Hello, A G A I N, it' me the QUEEN BEE but now...

 I believe I am the WORST blogger E V E R!

    SO much has happened to me since my last blog post. I moved, again! This time I am staying right here! Where am I, you may ask...I'm in South Dakota. Promise this is it!

    I left Las Vegas in July of 2020, you can guess why...but you might be wrong. Was it because of the pandemic, maybe a little, however not really. My son went away to college, and my boyfriend moved 1,500 miles away. I was good with all of this! Then after the "shut down" my BF asked me to move to South Dakota...I had a lot of thinking to do...should I go? Will there even be jobs in the middle of a World Wide Shut Down? 

    Surprisingly Y E S...  I moved 1,500 miles to a super small town, so I could drive 100 miles a day to a bigger town to teach...4th GRADE! (If you know me then you know this is TERRIFYING) 

    Remarkably 4th grade was the B O M B! Why was I so afraid of the "big kids"? I LOVED every minute of it! Perhaps it was that I got to teach Face to Face, unlike my Las Vegas friends. Perhaps it was the small town feel and supportive parents...maybe that 50 mile one way with ZERO traffic was the key? (it took me the same amount of time to travel to this school, than it did to travel the 22 miles in Las Vegas) I learned so much, had a great group of kids and my administration was EXCELLENT! As you can guess, I am switching schools this year.

    BUT...why you ask...I decided to get closer to home and not risk hitting a deer. Oh plus I can sleep in or get up to walk, like I used to. This, as many of you know, was my first year to drive in the snow. All the locals kept telling me this was a really mild winter. (ok, as I white knuckled drove in a blowing snow covered highway for a few months) I changed schools because I finally get to be "out" of the classroom and will save $2000 in gas money on my high profile SUV with the 4 wheel drive and all the safety whistles! I am going to be the Title One Resource teacher and ESL coordinator for this school (District), the school is so small that they house PK-12 all in one building. (350 kids or so)

    So now I can help the kids that need that extra boost in Reading and Math. I can make sure those ESL kids don't fall in the crack....it's truly my "DREAM JOB"

If you are really reading this, can you do me a favor and leave me a comment...just a quick "Hi" Let me know what you think of my crazy life...read all the post before if you are new around here...my journey starts in Florida!

Much Love,

Natalie

What Do You Do Over The Summer?

     Here it is the second week of summer break, and I am teaching summer school mind you, (9 days) What am I doing? I am already PINNING on Pinterest and going through my 'drive' and printing out new centers and getting ready for next year's group! WAIT, WHAT? School JUST ended on May 24th, I'm teaching summer school until June 7th and I am ALREADY planning NEXT year?
Am I a new teacher?(Nope, this year it will be year 26.)
Am I T H A T  pathetic dedicated that I have NO life other than school? (Well, maybe)
Do I need an intervention? (Err...)
Is this NORMAL? (Well is it?)

 I do have a small trip planned this summer to get me out of the house, but really, nothing spectacular, no beach, no cruise, no NYC trip, no Europe trip....ugh...I need to stop my brain from moving!

Does this happen to you? I just can't stop it. really, it's an impulse control issue...I get on Pinterest and the next thing you know I go from looking at nails and hair and food to school decor, classroom management and storage ideas! I then start sending pins to all my teacher friends and start making my wish list on TpT too. I catch up on my blog and even reach out to my Blogging buddies from 2012 and ask for help to get back into blogging (Thanks Storie!)...

My question to you my blogging friends is HOW do you turn off the TEACH and RELAX... and really find another hobby? 

My hobby IS school! Shopping for school, planning for school, crafting for school...then school starts and I always feel excited and  bit of a let down... HELP I need your ideas!

XXOO
Natalie

Yes Friends, I'm Still Alive and Kicking!

     Have you been wondering what the Queen Bee is doing Way out West?
To be truthful I have been a busy bee! My first year in the desert I was in 1st grade.I  must admit I am not a fan of teaching 1st grade, unless I am co-teaching, like I did in 2004-2007 back in Clermont Florida, now that was a good time! This time around, yeah not so much fun, but I did work with a bunch of great people and loved my administration.Did I mention I was in a portable? I haven't been in a portable classroom since 1999. The best thing about the portable is YOU are in charge of your own 'weather'! We did have a lot of fun in that portable. We made ice cream on Nevada Day (aka Halloween) and we got to fly kites in the big field behind our portable...no one comes out to visit you much in the portable, did I mention I love my administration. In fact, they let me move up to 2nd grade the following year!! (I love 2nd Grade) I got to go to my first out of state conference too. I flew to LA for the NSTA convention...it was so much fun! (Even when I fell down, skinned my knee AND didn't spill my Skinny Vanilla Latte) The low point was when on the last day of school we found out that our Assistant Principal was leaving us to open a new school across town! We were all heart-broken!
     I taught 2nd grade and co-chaired the grade level, as well as  did district wide science curriculum professional development classes for the science department as a little side hustle, that first year in 2nd grade. I got to keep 6 of my kids from my 1st grade class, mostly because the rest of them moved to other schools, or to California. There is a lot of mobility in our schools in Southern Nevada. Again, I got to work with a good team, in fact two of the teachers who taught first grade decided to teach second grade too, so that was great! My class was sweet, just a few tornadoes, nothing a seasoned teacher couldn't handle. Still in the portable, but the school is now under construction as they are building a new building. We are so excited, waiting in anticipation as to which grade levels will be housed into the NEW building with all the latest and greatest  technology? But it won't open until the end of the school year, so why even start dreaming now...right? My second year in the desert is going great, we have a new Assistant Principal, she is just as nice as the one who left us all heart-broken at the end of the school year. Everything is going along so well... Then a  rumor went around the school that the Principal was leaving too! So I asked him if it was true and it was, BUT relax, he was asked if he wanted to go to a middle school, and he turned it down! (sigh) Things were pretty normal from then on, I got to go to another conference, this time in Philadelphia, during the Super Bowl Parade (Mad House)..everything was quiet until the end of the school year when they finished the new building and announced which grade levels will be moving into the fancy tech castle! Kindergarten, Third and Fourth...wait...NOT ME? Nope...I boxed up all my gear and moved into the OLD building....but to tell you the truth I got the BIGGEST room on campus! Yeppers!
     So here I am in my third year in the desert, my 25th year teaching! I've been teaching HALF of my life! ...Anyhow...still in 2nd, this time no co-chair, just team leader all by myself. Still same administrators! Three new teachers on our team, they are FANTASTIC by the way, and my class looks great...oh yeah! You know it was coming, 'that kid' yep, they assigned me 'that kid'! I don't know how I survived as long as I did? Really, he took a lot of patience and time away from my other 19. I got hit. His mom, told the Principal and the SPED teacher off, in fact she changed schools in December...it's all a blur. Then in December at the same time, our Principal was moved to another school, just like that! We were left with NO principal, none, from January to May we had 'subs' then they hired a new Principal. However I won't be staying at this school, it's not because I didn't get to move into the new building, it's not because I don't like the new principal, it's not because I didn't go to a conference this year...  it's because I found a school 10 miles closer to home, that has a Principal that used to be my Assistant Principal, remember that heart-breaker? Well she is going to be the Principal at my new school! So excited to be getting a new hive close to home! This is my son's senior year of High School, so every penny saved counts!
     I am planning on continuing my bog at my new school! I am planning on writing about the literacy ideas I am implementing and the math strategies I am using too! I am also going to be giving you the details of my life to keep up on me! Sorry I have been out of touch! I need to remind myself this is important too!