One Little Word

I have been thinking about this post for a while and went back and reread last year's OLW post.  Last year I chose the word balance.  When I went back and read that post, I realized that work has done everything in their power to make it so that balance is impossible to achieve.  I will keep that word but want to add the main focus this year to .......me.

My OLW is SELF.

In my effort to be everything to everyone, I have neglected me.  My health has suffered, my creativity is  fading and "I don't have the time" seems to be my mantra. I am afraid that if I wait too long then at some point it will be too late. 

Wish me luck. 

Happy New Year to all of my friends in Bloggy Land!

Enjoying break

I am enjoying spending my break with family and friends and I hope that you are all doing so too!

Happy holidays from my family....

....and my firsties!

See you in the New Year!

The best therapy

I am sure that I don't have to tell any of you that this has been a rough week.

Walking into school on Monday and watching MY first graders walk into the classroom with smiles on their faces was both uplifting and heartwrenching.  I spent most of my day just watching these firsties work and play in honor of those that could not.

My own 10 year-old daughter asked me on Sunday if I would put myself in front of my students to protect them from harm.  I had to answer "yes" and told her that her own teacher would do the same for her.

We had parents just walking in and hugging teachers.

A rough week indeed.

It was hard to feel my sadness in combination with the happiness and excitement that the children are feeling about Christmas but they need me to be Mrs. Faas.

The same Mrs. Faas that expects them to work on their writing.
The same Mrs. Faas that holds them accountable.
The same Mrs. Faas that has them re-do work if it is not their best.

I was not and will never be the same Mrs. Faas that I was before December 14th.
None of us will ever be the same.

I know that I will be a little more accepting of the "silliness" of 7 year-olds...
I know that I will take the time to listen if a firstie just want to "tell me something"
I know that I will be giving and happy to receive as many hugs as possible.

A rough week but...

I would not want to be working anywhere else...

Being with the children has been the best therapy.

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

prayers

Working in a school we are fairly sheltered from breaking news.  Oh how I wish that I had stayed sheltered.

I cannot stop thinking about the teachers, children and the families of the victims.  My heart breaks for all of them.

When my daughter asked for some extra snuggle time at tuck-in tonight, I gladly agreed. 

I will also hug my first graders a little tighter come Monday.

A mid-drowning funny!

I have not been able to post in quite a while because we had parent conferences (at night--for 2 nights) and report cards (brand new format--Thanks Common Core!) and I have been very anti-school-related activites at home BUT I had a great laugh today.

I had one little girl come up to me and tell me that she went to see Garth Fagan Dance over the weekend.  We talked about the beautiful dancers and the costumes.  There was another little girl listening off to the side and not to be left out she asked if I wanted to know what she did this weekend.  Sure! (of course that is what I said!)

"I watched my Grandpa peel a deer." 

Good times.

Monster Match-up Puzzle Freebie

Sometimes, professional development is a pain in the rear end.  BUT...sometimes, professional development is just what you need to stimulate that part of your brain that told you that you wanted to be a teacher in the first place!

After one of the better PD classes, I developed a series of "match-up" puzzles.  The ones that we saw were geared toward older grades but it was very easy to format some for our young learners! I made several copies of the puzzles in color and on cardstock.

I made a puzzle and worksheet for the following concepts:

uppercase / lowercase letters
color / color words
number / number words
synonyms
shape / shape names

These games are available in my TpT store!

Match-up Puzzles Literacy and Math

I have one of the puzzles here for you to download as a freebie.
I also have a worksheet that goes with this but I am having a horrible time getting it to upload with Scribd...may need to look at another option.  If you would like the worksheet, email me and I will send it to you!

Match-Up Puzzle Monsters

Let me know if you use this.  I have loved watching the children work on it!