The World Works in Mysterious Ways!

Sometimes there are days when you wish you could bottle up the good feelings and positive energy and keep it for those days that get you down. Today is one of those days that I wish I could bottle up! I have loved reading your comments on my last post - and it reminds me that I love what I do and am where I'm supposed to be. (Not to get all heavy/sentimental on ya - just a good affirmation!).

This came in my email last week too - and I really am serious when I say it is an honor just to have my blog nominated/considered. There are some great blogs in this contest - written by fabulous teachers who are willing to share their ideas and thoughts with the world!

If you want to check out some great blogs, click below. Vote if you want to while you are there! There are 82 fabulous blogs for you to check out. :)

Thanks bloggy friends for being awesome!

Directions for voting:

1. Make sure you have upgraded to Google Plus. If not, you will find the Google Plus button on the uppermost part of the page. Creating your profile will only take a few minutes.
2. Click on the Comments to view the entire list of nominees and look for your blog of choice.
3. If you hover your cursor at the end of the Blog URL, a red "+1" will appear that you can click on. It's on the same location where you can find the votes that have been cast for other blogs.
4. For blogs that already have some votes, the "+1" should be found immediately beside the vote count, to the right.

Year Long Planning

I’m fairly sure I can say with almost 99.9% accuracy that there isn’t a teacher out there not thinking about the upcoming school year. Sure – we’re on vacay (hopefully at the beach!) but it’s in our nature. We’re planners – and like to have a big picture of what our instruction will look like.

(Promise I won’t tell our secret that we think on our toes a lot of the time…so sometimes things don’t go according to, uh, plan!)

My yearlong plans are in the process of being complete – this is just a document that I keep mostly for my own planning. It helps me to see a big picture of where we are going during the year – and what will be taught when.

This is what it looks like at this point.

Want to explore the poetry links? Here they are:

Jessica Meacham's Shared Reading Page

CanTeach Songs and Poems

Nellie Edge Free Poetry

Aloha Kindergarten Click on the “poetry journal” or “freebie” label

Teaming Up to Teach ABC Poems

Everything Elementary

If you know me (even through my blog), you know I like to plan plan plan. I don’t always follow my plans – but I like to have a whole picture before I jump into something!

I uploaded a copy of the yearlong plan to Google Docs – in an editable format! It might look a little weird because of the fonts. If you want the font, it’s called Pea Hollee from KevinandAmanda.com! Super cute font. Once you download the font and the document, it should look all nice and neat!

Digital scrap papers courtesy of Sassy Designs! Check out www.sassy-designs.net.

My plan is on legal size paper! I know, weird size. I usually scale it to 8.5”x11” when I print it. When you go to print, there should be a “scale to” button or resize button that gives you the option to print it on letter size paper.

Enjoy!

Pin-spiraling out of control!

Summer break officially started at 3:11 today. No, I wasn’t keeping track of time or anything! Whoohoo! I’m really excited to rest, read, relax, pin, pin some more and in my spare time pin. Seriously.addicted.

I have some grand plans for my Pinterest boards too – so many projects that I really want and need to devote time to.

I am a planner by nature – everything needs to be way over planned – and accompanied by pretty fonts and backgrounds of course! My thought with my Pinterest project is to plan it all out before I try to do to much and end up with nothing (anyone else have that problem?!?). Here’s my plan that I’m really going to try to stick with!

First step: Pick your top 10 projects from a board. (p.s. The Pinterest police won’t come get you if it’s not 10 – do what you feel comfortable with!)

Next: Plug your top 10 into weeks throughout the summer. Maybe you can do 3 the first week but the 4th project is larger and you want a whole week to complete it. Go for it – whatever works for you. :)

Step 3: Determine what supplies you need for each project {printer, paper, glue, etc.} and write it down. It’s nice to see what you need at a glance.

Step 4: Start keeping track of where you are for your pin projects. Mark whether it is in the “supply” phase, “progress” phase or the “completed” phase (yeah!!).

Step 5: Reward yourself by picking out a fun food treat from your pin boards. Use the last sheet to make your grocery list! Technically this is just a fun one – but isn’t there so much deliciousness on Pinterest?

Are you pinning like crazy or are you focused on making items based on your pins? It can get downright overwhelming. Hopefully these planning sheets will help! Grab your freebie here!