Preparing for school LINKY PARTY!

I decided to join in on a linky party hosted by Mrs. Crouse at {6th Grade} All-Stars. Feel free to join in as well! Here are the rules:

1. Post about this linky party on your blog
2. Follow my blog (Go 4th: Teach ALL the Things!)
3. Answer the following 5 questions (include documents if you have them):

- What grade do you teach?

 I will be teaching 4th grade in the fall! I'm so excited. I taught 1st grade for the last half of the past school year, so I'm technically still a new teacher.

- What is the greatest advice you received during your 1st year of teaching?

 The greatest advice I've ever received...hmm. I had so many awesome people that I learned from! I don't know if there's just ONE thing, but here are a few:

*Make time for yourself and your family

*Try hard not to take tons of work home (that is YOU time)

*Don't be afraid to make mistakes, especially in front of your kiddos

- Do you have a checklist that you follow when preparing your classroom (include the checklist)?

Well, not necessarily. Since I'm still new at this, I just kind of go with the flow with the understanding that everything will fall into place. I don't want to stress out too much about it.

 

- What are some must haves in your classroom that you cannot live without (ex. items, books, posters, management strategies)?

I found out real quick that it's necessary to have an "Oh, no!" kit for personal needs. I had stuff like headache meds, allergy meds (mine are ridiculous), tampons, Airborne, Emergen-C, those little packets of flavoring you can toss into water bottles, a spare pair of black flats (they will go with anything!), Vaseline and q-tips (you can give it to your kiddos with painful chapped lips), chap stick, lotion, band-aids, healthy snacks like nuts, an extra pair of sunglasses...I could go on and on! I also had to have a Scentsy and speakers for my iPod :)

 

- What is something that all teachers should have in their classroom?

This is a hard one because every teacher is so different. I would have to say that all teachers should have created an environment where all kiddos feel safe and appreciated, as this will help foster their learning.

Don't forget to add your link and put your answers in a comment!! :)

Welcome, welcome! Come one, come all!

If you've managed to find your way here, congratulations! You are in for an amazing journey. This blog will chronicle my journey as a new(ish) teacher, in a brand-spankin' new school (yep, I may or may not have just copied my own blog descriptor--Whoops). I say "new(ish)" because I  had the privilege of teaching 1st grade from January of this year until June 1st. That was my first teaching job, and I was incredibly lucky to have had my sweet first graders for the short time that I did, as well as lucky to have a phenomenal team to work with and learn from. I will miss them dearly, however, my heart wasn't in teaching 1st grade. For as long as I can remember I wanted to teach upper elementary, and 4th was/is my favorite!

I'm going from teaching 1st grade in an urban school district to teaching 4th in a suburban district that I myself grew up in. I feel incredibly blessed because from the day they broke ground to build the school,  I had been telling Mr. Roland (my partner-in-crime) that I was going to work there and be a 4th grade teacher. I even took pictures of the dirt pile that now houses the school (because, as you will quickly learn, I'm totally awkward). Low and behold, here I am!

I am also going to be working with a fantastic group of people! We all got to meet each other (minus a few teachers that couldn't be there) during Oklahoma A+ Arts training, and during the week that we spent learning and laughing together, we bonded extremely fast.  Our building is in the final stages of being completed, and I haven't seen my classroom yet (other than a few pictures my awesome principal took). Come August, I will hit the ground running! Here's our awesome team:

I hope you enjoy what you read here. Otherwise, my apologies in advance for being a colossal waste of your time but as a parting gift, here's a picture of the lovely Mr. Tom Hiddleston!