Friday, July 19, 2013

.......those three little words

When most folks hear the phrase,
"those three little words,"
they assume you're referring to
"I love you."
But nope, not talking about those three little words.

It's the end of July...
there are three little words
that make most teachers' hearts skip a beat
(and not because they're looking at a pic of Ryan Gosling)
There are three little words that signify
the official end 
to our current state
of peace and paradise.

(Read the following at your own risk)

"Back....to....School"
(Quick!  Where's the defibrillator?!)

Funny Teacher Week Ecard: You know you are a teacher when you tremble at those three little words... Back...to...School.
*AttaGirl Funnies by Angela Furgal AKA Fairy Funtastic*
If you see this pinned somewhere else...know that you saw it here first!

It's summer!
We're eating lunch without watching the clock.
We're even sitting down while we eat!
We're going to the bathroom, whenever our bladders desire!
We're enjoying the fact that we do NOT have to multi-task
every, single, moment of our days.
We can actually do one thing at at time,
s....l....o....w....l....y
and without 20-some short people
vying for our immediate attention.
When we sit on our couch at night,
there isn't a bookbag nearby demanding
we take our eyes off of the TV 
and attend to the to-do list we have waiting in there.

Funny Seasonal Ecard: 'The summer is going by so slow,' said no teacher ever.

After hearing those three little words
and seeing them ALL OVER TOWN,
our minds are forced to switch gears.
We'll have to dig out our alarm clocks,
remember how to set them,
and do so without feeling bitter.

With the help of Pinterest,
we can get our heads back in the game.
(Or get lost in cyberspace as we pin, pin, pin!)

Funny Workplace Ecard: Pinning teaching ideas should get you some kind of professional development credit.

Once you jump on that treadmill
of another school year,
(and am I the only one that notices 
the incline gets higher each year?)
...be prepared for those other frightening phrases
that will let you know that another
school year is in full swing:

"We need anyone available to come to bus duty!"
"The State Superintendent will be visiting us tomorrow
and spending the morning in your classroom."
"I threw up this morning, but my mom gave me medicine so I'm OK now."
"I brought cupcakes with extra frosting."
"All staff report to the gym for a 5 hour in-service."
"We don't have a sub for P.E. today."
"The nurse said I have lice."
"The state has revised the teacher certification program...again."
"The copier isn't working."
"The copier still isn't working today."
"Remember that report cards have been revised
and are completely different this year."
"Teachers, the cafeteria is running behind.  Please
hold your class for 15 minutes."
"He picked up the urinal cake."
"Teacher, there's poop on the toilet!"
"The bathroom door is locked."
"The Internet is down."
"You're so lucky to only work 9-3,
Monday through Friday,
September to June."  


And final note to self for today's Planning Period:
Be sure to set up for my next activity, 
make lesson plans for the following week,
begin/finish inserting report card grades,
prepare for my parent conferences,
attend a grade level meeting,
wipe down the tables for snack before the children return...
...oh wait..
DO NOT forget to make a mad rush to the bathroom
during the last 2 minutes of planning so that I can make
.
it until my afternoon duties are over!

I wish you all well as you walk the aisles of
Target trying in vain NOT to hear
the Back to School shoppers check
off the supplies that you
will all too soon be organizing in your home away from home.


But hey, who am I kidding?
The beauty of our job is that every year we get a clean slate.
A new room arrangement.
A new group of short people to meet,
figure out, care for, teach,
and ultimately help grow and succeed.
May we ALL get the dream class this year! 
 Or at least let us THINK we have the dream class!
If not, let's keep them tame with this
No David: Domino Math Activity! 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjylOkfka4ebWgyRzU1QUhaZjA/edit?usp=sharing




Another year of endless possibilities. 

 photo FairyFuntasticSignoff-2.png

Thursday, July 4, 2013

.......and then a blog was born.

This blog is a little different
than most blogs on the Internet.
It's put together by 2 people,
Regina and Angela, 
who have never actually met.
So how on earth did we come around to making a blog?
Well...it's kind of an interesting story...
with two different viewpoints.  So let us,
Regina and Angela
tell you all about it! 
Angela: 6 months ago I found theee coolest Kindergarten graphic organizers on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Seriously!  If you don't believe me, check them out here for yourself.
I was so impressed  with how user friendly they were, I had to tell the 
teacher that created them that she was all that and a bag of chips!  
So I put a comment in her "Ask a question" tab of her TPT store.
Regina:  A very nice comment worthy of a freebie...
so I offered to send it to her email.
Although I was a big dork, she appreciated the comment and we
 started emailing back and forth about life in Kindergarten.
It was right at the beginning of Winter Break, 
so we both had a little extra time to chat.
Even though we live several states away, 
we are the same age and have both taught for 20 years.
Although I started teaching 20 years ago...
I took some time off to be a stay at home mom
(2 years in Texas and 5 years in Florida)
She convinced me to try using PowerPoint for my TPT products.
I'm so NOT a techie so I whined a bit.  But she knew how easy it would 
make my life so she went out of her way to walk me through it.
In turn, I introduced her to the wonderful world of Pinterest.  
Yes...I'm an enabler!
That's not how it happened.  Over the break,
Angela was raving about how fabulous Pinterest is.
I mentioned how it made me dizzy to look at all of the pins at once.
Angela thought that was the most hilarious thing she had ever heard.
She also thought my not liking shopping was funny too.
I mean what grown woman doesn't like to shop? Right?
That would be me...it makes me dizzy to see all of that
stuff at once.  I know...I have issues.
Anyways, here was this stranger raving about how 
she couldn't live without Pinterest. (I had an account that 
had been sitting empty for almost a year.  Now I look back and think 
"How could I be living without Pinterest?")
After she realized that I was seriously  not going to be pinning 
anything on my own, Angela offered to set up my 
pin boards and explain to me how it all worked.  
I checked her out on the Internet to make sure she was legit.
(My husband thought I was nuts as did mine!)
and I agreed to let her help me.
When she finished, I sent her some freebies... 
because come on....who does this for you?
(Girrrl!  She hooked a sista up!)
Anyway, I FINALLY convinced her to switch over to PowerPoint 
over President's Day weekend.  For that, we had our first phone call.
(Angela laughs and says that she felt like a 12 year old with a pen pal.
I think that's the best way to describe our relationship.)
I've always wanted to do a blog of 'comic relief for teachers.'
I mean, really, we NEED it right?  We could all write a book!
Most folks would think it's fiction, but nope, it's just another day in 

our world.  However, I had no clue how to go about the technical side of it.
I can't tell you how many times 
Angela made me laugh over the winter break.
She definitely needed a place to house 
all of her quirky sayings and anecdotes.
Regina had always wanted to start a blog too but 
with the demands of teaching Kindergarten 
and raising 4 kids (over-achiever!) it seemed too daunting a task.
So we've decided to go with the old adage that 
two brains are better than one
...and a blog was born.  
She's the artsy fartsy one 
(Just check out all of the cute pics throughout this blog!)
and I'm the gabby one....you'll figure that out quick!
Yes, I'm the one who drove our web designer nuts 
with all of the minutia....poor McKenna!
I also drew a lot of the pictures.  

Did you know that most clip art sellers won't let you 
post their pics on blogs because they can be easily stolen?
True...so don't steal my pics ok?  
Anyhow, after driving everyone bonkers about the details...
Angela won't admit it, 
but I know she was rolling her eyes up in Illinois...
our blog is finally blogger ready!
Together we hope that your time here is enjoyable.
Keep in mind....as our disclaimer plainly says....
In other words:
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious.  
Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
So come and join us on our Fairytales and Fiction adventures!
 photo fairytalesampFictionsignoff-2.png