Summer Work Out Time

Well hello again! It has been forever since I have posted anything. Isn't it amazing how easy it is to put things aside when you get focused on school? I know for me it can be hard to focus on anything else sometimes. Which is one of the many reasons I like adore summer. It is time for me to catch up on all those things I have been putting off... like working out. I am usually the first to find a reason to avoid working out and during the school year it is all too easy to come up with excuses.

In the summer all my excuses are null and void since I really don't have anything super important stopping me. I definitely can't say I don't have the time.

So with that being said I have whipped out my running shoes and my workout gear and have started to hit the pavement. I haven't been totally consistent but at least it's a start. I've set some goals for the end of summer but ultimately I just want to make sure I increase my current level of fitness and stay healthy. With how hard it can be to balance everything during the school year I am going to embrace the chance to be out in the sunshine. On your mark... get set... GO!!

Summer Time

Wow! I can't believe that summer break is almost over. One more week until teachers go back to school and only two more weeks until the kiddos arrive! It has definitely been a busy summer filled with beautiful weather, tons of weddings and good family time.

 Looking back I also realized how much time I spent at school this summer. I know, I know this is the point where people tell me I'm nuts and that I should just enjoy the summer but I found using summer to accomplish some big classroom tasks to be quite worthwhile.

I started the summer by culling and organizing old resources that had been left in my classroom by previous teachers. It is amazing how much stuff can be collected over time and how much of that stuff was left in cupboards for me to find. There were a few items I found to be useful but there was also a bunch of old resources that made their way into the recycling bin. It is hard to get rid of things but it's also so good to free up storage space.

I also used some time this summer to attempt to get ahead on my unit plans for the first few months of the school year. Being a newer teacher I find I still spend a lot of time getting to know the curriculum and developing unit and lesson plans. I'm hoping the result of giving up some of my summer free time will be fewer weekends spent at school over the course of the school year.

 I definitely enjoy heading into the new year feeling prepared and ready to go but I also don't want to get into the habit of filling my summer with lesson planning. Then again I feel like spending a full two months away from school would leave me feeling disconnected from everything. I guess I won't actually be able to test that theory until I try it though. Okay, I am officially rambling about this topic so I'm going to ask you to join in with your opinions. Does anyone else use summer time for planning? Do you think it is a worthwhile use of your time? Do you find it stops the longer you have been teaching?

I would love to hear your thoughts. It would be nice to know if I am a crazy work-a-holic or if this is just what dedicated teachers do with their "free" time. Talk to you soon!

Gotta Love Accomplishing Goals!

Well it's official, at least three of my summer goals have been accomplished so far!

My husband and I recently returned from a week long trip in Niagara Falls. We had a lot of fun and it was wonderful to have some time to relax. There was so much to see and do and we had a blast checking out all the tourist attractions.

 I love to travel, have fun, and experience new things and I always try to make the most of my time away,  but I think one of my favourite parts of travelling is the chance to come home and get back to my usual routines. So as wonderful as it was to take a holiday it was also great to come home and get back to normal life. Especially since in two weeks we are off again for a week long stay in BC for my brother's wedding.

Anyway, enough about me and my travels, now it's time to get back to the classroom related goals. Just before we left I had the chance to install my sliding bulletin boards and guess what? It worked!! I am beyond happy with how they turned out and best of all it was relatively inexpensive and easy to do. Check out the before and after pictures!

I love, love, love, all the storage in my classroom but I wanted to hide it so I can keep my classroom looking a little more organized and have more space to hang important anchor charts and student work.

So after a little bit of fun (I love the chance to use some power tools) and some work...

Just needs a coat three coats of paint and...

 Ta da! The finished product!!

 The boards are made of a material called "donacona" which is cheaper than cork board, is soft enough for staples and light enough that the rails can hold it up. I purchased some sliding door tracks from the hardware store. After installing the tracks it was pretty easy to install the hardware onto the boards and get them hung up. Thankfully I had my wonderful husband there to help me since it definitely made getting the boards up and into the tracks a little easier.

I can't wait to get some borders and decor stuff on them. Stay tuned for pictures in my upcoming classroom tour!

Finally, I have also managed to create a much more detailed year plan than I have in the past. It took a while but now that it is done I am glad I have it. I put it into a calendar format so I can look from week to week and try to keep myself on track in all the different subjects. I still have to see how it works for this year but it definitely is more organized and specific than my previous year plans. I'm excited to see how it goes.

If you would like the template add a comment and let me know. I would love to hear from you and I am happy to share!

Wow that seems like a lot. Apparently July has been very productive! Let's see how August goes.

Summer Goals

Woohoo!! Summer's here!! I am so excited for summer and have some goals I want to accomplish.

 I know I know, it seems like there are a lot of school items on this list considering it is summer holidays. If there is one thing I have learned about being a new teacher it is to take the time to organize and plan when you have it. So I will be taking some of the time I would have spent doing nothing relaxing and use it to get ahead for September. My hope is by getting myself more organized now I will be able to take more time during the school year to relax and have some down time.

 My summer won't be all work though, my husband and I are running a wedding circuit this summer with 3 friends and 1 brother getting married in the next 2 months. The nice thing is the weddings are spread out basically over the entire country (BC to Ontario) which gives us a chance to play tourist! We are off to Niagara Falls for the first time in our lives!! So excited to take it all in and spend some quality time away from the normal routine with my hubby!