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My Thoughts On the Past Year and a Half

My Thoughts On the Past Year and a Half





So much has happened in the past year and a half.  Some days I can't even wrap my head around the changes that my students and I have gone through.  I am not joking when I say I have literally changed the way I have taught seven times since March, 2020.  Yes, seven times.  While that is a lot for me as a teacher, I can only think of my students who have had to change their way of learning so many times.  My students who I was teaching in March 2020 are now in Third Grade.  I think of all the things that I didn't get to do with these students that school year.  All of the learning and fun they missed out on.  I didn't get to see these students much last year, but I have seen a lot of them this year in the hallways.  

Last year I moved back to Kindergarten.  I was so excited to be back in my favorite grade level.  We started out the year remote, and then moved into in person with small groups of students.  As the year went on, I ended up being the remote teacher for my grade level.  I loved my group of students I worked with, and we had a great year.  However, I was itching to get back to working with students in person.  

This year has been such a refreshing change compared to the end of the 19-20 school year and all of the 20-21 school year.  We are completely in person.  Our students can share manipulatives.  They can work in partners and in small groups.  There are, of course, some restrictions still, but it is the closest we have been to "normal" since March 2020.  Another big change for this year  is that we moved into a brand new building.  Our new building began construction in May, 2020, and we got to move into it in August.  When I say this new building is amazing, I am not exaggerating.  I feel so grateful that our students have this beautiful space to learn.  

This past year and a half was not only different in my professional life, but there were things that happened in my personal life as well.  Last summer, I decided it was the perfect time to get a Masters Degree.  Not any Masters Degree but an accelerated one.  I started my first class August of 2020, and I finished it on October 8 and will graduate in December.  Choosing to be a full time grad student while teaching during a pandemic may not have been the best choice I've ever made, but I am so glad that I did.  This was actually my third attempt at obtaining my Masters.  There are a variety of reasons why I was unable to finish the first two, but I was determined to finish this one as quickly as I could.  During the previous school year, I took two grad classes every seven weeks.  I'm not going to lie.  It was hard, but it was so worth it!  

Another thing that happened was that we were in a car accident this summer.  We were so excited to do a small vacation in the northern part of the state.  We planned ahead, so that we would be safe everywhere we went.  In the middle of the vacation, while we were on an island, we had the accident.  Our car was totaled.  I fractured a vertebrae.  It was definitely not how we wanted our vacation to go.  Looking back though, everyone was so nice and helpful.  The sheriff deputy was so good with my son who is Autistic and helped ease his mind.  The emergency room staff was amazing.  This happened the first week of summer break, so the rest of the summer was spent recovering and dealing with medical bills and insurance.  My advice to you is to never get in a car accident on an island.  It takes the whole process to a new level. lol  On the plus side though, we got an amazing car to replace our old one, I am healing, and my husband and son were not hurt.

So needless to say, the past year and a half had its ups and downs.  I'm looking forward to what lays ahead.  Thank you for sticking with me!  I have really enjoyed using this space to share ideas with others over the years.  I hope to get back to this space more often and do more of what I love!  
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Amy
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Welcome Back to Teaching Is Sweet!

Welcome Back to Teaching Is Sweet!


The beginning of a new year is always a great time to start new things or go back to things that you have stopped doing that you enjoy.  Getting back to things I enjoy includes getting back to Teaching Is Sweet. In it's beginnings, Teaching Is Sweet was a place that I shared all the goings on in my Kindergarten classroom.  Things have changed a bit.  I am now currently a First Grade teacher in a new district in a new state.  I hope you join me as I share tips, tricks, and educational resources that will help you make your teaching sweet!


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Amy
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The First Ten Minutes of the Day

The First Ten Minutes of the Day


It's been a crazy year, and I can't believe that it's been 178 school days since I last wrote anything here on my blog!  I hope you have enjoyed your school year as much as I have!

Today, I am going to share with you how important the first ten minutes of the day are in my Kindergarten classroom.  Whenever this routine is changed for some reason (hello meetings), it throws off our day just a little.

Do your students have a routine for when they come into the classroom each morning?  This is what the first ten minutes of the day look like in my Kindergarten classroom.

To give you a little idea of our morning schedule, the bell for the students to come into the classroom is at 9:00.  Our student council has a morning newscast each morning at 9:10 that we watch each morning, and our tardy bell rings at 9:15.

The most important part of the first ten minutes happens as soon as I open the door.  My students are lined up outside my classroom door.  As each one of my Kinders walk through the door, I greet them with a "Good Morning!" and a wave.  I feel that this is so important so that each child feels welcome in our classroom.

After I greet my Kinders, they head off to their table spots.  My Kinders then get out their take home folders and lunches if they brought one from home.  I have a total of five tables of students that I call one by one to turn their red folders and lunch cards.  (The lunch cards contain each student's picture, name, and barcode that is used when a student buys lunch.  I place these on their tables each morning before the day begins.) The students place their folders in the big basket, and their lunch cards in one of the two smaller baskets.

Do your students have a routine for when they come into the classroom each morning?  This is what the first ten minutes of the day look like in my Kindergarten classroom.

Do your students have a routine for when they come into the classroom each morning?  This is what the first ten minutes of the day look like in my Kindergarten classroom.

While I am calling each table, the other students are doing a variety of other things.  They might complete an activity from the day before, cut out items for an upcoming project, color, and sometimes they just talk with each other.  Once all of the folders are turned in, I quickly go through them to look for any notes or papers and take lunch count.  By the time all of this has been completed, the student news is on, and we are ready to start our day!

We start this routine on the first day of school.  By the end of the first week, my Kinders are completing this routine without any help.  I hope you enjoyed hearing about the beginning of our day!  What does your class do in the first ten minutes of the day?


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Amy
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Meet the Teacher & the First Day of Kindergarten

Meet the Teacher & the First Day of Kindergarten


Well, today was the day.  The first day of Kindergarten!  I just thought I would quickly share with you about my Meet the Teacher day and the first day of school.

I went back to work last Wednesday for teacher work days.  We had meetings on Wednesday.  Then on Thursday my awesome principal gave us the whole day to work in our classrooms! {Plus, my bestie and I went out for lunch.  We can't ever do that during the school year!}  On Friday, we had a couple more meetings and some more time to get ready for Meet the Teacher.

Meet the Teacher
One o'clock came and it was time!  Many smiling faces came through my door that day!  Some of the faces were new, and some were very familiar from past siblings.  I enjoyed talking with each and every one of them!  I even had past students come by to visit me.  I always tell my students that they can visit me any time.

Our Meet the Teacher is very informal.  Families literally come in to meet the teacher, find their classroom, and ask any questions that they might have about the first days of school.  We will have a more formal Open House next week where we go into all the details about our classrooms.  Does your school have a Meet the Teacher session, Open House, or both?

The First Day of Kindergarten
Today started with the students coming onto the playground with their families.  Once the bell rang, we came inside.  Our parents are allowed to come into the classroom, take pictures of their little ones, and say goodbye.  At each student's spot, I had put the student's name tag to wear, the student's lunch card, and a First Day of Kindergarten coloring page.  While the parents said their goodbyes, the children started coloring their pages, and I went around to help my students put on their name tags.

After that, I taught my newest Kinders how to put their lunch cards and lunch boxes where they belonged.  We then took lunch count to the lunch room and took a short tour around the school.  I was so proud of how well my Kinders walked through the hallways!

We got back to the classroom, and I gave my Kinders a little tour of our classroom bathroom.  I love that we have a bathroom, well two actually, for the students to use.  It's so convenient!  We then got a drink of water from the water fountain and headed outside for a little recess and first day of school picture taking.

We literally went inside for 10 minutes before it was time to go back out for our lunch recess.  When my lunch was over, I joined my class in the lunch room. We let our Kinders take a little longer for lunch today since we are still learning our routines!

We went back into the classroom, put our lunch boxes away, got a drink of water, and sat down to read our first story of the year.  I read the favorite First Day Jitters.  Before I read the book, we talked about the Back to School Magic Confetti that I sent the students.  Many of my Kinders said that the confetti helped them get their jitters out.  Score!


After our story, I introduce our Smartboard to my Kinders.  We sang a few songs using my August Smartboard file that I made a few years ago.  It's always fun to see the students dance around!

Next, it was time for the students go to PE and for me and my bestie to have prep.  How is it that 50 minutes can go by so quickly?  {haha}  We then, once again, went out for a little recess time.  

We came inside, and I introduced my book buckets to my students.  While the students read books, I pulled students to do handprints.  Can someone remind me next year that handprints on the first day of school might be pushing it a little?  lol Just kidding - my Kinders rocked it!  Once the handprints were done, I showed the students their take home folders and they packed up. We finally talked about how great the day was, went over the dismissal procedures, and it was time to line up!  

Overall, today was an awesome first day of Kindergarten!  I can't wait to see what happens the next 179 days!  

On my way home, I got myself a little treat! Yum!!!


I hope you had, or will have, a great first day of school!  Thanks for stopping by!


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Amy
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Currently - August

Currently - August


I am linking up with Farley for some Currently fun!


Listening:  My son loves watching videos about Minecraft and other video games on Youtube. I'm not exactly sure which game this video is about, but I always try to keep an ear out just in case he ends up on one that uses "not so nice language." ;)

Loving:  At the end of the school year, I accumulated many bags of Swedish fish (my current fav) from my students.  Unfortunately for me, I didn't quite spread them out as much as I should have and gained a little weight.  Once I stepped on my scale about the second week into summer break, I realized something had to be done.  I went cold turkey and went 27 days without candy.  (Boy was that hard!  haha)  Then I started tracking my calories in My Fitness Pal, and I lost pretty much all the weight I had gained.  Yay!  I am back to eating some candy, but definitely not bags of Swedish Fish at a time. :)

Thinking:  My birthday is at the end of this month, and I'm turning the dreaded 4-0.  I can't really believe it.  I don't feel like I'm going to be 40, but it's happening.  I know there's nothing wrong with turning 40, but it's one of those ages that just feels different.  Oh well, what are you gonna do?  lol

Wanting:  I love clipart!  My husband not so much. lol  He doesn't quite understand my clipart collection.  I'm sure more clipart will join my collection during the TpT sale on Monday and Tuesday.  :)

Needing:  I think I say this every time I do a Currently.  There is really nothing that I need.  I have a wonderful husband who loves me, a wonderful son that makes me so proud, a lovely home, etc.  I can't think of one thing that I need. 

B2S RAK:  I don't know exactly what I am going to do, but I want to do something for the wonderful office staff.  We have the best office staff at my school, and I want them to know how much they are appreciated.  

I haven't done a Currently in a long time, but I'm glad that I did tonight!  Thanks for stopping by!


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Amy
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What's On Your Bulletin Board Linky - July Throwback

What's On Your Bulletin Board Linky - July Throwback


Hi everyone!  I cannot believe that it's the last day of July!  Where did July go?  My last post here on my little piece of the web was my June Throwback! Crazy!

July was definitely a busy month here.  I attended the I Teach K conference and the Teachers Pay Teachers conference the first full week of July.  I learned so much!  Both conferences were amazing!  Then I have been subbing this summer.  My son attended ESY at my school site, so I offered to help out if any teachers had to be absent.  Today was the last day of ESY, and I subbed for a dear friend who used to sub for me.  She told me it was funny that she was writing plans for me.  lol

Well, the reason we are all here, or maybe the reason I am here, is for me to show you some more throwback bulletin boards (and a couple not so quite bulletin boards but close enough).  Everything that I am showing you is from a couple years ago.  I would love for you to share some of  your recent or throwback bulletin boards as well!


I wish I could claim credit for this bulletin board display.  However, this was a project that my Kinders made in Art class.  We have an awesome art teacher!  All of the projects that my Kinders make are so wonderful.  When I saw these winter scenes walk in my room, I grabbed them and put them up as quick as I could!


This display is a project that we completed after reading "Five Green and Speckled Frogs." My Kinders first made a pond and a log.  They then had to decide how many frogs to put in the water and how many to put on the log. After that was complete, my Kinders had to complete a few sentences as well as a number sentence.



Here is the first of my "not quite a bulletin board" displays.  My Kinders made these rainbows by picking a popcorn word and writing it in the correct color of the rainbow.  I just love how they turned out!


My last "not quite a bulletin board" is a door display that my Kinders made for Nevada Reading Week.  To make these wonderful caterpillars, we completed a directed drawing.  My Kinders then used watercolor paints to paint their very hungry caterpillars.  I love how unique each caterpillar is!


Thanks for stopping by to see my throwback bulletin boards (and not quite bulletin boards).  Would you like to share what your students have made?  Grab the linky button above and link up below.  I can't wait to see what your students have made!



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Amy
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What's On Your Bulletin Board Linky - June Throwback

What's On Your Bulletin Board Linky - June Throwback


Hi!  I'm back for another edition of What's On Your Bulletin Board Linky!  This month, I figured since most of us are out of school we could share some throwback bulletin boards from either earlier this year or from years past.  If, by any chance, you have bulletin boards from this month due to being year round or getting out late in June, please share those!


This first throwback bulletin board is truly throwback!  It's from about 14 years ago when I taught in Kansas.  It's so old that I had to actually scan the picture in. lol  When I taught in Kansas, I was at a very small school.  As in, my last year there I had 9 students in my class!  We did not have an art teacher, so each Friday I did some kind of art project with my students.  For this project, I had the students draw a flower in the middle, draw lines around the flower, and then color it in either warm or cool colors.  I let my students decide which way they wanted to color it.  {The middle two flowers are mine.  I couldn't let my students have all the fun!}


My next two bulletin boards come from just a few years ago.  This first one is a set of bulletin boards that contain my freebie shape penguin craftivity.  My students love making these every year!



My last bulletin board is a tooth fairy activity.  My students colored a tooth fairy and then finished off the sentence stem.  It was fun to see what they wanted the tooth fairy to bring them!


Here is a closeup of one of the tooth fairies. I love how we added a touch of glitter to the wand and crown!


Would you like to share your bulletin boards (current or throwback)?  All you have to do is grab the graphic above and add your link below.  I can't wait to see all the great bulletin boards!


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Amy
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[name=Amy] [img=https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jqCbbbeQW6g/Xgz_AsQv8oI/AAAAAAAADKM/NEeARhV2sIkaPzV5Cc6u0sO3ouKsQquHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/amy.jpg] [description=Hi! I am Amy, a primary teacher with over 20 years experience. I'm excited to share ideas, tips, and tricks to help make your teaching sweet!]

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