Sayyy what?!

Hey everyone!  I wanted to do a short post for you about how I'm feeling at this point in the summer. This GIF below basically sums it up.

Gilly (Kristen Wiig) is my favorite SNL character.  A close second would be Stefan (Bill Hader).

Anyways, yesterday I was walking out to my car after working 7 hours in my classroom.. I was trudging along due to feet being tired and climbing up and down a ladder the day before.  If I had the energy I would have walked out doing what Gilly is doing. ^

I AM DONE GETTING MY ROOM READY GUYS!  If the kids came on Monday, my room would be ready for them.  I have just a couple of random little printouts to hang up and a few book bin labels to stick on that I've added.  Other than that, I have less than 30 mins worth of work.

I won't give you a tour just yet, in a week or so.  :)  But here is the outside of my room.  Our hallways are camping theme for our PBIS theme this year.  I'm putting stars with the kids names on them on the bulletin board when I get the class list.

Out of four summers, I think this is the first one that I am finished cleaning, organizing, and rearranging before August!  This year I also changed out some bulletin board colors and purged and donated.  Whew.

My district goes back the 13th for teachers and 20th for the kids.  So I plan on using the next couple of weeks to relax, catch up on some more books, mentally prepare myself for my first semester of grad classes, and do some planning!  I should probably throw in the whole "not spending anymore money" part.

I'm excited for this upcoming school year.  I'm doing some new things in my classroom.  The few major ones are:

1. Math Tubs - students go grab one of the tubs after completing their independent work and working with a partner.

2. Close Reads - whole group close reads with my kinders.  I'm using Tara West's (Little Minds at Work) close read bundle.  I have put together a binder for her fairy tale close reads already because this year we are starting with retelling so I am doing the classic Gingerbread Boy, 3 Little Bigs, Goldilocks, etc. She has a bundle for that!  :)

3. A designated science/social studies time- 3 days a week in the afternoon for about 20 mins.  Before we tried to squeeze stuff in on occasion and mostly teach it through read alouds.  This year my grade level partner and I are going to do more! 

I'm feeling pretty great right now.  I had a nice and rejuvenating summer.  I needed it badly.  I was talking with a few people at the school yesterday and we all said we are just ready to see the kids again.  :)

I have also been so excited lately being a part of the Kinder Tribe and being an admin for the Facebook group and collaborative blog.  I've been introduced to lots of awesome people!  I now have almost 100 followers on Bloglovin.  A few weeks ago I had 11.  Talk about being shocked!  You all are awesome!

I hope everyone is enjoying their break, whether you have a few days left (that must be painful and somewhat hot to go back this soon!) or whether you have a month left.  Just remember to take things in stride.  Go at your own pace.  If you need another week or so to relax before getting in the school mode, so be it.  If you are like me and were just itching to get out of the house and get things done, then so be it.  I've been thinking a lot lately (and seeing a lot in the blogging community) about how we need to not lose ourself in everything. Continue making time for you and finding something to relieve the soon to be busy and stress that is looming ahead. 

Go do something fun with the little summer we have left!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Blog posts coming up:

Goals for the school year

Classroom tour

How to get your kindergarteners to be independent!