Rachel's Challenge

Tomorrow I leave for Plano, TX with fellow teachers throughout the district, for a conference.  I'm super nervous, but I know it will be fun in the end!  I do this every time.  A bit of social anxiety and then it turns out to be just fine.  What I'm most nervous about is that after the conference, we are supposed to present what we learned to the rest of the district.  What?!  I'm hoping others in the group with be amped about speaking in front of hundreds of colleagues.  I'll let them know that I'm really good with technology and would be more than willing to get a presentation together.  That sounds fair!

I am super excited about the actual conference though!!!

At the beginning of this past school year, we had a professional development day where a speaker came to talk to us about 'Rachel's Challenge'.  I did not have any prior knowledge as to what it would be about.  Frankly, I was more worried about getting my classroom ready for Meet the Teacher Day.
I quickly set that all aside when the presenter introduced himself.  Darrell Scott is the father of Rachel Scott.  Rachel was the first student killed at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.  Darrell went on to tell us that Rachel was a fantastic writer with a love for everyone.  She wanted there to be this 'chain reaction' through acts of kindness to deter from bullying.  Quotes from her journals and papers submitted in class, show how much passion she had for others no matter the circumstances.  Darrell and his son, Craig, team up with other members to tell Rachel's story throughout the nation.  They speak to teachers and students about what they can do to start a 'Chain Reaction'.
http://www.rachelschallenge.org/


Our district quickly took this on and we encouraged acts of kindness daily.  Throughout the district, we made paper chains representing acts of kindness we saw or experienced.  Each link on the chain had a description of the act of kindness.  By May, our chain reached all the way around our classroom!

Our town has a parade in May.  Our district asked that every school bring their chains to the parade to show how much of an impact Rachel's Challenge made on our district this school year.  Here are some of the chains from our school.

I cannot wait to hear from numerous speakers about Rachel's Challenge this week.  I want to find more ways to help students make positive choices by starting a chain reaction of kindness and compassion...not only at school but in their daily lives.  I want to make good citizens for our community and our country.  

Printing!

40% off of cardstock at Hobby Lobby?  Yes, please!

I had to go back again today to get more because I already printed 50 pages of goodies from TpT.

(I wish I had more money to spend on that website....)

Another reason to go to Hobby Lobby....40% off one item coupon that I've used probably 10 times this week!  I'm trying to go at least once a day to stock up for the upcoming school year. (I shouldn't even say upcoming...I still have a couple months this summer!)

Notice how Pete the Cat is right on top of my stack of papers I printed?  Intentional....indeed. :)

I'm definitely a dog person, but this cat....I do love.

Did you know there is a new one coming out Sept. 25th?!?  So excited!!

I have tons more to print out, but I ran out of black ink.  This is only beginning of the year stuff too!

I go to Mardel every year for the Educator Sale and they give out 10ft of free laminating but I never have anything ready.  This time I will!  Parent Night I will try to recruit volunteers to cut all this stuff out too.  Actually, I should be printing off things that I need more in Sept/Oct so parents have time to cut them out and send them back to school.  I need the beginning of the year stuff right off the bat.

Since I was out of ink and couldn't print anymore, I'm moved on to melting crayons.

I gathered up tons of extra crayons at the end of the year with intentions of melting them down and putting the melted wax into molds.  It took quite a while to take the paper off of every crayon which is why I did it watching Bachelorette and many episodes of ER.

My goal was to make rainbow crayons, but my molds weren't deep enough.  I ended up doing only 3 colors layered at a time which turned out great because now they will have a warm color crayon and a cool color crayon.

Pinning!

Let's see if I can figure this thing out....

I love reading other teachers' blogs and always aspire to be as inspirational as them.  I have to start somewhere!  Maybe a few years down the road, people will read my blog or at least stumble upon it. :)

It is finally summer and it's the first time I've never had a job.  It feels like I have so much extra time on my hands now.  What better to do than get ahead for the upcoming school year?!  Not only is teaching my profession, it is also my hobby.  I love crafting and making gifts....they just usually end up pertaining to school.  It happens.

I spend a lot of my time on the infamous 'Pinterest' and have no clue what I was doing before there was such a thing.

I originally had a board on there called 'First Grade is Fun' and it eventually came to have almost 350,000 followers out of no where!

I was gaining at least 1,000 followers per day!  I could not figure out what was going on.  About a month ago, I got an email from Pinterest stating that there was a problem with my account and with the number of followers I had.....uh yeah!  After they made some adjustments, now I have fewer followers, but still over 100,000.  It must be a fluke...  One of the first things on my Summer To-Do List was to reorganize all of my boards on Pinterest.  My 'First Grade is Fun' board was so big, that it took me too long to find things I was looking for.  I added about 30 new boards and repinned all of my pins to subject boards.

I like it so much better!  I also put them in order of how the school year progresses by subject.  OCD much?!  Anyway....I LOVE PINTEREST!

This summer I am also excited to spend time with our newly hired first grade teacher!  She is just out of college and so excited to teach this upcoming fall.  I'm happy to have a new team member and that I get to be her mentor!  She is going to be so much fun to work with and I cannot wait to get a new ideas and a new happy spirit from working with her!

Another bonus to our new teacher is that I am moving from my old room, across the hall, to the old art room. This room is right across the hall from our new first grade teacher as well as my friend that is finally moving from another school to be at our school!  I'm excited about this upcoming school year....can you tell?!

After my floors were polished and buffed, I got a call that I could come move all my furniture from my old room/hallway, into my new classroom!  I had worked on a floor plan to see where all my furniture would fit best and here comes my OCD again....









Here are pictures of my old classroom:

 Here is a picture of my new classroom with freshly waxed floors:

I get a sink!!

This is one hallway full of my stuff...more stuff in the other hallway, and even more stuff in my old classroom....

All of my things piled into one room but all the furniture still 2 feet from the wall for the painters to work.

I still have no idea how the room is already full because it is much bigger than my previous room.

Finally an empty classroom....

and an empty hallway...