New Year, New Me, New Goals!!

This is the year of ME!!! I only have three resolutions this year.

1: Spend more time focusing on ME!! This means finding time to work on ME!!! I want to be able to do things for myself, I have spent the last three almost 4 years focusing only on my son and letting my husband do whatever he wants with his hobby of roping. Not that I am complaining about either of those things however where do I fit into this with time for MOMMY!!! So I am going to be scheduling out my day  like crazy!!! I am going to make time to workout, read, knit, just sit and do NOTHING!!! Between having over 20 kids on my case load at work and being new to my district the first semester was CRAZZZYYYY to say the least!!! I am so thankful that we hired a 2nd inclusion teacher to help me out with my case load!!! She will be taking the 9 5th graders that I had and I will work with 1-4th and the other 13 students!!! Such a nice break!!! However I will still have the same amount of work if not more to train the new person and get her to where our principal is comfortable with me letting her take the reins of her students. (That probably sounds really mean or weird but our Principal is very nice she just likes how I have things going and is nervous about me stepping back from 5th grade). So with that being said it should free up a little bit of my time since I am down 9 kidos, I am hoping that I can find some time to workout either at school or be able to leave earlier to get home and workout! I have a lot to look forward to this year, first thing is in February, I am doing our annual Tower Climb where I will have to run up about 900 stairs, then in May I am doing the relay marathon Beach2Bay, then the next BIG thing I am doing is my major goal of running the Rock N' Roll 1/2 marathon!!! Those are the only ones that I know are 100% right now, I'm sure I will do some 5K's along the way and a few other things but those are my goals and what I am working towards! So I need to get started NOW!!!

2: Spend more time with my FAMILY!!! Like I said earlier my husband is a Team Roper and does go to ropings on the weekends. We have a nice horse trailer with living quarters, and I think the last time we used it was when we stayed at his dad's house on Easter last year!!! Our son is almost 4 and LOVES horses and loves watching his daddy rope, I want to start going to more ropings as a family, spending quality time with my husband and son! I feel like when J gets a little bit older we will be spending a lot more time at the ropings!!

3: Spend more time with FRIENDS!!!! I have decided that I don't have many friends because I don't make time for them. I get invited to do things but never go. That is going to change, I have started a monthly Girls Night/Day Out FB page for some of my friends, I figured we are ALL super busy with most of us being married and/or with families or some are planning their weddings and some are pregnant, we can make time one day/night a month to take a break out of our busy lives to spend it just with the GIRLS!!! This also goes into the category of resolution #1 of spending more time on ME! I need to make time for my friends!

These are the only 3 things that I am going to focus on this year! They are jammed packed with things that I want to do so that is why I only have 3!! Hope your 2014 is going great!!!

This crazy thing we call Sunday...

Holy COW!!!! I feel like I need a day in between Sunday and Monday!!!! The weekend always feels like it just FLIES by so quickly and I don't feel like I get anything accomplished until Sunday afternoon/early evening when Jackson is taking a nap... However today he decided that his nap was going to be TWO hours after I laid him down... up, down, cry, up, down, cry, I have to go potty, down, cry, I have to go poop, down, up, cry... pat me, lay with me... GGGEEEZZZEEERRRSSSSSS Child just go to sleep!!!! Anyway... once he actually did go to sleep I was able to get a lot of things completed!!! I went on a Pinterest/TPT spree!!! I have been struggling with what to do with my students when I pull them for small group, some are higher then others and not all will benefit from the lower level activities that I have planned, or sometimes they are not as high as I thought they were and have to modify on the fly... Which is fine (since I am the Sped teacher), but with that being said I really wanted to do more of a Daily 5 rotation in my small groups when they worked with me. Since I pull three days for Reading/Language arts and twice for Math I needed ideas for both subjects. So of course where do you turn when you need ideas? Pinterest of course!!!! SO I thought I'd share with you some of the wonderful things that I found and where to get them! Now since I have moved we don't have our color printer anymore and the school that I work at doesn't have a printer for me so I have to figure out when and where I am going to print all of these wonderful items!!!

I have been looking for task cards for a long time and I hit the MOTHER LOAD today!!! Teaching with a Mountain View seems to be the Task card Queen!!! The next large pack came from her as well!!! I am very excited about this pack, it has different skills and different levels that the students can be working on! I also LOVE the post about how she organizes them in her classroom, my next project probably over Thanksgiving break! I love how I can work with a few students at a time and send them to do some task cards and I know they are still applying the skills that they worked on with me!

Huge reading bundle these task cards cover all the skills you see in the picture. I am super excited to use these with my students. Since I work with 4 different grade levels this pack will allow me to use the cards with all the different grade levels and still be working on the same skill!!! Did I mention I am in LOVE with task cards!!!! I think they are my newest obsession!!!!!

And last but not least!!!! Interactive Sight words!! I am so excited for this with my students who are struggling with their basic sight words! I love that this pack has several different activities to do with each word and they are gluing and practicing in their notebooks!! I have two students that I work with in the morning for specialized instruction and one of them would greatly benefit from this simple vocabulary and repetitive activities!

Well I hope that your Sunday is going well and that you got everything you needed to get ready for Monday morning ready!!! I feel a little bit more prepared!! Now just to figure out how to print all of these things!!!! Luckily I have the lamination machine so that isn't the issue, it's just getting them printed on cardstock and in color!!!!

Wish me luck!!!

November Currently... My poor blog!!

Its that time again... and for me its been a LONG LONG time since I have been on my blog!!! Wow I feel so sad for those of you that follow my blog... Not that you have missed me all that much!!! However I am back for now!!! It has been a rough few months with a new school, new teaching position and then moving into our new apartment!!! Seriously are we CRAZY?!?!?! So here is my currently, link up with Farley and check out all the other loverly teachers out there and see what their Novembers look like! 

Listening: Magic School Bus!!! Yep that's right! Be jealous!!! Amazon had an amazing deal about a month ago for the entire 52 episodes for about $20!!! So I was pleased beyond compare when my 3 1/2 year old wanted to start watching them and loves them!!! Not only is he learning from them but to him they seem like funny cartoons that he likes to watch. I had originally bought them to use in class, but double duty!!!

Loving: We moved in about two months ago now and are finally getting settled into it and have made it our home. It was a rushed decision but it was what we needed to do for our little family! We are working hard to make the transition as easy and fun for our 3 year old.. He loves it that he has "two" houses! I am also a Thirty-One consultant and am loving the new opportunities that I am being presented with! At the end of last school year I wasn't sure when I resigned with a month left of school if I was going to get picked up by anyone during the summer... I had looked for almost two years before I was hired by my old district... Then things just didn't work out and they didn't feel right so I resigned... Well like I said I wasn't sure if I would find a job so I needed to make sure that I had SOME money coming in so I signed up to be a Thirty-One consultant and have been doing well... I am not as hard core since school started but I now use it for extra spending money... I love how the company is faith based and you can go at your own pace and make as little or as much money as you need! So one thing on my list is to mail out mini catalogs this weekend/early next week!

Thinking: Well this past week was not a good week for me... it was a rough week at school and I have a lot of things to prepare for other teachers... I am the only Special Education teacher on my campus and I currently service 20 students from 2nd - 5th grade... My schedule has changed 100 times and is something that I will be working on when I finish this!!! I keep getting new transfer students and newly qualified students and of course some of the teachers don't want to deal with my students so they are saying that they need more help differentiating for their students... That my students are taking up too much of their time that they can't focus on the students that they know have a chance of passing the STAAR! Really teachers!!!!! This just makes me angry, I understand that its a lot of work when you have other students but I'm doing more than the previous person did and I gave you all sorts of ideas and have told you that if you need help come to me and I will help you... but don't tell me that I'm not helping you enough when every time I ask if you need help or want me to pull your students for extra support when I have a free second and you tell me NO! Ok Rant Over!!!

Wanting: Yes I need a Printer!!!! Not only do I not have a Special Ed printer at school I also don't have any type of printer at home!!! No bueno!!!! So if you have any suggestions for a nice color printer that doesn't cost an arm and a leg or take up a lot of space I would appreciate the input!

Needing: I was doing really good at the end of last school year with working out... I went down an entire pant size!!! I put it all back on from the summer and the beginning of the school year!!! With my crazy new schedule and having to drive 45 minutes to my school and then back home... Its just been one thing after another and I need to stop making excuses for not working out!!! So NO MORE!!!! I will start working out and get back into a better shape and back to skinny!!!! That is my goal to end the year at least two sizes smaller than I am right now!!! Not impossible at all!!!

Yummy Pin: Caramel appletini cupcake

Recipe

Thanks for stopping by... My goal is to post at least once a week... Accountability partner where are you!?!?!?

I have a new job!!!

I wanted to let you all know that I have accepted a new teaching position for next year!!! I am very excited about this new opportunity... It is something completely different then what I have been doing for the past three years! I am the new inclusion teacher for my campus! I am in charge of servicing 17 students across all 6 grade levels!! YIKES!!! It will be me and my one aid going in and out of all the different classrooms all day!!! It doesn't sound like that much work when your thinking only 17 students and they aren't even in your classroom all day... that's easy!! However when you think about it I have to do paperwork and run 17 ARD's!!!! Now that's something only a Special Ed teacher would shudder at!!! Trust me I am already working on my schedules... I am hoping to get in contact with my principal in the next week and set up when I can get into my students files and class schedules for next year so that I can start the crazy planning for my students... I am also a little nervous because I am not sure what my exact role is going to be... what I will be in charge of... what my principal is expecting out of me in means of plans?!?! So many question!!!! I am also going to 12 different trainings that I get to start going to on the 17th of July!!! Yes 12 trainings!!!

Oh well I am really excited about this new opportunity and just wanted to share!!!

I am also looking for any suggestions that you all might have for what you do if you are an inclusion/resource teacher!!!

Thanks!!!!

Currently!!!

O.M.G... I can't believe that it's already JuNe!!!! That means sooo much in this house!!!! So I am linking up with Farley over at her blog for her monthly Currently!!! I have been MIA from my blog with the end of school and all that has been happening in my life at school!!! I am hoping this summer to be a better blogger, even though I won't have school to write about exactly... I'm sure I can find something to write about!!! I am also wanting to create a few products this summer!!!! Wish me luck!!

Listening: My son is sitting on the floor driving his trains around the blanket saying "I think I can..." over and over again! He is really intro Thomas the Train. I am very excited that I get to spend a lot more time with him now that its summer time!!!

Loving: This school year is OVER!!!!! To say the least it has been the longest, hardest year from HELL for me!!! Not only was my class very difficult, but my admin didn't like me from the first day I stepped foot on their campus! Not sure how I made her not like me before she even knew me but somehow I did it!!! So of course she made my year very difficult and almost made me want to not be a teacher anymore!!! Seriously! I was thinking what else could I do with a teaching degree because this is NOT for me!!! But then I realized that I was a good teacher and my kids loved me and I was doing what I loved and to hell with her!!! 

Thinking: I HATE the unknown!!! Since I resigned from my job I have been called for two interviews, I felt very confident for the first one and was planning on getting that job... well a week went by and NO news... NOTHING!!!! So I came home and I had a message from a different school in the same district for an interview!!! I called back on Friday and the Principal wasn't on campus... she was the one who called me the day before wondering if I was interested in an interview!!! 

Wanting: This one sort of goes with the above statement!! I want to know where I will be working next school year!!! I am also wanting to be finished with my Masters degree!!! My school is starting to make me angry!! They keep changing around advisors and classes!!! So instead of being finished THIS December I am looking more like NEXT AUGUST!!! Oh yeah I also have to finish packing up everything in my room on Monday!!! Geez I feel like I just did this... Oh wait I did!!!!

Needing: My classes start on the 10th and I need to go up to school and buy my books... Not sure exactly which books I am needed because they keep changing the stuff online! I also need to email one of the schools that works with children with Autism during the summer to "get a kid" to study and work with this summer for one of my projects!!! Super excited about that!!!

3 Vacay essentials: Electronics: phone, iPad, computer... I think that all counts as ONE item... RIGHT?!?!?!?! Well in my house they DO!! Haha, I need my phone for games, movies and whatnot.. my son needs my iPad for his games and movies, I also have my kindle books on my iPad so it is also my "books", and of course I need my computer for when all other electronics are dead. Then I need sunscreen otherwise I BURN!!!! My son also got my fair skin, we both tan easily however if we don't wear sunscreen we burn burn burn!!!! OUCH!!!! And last but not least... My Thirty-One bags!!! Since I started to sell these I am OBSESSED!!!!  I have always had a few Thirty-One bags but now I keep looking at the magazine thinking about how I can use EVERYTHING!!!! I am so excited about what this company has to offer for their Independent Consultants!!! 

A very hard post to post!

Well as I have been talking about I wanted to write a post about what has been going on with me this year. This is going to be a very long post and not very happy, I feel like I have a place to really express myself and that other bloggers are like my friends. I wish I could meet up with a few of you because I really look up to y'all!

Ok down to the nitty-gritty. I officially resigned from my district on Monday. I have grown up in this district and was so excited when I started to work for them three years ago. I worked at the same school as a special education teacher for two years, I thought when the opportunity came up at the end of last year to transfer to a school closer to my house I jumped at the chance to switch and move into 2nd grade. However from the day that I went over to the school to talk with the principal about me transferring, I was excited about it but I could tell that she was not excited about me moving over. In all seriousness this is what she told me before I left, "The only reason that I am agreeing to this transfer is because I want to give *** (the other teacher) the opportunity to be closer to home. However I have a lot of concerns and reservations about you coming here" SERIOUSLY!!!! WTH! So that was the first sour taste of this lady in my mouth! Then during the summer she contacted me about going to different workshops because she didn't trust my ability to teach the materials, granted at this time I was placed in a 3rd grade classroom and she was worried about the STAAR Test that year. I understand that she was worried about the scores since 3rd grade is the first time but in some of the emails that she CC'd me on she was very negative about my skills and was stressing that I needed all the help that I could get! GRR just typing this gets me upset all over again.

Fast forward to the school year starting, she is never pleasant towards me and gave me a hard time from the beginning, my team whom I though was all on my side was actually throwing me under the bus to her (not all of them but the one that counted) it was very hard to hear some of the things that were said about me. I was also getting a lot of grief from my parents, and the principal would never back me up I would automatically be in trouble for things that 7/8 year olds were telling their parents without even fact checking with me. So when I would ask the students about the incidents they were not accusing me of anything!! GRRR!!!

Moving on in my story, my observation comes around and she comes in and I thought that my lesson wasn't all that stellar but that I would get by and be proficient like I had been the past TWO YEARS!!!! OH NO!!! Apparently I am a horrible teacher who sucks a$$ at my job and who apparently doesn't have a clue about what I am doing! I get in trouble for every little thing that she didn't like however lets slide with other teachers, I had a few students separated from the group because of their behavior and I get in trouble for segregating them from the class, not once were they ever excluded from the lesson or from any group activities!!! So after she writes is all up and puts every negative comment possible in my PDAS, I go in for my conference and get put on a TINA (Teacher in Need of Assistance) for a month. While being put through the ringer and jumping through all sorts of hoops and having to do extra extra work, I still don't meet her "expectations" which by the way she doesn't expect from the other staff on campus!!! So after the month of my TINA she walks down to my room on a Friday at 3:30 right before I am leaving for the weekend, she sits me down with our AP (Whom I have know since I was 8) and she says, "This is hard for me to say, but I am recommending that your probationary contract not be renewed with the district." My response is WTH!!! My body was numb and I literally had not words!!! What kind of person tells someone that they are no longer going to be employed with the district on a Friday??!?!!!? So I had the whole weekend to think it over and wonder why would I give a damn about her or where I worked for the next month. However I couldn't just stop teaching my students, I also couldn't give up on them and just send them to 3rd grade like that. It wasn't their fault and it wasn't fair to the 3rd grade teachers. So I thought about it for the next few weeks and decided to formally put in my letter of resignation.

Monday I turned in my letter, on Tuesday I received an email saying that my Summative was ready to be signed. I opened the Summative and you would NOT believe what I saw!!! ALL PROFICIENT AND 5 EXCEEDS!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!! So I am not a good enough teacher to keep my job with the district (or at your school) yet I am good enough to move my evaluation up from bellow to proficient and exceeds!!! Again WTH!!!! So now I am back in the LARGE pool of other teachers waiting to get another job!! I hate this feeling of not knowing anything!!! The only good thing is that the daycare where my son goes has offered me a part time job this summer and then if I don't get a teaching job for next year I will be their Pre-K teacher. At least its a job, although I will be making nothing compared to what I was making as a teacher it will still help me!!

I don't know what else to put on here but this is about how crappy my year has been at this school that I was super excited about working at! The good news is that I realized that I really missed being a Special Education teacher and that I really want to get back into it so that is all I have been applying for, so if you live in the San Antonio area and know of any openings at schools around you let me know and I'll make sure that my application is in for that district!

Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts a prayers in this time of need for my family!

Currently!! Oh WoW its already MAY!!!

Wow I can't believe that it is already May!!! In my student's mind it's MY MONTH!!! Haha got to love the mind of a 2nd grader!!! I am also loving that there are only 21 days left for me!!
So on that note I am linking up with Farley for her monthly Currently!! I get excited about the beginning of each month to link up and find others blogs through this link!

Listening: Yes I know I know... But it is one of my guilty pleasures!! I find them entertaining and sometimes I feel so sorry for them because of what they are having to go through, it also makes me happy that I waited until I was a little bit older to have my son, and I am so happy that he is a relatively healthy boy!

Loving: YEP I took the day OFF!!!! My son does have an ENT appointment today to look at his ears again and to see if we need to remove his tonsils however the appointment isn't until 4. SO I am enjoying the quiet time at home... We slept in, ate a little breakfast at home, started a load of laundry, then I took him to his school, and decided to get my nails manicured and finally went and got a Venti Starbucks!!! 

Thinking: I can't believe that there are only 21 days left in the school year!!! I keep looking at my calendar and thinking wow there are only a few more pages to turn in my planner and we are DONE!!!! I am also thinking wow there are only 21 more days of me having a Teaching job!!! Let me just say that this has been the WORST year in the three years that I have been teaching... I will post about that tomorrow! But I am now needing to find another job!

Wanting: YES I was planning on finishing my Masters degree this December... However they decided that they weren't going to follow the schedule that they had planned out when I met with my advisor, so now I can't graduate until MAYBE next Summer!!! GRRRRR!! Oh well! At least I am almost finished, and I'm choosing to look at is as I get to slow down... I had a day where I was on my way home and I hit every single light Yellow... I am all about signs and I took it as a sign to SLOW DOWN... A lot has happened really quickly in my life here lately and I have been super stressed, so I took those yellow lights as a true signal to slow down and take things one day at a time and that things will happen when they are suppose to!

Needing: YEP I am an elementary teacher but I HATE grading!!!! I put it off until the last minute, however I am trying to get better about it! So I'm sure that I will get around to them this weekend. 

Summer Bucket List: 1: Read for enjoyment: I haven't read a book in I don't know how long... All of the books I have been reading have been for school and I haven't had a chance to read for pleasure, so this summer I am hoping to enjoy a little me time and read a few books! 2: SEA WORLD: I am looking forward to taking my son to Sea World a lot this summer! We get free passes as teachers and we used it a lot last year and this year he is older and LOVES the shows and to swim!! Just great family time spent doing fun activities! 3: Find a new JOB: Yes that is pretty much self explanitory. I think I have applied for every district even close to where I live. My husband even told me to branch out a little further than I was willing to go because we could just move to where I found a job, that he could pick up horses wherever we were at! I love that man!!! So if you are reading this please pray for me that I can find a new job!! I am switching back to Special ED so I am hoping that will help me out!

OK well there is my Currently! If you want to link up follow the link above over to Farley's blog and remember the rule of 3! The rule of 3 is that you look at the two blogs before yours and check back and look at the blog behind yours!!! 

Happy Blogging and Thanks for stopping by!!!!