The Sunday Scoop

Once again, I am linking up with The Teaching Trio for their Sunday Scoop.  I just love how it keeps me organized.  As the school year is winding down, my to do list only gets bigger!  

So many things to do, but such an exciting time!!!  

Here's my SCOOP!

Have To Do: Our PTO is FABULOUS!! We are so lucky to have them and they are over the top generous!!  A few years ago they started letting us submit proposals for funding (in addition to the money they give every team) for special projects that we wanted to do.  My first grade team got the idea to end the year a little differently, from our Kinder team.  So we have decided to do an Amelia Bedelia unit for the final four weeks of school!  We are proposing that PTO give us the money to buy 4 full class sets of Amelia Bedelia books so we can rotate them and do fun review activities.  Wish us luck! Small Group Reading is going well but I want to switch out some of our activities for May.  Last year, we had a summer check-in program for our kiddos!  They could check in at various places in our city with teachers and get summer work to practice and maintain their skills.  They would get prizes if they checked in and they all got t-shirts when we got back to school, that they could wear as part of their uniform!  A few things worked great and a couple things we want to tweak...but the days are flying by, so we need to get busy fine tuning the program!

Hope To Do: I need spring/summer clothes soooo badly!  Having a two year old makes it a little harder to shop!  She also has very few short sleeve shirts and little girl can sweat!  I also want to come up with a cleaning schedule.  I don't want to worry about spending my Saturday so the house is clean, when J and I could be having fun!!! I also don't want a house, I am embarrassed to have guests over to.  I think it is important I find a happy medium and come up with an easy schedule that I will follow.

Happy To Do:  I was asked by a very special young lady to be her confirmation sponsor.  I am honored to be asked and can't wait to walk with her on her faith journey.  I have a feeling we will both learn a lot together.

That's my scoop, what's yours?

Link up with the 

Is teaching easy???

Every day (well ok, almost every day) I wake up and am happy to spend the day with my firsties.  I love my job!  I put my all into my class, into my students, and into our school.  I view my job as getting paid to do my hobby.

Today was a day, where I felt my passion was questioned.  I had a meeting on a student.  The meeting didn't go well and I felt that perhaps my opinion wasn't being valued.  I definitely don't need constant affirmation or accolades for my work, but when you ask my opinion on one of my student's, I only speak the truth.  I reiterated my suggestions/recommendations and graciously stepped out.

I grabbed my lunch, helped find a kinder who was not where he was suppose to be, grabbed a mountain dew, and sat down to talk to a student who was having a bad day. Then recess was over and I went to get my kiddos.  I was greeted at the door by the teacher who was on recess duty and I was told one of my students had fallen.  I asked that another teacher take my kiddos and I went out to the playground.  My little firstie was pretty upset and in some pain.  We are lucky to have a great staff and one of our staff members with a medical background came out and assessed the situation.  She was moving and able to get up, so we attempted to go inside, but her pain was too much and we decided to stay put.  Unfortunately, we were unable to get a hold of family...so we had to call 911.  I was given permission to ride and stay with her until family arrived.  She was a champ and handled everything so well.  Family arrived and it was obvious that I was no longer needed (let's just say I may not be there favorite person for multiple reasons, none of which are warranted.)  Family called back when she was released but not to update us, rather complain about issues the student was having and complain about me.  Of course after the day I had, I didn't want to hear that but with the help of my co-workers/teaching besties I remembered that I had nothing but the best interest of the child in mind.

So I didn't feel the love today.  But ultimately would I do everything the same again, you bet.  Deep down I know that I am there for my students!  I know that every decision I make is made to best assist my kiddos.

Is teaching easy? NO
Is dealing with the needs of every one of my students easy? NO
Is dealing with the politics of teaching easy? NO
Is seeing 18 little faces in the morning worth getting up? YOU BET!!!

And so it goes, I will be back at it tomorrow, because you never give up on your hobby.

Currently....a fresh new start!

Well life at the Pumpkin Palace has been crazy busy, with the arrival of Little J!  Bring a mom is amazing, exhausting, fun, frustrating, and the best job EVER!!  I have so many things I want to do, as we settle into life as a family of 2.

I am a big fan of fresh starts, so since it is the beginning of a new month, I am all about accomplishing many goals, blogging more is one of them!!  

Thanks to Farley at 

for the great Currently linky, I am able to start tackling my goals!

Here's what I am up to "CURRENTLY"!

I am LISTENING/watching some Chicago PD, while I am THINKING of things I can get Little J to play with outside (with little space/no yard) since we are both LOVING this great SPRING weather!!  I am WANTING to get healthy after talking about it forever...it's time to get BUSY!  I am NEEDING to get back on track with daily to-do lists, they keep me centered and focused.  Beginnings with Baer is all about the beginnings you experience in 1st grade...as well as all the new beginnings I am experiencing...especially with BLOGGING!!!

Hope you enjoyed my Currently!!!  What are you up to Currently?