Reflection, New Year's Resolutions, and New Beginnings

A little about me... I am in my nineteenth year of being an educator. One of those years was in Pre-K, three in first, and the rest in kindergarten.  I guess you can figure out where my heart is!  I love teaching children and love finding, making, and sharing new and different ways to do it. I have known for a long time now that I should start a blog... the truth is... it terrified terrifies me.  I am way out of my comfort zone, but I have learned that a lot of growth often goes hand in hand with new and/or uncomfortable experiences.  So, I decided I would start a blog by the end of the 2012-2013 school year...  a kind of "Back to School New Year's Resolution".  Well, here I am, at the beginning of the 2013 calendar year, halfway through the school year making my first post.  I am pretty proud of myself! I hadn't  mentioned that I am always up the night before I need something, making it... hence the public pride regarding the timely start.  A betting person wouldn't have put money on me getting this started before May...  There is still so much for me to learn, but I am going to take it one day post at a time, and hope it's really true that teachers are patient people. 

I am very excited to show and share the things I do in my classroom. Since it is the time of year when we reflect, make New Year's Resolutions, and embark new beginnings, I thought that would be a great place to start!  Before we left for winter break, I read The Night Before New Years  by Natasha Wing to my students.  We talked about how people often think about the year when it is ending, and then we read and completed an interactive book called Wrapping up 2012. It is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.  If I were just seeing this now, I would still do it in my class so please don't let "2012" keep you from considering it. The kids were SO cute as they thought of their favorite songs and books.  Okay, some of them copied the title of the nearest book they could find, but others really did reflect and come up with their favorites. I am going to follow it up with Looking Ahead into 2013, another interactive book, also available in my store. You can get that one for FREE here.  After downloading it, you can say you got my official first blog FREEBIE!  Finally, to wrap it up we will do some writing to post in the hall... a simple sheet with our New Year's Resolutions on it.  Mine, of course, is to maintain this blog (and maybe to get things done before the night before I need them!)  :) I am working on obtaining the book Squirrel's New Year's Resolution by Pat Miller, to help the kids understand a resolution,  but if I don't get it, I am not worried.  I think that they will be able to figure it out  just by completing the pages in the" Looking Ahead" book and if not, I should be able to use the book to explain it. Check back soon for another New Year's FREEBIE and if you like my items, please follow me here and at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

 This is the  FREE stationary that I am using.