Projects – Life of the Rookie Teacher

Well it’s been a hot minute guys. I apologize for being a little behind on posts but life has been crazy busy. It’s crazy to think that I was going to share on Valentine’s Day about our party, and now here we are 2 weeks later and there has been nothing. Today’s post is going to be a hodge podge of a few things I wanted to share with you so, bare with me.

First things first, I know Valentine’s Day was 2 weeks ago but I wanted to still share with you my absolute FAVORITE boxes made this year by my students! I for sure have a very creative group and it shows in their boxes. (Yes, I am aware that these ideas came from Pinterest but they’re still cute!)

Plus this amazingly adorable Harry Potter Valentine!

As many of you know, February is “I Love to Read Month” so I like to do a few special activities to get my students in the spirit. My favorite art project to do with them is actually pretty simple. Students pick their favorite book and they recreate the book cover to share in the hallway. I mentioned us starting this in my last post but I finally have the final product read! I did this a few years ago and didn’t get the best result. My kids this year did PHENOMENAL! They loved this activity and most of them took their time!

The main reason I’ve been so behind on posting is because gymnastics season was coming to a close. We had our section tournament followed by the state tournament, so it was a whirlwind couple of weeks. I’m going to take a moment to brag because our team is so amazing! Our girls placed 2nd in the section (only the 1st place team advances to the state meet) and then we had 3 individual gymnasts to advance in the bars competition and in the all around. It was a pretty special and fun time getting to be there for the girls and bond with them in a way you normally don’t get to when the whole team is there. I LOVE gymnastics and I love this team, but I am so glad the season is over! I am exhausted!!

Another fun thing that happened this week was that our books FINALLY CAME IN THE MAIL!!! My kids were so excited to see the final product of the book they created! Last year my class made a book using something called Studentreasures Publishing. Students get a chance to create their own book. As a teacher, you go and order a kit to be sent to your school that includes everything you need to make your book. Once students are done writing and illustrating, you send the book back to the company and they publish the book for you! As a teacher, you get a FREE copy, which is such a cool keepsake. Families LOVE this and get the chance to order a book for themselves. My students have been on pins and needles waiting for our books to finally come back (we sent in our final product at the end of January) and were ecstatic when they did. I have to say, I am pretty proud of the finished product!

Finally, I would like to share something near and dear to my heart. This week is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Last year, I shared with you a post that explains the importance this week has on my heart. My sister has struggled with an eating disorder for almost 8 years now. I wanted to attach the link to that post for you in case you didn’t see it last year, or you wanted to reread about how nasty this disease can be and how to see the warning signs in your self or your loved ones. The post was called NEDA Awareness Week 2019. Go take a look if you’re interested. I will always be passionate about healthy lifestyles and loving yourself. This post, explains why.

I know that was a hot mess of information but I feel super behind and had to share whatever I could that I have missed. I will definitely be back on my posting game now that life is somewhat back to normal! (Fingers crossed!!)

For more day to day action and activities, go follow my Instagram page @lifeoftherookieteacher!

Last December was the kick off to my blogging life. Within a few days of joining the blogging community I stumbled across an amazing idea known as Blogmas, or the 12 Days of Christmas Posts. I was fortunate enough to connect with the founder of this idea and joined her, along with other bloggers, writing about different Christmas topics to get in the holiday mood. I copied and pasted the rules to the bottom of this post if you want to join in with the fun! Speaking as someone who LOVES and is OBSESSED with Christmas, this is a super fun thing to do!

Day 1 – Wintery Breakfast

When I think about December (or anything in the winter) and breakfast together the first thing that comes to my mind is a nice large hot cinnamon roll! Growing up, my mom was a teacher, so over Christmas break from school she would always be home with us. During those 8-12 days of break, my sister and I woke up every morning to the smell of cinnamon rolls in the oven.

My mom is not the best cook/chef so these were just your run of the mill Pillsbury rolls but they always added something special to our wintery mornings when we were home on break.

Christmas morning was always extra special because with our cinnamon rolls, our mom would also provide us with peppermint hot chocolate with a candy cane on the side of the mug. This was usually our Saturday night treat in the winter, but on Christmas morning we got to add it to our breakfast.

My mouth is watering just thinking about those cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. When I think of a wintery breakfast, that is immediately where my mind goes.

Want to participate in Blogmas 2019? Check out the following guidelines!

Last year you might have followed along with the 12 Days that I did with some of the gals listed above and we had such a good time that we decided to celebrate again together this year! So without further ado here are the guidelines for my 12 Days of Christmas.

use the image provided in each post, so that way anyone who might jump in later can see what the plan is for the month.
for sure link back to me, Abbey@ThreeCatsandaGirl, so that way I can celebrate your Christmas with you and maybe get some ideas of how to create festive enjoyment!
spread Christmas cheer in the way you know best!

Kindness Month Begins

Last December I shared with all of my teacher friends my projects and activities I like to do in December. I love to have the theme of kindness during the month of December because it’s always good to teach kiddos about being kind and generous but it’s also the time of the year when they start to act up. Having daily kindness activities keep them in check with who they are and their behaviors.

On Friday morning we did one of my absolute FAVORITE projects of the year! We made our kindness light bulbs to hang on my whiteboard.

Each light bulb has the sentence starter “I can light up the world with kindness by…” and then they share their ideas on what they can do. I LOVE doing this activity and so do the kids. It brightens up everyone’s day and their ideas are so adorable and sweet.