Wordless Wednesday: Girl Power

I've been so sick for the past 6 days and Parent Teacher Conference (week 2) has got me going crazy. So this Wordless Wednesday post is to help my mental sanity, and my girl T.Swift's new album 1989 is definitely helping with that! I love love LOVE this quote from "New Romance" on the album…

Girl Power to the extreme, am I right? Keep doing your thang, T.Swift. I wasn't a huge fan before, but this album might just change my mind.

Over the hump of the week! Here's to Friday!

Made It Monday (Oh God)

Linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics on this lovely Monday. I'm so dang proud to be able to say that I MADE THIS!!! It may not look like much, but I thought that my old button design needed a bit revamping, especially since I'm trying to redesign my entire blog (thanks to Paige over at Paiges of Learning for the inspiration)! So here's my old design…

And here is my new design!!

Tell me what you think (or don't, I put a lot of work into this and had many failed attempts of saving the picture…) and I can't forget to thank the following ladies for the fonts and graphics…

It's Just One Of Those Weeks

You know what I'm talking about…those weeks where absolutely nothing goes right? Well thanks to Angela over at The Daily Alphabet, I'm attempting to be positive with this week's What I Did Right This Week!

For grad school this week, a rough draft of my 12-article review and synthesis paper is due. Ask me if I've read any of those 12 articles, I dare you.

HOWEVER, this week, and by this week I mean today, I got an email literally 10 minutes before school started saying that teachers from a nearby elementary school were going to pop in during our reading intervention class and observe our program and our classrooms, my class of crazy and energetic first graders being their first stop. Naturally, my first instinct was to panic…first year teacher, youngest in the school, barely 2 months into the mere 30 minute block they give us for intervention class… 

Then they came. And by they, I mean 10 big people (in comparison to my teeny first graders in their teeny chairs), staring and listening and pointing and commenting about my teeny room. Then one big person spoke, and the other 9 big people gathered over by my progress tracking board (a.k.a. the wall of stickers to measure how my students are doing in class) to look at the stickers and my chart of what each sticker means.

Tracker board, complete with students' hands that they decorated during week 1

Sticker color/progress monitoring key

Class ended, the kiddos went to recess, and my support staff and I sat in silence, honestly a little caught off guard by the whirlwind of whispers that had just passed through the room.  At lunch, hours after the 10 big people from the elementary up the road had left, my intervention coach approached me to say how impressed the visiting teachers were with my set-up, my agenda, the program I was running, and my tracker board.  She then said how much she enjoyed telling them that I was a first year teacher and the looks of astonishment and intrigue on the faces of the visiting staff. 

So, what did I do right this week? Apparently, a lot more than I thought I did.

Liebster Award (2.0)

I'm so flattered to be nominated by Paige over at Paiges of Learning for this blogger "award" for newbie bloggers who show great potential. Paige has the cutest blog (and blog design…share your knowledge with me!!!), and I cannot wait to read more about all of her adventures! After being nominated, I have to answer these 11 questions, then nominate another 11 bloggers with under 200 followers to do the same!

1. Why and how long ago did you start blogging?

I started blogging in May 2013 (yikes) to start what I think all of us try to achieve through blogging: personal self-discovery, a running record of my daily happenings, making connections with others, and talking about the things we love the most! I was transitioning into the summer before my senior year of college, starting off on two amazing student teaching placements, and beginning my career of teaching, so I wanted to keep a blog where I could connect with other teachers and keep doing what I love to do - write!

2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?

Authentic. I think people can tell pretty quickly when someone is blogging to their readers, instead of showing their authentic selves and thoughts, so I like to be very authentically me on my blog, if that makes sense. I've found that genuine authenticity is what people appreciate the most about me, so I wanted that to come across to my audience, however small they may be.

3. Is there something you learned late in your blogging journey that you wish you had known before?

Well, since I wasn't a dutiful blogger at first (bad, Pili), I still consider myself to be in my early blogging journey.  However, I will say that I try to include more images in my posts. Humans are very visual creatures!
4. What is your favorite past time other than blogging?
I love to dance, go to the beach or go hiking with my dog and friends just as much as I love curling up with a good read or a movie and having a *very* lazy day in.  It really depends on my mood, but I'm always in the mood for ice cream, Pinterest, and Buzzfeed reading! 

At the top of the Grand Canyon this summer!

5. How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog?
Currently, between teaching and grad school, I try to blog at least once or twice a week. Hopefully I'll get better at blogging more often!
6. What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?
Relatable posts! I love reading about people's thoughts, professionally and personally, and about the crazy things that happen during the day.  I also love great tip articles and the occasional TPT freebie that can help out my kiddos.
7. Where does your blog inspiration come from?
How can I pick just one?! I'm so inspired by all of the blogs I read, for different reasons. I love reading about the lives of others across the country from me, I love reading about the hilarious things that their students say and do, I love the creative resources shared through blogging, and the amazing tips/tricks/advice given so freely. Not to be corny, but I love being a part of this enormous blogging family. My blogging inspiration comes from all of you!
8. Which post that you've written are you most proud of?
Definitely my first post. Not because it is of any extraordinary writing caliber or because it contains great ideas, but because it marked a definitive change in my life. I lost a few great friends in my senior year of college because our paths turned out to not really mesh well anymore, and we became different people, drifted apart. Pre-blogging Pili would have probably changed who she was and went back to doing things "the old way," which definitely would not have gotten me to where I am today. Blogging, although I was blogging to an audience of 2 back then, gave me confidence and a space to communicate with other people, draw strength from their strength, and push through to be a better person than I was back then.  I'm really proud of my first blog post because it put me on a path to change myself and change my life.
9. Is there any post you've been planning to do but have been postponing?
Hmmm…I've made so many resources for my reading intervention class in this first quarter of school that I really want to learn how to make into TPT resources, so I guess I'm planning to get around to that eventually! They would all be freebies probably, because I don't think they're as great as some other resources out there, but I'm all about sharing knowledge and ideas!
10. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?
I love connecting with other bloggers, honestly, especially if they're across the country! Living on an island can make you feel so isolated at times, so I love being able to talk to other bloggers and leave comments on their posts! 
11. Which recipe, project, or idea from my blog would you like to try yourself?
Paige, I LOVE that you designed your entire blog by yourself. I've been meaning to get around to doing the same, but have absolutely no idea where to start. If you have any advice or tips, help a sister out! But honestly, your blog design is inspiring and I hope to try something like that soon!

Now for my nominations…
Julia from rising #GIRLBOSS
Hannah from Cute in the Classroom
Kristin from One Stop Teacher Shop
Leanna from A Little of Lili
Sara from Mrs. Brown Loves Bookworms
Laura from Luv My Kinders
Janelle from The Dog Days of Math
Natalie from Teaching 4th with Mrs. Bro!
Rachel from Seniorita Creativa
Monica from Roland with iPads
Erin from Shenanigans in 6th-Math

Now that you've been nominated here are the official "rules" for accepting:
1. In your post link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and "shout out".
2. Answer the 11 questions given to you (the ones I answered above).
3. Nominate 11 blogs that have less than 200 followers each.  Provide them with 11 questions or have them answer the questions above.
4. Let your nominees know they've been nominated and provide them with a link back to your post so that they can accept.
5. Send your nominator a link to your post so s/he can learn more about you as well.  (You can just put your post link in the comments below).

Introducing...

The Succulents! I love plants. I love gardening. I inherited that from my dad. From my mom, however, I inherited the ability to kill plants without even trying. Actually, I've inherited the incredible skill of killing plants while actually trying to take care of them…go figure. Enter, stage right, The Succulents. Not much water needed, just some sunlight, pretty low maintenance, how much harm could I do?

Then I went and propagated one of them. And by propagating I mean carefully wiggling the leaves off, then decapitating the succulent until I was left with a nubby stem, three leaves, and a decapitated head.

This is the journey of The Succulents and (hopefully) the propagation of new baby succulents, or succs, as KDog calls them.

I'll be posting more pictures when there's more to see!

xo,

Sunday Scoop and A Little Hurricane

Welcome back to this Sunday's edition of Sunday Scoop courtesy of the Teaching Trio cuties! Let's get started!

I have to…

1) Write the first draft of my capstone literature review paper. Uhm, excuse me? I am a first year teacher, first semester graduate school student, in a capstone course…does this make any sense? Anywho, my literature review is going to focus around the causes for the increase of students being diagnosed as SpEd or referred for SpEd services. I have to review 12 scholarly articles and write a 15 page paper that cohesively ties the articles together and comes up with some proposed best practices for teachers…wish me luck!

2) Get my ducks in a row for my VERY FIRST PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES EVER!!! I'm nervous, I'm excited, but I want to be hyper organized so that parents won't be so concerned with my age, and will be more impressed with my teaching.

3) Finish my unit plans for this quarter of school. I love planning and organizing my life, and having a set of unit plans just makes teaching so much easier (duh). I plan to check this off of my to-do list by Wednesday!

I hope to… 

1) Find some awesome resources for reading fluency passages for my intervention class. First grade level, focusing on consonant blends, basic sight words, basic literacy skills, anything at this point.  There isn't a large pot of resources available for the intervention teachers to pull from in regards to passages and books, so I'm extending my feelers out into the universe of TPT. Any great resources you've heard of? Let me know! 

2) Have some quality time with KDog. We've both been super busy (K with school, me with teaching), so we haven't had much time to spend together, or spend focusing on each other. I'm hoping that our schedules will die down, or we'll be able to get back into the swing of things, and make some time for each other.  Relationships aren't always easy, but I like to hope that the work is worth it in the end.

I'm happy to…

Rest, relax, and watch Scandal this weekend! Hawaii has been under a hurricane/tropical storm/flash flood warning/watch (what is the difference???) all weekend, thanks to Miss Hurricane Ana, so I've been happily laying in bed, catching up on season 4 of Scandal, and listening to the rain outside of my window.  

Hurricane Ana on the horizon on Friday after school

My baby plants aren't loving the gloomy weather, but I'm starting to see some root growth in one of the leaves I propagated before fall break! I'm such a proud plant mama.

Roots! Hooray!

Off to my first week of parent teacher conferences and half-day early releases! Happy Sunday, everyone!

xo,

Lord, Grant Me The Strength...

I've been in a slump for the past few days, and I'm not sure if it's because this is the first week back from Fall Break, or if I've just hit a wall. I'm stressed with grad school and trying to continually push my well-below-grade-level darlings, so I've been trying to keep this poster in mind…

Thanks to Miss DeCarbo at Sugar and Spice for this motivating Wordless Wednesday link-up.

xo,