Anxiety and Appreciation

I haven't accomplished a whole lot today in regards to my classroom...hence, the anxiety. Seriously, I can't have a conversation, pray, or sleep without my thoughts drifting to the inevitable....MY CLASSROOM!  I'm even having a hard time working on things at home and finding what I need to be working on. I finally decided on some things to print today, went and got my laminator then realized that I must have left all my lamination sheets at school...hence, more anxiety. I'm still hoping my hubby can get off early enough one day this week to get my stuff loaded and taken to the school...I need his muscles! He, though genuinely concerned and recognizing my Back to School Anxiety, is a man and sees that I still have two weeks until students walk in my door...I on the other hand...want my stuff in my class and I want it  now! I'm a very impatient person in this kind of area. Quite honestly, I'm almost always impatient when there's something that I want! One week from today I have pre-planning meetings on the clock! There aren't a whole lot of teachers working in their classes right now and next Thursday is open house...still to him, I have two weeks and he will get to it. :) 

Yesterday all of the Sunday school teachers and ladies in our church who have taught or are teachers gave a basket to one of the young ladies who got a job teaching pre school. Though not the job she'd hoped for she's super thankful to have her foot in the door in this economy and start her teaching career. She's a single lady and one of the most professional, gentle spirited, and formal people I know! We really appreciate her at our church! She's incredibly humble and modest in her entire personality!

This basket was loaded! Her theme is woodlandish with lots of owls :) 

 I could have spent so...much money on her but I've spent way too much on myself here lately!
The banner looked terrible! I printed it Sunday morning last minute...we were almost late for church! The letters were too big for the basket but I didn't realize it until it was too late! I fully intended to do something cutesy with the clothespins but this ended up a last minute banner!

I'm hoping that the new teachers at my school give me this same kind of treatment ;) But I'm not counting on it...this new kid on the block stuff means I have to prove myself...But I am a newbie to them though and I love the idea of welcoming new teachers with gifts for their classroom. It's definitely a good way, even if it's something small, to be a friendly teachering neighbor...kind of like in the old days when neighbors would welcome one another to the neighborhood with pies or jams...yep, those were the old days and sadly I've only lived to see them through reruns of Little House on the Prairie!

So...if there's a new teacher at your school find some way to show them some hospitality and encouragement because as you see...I.AM.STRESED. as I'm sure a lot of teachers are right now adjusting to a new school! 

Matching Makes EVERY Thing Better!

What an ideal Saturday it has been at the Stewart Compound! A little sleeping in....a little straightening up...a couple of repairs...a friendly visit....a delicious dinner...a bit of reminiscing...a chance to catch up with friends...a clean kitchen...a relaxing time for hubs to play video games...an opportune time for wife to spend time pinning... a pressure-less and unstressful day...which all make a very happy girl!
Question.
Is this what most peoples Saturdays are like?! Is this the life that normal people live?! I've always wanted to know...I never get to enjoy my home in this way on Saturdays because usually we are BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

My hope for today was to be able to get my sofa, photo-booth, shelf, mini-frig, computer chair, and flip chart all moved into my classroom with the help of my hubby and his strong muscles.
That didn't happen and yet it feels great to have a break from school during the last few weeks of my summer vacation!!!

Sweet Abby, who has been my helper this week and who sewed my fanstachetic pillows, went home. Her mom and dad, Becky and Chris, and most of the time annoying brother, Sambo came and picked her up from the house so we made a much needed dinner date out of it! I miss spending time with this family sooooooooooo much! They have been very influential in my life and are a wonderful godly example! So thankful for them and thrilled to be able to spend some time with them today! We grilled out and I got a chance to use this super cute set of napkins, plates, straws, and cups... Which made me oh.my.wowzers. ecstatic because...my dress matched! Yeppers, almost identically, the napkins and I matched!!! The words "Hostess with the Mostesst" came to me instantly!

Love my friends!

This just sent me OVER THE RAINBOW

!

 Innocent Curiosity...
What do rainbows make you think of?! This was one of our conversation starters tonight :)

Becky and I...and guess what?! We matched too!

Aren't we just darling?! Love her bunches!

3 Concluding and repetitive words....

BECKY, BECKY, BECKY <3

 MATCHY, MATCHY, MATCHY!

and

 HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY :)

Fan-stache-tic Fabric!

I attempted to work in my classroom today but pretty much hit a STAND STILL. There's only so much that I can do before I get shelves and cabinetry put in. I straightened up and organized as much as I could. I did have a very lengthy convo with a coworker who gave me the "ins and outs" of the school so to speak. You know every school has those. She was cute, bubbly, and REALLY encouraging on the things I've done in my class already. So far there haven't been many super friendly people so she was a breath of fresh air.

Side Note: If you have a newbie teacher at your school this year...SHE/HE DOES NOT HAVE THE PLAGUE!!! Be warm and welcoming to her and PLEASE show her some kindness. Offer helpful information and do not force your ideas and way of doings on them! We are all created fearfully and wonderfully and have different ways of doing things.

RANT OVER.

Just some insight into this being the second year in a row that I've readjusted to new schools. I'm so over it and ready to be somewhere for a while. 


It was nice to have someone come in and talk to me for a while. She and I seemed to be kindred spirits just from our short time together today. I know we don't teach to have friends but boy howdy it sure does help to have teaching pals to relate with while at school and friends sure do help bear your load! Praying for some sweet teacher friends this year.

Sweet Abby and I worked pretty diligently last night while watching Pride and Prejudice...a few captivating distractions..Mr.Darcy gets me every time but she sewed pillows...such a talented teen girl she is, while I made a no sew banner using the iron and stitch witchery. I actually used this banner last year but had to make more because my class is so much bigger. We took the banner to school and attempted to hang it up top but since my walls are brick I've got to come up with something to make it stick...sticky tack and hot glue are not options. I'm hoping zots do the trick!

Can't wait to get this into my classroom!

 Having this sofa in my living room has convinced me to do something with this space in my house once school settles down!

Sew much fun!

Late last night we realized we needed the instruction manual and an unbent needle for the sewing machine we borrowed from friends so we made a pit stop for some sugary snacks to keep us up. Can you believe all of this was free?! They wouldn't let us pay because it was closing time!

The Pink and Orange Straws are ADORABLE!

I also joined bloglovin' today at the suggestion of a reader. Not exactly sure how this technology illiterate chicka is going to use it but we shall see and hopefully it will make following blogs easier!

Enjoy your weekend!

Bloglovin' it is

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Off the Wall Reconstruction!

After Day 4 of being in my classroom, I have 1 wall down and 3 to go! Here are some of the before and afters of how it's coming along:

Before...the white board is not as big as I had hoped for...It's only 12 feet long. Last year mine was 16 ft. But then again....Comparison IS the thief of Joy.

After...it looks much better in person and I am very pleased with it! The lighting in my class is TERRIBLE and...I don't have any windows!!!

They just added the shelf and bookbag hooks today...I'm satisfied!

I still have lots of work to do physically and am reminded of the great need for studying my new 5th grade curriculum! I was thankful to have a great helper today...one of the girls from my old church...sounds terrible to say "old" church so let me rephrase...one of the girls from the church my hubby swept me out of at marriage. I am a good wife so I submitted to him and our "new" church but miss this family especially!  

She wasn't ready for this one!

We printed and made hall passes today with clothespins, hot glue and Sahlin Studio's digital scrapbooking elements. They simply say: Hall Pass Mrs. Stewart Fifth Grade. I used the same concept last year and really liked them...the idea was for my germy kiddos not to touch them during the whole bathroom trip but often the janitor would bring them to my class. They held up all year but I chose to remake them for this year...lots of wear and tear and I'm sure GERMS!

Happy Birthday!

We also made these...I found this idea on pinterest and used silly straws last year and though I loved the idea the straws never made it to lunch or home. They ended up crammed into their desks and used as stabbing devices. I'm trying the Jumbo pixie sticks this year. The idea would be for them not to eat the large piece of candy until they get home! That way they actually go home and parents see them! I got 50 of them at Sams for 12 bucks!

Tonight we plan to pull an all-nighter...it's so nice to have a helper! #DunkinDonutsherewecome #sewingpillows #nosewpennantbanner

Keep Calm and Staple On!

I was finally able to get into my class today and accomplished much more than I thought I would and in only 3 hours!!! I'm using the same theme I used last year in my class and so the good thing is I already have most of the stuff I need. The staff members that were there seemed much more friendly today...maybe because it's not a Monday?! One of the other fifth grade teachers was there working for just a little bit and stopped in to chat! I also got my own set of keys today which I was just sure I wouldn't get with the school being so big. Some of you may not have this privilege nor find them needful. I like to work late and I also know my hubby will need to load in some of my things during the late night hours.

I know this is upside down...I guess I was overly excited when I took it and didn't realize! See the two keys?! I also received my alarm code so now to make a mental note: DO NOT lose them!

 Here's some of what I accomplished today. I did my all year round bulletin board with my calendar, behavior cards, and job helpers. There is also a birthday calendar that I will fill in. I also started covering the front wall that has my white board with red paper. I hope to be finished and post pics of that tomorrow...I will be working in my class all day Lord willing!

Before

After

Most of the products I used on this bulletin board are from Creative Teaching Press. It's their Dots on Turquoise line. The striped paper is tissue paper from Michaels. The border is just blue bulletin board paper. It's just a lot of scrunching and stapling! I got the idea last year from here:

I was awed by this lady last year being prego, crafty, and cheap!

The circle on the left is where I post my job helpers...one of my favorite crafty friends and I brainstomed on this one a lot...pretty sure I can claim this as an original idea. The header in the middle of the circle says "Job Helpers...Tame your Task" The ring reminded me of a circus ring and I really didn't like the idea of using clowns with the already coined phrase of  "Juggling Jobs". Clowns are kinda scary and depressing. I printed  several vintage circus animals and laminated them, cut them out and then stapled them into a "dot" while making a circle. The circus animals are from the graphics fairy at http://thegraphicsfairy.com/?s=circus .  I hope to be able to finish all the fine details up on this tonight so that I can just staple them in to place tomorrow. I'll try to post a couple of close ups tomorrow. The far right library cards are the behavior system that I use...I'm missing a few because they need to be laminated. More details on my behavior system in a later post.
My class is a lot bigger than it looks and than my class last year. The walls are really tall and high so I have a good amount of wall space that I'm not used to. I have a ton of outlets and jacks in the walls because the room used to a computer lab. I should never have a problem finding a plug.

When I got home my neighbor tightened up some screws on this beauty below and now I'll be taking her to school with me tomorrow. Can you believe one of the teachers was throwing this away?! It was slanted and appeared to be stripped but after some serious tightening up...she's as good as new and I love her bright colors! 

Thanks Mrs. Wofford! I feel like I owe you big!

#workingonlotstonight! #lookingforwardtotomorrow #feelingaccomplished

OverStimulated and OverWhelmed!

Warning for all who read...the post below will be OverlyLong!!!
 
Part One: OVERSTIMULATED
 First I must share how exciting it is to have a Super Cute blog design!!! I have to thank Christi Fultz for her talent, time, and teacheryness in creating my new blog! She was Johnny on the Spot for everything I needed and is one of the main reasons I started blogging...thanks to her super helpful youtube tutorials on how to start a blog! To any of you who have been blogstalking for the last 3 years or more (like myself) you really should start your own blog "if you can email, you can blog!" so head on over to Ms.Fultz's corner here and learn from all of her awesome tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/user/MsFultzsCorner Then once you see how easy she makes it look you can contact her here and get your own blog design:

 Go ahead spend some hours learning rather than envying!
 As I shared I have been blogstalking for almost 3 years and I cannot begin to tell you how much I have learned, gleaned, and copycatted from some WAYYYYYYYYYYY awesome teachers! I started "following" blogs by bookmarking all my favorites and checking in monthly....no, weekly....actually you got it...almost nightly and religiously every day looking for ideas and inspiration while I was teaching first grade at a teeny tiny christian school with almost NO resources! The first blog I fell in love with and was superbly addicted to was Babbling Abby over at The Inspired Apple:

Her blog is almost as cute as she and her little family are!

and then when the school closed and I moved on up a little bit to a bigger school with more resources and an older grade, I became addicted to Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade:

She is hilarious and spunky! Her little family is also adorable!

Both of these ladies are amazingly talented and I'm so thankful for their techy ability to share with the world their creativeness and ideas! Not to mention all the rest of you whom I'm sure I've stalked on more than one occasion! Thank you for your willingness and ability to share and inspire others!
I am now moving on up even further to an even bigger and higher grade...the great big scary world of fifth grade at a new school that is closer to my house and in doing so felt led to share my experiences in moving and setting up my new classroom and simply found this as a great out for venting so that my sweet hubby doesn't have to hear it over and over! So...why did I choose "The OverStimulated Teacher" as my blog title?!

During my first year of teaching the Kinder teacher next to me, Mrs. Becky, (whom I now absolutely love that sadly retired and gave me all of her goodies) came in to see my class when it was all finished and said that it was overstimulating...later in the year as she mentored me during what I call the year that my students didn't learn squat she told me that I tried too much to make it fun and it was overstimulating for the students and when I got some age on me I would see that some of the things I did were not necessary. I remember overthinking about that word "overstimulating" and taking it as such an insult but tried to overlook it. By the end of the year she and I had grown close, though she was retiring, and she called me her MiniMe because she said she was once like me. We gave her a retirement party where instead of making it all about her she spoke and made it all about the other teachers that she taught with...when she got to me she had me stand and went on and on about my enthusiasm and how I encouraged her in her last year of teaching and how she'd never seen someone put so much into their class and said " I learned that it's good to be overstimulating after all!" She was my department head and there to find faults and areas of improvement and ways that she could help me..which she did in so many ways! At first I was unsure about her and she of me, what she saw as the greatest "fault" became my "feat" in making my class fun and is what she said my kiddos would remember anyway. She has been very influential in my teaching career. Three years later, the school closed and I moved and changed my classroom theme because it was 4th grade with older kids to the vintage circus as I was setting up the 5th grade teacher, Shannon, next door (whose son was to be in my class and I just knew was going to be a disaster...staff kids are almost always problems!) would come in and say how all my stuff and decorations were way too much and she couldn't handle it and the students were going to be too distracted. She also popped in a couple of times real boss like to tell me I was way too loud and that my walmart branded scentsy scents were too strong and giving her a headache...I just knew she and I were not going to get along and it was going to be a difficult year. Fortunately for me, we became very close by the end of the year (which was last year 2012-2013 school year) and when I announced that I would be moving schools (this upcoming year:) she begged me to stay and wrote this very long sweet email about how much her son enjoyed my class and she enjoyed teaching beside me and wasn't so sure there in the beginning. She included how I encouraged her to be a better teacher and make learning more fun. (even though I think she's already an awesome 5th grade teacher because she just has this "I don't take junk" attitude  that straightens out those fifth graders and their rents!) Anyway about a month ago, as I was driving home from work OverWhelmed at the thought of changing schools, I had the thought of what the other teachers will think of me when they first see me and prepared myself mentally for them to think I'm too much and then thought of that label "overstimulating" that I was tagged with my very first year in teaching. I reflected of course on Mrs. Becky and Shannon.  I was trying to think of what I should do different and what I've learned in the last 4 years and how I should change my personality when then I thought....I can't change because that's who I am and in everything not just teaching...I'm either overly committed to something or not committed at all for example...church, school, exercise, cooking, cleaning the house...either I am 110% in or -10% out and that's just me so "The Overstimulated Teacher" came to me as an aha moment and I came home that night webstered the definition of stimulated (my hubby was convinced it had sexual derivatives and
didn't want perverts constantly finding my blog and this is what I found on Webster.com:
Definition of OVER-
1.so as to exceed or surpass <overachieve>
2.excessive <overstimulation>
3 to an excessive degree <overthin>
 Definition of STIMULATE
transitive verb
 1. excite to activity or growth or to greater activity : animate, arouse

So then I thought that's exactly what I want to do as a teacher be animated and arouse the students to learning but not just on an average normal level...I want to overstimulate their learning so that
it exceeds and surpasses what they thought they could do on their own! Of course I can't just start blogging without one of those super cute designs because I have to do things overboard so I asked Christi to design my blog...and though I am still learning and still very untechy...I love it :)
#Ifinallyknowhowtoaddpicsfromotherblogs   #Istilldon'tknowhowtoaddblogsthatifollow
#bloggingmakesmehappy

Part Two:OVERWHELMED

It has been a great night to have my new design up and running because boy howdy today has been OVERWHELMING! I was told that I could get into my classroom today and when I got there of course I couldn't :( There was stuff everywhere and nothing was completed yet!!! My new school does not seem accommodating or helpful to me yet...I'm really hoping that changes and trying to be positive! Today I at least wanted to start running some copies off when I found out I couldn't get in there. While there very few people even spoke to me and then at 2:00 when I finally realized there was no way I'd be getting in there, I left and it started pouring down rain right into the bag full of copies that I'd just made! I started the lady thing today...cough cough...and am not feeling well! I have a living room with a ton of stuff I've been buying lately with money that we don't have and don't have anywhere to put it!

My new Ikea sofa lounger for $169.00...they're marked down and going like hot cakes!

The new red rug I bought from Big Lots and some cute gum that I thought would be cute to have on desks for Open House or the First Day of School with a cute little "This year is UP2U" saying and it's Mentos gum! How awesome is that?!

My house is a mess due to all of this and I have at least 8 loads of laundry in need of being done!!! I have a ton of things that I could be doing but don't know where to start because I have no visual and physical class yet and that's always where I start! Remember I'm an all or nothing kind of gal and today is one of those...since I can't be 100% in to what I want to do, I'm -10% on everything! I'm hoping tomorrow is a brighter and happier day for my classroom! I'm about to go add to the list making since that seems to be the only thing I can do lately! I'm reminded of this verse from God's Word:

 "...When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I" Psalm 61:2