My Favorite Things: Fitness Edition

In Februrary, I "retired" from swimming after my very last college conference meet.For 12 years of my life, I was a competitive swimmer. I started when my family lived in Australia, and fell in love with the sport! I swam both short and long course seasons with my club team and spend most of my summers (and school years, actually...) doing two-a-day practices once I moved to Texas.

For some reason there are tons of horror stories of ex-swimmers who gain tons of weight. Maybe it's because they've never seen going to practice as a "workout" and don't see a need to schedule time to exercise, maybe it's because they don't adjust their eating habits (which is crazy hard- when you go from burning 1200+ cals a day in the pool to a measly 300 on the elliptical, a BIG adjustment has to take place)... Regardless of whether or not the rumors were true, I was absolutely certain those stories weren't going to include me! 

So, 6 days after my last swim meet, I joined a local gym and started taking their classes. I knew that I couldn't work out on my own- for 12 years I'd been told what to do! So, my first favorite thing is: group fitness classes. I've taken yoga, spin, Pilates, YogaFit, step, and cardio circuit classes. I like to switch it up so I don't get bored. ;)

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If I can't make a class, I get on the elliptical. My second favorite thing, my iPhone, is essential because I get bored easily on that machine, so I listen to music, watch Netflix, read blogs...  Basically anything to distract me from stopping.

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My last favorite thing is this guy:

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I looooove my water bottle. I found it on Pinterest and actually bought it on Amazon. It hold so much water AND my keys and ID/gym card, and it was pretty inexpensive (*edit- looks like the price has gone up. It was only $12 when I got it!). Getchya one. You will thank me.

Resource Thursday

As a self-professed Pinterest addict, I find myself having to wade through the things I LOVELOVELOVE and the pins that are SO SO SO CUTE and get down the nitty gritty of what's actually practical and applicable for me and my classroom(s).

Thus begins Resource Thursdays. Every Thursday,  I'll share a resource that I plan to use and update the progress on the previous week's little gem.

This Thursday's Resource: File Organization

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I found this pin, which was linked to this blog post by Miss Ashley at That's So Second Grade. Um, hello... genius! I LOVE the idea of organizing all of my resources by TEKS (Texas curriculum standards). It is so logical and seems easy to use after the initial time suck of set up.

My articles/worksheets/manipulatives/patterns/lesson plans are currently jammed into portable file boxes and moving boxes. They are loosely sorted by subject. It's insane, and I probably miss a lot of opportunities and/or remake a lot of materials for lessons just because I don't have a good system.

I'll be wearing many hats in my job this coming year, but one will be resource teacher/gen ed teacher support. Each week, the teachers of the students I work with will send me their lesson plans. In addition to working on skills in the lessons with the students in my classroom, I'll also work with the teachers to help meet the students' needs in the gen ed setting.  It would be awesome to be able to go to my files and find supporting materials based on the TEKS the teachers have provided.

Let's Get Real

The drawbacks:

• I can't use Ashley's Common Core freebie labels, so I'll have to make my own
• I'm working with PK-5th grade students... that's a ton of TEKS

The pros:

• If I create all of these labels, it can help me and then others... maybe a start for a TPT seller account?
• Once I get the system up and running I can really see it being functional... AND I can point other teachers and paraprofessionals in the direction to easily use it if I'm not physically available when they need something

It's Official!

Today I signed a contract for my new job! I am so excited to officially be hired. The sweet principal gave me the big binder of IEPs, ARD paperwork, work samples, etc. for all of my students. Should make for some nice summer reading.

I also got to get a real feel for my classrooms. There are definitely some pros and cons to these bad boys. They are both really spacious and have TONS of materials. The paint job in one room is a little odd (lime green on one wall and brown on another with bright colored polka dots), but I can probably work around it. Or maybe paint over it?

I didn't do any moving today, even though I was itching to. My room is a hot mess because they literally threw everything deemed "special Ed" into the classroom. I'm talking tables, chairs, computers, iPads, laptops, desks, study carrels, file folders, boxes of curriculum, Leapsters, filing cabinets, manipulatives, worksheets... The list could go on and on. I am pretty overwhelmed by the amount of stuff, but so incredibly thankful that I won't be having to spend much out of pocket to get this classroom up and going.

just one of the goodies found today- this is the smaller of the two!

Final surprise for the day- I get to go to the Handwriting Without Tears conference in Austin. I am super pumped. I got to see my wonderful co-teacher in field-based implement the program with her kinders from day 1 last fall. I loved how logical (little pencils for little hands? Um, duh!) and age appropriate the approach seemed to be. Professional development opportunities were a huge factor when I was applying for jobs, and it really seems like my district is going to give me a bunch!