outside" the box and be creative.  In their art special area, I know that they studied Picasso so we made Picasso faces. Here's mine! Don't judge! LOL!

And here are some of their's....

Love their creativity!! 

Tomorrow is Horton Hears a Who day and we will brainstorming ways to be kind to one another!! Always such an important thing to instill in others!! 

Please link up! Click on the graphic below to go to the Chalkboard and add your link! We'd love to see you!!

Hope you were able to grab some files and ideas!! Have a great week! 

It's CURRENTLY... January Edition!

I think I've done pretty good on my blogging! Maybe it's because I am home. Or maybe I am trying to hold onto my resolution! Anyhoo.. pretty proud of myself! Today I am linking up with Farley from Oh, Boy! 3rd Grade and her monthly linky party. I'm a tad late... I think I haven't linked up in a while and I am like 290 or 300 by the time I finish this post! So, let's go!

: 

Listening: Yes, to Snoopy! For like the billionth time! My boys love Snoopy and never fail to laugh at the same parts over and over again! I love the sound of their laughter; DON'T love the sound of bickering as to who gets to watch what next. I know some of you out there can relate!

Loving: Being relaxed!! Yes! I have to admit I am a workaholic. I am type A personality to a T and I never stop. I am even sitting here working on stuff before I started this post. I wish I could slow down time so I can relax some more and I wish I could slow down my boys growing up!! We had a great NYE together!! We went to a park downtown and had lunch al fresco! 

Thinking: Holy he%@!! I am 37 today!! Please don't tell me I look 37!! Today is my birthday!! I celebrated yesterday since my husband was home (he went to work today-- sadsville!!) and we had cake! That's all I needed!! 

Need: A Pedicure!! I've been wanting one bc I will be honest, I have horrible cracked, dry, heels! The kind that I know they cringe when they see. Hey! I say it like it is!! Brian and my dad say it's because I don't wear socks! Not so sure but I want pretty toes again!! It's a purely selfish need!! 

Memory: I am looking at my tree and thinking that I need to put it down. My motto is, We put it up together, we take it down together and reminisce about the ornaments we added and the moments we shared over the holidays! 

We go back Tuesday so I am excited to have a few more days!! I am working on posts that I hope you will always find more useful and come back to weekly. One of them I would like to try to do is "Math Mondays"! Where I share with you some centers and strategies for you to use and implement in your classrooms. Got any ideas that you'd like to see? I am thinking of a few.. Check out these cute $1 items I saw today at Target and Dollar Tree

Isn't this little mailbox the cutest??? Target has them. I bought 5 of them and have some fun ideas and centers to share with you!! Check back soon! 

Love these little boxes from Dollar Tree. 

I saw these gems at Dollar Tree, too! I have red ones as well. I love to buy little simple things for my class to use!!

Thanks so much for keeping up with me! I have a little freebie for you! I was working on a larger unit but got distracted... Click on the picture to download!

(this is just a sample page!)

Have a GREAT night!