April Currently

Happy Thursday Bloggy Friends! Thank you so much for my sweet comments about my job! I feel very welcomed to the "First Grade Club" and am even more excited to start this adventure now!

I'm also so happy to be back to blogging! I'm on spring break this week (PTL!) and have had a great time getting back into blog land and catching up on my blog stalkin'! For the cherry on top of my "back into blogging" week, here is my April Currently!

Thank you to Farley over at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade for this totally fun Linky Party every month!

I also want to say a big thank you to Miss DeCarbo over at Second Grade Sugar and Spice for the new-job shout-out she gave me on her blog! If you haven't seen her blog, you should head that way! Right now, she has some fabulous Pinterest Picks of the Week!! 

Beautiful Mess

Hi there blogging friends! Student Teaching is going full force and I'm terribly sad that I feel like I haven't seen most of you in over a week! I have so much blog stalking to catch up on. I might get up early tomorrow morning just to do it. {Gasp!} I can't believe I've found something in my life that runs that close in a competition with sleep. :)

I'm blogging quickly on this Saturday night to let you know an idea that I'm loving during this season of all things student teaching...

Quick background: I am doing A. L.O.T. of planning right now. With all of the unit planning I am doing since coming back from Christmas, I feel like ideas are swimming everywhere in my mind! Not to mention swimming around on sticky notes everywhere, in multiple to do lists, and on phone reminders. They are all something like this: "Oh! that time idea I just saw on Pinterest would be great for my time unit in 5 weeks! or "Oh! that life cycle activity I just saw would be great for 2 days from now! I should add it! {grabs sticky note}"

...I started to get a little down about this earlier this week. I'm a super organized person and I couldn't seem to get my thoughts on planning organized and streamlined. Then it hit me that maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. Great ideas come from all over the place, all the time. My ultimate job is to put all of the great ideas together into something perfect for my kids. THEN! I was so comforted when I saw a statement on a pastor's blog that I read often that totally confirmed my thoughts! This is what he said:

The most beautiful ideas are often the product of an ugly, messy process.

Well, of course they are!! I'm a soon-to-be teacher, this is a reality that I must understand! I'm thinking about it this way: The best plans are going to come out of an ugly, messy process of putting everything together just right. 

Some of the most beautiful creations that our students make are carefully sprinkled with extras and glitter, and they are the creations that are the biggest MESS to make! 

Well, if my plans are going to sparkle and shine, I've got to be okay with getting some glitter on the floor in the process! :)

Up and Running and Some Snacking

Hooray for a blog makeover!! A big thank you to Alicia at Dream Like Magic Designs  for a new design that I love and is just what I wanted! (Hopefully y'all think its super cute too so you'll hop on over to Alicia's blog and shop around!)

Now that I feel my blog is officially cute, I'm excited to start posting on a regular basis. I am about a month away from starting full time student teaching and am starting to get nervous/excited/butterflies! I have been in the wonderful 2nd grade classroom that I will be student teaching in since August before school started --  so transitioning into full time teaching should be a smoother ride than if I had to start from scratch and get to know everybody! Hopefully once planning gets in gear for my time of full time student teaching I'll have many more fun ideas (inspired by my amazing cooperating teachers!) that I can begin to share with everyone! Until then...I'm going to share the one fun discovery I have made spending a few full time weeks in the classroom so far. -- This is totally not educational or instruction related, but it's after school snack related which is almost just as important! :) --

So, at the end of the day,  once every little smiling face gets sent in the right direction to head home, you're free from duty and you cross the threshold into your classroom and let out a big exhale... (at least that's what exhausted, trying to hang on, student teacher me does!) and the first thing on your mind (maybe after needing a bathroom break!) is, SNACK! Now if you're like my super self disciplined cooperating teacher, you bring your already prepped sliced apples. If you're like the rest of the teachers heading to meeting(s), you bring Oreos, Doritos, cookies, leftover Halloween candy, and anything else yummy found on the snack aisle. Well after a few days of this, I realized I better find a yummy afternoon snack option that would be a healthier/better way to meet this need and quick! So, in addition to everyone's beloved bag of popped popcorn I have stumbled upon two other great alternatives...

Yes, the Veggie Straws are Whole Food's brand, however they are cheaper than the Oreo's or Doritos!!

 
Pirate's Booty seems to be getting more popular, I am hearing lots of buzz about it among parents and friends so you should really give it a shot! The white cheddar tastes a lot like natural Cheetos's - just a whole lot better for you! (Best part is they also make it in chocolate for those of us with a sweet tooth!! Haven't tried it yet, but that will be the next!) Also, the bags are resealable, hello good snack to keep in the classroom! Now for the Veggie Straws, I wasn't sure at first and a friend recommended them, and they are actually pretty good! They taste a lot like potato chips and will definitely do the trick for an afternoon snack. These are at least my attempts at trying to eat semi-healthy during that afternoon dip. What do you snack on during this time??

Happy Snacking!! (And Happy Wednesday, two more days!!)