Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!

   Well another new year is here and another one has finished. I keep saying this and others do to but time is just going by so fast. 

   I was thinking last night how nervous I am because for January to be here. And this is because I have my formal observation and I have a parent coming in that is not happy with me during this month and possibly into the next month. both of those things make me very anxious. Though of course the observation more so and I think that is just because I have to type up a long lesson plan for it. 

   Usually I am not one to make resolutions because it just never made sense to me. I always thought if you are going to begin again it should be at the beginning of the school year though because thats just what I thought. 

   Anyways I am not going to make any resolutions, but I do want to make list of things that I want to happen this year and if they don't happen then thats ok. On to the list:

- Now this is not going to happen until later in the year depending on what happens with my job and stuff, but I want to get my own place. 

- I have been doing this for a few months now and I want to continue doing it and that is drinking water and drink no/very few sodas. 

- Now I don't know if this will ever really happen, but I want to get ahead with my planning or at least to try and stay on top of it.

- I always make a reading goal and this year I want to try and read 100 books by the end of it. I completed my last goal 80 (just barely) and I have always wanted to read 100 and came close one year. 

- I also want to blog more about what I am doing in my classroom with my students. I want to share more of my activities and lessons.

My plan for my blog is to upload every week on Wednesdays. Sometimes it will be a short post about my thoughts or feelings, but I at least want to post every week about something that is happening in my classroom. 

Christmas Fail and Winter Break

So I was a complete failure with my 17 days of Christmas and which turned into only 12 days. For starters I was late uploading things and fell behind schedule. I just could not keep up. Next year I need to start making things ahead of time like starting in October or earlier. 

Also I was so so so busy planning for the last three days of school before winter break. As a team we decided to do fun Christmas themed activities. So spent spent many of those days searching on Pinterest and then trying to get all of the materials ready. 

Sorry for anybody who was following along with that. I am thinking (no promises) that I might do another one sometime before the school year is over. Maybe. Will see. 

Anyways so far I have been planning and creating things to use in my classroom. We are getting ready to start word families, so be expecting that to be showing up in my store. I have been trying to get things ready like to center activities and worksheets. I have a new parent volunteer coming in to "help" and want to make sure that I keep her busy. In the copy room.

I feel very productive and relaxed at the same time because knowing that I am planning ahead makes me feel good. January is going to be a very busy month. I have to start checking students reading levels and then I have to do another assessment. Also sometime during the month I have my formal observation. The only I am not looking forward to is the lengthy doesn't seem very important lesson plan I have to type up. 

I hope everyone is enjoying their break while it lasts!

TPT Cyber Sale! Nov. 30-Dec. 1

Starting on Monday and going on through Tuesday, there will be a sale going on on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

I don't have too many paid products in my store, but come check out the few that are there because starting in December I will be adding new products every day (expect weekends) to my store for not 12 days of Christmas, but 17 days of Christmas. 

Everyday until Christmas eve, so be sure to check back a my store everyday in December! All the products will be FREE for just only the first day!

My Very First Conferences

The Night Before:
I can't even begin to express how nervous I am about having my first conferences. This will really be the first time that I meet the parents expect for my one parent helper. I am mostly nervous because I don't really know what to expect or what the parents will ask. I have talked by email or phone with some parents about students already and those went well. 

For the most part I am just worried about two parents based on the emails I have had with them so far. Those students are about behavior and no parent wants to worry about behavior. 

Most of my students are either on grade level or above, so I don't have to have those awkward conversations about the student not progressing. I have been told by my team that some of the parents won't even show, though I did get all my conference papers back saying they could all make it. 

The Day After:
Well I did it. My first conferences are over and they didn't go to bad. I only had two parents that didn't show up. Though I did have a few parents that were late. 

Most of my parents were fine and happy to hear what I had to and show them. I only had one helicopter parent, but I think I calmed her and told there was nothing to worry. Her child is one of my high students. 

I only had one problem with one parent and I just really felt at a lost for words because I didn't know what to tell her. On the report I basically put on that he needs to develop his language skills. This child barely talks to me or participates in class. He really only shakes or nods his head at me. She apparently has been told by people that he is very articulate, has really good grammar, and vocabulary. So now she is going to be "volunteering" in the classroom. What bothers me that she is so caught up on that when he still doesn't know his letters, letter sounds, and can't identify numbers. 

I am not going to let her bother me and my holiday. Besides another teacher was telling me the mom is strange when she had the older child and told me not to worry about her.