My Organzied Chaos

 Preschool in summer!

 Preschool in summer is pretty laid back! We plan fun themed days and crafts and we have water days. Kids come and go because of vacations and other activities. And I don't feel this constant need to be going going going with them like I do during the school year. This is my classroom setup for summer!

Word Wall

 

Discovery Center

 

                                                           You know I had to decorate!!

                                            Lovin' my bulletin board. I came up with this myself!

                                           Banner designed by Glorious Creations (that's me!) 

                                                          Fishers of men. Matthew 4:19

 Summer time is also a time of much prep work for the new school year!

Ok these bad boys I am super proud of! I saw something similar on Teachers Pay Teachers and i thought "I can do that too" and I did! So then I decided to do the numbers and the alphabet!! My co-workers have had great reactions so everyone will get a master copy of eavh bundle!

I'm really trying hard this school year to get super organized so I designed this lesson plan template to use to help me. I have already planned my day to day through October!

I don't know if you guys know this (non teachers) but prep work is A LIT of work. Cut construction paper in half, copy monthly dividers,staple to construction paper, hole punch, separate, repeat!

Same things with making workbooks. 24 ABC's 24 123's =lots of copies and lots of stapling and lots of binding! Phew!

Take home envelopes: I put all their go home stuff in these so they are not crumpled at the bottom of the backpack.

This week in preschool! 

Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you see?

Teaching concepts: Money 

Some of them just write random numbers and some of them did ok.

 Making a healthy snack: Flowers

Stamping and painting with the end of the celery stalk.

Gotta love Scholastic! I had these up in my cupboard and they went perfectly with the lesson plan on this day!

And that's what's happening on the preschool front!

Thankful Thursdays

I am thankful for VBS! My kids LOVE gong to VBS, so this summer they attended a couple of them and every day they come back singing praise songs and showing me their crafts and telling me what they had for snack and what they learned that day. Andrew gets bummed when summer is over because he has to wait a whole year for VBS again. Who can I talk to about having a Christmas break VBS and a spring break VBS? :)

I am thankful for awesome friendships new and old. Will and I have made some great new friends this year in a family we play basketball with. We all get along really well, and our boys even share a birthday and the girls always get along! It’s awesome to have a friend to text and hang out with who is on the same mommy page as you because the kids are the same gender and ages basically. And it’s great to see that my hubby has made a new friend that he gets along with really well.  And today I went to visit my friend Krystal and her beautiful new baby Olivia. It’s nice to just pick right up with someone you’ve been friends with for a while but haven’t seen or chatted with in a while.  It’s just a nice and simple friendship with someone I trust and can share with even if it is sporadically.

I am thankful for my well behaved (everywhere else but at home…and the grocery store apparently), kind hearted children. They are far from perfect, but I do receive compliments from their teachers and my co-workers about them and it really just makes my heart super happy. There was a little girl today at work who was on a little rampage…tried to shove a kid of a scooter, threw a ball at another child’s head because “she didn’t want to play with her”, she grabbed another little kid by the shirt collar and shook him something fierce, and scratched the neck of another child. The whole time I was super thankful that my kids never behave that way towards other kids (they save it for each other). And I know its super unkind but I was also thankful she wasn’t my child. BUT then I thought, well she’s someone’s child and they love her just as much as I love mine. So I am even thankful for other people’s difficult children because they teach me patience and give me opportunities to help reinforce kind behavior. 

What are you thankful for today?

I did! I started a blog!

 I read….A LOT! Books, magazines, articles, updated statuses, advertisements, fan fiction (yes I said it), children’s books and blogs. I haven’t been able to read for leisure lately because I’m a school girl now and have textbooks to read (blah) but I still read other blogs. preschool blogs, mom blogs, Christian blogs, crafting blogs, inspirational blogs…you know all kinds of stuff. I also read a lot of children’s books, its pretty much a requirement due to my job as a preschool teacher but I will be honest, I would read children’s books even if I wasn’t a preschool teacher…and I mean even if I didn’t have kids. I used to subscribe to tons of magazines…Family Fun, Parents, Parenting etc. and this was like when I was 19 years old…no joke. I wanted to read the articles and find fun crafts for the future. I even clipped articles and kept them in file folders for future use. So anyways, being an avid reader made me want to write as well. Like one day I want to write an autobiography (yes I am that egocentric that I think people would care to read about my life…I hang out with 2 to 5 year olds most of the day, some traits are bound to rub off apparently I got egocentrism back. ) But that’s not on my list of things to do soon…maybe when  I have lived a little longer (Lord willing). I used to write short stories when I was little, one of them I remember my Tia posting on her fridge, it was something like ElephantBird or maybe the one about the puddle monster of Redlands…eh one of those! Anyways so what I’m saying is…I like to write stuff. I used to keep a book of poetry that I wrote poems in from the age of 12 to about 19...I still have it, its super teenage angst, gotta love it. So I’m rambling…ok things to keep n mind while reading my blog:

1. I don’t care about the grammar. Don’t critique my writing, I'm not doing this because I think I'm an elegant and excellent writer. I’m not. I write how I talk, and think and most of the time its not elegant.
2. I start out on fire with stuff and sometimes the flames start to simmer, so I’m pretty sure I will be a manic poster for the first few weeks, then slowly start to be…whatever the opposite of manic is.
3. I will try to keep it lighthearted and fun. BUT sometimes there is serious stuff in the world and I may just post my feelings about it. Be respectful, because I would respect your opinion. If you cant be respectful…kick rocks son.
4. Leave comments and stuff, I like to read what I write but I like to read what you write too!

There might be more stuff to keep in mind but that’s the important stuff.

Oh and I read blogs that do like certain themed stuff on certain days, and I liked that idea, it will help keep my thoughts organized and keep me from zipping from one thought to the next. That’s actually how my brain functions just zipping between thoughts and tasks but for the sake of your sanity I will keep it organized. (well remember that simmer thing I mentioned earlier? Yeah I will try to keep organized as long as I can.) So here's my line-up

Mondays will be known as “Motivational Mondays”- Sometimes I will post about my thoughts on Sunday’s church service, or post motivational quotes, reflect on verses, or reflect on blog posts (I like A Holy Experience and Girlfriends in God0 or tell an inspiring story or something.

Tuesdays will be known as “My creative Clutter”- These days I will post my latest crafts and crap I made.

Wednesdays will be known as “Wordless Wednesdays” and I will share links to make you think( you know those inspiring videos, short articles, and stuff like that.

Thursdays will be known as “Thankful Thursdays”  and I will post 3 things I am thankful for in general or that week, you know whatever it happens to be.

Fridays will be known as “Freelance Fridays” and I will post about whatever my heart desires.

Saturdays will be known as “My organized chaos”  and I will post about my job as a preschool teacher. Pics of our adventures, crafts, and parties. And or funny crap they say and do.

Sundays will be known as “Family Matters” and I will post about my awesome little family and our adventures.

Now I wont post every single day (maybe at first because right now I have a lot to share with you guys0 but when I do post it will be in accordance with my themed days. And I promise to keep it real, im in no way trying to make my life seem something that its not…those who know me know that I’m not like that. But I do want to make people smile and laugh and encourage them and if one small post on this blog does that, well then YYYAAAYYYY!! I also feel like this will help me and keep me motivated and I know some of you are thinking…she’s crazy how can she add more to her plate, and the beauty of a blog is I can write or not. There’s no deadline, no requirement, no nothing. I will write and post when I have time and if I don’t, I wont. So yeah…  Ok that’s it! Thanks for coming along for the ride!